By Teika Rather like the energy that accompanies the back-to-school buzz in September, the beginning of a new year has a vibrant, positive feel to it. We’re done with the Christmas feasting, the overindulging and sitting around. And for some of us, we’re done with a year that didn’t amount to much, writing-wise. Yet the […]
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The perfect last minute gift for a writer
By Tom: It’s that time of year again when busy, multitasking people suddenly realize there is a gap in their scrupulously organized ranks of gifts. Inexplicably, someone has been overlooked. Or, it’s that time of year when disorganized and forgetful people suddenly realize they’ve left things to the last minute again, and the shops are […]
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Personality and professionalism
By Teika One of the best things about being behind a book stall at an event or convention is the conversations with fellow stallholders and interested browsers. At the start of December I was at the Nottingham Print & Publishing Fair and I had several fascinating discussions with people I’d never met before about publishing and […]
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What’s in a cover price? And why should authors care? (Part 1)
By Teika Next March, I’ll be leading a workshop in the Nottingham Waterstones on behalf of Writing School East Midlands on the subject of ‘How to Get Published’. I’ve run a fair few courses on this topic before, and invariably they’re popular because getting traditionally published is still the ultimate goal of many writers. To […]
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Convention comedown and writer’s despair
By Teika Seeing as my last post was about how to get the most out of conventions I thought I’d write about my time at FantasyCon, the inevitable comedown that occurs straight afterwards and the not unconnected issue of writer’s despair. FantasyCon was great, it really was. Catching up with many of my indie publisher […]
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How to get the most out of conventions
By Teika In less than a week’s time I’ll be at FantasyCon, one of the major genre events of the year. With my publisher’s hat on I’m preparing by making sure I have enough books, plenty of change in my float and all the necessary information so that I know how to get there, where […]
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Q&A with Jennifer Crispin of Dancing Star Press
By Teika: The wonderful Jennifer Crispin of indie press Dancing Star Press was recently kind enough to take our Q&A challenge. Many thanks to Jennifer for taking part! 1. Why publishing? Or, to put it another way – if, a decade ago, you were asked the question: ‘What do you see yourself doing […]
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The psychology of “editing limbo”: how to get out of the loop of doom (part 2)
By Tom: In the last post, Teika discussed the challenge of being trapped in a cycle of editing and redrafting. In this post, I’m going to work through some of the psychological implications of finding yourself in this trap, some of the likeliest causes, and some practical steps that can be taken to break out […]
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Editing, revising, redrafting – how to get out of the loop of doom (part 1)
By Teika: The Book Stewards is about helping writers. We want to hear about your writing problems so that we can offer a helping hand by sharing some of our hard-won wisdom. After our latest newsletter dropped into the inbox of one of our excellent subscribers, she got in contact with us and shared her […]
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Buzzing with creative back-to-school energy? Time for a plan…
By Teika: So, the season is turning, the kids are back to school and the stationery sections in shops are looking particularly lovely and alluring… Yes, it’s the start of the autumn term and for many writers it’s accompanied by a rush of energy and a renewed desire to get back to their writing. This drive […]
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