Ebooks and Books – I Love Them Both

7th July 201610th October 2016Leave a comment

by Jo Franklin, Children’s Author

I love books. of course I do, I’m a writer. I am a reader too and my house if full of books. The amount of books in this house causes arguments sometimes as there is not room for them all. I have a clear out occasionally but it breaks my heart every time. I like to look at them on the shelf. I like to remember how much I enjoyed reading each story. What if I want to read a book again?

Jo Franklin Bookshelf

I do have ebooks too but they are not the same. I miss absorbing the author’s name from the cover every time I pick it up and I miss being able to flick to the end to see what happens when I am not engaged enough to read every word, but am curious enough to find out how the story is resolved. It’s harder to flick through an ebook.

On the other hand I like the fact that my e-reader (an older style kindle) fits neatly into the front pocket of my satchel handbag and it’s good to carry so many books around with me without straining my back. I also love the fact that I can download something instantly instead of having to order it from a bookshop or online.

But the thing that puzzles me is the price of ebooks.

As an author, I am well aware for the need for books to be paid for whether they are in paper or electronic fromat. Ebooks can be a bit cheaper because the publisher doesn’t have to pay for printing, warehousing or distribution costs. It takes the author the same amount of time to write the book and the editor to edit it. With production costs lower, the margins for the publisher are higher. Authors generally get a higher percentage royalty on ebooks but there is a campaign to increase the figure because the Society of Authors don’t think authors currently get a fair share of the higher margin.

Recently I needed to read a book for research purposes. A memoir. Something outside of my usual field but with the same title that I was hoping to use for a new series. I’ll have to come up with a different title but I thought I’d read the book anyway as it might trigger some ideas.

But I was really surprised about the prices of this particular book on Amazon.

Hardback – 17.92
Paperback – 12.25
Kindle – 11.64

The Kindle ebook was only 61p less than the paperback. Why was that? It was published by a major publisher. I don’t have the answer, but the publisher was making a killing on all ebook sales and I hope that the extra margin was being shared fairly with the author.

I decided to look around at other books written by people I know ie children’s authors. In most cases from my random selection, the ebooks were about £2.00 lower in price to their paper equivalent. I think that is a fair differential. For one well established, very famous author, her most famous title was about £4.00 cheaper in ebook format. Maybe high volume sales are influencing the price. I hope this author has a water tight contract in place to protect their income.

But then I looked at a certain internet sensation turned ‘author’. The kindle edition was more expensive than the paperback. What is going on?

My head is spinning. I don’t understand it at all. Surely books should have one price. Ebooks can be a bit cheaper (but not selling for 20p), authors should be able to make a living and publishers are entitled to make a profit.

But one thing is certain – I am not buying a book which I consider to be overpriced – whatever the format. The title I wanted was available at a cheaper price second hand. So I ordered that instead. That means the author will not get anything from the sale. Nor will the publisher. If the publisher had set a reasonable price in the first place, I probably would have chosen differently.

I wish publishers would agree a strategy for pricing books and ebooks that satisfies everyone.

Meanwhile I will continue to be choosy about which books I buy and in which format.

Help I’m an Alien Arrives on Planet Earth

4th June 20166th June 2016Leave a comment

Help I'm an alien cover Help I’m an Alien has been published and this week is the beginning of a program of launch events to tell everyone about the book.

I’m having a launch party on Wednesday 8th June. It has been organised by my publisher, Troika Books. Troika have invited bloggers, reviewers and people from the publishing press to the party to create publicity for Help I’m an Alien. I have invited lots of friends and family to prove to them that I have been working very hard at writing a book, not just chatting on Facebook, staring dreamily out the window or watching dancing dogs on You Tube.

After I have recovered from the shock of everyone knowing about Help I’m an Alien, I am going to visit some schools to talk about reading and writing .

With the help of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups (FCBG) I am visiting

St Alphege Junior School and St George & St Teresa RC Primary School in Solihull
Claydon Primary and Whitton Community Primary near Ipswich
Dulwich Prep London in South East London

I also have a couple of librarian meetings lined up. One in London and another in Newcastle.

Wow! What an exciting couple of weeks. I can’t wait to get out on the road to talk to book lovers about my book.

An author or a polymath?

31st May 201610th October 2016Leave a comment

by Jo Franklin, children’s author

I was talking to someone the other day about all the different things I have been doing in preparation for the launch of Help I’m an Alien and I described myself as a multi-tasking author, but when I looked up multi-tasking I realised that it isn’t a totally accurate description. I do multi-tasking all the time – talking on the phone while typing an email etc. The frenetic activity over the last few weeks has been something on another level. Not only am I doing, but I am also learning as I go along.

I think I am a trainee polymath. I looked up polymath on vocabulary.com and this is what it said

A polymath is a person who knows a lot about a lot of subjects. If your friend is not only a brilliant physics student but has also published a poetry collection and won prizes at political debates, you can describe her as a polymath.

I’m not brilliant at anything, but I am giving it a go. Here are some things I have been doing over the last few weeks.

Website designer – I’ve been jazzing up my website in case you hadn’t noticed
Illustration consultant – I’m in the lucky position of being consulted on the cover and illustrations for Help I’m an Alien (not all authors are). I can’t draw at all. My stick people look like discarded false eyelashes. But I can imagine what something should look like that and I have been sharing those imaginings with the designer and illustrator for Help I’m an Alien.

Help I'm an Alien

Film director – This is my first video. It has three parts : the alien jumping trailer, the main bit of me reading and the credits. Luckily I had some help from my children who have learned camera work at school.
Camera operator – I didn’t do much of this but I need to operate the camera myself in future. (And edit the film. So much to learn.)
Blogger – I’ve written loads of blog posts, for this site, for www.paperspenspoets.co.uk the stationery site Anita Loughrey and I set up recently, for Girls Heart Books (not only as a guest blogger but now as a regular monthly contributor) and for various other book bloggers including one in America who wanted me to talk about the US edition of Alien which is published by Clarion Books. I find it so boring when an actor is promoting their new film and tells exactly the same stories to every chat show host. So I have tried to vary my blog posts as much as possible, which makes writing so many, even more challenging.
Doing stuff with images – don’t ask me what. I don’t have Photoshop. I don’t know what I am doing but I am trying to do things with images to make my website, twitter and instagram look interesting. I need to learn more about using images and graphics, I’m stumbling through a the moment and it is all a bit random. Because I am so hopeless I liaised with Lou Millar who designed these for me.

Polymath

Travel agent – have you ever tried booking multiple train tickets at a reasonable cost in this country? Total nightmare.
Writer – yes I have been doing some of this too because even though I am deep in promotion for Help I’m an Alien, I am also writing another book. No one can publish it if it isn’t finished. It’s not even in the right state to show it to my agent yet. It’s a great book. I want to write it.

So while I’m not an expert at any of these things I am having a jolly good try at all of them and probably a few more that I have forgotten about in the frenzy of my day.

The other thing it says about polymath in vocabulary.com is

You can think of a polymath as a classic “Renaissance man.” Imagine Leonardo da Vinci, for example, who was not only an amazing artist, but also an engineer, inventor, mathematician, and much more. When a person’s knowledge covers many different areas, he or she is a polymath. The Greek word for it is polymathes, “having learned much,” with poly meaning “much,” and manthanein meaning “learn.

Jo Franklin Author Here that author friends? We are the modern equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci!

I wonder what he would have made of Help I’m an Alien?

I’d probably have been burned at the stake in the 15^th Century for my crazy ideas.

Thank goodness I’m a 21^st Century author. I like learning new things. It’s a challenge, but brilliant.

Hopping About

27th May 201625th May 2016Leave a comment

It’s very hard to explain to non-writers how horrible it is for a writer to be not-writing. There are loads of reasons why writers might be not-writing today and even if those things are important they don’t make us feel better.

Reasons why a writer might not be writing today:

They are earning money at another job (not me)
They are looking after their family (my family would say this never happens, which isn’t true).
There is nothing we can do about this one, other than get better. It’s boring and frustrating.
50 Shades of Writer’s Block. I guess I will have to write about this one day
Promoting another book. That’s me at the moment.

Help I’m an Alien comes out at the end of the month which is very exciting and I am trying to give it a helping hand in the world by adding to the work that my amazing publicist Andrea Reece is doing on my behalf.

This means a lot of hopping about.

frog jumping snipped

I am writing blog posts here and for other bloggers who have kindly taken an interest in my book. I’m trying to keep my blog posts fresh and interesting which means hopping from one thought to another to develop ideas I haven’t expressed before. Blog posts take a couple of hours to perfect. That’s a lot of hopping.

Kangaroo hopping snipped

I am also organising author talks and school visits which means lots of phone calls and emails as we thrash out arrangements. I have to investigate travel options and make sure there is someone to feed my children and walk my dog while I’m away. So more hopping about

Hopping about is the very worst thing a writer can do when they are working on a new book. Hopping about is the complete opposite of immersing yourself in your writing. Hopping about is why writers want a writer’s shack and sometimes have to go on writer’s retreat to clear their mind of all those hopping things so they can get on with their book.

Cricket jumping snipped

I suspected that promoting Alien would mess up my writing so I worked hard to get the first draft finished for 29^th February. We had an extra day for leap year and I wanted to make the most of it. I met my deadline and felt very good about it.

I set myself a new target for completing the second draft and even though it looked like I had plenty of time, I’m not sure I am going to make that date.

Too much hopping about!

hare jumping snipped

I’m cross about this because I don’t miss deadlines, even self-imposed ones. And I’m fed up because writing is so important to me. I love the book I’m writing and I’m pleased with how it is going. I think other people might like it too. So not writing makes me feel horrible.

But good news! I have started working on my wip (Work in Progress) again. I sorted out some chapters and written lots of fresh words. I’m at the mid-way point and it feels great.

So from now on, I am absolutely determined to keep my hopping about to the afternoons until this draft is finished. Sorry if you need to get hold of me urgently, I am not answering emails or phone calls in the morning. I will be in my writer’s shack. Even though I don’t have one.

Things I didn’t know in the 80’s

25th May 201625th May 20162 Comments

Following on from my post about the dream of owning a writer’s shack I found myself thinking more about the differences between my dreams of being a writer and the reality.

Sylvia Plath

If you read the About Me page, you will see that Sylvia Plath was a great inspiration. She was even more nuts than me, she was able to write about it and sell her work. I wanted to be her. As it turned out the reality of being a published author is completely different to my dream. It is much better.

Some things I didn’t know when I wanted to be a writer in the eighties

You don’t have to be dead to be famous.
Most writers aren’t famous.
Most writers don’t want to be recognisably famous as they sometimes do the school run in their pyjamas.
Writing strictly autobiographical stories about your rubbish love life is totally cringeworthy.
Writer’s butt is worse than writer’s block. It sticks out behind you and makes your skirt shorter at the back than the front.

Some butts are bigger than others

Some friends will beg to be in your books.
Some friends will stop being your friend, in case you put them in your book.
Some friends will unfriend you when you do put them in your book.

Being a writer isn’t all writing sheds and roses. It is so much better than that.

Feel free to comment on what you have learnt on your writer’s journey.

Partners in Crime #1 – Critique Group

11th May 201625th May 2016Leave a comment

Writing can be a very lonely business. I’m happy in my own company and often spend the core part of the day not talking to anyone (except myself and my dog). I’ve always had a hankering to be an eccentric recluse in a writers hut, but I suspect the reality of being so isolated would drive me mad.

Once my writing starts looking like a book, I get other people involved in the process. I have a number of Partners in Crime who feature at different stages of the creation of a completed project – my agent, my publisher, my publicist and my illustrator. Do come back and read about the others, but first of all I want to introduce you to my critique group.

Emma Styles, Tasha Kavanagh, Alli Jeronimus, Jen Miles and me.

Me, Tasha, Alli, Jen

Me, Tasha, Alli and Jen at Tasha’s launch party. (Emma was working that night)

The exact membership of the crit group has changed over time, but this particular line up has been going strong for a few years. We currently meet every two weeks during term time at a secret location on the South Bank.

I asked the team about their experience of being in our critique group.

Tasha : It’s great when you get to know a group of writers well. Beyond the obvious – ie the great feedback – the support and camaraderie is invaluable.
Alli : I can bring a plot problem to you four and I know I’ll leave with it sorted.
Jen : I love (and dread) hearing your comments on my work and learning from them – sometimes things are pointed out that I’m amazed I didn’t see myself. That’s both brilliant and annoying.
Emma : Mostly that I am never alone when working on something and always have a team on my side.

Emma in one of the exotic locations she writes about

Interestingly we all struggled to come up with a negative thing to say about being a member of the group.

I guess that is why we have been together so long, with no sign of stress.

Although, I’ve been pointing out the overuse of rhetorical questions for three years and they still ignore me which sends me slightly insane, but hey – it’s their book!

Sometimes there can be a danger of ‘writing for the critique group’. It can happen in a classroom situation where the tutor has to be strict on time. Writers tend to write short chapters, all ending on the same note. I don’t believe that happens with our group. Probably because we read each other’s work so regularly and often look at a chunk of 5,000 words at a time, so we’d pick up on that sort of thing.

For most of us, this is our only regular critique group. With the exception of Jen.

Jen says ‘I belong to three critique groups. I’m a crit group junkie… all very different in approach and experience, though similar comments often come up.’Receiving feedback can be quite intense so everyone tries to take time to digest the comments before they wade in and make changes, but I guess it depends on where we are in the writing/submission cycle. Most people end up finishing their book and sending it out before the group have reached the final chapter. So there is a chance that we don’t actually get to read the whole book until it is published.This group has spawned two book babies so far. Help I'm An Alien

Crit Group Book Babies

We meet in a public space on the South Bank so now bring our own lunch. I asked everyone what they like to eat on a Friday.

Tasha : Uh… anything or nothing. Except now I’m vegan, so mostly chips.
Alli : Sushi. And then I steal bits of the Brownies Jo brings. [NB that is why Alli is slim and I am not]
Jen : Part of the pleasure is the jaunt to the Southbank, and I treat myself to yummy stuff either from the food market or the café inside.
Emma : I’m never organised enough to bring something from home, but I am partial to a cheese and pickle sandwich and a bowl of fries with mayo…
Jo : I love the opportunity of eating a meal cooked by someone else. My favourite is the vegetarian dosa from the Friday food market behind the Festival Hall and the gluten free brownies from the cookie/cake stall.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my amazing critique group.

The next installment of my Partners in Crime series will be all about my lovely agent.

When is a writer not a writer?

3rd May 201625th May 20161 Comment

When I first started writing, I had two ambitions.
1) To be published so that others could enjoy my books and think I was a genius (ha!).
2) To become an eccentric recluse and live in my very own writer’s shed with a telepathic butler to deliver exactly the right food to my door at exactly the right time.
My dream writer’s shed would look something like this one designed by John Seely and Paul Page situated at Mottistone Manor, Isle of Wight.

Oh dear, I really did have a lot to learn.Now that Help I’m an Alien is about to hit the shelves I have had to :

Learn how to build and maintain my own website.
Become an accountant so I can prove to HMRC how little money I earn.
Get to grips with Twitter. You can follow me on @jofranklin2 to see how unsuccessful I have been.
Be even more punctual than usual because I’m often booked on a non-flexible, non-transferable, but very expensive train journey.
Become a competent photographer and learn how to edit photos to squeeze them onto social media NB I learnt how this morning and have now forgotten.
Try and network professionally. I’m still struggling with this one. If I go to a party I’m more likely to befriend the waitress than the high powered publishing executive.
Be able to work eighteen hour days, seven days a week because there is so much to do.
Work hard at keeping everyone happy, including my agent, publisher, family and dog.

Artwork by Aaron Blecha

Luckily, since Help I’m an Alien has moved from being my fantasy to being a reality, I have had some help.

I’m interviewing my critique group, my agent, my publisher, my publicist and my illustrator over the coming weeks to shed some light on what they do and to share with you what role they have played in creating the published version of Help I’m an Alien, because I couldn’t have done it on my own. Do come back and see what they have to say.

Being a published author has nothing to do with being an eccentric recluse, but I love it anyway.

Notebooks and Notebooks

26th March 201625th May 2016Leave a comment

Despite being a total stationery addict, I have never been able to create a traditional writer’s notebook. My notes are too scruffy for Moleskine etc and I am always in too much of a hurry to warrant using a notebook from my special collection. I write copious amounts in cheap spiral bound books and rip out the paper once it’s all typed up. My working method means that I trash notebooks.

However I am starting researching a new series that delves into an area I don’t know much about. It probably won’t get written for 6 months or more, so I am cracking open one of my ‘too lovely to write in’ notebooks with the intention of filling it with notes and ideas.

It’s a Leuchtturm1917 in pale blue. A5 lined, it has two ribbon place holders, a Moleskine type wallet at the back, a table of contents, a few perforated pages that can be torn out and an elastic closure. The 249 numbered pages of gorgeous acid free paper terrify me (am I ever going to have enough to fill them?), but I am determined to be a grown up and run a proper writer’s notebook for once.

I’m going to keep it with my research books so that I always have it at hand when I want to make a note. I only hope that the beauty of the stationery won’t stifle my creativity. I’m going to try not to worry if I need to cross things out, even though it seems like sacrilege to deface the beautiful pages. I’m hoping that I will be calmed by the cool colour and the smooth paper. If I’m feeling stressed I will stroke the cover. I’m going to be a grown up author for once.

I’ve made these pledges before, but never stuck to them! Hopefully this time it will be different. When I come to start writing the next book, I will be armed with a notebook crammed with information and ideas and it will be the best book I have ever written. Wish me luck!

If you are a stationery addict like me, I recommend you check out https://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/ for an amazing selection of awesomeness.

Films are stories too

9th March 201625th May 2016Leave a comment

I really like going to the cinema. I’m not a film buff and if you asked me who directed, or even who starred in a film I had just seen, I wouldn’t be able to answer. I’m not into the cinema for the celebrities. I’m into it for the story and the visuals.

Recently a new cinema has opened on my doorstep. The East Dulwich Picturehouse is a great addition to my life. It has three screens, a cafe and shows films I want to see.
I am a freelance author which means if I knuckle down and work flat out in the morning, I can justify going to the cinema in the afternoon.

While the East Dulwich Picturehouse was being built, the owners encouraged people to become founding members. This meant joining the cinema before it had opened as a way of raising some funds. In return, founding members have their name on a board inside.

Can you find me?

Sometimes I go on my own and sometimes I arrange to meet a friend. This week I went to see ‘The Big Short’ (Certificate 15) with Rosie. It was a great movie. A lesson in how to tell a story about a subject, the financial crash, that could have been dry and boring.

Focus on a few characters and their personal story.
Make them vulnerable in some way while the other characters are portrayed as odious, greedy or ignorant.
Use trashy interludes to explain the technical terms and make it clear to the audience that you know they are trashy.

Trust me it works.

Dump the P Words and Get Writing

11th November 201525th May 2016Leave a comment

November is National Novel Writing Month or Nanowrimo. People all other the world sign up to completing a novel within a month. I don’t sign up for it because I normally start writing a new book in September having had a break over the Summer holidays, but I like the idea of Nanowrimo as it helps you focus on writing.There are many factors to being a writer that writes rather than a resting writer (the same as a resting actor but with more guilt). As it happens many of these factors begin with the letter P so here are my thoughts on dumping the P words.

Make writing a PRIORITY in your life. Tell people you are a writer. Get on and write. I had a ten year hiatus from writing and during that time I stopped telling people I was a writer because I was embarrassed that I hadn’t written a word for years.

I regret those years now, because if I had been using that time to PRACTISE my craft I might have become a better writer earlier. Musicians spend hours practising to get the piece write and the same applies to writing. I suggest write every day or at least most days. Get the words on the page and keep the flow going. It’s much harder to write after a break, says one who knows.

PUT yourself first. So what if you are a parent or a carer or a CEO of a multinational company. Or all three. If you are a writer you need to put your writing-self first sometimes. It’s not selfishness. It’s self preservation. You will lose your touch if you don’t write.

PROTECT your writing time. If you have defined hours when you write, it’s easier to protect that time. Tell your family and friends and ask them to respect your writing hours. If the phone rings, don’t answer. When you return the call later, tell them you weren’t able to come to the phone because you were writing. Ask them not to call at that hour again. At home have a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign outside your writing cave.

When my children were small, I often got up at 5am in the school holidays to write. They knew I couldn’t be disturbed until 8am. I could hear them on the other side of the door saying ‘It’s ten to eight. We’ve got ten minutes.’ And they would sit on the stairs until eight o’clock before bursting in to demand breakfast. Not ideal, but at least I got my writing hours in before I had to switch back to being a parent.
NB Parent is not a writing P word. It’s a non-writing word and should be avoided if at all possible!

Be PROFESSIONAL. So you are not earning any money from your writing – yet, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat it as a job. A second job maybe, but still a job. If you ever sell a book, the money you receive is an advance against sales. It isn’t compensation for the hours/days/years you have spent creating your masterpiece. Don’t bother working out your hourly rate, you will weep at the dismal figures. There is no such thing as the minimum wage for authors. If you don’t be professional in your approach to writing, submitting or working with publishers, you will never get paid anything. Start as you mean to go on.

Banish PROCRASTINATION. Work out what your procrastination vices are and deal with them. Turn off the internet, get someone else to do your housework, only shop outside of your writing hours.

I have suffered from procrastination-itus on and off over the years. For me it is all about fear of failure and that usually strikes when I don’t have faith in what I am doing. The best way to regain your faith is to do all of the Ps above and then share your work with your PEERS. My critique group is at the heart of my writing practice. I couldn’t do it without them. They bolster me up when I am feeling down and if I do nothing else, I write something to discuss with them when we meet.

Despite my fear of failure, I don’t suffer from PERFECTIONISM, but I know plenty of people who do. I think writing a first draft quickly whether in the wrapper of Nanowrimo or not, is the best way forward. For me, all the work goes into the second draft which takes a lot longer than the thirty days of November. You can read about my writing process in earlier blog posts.

If you suffer from serious perfectionism it can be totally paralyzing. I can’t offer any advice on this, but maybe someone who has overcome their perfectionism will comment below.

The most important thing is to get your PEN and PAPER out and make a start. I’ve just treated myself to this little bundle of loveliness from www.bureaudirect.co.uk and I’m going to give it a go now.

NB Buying green sparkly ink – that’s how you turn PROCRASTINATION into a POSITIVE move towards words.