Buy My Book - But Only If You Really Want To.

by Em Lynas

I am so lucky. My first book You Can't Make Me Go To Witch School came out in August 2017, my next book Get Me Out Witch School is out in April 2018 and the third in the series Help! I Am Trapped At Witch School! is out in September 2018. But that's not why I am lucky.

Prior to the launch in August I prepared a Notes From the Slushpile post for You Can't Make Me Go To Witch School but it didn't go live because Jo Wyton wrote a surprise post, a big squishy hug of a post about me and my book baby. 

Then the amazing hat extravaganza began on facebook and twitter thanks to the fabulous George Kirk, Candy Gourlay and many others. I think Paul Morton put them all together.

I really can't thank them and all the other hatted folk enough, you really did get the message out there that the Witch School books are- All About The Hat! 

But I didn't get to post my book launch post so I'm sharing it now because the launch date of book 2 Get Me Out Of Witch School is coming up fast. In light of the awesomeness and madness of the first launch I think it's quite funny. This is what I would have posted.

The Dreaded Book Promotion! by Em Lynas

A long time ago I was persuaded to have a Tupperware party. I was supposed to drum up business, drag friends in off the street and get them to spend money they could probably ill afford. My Tupperware Party pitch went something like this

Er, I'm having a Tupperware Party but you don't have to come if you don't want to.

Every home had one!

Then, for some odd reason, very few friends came. The woman running the party (my best friend's mother) was not pleased and she was not the sort to hide her displeasure well. However, she cheered up when a newly married neighbour ordered a whole pile of stuff. Phew. I ordered a Party Susan out of guilt. It was probably the most expensive item in the catalogue (It stayed at the back of the cupboard until it turned yellow.) So, best friend's mother was placated.

But then the neighbour returned, within minutes of leaving, to cancel most of the items at the behest (great word) of her husband. They couldn't afford them. I told her it was OK, that she didn't have to buy anything if she didn't want to. My best friend's mother was not best pleased, yet again. Honestly, there was no pleasing her at all. I think she went to counselling.

I tell you this to show how bad I am at asking people to part with their money. After all, they could have a cappuccino and a cupcake for the price of my book.

link to lovereading4kids

So, I have been dreading trying to market You Can't Make Me Go To Witch School in case my pitch ended up something like this – Er, I've published a book, but you really don't have to buy it if you don't want to.

I fear this is an attitude that will not generate many sales and is not listed as a recommended technique on any Marketing Degree. But as we've discussed on Notes from the Slushpile in the past it's really difficult to get the balance right between saying, 'Hey! I'm having my book birthday', and 'You MUST buy my book.'

The first, 'Hey! I'm having a book birthday' is exciting. But the second, 'Buy my book' is so bossy and rude and like poking people with a big pointy stick that's been sharpened to be extra pointy and painful.

Then there's the launch party. Everybody has a launch party. So I should have a launch party but – see above - what if it's a repetition of the Food Container Catastrophe? 

What if I create a fantastic flyer to hand out but say, 'Here's a flyer about my new book but you don't have to take it, it is quite heavy and your bag looks full.'

What if I post about the party online but say, 'Come to my book launch. There'll be free wine and nibbles and you really are not under any obligation to buy my book just because you've eaten all of the cupcakes.' 

What if I take copies of my book to the launch venue but hide them under the table at the back. Ready to hand out if anyone should ask what the point of the party is.

What if I have a table in a corner with the books and a notice, 'Please take one and make a donation to the starving author only if you can afford it.'

What if I talk about anything BUT my book to anyone who came.

  

Things I would be comfortable saying:

How's your mum?
Did the plumber come?
Yes, Jamie Littler's images are amazing! Look at the one of Twink and Jess hugging, they're so sweet.
How was Menorca/Cyprus/Cornwall?
Yes, it's been fabulous working with the Nosy Crow team. 
What did you think of (insert authors name) 's book?
You don't have to stay long, you know. 
Yes, Agent Amber is fabulous, she's been amazing. 
Don't bother buying my book now, you have a drink in one hand and a Toadspit Towers titbit in the other, how could you possibly buy my book now? You're not a juggler. 

Things I would not be comfortable saying:

Anything about my role in the creation of the book. I would mumble thanks if anyone said anything complimentary and change the subject.

So, I thought, 'Maybe I need a book friend. Someone who knows how hard I've worked, someone who knows how long I've taken, someone who understands the suffering, the emotional turmoil, that is the roller coaster journey to becoming a writer.

What an excellent idea! If only I felt comfortable asking – 'Would you like to help promote my book?' I know I would have added the caveat, 'You don't have to.'

Ah well.

The End.

So that was it - my You Can't Make Me Go To Witch School book launch post, but it turns out I didn't have to ask for help to promote my book baby. My friends, my agent, my editor, the team of Nosy Crows were amazing at 'doing it for me'.

Big hugs to all and an enormous THANK YOU!

And, just in case you're interested and have a bit of spare cash that isn't required for cake and coffee, here's a link to the next book.

You can Pre-order from Amazon if you want to.

Or you could get it from a library.

Libraries are good.

Should you go on a writing retreat? YES

by Teri Terry

Have you ever wanted to go on a writing retreat but weren't sure what you might get out of it? I love writing retreats! Especially the SCBWI variety. But the reasons why have changed over the years.

Back when I was unpublished and unagented, I wasn't sure I could justify the time or expense of a writing retreat...

It took me a year of thinking about it before I finally took the plunge and went to my first SCBWI retreat.

I didn't write at them very much the first few times - in fact, the first one I went to, way back in 2010, I spent all the scheduled writing time reading Jon Mayhew's Mortlock, which I'd brought along for him to sign, and having unscheduled naps and weird Mortlock-related-dreams. This was my very first retreat, and the last one in the midlands; one of the last few ably-organised by the very much missed Sue Hyams.

It still stands out in my mind all these years later: 

1. the sheer joy of being around other creative types for a whole weekend. I started to feel less alone. If other people out there talk to the characters in their heads all the time too, maybe I'm not completely bonkers?

2. a one to one with Lee Weatherly with a ghost story I still may go back to one day: she said my voice was just right for YA!

Lee's latest

3. a talk Lee gave also, where I still remember one of the things she said: that if you've had a full manuscript request somewhere - even if it's a no - it shows you can write; keep going, you'll get there. I'd been in just this position around that time and was feeling down about it, and she made me turn it around and see it for the encouragement that it  was.

4. a picture book talk with Pippa Goodhart! 
I wasn't sure why I was even going - I didn't want to write picture books - but I went along, and I still remember something that she said: that animals are often used in picture books because it makes it less scary than if it were a child. This is something I came back to in other contexts when I was thinking about the appeal of dystopian novels: put something in another world or in the future, and you can look at scary issues in a way that might feel too confronting in our world.

Retreats then moved to Dunford House in West Sussex:

I've been to every one, and even volunteered to organise it myself a few years. The reasons I went changed over time and the years merge together a bit in my brain:

my Dunford Houe library writing buddies in 2011:
Christian Colossi, Jo Wyton, Tina Lemon

1. writing time: more and more I was using the retreat to focus on my work in an intense way that can be hard to do at home with family & work commitments.

2. friends! Writing friends! No one else wants to listen to us agonise over a word or point of view choice or plot point like they will; no one understands the agony of rejection and dusting yourself off again like they do; no one else is quite the same cheer leading section.

3. it made me feel like a writer! Which can be elusive sometimes in those pre-published stages.

Then in 2011 I got a publishing deal, hurrah! Slated was published in 2012. Things were changing ...

Once I was agented and published, I wasn't sure I could justify the time or expense of a writing retreat...

Why go if I don't need one to ones, I'm less interested in going to workshops and talks, and now that I'm writing full time I don't really need the dedicated writing time away?

I kept going. I couldn't not go, somehow.

1. writing time! I still loved having this weekend to focus, away from home/family.

Writing buddies in Dunford House library, 2018

Dunford House

2. writing friends! I think I said it all above: they're the best.

3. Dunford House! more and more it was becoming a place I loved going to every year; an annual ritual; my favourite weekend of the year

Dunford House Conservatory one May

What about solo retreats?

Another point about retreats: I know authors who go away on their own for a week or two to write. This doesn't work for me; I've tried it. I get too morose being on my own 24 hours a day. The SCBWI retreats - also Charlie's residential retreats in beautiful Devon - work for me because I can write all day but have lovely chat with friends at meals and in the evening.

I almost didn't go to the SCBWI retreat this year: 

I've been travelling too much. I've got 

Scooby, the World's Cutest Puppy.
I did miss her dreadfully

some intense deadlines. We have a puppy. Lots of things were falling through the cracks and I didn't register for the retreat: it was sold out. I also didn't plan a book launch for Deception, the second book of my Dark Matter trilogy.

But Dunford House is closing soon so it was the last one there, and I found I couldn't stay away. Someone sadly had to cancel and I got their spot! And then I remembered my very first retreat, and Jon Mayhew bringing along bottles of bubbles after Mortlock was published ...

blurry Jon Mayhew pouring bubbles - back in 2010?
I think it was 2010

... and I had a cunning plan:

A book launch! Prosecco! a writing retreat!! What's not to like?

Prosecco! a glass! no free hands for the book,
but Susan Bain snuck in to help out

Thanks so much to everyone for being there! And thank you to Mel Rogerson and Alexandra English for organising everything so wonderfully. 
Thank you to editor Rosie McIntosh for coming along, and to Dom and Hachette Children's Books for the Prosecco, and to everyone at Dunford House for making this retreat - and my book launch - as memorable as all the others.

And thanks also to Candy Gourlay and Kathy Evans for making the trek, and for the photos!

Books! bookmarks!

from left: Kathy Evans, Nina Wadcock, me, and Candy Gourlay's selfie magic

Editor Rosie McIntosh saying lovely things

So cheers to SCBWI, Dunford House, writing retreats, and writing friends everywhere! 

Thanks to Sue Hyams, for talking me in to going on my first retreat.

the dedication page in Contagion

Please share: writing retreat happenings? things learned? writing retreat successes? haunted rooms? things forgotten/lost? hangovers?

Let's start from the very beginning

by Paula Harrison

Beginnings are hard. I've heard writers talk about how they get lost in the middle of their manuscripts or how they find it hard to finish a story the way they want to. But to me, beginnings are hard... although I still love writing them.

So how do recently-published books in the middle grade age range pull the reader in? I thought we should take a look...

First up - The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

They say the day the Governor arrived, the ravens did too. All the smaller birds flew backwards into the sea, and that is why there are no songbirds on Joya. Only huge, ragged ravens.

Bad omen alert! The symbolism of ravens - those dark, carrion-eating birds - instantly puts us on edge. But more than anything it's the image of the smaller birds flying backwards into the sea that sticks in my mind. Flying backwards is pretty unnatural! This story sets up a sense of foreboding right from the start. The information is told to us second-hand too and this introduces the importance of myths and old tales.

Next let's look at Tin by Padraig Kenny

Snow was falling from the night sky, and all the world was cold and hushed except for the regular metallic squeaking of Jack's joints. Christopher glanced at Jack, but the mechanical looked straight ahead oblivious to the sound.

The poetic feeling of this opening is quickly punctured by the end of the first sentence as the metallic squeaking contrasts with the snowy night-time setting. What is a mechanical? We immediately want to know.

And on to Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll

We were halfway through the news when the air raid started. It was a Friday in January: we were at the Picture Palace for the 6 p.m. showing of The Mark of Zorro. All month the Luftwaffe had been attacking us, their bombs falling on London like pennies from a jar, 

This book was one of my favourite reads of 2017, partly because it's fantastic and partly because it has a historical setting. I don't write historical myself which means I find it more relaxing to read. This opening has a simple style but that image of the bombs falling like pennies from a jar transports you straight into the mind of the main character and her life in war-time London.

And finally let's look at Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans

It was such an ordinary evening, but every detail of it would matter; every detail would become vital.

This story had me at hello! My goodness - WHY would every detail become vital? I haven't finished this book yet so no spoilers please, but I had to add this book to my TBR pile after that. Also I love the voice of the main character and how you can tell that she's a young person from the slightly melodramatic way she's expressing herself.

All of these beginnings are authors absolutely in control of their material. We all know why beginnings are so important. Children can easily put a book down if they lose interest in the early pages. A well-crafted opening is a beautiful thing... then you just have to make the rest of the book as good!

Paula Harrison is the author of 5 middle grade novels and 22 young series books, and if you buy them you are welcome to analyse their openings!