Book, blog and beyond …

Want to ‘talk’?  Need a new ‘friend’? I’m pleased to say that you can find the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook not just here, but also on MySpace and Facebook, where we’ll also be running special offers and giveaways. Add us to your favourites!

Warm wishes, Jo

Feel the fear and blog anyway

Having your own blog must be one of the easiest ways to reach an audience.  Yet for every aspiring writer who is already blogging, there are those who shudder at the thought. And I do empathise with these writers… blogging was new to me until

What a new writer needs to get right

Why can some authors do everything badly and get away with it? Do you need to be unique? Or good at branding? Guest blogger Suzanne Collier of Book Careers.com explains all

Careers consultant Suzanne Collier

Even in today’s climate I am still speaking to authors who don’t do their research.

They somehow have gone down the self-publishing route, scraped together the cash to print 3,000 lovely hardback books which are sitting in their garage (or even worse they are paying storage for at a warehouse) without any thought about

Self-publishing vs vanity publishing. Confused?

I often get letters or phone calls from confused and sometimes worried authors, unsure whether or not to sign a contract with a publisher who’s raved about their book idea but is asking for a ‘contribution towards the cost of publishing the book’. The amount varies, but frequently it runs into the thousands.

Authors owe it to themselves to be very clear on one point

Can I use a website as my portfolio?

Advice for illustrators from guest blogger Clare Mackie

Clare in her London studio

By all means do try to get yourself a website so that art directors can look you up online.

I’ve found this invaluable – more important to me now than a portfolio, but I’m not sure it’s a substitute when you’re starting out.

Try to also have a traditional portfolio, and make it as beautiful and enticing as you possibly can.

Your portfolio is your showcase – you will be judged by it – so prepare it in a way that reflects your talents and abilities at their best. Art directors are by nature highly visual and will appreciate a well-presented folio to show to their colleagues and clients too.

Do authors need publishers?

Will you still need a publisher in a digital, multi-channel world where you can engage directly with your audience?

The answer is yes. So long as publishers continue to add value, our services are useful, no matter what format you choose to deliver your content in.

The role of a publisher is more wide-ranging than you might think. A publisher will make sure your content is available in every potential outlet worldwide. Authors who attempt this themselves tend not to reach the market as widely. Publishers, through the process of careful selection, editorial input and marketing, are turning undiscovered talent into international success stories.

Why you need an ‘elevator pitch’

Bloomsbury’s 247 tales has got me thinking about the ‘elevator pitch’. When I run workshops on ‘How to Get Published’ I try to encourage writers to have a crack at drafting their own personal ‘elevator pitch’ (s’ok, I cringe too at the blatant American-ness of it. I also really dislike it when people make little quotation marks in the air with their fingers, but that’s a story for another time. Oh, and I have a weird issue with napkins – in fact I have the makings of quite a long list!).