Category Archive: From the Author
February 22nd, 2012
One of the great things about social media is that people develop in a number of different directions. Authors turn into reviewers, reviewers get book deals. Publishers and agents function as creative writing teachers, so do authors…almost every tweep in this week-long feature belongs in at least three categories. People don’t fit neatly into boxes any more.
And your list of top book-y tweeps won’t finish up the same as mine. But mine’s a good place to start, because you’ve got to start somewhere. Your list will then develop as you evolve your social media ‘strategy.’
Ah, strategy. A word that makes it sound as if we all knew what we were doing. If you joined Twitter in order to publicise your work, then in theory you’re looking for reviewers and readers, but almost no-one is purely a reviewer. And remember, Twitter works both ways. People find out about you and you find out what is going on. I think it’s more important to know what is going on than it is to get your book reviewed. As well as ‘book review’ bloggers, this list includes people who read alot, write alot and communicate about reading and writing, even if they don’t blog. Follow these, and look at who they follow and how they interact with other writers and readers.
So, my biggest list of all (but they will really give you a flavour of books and Twitter): @benjohncock, @cathryanhoward, @danoosha, @MaggieA, @LucyBeresford,@bookreviewsbyrea,@suemoorcroft, @mslexia, @newbooksmag, @novelicious, @keris, @filmvsbook,@chicklitcentral, @lovereadinguk, @Book_shelf, @CuriousBookFans, @cescareviews,@shazjera, @JoannaCannon, @SarahCallejo, @onemorepage, @marniewrites,@janeholland1,@ChickLitChloe, @dizzyCLBB, @Chicklitreviews, @gilliallan, @GillyFraser, @yellowjo, @BrightonBlogger,@writermels, @sarahduncan1, @fredalightfoot, @wearyhousewife,@JudithKinghorn.
I know I’ve left some brilliant blogger/general booky tweeps out – usually just because I may not have been online when they were recently, and Twitter is a slippery beast. If you don’t spot someone, they’re gone in seconds. So tweet me or leave a comment here if you’re reading, writing, tweeting and commenting on blogs – you’ve got your finger on the pulse and that makes you a great book-y tweep to follow. And do check out Monday’s and Tuesday’s tweeps because…well, no-one does fit into boxes any more.
Tomorrow: publishers, editors, agents, bookshops.
Posted in: From the Author by Nina Bell on February 22nd, 2012
February 21st, 2012
I short-changed you yesterday by only giving you only 10 ‘top all-round social media’ tweeps, because today’s category ‘chatty authors’ is a huge one. Authors are great chatters online.
Some of these authors are very famous, some less so. They don’t just tweet ‘buy my book’ or ‘look at my great review’ (I’ve had to unfollow a few male thriller writers, who can be very persistent self-promoters). These authors interact, so anyone can feel part of the writing community. Nobody ever replies to every tweet (we may not pick it up, we may be off Twitter for a few days etc) but these ‘chatty authors’ reply across the board and not just to other well-known authors. They also link to interesting articles or pieces of research.
Most of the people in this 5 day feature cross over into a number of categories, so check out Day 1 (‘all round social media tweeps’) or you’ll miss some of the chattiest authors.
So, in no particular order: @rowancoleman, @JessRuston, @VFoxWrites, @LesleyPearse, @LindaGreenisms,@judyastley, @AramintaHall,@elizabethbuchan, @Wendy_Holden, @DorothyKoomson, @peterjames, @Chadwickauthor, @ScarlettBailey, @SophieHannahCB1, @david_hewson, @MargaretAtwood, @SashaWagstaff, @LesleyCookman, @sarahsalway, @liz_fenwick, @volewriter, @veronica_henry,@IsabelWolff, @KatieFforde, @Louise_Candlish…and there are so many more I’d love to mention.
But follow these and you’ll find the rest. And do follow them all – it’s quite comfortable to be following around 500 people, and you’ll really begin to see how the interaction works. TOMORROW: top 20 ‘finger-on-the-pulse’ tweeps for publishing generally.
Posted in: From the Author by Nina Bell on February 21st, 2012
February 20th, 2012
I’ve just come back from an inspirational social media course for authors given by @benjohncock at the Faber Academy. One question at the end: who should we follow? I’ve been Twitter-ing for a year now, and have my own ‘starter pack’ of 100 tweeps who will keep you entertained and in touch with the book world.Follow them, and you’ll soon pick up lots of others who’ll link, post, blog and tweet you to what’s going on in publishing.
My first ten are novelists who make the most of social media and do it really well: @AliMcNamara, @Joannechocolat, @jojomoyes, @TalliRoland, @lindasgrant,@susanhillwriter, @david_hewson, @FannyBlake1, @DorothyKoomson, @AndrewCrofts. Check out their websites and other activity (Ali McNamara is all-round brilliant at social media, and Talli Roland has done some interesting things with epublishing, for example).
Tomorrow, 25 chatty novelists who help make Twitter a fun, helpful interactive, human conversation. Then onto publishers, agents, book pundits, reviewers, bloggers and bookshops over the rest of the week.
Posted in: From the Author by Nina Bell on February 20th, 2012
February 4th, 2012
I was once part of a conversation between Terry Pratchett and Joanna Trollope. Terry was talking about one of his former teachers, who he’d turned into a character in one of his novels (I have forgotten which). I asked Joanna Trollope if she ever put real people in hers, and she firmly replied ‘Of course not.’
Nor do I, but real situations – rather than people – do inspire novels. I wrote Lovers & Liars after seeing a friend’s marriage break up. She has read the book, and knows neither she nor her ex are in it.
But their situation was the starting point for my research, after seeing another friend suffer very similar problems. I consulted several psychotherapists and bought books on psychological abuse. These included Living With The Dominator by Pat Craven, Power and Control by Sandra Horley and many others. I soon discovered that Tolstoy’s declaration that ‘all happy families are the same, unhappy families are all unhappy in different ways’ is not necessarily true. Most abusive relationships have a great deal in common. If you build an abusive character in a novel, by research and interviewing experts as I did, then there is a good chance that he or she (abusers are not always men) will be like someone you know, at least in some ways. For example, abusers will often say ‘you’re so stupid’, make belittling jokes, or they’ll hide things and deny it. Such characteristics are easy to weave into character and drama. I was so pleased when one psychologist told me later that she was now using Lovers & Liars as a therapeutic tool to help women recognise when they were in an abusive situation, because it can be easier to take a difficult message on board through fiction.
Similarly, with The Empty Nesters, I interviewed a number of people, whose children, like mine, had recently left home. A number of common themes emerged, such as the shock when they actually go (even though it had been expected and talked about for months!), worries over relationships with your partner and the changes in friendships. Many people become friends through their children, and stay friends after they have left, but a few of these relationships founder for a variety of reasons. I decided to create an extreme version of one of these failed friendships through a character called Alice. I have since been surprised at the number of people who claim to be Alice or be like her – which says something about the guilt of motherhood.
Best-selling crime novelist Sophie Hannah says she thinks it’s ‘very hard (impossible?) to put a whole real person into a novel’, because ‘you can’t help fictionalising’, either to meet the needs of the novel or simply by the way you perceive and interpret people:’my ‘Mary’ won’t be the same as Mary’s Mary.’ But she says that if you can and do put a real person in, ‘there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you are prepared to say you did it.’
A friend once said that I had put her into a novel I had written several years before meeting her, which I take as a compliment. If you write about emotions and families, as I do, it’s important that people do believe your characters are real. But there is a saying amongst novelists that if you ever think you are in anyone’s novel, you definitely aren’t – but on the rare occasion when writers do put a ‘real person’ in, he or she never recognises themselves. What do you think?
Posted in: From the Author by Nina Bell on February 4th, 2012
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