The Truth About Ebooks

* You don't need a Kindle to read an ebook. You can download one onto your computer and read it there.
* Ebooks are more difficult for publishers to format correctly than you might think.
* Already, more ebooks are being sold on the Kindle than paperbacks are being sold on Amazon.com (according to Scott Pack at  Me and My Big Mouth, and I believe him).
* Amazon has also said that over the past three months, ebook sales have outstripped sales of hard backs on the Amazon US site (according to The Guardian, and I believe them, too).
* The technology is still in its infancy and many changes are yet to come.
* The business model for pricing and royalties to authors is still unclear and changeable.
* They are easier and more pleasant to use than some of us might like to admit.
* They are here to stay.
* The ebook version of A Clash of Innocents will be available very shortly.
* They are not to be feared but to be embraced.

ps the first ebook I am reading is Sarah Salway's Something Beginning With...  It's there on the far left.

What a Big Girl You Are!

Happy birthday, dear blog! Yes, amazingly, this blog is now three years old.  And it is amazing, I must admit.  It's hard for me to tell whether it's "grown up" that much over the years or whether it's changed at all.  So I did go back and take a peek at what posts were like way back when and how they've changed.  First off, I have to admit that my posts are much longer now.  The first ones were barely a paragraph or two long. Now I do tend to go on.  I'd like to think that's just me being more self-assured, but maybe it's me being more long-winded.  Hmmm.

I also remembered that there were two other new features this year -- the redesign (new colour, new layout), and the addition of my "Great Conversations." These have been some of the most fun posts for me.  I do love getting other writers of all sorts into my living room for a good old-fashioned  chin wag.  Writers are fascinating creatures, after all :-)  And I love to look over to the side and see the list growing.  If you yourselves would like to show up on that list or know of a writer you would like to see there, do let me know.

But I suppose the most important sign that the blog is growing bit by bit is that more and more people are following it.  It's a slow, but steady process. I seem to pick up one new reader here, another there. It reminds me of the way I sell my books, to be honest.  One reader at a time.  But it does also make me very happy to know that most of my original readers are still here with me, slogging along with me through the ups and downs of this Writing Life.  Many of you have become friends in "real life", too, which is more than I had ever hoped for.

So all in all, there's plenty to celebrate this year, and I thought I'd now link to some of the most popular postings of the last twelve months, in case you missed any:
   On Giving Away eBooks and Celebrity Memoirs here 
   Rules for Writing by Famous Authors here
   Getting Permission to Quote here
   Putting on a Play here
   Which Poetry 'Should' Be Published and Which 'Shouldn't' here
   Marketing here
   What is a Prose Poem? here

Thank you all for sharing my year with me.  And as I always say, and probably too often,  'Ever Onward!!'

A Call for Directors

I'm changing hats today. The one I'm wearing now isn't the soft flouncy beret-type of the poet.  It's also not the isolation-chamber-like helmet of the novelist.  No, today I'm wearing the fedora of the theatre producer because my theatre charity, CurvingRoad, is now publicizing it's latest Call for Submissions.

Now in our fifth year of revealing, encouraging and nurturing talent, our past projects have focused on new writing. This time we are trying something a little different. CurvingRoad’s next venture is to find a Director.

We are looking for a new director to put on a play of their choice to be produced for a three-week run at a London fringe theatre in the Autumn of 2011. The chosen director will have the freedom to explore their own ideas and directorial vision throughout the rehearsal process whilst being supported by CurvingRoad’s experienced team, resulting in a professional production in keeping with CurvingRoad’s established high standards.  The chosen Director will also receive a small honorarium.

The applicants must be:
Directors who are yet to have the opportunity to direct a professional production OR are still within three years of completing their training or university and have only directed ONE (maximum) production in any of London’s Fringe venues. The production’s budget will be negotiable.

The submission requires:
* A description of the proposed project, why you want to direct your chosen piece and what it means to you.
* A statement of how long a rehearsal period you expect and any imagined staging or venue requirements.
* A synopsis of the play (not the entire script).
* A personal bio (please no more than one A4 page)

Submissions are by email ONLY and must be submitted by May 31st 2011. Please send them to sue@curvingroad.com

Due to the volume of submissions we generally receive, unfortunately only successful applicants will be contacted.

So please, to any of you out there, your friends or family: do think about this and spread the word.

Virginia Woolf Speaks!

My last post stirred up a terrific discussion about prose vs poetry.  You can read it here.  One of the many ideas it made me think about is the idea of old vs new.  Poetry has always been with us, in all languages and all cultures, from the moment we could reflect upon our world through language, poetry took hold of our collective imaginations.  Poetry is old.  But prose poetry, not to mention flash fiction, is new.  To me those forms represent evolution and reveal ways in which language and our use of language  changes over time.

As I was thinking I was surfing in a very new sense of the word.  And I came across an amazing recording of Virgina Woolf talking about her approach to writing and the way she uses the English language.  She is speaking about old vs new words and her thoughts still seem very wise and true to me. (Thanks to the Writers Movement Blog):

What is a Prose Poem, Anyway?

This is a question which I've often asked, but it wasn't until I was editing Her Life Collected that I started to get some answers.  Note that these answers didn't come when I was writing the poems, mind you, but when I was editing. I found that fascinating.  Over the years as I have had more and more work published, and more and more people wonder about my work, I have always said that the work itself dictates the form.  When an idea comes along, it is clear whether it is a poem, a novel or a play, I have often said.  But I must admit, that is not altogether true.  Those who read my poems (and of course, I hope many of you will) will find that many of them are narrative.  They often describe moments in time, which often includes social interactions and dialogue. And so the question arises, how do I choose my line breaks, and as it turns out, it is this very choice which dictates the difference between poetry and prose/prose poetry.  My editor/publisher Adele Ward and I had a lengthy discussion about this issue and she had some fascinating insights:
There has to be a reason for each line break in a poem, and if there isn't a reason, then it's a short piece of poetic prose (a prose poem). No reason not to present it in that way. Some lines just fall with the flatness of prose in a poem. You can hear it. It's not that there's anything wrong with prose, but the ear can hear a line of prose in a poem, especially when you have a long line that has gone into prose. This might happen in a draft, especially if you write in both forms, and at parts where you're wanting to get the poem down while it's in your mind but can't quite manage yet. Afterwards you would want to take those parts out and use them like notes so you can complete the poem. Sometimes you may want to write poems that alternate prose sections with poetry.
Line breaks are one of the trickiest considerations in poetry. Andrew Motion made me really think about mine all the time. A line break serves a few purposes. One can be that the line breaks work with the rhythm when you read it out loud. If they don't then it's prose randomly cut into a poetic stanza. Another reason is to put that little emphasis on the words at line end and particularly at line beginning. One wonderful poet (I know) describes the movement from the end of a line of poetry to the next line as the feeling of stepping off the shore on to a little boat. This stresses the two words, gives a rhythm, and also can work in a lovely neat way if there's also a little movement in the meaning that's being reflected. Like 'the leaves/falling from the trees'. If none of these are your reasons and you have a piece that's prose-like but you want it to be shaped like the rest of the poem, then each line can be a step forward in the meaning. Actually if the line breaks are just arbitrary to make something look like a poem, and if the rhythm reads like prose, then it would be better presented as a prose poem. There's absolutely no reason for the line breaks. 

As it turns out, I have several prose poems in my book and I didn't even realize that was what they were when I was writing them. Here's one which actually relies mostly on dialogue:

Urban Doorstep

Lock the top. Lock the bottom. The alarm sets with two long
beeps, one for each step to the street.


Excuse me. Are you happy with your window cleaner?

My neighbour is watering her window box. A short arm
extended over the wrought iron railing. It’s the beginning of
spring.

I noticed him the other day. He’s good?
‘Yes, and reliable. But expensive.’
It’s worth it, though – both inside and out. Especially at this time
of year.
‘Yes, a little sun.’
It’s been a long winter.
‘Yes, it has.’
Yes, it has. She picks a paint flake off the rail. Two grey
strands steal away across her brow, escapees from the styled
mass.
‘I meant to introduce myself. I’ve been a horrible
neighbour.’
Oh, it’s quite all right. We’re all so busy. The time does go so fast.

Something in her face keeps me there. The normal, sunken
space beneath her cheek; the puffiness round her eyes. My
right hip settles in its socket. I place my bag at my feet and
lean against the rail.

‘Settling into a new home – it’s so much work, I know.’
I do love the street. But it has been a difficult year. It’s my
husband. Well, actually, it’s us –
‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’
Thirty years of marriage. I took it very badly.
‘How could you not?’
I’m better now. I’m going to the theatre tonight.
‘Yes, you must get out. And you must come for a drink.’
I’d like that. And you must come to me. Then silence.
‘But the window washer’s number. I’ll put it through your
door.’
Yes, please do. It will be good to have sun in these rooms.

The Making of a Book Cover

Ta da!  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

I'm so pleased with the cover of my new poetry collection and I thought some might be interested in what it takes to come up with such a thing of beauty.
* First we had a theoretical discussion about the theme.  What is the book about?  What holds it together? Was there a specific idea I had in mind while I was writing the poems and choosing which ones went in, which didn't, and what order they're placed in?  For me, writing is always the way to clarify thoughts and so I wrote this short blurb:
     Maiden, woman, crone – three traditional stages in the female lifespan. In Sue Guiney’s “Her Life  Collected”, these stages are re-envisioned for a modern time, examining through poetry the feminine response to love, betrayal, motherhood, art, loss and gain as it changes throughout the decades of an imagined life.
That blurb gave my publishers, Adele Ward and Mike Fortune-Wood, something to focus on, and that focus led to the idea of archetype.
* They then started to look through a collection of internet sites for images and photographs that could be used.  The images they saw plus the idea of archetype led them to cave drawings, and as it happens, caves drawings are things I have always been fascinated by.  The caves at Lescaux have long been on my list of must sees, so I was thrilled with this.  They then sent some links to me and I spent a happy few hours pouring over pictures until I chose two which I particularly liked.  I sent those back to Adele and Mike.
* Practicalities then came into play.  Mike explained that to be used as a cover image, a photo best be portrait rather than landscape, ie book-shaped.  And so he suggested we go with the image we have above -- a cave painting which gives the prehistoric feeling, plus three hands which shows the three stages of life which my work portrays.  Next he chose the colour and type face of the text and found the perfect placement for it. And then, voila, we had the front cover.
* But books have two covers and so we had to turn our attention to the back.  Traditionally, the back cover has a bit about the book -- the blurb which I had already written -- and a quote or two about the book in particular or the author's work in general.  Finding those was my job. First I rediscovered a quote printed in Theatreworld after my poetry play, Dreams of May, was produced.  Then I turned to the poet, Katy Evans-Bush.  Katy had worked with me earlier on to whip the manuscript into shape so that it was ready to submit.  She knew the work well, and I was thrilled that she was able to provide another quotation for the back cover, hers being the one to recommend the book itself.
And so we have the full cover, front and back:

You'll notice other decisions which had to be made as well such as which colours to use on the back, how they need to compliment the front, how they need to run across onto the spine, the placement of the Ward Wood logo and the bar code box.
 You know, they say you can't judge a book by its cover.  Well, when it comes to literal books and literal book covers, I'm not so sure.  A beautiful cover says a lot about the work inside it and the people who have taken the time to create it.  I'm pretty proud of the poetry, but I do believe the cover is a work of art. And it's available now to pre-order via Pay Pal here.

Publishing Poetry vs Prose, or Alien vs Predator

Two books over six months: one a novel, the other a poetry collection.  It's been interesting to see the difference in the process of editing one vs the other.  I would have thought the experience of the two edits would have been basically the same, but as I 've spent the last week doing final edits on the poetry collection, I've realized that the two experiences haven't felt the same at all.

The process of final edits on a novel is rather daunting. Now, I'm not talking about major revisions here. I'm talking about when you get to the point when the book is done but for minor grammatical and spelling tweaks or fact checks. But even so.....The computer file lands in my inbox and I take a deep gulp, closing my  eyes as I press 'open.'  There are just so many words.  Each time I've had to have a little chat with myself. "God, do I really have to read this whole thing again? The whole thing? Can't I skim it. Give it a quick once over? Every time I read it I hate it more and more." But then the question arises, if there is a typo somewhere (which there inevitably will be no matter how many times different readers read it) or a mistake is made in the layout, a section break is missed or an indent left out, how upset will I be?  The answer is always: very upset.  So then I make myself a cup of tea, close the door, sit down and read it all as closely as possible. I find it painful and I admit that I do end up skipping and hopping my way through some sections, but it must be done. When I then get the final okay, I give an exhausted smile and think, thank God I never have to look at that again.

But editing this, my first truly full-length poetry collection (my poetry play Dreams of May had 22 poems, Her Life Collected has over 60) has been....dare I say...fun. Yes, it's true. It has now gone through 5 "final" edits and I've enjoyed each one.  It brings out the geek in me.  I love sitting and deciding whether I'd rather use a hyphen or a comma.  I love discussing the merits of ending a line one word earlier or later.  I love figuring out which poem looks best lying next to which other one and whether to use quotation marks or italics.  Just a few minutes ago I sent what I believe will be the final version to my publisher, but first I said to myself, "Oh go ahead, give it one more read" and I did it happily.  When I pressed "send" I was smiling, but not with relief that it was over. Rather, I was smiling with the excitement of knowing the poems will soon be bound into a book and I'll soon be reading them out loud at my launch and then at as many readings as I can organize.

I've been trying to figure out why this is true and I haven't come to any conclusions.  It certainly can't be because one work has been in progress longer than another. A Clash of Innocents took two years to write.  Her Life Collected has been in the works, either on the back burner or front, for much longer than that.  But maybe it has to do with the sustained concentration of focus required in writing a novel whereas I have found poetry to be more like a series of intense bursts of energy.  Not exactly Alien vs Predator, but.....

Have any of you cross-genre types had a similar experience? I wonder.

Now of course this has nothing to do with A vs P, but forgive me, I just couldn't resist. 

Oops......

Sorry, but I gave the wrong address for the London launch of Ann Alexander and Mike Horwood tomorrow. Forgive me. But for those interested in coming along, here are the correct details:

Trinity United Reform Church
1 Buck Street (just 5 mins from Camden tube)
Camden Town
London
NW1

7 pm (doors open at 6.30)
£5/£4 entry fee going to support Cold Weather Shelter

Hope to see you there!

On into 2011

And here we go into the new year. I'm excited but also a bit overwhelmed by it all.  The next three months are likely to be three of the craziest months I've had in a long time....and that's saying a lot. January will see me getting back to work on promoting A Clash of Innocents and preparing to promote my new poetry collection.  That collection comes out in mid-February. It's called Her Life Collected and consists of over 60 poems revealing the internal life of a woman during the three stages of womanhood.  But more on that later...lots more :-)  And then on February 28 I leave for a month-long charity book tour of SE Asia -- from Bangkok to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, to Singapore.  Setting this tour up, organizing events, workshops and book shop orders has been a herculean effort.  Much more than either I, or I dare say my publisher, ever thought it would be when I first had this wild idea.  But thankfully, I've had many people's help, including that of my Bangkok-based blogging friend, JJ at Tea Stains. I'm happy to say that Santa bought me a camcorder for Christmas just so I could bring you all along with me via short films on my blog.  I'll have to learn how to use it over the next few weeks.  But once again, more on that later...much more.  But if anyone has any ideas of how I should keep a blog journal of this trip do leave a comment -- how often should I blog (I don't want to inundate you all)? Besides doing events, I'll also be running workshops with kids and doing research for the next book.  Should I talk about all of that or keep it more focused? I'm always looking for new ways to keep my bog interesting.

But now, first things first -- this week.  The big event this week is the London launch on Friday of Ward Wood's first 2 poetry collections.  I'll be there cheering my fellow WW'ers on and I urge anyone in London and free on Friday at 7 pm to come along as well to the Lumen Centre, 88 Tavistock Place WC1 near Russell Square.  There you will get to hear Ann Alexander read from her new collection, Too Close, and Mike Horwood from his book, Midas Touch.  Both collections are wonderful and I'm humbled to have my poetry published alongside theirs.  The event will be part of the series of readings which benefit the Cold Weather Shelters, and as usual with these readings, there will be ample time for floor spots and the chance to leave one of your poems to be considered in the Ward Wood competition being judged by Carol Ann Duffy.  If you can't make it to the event on Friday evening, you can still enter the competition by following the guidelines here.  I urge you to do it.  The published anthology will be full of fantastic poems by well-known poets as well as newcomers, and again, it all goes to support the Cold Weather Shelter charity.


And what does next week have in store for me? Stay tuned.