Writing Competition

Balsall Writers are holding a WRITING COMPETITION.

Write a short story and/or poem on the subject of your choice.
The competition is open to all writers over the age of eighteen.

SHORT STORY maximum 2200 words 

POEM maximum 42 lines

1st Prize £100 : 2nd Prize £75 :  3rd Prize £50

Plus publication on their website.

The entry fee is £4 for each submission.

Closing date for entries is 31st October 2012

ENTRY FORMS available on:
www.balsallwriters.org.uk
or s.a.e. to Balsall
Writers, P O Box 1356, Coventry CV7 7ZQ

Creative Writing

Local Playwright Len Pentin
(Writer on BBC Radio Merseysides Paradise People and Liverpool Royal Courts hit play Slappers and Slapheads, is running a |WEA Creative Writing Course open to beginners and non beginners alike. Why don't you join us for a friendly but challenging productive dip into the world of Creative Writing led by a local Playwright.
The 10 session course will cover a wide areas of Creative writing inc Poetry, Short Stories, Short Scripts and much more.

Course fee is £37.20
or free to eligible learners on a means-tested benefit.

Course starts on September 18th 1.00-3.00pm at The Friends Meeting House Southport

For more info or to enroll please contact WEA offices on 0151-243-5430 or visit the website on www.nw.wea.org.uk
You DO NOT have to pre-enrol. Turn up at the first meeting!

Please note: This is not a NWUK course.

Write-Connections - Panel Event

Calling all writers and book enthusiasts! Would you like to meet some of the top Commissioning Editors in the publishing industry? Authors such as Michael Tolkien, or literary editors, publicists and independent publishers?

If yes, then you may well want to attend Write-Connections’ Panel Event on Saturday 15^th September at the Phoenix Artists' club in Central London (12-4pm). Places cost just £49.99 on first-come-first-served basis and the panel for the event is as follows:

· Catherine Coe - Children's Books Editor and Author, formerly Senior Commissioning Editor at Hachette Children's Books

· Michael G.R. Tolkien – Author

· Hannah Shepperd – Senior Commissioning Editor, Young Adult and Crossover Fiction, Headline Publishing

· Darin Jewell – Literary Agent, Inspira Group

· Tom Chalmers – Managing Director, Legend Press and Paperbooks Publishing

Write-Connections' Events are a staple of the literary calendar and some of the fantastic endorsements can be read at:

http://write-connections.com/testimonials.html

To book a place online visit:

http://write-connections.com/events/workshops.html?view=category or email
info@write-connections.com

Write-Connections also has places left at its Publishing Hour on 30th August in London which involve time spent individually with a publisher, literary agent, commissioning editor and publicist to discuss work and/or ideas – as well as places at a range of other exciting events coming up over the next year.

You can view details of all the events at

http://write-connections.com/events/workshops.html?view=category

Please note: This is not a NWUK event.

2012 Soho Literary Festival

THREE CHEERS FOR the 2012 Soho Literary Festival
Thursday 27th ­ Sunday 30th September
at Soho Theatre, Dean St, London W1D 3NE

The Oldie Magazine is back once again at the Soho Theatre in Dean Street to bring you the 2012 Soho Literary Festival. Last year¹s inaugural event brought a glittering combination of writers and thinkers. Many were veterans of The Oldie¹s monthly Literary Lunches, speakers chosen for their wit, flair and literary brilliance. All were selected from the cream of English writing, historians, novelists, journalists and politicians at the cutting edge of contemporary thought.

The 2012 Soho Literary Festival promises all the above and more. We bring you interviews, one-man shows, panels and debates. John Major talks on Music Hall; Giles Coren on restaurants; Michael Palin on his latest novel; Fay Weldon on hers; Craig Brown will bring a series of parodies and sketches with one or two surprise friends drawn from London¹s literary finest. We have a debate on the future of Euroland, a debate on Press & Politics, poems from Pam Ayres, a Classics Quiz chaired by Mary Beard and cabaret from Virginia Ironside.

The full list of  2012 SOHO LITERARY FESTIVAL artists is as follows: Claire Armitstead; Pam Ayres; Paul Bailey; Mary Beard; Patrick Bishop; Isla Blair; Immodesty Blaize; Piers Brendon; Asa Briggs; Craig Brown; Hugh Cavendish; Patrick & Henry Cockburn; Artemis Cooper; Giles Coren; Dan Cruickshank; Barry Cryer; Mark Ellen; Edward Enfield; Allie Esiri; Adam Fergusson; James Fergusson; Michael Frayn; Stephen Glover; Valerie Grove; Roy Greenslade; Lindsey Hilsum; Shirley Hughes; Virginia Ironside; Tony Iveson; P D James; Rachel Johnson; William Keegan; Prue Leith; Sam Leith; Jeremy Lewis; Marina Lewycka; Tim Lott; John Major; James Mates; Melanie McFadyean; Charlie Mortimer; Ferdinand Mount; Harry Mount; David Owen; Michael Palin; Tony Parsons; Ruth Rendell; Jane Ridley;  Eric Robson; Barnaby Rogerson; Dominic Sandbrook; Prunella Scales; Anne Sebba; Clive Stafford Smith; Kate Summerscale; Craig  Taylor; Sam Taylor; Colin Thubron; Jane Thynne; Jeremy Vine;  Clara Vulliamy;  Ed Vulliamy; Fay Weldon; Timothy West

Details of all 2012 SOHO LITERARY FESTIVAL events can be found at
www.soholitfest.com <http://www.soholitfest.com> . All events are 50 minutes long and take place at the Soho Theatre. Booking Hotline is 0207 478 0100.

NWUK Book Festival & Fayre VIII

Writers' & Artists' 'How to Get Published' Conference

Press Release

2nd July 2012

The Writers' & Artists' 'How to Get Published' Conference

7th July 2012 at the Wellcome Collection, London

Do you have a bestseller à la Fifty Shades tucked under your pillow?

E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey is a phenomenal publishing success as the fastest
selling adult paperback novel to hit a million sales, but it began as a fanfiction blog. Fifty Shades was written as a Twilight fanfiction on fanfiction.net and was published by a small company in Australia. It was plucked from obscurity by Random House, changing the publishing landscape of 2012.

The Writers & Artists How to Get Published Conference takes you each step of the way to getting your book published, whether it began as a blog, diary or fanfiction.

With the right preparation for submission, your work could be transformed into the

next international bestseller.

Writers & Artists are launching a Twitter competition to find the book idea with the most potential to follow the success of Fifty Shades. The idea must be Tweet-sized and submitted to @Writers_Artists by Friday 13th July. The winner will receive a free Writers' & Artists' How Strong Is Your Book Idea consultation with an agent and editor, worth £119.

The team behind the bestselling Writers' & Artists' Yearbook present How to Get Published, a day-long conference that tells writers everything they need to know about getting published. The conference is held at the Wellcome Collection, central London, on Saturday 7th July.

Suzanne Joinson will be giving her advice to an audience of budding writers at the conference. Along with her agent, Rachel Calder, of The Sayle Literary Agency, they will discuss the relationship between author and agent at the How to Get Published

Conference on 7th July.

The How to Get Published conference provides an invaluable opportunity to gather tips and advice from some of the most reputable names in the industry, network with highly respected agents and publishers, meet and exchange ideas with other writers and put their publishing questions to a panel of literary agents.

Kerry Wilkinson, the self-published author who was ranked as one of Amazon's top 10 UK authors within 5 months of releasing his book, will give his advice on self-publishing and discusses the self-publishing experience with Philip Jones of The Bookseller. With over 250,000 e-book sales, Kerry is uniquely positioned to discuss the self-publishing experience.

The audience will hear from our panel of top literary agents, including Patrick Walsh of Conville & Walsh, Rachel Calder of The Sayle Literary Agency and Lucy Luck who set up her own agency in 2006, now an associate agency of Aitken Alexander .

Writers' & Artists also offer the following services for writers:

Manuscript Submission Masterclasses

Various dates at Bloomsbury Publishing, London

Run by an Editor and top Literary Agent, over three sessions, aspiring writers are given practical exercises, one-on-one assessments of their submission and an opportunity to gain professional insight into the publishing world.

Beat the Rejection Clinic

'Rejection.' It's the word writers dread the most.

Writers' & Artists' provide a unique, one-to-one session for writers who have met with rejection. A top literary agent reads the submission (letter, synopsis and first three chapters) and offers a valuable insight into why the submission hasn't yet caught an agent's attention, how they can turn it around and who to target next.

How Strong is Your Book Idea?

Writers & Artists have assembled a panel of publishing experts, with comprehensive

Knowledge and understanding of the publishing industry, to help you understand the individual challenges you must overcome to convert your spark of inspiration in to a convincing and engaging full-length book.

An editor and literary agent will review your work and provide an honest appraisal of the strength of your idea, the direction you are taking and its commercial viability.  Together, they will set you specific, well-defined goals and a solid path to follow to help improve your chances of publishing success.

"The report gave me invaluable feedback on what I need to work on to strengthen my

idea" Andrea Barker

For further details of the conference and services see www.writersandartists.co.uk<http://www.writersandartists.co.uk>

Claire Daly

Bloomsbury Institute Events Manager

Settle Storytelling Competition 2012

Settle Storytelling Competition 2012

Settle Storytelling Festival presents a competition in collaboration with social audio platform Audioboo to find Britain’s best newcomer to the ancient art of storytelling.

To commemorate 2012 being the 200th anniversary of the Brothers Grimm, the festival is asking budding storytellers to tell their own version of a fantastical Grimm’s fairy tale – like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel or Snow White.

Record and upload your entry here by July 31st 2012. Prizes include £50.00, £25.00 and £10.00 National Book Tokens. The overall winner will be invited to perform at the Storytelling Festival 2012. The Festival takes place from 11th – 14th October 2012. This year’s line-up includes award winning and international renowned storytellers. This is your chance to share the stage with them.

The Brothers Grimm wrote many of the most well known and well loved fairy stories in the world and everyone has a favourite – so pick your story, make it your own and start telling it. Let your imagination go wild, make it about your family, your friends or your school. Set it anywhere you want – anything goes – and if you’ve ever really kissed a frog, we’d love to know what happened!

To get some ideas listen to these stories:

Faustin Charles

Jamie Crawford

Dave Tong

You can also listen to last year's two winning entries by clicking the links below:

Vera Jacques, The Wooden Baby.mp3

Amelia Fawcett - The Fox and the Crow.mp3

About Audioboo

Audioboo allows people to record, submit and share audio clips online so it’s the perfect way to show off your storytelling talent.

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Competition rules:

The competition is open to anyone who does not work full time as a professional storyteller.

• Stories should be no more than five minutes long.
• Stories should be uploaded to the Audioboo channel by 31st July 2012.
• Stories must be Grimm Stories. They can be the traditional versions, or adapted in any way.

Entries must not:

• contain material which is offensive or promotes an illegal activity (e.g. underage drinking, substance abuse, computer hacking, etc.)
• include mention or performance of any copyrighted media production including but not limited to music, films, books, television programming, etc., or identifying descriptions of any media property.
• have been previously submitted to, or broadcast in, any recorded media.

Terms and Conditions

1. Prizes are non-transferable, non-negotiable and no cash alternatives will be offered.
2. Settle Stories reserves the right to substitute the prize for another prize of equal value.
3. By entering the competition, the entrant agrees to the terms of the Settle Stories privacy policy and The Settle Storytelling Competition terms and conditions.
4. By entering the competition the winner(s) consent to any publicity generated as a result of the promotion, and use at any time on the Settle Stories website.
5. Settle Stories will not accept responsibility for any entries not received through technical fault, incomplete, illegible or other damaged entries. Proof of entry is not automatically proof of receipt.
6. Settle Stories' decision in all matters relating to the competition is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
7. These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.
8. All prizes are non transferable. Arrangement for the fulfilment of prizes will be made by our 3rd party sponsors. We/they reserve the right in our sole discretion to substitute any and all prizes with prizes of a comparable value. Settle Stories is not held liable in any way for the prizes given by our sponsors.
9. Settle Stories makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the merchantability or fitness for purpose of any prize offered as a result of any Settle Stories competition or promotion.

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award 2013

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award 2013

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award 2013

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award was founded jointly by Frances Lincoln Limited and Seven Stories, in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945-2001) to encourage and promote diversity in children’s fiction. The Award is now open for entries.

The Award is for a manuscript that celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its story or the ethnic and cultural origins of its author. The prize of £1,500, plus the option for Frances Lincoln Children’s Books to publish the novel, is awarded to the best work of unpublished fiction for 8-12 year-olds by a writer aged 18 years or over, who has not previously published a novel for children. The writer may have contributed to an anthology of prose or poetry. The work must be written in English and it must be a minimum of 15,000 words and a maximum of 35,000 words. Previously submitted manuscripts which were not short-listed will be considered for entry.

The purpose of the Award is to:
• Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives whose work is published in Britain today
• Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice is currently under-represented
• Recognise that as children’s books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting
writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance
• Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication

The closing date for the 2013 Award is Monday 31 December 2012.
For entry forms contact: E: diversevoices@sevenstories.org.uk T: 0845 271 0777
More details available at www.sevenstories.org.uk/learning/projects

RBA Short Story Competition

RBA Short Story Competition

2012 short story judge is Booker shortlisted author Clare Morrall.

1st prize £500
(approx 805 US$; €609)

2nd prize £150
(approx 241 US$; €182)

3rd prize £50
(approx 80 US$; €60)

Closing date 31st October 2012.
Entries can be on any subject but must not be longer than 3000 words. Entries can be posted or emailed to us. Please see our website for more details about the entry fee and how to enter
www.ruberybookaward.com

Neal James wows Waterstones

Waterstones - Saturday, 9th June 2012

78 - 80 St. Peters Street, Derby

Standing at the corner of St Peters Street and Babington Lane in the centre of Derby, the Waterstones branch occupies an impressive and imposing three-storey site, and was 'home' to Rob Eldridge, my editor, and I for seven hours at the weekend.

Sean Heavens, the store manager, provided a constant supply of assistance and advice throughout the day, and is seen here with copies of the only two titles which remained and the end of the event. Maybe we should have taken the picture at the start of play! 'Two Little Dicky Birds' and 'Short Stories Volume One' sold out during our stay, and the event was a wonderful success. Diary dates should be forthcoming from Sean for a return later this year.

A small shot like this cannot give the true impression of the efforts put into the various displays by Jinny, one of the Waterstones staff. The view from outside the store windows was truly impressive, and many passers-by stopped in their travels through town.

Yours truly outside the entrance to the store just prior to setting up for the day. Rob's efforts as stand-in camerman were, once more, invaluable throughout the event.

Lynn and I are frequent visitors to Derby, and pass the store many times on our various shopping expeditions. I've stood outside this window on countless occasions and wondered what it would feel like to see my books there - now I know. It's a buzz which you never forget, and sets the hairs at the back of the neck on end. There I am, at the top of the pile for everyone to see - amazing!

You inevtiably bump into friends and colleagues at events like this, and today was no exception. Here, I'm talking with fellow CIMA member Adrian Randle and his wife Cathy prior to signing their copies of two of the titles available on the day.

************************************

As a parting comment, I must thank, once more, Waterstones in general, and the store staff in particular, for making the day such a success. Jilly I have already thanked for the displays, but she also kept Rob and I supplied with tea all day. Last but by no means least, Alison - I am very grateful for all of the preparatory work which she undertook to get the event in the diary, and for the assistance which she gave me in the weeks running up to the day itself.

Waterstones - Saturday, 21st April 2012

Bridlesmith Gate branch, Nottingham

Many thanks to Shane Maxwell-Atkin, Waterstones regional events co-ordinator, for setting up the book signing session, and to the branch staff who made both Rob Eldridge and myself very welcome during the day.

Yours truly, ready and waiting behind the superb display which the branch provided for the signing. The collage to the right was ideal for concealing a continuous supply of tea provided by the staff.

Promotional poster supplied by Pneuma Springs Ltd, my publisher, in prominent position in the front window of the Bridlesmith Gate store. Grateful thanks to Vivian for the artwork.

Up and running with the first copies of the session, and much appreciation to my editor, Rob Eldridge, for doubling up as cameraman for the day.

Sally Hindson with 'Two Little Dicky Birds' and 'Threads of Deceit' to complete her set of the Neal James collection.

A final note of thanks to all of the staff at the branch for looking after us during the day, and providing support for the event.

Crowdfunders - A New Tool For Independent Authors

There's a new internet phenomenon, spreading across the World Wide Web faster than cute pictures of cats, and they are becoming the way to get small, independent projects off the ground. They’re now widely used by charities, independent filmmakers, video-game designers and, of course, authors. But what exactly is a crowdfunder, and how can it help you?

The Express Diaries

My new novel, The Express Diaries, has been paid for using this novel method, and in this brief article I’m going to discuss my experiences.

What is a crowdfunder?

In many ways crowdfunders are a very old idea, made possible by very new technology. They bring together the project designer (from now on I’m going to use ‘author’ for simplicity) and their target audience directly, cutting out the need for publishers or agents.
Here’s how it works; the author announces his project on a crowdfunder site (we’ll talk about them in a second), listing exactly how much money he needs to get his novel off the ground. Interested members of the public then donate towards this project. They run for a specified period of time (usually about 6 weeks), and if the number of pledges hits or exceeds the minimum target, then the novel is funded.

You can probably already see the advantages; for the author, no money is wasted on producing books that won’t sell; for the audience, they get their money back if the project fails (a little more on this later), and they get to help novels out that they genuinely want to see the light of day.

So how does it work?

There are a number of different fundraising websites, but only two of them are commonly used at the moment. The first is the massive US-based www.kickstarter.com (so ubiquitous that crowdfunders are often called ‘Kickstarters’) and the second is the smaller European www.indiegogo.com . Anyone anywhere in the world can pledge to either site, but you need a US-based tax code to start a project on Kickstarter, so the choice of which site you use really comes down to where you are based – although a Kickstarter-UK site is due to arrive at some time towards the end of the year.
My own novel is being funded at www.indiegogo.com/expressdiaries

Setting up a project is as simple as registering at these sites and filling in some online forms.

Why would people pledge their hard-earned money to a project?

Peter Parker learned to his cost that with great power comes great responsibility. Well, with a crowdfunder, with great pledges come great rewards. Crowdfunders are usually set up to have a number of tiers. For the lowest level of pledges (usually $10 or less) you usually receive an electronic copy of the book, and an acknowledgment. Higher tiers net you a signed copy of the physical book, and for even higher tiers the author may even write you into the story, or set it in your home town. Have a look at my funding site above for the sort of ideas we came up with.

Okay, okay – why would people pledge their hard-earned money to my project?

Well, that’s the real question, isn’t it, and a harder one to answer. Crowdfunders may seem risk-free on the face of it, but what nags at the back of every author’s mind is ‘What if nobody pledges at all? It’s humiliating!’

Well, the success of my crowdfunder has got an awful lot to do with www.yog-sothoth.com (YSDC) - a website devoted to the works of HP Lovecraft, and weird fiction in general. The Express Diaries was written in conjunction with YSDC, which helped me out in a number of ways. Firstly, it introduced me to my wonderful artist, Eric Smith, who has drawn in an enormous amount of interest with his fantastic cover and interior artwork. Secondly, it meant that The Express Diaries could be heavily featured on YSDC itself, and many of the early pledges came from subscribers to that site, meaning that The Express Diaries was fully funded in less than a week.

Another thing that helped me is that YSDC produced a trailer for The Express Diaries – you can see it here:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1dkJyywglI .

The trailer, if I may so myself, is pretty amazing, especially considering that Paul (the webmaster of YSDC) put it together with no prior experience of video editing – these things are relatively easy to do, and are amazing at helping draw people towards your project.

The first chapter of the novel is available free at www.indiegogo.com/expressdiaires , and again this has really helped to generate interest in the book.

How likely are you to succeed with a crowdfunder?

There’s been a recent study into the phenomenon of crowdfunders from a group interested in role-playing game supplements. It isn’t specifically about novels, but the statistics make interesting reading. Here’s a link to the study - http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/crowdfunding-report-part-1 - but the very quick summary is this:

·         Kickstarter projects were far more likely to succeed than Indiegogo projects

·         The projects that did get funded were usually $5000 or less

·         The successful projects often ended up with significantly more than their target, and the failed ones with significantly less

With this in mind, for The Express Diaries we decided to try for a ‘bare-minimum’ non-profit target, with a hope that if things were successful, we would add in various ‘stretch goals’ – extra rewards for the funders if we passed higher goals. As of writing, we have just passed our first stretch goal, and are heading towards our second.

Any pitfalls?

A few. Other than the nagging fear that no one will pledge at all, one problem with crowdfunders is that they’re due a bit of a backlash. Many internet pundits are already loudly proclaiming that the crowdfunder market is saturated. Whether it is true or not, it’s what people are starting to talk about.
The second problem is the thorny issue of refunds. Pledgers are actually making a donation to your cause and, for indiegogo at least, you as an author are under no legal obligation to give the money back if the project fails, or even necessarily go ahead with the project if you receive all the funds. You would be committing career suicide if you didn’t honour this, however, because as an independent author all you have to rely on is your reputation. In this internet age, a bad reputation will spread a heck of a lot faster than a good one.
This problem is more of gossip than anything else – for the reasons I’ve mentioned above, the chances of an author taking the money and running are practically zero... but that doesn’t stop people talking about it on the forums.

Summary

My experience of running a crowdfunded project has been overwhelmingly positive. Here’s my advice – don’t believe the rumours. There are a lot of crowdfunded projects out there, but that can only be good for the consumers and the creators. Crowdfunders give creators a tremendous forum to show off their novels to the world, and give consumers a chance to help out projects that wouldn’t stand a chance of getting published by conventional means.

Crowdfunders are here to stay.

Nick Marsh is the author of Soul Purpose, Past Tense, The Ancients and The Express Diaries. Visit his website at www.nick-marsh.co.uk, or his blog at lordof1.blogspot.com 

Sutton-in-Ashfield, Myths and Legends

Hucknall Book Day, June 2nd

Storytelling at Hucknall Leisure Centre

Great Kimberley Book Read

Rufford Book Festival

NAWG Festival of writing

Askance Short Story Competition

Askance Publishing are running a short story competition which will raise money for charity. Here are the details:

Askance Short Story Competition

Deadline 30 June 2012

Askance social enterprise publishing house, based in Cambridge, England, welcomes entries from novice or experienced writers from anywhere in the world for their competition.

Winners will be published in an anthology and receive a small cash prize.

For rules and terms and conditions please visit http://askancepublishing.wordpress.com/competition/