Another hot link to writing advice.
Do you have trouble with creating believable characters? Ian Bone has some excellent advice about creating characters, and even has some exercises for you to try. You can read Ian’s paper here
Enjoy
by Sally
Another hot link to writing advice.
Do you have trouble with creating believable characters? Ian Bone has some excellent advice about creating characters, and even has some exercises for you to try. You can read Ian’s paper here
Enjoy
by Sally
I just added 21 new reviews to Aussiereviews. My favourite in this batch is Perry Angel’s Suitcase, by Glenda Millard. Breathtaking!
Enjoy the reviews.
by Sally
If you like beautiful illustrations you will love Shannon Melville’s Blog. Shannon is a children’s illustrator and graphic designer, and her blog features samples of her work. I especially like the gorgeous cow under the heading Detach.
Oh, and Shannon is a West Aussie, too, which makes her extra special.
by Sally
More sample pages, especially relevant if you are a teacher of English, primary literacy or viewing. Today’s sample comes from Writing the News, newspaper and media related activities, with an emphasis on writing. You can see the sample pages here.
Enjoy.
by Sally
Today’s article is a reprint, submitted to me by Hazel Edwards, and with the permission of its author, Darren Sandford. Whilst it is an interesting tale of how one kids book came to be published, it is also a wonderful example of the importance of keeping the rights to your books when they go out of print. Thanks for the piece, Hazel.
Gang-O Kids: A fun book for a new generation of O-Kids!
by Darren Sandford, Orienteering publisher
www.osoa.com.au
article first published in The Australian Orienteer, 2008
Interview with Hazel Edwards, author of Gang-O Kids:
Where did you get the idea for the book?
My family used to orienteer each weekend at a different place. We belonged to Emus Orienteering Club. Orienteers notice stuff. That’s why I thought of making my Gang into sporting sleuths who solve mysteries. As a former national literacy champion, I’m aware of the need for easy to read stories where the language and structure may be simple but the action and mystery will attract varied age readers. An emphasis on incidental fitness while running to solve a mystery is a fun way to gain exercise for body and mind and links to health curriculum and the current anti-obesity health campaign.
Are the kids based on real orienteers?
The characters are made-up. They are composites, based on habits I’d noticed in several kids, plus my imagination. But the story is based on real events, like the elastic on the O pants breaking, as the kids ran in at the Finish.
How did you make up the characters?
When you have a gang, they each need to be good at different things. To make up a character, I create a ‘dossier’ of all their details, like name, height, hobbies, what they are good/bad at doing.
How did you meet Darren from Orienteering Service of Australia?
Darren contacted me via my website, hazeledwards.com, where I have a list of my current and rights reverted, out-of-print titles as well as book discussion notes and speaking gigs… Darren is an orienteer who owns an orienteering shop too, so he knows the right ‘’O” language. He was keen to publish orienteering stories for children. Darren did the editing and organised an illustrator and a printer for the manuscript.
Does anyone check your facts?
Usually I ask an ‘expert’ to check my stories to see if I’ve used the right terms. e.g. D.N.F. (did not finish). And I ask a ‘naïve’ reader, usually a kid of the appropriate age to read it just for the story.
I try to write simply, so the story is easy to understand and easy to record for later audio books.
Gang-O Kids (ISBN 978-0-646-48847-9) is published by Omotivo, and can be ordered online from www.osoa.com.au for $11.95 plus postage.
www.hazeledwards.com for author discussion notes, literacy links and gigs, plus book launch details.
Interview with Omotivo Publisher Darren Sandford
It’s been quite some time since there’s been a fiction book based around orienteering, particularly a children’s junior novel. However, that’s now changed. A new title, “Gang-O Kids”, by Australian author Hazel Edwards has just been released.
Gang-O Kids is an easy- to- read children’s chapter book. The book is designed for readers from about 7 to 11 and especially those interested in sport There are four individual chapters featuring the adventures of a gang of five kids. Jamie-the-Brainy, “Mars Bar” Mario, Kate and twins Tina and Emma are all members of the “Bunyip Orienteering Club”. They get together on the weekends at Orienteering events and find themselves in situations where their mystery solving skills are put to the test.
Disclosure: as publisher of the “Gang-O Kids”, I have a vested interest in seeing the book sell, but I also am keen to help promote Orienteering to a new generation of kids. As such, I wanted to share with the readers of Australian Orienteer how this book came about and how I hope to ensure that many primary school and local libraries have a copy available for interested kids or even literacy sets for reading groups. .
In mid-2007, after taking over Orienteering Service of Australia, I was scouring the internet for new titles related to Orienteering. While we stock a great range of various instructional type books and manuals, on the whole, I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t too many titles published recently. On doing a search, I hit upon Hazel Edward’s website which advised that publishing rights to “O Gang” and “O Gang Again” were available. I did a bit more research and learned that these were popular children’s chapter books published in the mid-80’s. Curious to learn more, I emailed Hazel. After finding out that Hazel lived in Melbourne, we had chat over afternoon tea one Sunday and both agreed that if she modernised the manuscript, Orienteering Service of Australia would publish a new edition with new illustrations. The rewrite date was to be by the end of January 2008.
Christmas 2007 soon came and went, but we remained in contact. Hazel tackled the rewrite as promised, but then came down with an illness which required hospitalisation. I had been pretty relaxed about the timeframes on the project, until a recovered Hazel advised that we had an opportunity to launch the book at Children’s Literature in the Centre conference in Alice Springs in May. Seeing as I hadn’t yet organised the illustrator, typesetter, cover designer and printer, I was a bit taken aback, but we decided to go for it anyway!
I had made a contact while travelling in Ireland in September 2007 who agreed to take on the cover and text design. Once again the internet came in handy, so after reviewing online portfolios and sending out a heap of emails, I selected an illustrator from Brisbane. Her name is Kim Woolley, originally from the UK. Kim had illustrated about 30 children’s books in the past and was excited to take on illustrating “Gang-O Kids” even with the tight timelines. Finally, Hazel’s vast range of contacts put me on to Ken Linn of Hyde Park Press, Adelaide. Like Kim, he was also willing to help guide me through the maze tasks, decisions and terminology that are publishing.
While working with Hazel we decided to shorten the book and simplify the language to aim at newly independent readers. The illustrator, Kim, and I decided to focus on developing characters that looked like everyday contemporary kids who happened to enjoy orienteering. The idea was to make the cover eye-catching and show the dynamic, energetic kids really enjoying themselves running in an Orienteering event. The internal illustrations in the book are set in various scenes, such as camping out prior to an Orienteering, running in an event and getting involved in adventures in the bush.
Hopefully, the book will be read by thousands of primary school age students over the next few years. The hope is that there’ll be a new generation of kids enthused by reading about Orienteering adventure stories of the Gang-O Kids running through the bush, navigating with map and compass, camping out and helping out at O events.
Gang O Kids Reviews by Students
This book will inspire children because of all the funny mysteries. It’s also got a great character profile at the start. Enjoy reading this book.
Grade 4 Alisha
Highvale PS
I would say it was good because it gives profiles of the characters at the start. It is very funny and I would give it a 5 ½ star rating.
Grade 3 Markus
Highvale PS
I recommend this book because it is fast and adventurous. I suggest a kid of any age who loves a short, funny novel would enjoy reading it.
Grade 4 Cathey
Highvale PS
I enjoyed reading this book because it had a funny storyline.
Grade 3Clement
Highvale PS
I think that this book is very interesting and full of adjectives. I recommend this book for all ages because I think everyone would enjoy reading it. I rate it 10 out of 10.
Grade 3 Louise
Highvale PS
This article is printed here with the permission of Darren Sandford and Hazel Edwards. Content may be copied for personal use only.
by Sally
Time for another reprint of one of my own articles. This one is the first in a series of three first published on Writing World, one of the most comprehensive writing sites on the net.
Enjoy!
The Review Process: How a Book Gets Reviewed
by Sally Murphy
So you’ve had a book published? Congratulations. Now to get the word out to the rest of the world so that they can race outand buy it. Just one way of spreading the word about a new book is through a book review. But how do you get a review and who does the reviewing?
Firstly, where do book reviews appear? Traditionally, books were reviewed in print magazines and newspapers. Print publications still account for a large proportion of published reviews. Some publications focus primarily on reviewing books Reading Time magazine, for example, aims to review every children’s book released in Australia while many others devote just a page or a column to book reviews.
More recently, books have been reviewed online. There are thousands of websites and blogs devoted to reviewing books. Some websites review books of specific genres, others focus only on ebooks, whilst others still have a book review page alongside other information and articles. An advantage of electronic reviews is that they can stay online and thus accessible more or less indefinitely, and can thus outlast print reviews.
Both print and electronic reviews can be useful in spreading the word about a book and ideally you want your book to be reviewed in both mediums. However, be aware that getting your book reviewed can be difficult. Most book reviewers and book review publications receive more books than they could possibly review and your book must compete with others for time and editorial space.
So, how do you get your book reviewed? The short answer is that if you are traditionally published, you don’t. If you are published by a royalty-paying print publisher, it is not your job to send out review copies or to solicit reviews from reviewers. In fact, most reviewers and review publications would prefer that you don’t approach them directly.
Your publisher will allow for a certain number of copies of the book to be sent out as review copies (and in fact there is probably mention of this in your contract). The publicist or marketing department will have a list of publications and/or reviewers and will send them copies, along with press releases and other information.
Some publishers will send copies to every reviewer on their list. Others will send a press release for each new book, inviting reviewers to request a complimentary review copy. Others still will send a regular mailing often once a month advising of forthcoming releases and inviting reviewers to request the books they are interested in.
If you are traditionally published, you can ask your publisher how many review copies they are sending out and may even be provided with a list of publications which have been supplied with review copies. You can also suggest publications, which is especially useful if your book targets a niche market if, for example, you’ve written a children’s book about a horse, you might recommend a horse-lovers magazine which your publisher may not know about.
Leaving the sending of review copies up to your publisher is good for you because you do not directly bear the expense of postage and book copies. It is good for the reviewer because it depersonalises the review process. Direct emails from authors to reviewers can put the reviewer in an awkward position of trying to maintain impartiality, and make them uncomfortable about reviewing your book.
If you are self-published, you’ll need to submit review copies yourself. Because you are bearing the cost, you’ll need to research very carefully so that you can target your review copies at publications which review in your genre or area of interest. If possible, send a press release (written in third person), inviting reviewers to request a copy this reduces the likelihood of sending copies which receive no review. Once you have sent the copy, avoid making repeated contact to find out if the book has arrived and when a review will be published this marks you as over-eager and, again, can leave the reviewer feeling uncomfortable.
Once the book is in the reviewer’s hands, the process that follows can vary from person to person, but in general it will go something like this.
Firstly, the book will be put in a pile with all the other books the reviewer has received. The reviewer may choose to review the books in the order s/he received them and so your book will go to he bottom of the pile. Or s/he might review them in the order they appeal to them, randomly selecting the next book to be read. In my case, I organise the books on a shelf in the order I received them. At any one time there could be over seventy books shelved like this.
Next, the reviewer will read the book. A good reviewer will read the whole book before forming an opinion, but the pressure of time might mean that the reviewer does not finish a book that s/he doesn’t like. My policy is to finish every book, because often a book will grow on me or redeem itself further in.
When s/he finishes the book, the reviewer will review the book. The length and structure of the review will depend on the publication the reviewer is writing for, but most reviews include a summary of the plot which does not reveal the ending, some comments on elements such as point of view, story structure, style and a recommendation (or otherwise). If the book is illustrated the reviewer could (and should) comment on the illustration techniques, and the review might also make a suggestion about age groups (for a children’s books) and the type or reader who might be attracted to the book.
Whether s/he likes your book or not the reviewer will (hopefully) provide a balanced assessment of the book, focussing on the strengths as well as the weaknesses. S/he’ll also avoid allowing personal preferences or bias to influence the review for example, if s/he doesn’t like the romance genre, s/he’ll not give a negative review on the basis that your book is a romance. S/he is more likely to choose not to review books in the genre most reviewers do specialise in some way.
Once the review is written, revised and proofread, the reviewer will submit it to their editor, or in the case of a website or blog, post it online. If the editor accepts the review, it will appear in print. The time between submitting the book for review and the review being published varies greatly, but it is not uncommon to wait six months, because of the lead times for print publications, and the sheer numbers of books submitted for review. For this reason, most publishers send out review copies ahead of the actual release date for a book.
Once the review is published you or your publisher may receive a copy of the review or a link to it online, but this doesn’t always happen, so keep your eye out for reviews, and use search engines to keep abreast with what’s being said about your book online.
Once you have a review of your book, you can use it to promote your book further, but that’s the subject for another article.
I’ll post the other two articles in this series over the next couple of weeks, so check back in to read them.