Sunday 20 May 2012

A Treasure Trove of Publishers

Book Publishers Accepting Submissions

A member of my local writers group Scribblers forwarded me an email from Brian Grove who recently published The Treasure Hunter's Handbook with Little Brown Books.



Brian's email was to let writers know that he has created a website that details 1,000 publishers that are currently looking for novels to publish.  As a writer who has queried agents and publishers (usually found in the Writers & Artists Yearbook) I can tell you, first hand, how time consuming it can be to check if an agent/publisher is looking, what their submission guidelines are and whether they are interested in your genre - their tastes and requests change all the time and everyone has a different website layout.  



In addition, his website is full of useful advice for authors looking to get published.  This website looks like a time saving gold mine so all I can say is thank you Brian for sharing your hard work, for me this website is a real treasure.  Perhaps I should consider buying his book and see what other riches I can find whilst I consider who on the list to submit to.




Brian's website:  http://myperfectpitch.com/
Brian's book:  http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Authors/G/3446/Titles

Saturday 19 May 2012

Opuss - Featured Authors

Wow! Just found a new page on Opuss. It lists the featured authors and the Top Author Pic - and it... http://opuss.com/s/1qq1

Download the Opuss app FREE on the App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opuss/id473948939?ls=1&mt=8

Feed a Read Competition

Win a Critique
We all want to be read, even published writers.  So, on Feed A Reed they are offering the chance to budding writers to be read by an editor at Random House.To enter, all you have to do is read the first 6 pages of 6 books and answer a question about each one.  Deadline is 31 May 2012.  It looks as if this competition runs every month so check back.

Read more @  http://www.feedaread.com/Blog/May-Competition-for-budding-authors-win-critique-from-Dan-Brown-publisher-Random-House-on-FeedAReadcom/

Self Publish
With Feed A Read they also offer your a chance to Self Publish.  You can publish your novel with them for free on their website or for a fee of £88 your book can be made available to major online publishers (like Amazon) and high street book shops (like Waterstones).  The website appears to have good reviews.  I can't say I've looked into Self publishing that much so don't know how good this is but the sales pitch was very good.

The books that do well also get a chance to receive a critique from supporting publishers of the site.  They can offer you a publishing deal.  The website is funded by the Arts Council.

Read more @ http://www.feedaread.com/

Opuss - My Mum (poem)



My mum I know she in not perfect
In the past she's forgot my birthday
She's made mistakes along the way
But she always knows how to brighten my day

Read more @ http://opuss.com/s/1qhc

Download the Opuss app FREE on the App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opuss/id473948939?ls=1&mt=8

Sunday 13 May 2012

Dictionary App

This is one the applications on my mobile that I frequently use.  Every writer should have a dictionary app on their phone and there is no excuse not to as there are loads of free options to download.  The version I have is by Dictionary.com.  This was the website I generally used before when working at my PC but now I have the site with me when I am on the go. My app is on the iPhone but I just checked their website and it is now available for iPad and Android mobiles too.


Word Search

On my bookshelf I do have a dictionary and a thesaurus but I must admit I lazily enjoy just tapping my phone and typing a search word in to find what I'm looking for, rather than going upstairs to retrieve a large book and flicking through pages.  I like that the app remembers all the words I've previously looked up in the past where as with a manual book, I'd have to fold down a page and I hate doing that.  

In addition, you can save your Favourite words and you can retrieve your list at the click of a button (profluent, pachyderm, paramour) and if you want to check the meaning of a word on your list just tap it.  

You can check "Trends" to see what words other people are searching on today (meta, diocese, postpone), the overall most popular words searched for (decorum, egregious, austerity).  You should be able to see what people nearby are searching on.  For some reason the app thinks I'm in Oakland, USA which I'm sure is a lovely place but I'm nowhere near there - I feel like a ninja that's dropped off their radar, he he.  

Articles

Every day, I get an alert for 'Word of the Day'.  The little prompt helps increase your vocabulary and consider words you've forgotten on never knew about.  The words can prompt your imagination, for example, today's word is Matrilineal (inheriting or determining descent through the female line) which has got me thinking about a world where procreation has became a problem and wars break out to protect fertile women, treated like goddesses, caused by the break out of a matrilineal virus.  I'm not sure why but there is always a 'Spanish Word of the Day' too. 

The app has a sporadic article (appears roughly every other day).  Today's article is about the meanings behind flowers.  The articles are varied, informative and always well written.  You can read back past articles too.  There is a daily questions "What is the origin of grinder, as in sandwich?" and then the answer.   The daily questions are usually about where words or phrases have originated from.

Thesaurus

At the top of each page, you can switch to thesaurus and get a choice of other words and then you can switch back to dictionary to check their meaning is what you want.

Links
http://dictionary.reference.com/

Saturday 12 May 2012

Butterfly

Be a butterfly and embrace change.
Find the beauty in what it brings.
Fly with silver tipped wings.

http://opuss.com/s/1m2v

Download the Opuss app FREE on the App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opuss/id473948939?ls=1&mt=8

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Giddy News

Struggling to think straight. My hardwork writing has paid off:

1. I get asked to be a regular... http://opuss.com/s/1jfj

Download the Opuss app FREE on the App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opuss/id473948939?ls=1&mt=8

Saturday 5 May 2012

Top Today - Opuss

I've never been competitive as I always want to see everyone do well but I can't help but feel rewarded when people like my posts on Opuss.  Yesterday night, I checked the Top list and to my surprise and joy, I was number 1.  The next morning I checked my News Feed and found the alert confirming that I had really made it.


I've also been amazed that I've made it to Rank 12 on the top authors list (currently #19).  It's really encouraging to have people not only want to read my writing but also like it.  Currently I have three posts in the top 20 for the week and month chart (but we are only in week 1).  My highest rated posts is "Words" which is currently at position 5 (but did make it to #3).


I'll give an update at the end of the month as to whether I made any more #1s and where my posts sit in the chart.



Opuss

1. Send out a query letter for Drift. Just cause the last agent wasn't interested doesn't mean nob... http://opuss.com/s/1grv

Download the Opuss app FREE on the App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opuss/id473948939?ls=1&mt=8