Please help victims of the monster-flood in the Philippines

It seemed to happen while I wasn't looking.

I've been away on a trip that involved a lot of driving, no mobile signals and no access to the internet. The first I heard of the floods in the Philippines was a series of messages on Facebook, my contacts in the Philippines sending out thanks and appeals.

The Philippines is used to lashings of typhoons but this is different.

Here's a video from CNN:

The New York Times has this slideshow of photographs showing the appalling conditions in the aftermath of the floods.

As I write, another storm has struck the Philippines. If you are based in the UK, you can help by giving to the Red Cross appeal.

The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 by Harriet Goodwin

If you're a writer or anyone who loves books, watch this:

And here's another someone launching a career to inspire children, Harriet Goodwin.

My daughter and I bussed it to the Waterstones in Islington last night to attend the launch of a book by yet another Undiscovered Voice.

The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 was the first book snapped up by agent Sarah Davies who was one of the judges to the UV competition and it also has the distinction of being the first one-off young fiction title to be published by Stripes Publishing.

Authors take note: it was a nice Waterstones for a book launch, the party took place at a spacious upper floor, good acoustics for the book reading, fab Upper Street restaurants nearby, and MOST importantly, a short, door to door bus journey from my house (thanks, Harriet).

Here's the powerhouse behind the book: Harriet, Julia Churchill of Greenhouse Literary Agency standing in for Sarah Davies, and Jane Harris, who edited the book.

Julia read a message from Sarah

Stripes publishing team in a dignified and mature scramble to take photographs (health and safety notice: no editors were injured in the taking of this photograph)

Hat with her exceedingly tall and sparkly nine year old daughter who is ripe for recruitment to my daughter's recently formed My Mum Is Writing A Novel support group

And as the party wound down, the SCBWI people took shots of each other posing with random books.

Sarwat with Twilight, Margaret with When Cats Turn Bad, and Candy with Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country,

As one does.

Well done, Harriet. Now onward and upward!

What Blogging Writers Can Learn from Street Performers

How do you build an audience?

Do you sometimes feel like this Elvis impersonator, spewing hound dogs into a mic with an empty pavement for an audience?

Last Monday, I caught Passing the Hat, a BBC radio feature by Jolyon Jenkins, about street performers (it's on iplayer until 28 September).

In the programme, the world famous street magician Gazzo serves up the following pearls:

People think it's the performer that gets the audience. But it's the audience that gets the audience.

Yes! That's it! I wanted to shout. It's not about YOU. It's about the audience!

If I were to put a FAQ on my website, I would put "Should I start a blog?" as the top question. When writers realise that I am involved in websites, this is the question most frequently asked of me.

A lot of writers skip the question and simply inform me, "My book is coming out. I'm going to start a blog."

We-ell.

A blog is an incredible way to reach out to an audience. But so many bloggers use it as an indulgence and forget about their audience in a way that goes against the spirit of blogging. I blog primarily because I enjoy it, and I really make an effort to make it an enjoyable experience for my readers too. It's not about broadcasting your message, telling people Ding Dong Your Book is Out. Unless you win the audience, your message will not be heard by very many people. You might as well dress up as Elvis and stand on a street corner.

There is, of course, the book. The book will draw readers. And then after the book, there is the huge marketing spend your publishers will put behind your book (is that hysterical laughter I hear around me?). And then after the marketing budget, there's you. How do YOU build that audience? And keep it?

If you haven't got the time to listen to the BBC programme you can go straight to 12:10 on the iplayer where the show goes into the nitty gritty of pulling a crowd. It's about "marshalling" people, "taking control of the situation". Here's how a magician named Neill described it:

It's about unifying the people who are watching you into an audience ... when we go to the theatre, a performance still has a job to do of turning that crowd of people sitting in the auditorium into an audience.

But on a street .. they are just individual people going about their daily busness. To get those people to stop, to stand in one place, to feel connected as a unified whole as disparate groupings ... then it's better for the performer and it's better as an experience for the people who are watching it as well

Like the street performer, your blog draws them in with your talent and your humour. You make them stay by forging bonds, not just between you and the reader but bonds between the readers themselves.

Here are some ways to keep your audience:

• Be useful. Give stuff (information, freebies, anything that your readers like)
• Be entertaining. Make an effort to put that extra something into your posts eg. pictures, design. Give them a reason to come back.
• Be human. Don't just churn out the words. Reply to comments (and try to reply in a way that sounds like you are a real human being), praise, react, be real.
• Engage with your reader. Remember, blogs are conversations. You have to show that you are listening too.
• Visit your readers' blogs and comment on their posts. It's a relationship not a one way street.

Here are more tips from the Pro Blogger blog 9 Ways to Make Sure Your Post is Read By More than Just Your Mom

And if you care enough to do it right, your reward is a loyal reader who might just buy your book. As Gazzo says:

Every street trick needs some form of pay-off. That's what will get you the money