Authors Electric

Spot the deliberate mistake! Over the last few months I've done a lot and I mean lot of proof reading and editing. I also have a lot more to do. However, it doesn't matter how hard you try and how eagle eyed you (and your beta reader plus your editor/proofreader) are, there is always one that gets away. I'll admit I take solace in the fact that every so often I'll spot 'the one that got away' in a book that's been published by one of the large publishers. But that doesn't stop me trying to catch that 'one' by spending time honing my manuscript. Typically I read and edit all of my work at least three times before I let anyone else read it. I'll: Check for words that are similar but not the same e.g. quiet and quite Try to ensure the first line of new sections are justified right and not indented Try to remedy my habit of over using a comma by removing them Remove almost every 'then' I've used (that's one of my 't...

My first traditionally published picture book featuring a hedgehog and mouse I started writing non-fiction 20 years ago and I continue to write non-fiction magazine features to this day.   I've always strived to write features that are as accurate as possible. Even though I know (I heard it on the TV programme QI, so it must be true) that facts normally have a shelf life of five years. This desire to get facts correct crosses over into my picture book and short story writing. I've had many a discussion with editors on getting the 'facts' right. I understand in my picture and short story collections we're dealing with talking animals or creatures that don't exist. However, having studied environmental geography at university I prefer to try to ensure the life science elements of a story are as real as possible. For example in my first picture book ( A Book For Bramble ) Bramble the hedgehog is hibernating under an upturned wheel barrow. This is ba...

When I’m not writing about those crafty critters Anansi the Trickster Spider , Coyote and   Brer Rabbit  I’m writing non-fiction activity based features for magazines such as Practical Pre-school and Child Care magazine . Usually my topic is based around something real, for example animals, modes of transport or historical events. However earlier this year I was commissioned to use picture books as a basis my non-fiction activity features. So having recently received a copy of the picture book Three Billy Goats Gruff by our very own Susan Price I’ve decided to show you how I use a picture book as a basis for a non-fiction feature. So here goes. Many of my features will include a little life science, Any excuse to ensure I didn’t waste three years at university studying Environmental Science. So a book about goats provides me with a great opportunity to do this. So if I were using this book as a basis I’d need to know what type of goats I’m writing about...

After a long time away from social media I’ve started to tweet and Facebook again. Since I last used social media as a marketing tool things have moved on and I discovered:  Images on twitter are ‘the’ thing National and international celebration days allow you to plan ahead and use hashtag terms you know will be trending So last month I researched dates I could use to market my short story collections ( Anansi - Brer Rabbit and Coyote ). During my research I found  Awareness Days and Days of the Year  which contain a list of international and national days.  I then needed to know what the ideal size for Twitter and Facebook images was. So I researched into this and during my research I came across this blog post , which breaks down the page layouts and sizes for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Youtube. Using this I created a template for Twitter images (1024 pix x 512 pix – although you can use other sizes) and a templ...

Whilst working on my latest collection of short stories I decided I'd ask my talented niece (Sam Davy) to design the ebook cover for me and then I’d also use her design for the print version. When I came to create the cover for the print version I rashly decided to create a cover from scratch rather than use one of the many CreateSpace templates. It was then I discovered I’d forgotten to ask my niece to take into account three important elements. These being: Leave excess for bleed (0.125”/3mm) Allow for trim (0.135”/3.5mm) Ensure important elements such as text and coyote bottoms were in the ‘safe’ zone ( at least 0.125"/3mm inside the trim lines)   Thankfully I’m able to stumble around PhotoShop and my niece was forward thinking enough to supply her cover design as a PhotoShop file. This allowed me to move Anansi, Brer Rabbit and Coyote slightly and increase the length of the grass so I could also move my name into the safe zone. Having completed this task ...

Back in the mists of time before the banking system wrought havoc on our economy I used to work as a freelance writer for a packager. If you don’t work in the publishing world you may not know what a packager is. Basically they find freelancers like myself, hire us on a flat fee basis to create a book. This book is then sold to a publisher or even publishers (if they sell the foreign rights) who then sell it under their own branding. It’s a great concept and at one time kept me very busy. The first book I worked on for a packager was a craft title. The concept for the title had been sold to a large publisher before I was even commissioned to work on the project. Typically, just days before the agreed deadline the publisher (in their wisdom) wanted an additional 12 pages. I began to panic. I simply didn’t have the time to produce that amount of additional content. My editor told me not to worry because she had content from a similar title she could use to fill these additional p...