The Road to Publication

Marianne, Belinda and Rowena at the book signing table, at the Logan North Library.

Trent, Marianne, myself, Louise Cusack, Kylie Chan and Andrew Warrilow were on a panel today about the Road to Publication and what happens after. Thanks to everyone who came along and caught up with us.

The panel topic ties in with our recent posts on First Sales. Having been on these kind of panels before, I noticed there are recurring questions. So I thought I'd answer them over several posts.

How do I polish the craft of writing? Which leads to ... How do I know when my book is ready to send out?

Join a writing group that is specific to your genre. For instance Vision writers. Either on-line or in person (which is better), you can learn to critique in a supportive environment. Critiquing other people's work is really useful to help hone your analytical skills.

Attend as many workshops as you can, to polish your craft and meet other writers. See the QLD Wrtiers Centre workshop program, or the writers centre in your state.

Read books on writing. I always recommend Ursula K Le Guin's 'Steering the Craft of Writing' specifically for its chapter on Point of View. Many beginning writers have trouble with this.

Read widely in the genre, as well as doing your research. Read the books that are being short listed for awards. Aurealis Award, Australia. The Hugos and the Nebulas in the US.

And,when you finish your first book, put it away for a while and write another. You'll learn so much, you'll be glad you didn't send your first book out before you could rework it.

Then have your book assessed by a manuscript assessor who knows your genre. Ask your writing friends if they've used an assessor they can recommend. Take a look at the Australian Writers Market Place, produced by the QLD Writers Centre. You'll find, ms assessors, agents, competitions and publishers.

Next time I'll look at How do I know which publisher to send my book to? and How do I get my book in front of a publisher or agent?

Awards and Champagne

Nothing beats winning an award, but seeing good friends shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards comes pretty close!

This year Trent gets the bouquet for most shortlistings amongst the RORees. Trent's short story 'Delivery' is a finalist in the Science Fiction section. But, on the night, we'll also be cheering for Margo's 'The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross' and Tansy's 'Fleshy' in the same section. Trent's story, 'Day Boy', is a Finalist in the Horror section and, his story 'Cracks' is a Finalist in the Young Adult section, appearing with fellow RORee, Dirk's story titled, 'This is not my Story' (although, in this case it is!).

Richard is a Finalist in the Best Short Children's books section with 'Escape!, Under Siege, Race to the Ruins, the Heavy Crown'. (This one may also be up for the Longest Tittle!). Plus we'll be cheering for Margo in the Best Fantasy section with 'Tender Morsels' and Marianne in the SF section with 'Chaos Space.' On top of that, Rowena, Margo, Richard and Trent all have stories in 'Dreaming Again', which is a Finalist in the Best Anthology section. And Visiting Author, Cat Sparks's story 'Sammarynda Deep' is a Finalist in the Fantasy section.

So January 24th will be a big night for the RORees! Most of the Australian Speculative Fiction scene will be coming to Brisbane for the event. The awards evening is held at the Judith Wright Centre, entry only $27.50 per person. It's worth attending for the fun of catching up with everyone in the Ozzie spec fic scene.

Also over the weekend there will be the Recovery Breakfast, at 9.30 am, at the Stanford Hotel. And the Industry Seminar, 11am, at the Queensland Writers Centre. (Entry for this is included in the price of the award's ceremony ticket). So mark this weekend in your diary and come along. We're a friendly bunch!

I'd love to see my friends win, but ultimately the winner is Speculative Fiction, as we celebrate the genre. Congratulations to everyone who is a Finalist and a big Thank You to the team of volunteers who run the award.

Cheers, Rowena

Authors reach out to new readers

We write because we love it. But we also we write because we have the ideal reader in our heads who 'gets' our stories/books. But how do we reach readers?

We ROR writers are all readers who love the speculative fiction genre, so we recommend books to each other and our friends. But that's only going to go so far. To reach a larger audience we've created Ripping Ozzie Reads.

www.ripping-ozzie-reads.com

Drop by and visit.

Cheers, Rowena