Would anyone like to contribute a book review or two to my blog? If so, I'd be pleased to hear from you. Email me your review of any book about writing, publishing or anything associated (the books don't have to be newly-published), and I'll consider it for inclusion in this blog. There's no payment offered for this; I don't guarantee to use all the reviews that I receive; they must be all your own original work; and don't expect me to edit your work for you: it's got to be good before you send it in. If you want me to, I'll link to your blog if your review appears and I hope that this will increase your hits as well as mine.
My email address is in that right-hand column, up near the top. Put "HPRW review" followed by your book's title in the subject-line, so I don't mistake your offering for spam: include a link to your blog if you want it included, and a brief bio for yourself if you can bear to write one.
And now I'm off for another cup of tea. All this speaking sternly has worn me out.
8 comments:
Is there a word limit?
Yeah, go on, pick holes, why don't you. Everyone's a critic.
(Ooops. I should have mentioned that, shouldn't I? Most of my pieces here run from 200-800 words, but if you've got a lot to say or are writing about more than one book at a time, then 1,000 would be the absolute maximum.)
I've only ever reviewed fiction so far, but if I ever get around to reading any of my writing craft books properly I'll give it a go!
"Those who can write, write. Those who cannot, write about writing."
Patrick White to a very young Cat at an Adelaide Writers' Week. I had been foolish enough to dare to ask the great man whether there was something I should read about writing! I still slink away fearfully from such books.
Can they also include literary biography, or critiques of travel writing or books about journalism?
Or do they have to be all about the craft and business of writing itself?
I would prefer reviews of books about the craft of writing (all genres) and the publishing business--how it works, and its history. I might change that in the future, but for now would prefer to stick with the quite narrow focus that is appropriate to this blog right now.
And Cat, Mr White sounds like he was being just a little too pompous for my taste. I hope he didn't hurt your furry feelings.
Ah Jane, I think you would have had a problem keeping a straight face. I was introduced to the great man (and remember he was our supposedly revered winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature) by another revered Australian writer, one of my mentors until her death. Her words?
"This is Cat - and be polite to her. She writes."(Miaou!)
I attended Donald Maass' workshop and found it the best single thing I have done to progress my writing. His book, "Writing the Breakout Novel" though good, remained in the workshop's shadow. The caveat is: anything would have. A breakout novel is loosely defined as one that contines to sell beyond the mediocre - either escalates into the ethers of the NYT bestseller list or keeps on selling for longer by word of mouth. Would reading and applying this book help me/you write a breakout novel? Definitely. How? By increasing the tension in your novel,introducing multiple subplots and voices, making the protagonist likable, and providing the reader with some wins. Easy, peasy? Hard work, more like it. Just like writing any novel. Remy96
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