Tag Archives: Publishing

BEST ENDEAVOURS: Best Of Days: Jane Cable’s Digital Publishing Journey

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Jane Cable, publishing, writingBEST ENDEAVOURS

Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BEST OF DAYS

That’s it – the manuscript has been emailed to Endeavour and acknowledged. In four to six weeks I’ll know how much more work I have to do.

So how do I feel? Exhausted – and suddenly very uncertain about my book. Of course the logical part of my mind tells me to get a grip; all I’ve done is a little tweaking and tidying up – they’ve read The Seahorse Summer, for goodness sake – and they’ve bought the rights. So of course it’s going to be fine. The tired, emotional part of my brain, however, is so mashed up I got motion sickness on the elevator in Sainsburys. No kidding.

But last night in my favourite pub, The Victory Inn at Towan Cross in Cornwall, an important aspect of my book was validated when conversation around the bar fell to a former soldier who was going badly off the rails. In so many ways they could have been talking about one of the two GIs in my book, Paxton.

Now when you tackle a subject like combat stress it’s important to get it right. I was lucky enough to be introduced to a former para turned fitness instructor who was prepared to tell me what he’d seen and heard from the soldiers under his care in Afghanistan after they came home from setting up Camp Bastion. The sense of isolation when separated from their unit on leave. The struggle returning to normal family life and relationships after all they’d experienced. How combat can scar a man in ways unseen. How fireworks are never the same again.

publishing, writing

Readers of Frost will be no strangers to Words for The Wounded, the charity set up by author and contributing editor Margaret Graham. The charity supports soldiers suffering from combat stress and I very much hope that I can do something with The Seahorse Summer that can help them in this work.

In the meantime, with the editing finished, what now? Feet up for a while? Not a chance… there’s a huge ‘to do’ list of tasks which have been swept to one side and too long ignored; a vast amount of marketing to be done – both in advance of The Seahorse Summer and for The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree which have been sliding down the Kindle charts while I’ve been busy editing; and, of course, picking up the threads of my current manuscript again.

But as for today? I’m on the north Cornish coast and the sun is shining. Quite honestly, I think I deserve a little break.

 

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. The Seahorse Summer 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: Jane Cable on her digital publishing deal journey: Sunday Best

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Jane Cable, publishing, writingBEST ENDEAVOURS
Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.
SUNDAY BEST
On Sunday I went to Studland. Not simply because I needed to, but because I wanted to. Walk where my characters walk; see what my characters see; breathe the same air.
The plot of The Seahorse Summer takes place almost exclusively in Studland Bay and the on the beaches and cliffs which surround it. Centered on the village pub (not The Bankes Arms, albeit my fictional Smugglers shares a similar position) the haunting claustrophobia of the bay echoes Marie’s world as she wonders how she will ever escape.
Having spent so long on one side of the bar in The Smugglers it felt slightly odd to sit on the either side of it in The Bankes Arms. As well as the location I’ve borrowed a few other things; the grey stone of the building itself, the basic L-shaped layout; the huge fireplace and the garden overlooking the sea. But the real pub is very much a vibrant business with its own brewery, B&B rooms and armies of staff – the poor old Smugglers could never compete, relying as it does simply on Marie’s marvelous food.

janecable
As a writer you tweak your locations to fit your story, but in the case of Studland the location is changing all by itself. The Seahorse Summer is set just twelve years ago, but all the same coastal erosion has taken its toll. My original position for Marie’s beach hut was at the bottom of a wooden staircase onto the sand not far from Fort Henry. It was there when I first visited in 2009, but not any more. The incredibly wet winter of 2012/13 caused many landslips in the area and the steps were just one of the casualties.
The beach itself is changing too, constantly with every tide. Where there were rocks under Redend Point, now there is sand. One day, the sand will disappear and the rocks will be revealed once again. Up on the cliffs the gorse is almost completely covered with brambles and ferns. The landscape outlives us all, and nature can be a powerful adversary – or ally – as Marie discovers.
The essence of Studland on a sunny Sunday remains. Pleasure boats filling the bay, children playing on the narrow strip of sand as the tide drops, the pub garden filling as lunchtime draws closer. And a writer, wandering slowly through it all, drinking it in, storing it away. Refreshed for the final assault on her editing.

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. The Seahorse Summer 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 Foot Forward: Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues

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Jane Cable, publishing, writing
BEST ENDEAVOURS

Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BEST FOOT FORWARD

Editing involves a great deal of sitting down. Far more than my slightly dodgy back can manage at the moment anyway. So after being glued to my office chair for a few hours I balanced my laptop on a box file on the ironing board and tried that (standing at your desk being all the rage). It helped, but not a great deal as I found it slightly awkward to type.

What does work is going for a walk in the middle of the day and I am hugely blessed to live in a small village tucked under the South Downs so peace and quiet and country air are only ever a few steps outside my front door. And while tramping around the lanes is freeing up my back muscles it does exactly the same for my mind.

Agent Felicity has cleverly crafted my elevator pitch as a writer as “love with a ghostly element in a beautiful setting” and I’ll go with that. Completely. And beautiful settings inevitably require walking.

publishing, what happens when you get a publishing deal

The Seahorse Summer is set in Studland Bay in Dorset and opens on the sixtieth anniversary of a rehearsal for D-Day which went horribly wrong. I visited the village exactly ten years later and on my walk up to the cliffs made special note of the wonderful countryside around me; the daffodils dying back on the banks, slowly being replaced by primroses; the tractor rumbling across the fields; tiny birds swarming the hawthorn hedges; enticing glimpses of the sea below. Minute observation helps me to create a credible world for my characters to inhabit.

Every day, as I walk, I do the same thing. It’s a great discipline for a writer. I always say that to write good dialogue you need to remember you have two ears and one mouth. To write great descriptions you need all five senses.

Yesterday the earliest touches of autumn were making themselves felt. Cow parsley dying back to reveal blackberries – some fruits ripe and squashy between my fingers, others in tight green fists. The tiniest hint of chill on the breeze which carried the pheasants’ calls and the wood smoke from a distant bonfire across the valley. The strict definition of meteorological autumn starting on 1st September becoming a reality before my eyes.

Time is, indeed, marching on. But I have finished the character edits for all but Marie and next I need to review each paragraph, making sure it is essential to the story. The book has changed so much since its first iteration I need to remove the distracting loose ends – and in the process make sure that every scene is adding something for the reader.

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. The Seahorse Summer 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.

 

 

From West Coast to West Country by Maya Pieris

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From West Coast to West Country by Maya Pieris1Antonia Squire is building up a loyal clientele for the Bridport Bookshop including dogs- they love the classy doggy biltong available and not just with a book buy. Brought up in Surrey and educated in Harrogate, Antonia upped sticks aged 20 for California, married an American and was happily living in the world of independent bookshops in San Francisco- first Kepler’s and then The Reading Bug- where she was the children’s book buyer amongst other roles.

 

Until a holiday in the UK in 2014 when they did a progress from Yorkshire to Cornwall and became one of many smitten with the idea of the south-west and Cornwall.  She came across the sale details for the Bridport Bookshop, voted one of the Guardian’s top 50 indie bookshops, took a detour on the way back to Heathrow and discovered the delights of the town and the potential of the shop, one of several book emporiums including two excellent second hand/antiquarian shops, a Waterstones and a wonderful Oxfam which has a brilliant range of “loved” Penguins.

From West Coast to West Country by Maya PierisThe result was changing coast and country but still keeping the west bit and, with husband and dogs in tow, becoming a bookshop owner. And discovering the challenges involved in running a business in a new country! Small but vital changes were made to the shop’s geography, not quite Hogwarts, but involving moving the counter to the back of the shop so the customer can see in and the staff can see out and increasing the size and range of the stock. “I’m a bookseller. The stock is the most important element of the shop and  knowing what people are going to want to read and not just what a publisher wants to see displayed is more art than science”.

 

She sees no problems with co-existing with the variety of other booksellers, her goal is to be the place people come to find the things they don’t know they want. Almost a year on, she is well on the way to establishing that indie bookshops are an invaluable resource to a town. So many people want the individual experience that can only be achieved by a true “shopkeeper” and, she has observed, people are very loyal, although she has had to tone down the “hi my name is kelly how are you today?” customer service style – less touch feely than she’s been used to but she still says hello!

From West Coast to West Country by Maya Pieris3And she is aware of the potential of the indie bookshop as a grassroots support for the community, working more closely with schools in supporting their curriculum needs as well as providing a venue for local authors to promote their works and judging local poetry and fiction slams. In particular she has developed links with the Open Book festival, a festival for and by the local community about literacy rather than literature which is more the remit of the more formal Bridport Literary Festival (which she is also working with to help develop the Children’s Programming). The shop will be supporting the Bridport Big Read as well as a pop up drama production. So over halfway through her first year she is restoring an independent bookshop into the literary and literate heart of the town. And she giftwraps the books too!
* Frost would love to hear about other Independent Bookshops – contact: frost@margaret-graham.com

 

 

Submissions Now Open For The 9th Luke Bitmead Writer’s Bursary

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writing competitions, writing, competitions, novel, novel writingWe know a lot of writers read Frost so we wanted to bring this great competition to your attention. Submissions for the 2016 Luke Bitmead Writer’s Bursary are now open.

The award was set up shortly after Luke’s death in 2006 by his family to support and encourage the work of fledgling novel writers and the Bursary is now the UK’s biggest award for unpublished authors. The top prize is a publishing contract with Legend Press and a £2,500 cash prize.

Luke Bitmead was the first novelist to be published by Legend Press, his novel White Summer was released in 2006 shortly before his death. Two novels have been published posthumously – The Body is a Temple and Heading South (co-authored by Catherine Richards). Information about Luke can be found at www.lukebitmead.com.
This fantastic bursary for a ninth year, and hope to continue the success of our previous winners Andrew Blackman (On the Holloway Road), Ruth Dugdall (The Woman Before Me), Sophie Duffy (The Generation Game), J.R. Crook (Sleeping Patterns,) Joanne Graham (Lacey’s House), Jo Gatford (White Lies), Tara Guha (Untouchable Things) and Lyn G. Farrell (The Wacky Man) published today 2nd May 2016.

Only adult fiction is eligible for this bursary, no children’s books or non-fiction.

Tom Chalmers, Legend Press MD comments ‘We are delighted to be continuing this brilliant bursary for the ninth year. The prize is a fantastic way to find new, undiscovered writing talent, and we have found some of our most exciting authors through the prize. Luke was an amazingly talented young author, and it is an honour to be continuing the prize in his name.’

Submissions from writers will be accepted from Monday 2nd May until Friday 15th July 2016.

For information about how to enter visit: http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press/365-luke-bitmead-bursary

 

 

Gillian Holmes, (aka The Editor) Responded to Frost’s Request for Help Writing a Synopsis

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Synopsis: A brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play etc. by Gillian Holmes

Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Graham1

 

A very talented friend of mine sent me the synopsis of the novel she was writing for her Creative Writing MA. Her tutor had sent her away with a flea in her ear, and she came to me with no real idea of what she’d done wrong.
As a veteran of synopses of nearly twenty years standing, I saw immediately that she had made a very common error. Namely, she’d forgotten what a synopsis is. She thought she needed to show her thinking behind the book, and give the reader a flavour of what was to come. Consequently, she had managed to give far too much information, while also giving too little.

How is that possible?

 

  1. She wrote a lot about her main character, while neglecting the plot.
  2. She had included lines from the book, but with no context, they were irrelevant.
  3. She had tried to illustrated the themes in the book, but neglected the plot.
  4. She had tried to illustrate the humour in the book by describing the occasional amusing scene. But she’d neglected the plot…

 

Do you see where I’m going here? So when you sit down to write your synopsis, always remember that  this is not a creative work, so don’t try to be too clever. Clarity is everything.

 

So what do agents and editors want from a synopsis?

 

  1. They want 1500 words or fewer.
  2. They want an elevator pitch – a couple of lines that outlines the concept. The concept is a very strong consideration for all agents and editors, so make it snappy and memorable. For example, let’s take a recent bestseller – The Husband’s Secret. A happily married woman with three children discovers that her husband murdered a young girl when he was a teenager.
  3. A brief summary of the plot, key moments, key events, and main characters so they can see the arc of the story and judge whether the structure seems sound – leave out complicated sub plots, it will only bog you down in unnecessary detail.
  4. The end – and that means the end. Don’t hold anything back, this is not a cover blurb.

 

And that’s it. Easy peasy.
If you’re wondering about my friend, I sent her back to rewrite her synopsis several times. But it was worth it. She got an A for it in the end.

Gillian has been an editor for mainstream publishers for twenty years. Now she runs her own editorial agency.
To contact Gillian:  gilliansholmes@hotmail.com

 

 

Meet Gillian Holmes – Literary Editor

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Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Graham1

Gillian Holmes

 

Frost is delighted that Gillian Holmes of the editing house, The Editor, will, over the next few weeks, advise Frost’s readers on writing successful first chapters, and that tricky beast the synopsis.

 

The timing is particularly apt because the charity Words for the Wounded (sponsored by Frost Magazine) has launched its 2016 Independent Author Book Award  for self published books – fiction or non fiction/e-book or physical.  which is due to close on 6th March. Last year’s competition was won by Jane Cable, who as a result is now represented by Felicity Trew of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.

Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Grahamfelicitydrew2 Felicity Trew

 

It is Felicity who is judging the Words for the Wounded competition this year, so flex those fingers, sharpen your imaginations and let Frost, and Gillian, help you along the way.

 

Gillian Holmes  has been working in publishing for nearly twenty years. She started out at Quarto, working on craft books – applique and decoupage was very popular at the time and she’s endeavoured to forget everything she learned about those skills over the years.

 

She quickly moved on from that nightmare to work at Simon & Schuster where she worked with authors such as Jackie Collins, Ben Elton and Sean Hughes. As well as doing quite a lot of football, the X Files and books about UFOs.

 

Then on to Carlton, working on illustrated non-fiction and TV tie-in novelisations – the Coronation Street novel is a particularly proud moment. The entire 40 years in a novel.

 

But with three children, life in-house became difficult, so she worked as a freelance editor, copy editor and proofreader for various clients, before moving back in-house to Arrow Books six years ago, where she edited many bestselling authors, such as Katie Flynn, Dorothy Koomson, Amy Silver (aka Paula Hawkins), Cathy Woodman, Lisa Lynch and Margaret Graham, and many others.
Gillian is really looking forward, over the next few weeks, to helping those of you who are working on a novel, or perhaps to inspire those who are not, to do so.

For more information about the Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award, and the charity which raises funds to help in the recovery of wounded service personnel, go to www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

Gillian has now set up her own concern, The Editor: gilliansholmes@hotmail.com 

 

 

 

Tedium or Inspiration? By L.J. Brown

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Have you ever read a book where the plot was so dreadful, you couldn’t even bring yourself to finish it? As an avid book consumer, with over 700 books in my e-library, I can definitely say I have.

 

After reading over 80% of one particular book (which shall remain unnamed) and wishing a sudden explosion would kill off the entire dreary cast; I put the book down, never to be picked up again and decided to see if I could write my own.

The only problem was finding the time. With a small family and a full time job, writing a novel was challenging but, not one to be deterred, I found a solution. Instead of taking a walk, browsing the internet or picking up my latest fiction during my lunch breaks; I opened a word document and began typing, lifting my head occasionally to walk and admire the tranquillity of the countryside. Two years later and after many lunch breaks ignoring my colleagues, I had my first draft.

 

Proud of my accomplishment, I handed my manuscript to my family for their unbiased opinion but what family member would tell you something you had worked so hard on was terrible? Obviously they wouldn’t and to show their support, my dad entered and won a charity silent auction through the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil on behalf of Words for the Wounded which was for Margaret Graham to critique the first three chapters of my novel.  Margaret, who is not only a best-selling author but an editor and tutor, gave knowledgeable and experienced advice and her suggestions were invaluable. I can safely say that that kind of assistance and commendation is priceless and I would recommend every new and hopeful writer finds a professional opinion for their works. With Margaret’s feedback and the mind-set to succeed I re-edited, reworked and pulled in a couple of contacts to get the cover designed. Finally Scarred Soul was complete and just waiting for my courage to put it out there for the world to see.

laura pic 3

Deciding to go the route of self-publishing I took the plunge and in January 15 sent my book into the Ethernet and by March, although slow, was seeing my book sell with good feedback from people avidly awaiting the sequel.

And so I would like to thank the unnamed writer. Although your work was not to my taste I will be forever grateful to you for inspiring me to do as you did and put fingers to the keyboard. No matter how my book is received, I am proud of the accomplishment of completing it as I hope you are with yours and, as I plan to do, hope that you continue writing and enjoying the freedom and inspiration writing can give.

www.smashwords.com/books/view/519378