Best writing of a bad sentence

A sentence comparing a kiss to the sucking of a very thirsty gerbil has won Seattle-based novelist Molly Ringle the world's worst writing contest. Ringle, who says she only writes bad fiction when she fails at good fiction, took the Bulwer-Lytton prize for the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels yesterday with:

"For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss – a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil."

Courtesy: Maggie Ball, CompulsiveReader.com

Got a book in the oven?

You and your colleagues can collaborate on a book project together at Book Oven.
Writers, editors, designers, all can collaborate, even publish right from the site.



The site is fairly new. Here's how it works. I hope you'll let me know if you try it out...

-- As a writer, you either start writing on Book Oven, or upload text of an existing manuscript

-- You either invite collaborators (editors, designers, reviewers, proofreaders), or find them on our site

-- You work with editors/reviewers to improve your text. Your editors can leave annotations in the margins of your text, and if they have the right permissions, they can directly edit the text

-- You can use Bite-Size Edits to proofread/copyedit your text - either by yourself, in a private group, or by opening your project to the world
When you are ready to publish your text, you can generate an .epub ebook file, an html file, or a PDF file

-- Eventually, you'll be able to generate a PDF formatted for print-on-demand

-- Eventually, you'll be able to sell the epub and print-on-demand book in the Book Oven store, and through partner retailers

Self-publishing increases 188 percent in 2009...

Something to celebrate in this guest post by Stephanie Chandler:

Bowker recently released a new publishing industry report revealing trends in traditional and self-publishing. The report shows that traditional publishers released an estimated 288,355 book titles in 2009, down by 1/2% from 2008. Yet, non-traditional book titles, including print-on-demand and other self-publishing methods, increased a whopping 188% over 2008 with 764,448 new titles released. Yowza!

It is also interesting to note that for the first time ever, over 1,000,000 new book titles were produced in 2009.

What does all of this mean for authors? There is no denying the trend toward self-publishing (or self-publishing assistance by custom publishers). Traditional publishing channels are flat and failed to grow in 2009, which is likely due to the challenged economy.

It is also clear that the competition is increasing. With more than 1 million titles per year vying for the attention (and wallets) of readers, it's more important than ever that authors make sure to produce titles that stand out against the competition. If you self-publish, avoid cutting corners! Make sure your book is edited along with a professional cover design and all the elements one would expect from a traditionally published book.

And keep in mind that author marketing is more important than ever. Keep the wheels in motion and remember that it is a marathon, not a race. Marketing should be a daily activity that authors engage in to stay competitive.

What do you think about all of this?
By Stephanie Chandler, Author, Speaker, CEO of Authority Publishing & BusinessInfoGuide.com, Focus: Internet Marketing, Publishing, Small Biz

Ebooks: Don't Overlook the $ales Potential

If you use traditional publishing or print-on-demand, the publisher can convert your book into an ebook, and Smashwords.com can convert it to all the formats needed for ebook readers, iphones, and the next new thing that comes along. And, did you know, you earn higher royalties on ebooks? Since they cost almost nothing to produce and place into the sales channel, you can earn up to 70 percent per book, like I do on my Release Your Writing ebook.

Need more incentive:
The Hachette Book Group, states that James Patterson's novels have now moved 1.14 million copies in electronic form, making him the first author to sell over 1 million e-copies of his books.

Guest post guidelines

If you're interested in sharing a guest post at Release Your Writing, here are our easy guidelines:

1. entry should be between 200 and 400 words.
2. photo of guest author is permitted
3. topic should be relevant to writing: wanting to be a writer, how blogs make writing easier, the dream of writing a best-seller, etc.

The entry should be sent to me for approval and posting. If it all looks good, it will be posted immediately and kept on the site at least one-year.

Thanks for your interest in Release Your Writing.

Guest post: Blogging tips

The following resources are provided to Release Your Writing by Accredited Online Colleges.com


60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers
This is the first of seven posts. Accredited Online Colleges asked if they could share these with my blog readers. Let me know when you're ready for Post #2...

June 20th, 2010

Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore. Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient.

Professional

Find other writers, publishers and ways to market your work through these searchable databases and search engines.

1. Litscene: Use this search engine to search through thousands of writers and literary projects, and add your own as well.
2. Thinkers.net: Get a boost in your creativity with some assistance from this site.
3. PoeWar: Whether you need help with your career or your writing, this site is full of great searchable articles.
4. Publisher’s Catalogues: Try out this site to search through the catalogs and names of thousands of publishers.
5. Edit Red: Through this site you can showcase your own work and search through work by others, as well as find helpful FAQ’s on writing.
6. Writersdock: Search through this site for help with your writing, find jobs and join other writers in discussions.
7. PoetrySoup: If you want to find some inspirational poetry, this site is a great resource.
8. Booksie.com: Here, you can search through a wide range of self-published books.
9. One Stop Write Shop: Use this tool to search through the writings of hundreds of other amateur writers.
10. Writer’s Cafe: Check out this online writer’s forum to find and share creative works.
11. Literary Marketplace: Need to know something about the publishing industry? Use this search tool to find the information you need now. (Note: Includes Small Presses. HG)

Book Review: "Writers and Their Notebooks" edited by Diana M. Raab

A collection of essays by writers about their notebooks and journals. Perfect for summer reading (and writing)...


The overall emotion in this collection is a love of writing, and a celebration of notebooks and journals as the place to embrace our beloved art. Most of the essays include a sentimental regard for the many years of notebooks the writers have amassed, a memory of their first journal, and the value of old journals for recalling experiences and details from the past. More often than not, these details work their way into new writing. Author Katherine Towler notes, “My years as a journal writer were essential to the work I am doing now, and to the work still to come.”

In Writers and Their Notebooks, Raab describes words on the pages of a journal as “the music and voice of one’s true emotions. Whether the writer is expressing deeply held beliefs, recording snippets of overheard dialog, making observations, listing ideas for future projects, or copying a favorite poem, the notebook should be a vital part of the creative tool kit.”

There is the rare reference to blogs as “simultaneously a diary and a piece of performance art,” and the need for the computer when “what’s waiting is not a thread but a flood. The pocket notebook is for the hint, the computer for the deluge.” Rare is the lucky writer who is so inspired by the notebook that it must pour forth as fast as one can type, “the resonant data impinging deliciously on the mind,” as poet Kim Stafford discovers.

Read full review here.
First published as: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-writers-and-their-notebooks/

Jane Friedman, Writer's Digest boss-blogger at There Are No Rules, shares this statistic from the BEA sessions this week:

The computer is still biggest e-reading device (37%); then Kindle (32%); iPhone (10%); iPad (3% after 3 weeks in market!).

Once people start using/buying e-books, they don't go back & tend to become more exclusive to e-books.

Are your reading habits changing? Are you happy enough with a hard drive full of books, instead of an inviting pile of books on your nightstand? Not me. I read and review plenty of ebooks, but I want the inviting titles, colors, and shapes enticing me to hold a book and read the words.

Children's books go interactive!

This is extraordinary....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gew68Qj5kxw





This is especially relevant for authors of books for children. It looks like the days of a simple picture book are gone forever! Let's hope not...

As AOL News recently reported, of the top 16 book apps for the iPad, a whopping 13 of them are children's books, a revealing statistic about the potential that multimedia e-reading devices have for the children's book genre. Many of these book apps are intended for the younger set, with activities that help children learn words and read sentences, engaging them in the plot of the story. For those too young to read, apps offer animated illustrations the reader can touch and move while a recording of the story plays, and children can record themselves reading as they progress in their ability. One app even lets parents make a recording of themselves reading the story on a web cam. Then, when the child reads the story on the iPad, the video recording appears in the corner of the screen - even when they aren't there, parents can read to their children.

These apps are not all simple illustrated storybooks. Some of them use amazing animation and allow children to interact with the story at an unprecedented level. Many book videos demonstrating the capabilities of children's book apps have been posted, including a montage of anticipated books for various age levels from Penguin and an impressive look at the Alice in Wonderland book app.


Info courtesy of bookhitch.com

How to get an agent to keep reading...

Writer's Digest had loads of free e-newsletters, and they often focus on a productive strategy to help you get ahead. Here for example are the seven reasons agents stop reading. You can see the full article here.


1. Generic beginnings
2. Slow beginnings
3. Trying too hard
4. TMI (Too Much Information)
5. Clichés
6. Loss of Focus
7. Unrealistic internal narrative

Now that you know what makes them stop reading, rework your proposal to improve your odds of success.

Self-Published book award list

Use this list of Writer's Digest Self-Published Award winners to do a little reverse engineering. Look at the winning books in your category.

1. Go to the author's web site or blog. How well do they promote the book?
2. Go to Facebook or LinkedIn and search for the author's profile. Are they highly visible? Do they have a large following?
3. What can you learn from their marketing strategy? They didn't become a Writer's Digest award winner without some effort.
4. What should you do to get your work known?

Writers Digest's 17th Annual
Self-Published Book Awards winners :

Children's Books
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_kids17/

Genre Fiction
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_genre17/

Humor Writing
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_humor17/

Inspirational Writing
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_insp17/

Middle-Grade/Young Adult
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_youngadult17/

Life Stories
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_life17/

Mainstream Fiction
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_main17/

Nonfiction
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_non17/

Poetry
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_poetry17/

Reference Books
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_ref17/

Thanks to Rowdy at FWOI for these links.

Highlight text from web pages

Last week, I did a demo of i-lighter.com, software that highlights text on web pages.
You save the highlights on a dashboard screen, and can retrieve them, see where they came from, and sort them.

Shortly after the demo, we learned the i-lighter company is closing down, due to lack of profit. Unless someone comes along (are you listening Google?) and buys them this week, the product will cease to work.

So, not to disappoint... I found WebNotes, which does the same thing. It's more complex, but you can enjoy the basic, free features and get more complicated if you are using it for grant research or a large paper.

Women's History Month

Barnes & Noble.com has a wonderful collection of videos and interviews, celebrating Women's History Month here.

Hunting for an agent? Three good links...

I'm enjoying an agent panel this morning at the Univ. Wisconsin Milwaukee Spring Writer's Festival. Here are links to the three recommended sites for those seeking an agent:

AgentQuery
Association of Author's Representatives
AuthorAdvance.com