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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Writing for love or money?
By Tom: Following on from previous deliberations about how to choose a project, another common dilemma that writers face is whether to write for love or write for money. Framing the question in that way is a misrepresentation, of course, as the most desirable outcome is to do both. However, most writers feel this conflict. […]
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How to impress a publisher
By Teika: Most writers are aware that, nowadays, building a following is part and parcel of the business of writing. But to what extent? After all, if cultivating a following detracts from time spent writing, then surely it’s simply time wasted? Well, yes and no. You see, like many a small press publisher I have […]
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