The continuation of an occasional series where I select five posts, news items or sites I find interesting. This week, as I am personally concentrating on starting off with editing a first draft, I find myself also interested in several news items and events in writing. So, here are five event / news posts worth reading.
1. Inkygirl Interviews Second Life’s Jilly Kidd
Debbie Ridpath Ohi, better known as Inkygirl (and for her writing cartoons) has an increasingly helpful precense in Second Life with her Inkygirl Haven for children’s writers. But in this interview published on her blog, Inkygirl interviews Jilly Kidd, (aka Adele Ward) who is a co-founder and visionary of the Written Word project within Second Life, but also provides real life courses and training for writers.
This interview is well worth reading, to give you a look into the workings of second life writing facilities, which Jilly is an integral part of – and it’s all provided for free. Co-incidentally, I spent some time only yesterday both visiting Inkygirl’s second life centre for writers (and picking up some lovely free subscriber gifts for the writer) and wandering around the full Written Word region – which also includes some free goodies for the taking, and many stands or booths of interest to the writer. Written Word also does writing meets, holds the Red Sky Club where media presentations can take place (such as Meet the Author) and there are promises of more writing courses in-world for this year also. I encounter Jilly’s work all over the place in Second Life, and appreciate the time and effort put into the writing side from my perspective as a new writer making her home in the website.
Jilly also has an interesting perspective on Second Life as a ‘entity’, suggesting that it should be seen as another website and tool in a writer’s toolbox, just as social networking sites, and other websites are -for facilitating communications and meetings. I like that thinking.
Finally, for fans of Inkygirl’s writing cartoons, she has just published a book of some of these in-world at Second Life, available for Linden$300. This makes an excellent coffee table book ready for those times I need to laugh while I am sitting in my own writing shack in-world trying to edit my draft.
2. The London Book Fair – Should Amateur Authors Attend?
This fully detailed article by Jen on The View From Here Magazine online gives a long perspective of what the London Book Fair is about, and what perspective I should go with if I were attending.
The London Book Fair commences today, and yes, given its relative closeness to me, I would love to attend, simply for the authors and presentations available as workshops or within the cafes etc. However, given my own domestic restrictions, a visit to the fair is not on the cards this year. But the article gives me a feeling of what the biggest book and publishing fair in the world may be like.
3. HarperCollin’s Chief Editor, Victoria Barnsley Suggests the Digital Book Age is Nigh…
…and if publishers don’t realise this, they may find themselves left behind. This is good news, perhaps, for e-book lovers like myself. Victoria Barnsley addresses the London Book Fair on this subject this week. The interview, by Vicky Frost, in the Guardian.co.uk online also gives some detail into Victoria Barnsley’s career and thinking towards the digital age of books. In fact, the interviewee even suggests that she can see serial novelisation making a comeback. Unflappable in a world of massive upheavel, also prevalent in the publishing industry, the HarperCollin’s CE appears to feel that we are entering a slow-coming but inevitable digital age in book publishing.
4. Authonomy.com
In the interview above, Victoria Barnsley also mentions the HarperCollins site, authonomy.com. This is a site worth re-visiting, if not for the fact it’s now been mentioned on three current editions of writing magazines within the U.K. I discovered authonomy.com whilst still brand new in October 2008, with this post on Juiced on Writing.
Since then, there are three authors who have been picked up from the authonomy website and offered contracts as new writers with HarperCollins, however it should be stated that they are not necessarily the authors who have had their work appear as top-listed on the front-page due to popularity rating systems on the site.
5. 279 Days to Overnight Success
As my bit to viral marketing, I’ll draw your attention to a free download available from Chris Guillebeau. Yes – Free! The 279 Days to Overnight Success manifesto is for artists and writers alike. It tells the tale of how Chris created his website, and became a full-time writer as a pro-blogger. Although professional blogging may not be for everyone, I must admit I found Chris’ writing style quite encouraging, and his enthusiasm wears off on you.
If you’re after more information along these lines, Chris’s The Art of Non-Conformity site also offers other e-books on the subject of success, and his exploration of traveling and as he puts it, ‘world domination’.
If you’re after even more on the internet writing subject, then Nick Dawes, the writer of the Write Any Book in 28 Days workshop / course, has just announced a new guide, The Wealthy Writer, which covers blogging, website copy writing, e-book writing and affiliate marketing subjects for the writer. This was written as a colloboration with Ruth Barringham, and is available through the WCCL network. I like a lot of their products, so expect quite a lot from this newest one.
These posts may also be of interest:
Tue, Apr 21, 2009
Writing Courses, Writing Links, Writing News