It’s the ILF Dublin this week (International Literature Festival Dublin – formerly known as the Dublin Writers’ Festival – related attempt at satire here) and the city is swimming in a lovely pool of gorgeous writerly types putting themselves out there for our ogling and listening pleasure. On Tuesday I went to hear Jon Ronson, author of…
Category: Publishing Tricks
Authors! Your First Chapter Is Killing Your Book
To begin with, let’s make one thing clear: first chapters SUCK. The best first chapters in the world still suck – for writers, that is. The simplistic beauty of killer first lines and blockbuster beginnings, which hook the reader in several different ways, will usually cause their writers to collapse in a puddle of headachey sweat, eyes rolled back,…
The Thin Skin of Self-Publishing
I usually spend January looking for new trends in the book world (or making them up, which is more fun), and I’m seeing an increase in pronouncements about self-publishing online. It’s probably a seasonal thing, as people sketch out their writing goals. But a lot of what I’m seeing lately has been negative, particularly below the line. Last year,…
HELP! EVERYONE IS WRITING A BOOK
Here is a very important quote, which every past, present or future self-published author needs to see: “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” (Cicero, c. something BC) Now, here’s the catch. There is no evidence that this quote ever originated from the lofty Ancient Roman philosopher more than…
A Little Overview Of The Irish Book Market
Recently, I’ve been using book sales data from the Top Ten Fiction Bestseller lists published by the Sunday Times, in an attempt to illustrate book-buying behaviour. I focused on UK data, because it’s such an important market and it carries a much bigger stick. But today I’d like to have a look at the Irish bestseller lists…
Book Sales: What Happens When Blockbusters Flood The Market?
Back to business, ladies and gentlesirs. Today I want to look at who in the blockbusting big leagues was publishing in 2014, and what the market looked like when they did. I’ve been wading around in the book data again, my hand on my chin, occasionally contorting myself into an awkward (and poor) imitation of…
Self-Publishing: It’s Not For Christmas
There’s a reason that the ‘airport novel’ or ‘airport paperback’ was defined as category of books all by itself. It’s the same reason that there are large bookshops in airports, and why newspapers publish pathetically useless holiday reading lists. It’s because on holidays, everyone reads more than usual: regular, occasional and infrequent readers alike. And…
Authors! Your Cover Font Is Killing Your Book
Whilst most of us will judge a book by its cover, I very often judge a book cover by its font. This might sound odd to some people: perhaps it is – you can let me know if that’s the case. But more often than not, it’s the typography on a book’s cover which tells me whether…
What Makes Me Buy A Self-Published Book?
It’s summer holiday season. Therefore it’s self-published e-book time. I’m currently loading up to my Kindle. But what makes me choose one non-traditionally published book over someone else’s? It’s tough to know which marketing works, and which doesn’t; as a reader, I have to say that I find a lot of book marketing intensely annoying, and at best…
C’mon, Writers! 5 Reasons To Ditch The Rivalry
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about rivalry in the writing and publishing industries. And it’s a sad state of affairs. Because it’s complete and utter nonsense. Rivalry is an alluring demon for authors (and, indeed, reviewers). For one thing, the very nature of writing – a solitary activity, which rarely if ever allows for human interaction in the physical act itself –…
Tara Sparling writes 