Colourful carnival set up along highway in Sidney BC
The WestCoast Amusements Midway http://www.westcoastamusements.com/
Photo taken Tuesday May 8 (not sure when the midway opens or for how long).
New full-day workshop for writers, authors, memoirists, self-publishers of all kinds - June 9th Victoria BC - DAMMIT JIM I’M A WRITER NOT A PROMOTER!
Just arrived in the mail and about to start reading - Finitude by Hamish MacDonald - “A light-hearted climate change adventure story about an insurance salesman at the end of the world.”
This is a beautiful modest (plain brown wrapper) little book , handmade by the author, signed on the front page and numbered on the last; the paper has a nice weight and texture and is post-consumer waste with “Blauer Engel/Blue Angel certification” and “Greenpeace’s stamp of approval” — perfect for the size and topic of the book. It is a lovely object, even without the promise of an entertaining read inside and arrived in its own little snug cardboard case made from a cereal box which I carefully opened so as not to demolish it.
The first page grabbed me right away and even though I’m only on page 4, I’m already pulled into the world of the main character, insurance salesman Jeremy Chutter, who is disappointed because the world was supposed to come to an end but didn’t.
I’ll be writing more after I finish the book, but you can find five other reviews about Finitude on author Hamish MacDonald’s website — home of handmade novels and DYI books and the Indy Publishing Podcast.
And thank you Hamish for getting it in the post so soon!
Poet, editor and workshop speaker Bernice Lever on the Business Side of Writing
Bernice Lever is a prize-winning BC author and poet now living on Bowen Island who has published in many genres as well as being an editor and instructor whose workshops on creativity and marketing have helped many writers. From 1972-1987, she edited WAVES, a prize-winning literary journal and also worked for other publications and publishing companies, including 4 years with The Dundurn Group in Toronto.
I met Bernice at Vancouver’s Word on the Street 2011 when walking by a table where she was promoting her workshop being held later that day. Because of her friendly manner and commanding enthusiasm for the importance of her workshop, I decided to attend and was not disappointed. She and Anthony Dalton presented very practical information and answered questions on the business side of writing to a full room of writers. What was refreshing was a lack of powerpoint slides and an abundance of knowledge shared by two professional writers with decades of experience.
On March 10th, Bernice will bring her knowledge and experience to share with Victoria writers at the workshop “Getting Down To Business For Writers”.
Bernice Lever has seen many examples of writers making wrong turns, although they serve Art in their creations, they neglect the business side of budgeting all aspects of their lives. Some writers suffer from ennui — the “do nothing for now” syndrome.
Bernice writes: “If you want your words printed in a book, then do your research, make your plan and take action. Yes, you will experience some u-turns and flood waters, but keep on your road until you succeed. Being a creative person and being a business manager require very different skills, and yet even the most talented and successful/productive writer can be bankrupted by disorganization or neglect of those boring bookkeeping or budgeting chores, just by losing focus.”
Mistakes range to everything from not making a yearly budget and allocating resources to priorities; to not scheduling business and creative time separately and then wasting creative time worrying about business tasks; not taking time to read business agreements and contracts; not paying attention to numbers; not treating other people’s deadlines seriously; not knowing the difference between bragging (don’t do) and promotion (do), and not knowing how to deal with years of financial losses and then having a sudden one-time high payment. In addition, having an “Office in the Home” designation for income tax is a positive route for writers who plan to write as a business.
Bernice is also knowledgeable about how authors can gain funds via Public Lending Rights and Access Copyright, and she will explain these two programs at the workshop.
Writers want to be able to write and they want to be read by others. This requires finding a way to balance creativity with practicality and having a business-like approach to activities, communications and plans.
Bernice has successfully balanced both creative side of being a poet with the business side of being self-employed; her knowledge should prove to be a rich source of ideas and insights for any writer who wants to improve their focus on the business side of writing and maximize their time and finances.
While Bernice is a traditionally published writer, her information will also be especially relevant for self-published writers or writers who plan to self-publish.
The March 10th Victoria BC workshop is limited to 25 people. To register for the workshop, and for details about the other speakers from Whitlands Publishing and Friesen Press, go to http://3pennypublishing.com/events.htm
For more about Bernice go to The Colour of Words
CLH - February 2012
VICTORIA’S SELF-PUBLISHING SUPERSTARS: Joyce Sandilands and Robert Whittle of Whitlands Publishing
If you have ever ventured through the Bastion Square Summer Market in Victoria you would have seen Robert Whittle in action selling his many books. A few years ago I briefly paused in front of his table and before I knew it I was having a long conversation with him about local history and had in my hands a newly-purchased signed copy of of one of his novels. I started and finished his book in no time flat as it was a real page turner, but what I found most charming was how it painted a vivid and historically accurate portrait of Victoria at the turn of the 20th century.
Later in speaking to someone who knew Robert and his wife Joyce, I found out that they are self-publishing superstars who have sold over 30,000 books in the last 15 years.
Because of their story, I decided to invite Joyce to speak at a self-publishing workshop March 10th 2012 on the business side of self-publishing. I spoke with Joyce briefly over the phone and she told me how their self-publishing journey started. Robert only wrote his first book when he was 65 while he was recovering from a health crisis. She decided to publish it and subsequently his other novels. Twelve novels and three best-sellers later, she has also recently turned all of Robert’s books into ebooks.
Robert’s books are popular because they are written for any age group (engaging for both children and adults) and because the historical details are so well researched that his books have the endorsement of the City of Victoria Archives.
Joyce Sandiland and Robert Whittle (Whitlands Publishing) have achieved remarkable success in self-publishing especially considering they started 15 years ago — well before self-publishing became popular. That Robert only wrote his first novel when he was 65 is also an inspiration for anyone looking to start something new post-retirement.
I was motivated to get Joyce to speak at a workshop because whenever I mentioned their story to self-published writers, they would become very interested and would want to learn more about them. After a bit of urging on my part, Joyce agreed to come and speak on March 10 at Getting Down To Business For Writers.
As well as being a publisher, editor, marketer and webmaster, Joyce has also written two children’s books for Whitlands, no doubt inspired by being a mother, grand-mother and great-grandmother.
Learn more about Joyce and Robert here: http://joycesandilands.com/whitlands/
Register for the workshop here: http://3pennypublishing.com/events.htm
CLH - 2012
