The Sense Five Short Story Competition

This looks a great short story comp with a high word limit amount so you can let your imagination run free and it has connections to a publishing house..Awesome!!

Visit the website for the guidelines and all the information.

http://www.chuffedbuffbooks.com/ and look under submissions.

Happy writing and good luck!!

The Growing World of Ebooks

Everything you need to know here about epublishing.

I gotta read this stuff myself, I feel like I'm being left behind as technology moves a lot faster than me.


http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32232/11-Essential-Elements-of-a-Well-Designed-Marketing-Ebook.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+HubSpot+(HubSpot)

Ipswich Poetry Fest Competition

In the latter part of the nineteenth century two young children, Bridget and Mary Broderick, drowned at a waterhole that lies within the boundaries of the area now known as Henry Lawson Bicentennial Park at Walloon. This tragic event was the subject of a poem penned by Henry Lawson in 1891 titled "The Babies of Walloon"


The Ipswich Poetry Feast is a citywide initiative aimed at commemorating this significant event through the introduction of an annual international poetry competition and events that:

•Encourage young and aspiring poets

•Provide an opportunity for poets to showcase their work

•Raise community awareness of the creativity and skills in poetry writing

•Promote Ipswich as a vibrant, culturally rich region


Check out the site for details. Sounds like a great comp inspired by a terrible tragedy.

http://www.ipswichpoetryfeast.com.au/.

Adventures in Epublishing

Certainly looks like some interesting reading in this post and the blog in general. A great guide for those getting started in, or looking at getting started in, the epublishing world

http://derekjcanyon.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/keys-to-epublishing-success-2012.html

Gender Bias in literature podcast

This link will take you to a podcast by  ABC Radio National

When you open the book review pages in the newspapers, take a closer look at the names of the authors and the names of the reviewers. How many are men and how many are women? A feminist arts organization in the US called VIDA has tallied the numbers in prestigious literary review pages including the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplementand The New Yorker and found that men dominate. This is no one-off anomaly. VIDA tallied the numbers last year and the results were much the same. Why is this so? And what's the situation in Australia?

Bush Poets Competition.

Below is a link to The Bryan Kelleher Literary Award  bush poetry competition. First prize is a cool $1000, nothing to be sneezed at for sure, so well worth the effort. So get in there and have a go and then let us all know if you win and we'll celebrate together.

 Good Luck! and if you want to know who Bryan Kelleher was

Bryan Kelleher was a long standing member of the ANA who was passionate about acknowledging and honouring Australian achievements. The Australian Unity Bryan Kelleher Literary Award is our way of celebrating and preserving the substantial contribution Bryan made during his long association with the ANA and the Henry Lawson Society.

http://www.australianunitycorporate.com.au/community/bklaward/Pages/home.aspx 

Qld premiers literary awards scrapped.

Read it here from the SMH.

UPDATED

Campbell Newman has scrapped the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, arguing the $244,000 saving was part of the Liberal National Party's promised cost-cutting drive.

The move was not specifically flagged before the state election and has prompted criticism on Twitter this afternoon, with people raising concern it was an ominous sign about the approach the LNP government would take on supporting the arts.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/books/new-premier-tears-up-literary-awards-20120403-1wad1.html#ixzz1qytJNRV8

There will be a backlash, a cry from the arts, and more than a few annoyed writers.

Member Hettie Ashwin's Kindle edition for FREE

Hettie Ashwin is offering her novel on Amazon for FREE from
3rd April to the 5th April. If you have a kindle or e reader then this is the opportunity for you

Here is the link  So Go Go Go for the green light

and laugh your socks off

Time management by Hettie Ashwin

When your brain is bursting with ideas it seems hard to get anything done. You may plot, think, take notes, make sketches, busy yourself with all manner of 'work' but nothing gets completed, nothing gets a result. So how do you manage your time to write "THE END"  when it is all done and dusted.

1. Set a goal.
 Whether it be 100 words a night or a page a day edit. Set a realistic target for your lifestyle and STICK TO IT. If it is realistic then you still have time to dabble in other things ie. competitions, postings, twitter, facebook etc. Don't make it to the exclusion of everything else unless you know you have that stickability to carry it out.

2. Motivate yourself.
 This can be with a treat at the end of the week/month/word count or what ever.
Tell yourself that if you finish the set task you will allow yourself a two day stint of nothing but reading. Make the treat something you yearn to do, but never find the time. One hour to plot out that short story, surf the net for competitions, scan twitter for fun or just eat that chocolate. If you know you have something waiting at the end of your writing stint then finishing will be even more delicious.

3. Schedule your time.

 This is a vital tool and one you should learn and put in practice. If you have little in the way of self control and get distracted easily then schedule every 10 minutes. Write the increments down and fill every box on what you plan to do. Then as the minutes tick off just think how good you will feel. They soon add up. If you have willpower in baskets then your schedule might be for a few days or even a week. The idea is that if you see it all written down and then don't complete it the guilt will make you try harder to get your procrastination under control.

4. Value your work
This may sound like self affirmation rubbish, but if you don't believe in what you are doing and treat it with the respect it deserves then how do you expect anyone else will. You are carrying on the business of writing. It is a job, albeit a very enjoyable past-time. Don't say 'it is just a short story, a bit of writing, a dumb manuscript. It is your work. It took time, dedication and skill. These attributes will shine through your writing. I liken it to smiling on the radio. When I was reading the news on radio I used to smile. The tone changes and the listener can feel it too. If you value your work it will show. All your effort won't be for nought. The buzz you get from seeing your words take shape will spur you on to complete your writing.

5. Don't sweat it
Don't try and flog yourself if it isn't working. Go and write something else, do a crossword or take a walk. The laboured effort involved in trying to write when it won't work will show in your work. Write a bit of poetry, flash fiction, a tweet, a facebook post or a short monologue a vignette. Those creative urges will return. There will be times... don't beat yourself up about it but realise the hiatus for what it is and get on with something else using the tips above. I often have two or three projects on the go and then if I become stale I can flit to something else.

6. Just do it
It is the incurable itch, so go scratch.

the publishing industry stats.

Follow the link to an interesting article backed up with statistics.

this is the link

As the publishing industry has to evolve rapidly to adapt to the numerous changes brought forth by digital publishing, updated statistics are a boon worth sharing. Aptara is mainly concerned by non-fiction publication, rather than fiction books, yet, both fiction and non-fiction books belong to the publishing industry.

Trade and non-trade publishers are aggressively producing ebooks, despite the current low revenues derived from digital publishing. The majority of publisher producing digital book (57%) derive between 0% and 3% of their revenue from ebook sales. A still confidential 18% of these publishers generates more than 10% of their revenues from ebooks.

Read more: http://www.epublishabook.com/2011/10/10/new-statistics-about-the-publishing-industry/#ixzz1pkSmArKy 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives

Source: ePublish a Book (http://s.tt/15vAc)

Read more: http://www.epublishabook.com/2011/10/10/new-statistics-about-the-publishing-industry/#ixzz1pkSFGyI1 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives

Source: ePublish a Book (http://s.tt/15vAc)