THIRD WAY HOUSE

Is there a middle option between conventional and self-publishing?
There's no doubt that a good book deserves a professional service but most new authors - many with works of potential excellence - will know that their precious title is littering the floors of traditional publishing houses and will never see the light of day.
More and more often, with staff and cost cuts in the publishing industry, typos and errors are creeping into professionally-published manuscripts and many companies are reluctant to fork-out a percentage of their ever-decreasing marketing budget on their authors. Some of the smaller organisations have no marketing budget at all. The burden of promotion and proofing are therefore left almost exclusively to the author.
DIY publishing has been made easy and cost-free by the likes of Amazon and Smashwords but, with so much choice on the market, books are judged by their cover. A bad cover design can let an author down as can a poorly edited manuscript.
Then there's the marketing and publicity of a book to get it seen. This, to most authors I have spoken to (conventionally and self-published), is where the real work begins. Months of endless networking, press releases and author interviews doesn't necessarily equate to sales, unless you're an established author with a strong fan base. I've also heard a lot of traditionally published authors complain that they have been forced to take responsibility for the promotion of their own works as publishing houses invest time and expense on other services and their better-established authors.
So, if a book's worth publishing and an author is prepared to put in vast amounts of time and effort, why do we shudder at the thought of paying out cash for professional services?

I know a good few traditionally published authors who are finding the DIY publishing model far more lucrative. I don't know any of them who do not pay for a professional editing service. Similarly, most of them fork out for a good cover designer. They do this to maintain the standard of excellent quality that readers expect from them and will continue to buy into. Some of those authors pay for the services of a publicist to professionally market their product.

Unscrupulous vanity publishers (and that's not a syllogistic statement) have ruined perceptions on paying for publishing. The stigma attached to vanity and the warnings against them are a good reason to stay well clear. Jonathon Clifford, on his excellent site Vanity Publishing: A Campaign for Truth and Honesty makes it very clear what a good vanity publisher will NOT do: http://vanitypublishing.info/agoodvpwillnot.htm

So what's the alternative? Is there a middle road to publishing between conventional and DIY?

I've been speaking to Matthew Smith (pictured right), director of Urbane Publications, a Kent-based company that calls itself a 'collaborative' publishing house: an organisation of professional book people who share the costs of publishing a book with the author in a mutually beneficial contract. He calls it The Third Way.

I'm not advocating their services but am curious as to the effectiveness of their delivery. Are they a brand new business model for the industry or just another vanity publisher under a different guise? If they are what they say on the tin, then this is indeed an exciting time for publishing.

Matthew Smith certainly puts up a compelling argument that his Third Way approach is the way forward. He says: '[There is a Third Way] that combines all the benefits of traditional publishing (an engaged editor, script development, knowledge, design, route to market, promotion etc) but gives the author creative and commercial engagement during every part of the process. Every aspect of the project is a shared experience with shared goals, a genuine partnership. And that includes the sharing of the revenue, because every author deserves a fair return on their words.'

If you're interested in learning more, pop over to my Ivy Moon Press site and decide for yourself.

Wigtown showcase sets tongues wagging

WagTongues pop-up bookshop joined the Wigtown Book Festival on Saturday with its own mini-festival of readings, talks, interviews and books.
Run by the Dumfries Writers’ Collective, WagTongues is a bookshop which pops up without warning across Dumfries and Galloway and over the border.

Its remit is to sell precious things: local books by local writers, including poetry, fiction, memoir and history from Sally Hinchclife, Donald Adamson, Hugh Bryden, Mary Smith, D D Hall, Gwen Kirkwood, Margaret Elphinstone, Claire Cogbill, JoAnne McKay, Kriss Nichol, Janet Walkinshaw and, of course, me.

Celebrated poet Hugh Bryden
searches for inspiration for
The Poet Is In

Member Mary Smith, said: “WagTongues runs a programme of events whilst we’re open, so there’s the opportunity to meet authors, listen to readings, hear interviews and attend mini-workshops as well as browse through and buy wonderful books.

“We take books from any writer or publisher in the region and anyone who would like to join us should send an email wagtongues@aol.com”

Sally Hinchcliffe and JoAnne McKay

The bookshop has this year enjoyed a successful festival run.

It was invited to be  part of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival in May when it held a two-day pop-up bookshop and mini literary festival in Castle Douglas.

WagTongues recently took advantage of another invitation by The Stove, Dumfries, where it popped-up during the Nithraid and In Our Town events. Its innovative literary venture, the Poet Is In, proved popular with the afternoon crowds.

Last year WagTongues appeared twice at the Wigtown Book Festival and at The Stove, Dumfries, during Scotland’s Book Week in November.

A few weeks ago, they moved across the Border for the first time to collaborate with the Carlisle Writers at the Borderlines Book Festival.

WagTongues member Sally Hinchcliffe, said: “We're really pleased to have been invited to take part in both Borderlines and Nithraid, two great up-and-coming events in the region, and a chance to build bridges both across borders and with different art forms.”

Chick amused his audience
with a performance of
poems by rote.

On Saturday, WagTongues popped-up in Wigtown during the Book Festival at the Quaker Meeting House and adjoining garden.

An impressive display of books in the outside pavilion attracted browsers and purchasers while, inside, festival-goers listened to the many talks and readings by Dumfries and Galloway authors and poets.

I sold three copies of
The Sleeping Warrior on the day!

At the same time, the region's most talented poets sought inspirational thoughts from the public for a set of spur-of-the-moment poems which delighted audiences.

Poet and WagTongues member JoAnne McKay said: “It's fantastic that WagTongues has popped-up three times during September, and each appearance has so far had a very different flavour.

"We would like to say a huge thanks to all the writers and publishers who came along and to everyone who volunteered to help out.

“We exist to promote local writing, and love doing it, even if it does mean a few sleepless nights!”

WagTongues takes no commission with the full price of sales going directly to the authors and the events will raise funds for Arthritis Care Scotland. Further information from http://wagtongues.wordpress.com

UNITED OR UNTIED?

“We could be on the brink of the end of the United Kingdom as we know it”, said Emily Maitlis of the BBC recently.

On Friday morning, the United Kingdom will feel the full impact of its recent separation. Irrespective of whether Scotland gains independence from the 78th largest sovereign state in the World or not, the great divide has already taken place through the litany of impassioned opinion, and relationships will never be the same again.

Like most divorces, it’s the sparring  that cuts the deepest: the angry words, the apportionment of blame, the accusations, the fury and the sulking. When bad relationships come to a head, the parties seldom kiss and make up. Instead it’s down to the divorce lawyer to initiate proceedings and attempt to negotiate a mutually beneficial financial settlement that won’t put one or the other party out of pocket.

As for Scotland, the imminent referendum has split the nation into two almost equal camps: Yes and No. Choosing one or the other should, prima facie, be a simple task but the forensic debate that has accompanied that single question has led to further enquiry on a subject where there is little precedent upon which to offer informed answers. Politicians and supporters from either camp, therefore, have resorted to the usual dirty tactics of the slanging match and opinion, not facts, has provided the bases for serious discussion.

The romantic ideology of a subdued and conquered nation rising up against its oppressors to the rallying call of freedom can be highly persuasive. Heroes like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce have been resurrected from their graves in aid of the Yes cause only to be met with the boos and jeers of the opposing forces  telling them that the people of Scotland should not dwell on the past but look instead to the future.

But it is the past that moulds and shapes the individuals we are today and even historical events can form the foundation for emotive argument. Maggie Thatcher’s axe came down on the Scots in the ’80s with as much force as Edward I’s infamous hammer did in the 13th century. The Iron Lady even violated the Act of Union by using Scotland as a testing ground for the poll tax a year before it was inflicted on the rest of the United Kingdom. Westminster commended her efforts by bestowing upon her the highest order of Knighthood. The Scots still hate her.

Tony Blair led his kingdoms into a war which the majority of Scots (as well as the rest of the UK) did not condone. David Cameron’s misguided refusal to include a Devo Max option in the referendum has been taken as evidence that Westminster either underestimated the sheer force of Scottish sentiment or had little care for it.

History has become that proverbial elephant of Scottish pride: the one that may forgive, but refuses to forget.

Scotland will decide tomorrow whether it secedes from, or remains in, a three-hundred year union. Whatever the decision, the strength of national identity, which has been rippling on the surface of Scottish opinion for centuries, has now become a significant tidal force.

Like many other countries across the world, we are on the brink of the end of a unity as we know it, whether Scotland becomes independent or not. Globalisation and the call for national identity has ensured the tide’s been receding for centuries around the shores of bold Britannia. Those mighty waves crashing against her proud flotillas of war and conquest now cause little more than a tiny splash against a plastic bathtub bobbing in the midst of an ever-widening ocean of disappointment and discontent for some.

Yes or no. A nation will decide. My only hope is that, whatever the outcome, we have a final chance to leave the bitterness behind and look forward to a harmonious future with our closest neighbours.

I'll leave you with a note from fellow author Mary Smith:

Something to share and invite others to do for the next few days. Share a Scottish love song and make this a week of love and celebration, whatever way you are voting. There are folk for whom this has been an anxious time, and there are folk, like those in Catalonia, who are banned from this kind of democratic decision. Whether you are voting yes or no, share a song, celebrate your vote, and let's show the world we can respect one another. Something to share and invite others to do for the next few days. Share a Scottish love song and make this a week of love and celebration, whatever way you are voting. There are folk for whom this has been an anxious time, and there are folk, like those in Catalonia, who are banned from this kind of democratic decision. Whether you are voting yes or no, share a song, celebrate your vote, and let's show the world we can respect one another. http
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMmtBgMaF5I#t=264

Here's mine from twa local lassies:

Emily Smith, The Silver Tassie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHgC49wuZ9Q
Mary Barclay, Blackbird: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOC5bYie888