In this issue:
- TIP: Should you capitalise the first word after a colon?
- New Podcast: Market your book so it’s a best-seller!
- SlimInk Book Giveaway: The Book of Rapture by Nikki Gemmell
- More Student success – Angela Furlong on the cover of Home Beautiful
- Study when you want where you want – Online Feature Writing
- Manuscript clinic with Maree Giles
- WEBPICK: Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Happy new financial year! We’re half way through 2009. I know this is not traditionally the time to make new year’s resolutions but why not take the opportunity? If you’ve always been meaning to start writing your book or enrol in that course that you’ve had your eye on for a while, it’s time to take action. Otherwise, another half of the year will have gone before you know it.In the meantime, many of you know that three of my biggest passions are writing, technology and business. If you’re interested in my personal Business Bootcamp newsletter this is where you’ll learn how to grow your business and boost your bottom line. You can sign up here.
Should you capitalise the first word after a colon?
Here’s some advice from Grammar Girl on when to capitalise after a colon. If the words that follow a colon couldn't be a complete sentence on their own, the first letter is always lowercase (unless it's a proper noun, such as a name).
- Squiggly loves two things: chocolate and hiking.
- Squiggly has two friends: Aardvark and Sir Fragalot.
If the words that follow a colon could be a complete sentence on their own, the Australian Style Guide says you should capitalise. For example:
- We ask you: Can you support him? Can you persuade others to vote for him?
This is another instance though where you should always check the style guide of the organisation you are writing for.
New podcast: Discover how former student Amanda Falconer ensured her book’s success!
Our next podcast is available tomorrow (Friday). This week I’ve interviewed Amanda Falconer, author of The Renovator’s Survival Guide. Amanda’s book was published by Penguin in February this year and since then, Amanda has been continuously promoting her book all over the country.Amanda will be sharing her marketing and promotion knowledge at the Sydney Writers’ Centre over three weeks from 22 July. Her course Marketing Your Book: Your Best-seller Blueprint will give you the foundation needed to develop an effective promotional campaign to help you sell more of your book.
The course will cover:
- The importance of positioning your book – who its for and where you find this target market
- Positioning yourself - what’s your author brand all about?
- How to choose the most appropriate promotional tactics
- What your publisher does (if you have one) and when they do it – and what they want from you. Also, find out what they don’t do.
- How to prepare for media interviews
- How to generate your own PR long after your publisher has moved on to the next title
- How to promote your book using smart online strategies – do you need a website, blog, online video or a social media presence?
- Case studies on online book marketing ideas that you can model.
Amanda is a brand and marketing expert with over 20 years experience across industries ranging from the rag trade to building and now, books. Amanda is currently the national marketing manager of the Australian division of a global manufacturing company. She’s had TV appearances on 9am with David & Kim and A Current Affair. She’s also scored radio interviews on ABC radio in Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. And I haven’t even mentioned print media yet! Amanda has had her book reviewed in The Sunday Telegraph, New Idea, The Newcastle Herald, and The Sydney Morning Herald’s Domain, and it's been recommended by The Sunday Age.
Our podcast with Amanda is out tomorrow (Friday) so make sure you listen to the podcast here or visit iTunes.
Marketing Your Book: Your Best-seller Blueprint with Amanda Falconer
When: Every Wednesday evening starting Wednesday 22 July 2009 for three weeks
Time: 6.30-8.30pm
Cost: $265
Click here for more information or to enrol online.
Book giveawayThis month’s Slim Ink book giveaway is by Nikki Gemmell. Her newest offering is The Book of Rapture. Don’t expect the same erotic tale we saw in The Bride Stripped Bare. This is a very different book that explores the tricky subjects of religion and science.
Three children wake up in a basement room. They have been drugged and taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Now they are alone.
Where are their parents? Who can they trust? The family has been betrayed to the government and Salt Cottage, their home on a clifftop above the ocean, is no longer safe. Their mother′s scientific work has put them all in danger. To protect them, she must let them go. She must put her faith in an old family friend – and in her children′s own resilience and courage.
Each chapter in this novel is followed by a quote from sources such as the Bible, the Koran and the Dalai Lama. Gemmell reportedly spent weeks finding the perfect passages!
So, to win a copy of The Book of Rapture, tell us what your favourite quote is and why.
Email your answer to courses@spindriftmedia.com.au - and don't forget to include your name and postal address.
Study when you want where you want – Online Feature Writing
Our next Online Feature Writing course will begin on Monday 13 July. If you want to learn how to write for magazines and newspapers, and get paid for it, then this course is for you. Held in our virtual classroom, we’ll give you the skills to write articles and get them published. It suits first-time writers or anyone who wants to brush up on their writing skills. The course will teach you about:- which ideas work and where to get them
- understanding the magazine/news market
- different types of feature articles
- how to research, structure and write a feature
- what editors want from a writer
- how to pitch your article or idea to a magazine and sell it!
Here’s what former student Persephone Nicholas had to say about the course:
"The course equipped me with all the practical information I needed to get started in my new career as a freelance writer. I learned how to develop and pitch appropriate ideas to editors, techniques for improving my writing plus countless insider tips that have helped me behave professionally in my dealings with magazines and newspapers. I believed I was a reasonable writer before I did the course but doing it has enabled me to get published.
"I am now working as a writer and recommend 'Online Feature Writing for Magazines & Newspapers' to anyone wishing to do the same."
Online Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Valerie Khoo
When: Week beginning Monday 13 July for five weeks
Time: Whenever you want
Cost: $395
Click here for more information or to enrol online.
Student success cover storyWe’ve received more great news this week from one of our former students. Angela Furlong completed our Feature Writing stage 1 course and one of her stories will be featured on the front cover of Home Beautiful this month.
Congratulations Angela!
Manuscript Assessment ClinicWe’ve managed to secure Maree Giles for one more day this year so if you missed out on our first Manuscript Clinic, you can still book in on Wednesday 8 July.
Sessions are for one hour and will give you feedback and guidance on your novel or short story. During the clinic you will discover:
- How to improve and “repair” your work: grammar, characterisation, plot, voice, viewpoint
- How to edit your own work
- How to create an opening that will hook an agent/publisher/reader
- Your work will be treated in the strictest confidence
Maree Giles is an award-winning Australian author living in the UK and this will be your only opportunity this year to learn from one of the best. She is the author of three literary novels, The Past Is A Secret Country, Invisible Thread and Under The Green Moon (published by Virago Press). She has taught journalism and creative writing to students at various adult education colleges and writing centres in England and Australia, has been a guest speaker at the Sydney Writers' Festival and the Byron Bay Writers' Festival, where she also ran Master classes in Creative Writing. At present she is a Royal Literary Fellow Writer-in-Residence at Kingston University, London.
Manuscript Clinic with Maree Giles
When: Wednesday 8 July 2009
Time: Please call 9929 9237 for an appointment
Cost: $150 for one hour
Click here for more details.
WEBPICK
For examples of how not to write, or how to write badly well, visit the the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest website for this year’s results. Held in honour of the Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, this annual competition aims to find the worst opening sentence to an imaginary novel – something like this, which Bulwer-Lytton wrote in 1830: “It was a dark and stormy night.”
Check out this year’s winners at:
http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2009.htm.
And start working on your entries for 2010!
Other upcoming courses
Course: Script Writing for the Short Films with Geoff Bartlett
When: Thursday 2 July and Thursday 9 July 2009 (two evening seminars)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $165
Seminar: Grammar and Punctuation Essentials with Deb Doyle - FULL
When: Friday 3 July 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Cost: $395
One-on-one Manuscript Clinic with Maree Giles - NEW DATE
When: Wednesday 8 July 2009, one hour sessions
Time: Call 9929 9237 to arrange an appointment
Cost: $150
Course: Online Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers with Valerie Khoo
When: Week beginning Monday 13 July for five weeks
Time: Whenever you want
Cost: $395
Course: Writing for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge - FULL
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 16 July 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: Writing for the Web with Grant Doyle
When: Tuesday 21 July 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am - 4.00pm
Cost: $365
Course: Marketing Your Book with Amanda Falconer
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 22 July 2009 for three weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $265
Course: Feature Writing for Magazines and Newspapers Stage 1 with Judy Skatssoon
When: Every Monday starting Monday 27 July 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Online Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman / Cathie Tasker
When: Week beginning Monday 27 July 2009 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395
Seminar: Professional Business Writing with Mel Wilkinson
When: Thursday 30 July 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: Travel Writing with Geoff Bartlett
When: Tuesday 4 August 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $75
Course: Novel Writing Workshop with Pamela Freeman
When: 5 evening classes held approximately every six weeks beginning Tuesday 11 August 2009
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $450
Seminar: Self-publishing - How to do it with Geoff Bartlett
When: Wednesday 12 August 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $75
Seminar: Editing Essentials with Katrina Lobely
When: Thursday 13 August 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Cost: $345
Course: Writing for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge - NEW DATE
When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 18 August 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: How to Get Your Book Published with Geoff Bartlett
When: Wednesday 19 August (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $75
Seminar: Grammar and Punctuation Essentials with Deb Doyle
When: Thursday 20 August 2009 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Cost: $395
Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Kate Forsyth
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 20 August 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Creative Writing Stage 2 with Judith Ridge
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 26 August 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman - NEW DATE
When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 1 September 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Cost: $395
Course: Feature Writing Stage 2 with Judy Skatssoon
When: Every Monday starting Monday 7 September 2009 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm
Cost: $395
Seminar: Successful Freelancing with Gayle Bryant and Valerie Khoo - NEW DATE
When: Thursday 24 September 2009 (one-evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: $75
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