International Freelancers Day – September 24, 2010
September 1, 2010
International Freelancers Day is actually two-day online conference. The event features 25 speakers in 24 sessions (45 minutes each) on Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25, 2010.
You must register to attend the event, but registration is free, and you will have access to replays of the presentations if you can’t attend all the sessions live. Registration also gives you access to six pre-event videos.
The event bills itself as “the biggest ever free online conference exclusively for solo professionals.” The lineup of speakers is impressive, and the topics include many important to the success of any freelancer. The Web site includes the complete schedule and speaker bios.
E-Readers Read More
August 30, 2010
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a study of e-reader owners.
People who buy e-readers tend to spend more time than ever with their nose in a book, preliminary research shows.
A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58% said they read about the same as before while 2% said they read less than before. And 55% of the respondents in the May study, paid for by e-reader maker Sony Corp., thought they’d use the device to read even more books in the future. The study looked at owners of three devices: Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle, Apple Inc.’s iPad and the Sony Reader.
… People report they’re reading more and at times when a book isn’t normally an option: on a smartphone in the doctor’s waiting room; through a Ziploc-bag-clad Kindle in a hot tub, or on a treadmill with a Sony Reader’s fonts set to jumbo.
So those who believe that e-books are detrimental to reading may need to take another look. You don’t have to read print or electronic exclusively. You can choose to read in print or on an e-reader, whichever is most convenient at the moment.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of reading on an e-reader. I’ve had several through the years, and now read on the original Kindle. I’m looking for an excuse to buy the Kindle 3. Maybe I can drop my Kindle and break it? It still works great—I’d just like to add the new features in the latest version of the device.
Gaining Inspiration from the Greats: Ten Tips for Great Writing – Guest Post by Cathryn Johnson
August 27, 2010
Have you ever wished that you had a writing mentor? Someone who could show you the ropes? Have you ever wished for advice on writing? Inspiration when you are feeling down?
I have found that the greatest inspiration and the most valuable advice comes from viewing the lives of those who have walked in our shoes because it is those who can truly understand us. It is those who can show us the way. So, as we as writers persevere to write on, why not turn back and gain inspiration from other writers who have struggled and eventually succeeded.
Here are ten tips from writers throughout history that I have compiled to challenge, motivate, and inspire us:
Write Simply
My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.
Ernest Hemingway – a Nobel Prize winning writer and journalist whose greatest works include For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea
Don’t Underestimate Your Readers
No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.
E. B. White – a writer who is best remembered for her children’s books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little
Do Not Be Verbose
As for the adjective, when in doubt leave it out.
Mark Twain – an American author and humorist best known for his books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.
Thomas Jefferson – the third President of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence
Use Common Words when Writing for the Common Man
Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
C. S. Lewis – an Anglo-Irish novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist who is best known for The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia
Tell Your Story – Don’t Worry About Your Writing
If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.
Somerset Maugham – a playwright, novelist, and short story writer who was reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s
Be Your Own Critic – Evaluate What You Write
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
George Orwell – an English author and journalist who is best known for his satirical novella Animal Farm
Write About What You Know About
When men ask me how I know so much about men, they get a simple answer: everything I know about men, I learned from me.
Anton Chekhov – a Russian short-story writer, playwright, and physician, who is often touted as one of the greatest short-story writers in the history of world literature
Most beginning writers (and I was the same) are like chefs trying to cook great dishes that they’ve never tasted themselves. How can you make a great (or even an adequate) bouillabaisse if you’ve never had any? If you don’t really understand why people read mysteries (or romances or literary novels or thrillers or whatever), then there’s no way in the world you’re going to write one that anyone wants to publish. (This is the meaning of the well-known expression “Write what you know.”)
Daniel Quinn – an American writer and environmentalist who is best known for his award-winning book Ishmael
Make it Original
Observe, don’t imitate.
John M. Ford – an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet who is best known for his Star Trek novels
Your Characters are Key
The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell, together, as quickly as possible.
Mark Twain – an American author and humorist best known for his books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.
Stephen King – a horror, suspense, science fictio,n and fantasy fiction writer who is best known for novels such as Carrie, Firestarter, and Christine
Be Passionate about Your Writing
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
George Moore – an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist, and dramatist
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AUTHOR BIO: Cathryn Johnson is passionate about writing. She is currently a resident writer for Top Online Nursing Programs 2010, which researches areas of nursing education, online nursing programs, and healthcare. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, theater, and having fun in the sun.
photo credit: The Story Lady
Bowker Reports on the Book Industry
August 25, 2010
Bowker® assigns ISBNs, maintains Books In Print®, and provides what it calls “bibliographic information management solutions.” The agency just released its 2009 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Report. You can read a summary of the report on the Bowker Web site.
Here is a brief excerpt from the summary:
It’s the demographics of book buyers that make the Report an essential read for any book industry maven. The report reveals income levels, age, generation and more. For example,
- More than 40% of Americans over the age of 13 purchased a book in 2009 and the average age of the American book buyer is 42.
- Women lead men in overall purchases, contributing 64% of sales. Even among detective and thriller genres, women top 60% of the sales. Where do men catch up? Fantasy titles are purchased evenly by men and women.
- Baby Boomers spend. The boomer generation is the largest purchasing generation, making up 30% of sales. Their elders – Matures – contribute 16%.
- More income doesn’t mean more book purchases. 32% of the books purchased in 2009 were from households earning less than $35,000 annual and 20% of those sales were for children’s books.
- Americans like people. The biggest selling non-fiction genre is biography – auto and otherwise.
Do these facts change your opininon about the state of the publishing today?
Thanks to July 2010 Commenters
August 23, 2010
