Publishing Talk

Tom Evans 19th May 2010 Betty Edward, Cat Bennett, Draw, Findhorn Press, Visual Arts, whole brain thinking

Why authors should learn to draw

I’ve just finished reading an excellent book by Cat Bennett called The Confident Creative: Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind.
When I read Cat’s book, I realised that being able to draw is not something which is a nice-to-have skill – perhaps just so I could do my own illustrations or even my front cover. There are areas of the brain (and mind) that are activated, exercised and honed by the very act of drawing. As such, for authors, drawing actually makes you a better writer.

eBooks Featured post future of publishing

Rich Holman 12th May 2010 agile, development, eBooks, print, skills

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads

There is a lack of skills in the publishing industry to deal with new emergent paradigms. But it’s not just skills and structure that are lacking, but culture and attitude. In a period of accelerating change we need vastly more efficient methods of developing new concepts. In this post I want to share some thoughts about some of the changes that would be required for publishers to become more agile, generalist and collaborative in an age where we are all becoming publishers, authors, creators and consumers and as such all have a voice and opinion as well as the ability to implement our own ideas.

conferences Digital Featured post

Jon Reed 25th April 2010 apps, Digital Rights Management, iPhone, London Book Fair, London Book Fair Digital Conference, mobile

London Book Fair Digital Conference

Publishers get real about digital as they are told: “This industry doesn’t owe you a living”.
I was lecturing at Birkbek yesterday, on digital publishing, social media marketing – and men in their pants in Basingstoke. For this was the key takeaway message for me at this year’s London Book Fair Digital Conference, which I attended and live-tweeted last weekend: if publishers don’t produce digital content, such as apps, there are plenty of men in their basements in Basingstoke in their pants who will.

Publishing Twitterati Flock Together at the London Book Fair

The publishing Twitterati were out in force at the London Book Fair last night, for London Book Tweet – the official tweetup organised by the London Book Fair and Publishing Talk. Despite a little ash-depletion, 50-odd publishers, authors, agents, journalists, trade association representatives and other book trade folk squeezed a bit of tweeting-up in between ligging drinks at various stands and going on to the Canongate party. Many thanks to all who came, and to those who made it all possible with their creative contributions.

conferences Featured post Tweetups

Jon Reed 15th April 2010 #LBF10, #LBFDC, #lbtweet, Digital Conference, Earls Court, Flickr, London Book Fair, London Book Tweet, Twitter

London Book Tweet – bring on the Twitterwall!

Are you at the London Book Fair on Tuesday 20th April? If so, there are still places at the London Book Tweet After Party! London Book Tweet is the official tweetup of the London Book Fair, organized jointly by the London Book Fair and Publishing Talk. The publishing Twitterati will be out in force, tweeting, drinking and networking with fellow publishers, authors, agents, journalists and other book industry folk – and we’d love you to join us!

5 killer iPad apps for authors

The iPad delivers something very specific for authors that ereaders don’t: quite simply, it is the ability to write. Will I be getting one? You bet! Will I wait a while? Yes too as I specifically want it to act as my mobile writing toolbox and I want 3G. Also the apps I need aren’t quite yet available in iPad format. So apart from the obvious ability to write, here’s what I plan to use it for and my app shopping list for developers to step up to the plate with – some of which I know are ‘appening!

Writing

Tom Evans 7th April 2010 author's block, Blocks, fear, writer's block, Writing

4 things that stop you writing: #4 The Fear of Success

Tom Evans is the author of Blocks: The Enlightened Way to Clear Writer’s Blocks. Follow him on Twitter at @thebookwright. #4: The Fear

Writing

Tom Evans 31st March 2010 author's block, Donald Rumsfeld, writer's block

4 things that stop you writing: #3 The Fear of the Unknown

It’s kind of natural to fear the unknown. For many of us, this fear can start at an early age and remain with us for most of our lives. When it comes to writing your book – or specifically not-writing your book – it can be somewhat debilitating.

conferences

Suzanne Kavanagh 30th March 2010 Creative Commons, Faber, Frances Pinter, Open Access, TOC

Free or Fee? Valuing Content in the Digital Era – Part 2

While boxes around industries are dissolving as everything can be viewed through one device, publishers need to think clearly rather than just tinker with their own model. The traditional linear model of author-to-publisher-to-retailer-to-consumer no longer holds true. Agile project management, reflexive and responsive ways to develop projects and the ability to adapt to change are essential. The industry needs to learn how to build, develop and fail fast so it can learn and move on. We need to move quickly, but think deeply.

Writing

Tom Evans 24th March 2010 author's block, failure, writer's block

4 things that stop you writing: #2 The Fear of Failure

The best way to avoid failure is not to try in the first place. Nobody can have a dig at you for the quality of your writing, or the number of copies of your book you have sold, if you haven’t written it. The same holds true for a new invention, product or service in business.

conferences

Suzanne Kavanagh 23rd March 2010 Ben Hammersley, Conference, Innovation, iPad, LCC, magazines, Publishing, Steve Jobs, WIRED

Free or Fee? Valuing Content in the Digital Era – Part 1

Ben Hammersley, Editor-at-Large of Wired UK is an engaging speaker, not afraid to tell the audience: “if you’re not producing content for all platforms – especially mobile – your business will die.” Straight to the point then. He also made a pertinent point (much to the relief of many in the room) that the old formats won’t die. Cinema didn’t kill theatre, the iPad won’t kill print. Each format is usually better in one way than the other.

Writing

Tom Evans 17th March 2010 fear, Short Story, Six Sentences, writer's block, Writing

4 things that stop you writing: #1 The Fear of Ridicule

The fear of ridicule is really common. The best way to avoid being ridiculed for your writing is not to write anything at all. Our unconscious minds protect us from harm by inventing loads of ways for us to avoid being ridiculed. The simple way around this is to start writing and ‘publishing’ small bits of work and discovering that you don’t get shot down in flames.

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