Following My New Website On Blogger

I've received a few emails over the last couple of weeks from readers who were used to following my this blog from within their own Blogger dashboards, and who now can't tell when I've posted something on my new site because it has no "Follow" widget there.

If you come into this category, and would like to make my blog updates appear in your Blogger reading list, it can be done. You just have to add my new site's address manually to your reading list: it's very easy, and will only take you a minute. Here's how you do it.

First, go to your Blogger dashboard and scroll down until you can see your own reading list. At the bottom of that section you'll see two buttons: "add" and "manage". Click on the "add" button: your screen will go pale and a dialogue box will open which is titled, "Step 1: Add Blogs To Follow".

Make sure the first option, "Add from URL", is selected and then, in the box below it, type in the URL for my new website, which is "http://howpublishingreallyworks.com" (only without the quote-marks). Then click on the "next" button, and you'll be asked if you want to follow publically or anonymously. Then click "finish", and you're done. From then on, all the posts I make at my new address will appear in your reading list, so you need never miss one again.

There. I told you it was easy. Now all I have to do is work out how to work the trick in reverse, so I can follow all of you lot from my nice new Wordpress dashboard. There has to be a way.

(This post is duplicated on my new site: you won't be able to comment on it here as comments are closed here now, but if you would like to say something just follow this link and you land in the right place.)

Does Everyone Have All Their Bags?

How Publishing Really Works is moving to its new home! I'm going to start moving things over there tomorrow, so while I do that you should all bookmark our new address. I'll be disabling comments over here to make sure that nothing gets left behind.

I'll see you all at the new place very soon. Bring your party hats.

Now Charlie Needs Our Help

Now that we've found Brenda Carter, we need to find someone else. Someone who could offer Charlie a lovely new home.

Charlie is an eight-year-old neutered male cat, who looks to me as though he contains a fair amount of Maine Coon heritage, and here he is in his sex-kitten pose. Charlie is sociable, happy, and clean around the house, but sadly he needs a new home as his owner is having to move to a new home where she can no longer keep him. Charlie likes to go out, so needs a home where he'll be safe from traffic. He has a slightly runny eye as he had cat-flu when he was a kitten, but he is otherwise fit and well. As you can see from the photograph he is a nice clean boy who enjoys a bath (so long as you remember not to put any water in it) and he has an oversized joke tail which he wears to cheer everyone up.

He lives in Leicestershire at the moment, and at a push I can collect him from there and get him to Leeds, Sheffield or Manchester if that would help.

Can anyone offer Charlie the loving, appreciative home that he so richly deserves?

While I'm Away...

...you could be writing.

You could let me know how much you've written, if you liked (I've written two articles this week, a handful of rough blog posts, and about 3,000 words of fiction, none of which are on my computer yet).

And if you spot any interesting publishing-related articles or blog posts, please post links here so I can catch up with them once I'm back to full strength. I am SO VERY BORED with not being able to play on the internet, watch TV, or read. It would make me very happy to come back here and find all sorts of juicy links.

Taking A Short Break

I'm going to have to take a short break from my blog as my vision is failing again; I have posterior vitreous detachment, and it's going through one of its periodic flare-ups. I don't want to do any permanent damage to my sight, and over the last couple of days using the computer has become increasingly problematic: I'll be back as soon as I can, but meanwhile play nicely without me.

Special Congratulations To RJ Frith!

RJ Frith has won the War of the Words novel-writing competition with The Nemesis List. The competition was organised by publisher Tor UK and Sci Fi Now magazine, and attracted a high number and standard of entries.

My warmest congratulations to RJ Frith for this significant win. It's richly deserved, and I hope it will be the first of many. I look forward to buying The Nemesis List as soon as it's published: and I cannot stress enough how very pleased I am about this!

The Write Lines

Broadcaster and writer Sue Cook has a short series about writing and getting published running on Sunday evenings on BBC Radio Oxford. It's called The Write Lines: last week's episode is available to listen to again, and its next episode will run live tomorrow evening, from 9 to 10pm GMT.

Tomorrow night the discussion will focus on how to find an agent and get your work into print. Guests include literary agent David Godwin; literary agent and founder of the London Writers' Club Jacqueline Burns, and writers Katie Fforde, Caroline Smailes, Elizabeth Chadwick, Robyn Scott, and Miriam Wakerly. Writer Ben Johncock (who blogs for The Bookseller) will be tweeting live from the studio; and some woman called Jane Smith will be there too, butting into the conversation from time to time and generally making a nuisance of herself.

Even if you live outside the range of the BBC's Oxford transmitters you should be able to listen along on the internet from the links I've given above. If you'd like to participate and you have a Twitter account, please Tweet your questions to @theWriteLines before and during the programme, and we'll do our best to answer as many as we can. Meanwhile, you can prepare for the show by reading up on the participants either by following the above links to their websites, or by following them on Twitter: all our user-names are below. I'm looking forward to hearing from you: and please forgive me if I mumble or giggle uncontrollably, I'm not used to radio and Sue Cook provides free wine--it could be a dangerous combination.

@theWriteLines
@SueCookcom
@MiriamWakerly
@Caroline_S
@Chadwickauthor
@robynscott
@KatieFforde
@writersclub

@hprw

I Am Working On A Website!

I know, I know. As if I don't have enough trouble maintaining this blog without tearing my hair out, I now have a website.

There's not much in it right now, and it looks rather, well, dull. But over the next couple of weeks I'll be stuffing it chock-full of all sorts of publishing-related goodness, and will do my best to glue some sparkly stuff onto it so that it looks a lot nicer.

If anyone would like to volunteer their technical expertise to help me make it look just a little more interesting I'd be thrilled. It would stop me bunging up the internet with Copydex and glitter, too.

I Think I'm Back

Many apologies for the long break in transmission.

Thanks to odd things happening with my blogger account, my ISP deciding I didn't really know who I was, and a particularly nasty troll, I've been unable to do anything with my blogs for a couple of weeks now.

I think I've got everything nearly back to normal: forgive me if you've commented over the last few weeks but your comment hasn't yet appeared, I'll be trawling through all comments and slowly approving them as I get time. I've lost a couple of weeks' worth of planned blog posts, so have some work ahead of me to get back on track: meanwhile, I appreciate your patience. I've been venting a little on Twitter if anyone's interested.

Now, where were we?

I May Be Some Time (Again)

Here's the thing. Remember that new computer which rescued me from having to undergo a complete internet withdrawal a couple of weeks ago? Well, it's slowly collapsing under the weight of its own short circuits, and so it looks like I'm going to actually have to buy a new computer now.

If I don't appear for a few days, then, don't worry. I'll be back. And mean while, here's an eye-watering new plagiarism story to keep you going. I can't understand why writers would do this but still it happens.

I Might Be Some Time....

My computer is struggling again: it seems that my hard drive is failing.

I've got plans for a replacement, which shouldn't take me too long to arrange: what will cause problems, though, is updating all my drivers and the operating system: downloads take AGES on dial-up.

I'll get it done as soon as I can: but it might well be a few days before I'm properly back online. Meanwhile, enjoy the few posts I've already scheduled, and play nicely while I'm gone.

A Public Service Announcement

Nicola Morgan (also known as the crabbit old bat, and That Morgan Woman) has moved her blog from here to here.

If you follow her original blog you might want to start following her new one instead. Just so you don't miss any photos of her lovely boots, or talk about chocolate.

How Writers Can Save Publishing, One Book At A Time

When I visited Aberystwyth a couple of weeks ago, I did my usual thing: I left my husband on the beach to supervise our children, and I went for a walk around the town.

I've known Aberystwyth all my life: I have a lot of family there, and it's familiar to me in an infrequent, surreal way. I know the layout of its streets, but not the names of them; I know the history of the town as it appears in my family's folklore, which often juxtaposes oddly with the more widely-accepted versions; and I know a series of landmarks through the town which help me to knit together my own mental street-map, and which provide a framework for all those inherited memories I have of the place.

This time, though, one of those landmarks had gone. Galloway's, the independent bookshop on Pier Street, has closed. The space it left behind is now filled with racks of tracksuits and boxes of cheap trainers. There are other bookshops, of course (and the list you'll find in this link still includes Galloway's even though it's gone, which pleases me): there is a branch of Waterstone's on the main shopping street and a couple of hundred yards down from it the small but brilliantly-stocked Siop-y-Pethe, both of which are wonderful in their own ways, and there are a few others too: but Galloway's, with its top floor full of fiction, its racks of small-press books, its spooky, echoing basement full of textbooks and odd non-fiction: Galloway's, which I've never once left without a satisfyingly fat bundle of books—Galloway's is gone. Because, as several people told me sadly, it just wasn't making enough money to remain in business.

I stood outside the space-which-once-was-Galloway's and stared in at the bright white trainers and the young men fighting to get themselves the right sizes, the best designers. It was never so busy when it was full of books. I found myself thinking of the wonderful literary magazine Cadenza, which came to an end this year not because of a lack of quality or reputation, but because it didn't sell enough copies to pay for its own printing bill; and of Salt Publishing, which earlier this year asked us to buy just one book in order to keep it in business (which appears to have worked, I'm pleased to say).

So here is my point. It is difficult to get published: this we know. But imagine how much more difficult it would be if the market were halved. Fewer publishers in business translates directly into fewer publishing slots; and as bookshops close, books and literary magazines have fewer opportunities to get into readers hands, which reduces book sales even further.

Over the last year I've read a lot of blog posts which have bemoaned the perilous state of publishing today: the suggested solutions to publishing’s financial crisis have ranged from sacking all editors (and in so doing prevent them rejecting the Brave New Literary Voice Which Could Alone Save Publishing (which is usually, coincidentally, the voice of the person writing the blog post in question) to cutting literary agents out of publishing's food-chain (because in their role of literary gatekeeper—how I hate that phrase—they’ve rejected the Brave New Literary Voice Which Could Alone Save Publishing, and we know who that is, don’t we?). But very few of them have pointed out that writers could do a lot to help keep all these publishers and booksellers in business until business picks up.

Every time you submit your work anywhere, support your submission by buying a copy of the magazine that you’re submitting to, or a book from the publisher you’d like to publish you. If you’re writing a novel and are nowhere near ready to submit then think about who you would like to publish you once you’re ready to go and buy something from them.

Buy just one more book; subscribe to just one literary magazine; use your local bookshop if you can; and then keep going. Every single copy helps: and there’s no need to stop at just one. If you can afford to, buy an extra book or literary magazine every month or every week; if you can’t afford to then order books at your local library and read them all for free—the library pays for the books it lends out, and every little helps. Because every time a publisher ceases trading or a bookshop closes its doors, it becomes just a little bit harder for us to get published. And if we writers haven’t supported the independent publishers, the small imprints, the many tiny but wonderful literary and genre magazines which put out fabulous work, then we can’t complain when they close, and another opportunity is lost to us forever.



(The two stunning covers I've used to illustrate this piece belong to books translated by John K Bollard with photographs by Anthony Griffiths: The Mabinogi, and Companion Tales to the Mabinogi. They're both published by Gomer, and I bought them from Siop-y-Pethe. If you're interested in the Mabinogion, or in Welsh/Celtic literature, culture or countryside, buy them both: they are the most beautiful books I've seen in a good long while.)

Nominate Your Favourite Writing Blogs!

Maria Schneider has asked people to nominate their favourite writing blogs over at Editor Unleashed. Nominations are welcome until 18 August which gives you just a few more days to participate. Fame and fortune await the lucky winners: no doubt there'll be a few soggy sandwiches left over for the also-rans.

I know a few brilliant writers' blogs I'm going to nominate: Writer Beware, all those blogging agents like Janet Reid, Colleen Lindsay, Nathan Brandsford; Emma Darwin's This Itch Of Writing has to go on the list, of course; the Pitch Parlour, the Behler Blog, Nicola Morgan's fabulous blog and Sally Zigmond's excellent The Elephant in the Writing Room; but I'm sure I've missed one off that list.

(Does everybody agree that it's naff for people to nominate their own blogs? I think it probably is so I'm not going to nominate this one. It's up to you, boys and girls. Please remember to leave a link and don't mention my nastier habits. Thank you.)

A Techno-Crisis Strikes Again

I've been trying off and on this afternoon to schedule some new posts here but each time I try, and no matter which computer I work with, Blogger is refusing to allow me to paste any text into the little box where my posts go. So while I have quite a few posts saved to Word and ready to go, I can't move them from my computer onto my blog.

I've tried right-clicking in Blogger's text editor but the "paste"option is greyed out; I've tried using CTRL-V but that doesn't work either. I have made sure that I've copied the text I want (by pasting it into an email, and a new Word document): I can't think of anything else I can do.

Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me? And if it's not just me, can anyone suggest how I could get round it?

Experiment

Ignore this. I'm trying to find out if I've added a Tweet This button to the bottom of every new post. I've probably just changed the font to Dingbats, and asked everyone to ignore me.

(PS: go to TweetChat and follow LitChats, because that's the other thing I'm doing right now.)

Arrghhh!

I'm SO frustrated. Not one of the posts I'd scheduled for this week has appeared, and each time I try to post anything else those posts just don't appear. I'm trying to update my blog once more (having finally managed to make a new review appear at my self-publishing review blog), and if this post appears here I'll be thrilled.

If my silence continues, please don't think I've gone away: it's my youngest son's ninth birthday this weekend and we have many festivities planned; I'm struggling to get anything published here; and I'm working on two absolutely cracking proposals, and if either or both of them get picked up I'll be dancing like a mad woman: you have been warned.

Talk amongst yourselves while I try to get this sorted. Like Arnie, I'll be back.

The Deathwatch Dash

Nicola Morgan is today hoping to set the world record for the greatest number of separate school-talks given by one author in one day, by talking at six different schools about her latest book, Deathwatch.

I bet she wears gorgeous boots to do it in, too.

Good luck, Nicola. Remember to eat plenty of chocolate through the day, or even you might begin to fade.

Don't Forget The Pitch Party!

As my bloggy birthday party draws to a close, all I can do is thank everyone who has taken part. I've posted all sorts of guest posts today and through them I've learned more than I need to about Michael Malone; I've been worried by Google Wave; I now know how cats approach writing; I've seen the issue of voice beautifully explained; and I realise that how ever bad it might be to be a writer, being a teacher has to be worse.

Victoria Strauss has rounded things off with a few wise words, which I wish more writers would take note of; and I'll direct you all once more to visit our birthday blogging pitch party. I've got a drink in my hand and there are more to follow. Thank you all for your encouragement, help and humour over this last year. It's been absolutely wonderful, and I couldn't have done it without you.

Birthday Pitch Party!

How Publishing Really Works is one year old today and to celebrate, I'm having another blogging pitch party!

The last time we had a pitch party there were comments flying around all over the place: a good few bloggers who participated ended up hundreds of extra visitors to their own blogs; and most of us discovered several brilliant new blogs to add to our reading lists.

All you have to do is pitch your blog in the comments section and add a clickable link to it (instructions below), and then visit and comment on at least three of the other blogs which have been pitched by my other readers.

If you don't have a blog of your own you're welcome to pitch other people's blogs; you can write and post as as many pitches as you like; multiple pitches for just one blog will be fine so long as each pitch is different, and pitching for multiple blogs is fine too. Just remember the rule about commenting on three other blogs for every pitch you post, though, otherwise it won't work.

Please keep each pitch to twenty five words or fewer, and make each one as compelling as you can: funny, scary and outrageous will all be encouraged, but anything obnoxious, libellous or otherwise nasty will be deleted. Bear in mind that the better your pitch, the more visitors and comments you'll draw to your blog.

To make it as easy as possible for everyone to click about, please include a live, clickable link with your comment. There are two ways to do this: if you're anxious about it, you can compose your comment as a new blog post, add the links in the usual way, then copy it, HTML code and all, into the comments section here; or you can write it yourself like this, which links to my blog:

[a href="http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com/"]name your link here[/a]

Replace my blog's address with yours; add a name for your link; then replace those two pairs of square brackets [ ] with pointy ones < >, or the link won't work.

Now go and get pitching!