Tag Archives: Chindi Authors

SISTER SCRIBES GUEST: CAROL THOMAS ON COLLABORATION

Posted on by

It’s my absolute pleasure to introduce Carol Thomas, my long time Chindi Authors partner in crime and one of the best collaborators I know. Carol’s contemporary romance novels have relatable heroines whose stories are layered with emotion, sprinkled with laughter and topped with irresistible male leads; while her children’s books have irresistibly cute, generally furry characters young children can relate to.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller

At the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference in July 2018, Sam Missingham made the point that as writers, even writing within the same genre, we are not competing. Readers read books, lots of them and generally in a preferred genre. Working collaboratively on promotion means a group can be greater than the sum of its parts. Her point was well made and, from experience, I have to agree.

After self-publishing my first novel, Crazy Over You, I reached the point where I didn’t know what to do next. Fortunately, I heard about Chindi Authors – a local group of self-published authors, working together to promote their work. Writing in a range of genres, they had amongst them a wealth of knowledge about self-publishing and promotion.

I joined and learnt a lot, not just from the others, but also through what I achieved from being an active member of the group. My confidence grew, my author platform improved. When it came to pitching my next novel, The Purrfect Pet Sitter, to Choc Lit, all that I had learnt was invaluable. I successfully gained a contract under their imprint Ruby Fiction.

While I remain an active member of Chindi Authors, following Sam Missingham’s advice, I have also recently joined forces with fellow romance writers Caroline James, Angela Barton, Morton S Gray, Julie Houston, Jane Cable, Tora Williams and Mariam Kobras to form Apricot Plots.

We are all passionate about writing smart, fresh romance for the twenty-first century – stripping away out-dated conceptions of romance and romance writers. We are loud and proud about our genre.

Covering the sub-genres of contemporary, historical, mystery, suspense, comedy and more, together we offer something for every romance lover. And we enjoy interacting with our readers, offering competitions and giveaways too. Together we reach more readers and can keep our presence active. If one author is having an off day, the others can take up the slack.

And while our public persona as a group is important what is also invaluable is the private group we share. Behind the scenes, we can talk about issues with our writing, plots, edits and so forth, as well as the general things, positive and negative, that get thrown at us in life. We are there for each other, ready to listen, supportive and encouraging.

When you write within the romance genre, you soon learn that you are part of a very supportive and collaborative community of writers – especially if you become a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. But, as my experience with Chindi Authors proved, I don’t think this is necessarily genre specific. Writing itself can be a solitary affair, connecting with other authors is important and when you work collaboratively, it can be beneficial too.

Three top tips for working collaboratively:

1) Take a little time to find your way, but also be prepared to step up. Somewhat obvious but … the key to collaboration is collaborating.

2) Be prepared to compromise. Working as part of a group will require it at some point.

3) Be actively supportive of others; you’ll get more from it than you might think. Rightfully so, when it comes to working in a group, you tend to get out, what you put in.

 

Find Carol on Twitter @carol_thomas2 and on other social media here:

http://facebook.com/carolthomasauthor

http://www.instagram.com/carol_thomas2/

Website / Blog Link:

http://carol-thomas.co.uk/blog

 

 

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FIRST, LAST, EVERYTHING – CHILDREN’S AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER JOYCE

Posted on by

What was the first piece of writing advice you received?

I armed myself with How Not to Write a Novel by Newman and Middlemark, which is both hilarious and packed full of tips, and The Art of Writing Fiction a rather more scholarly book by Andrew Cowan. 

The first book covers plot, character, style and much more. Each tip is accompanied by bad examples with headings such as ‘The Gum on the Mantelpiece’ where the author makes much play about said-piece of confectionery and then NEVER refers to it again. Anyone else guilty of that? Another of my favourites is a section entitled ‘Said the Fascinating Man” where the author tells the reader what you think of his writing. “Was it a fish?” the girl said eloquently.

The section on what not to name your cat in your story includes:

  • after a composer (Bartok, Mahler)
  • Mr + adjective + anatomical feature (Mr fluffy paws)
  • Magnificat – or similar pun

I think I got away with naming the cat in my book, The Creatures of Chichester – The One About The Smelly Ghosts. I decided on Purrcasso as she lives at the art gallery. What do you think? Did it stray into Magnificat territory?

Mr Cowan’s book is more learned with lots of writing exercises he used with his students at UEA, I believe. These include exercises on creating great dialogue, using all the senses and many more. I created a special notebook to do them all. It’s mostly still empty but – one day.

 

What was the most recent writing advice you gave or received?

Sometimes it really is okay to tell not show. Every course I’ve ever attended and blog you read talk about showing not telling. It can become obsessive. At some point, it’s better to just say: ‘it’s midnight’ rather than: ‘Bats passed silently by the ancient metal hands of the church clock as they moved into a vertical position.’ This is particularly true in children’s books where most kids want action. I am, however, a fan of using show not tell in dialogue though. Better to write His clenched fist was inches from her face, “I Hate you!” said Bob then “I hate you,” said Bob angrily. In fact, part of my editing process is to remove as many adverbs as I can.

 

What’s the piece of advice you’d most like to pass on?

Once you’ve written and edited your work get in proofread by a professional. This is not your sister, who is an English graduate; not your neighbour, who studied law and is very bright and NEVER yourself. It’s impossible. I would add that Grammarly is great at picking up many obvious errors, and it’s free too.

If you can afford an editor then this will also make a huge difference. There are lots of good books and courses on this but, like the proofreading tip above, it’s very hard to do this objectively yourself. reedsy.com is a great source of advice on what you need to consider and also provide experts who can do this for you.

Finally, if you decide to self-publish (as Mark Twain and the Bronte sisters did) then pay for a professional cover designer. If you’ve taken a year or more to write the best book you can, then surely this must be worth it? There are also lots of good books and webinars on this but it’s like me downloading a book on how to play the violin. All the information is there, but I can assure you that my mother would testify that even though I passed grade 1 at junior school, it does not make me a member of the orchestra. If you’re a good writer then write. Leave the editing, proofreading and cover design to somebody else.

 

Christopher Joyce has written six books in The Creatures of Chichester series and produced The Alien Cookbook with out-of-this-world recipes for kids of all ages. He also promotes self-publishing through CHINDI a group of independent authors in the UK. www.creaturesofchichester.com. www.chindi-authors.co.uk

 

Business of Books: So Much to Give – Part 1

Posted on by

Jane Cable on how authors get together to support charities

It’s that time of year again. The time when Chindi Authors stand outside the Cancer Research UK shop in Arundel for ten whole days during the town’s festival trying to sell books. Not an easy task when the second hand offerings inside are so much cheaper, but we stick at it because we can add to the coffers of this excellent cause, promote our own books and meet readers.

We know we’ll be well supported by our members and local people, but organiser romantic novelist and kidlit writer Carol Thomas was asked by author contacts up and down the country if they could donate too. While she did the charitable thing and set up a donation page – http://www.carol-thomas.co.uk/Chindi-cruk/ – her generosity simply got me thinking about how much writers achieve when they band together for good causes.

The most high profile recent example of this was the Authors for Grenfell online auction which attracted pledges of more than £150,000, over £30,000 of which was for Philip Pullman to name a character after one of the young victims of the fire. Quirky lots did well too, with conductor and writer Lev Parikian putting together a package which bridged both his worlds: “I offered signed books and (more importantly on this occasion, I think) conducting lessons. A bidding war between three people meant we raised £1,700.”

 

CLIC Sargent runs an annual ‘Get in Character’ eBay auction where authors such as crime writer E V Seymour and novelist and poet Claire Dyer have offered bidders a range of lots including – you guessed it – having a character in a book named after them. Critiques prove equally popular and previous Business of Books guest Karen King (https://www.frostmagazine.com/2017/04/how-to-have-more-than-100-titles-published/) offered one in the Authors for Refugees auction last year, an initiative which raised £22,000.

 

Another way of writers getting together to raise money is by giving their time to contribute to and to edit anthologies for causes as diverse as cancer and heart charities, earthquake appeals, women’s rescues and hospices. Some have very personal links to the cause, including saga writer Elaine Everest (also a previous Business of Books guest): “I organised and edited the anthology ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ (Accent Press) to celebrate my 30th anniversary of surviving breast cancer (7 years ago) with funds going to Against Breast Cancer.”

 

Crime & thriller writer Jane Risdon is a serial contributor to anthologies, supporting amongst others Women for Women, Breakthrough, Women’s Aid, The Norfolk Hospice, The Princess Alice Hospice and Save The Children. She was slightly upset when there was no thanks from certain charities, but would still do it again. Other authors say that smaller charities are more responsive than the larger ones so they prefer to work with these.

 

Some writers go the whole nine yards and get together to form charities of their own. A prime example of this is saga writer and Frost contributing editor, Margaret Graham, who together with Jan Speedie and Penny Deacon set up Words for the Wounded which exists to raise funds for injured service personnel through writing prizes and events. It’s a wonderful organisation and every penny goes directly to the people who need it. Authors can help in a variety of ways – Chindi raised almost a thousand pounds by organising a litfest, others give their time to speak at events or in my case I donate £1 for every Amazon review of my book Another You. Find out more about W4W here: http://www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk/.

 

 

Festival Fun: Jane Cable puzzles over how best to publicise a local event

Posted on by

the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableI don’t know if it’s just me, but as a writer I’ve become so locked into digital marketing that asking me to promote something tangible and local leaves me scratching my head.

Although Chindi Authors were always going to run a series of events at this summer’s Festival of Chichester I hadn’t really envisaged joining in. For a start, I would be in the middle of a long distance house move. But since the arts’ editor of the local paper persuaded me to take part it has kind of become my Chichester swan song.

Chindi are running six events in all. We kick off with a crime writers’ panel on 20th June, the next night host a ghost walk around the city, followed by an indie publishing panel on the 22nd and on the 23rd I’m going to talk about how starting my writing career as an indie helped me to win my publishing deal. On Saturday 24th we have two events planned: a creative writing workshop during the day and a wine & words quiz in the evening. The latter came about because our festival home is the function room above Hennings, Chichester’s independent wine merchant.

As ever, children’s author Christopher Joyce is the moving force behind the project. As ever, I was two steps behind him, nodding enthusiastically. As a result of this enthusiasm I find myself taking part in the indie panel, hosting the editing table, and if numbers dictate helping him to run the creative writing workshop. But numbers are the thing – bookings for our events are starting to come in, but they are not all as popular as we hoped.

Some of this is to do with being part of a festival. The upside is being featured in their programme, on their website and across their social media (in theory – the last time they tweeted anything was two weeks ago). The downside is that there are so many great events for people to choose from, so how do we make ours stand out?

FESTIVAL FUN Jane Cable puzzles over how best to publicise a local event

We need to reach local readers and writers – mainly writers – and they are a limited audience. The local papers are being supportive but how else do we make sure they know about our events? Twitter is a massive stage for this sort of thing and although we have lovely Canva graphics to post we need to make sure we are using the correct hashtags. So perhaps social media isn’t the best approach.

Our email newsletter goes out next week and features the events so hopefully that will help increase the numbers. At least the audience is targeted locally and we know they love books.

As a group we decided against leaflets because everyone hates giving them out, but I think this could have been a mistake. We have a poster in the window of Hennings, and I have designed one for my own event which will go into the library and anywhere else I can persuade to take it. Although we are a group and we all promote each others’ events our biggest responsibility is to our own. And from my point of view, local promotion is something I’ve lost the knack for.

Actually, event or not, being visible in the locality of your book, or where you live, is an essential part of the author’s marketing toolkit. People are always so much more interested when they feel they may be able to recognise something of their own lives in your work it’s vital we don’t become so focused on the global horizon we forget our own back yards.

For more information about spoken word events at the Festival of Chichester look here: http://festivalofchichester.co.uk/spoken-word/

 

 

The Business of Books: The Feeling’s Mutual

Posted on by

the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableThe Business of Books: The Feeling’s Mutual

Jane Cable muses support from other writers

I had a very interesting conversation on Thursday. At the Romantic Novelists’ Association Cornish Chapter lunch we fell to talking about how best to market our books. None of us felt we had a firm grasp of what worked and what didn’t, but all the same I was adamant that doing something was better than doing nothing.

Take the RNA’s #TuesNews initiative. On Tuesdays a number of us (probably about a hundred or so of the full membership) retweet each other’s posts carrying the hashtag. As a result our Twitter feeds fill with the latest news from romantic novelists, some blatant promotion and some a bit more interesting, but we do it to support each other. And actually, for readers and bloggers with an interest in the genre it’s a good place to find out what’s going on in the world of romantic fiction.

writing, #amwriting, authors, jane cable. Margaret graham

You also come to ‘know’ the regular retweeters and interact with them in other places and in other ways. Writing can be isolating and it’s good to know there are people around you sharing the same experiences, even if it’s in a virtual sense. Whether or not there are sales to be gained from the exercise is perhaps less important than the feeling of being part of something larger.

I belong to a number of groups of writers, formal and informal, and all have their own character. The No 1 Author Buddy Ladies on Facebook has become a real place for mutual support. We have just over 100 members covering multiple genres and writers at different stages of their careers help each other out. We celebrate when someone has their first deal, help them to see the wood for the trees with potentially dodgy contracts and chip in on all sorts of subjects from naming characters to helping to promote special offers.

All the same it’s still helpful to meet other authors face to face, like at the Cornish Chapter lunch. The problem is that finding mutually convenient times for meetings is hard, and even local groups need to be flexible. Take Chindi Authors – formally Chichester Independent Authors and now rebranding as Celebrating and Helping Indie Authors with a stronger online presence and virtual meetings. Chindi has always existed primarily to help with publishing and marketing indie books and to gain real depth of experience across all genres we needed to extend our reach beyond the confines of our corner of West Sussex.

I still have a hunch that the authors you support the most are those you actually know. Certainly when setbacks come they are the ones you turn to for advice and – let’s face it – sympathy. Although when I recently parted company with my agent because she didn’t rate my current manuscript my loving husband cracked open the champagne (literally!), it was author friends who provided solid advice and shored up my wavering confidence in my work.

In the digital age writers can’t afford to be isolated and selfish with their time and a large number aren’t. I suppose there are those who are, but we simply don’t know them. There is huge generosity out there, such as JoJo Moyes on Twitter offering a week in her holiday home for an aspiring writer to work in peace and Chindi Authors pulling together to raise almost £1,000 for Words for the Wounded.

The world of publishing is getting tougher and it’s up to writers to work together to make the best of it. So if anyone is reading this in a lonely garret – reach out – you’ll be surprised what you find.

 

 

Best Endeavours Best Bib & Tucker: Jane Cable On What Happens When You Get That Publishing Deal

Posted on by
Jane Cable, publishing, writingBEST ENDEAVOURS
Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.
BEST BIB & TUCKER
Parties, it seems, are like buses; writers’ parties even more so, with two in one week and a book club sandwiched between them. A book club which was incredibly interesting, but will need to be deferred to another blog to do it justice. 
Regular readers will know that I belong to two writers’ organisations (well, three including the Society of Authors) and both held events last week. Wednesday was fun and networking with the Romantic Novelists’ Association and Friday was the serious business of raising money for Dyslexia Action with Chindi Authors.
I had discovered three important things in advance of the RNA Winter Party; that drink would be taken (beforehand and during), that it would be incredibly noisy, and incredibly hot. On no level did it disappoint, although the fact that a rather nice New Zealand sauvignon blanc was only £10 a bottle in the restaurant beforehand meant I spent the whole party sipping a single increasingly warm glass of fizz, thankful that over the years of drinking I have learnt when to stop.
The wall of sound was unbelievable; a high ceilinged room filled to the brim with almost exclusively female voices meant it was practically impossible to hold a conversation with softly spoken fellow Endeavour author, Maggie Greenwood. I soon discovered that the best way of catching people’s names and making the link permanent was to find them on Twitter on my phone. It felt terribly modern after years of swapping (and losing) business cards. I was only sorry I didn’t meet more authors because in true RNA style the whole evening was incredibly friendly and sociable.
best-endeavours-best-bib-tucker-jane-cable-on-what-happens-when-you-get-that-publishing-deal
 Back on home turf on Friday was Chindi Authors’ #LovetoRead party. To be fair, before the doors opened not everything went smoothly. Husband lost count of the number of times he moved tables from one end of the hall to the other and re-arranged chairs. The phrase ‘how many writers does it take to set up a room’ came frequently to mind, despite organiser Helen Christmas’ best attempts to impose order. It must have felt like herding cats. And that was before one author turned up so late that three others had split his table space between them. 
As usual I buddied up with my close friend and children’s author Christopher Joyce. It makes sense when you’re sharing a table; Chris has five Creatures of Chichester books, including ‘The One About the Edible Aliens’, which he was launching. I have only two, so I can squeeze into a corner. We’ve become good at selling each other’s books over the years – and our other halfs well used to enjoying a pint together.
But this time I was one of three authors lucky enough to be reading (Chris having been a perfect gentleman and given up his slot to a dyslexia specialist). I chose the first chapter of The Faerie Tree – the book starts just before Christmas so it felt right. Luckily four of my closest friends sat in the front row so I could pretend I was just reading to them and it must have worked; it’s an amazing feeling to hear people in an audience gasp when you reach a certain point. That, and the fact we raised over £700 for Dyslexia Action, made my night.
Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. If you’d like to read the first chapter of The Faerie Tree you can find it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faerie-Tree-Jane-Cable-ebook/dp/B00UTI27AY/.
The Seahorse Summer (or whatever it ends up being called) tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

BEST ENDEAVOURS BEST IDEAS: Jane Cable on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag

Posted on by

rembranbrancesundayIsn’t it funny how the most important emails just seem to slide into your inbox at the most inopportune times? Late on Monday afternoon my edit notes and first proof came back from Endeavour – just as I was wolfing down an early supper ready to go to Chindi Authors’ monthly meeting. I scanned the email – heart in mouth – only to find myself reeling from the last sentence.
But I had no time to consider the contents – the Chindi meeting was an important one, mainly devoted to planning the final details of our #LovetoRead fundraising evening for Dyslexia Action on Friday. Raffle prizes to co-ordinate, running order to finalise, budget for canapés to be agreed… All whirling around my head in an unusually disorganized fashion while I tried to digest the email bombshell.
To be honest, now I’m used to the idea, it doesn’t seem so bad. Endeavour want me to change the title of the book, that’s all. And to put things in context, the edit notes extended to only three points, the last one prefaced with the phrase ‘this probably isn’t important’. They’re useful and fair and acting on them will certainly improve the book.

Jane Cable, publishing, writing
The problem with changing the title was that I didn’t have a clue where to begin. You become wedded to the name of your book over the years of development and when agent Felicity loved it too I felt sure I’d be able to keep it. Changing my mindset is something akin to turning an oil tanker but I’m determined to do it and come up with something better.
First some guidance was required from Amy, Endeavour’s publishing director and her answer came back clear and strong: look in the Kindle charts for books of a similar genre – and a tip that short phrases from films or songs often do well. Now my knowledge of films is limited to say the least (having not been to the cinema since the third… or maybe fourth… Harry Potter movie came out) but at least I have a neighbour with a first class degree in the subject so his enormous brain was brought to bear on the challenge.
I quickly realised it’s impossible to instil all the nuances of a book into just a few words and that made me try to set out what it’s really about. It isn’t about seahorses (although they feature fairly strongly) and it isn’t about summer (although the action all takes place between April and August). It’s about being damaged, and healing, and moving on with your life. Or not – as the case may be. It looks back at the past – D-Day specifically – or perhaps the past looks forwards at us. No one title is ever going to cover it all.
So now there is a page in my notebook with an increasing number of titles on it. The most obvious ones have inevitably been taken but I have a few which might just do the trick. And I’m still canvassing opinion, so if you have any bright ideas then please, please let me know.

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Jane will be reading from The Faerie Tree at Chindi Author’s #LovetoRead party in Chichester on 18th November. More details here: http://www.chindi-authors.co.uk/news/
The Seahorse Summer (or whatever it ends up being called) tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

 

Best Endeavours, Best of Spirits: Jane Cable’s on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag

Posted on by
best-endeavours-best-of-spirits-jane-cables-on-what-happens-once-that-digital-publishing-deal-is-in-the-bagBEST ENDEAVOURS
 
Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.
 
BEST OF SPIRITS
 
For a writer of ghost stories Hallowe’en offers apparently boundless opportunities to promote your work. I benefitted greatly from this when my first novel, The Cheesemaker’s House, hit the bookshops one September and my friend and PR Lisa Holden was able to secure some wonderful reviews in seasonal features.
 
2016 is The Cheesemaker’s House’s fourth witching season so once again I decided to make the best of it by running promotions on Twitter and on Facebook to give away iBooks. While I won’t ‘sell’ my books for a big fat zero on Amazon (or anywhere else, for that matter) I’m happy to give iBooks – and paperbacks – as competition prizes because it opens the doors to new readers and requires a certain amount of engagement from them. And as you may have gathered, I just love engaging with people who love books.
Jane Cable, publishing, writing
This year my local writers’ group, Chindi Authors, has been supporting #LovetoRead (more of which in a few weeks) and as part of our efforts those of us with sufficient courage have been videoed reading from our books. My offering – the first chapter of The Cheesemaker’s House – can be accessed via my website here http://janecable.com/the-book/4577579495 . Do me a favour if you do visit the link… listen, but don’t look. But at least I can take comfort in the knowledge that next time I’ll dress more carefully.
 
Much as I love writing ghost stories I fell into it by accident. The Cheesemaker’s House didn’t start out that way, and The Seahorse Summer began life with a very different ghost. But I have a genuine fascination with the fictional possibilities presented by the ripping of the veil between this world and the next and with every new character from beyond the grave I want to stretch the boundaries a little bit more.
 
This year the Hallowe’en fear factor increased when Reading Writers asked me to judge their autumn competition which was for a short format ghost story. One poem and eight prose pieces later I realised that writers across all genres had been prepared to give it a go. Fantasy, thriller and humour were all represented and the winner used characters from his military work in progress to brilliant effect.
 
It was also a new experience sitting in front of a room full of writers and giving them feedback on their work. Most were extremely gracious (although I did detect a pursed lip or two), but technical errors aside at the end of the day a winning story is a matter of personal choice. It made me realise just how lucky I was that The Cheesemaker’s House found people who loved it… and just happened to be judging competitions.