Drafting a Blurb – the craft of catching a reader
Once I started thinking about blurbs, it became clear how little I rely on them these days. I usually choose books to read because I’ve already read or heard about them – on blogs, in reviews, in articles, on podcasts. It’s rare for me to pick up a random book, read the blurb on the…
How to edit a manuscript
So the manuscript is returning to me gradually, a few chapters at a time. My editor at Text, Jane Pearson, met with me before sending any of it back. For over an hour she walked me through the first few chapters, explaining what she’d done and why. It looks pretty confronting on the page but…
Winner 2017 (Australian) National Biography Award
The annual National Biography Award of $25,000 for a published work of biographical or autobiographical writing aims to promote public interest in these genres. The award is administered and presented by the State Library of NSW on behalf of the award’s benefactor Mr Michael Crouch AO. The total prize value is $31,000 – $25,000 for the…
2016 – the latest Stella Count
Women write about two thirds of all the fiction books published in Australia. Yet books written by men are still more likely to be reviewed in the Australian mainstream media. The situation is changing, but very slowly. The 2016 Stella Count surveys twelve Australian publications – including national, metropolitan and regional newspapers, journals and magazines…