I had never heard of Strawberry Hill Gothic as an architectural style until Sunday when we spent a memorable night at Donnington Grove in Berkshire. As the weather changed from sodden to sparkling, the trees were gorgeous and the hotel fascinating. Although our main preoccupation was golf, I’ve never been so cross at having left my camera … Continue reading Strawberry Hill Gothic
This is the excellent strap line for a writer friend’s self-published travel book launched today. Vagabond Shoes by Jean Burnett won a grant from the Winchester Writers’ Conference towards publishing costs and is definitely not in the vanity category, but Jean (fellow member of Bristol Women Writers) will be the first to tell you that the … Continue reading It’s never too late to run away
Until recently I had myself down as a suburbanite, but not any more. The fight of DD and DS into the city centre has given me the chance to explore the waterfront, the old centre and the university area all over again and I’m suddenly finding even more excuses to go there. Visitors are now being dragged to … Continue reading Circus comes to town
Would you blog your novel? Obviously Mr McCall Smith has done just that with Corduroy Mansions, and has doubtless been suitably rewarded, so let me rephrase it. Would you blog your unpublished novel? Because that’s the idea behind the Telegraph’s latest creative writing competition and if you have a novel languishing in a drawer (or even on … Continue reading Corduroy challenge
I’m pleased to say that Ted of YWO did get back to me quickly with an answer to my query on the 5000 deal, and I’m not the only one who’s been raising questions on the site. In brief, it seems like this is pretty much a ploy by YWO to increase its membership and its profile generally, and , to be fair, YWO always did intend to offer a self-publishing platform. Ted doesn’t answer the question of ‘why self-publish’ but strictly speaking I don’t suppose he has to. I think there are times when self-publishing makes sense, but right now I’m with another YWO member sho says,
‘I’d love my novel to be published, but what kind of feeling would it give me if I could only say that the sole reason it was published is because I answered an e-mail quickly and could drum up £40? I’d like to think it got published because it was good.’
For my question and Ted’s full answer, please read on.
Continue reading “The story from YWO”
