I deleted the only remaining thing I could see they might object to. Sure enough, the new version passed muster.
Bernie pic
Bernie
Friday, 28 September 2012
Amazon declares me profane
Amazon thinks we are profane.
They said my profile was unacceptable because it contained a profanity. WTF! I carefully re-read my profile and tried a few changes but the message came back: PROFANE
I deleted the only remaining thing I could see they might object to. Sure enough, the new version passed muster.
I deleted the only remaining thing I could see they might object to. Sure enough, the new version passed muster.
On the road to Damascus Paul’s book pummels your brain
IF The Book of Paul
were a music album, a critic might say it had cross-over appeal.
It has a feel of a genre novel but it is hard to classify because
of its elements of sci-fi, dystopia, psychological drama and comedy.
I believe its publicity machine is running with supernatural thriller and that
is a good as label as any.
I read not much genre fiction apart from Chandleresque
private-detective yarns. While I say ’’not much’ , none at all is closer to the
mark.
New York author Richard Long was able to hook me and keep me
on the line until the end. That is a good effort as, before reading The Book of Paul, I thought tarot was an
Asian root vegetable.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Richard like John in his own write
Day 4 of the Book of Paul tour is here.
Today we have a guest post from the author
Richard Long.
Welcome to the Save the Book blog, Richard.
Make yourself at home. Can I get you a cup
of coffee?
No, you want to get started. Fire away!
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Hey hey Paul-eay, how many kids you kill today?
Welcome to Day 3 of my part in the whirlwind blog tour of The
Book of Paul.
On Day 1, author Richard Long was kind enough to eloquently
answer my questions on his supernatural thriller.
On Day 2, we ran an excerpt from the novel.
Today we return to Q&A, one of my fave media for
discussion and robust debate. The questions are from blog-tour organiser Novel
Publicity. In the interests in massaging
my ego, I may introduce my own comments. We will see. Let the fun and games
begin.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Day Two in the Life of Paul
YES, it is Day 2 of my part in Richard Long’s Blog Tour of
The Book of Paul.
It is Day 2 and I already have to
apologise to yesterday’s readers for misleading you about your opportunity of
winning all these fabulous prizes. It seems you all have the opportunity to win
as you will discover when you read on.
After yesterday’s goof, I probably did
not endear myself to blog tour organizer , Novel Publicity who kindly let me
have a go, as we love to say in Australia.
At this point I had better show my tour
badge to authenticate I am really part of this great enterprise and not some
crazed troll.
I thought I would play safe today and
post one of the files tour organiser, Novel Publicity, sent me. It is an excerpt from the novel.
Monday, 24 September 2012
More than just a naughty boy: the life of Paul
This week, Save the Book is part of a whirlwind blog tour in support of
Richard Long’s novel The Book of Paul. I am not sure what the tour badge is about. As I understand it, only the bloggers can win the prizes. WTF, they give me badge: I'll wear it
Critical readers have their say about 7 Shouts
Bernie Dowling has a unique voice that really brings his columns to
life. I highly recommend this to anyone that enjoys Australian humour. Even if
you don't laugh you will be entertained and informed. My favourite is the
Slanguage chapter. For the record I say 'marown'.
Saturday, 22 September 2012
Make the sort of money your book, art or performance deserves
I had the privilege of listening to Dr Ernesto Sirolli for
more than an hour today.
He
was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Moreton Bay
Creative Industry Expo 2012
Moreton
Bay is a region of Queensland Australia and is where I live.
I
will try to explain as simply as possible what Dr Sirolli had to say.
If
I do what you consider a good job, please send a link to this post to everyone
you know who is an independent writer, artist or performer. It concerns how good artists can make a decent
living from their work. Anybody working in the arts knows that is just not
happening today.
Dr
Ernesto says all work offered for sale involves three processes.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
What’s hot these days?
A
MAN who has been dead for 30 years, an 80-year-old car and a teenager are the
hottest tickets of the week.
More than
160,000 readers of British music magazine NME voted John Lennon as the greatest rock icon
of the past 60 years.
The top 10
are
John Lennon
Liam
Gallagher
David Bowie
Alex Turner
Kurt Cobain
Amy Winehouse
Jimi Hendrix
Morrissey
Noel Gallagher
Ian Curtis
For the record Ian
Kevin Curtis (July 15, 1956 — May 18, 1980) was the lead singer and lyricist
of the post-punk band Joy Division.
Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. In the
1980s he was the lyricist and vocalist of the The Smiths before commencing a long solo career
Alex Turner[4] is the lead vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter of the English band Arctic
Monkeys.
If you do not know the rest, what are you
doing still reading this; Move on to the car yarn.
Cashing in on a car
In 1994, Morrissey had a hit album, Vauxhall and I.
I would love to say it was a humble British Vauxhall which
fetched more than $5 million at auction but I would be lying.
At the Goodwood Motor
Circuit in Chichester, UK, on Saturday 15th September
An extraordinary an unrestored 1928
‘S’ Type Sports Tourer Mercedes fetched more than £2.8 million. Type Sports
Tourer battleship grey ‘S’ Type was owned by the same family from new and had
never been restored, retaining its original blue leather upholstery in its entirety.
Never has the tag “one owner” had so
much value. Oh Lawd, won’t you sell me a Mercedes Benz.
A 1929 Maserati Tipo 26M four-seater
sports racing car raised £1,681,500.
A1929 Alfa Romeo 1750 SS Competition
Tourer went for a lousy £1,099,100.
What the highest priced Vauchall went
for is not recorded. Used to be such a sweet car, too.
Still a sweet girl
Abigail Gibbs, 18, has signed a
six-figure publishing deal with HarperCollins for her vampirific novel.
Gibbs is a sweet girl, and like Morrissey, a
vegetarian. There the comparison ens as
the teenager can’t stand blood while Morrissey bleeds from the mouth,mthe ears
and the amp.
Ì do wish people would stop writing things like
six-figure sume. I have to count ion my figures to some up with $100, 000 or
more.
I do hope these bidding wars for indie writers
continue. One day they might get down to you or me.
HarperCollins's publishing
director, Shona Martyn, said: ‘I think this book has traction – Abigail's
storytelling is pacey and vivid; her characters and plot are sexier than Edward
and Bella.’’
E&B, I presume, are
characters in the Twilight series.
In the meantime, this book has not sold for a
seven-figure sum.
But you can buy it as it rushes
past 7 reviews.
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Less is more if light on your feet
American ballerina Gillian Murphy
is part of an allegory for independent authors
I LIKE this story because I see it as
an analogy of how to make a success of independent writing.
Throughout
the world arts organisations are struggling as we seem to be near the bottom of
the sponsorship – government and private – cycle.
So how does a ballet company survive let alone thrive in a New Zealand city
such as Wellington with a population of 364,000 people. A tiny
population by city standards but it gets worse.
Here are
the priorities of the Wellington Regional Plan 2010-2012
The priorities for 2010 - 2012 are
- more
people get into work and stay in work
- more
children are safe
- more
young people stay on track
- reduced
reoffending by young people
- improved
quality of life for older people
- communities
are better able to support themselves.
Notice any mention of fostering the arts? No!
Well what does the government see as the
backbone of the Wellington economy?
Our economy
The key industries and employers in the region are:
- public
administration and safety
- professional,
scientific and technical services
- healthcare
and social assistance
- education
and training
- retail
trade.
Any mention of the arts or even entertainment? No!
A born-again Oliver Cromwell would seem to fit
in here.
But perhaps it
is the government not the arts community of Wellington which is out of touch
with reality.
In November
American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Gillian
Murphy will perform in a new staging
of Giselle, co-produced by Wellington based Royal New Zealand Ballet artistic
director Ethan Stiefel and
internationally acclaimed principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, John Kobborg.
The production will be in the home of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, St
James Theatre Wellington. The London Evening Standard newspaper described
the RNZB as “a text book case of how a small company can defy the debilitations
that size usually brings.”
For the Standard, bigger is not more secure. Bigger is more precarious.
Notice also tha,t for the NZRB, smaller does not prohibit international
co-operation.
How does the company do it?
For a start, the St James Theatre was designed for vaudeville. Maybe the
Cromwell ruin song was performed there. As a music hall, the St Jimmy is lower
and broader than usual ballet houses and it enhances intimacy between
performers and audience.
St James Theatre is surrounded by bars and restaurants, many of which
offer special pre-theatre dining menus and deals. As an example, Logan
Brown at 192 Cuba St
offers a three-course bistro menu for $45 and a $55 ballet package which
includes an additional glass of champagne and taxi to theatre.
The City Life Wellington Hotel at 300 Lambton
Quay offers weekend packages from $179 for a studio room,
subject to availability.
The point of this story is not that Asians, Aussies and Kiwis should
rush to the season of Giselle though
they can book at www.nzballet.org.nz.
Rather it is that indie authors can ci-operate with one another and
relatewd industries to makes less more.
Instead of more of the same offer less of the
different
Monday, 10 September 2012
So U Wanna Write Sumthun
Albert Jarry author of the short story
The Passion Considered as an
Uphill Bicycle Race.
IF there is
an author’s grand plan for successful writing practice we would fail to have
the rich diversity which makes literature a thing of beauty.
I write all the time: it is my day job and often my night occupation.
Deadlines focus the mind but when I set out to write something which I suspect
might turn out above average, I let the work ferment in my mind, and perhaps my
heart and soul.
Once the idea is ripe I tend to write it all out without revision until
the end. It kind of works, but I suspect some semi-scientific creative process works
on the raw idea before I put finger to
keyboard.
Today I came across an article which might have some of the processes I
employ sub-consciously.
The article is by a media editor, but I imagine it could assist authors
of short stories, novellas and
full-length books.
The article is called 6 questions journalists should be able to answer
before pitching a story.
Below is the reference. You can either read the thing whole or my derivation
for book authors.
First, you will note the title has a number in it, a strategy beloved
by internet marketers. Everybody seems to be on that sort of stuff these days including
the article’s author, Tom Huang, is
Sunday & Enterprise Editor at The Dallas Morning News.
Even indies should be pushing their story to their
publishers, themselves.
Si here are the six questions with my thoughts on
them.
1.
What piques
your curiosity about the story?
This is will be
the theme of your story or the underlying reason you are telling it. You do not
need to write down that theme or even understand it completely as you will
tweak it in the writing process. Be aware
that it is there; it is basic; it is important.
2.
What’s new
about the story, and why do you want to tell it now?
Most good stories
are universal and timeless, but geography and timeliness will make readers more
perceptive to them. Is this the right time and place for your story?
3.
Why will the
reader or viewer care about the story?
There
are two answers to this question. The first is because it is well written. The
second is because it speaks to some readers who hear it clearly. A book has
never been written which every reader hears. If you try to please everyone you
end up pleasing no-one.
4.
How can we
tell this story digitally?
Critics of eBooks are quick
to affirm their drawbacks, such as their lack of the comfort of physicality.
But eBooks have comforts hard copies do not – the ability to link anthology authors
to their stories and bios, as an example. Linking to other digital works is
another. It is early days for eBooks. Be aware of break-throughs in formatting
and linking
5.
What questions
will you need to ask to get this story, and what sources will you need to
consult?
This is the basis of your research. If you do
not enjoy research, you might need to change your mindset. Similarly if you
enjoy research too much, you may delay the telling of your story.
6.
How much time
will you need to produce the story, and how much space/time do you think the
story deserves?
If you set out
to write a novel, your story had better be up to that length. If you are
writing a short story, it needs to be compact, even if told in a light style.
It is a good
idea to set yourself a minimum number of words a day. If you write 1000 words a
day, your first draft of a novel will take about 90 days or 4 months, given
that you are unlikely to write seven days a week when starting off. Four months
for writing; eight months for revision and editing will give you that book in a year, the
goal heritage publishers love,
If you set a deadline,
you will likely fail. If you do not sett one you will certainly fail.
Remember even
the Boulevard of Broken Reverie has an end to it.
Monday, 3 September 2012
Trolling for good grammar part 1
A leisurely stroll
with trolls
Trolling for blue fish, a1866 lithograph by Currier and Ives
THE heritage media in Australia is hunting for trolls after
a celebrity was hospitalised with a breakdown following Twitter exchanges.
As it turns out, the celeb was not entirely blameless in the internet banter , but, as she admitted, she met more than her match.
Never argue with an idiot. They will bring you down to their own level
and, once there, beat you with experience.
I am not much interested in the latest attempt by the heritage media to use print to troll internet discourse. But
I was taken with the notion of finding a little more about the on-line
community’s assessment of trolling.
I found this excellent presentation by Californian web developer Nicole
Sullivan who is also a gardener and poor car parker. I too am a gardener and
poor parker. While I am not entirely sure what web development is, I am pretty
certain it is a cool thing for people, other than myself, to do.
Finding the Sullivan presentation required incredible discipline on my
part as it was on the second page of a "trolls" Google. It was not even the
top item on page 2, but I found it. (Alright it was #2. but that is not #1)
In response to my superhuman feat, I am asking you to play the presentation all
the way through
Have you played it all the way through? You sure? You know I can wait
you out until you do. You already know about my boundless discipline.
I have to play it again, anyway , as I need to quote the bit
I am interested in discussing.
Let’s watch it again together, shall we?
The advice in the vid is solid and concisely presented. Alright, but the piece I want to talk about is
where Ms Sullivan trolls “the grammar nazi” and I am sure she is talking about me.
“People think grammar is very, very, very important. I don’t understand
them,” she said, looking right at me, through my computer screen.
Let me say, first up, one "very" in a sentence is usually one too many
– ha! ha! gratuitous trolling.
No, what I really wish to say, is Ms Sullivan would not think
half-assed web development was good enough. So it is with writing. “Mean what you
say and say what you mean” applies to personal morality, refusing to troll and
writing.
Sloppy writing creates confusion, reduces elegance and anchors the
imagination, hampering glorious flight.
These are not just academic or aesthetic considerations. They go to the
heart of whether the self-publishing revolution will liberate or debase literature.
Heritage book publishers will tell you it is the latter. Conscientious self-publishers
with respect for good grammar are assisting in making it the former.
Writers and readers need only to remember their childhood to know lots
of good treats are in Grammar’s house.
Finally let’s enjoy an anti-trolling classic
Bernie Dowling. September 3, 2012
Available at AMAZON
and GOOGLE eBooks
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