Professional writer

Should you speak for free?

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2012 Green Heart Schools public speaking competitionIn the article 3 reasons that non-fiction authors should speak, I suggested why public speaking can be important to an author. But the question arises: should that be at any price?

My natural inclination, my default position if you will, is that if you’re good enough to be asked to give a talk, do a presentation or run a workshop, then you deserve to be paid for it. As my wife so succinctly put it to me: “Nothing doesn’t buy anything.”.

However, situations, like people, are different from one another. At the end of the day, if you are asked to give a talk without payment, your decision of whether or not to accept is one that involves weighing up the (perceived) costs and benefits. Here are the considerations you might wish to take into account.

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Should you write for free? 8 considerations.

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On the whole, I am against the idea of writing in return for no money. We all of us have to eat, and find the money to pay the rent or mortgage. Moreover, the more people who are willing to write for nothing, the less likely it is for editors to pay for work. Unfortunately, the usual law of supply and demand prevails, which is to say that the greater the supply relative to demand, the lower the price in the marketplace. Even though the products being offered are not likely to be the same, if an editor needs an article, or is on a tight budget, price may well be the deciding factor.
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National story-telling week

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Maths Activity and Story Telling : PrathaThe only thing wrong with Spark London is that it is confined to London, which is only to be expected of course! However, the good news for people who like the idea of story-telling as a way to improve their writing (see 4 ways that Spark London is good for writers) is that there are story-telling clubs and events all over Britain.
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Is it possible to write better if you write faster?

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I’ve been prompted to ask this question because I recently picked up, in a second-hand bookshop, a book called “No plot? No problem!”. The author is Chris Baty, who started the "Write a novel in a month” competition, otherwise known as “Nanowrimo”.

I haven’t read very much of it yet, but from what I have read I’m impressed.

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The key criterion of a writer’s success

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transactionsHow do you know if you are, objectively speaking, a success as a writer?

Although I may be accused of taking too simplistic an approach to this question, I really do think that it comes down to just one thing.

Well, in practice, of course, there are many potential indications of success. For example, people telling you they like what you write. People asking when your next book is coming out. That sort of thing.

However, nice as such accolades are, they don’t pay the rent, and talk is, or can be, cheap.

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Technology-inspired words are definitely buzzworthy!

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Word NerdNew words are always interesting, I think, and not just the ones that have been inspired by technology. But before I say any more about that, I feel the need to get something off my chest. Don’t worry, I won’t make this a long post: the last thing I want is people tweeting me to say TL;DR (too long; didn’t read).
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A Writer’s Reference Toolkit: Style Guides

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STYLE GUIDESThere are two broad kinds of style guide. There is the generic type, containing advice on such things as whether to use “different from” or “different than”. And there is the specific type, ie specific to a particular publication. For example, should “internet” be spelled with a lower case “i”, or as “Internet”?. The specific style guide will tell you.

You need both types, of course, but unfortunately it’s not quite as simple as your needing only two books or two documents.

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