Websites For Hopeful Authors

There's a new way for writers to get noticed and it's on-line and free. Random House's website Authonomy.com is a place where writers can post their writing, the whole book or just a few chapters, and as they get positive comments and constructive criticism from readers, their work can move up the list. The goal is to have your work become one of the top ten in its category. The publishing company Random House reviews the top ten each month.

This is not the only publishing company doing this. Penguin Books has set up Spinebreakers, a similar site geared towards teenagers. And the Arts Council in England has set up YouWriteOn.com.

The publishing world is opening up to wannabe authors.

Re: Twilight and Venting

If you become successful enough as an author that your book gets made into a movie, and you decide to make a deal with a Print On Demand company so that fans can make Twilight Designs, and you set out guidelines for those designs, DO NOT CHANGE THE GUIDELINES LATER!

First off, those fans and designers have spent their time, effort and creativity on their designs and you have wasted their time by telling them they can't use apples in their designs AFTER they have already created images using apples and added them to their products and in their shops.

Second, these fans and designers have benefitted you by advertising your books and movies for you through THEIR EFFORTS and you are probably profitting from each of their sales as well, so when you hurt their businesses, you only hurt your own.

Third, you create good will amongst fans and designers by allowing them to design products using the subject of your books and movies. But you destroy that good will and good feeling by CHANGING THE RULES AFTER THE FACT and then going on later to CHANGE THEM AGAIN, each time taking more and more away from the same people who have been helping to advertise your stuff.

Twilight/Stephenie Meyers vent over.

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When my book is published (and it will be), if it ever becomes as popular as Twilight or Harry Potter, I will allow shopkeepers at print-on-demand companies such as Zazzle, Cafe Press and Printfection to design and sell stuff related to it, because it would be a win-win situation for them and for me. And once I set the guidelines for doing so, I absolutely will not change them later.

My Twilight designs
Note that the journals and calendars are being removed shortly by Cafe Press, because the guidelines have been changed, first to disallow our selling of journals and later to take away calendars too. Those weren't big sellers for me anyway, but I am annoyed about the sudden decision not to let us use apples in our images.

Not Doing As Well

I missed my hour of novel-writing last week. I need to try and get in more than an hour this week to make up for it.

Robert is doing pretty good in keeping up with his commitment to write each week.

I also need to get to work putting my daughter Gabby's "Dreams Of Five" book together. I should have been done with it last November. Lately, she's been doing a lot of reading in her "Dreams Of Four" book. She's even choosing it for me to read to her and her younger sister Isabella before bedtime.

I Did It!

I got past my awe-inspiring ability to procrastinate and spent an hour writing last week. I only wrote two pages, but that's two pages less I have left to write. And I am determined to do the same this week as well.

Update On My Writing

Remember my post about committing to writing for at least an hour each week? Well, I have done 30 minutes this week so far and today is my last day of this first week to get the other 30 minutes done.

I don't count writing in my blogs as part of my time spent writing. If I did, I would have already surpassed my 60 minutes a week of writing.

One of my novels has taken a new twist (in my head), and I will have to write the idea I had for a new direction for it so that I don't forget.

New Year's Resolutions

My husband and I have made the commitment this year to each of us writing/working on our novels for at least one hour a week this year. We have seven children, a dog and a cat, and our time is largely taken up with caring for them. We have not been getting much writing done lately, so we have made this commitment to set aside a small amount of time every week.

Robert has already spent his hour writing this week. I have spent only thirty minutes writing and still have another thirty minutes to go.

How much time are you going to set aside for your writing endeavors this year?