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The Launch of Joffa: Isn’t That Life?
June 10, 2015
Tomorrow night, we’re launching our newest book, the autobiography Joffa: Isn’t That Life?
When we first had Joffa into Busybird last year and pitched to him that he should write an autobiography, he expressed several concerns. Firstly, he was worried people would think he was grandstanding.
One thing you discover when you talk to Joffa, though, is that he’s modest, he’s not afraid to poke fun at himself, and he is also selfless – on top of his work with the homeless, he volunteers for several charities, and gives time to make benefit appearances. He has fun in the Collingwood Cheer Squad, but it’s all part of the showmanship of supporting your team. Nothing about Joffa involves grandstanding.
Joffa was also worried about his writing. He admitted he might be shaky on grammar and punctuation, and that he was okay writing short passages (e.g. a page of two), but more than that and he was prone to repetition.
Some might laugh at that, but it’s important for writers to know their strengths and weaknesses. We have dealt with authors who think they’re infallible, are closed to editing, and ultimately their work never realises its potential. To get the best out of your writing, you need to be challenged to think outside your parameters.
When Joffa began turning in chapters, he proved he underrated his writing – it’s evocative, sometimes almost poetic, conjuring strong visuals, whilst keeping the storytelling emotive. We had to clean up some punctuation, grammar, and repetition, but that’s standard with any edit. He was also receptive to areas of the book he had to work on, and some structural reshuffling we performed. He was an editor’s dream as an author.
Once a first draft of the book was completed, it went back and forth between us and Joffa until everybody was happy with it. Joffa produced a compelling read and had the courage to bare himself publically. It’s a good lesson in the virtue of sharing your story – stories touch people, and can have a positive impact on their lives. Joffa’s story promotes a strong message: despite adversity, despite anything you go through, you can make something of your life, and you can do so and develop compassion, empathy, and graciousness.
Joffa himself has come through an abusive upbringing and teenage homelessness, and his daughter has epilepsy, but he’s never played the victim of circumstance, and he hasn’t – as others might have – gone off the rails. If you have a preconception of Joffa that borders on negative, or is maybe even a little derisive, just talk to him for a few minutes and you’ll reshape your impressions.
A big thank you to all the Pozible contributors who pledged money to help make the book a reality. A book is an expensive endeavour: editing, layout, design, promotion, distribution – it all adds up. Busybird Publishing is a boutique micropublisher, and we’re grateful for all the help.
A thank you, too, to wife-and-husband team, Blaise van Hecke and Kev Howlett, owners of Busybird Publishing, Blaise for all her tireless work behind the scenes getting the book going and coordinating the work in putting it and the launch together, Kev for the design of the cover and his ideas throughout; senior editor Melissa Cleeman for her meticulous editing, organising the launch, and her media work to get the book out there; and assistant editors, Rebecca Courtney, Shevon Higgins, Johanna Boutros, Joey To, Lisa Roberts, Isabella Gilmore and, again, Blaise, for their editing on the book and shaping it into what it is; and Tom O’Conell for his tireless proofreading.
Here are the details for the launch:
- When
7.00pm – 9.00pm
Thursday, 11th June
Where
Bella Union
54 Victoria Street
Carlton 3053
If you’re intending on coming and haven’t RVSPed, please RVSP immediately, as you’ll need to have your name on the door. So call us on (03) 9434 6365 or drop Melissa an email.
LZ.
The Beginning
May 28, 2015
Page seventeen has the specific focus of providing a home for new writers to have something published. Through both general submissions and competitions, the annual collection invites every individual looking to really make something of their own writing, and still feels new to the game, to submit to us and see if their gamble has resulted in a winning formula. Sometimes it does, and it gets published. Sometimes it doesn’t and that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad – maybe it just needs a little more trimming of superfluous lines, or the characters could use a little more development, or so on. But we invite everyone to take that chance and have a go at being a writer.
Hm, hang on. Being a writer. That’s a heck of a thing to worry about, isn’t it?
Or maybe it isn’t. Especially if you take a moment to step away from the sensationalism that surrounds ‘being a writer’, especially on social media. Anyone with a writer-esque contact on Facebook will likely get the regular feed of quotes about being a writer, posts about how awesome it is to be a writer and so on. Don’t get me wrong, these are great forms of encouragement. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that the old ‘solitary artist’ babble isn’t necessarily a truth; that there’s a whole community of like-minded artists out there. But a lot of the time it just doesn’t really scratch the surface, does it? They’re not likely to help you feel any different as someone who creates content.
Only you define yourself as a writer. And only you decide how important that quality is to you. You could be an accountant who happens to be a writer. Or you’re a writer who happens to keep a day job as an accountant. You could be a writer as a career path, or as something to do in a hobby.
There’s only one thing that should never change, regardless of how you view yourself as a writer. You may take breaks, you may go months without writing anything of substance for whatever reason, and you may write in different styles or for difference audiences. A thousand different branches with the same beginning point, the same alpha from which everything else is just the omega.
The work means something.
Now, that sounds a hell of a lot heavier than it actually is. Meaning? Oh crap, you mean social commentary? Or strongly-developed themes? Is my writing meaningless unless it’s a thesis on the human condition, or the folly of war, or how it’s important to recycle? No, calm down, put that pedestal away. It can have those things, but they don’t constitute meaning.
What’s important is that it means something to you. That you put something heartfelt in it. That you made it your own. It doesn’t have to have details from your life, and it doesn’t have to be loaded with your thoughts and preoccupations. But it has to have a point of inspiration. Something that defines your reason for choosing that topic, those characters, this setting. Sometimes it’s just purely a what-if situation but it’s never totally random.
Whether you believe it or not, people are looking forward to seeing your work. People are looking forward to finding a fresh new voice – your voice. Make sure it really is your voice. Make sure you’re speaking clearly. That’s all you really need to worry about in the initial act of writing. Speak clearly. The other elements can be refined.
Be a writer later – including submitting your work, whether that be to page seventeen or elsewhere. Make time to enjoy writing now. Make time to create something that feels meaningful to you.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
The One Truth
May 13, 2015I’m often asked what’s the best way of writing a book.
I’m asked, like I must have some secret formula, because I’ve done it several times. Well, I have only one real answer.
Sure, you might require planning. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I’ll write out the names of every character I think I’ll use. I’ll map out locations, like restaurants, bars, schools, or whatever’s required. If I need a specific blueprint – e.g. a house that’s important to the story – then I’ll draw that up, so I can know the space my characters occupy. I might bullet-point some plot points (and will definitely do so as I write). But this is my methodology. It mightn’t work for you. You might have a completely different way of working. That’s fine. You need to prepare in whatever way you see fit. Ultimately, there’s only one commonality that we’re all going to share if we want to write a book.
You might think you need a special place to write. You can’t write because kids are running around screaming and the house is a mess. We can long for an ideal space, for a writer’s den, with our trusty laptop set on an antique desk by a window overlooking the idyllic countryside. That’ll do, won’t it? That’s perfect. And will get us in the mood, won’t it? Well, it might, but rarely are circumstances ideal. We need to deal with what is, because, invariably, when it comes to writing a book, whether we’re working in our dream location, or penned up in the toilet because it’s the only room where we can escape and have some privacy, the same duty remains to us.
But what about time? We might work, might have a partner, might have kids, might have housework, might have dialysis, might have a full day. That’s hard. It’s near impossible. Unfortunately, short of inventing technology that can stretch a twenty-four hour day into twenty-eight, we can only work with what we have. So whether we have eight hours a day where we can lounge around and work on our book, or only fifteen minutes a day, we’re still left with the same overriding requirement.
There will always be reasons that you can’t write. Excuses. Life will never be ideal. We’re too tired. Too busy. Not in the right headspace. It’s too noisy. My writing space isn’t set up correctly. My computer is old. My brain has turned to mush. I keep getting disturbed. My friend is having a meltdown. I’m having a meltdown. I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I can write. Who’ll read it? Who’ll want it? What’s the point of it? This. That. Everything. Every single thing. Yet, despite it all, if we really want to do this, guess what we have to do?
There’s no magic formula. Whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our methodology, we’re always left with one simple truth.
Writing is a muscle. Sorry for the cliché, but it is. You want to write a book, you do so by sitting down and writing it. By doing that every day, you build up that muscle so, next time you sit down to write, you welcome the prospect, your muscle tells you, ‘I can handle this’; you build it up so that it’s strong enough to endure tough patches and flat patches; so that on those days you don’t feel like it, when you’re exhausted, when you’re not in the mood, when the house is burning down around you, that muscle will pick you up and carry you – kicking and screaming if need be – the rest of the way, because there’s only one way it’s ever going to get done.
And that’s it. That’s all. Finito. No tricks. No tools. Nothing but this one reality.
If you do that, you’ll get there.
LZ.
Page Seventeen, Issue 12
April 24, 2015
Yes, page seventeen is once again a thing, and shortly we will be opening our submission window again. The opening date is only a week away!
One of the defining developments of last year’s issue was how page seventeen’s motivations and identity were placed into sharper focus. Page seventeen has always been about promoting new and emerging writers by giving them a place to publish their work, but other aspects of the periodical’s reason-for-being were given greater consideration and explored in previous articles on this blog. We even have the customary soundbites to show for it. Embracing the new. A home for emerging writers. Winter is coming. (Wait – that last one might be from somewhere else.)
Page seventeen remained fairly stable and static for its first ten issues. It was establishing a recognisable brand with clear intentions. For its eleventh issue, there was a greater enthusiasm for change and versatility, even in smaller aspects such as updating the issue’s layout. That’s a trend I hope to continue into the twelfth issue, as page seventeen adapts to reach its current audience – and its expanding sphere of potential readers – in the best possible way. Not just to entertain readers, but to promote writers who deserve to have an audience for their work.
Which is why we will be making the latest issue of page seventeen an exclusively electronic edition. The issue will be essentially the same in all other respects, with the only major difference thus far being that page seventeen is taking the plunge and moving into the digital age. We’ll also be kicking off our transition with the release of our long-promised e-edition of page seventeen #11 – it’s coming soon, so stay tuned for the announcement.
Below you’ll find the general summary of all the entry categories and competitions on offer for Issue 12. Soon we’ll also announce finer details such as the judges for this year’s competitions, so watch this space and follow along on our Facebook or Twitter profiles if you aren’t already.
All stories, poetry and articles should be submitted to page seventeen through Submittable. All submissions should be doc, docx, pdf or rtf file formats; images for the cover comp should be jpg or gif. Please contact us as pageseventeen@busybird.com.au if you have any questions.
Are you interested in submitting for the new issue? You won’t have to wait long for the opportunity. Our submission window for 2015 is Friday 1 May – Friday 3 July. That’s two months of time to mould your work into the best it can be, and maybe give us the opportunity to show it to the world.
* * *
General Submission:
- No entry fee
- Unthemed
- Short stories up to 5000 words, poetry up to 100 lines
- Submit via our General Submittable portal. Link will be active here from May 1st.
Non-Fiction Submissions:
- We favour ‘craft of writing’ as a general theme, but we’ll consider all articles.
- Articles up to 5000 words
- Submit via our General Submittable portal. Link will be active here from May 1st.
Short Story and Poetry Competitions:
- Entry fee structure is $8 for one entry, $15 for two entries and $20 for three entries.
- Unthemed
- Short stories up to 3000 words, poetry up to 60 lines
- Winners of each category (Short Story, and Poetry) will win $200, runners-up will be awarded $100. All shortlisted entries will be published in P17 #12.
- Submit via our Competition Submittable portal. Link will be active here from May 1st.
Cover Competition:
- Entry fee is $10, which allows up to five images to be submitted for consideration.
- There is no theme or criteria for the style of submitted images. Entrants are encouraged to see covers of page seventeen’s recent issues but we encourage that submissions do not need to be limited by precedent.
- The winning image will be used as the front cover for page seventeen #12, and will be regularly implemented, unaltered, in promotional material for page seventeen and Busybird Publishing.
- Submit via our Competition Submittable portal. Link will be active here from May 1st.
* * *
In a week we open the gates and welcome all authors, poets, photographers, writers, artists, scribblers, doodlers and general dreamers to share their work with us. Good luck to everyone who submits to us. I hope you’re looking forward to seeing what the latest issue of page seventeen has to offer – I know I’m looking forward to putting it together.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
Writing a Blurb
April 9, 2015
What makes a good blurb?
When you pick up a book at a bookstore or library, or read a blurb somewhere online, what engages you? What convinces you to open the book and scan the first page, or to take the book home with you?
The blurb is the equivalent of a movie trailer. Seen a fantastic trailer, only to find that the movie itself sucked? This is an important lesson: a good blurb or trailer can sell anything, and the whole product – whether it’s good, bad, or downright horrible – will always have enough ingredients from which to craft a compelling snapshot to hook your consumer.
The foundation of any good blurb – whether it’s for a novel or a nonfiction book – is that it’ll have a narrative thread that underpins it all and ties it all together. This is what we ride through it. However, a good blurb doesn’t let you realise you’re taking this ride. You simply become immersed in it, then want more.
Writing a good blurb is an artform. Obviously, there’s lots of different ways to write a blurb. If you’re somebody who struggles with blurbs, though, here’s a bit of a formula you can follow to get you underway …
| For Fiction | For Nonfiction | |||
The vehicle which is going to take our reader on their blurb-ride is usually the protagonist of our story. Let’s use the example of The Hobbit.
Here, we’ve introduced the protagonist, Bilbo, and his circumstances. This is important. We need to develop a visual of the character, and try to bond them with our reader. With that done, let’s get stuck into the plot.
The plot itself doesn’t need to be oversold. Some plots won’t be packed with action and excitement. They might be slow boilers. Or simple family dramas. What’s important to capture here is the context: Bilbo, a contented homebody, is pitched into a quest where he seems impossibly out of his depth. That’s interesting, and this is what’s important: showing the drama that your protagonist will face. Next, let’s sum up Bilbo’s adventures, without – hopefully – giving up any specific, story-defining spoilers.
Here, we’ve given up the gist of the quest, as well as the names of some of the creatures they face. But there’s no specifics – we don’t know how they escape the Trolls, Goblins, or spiders, whether anybody perishes, who does what, etc. But we see the conflict. We see some of the character growth. We see what our protagonist will face. The final paragraph usually sums up the book as a product:
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Usually, nonfiction (e.g. autobiographies, biographies, books on particular topics) can be treated like fiction. The same principle applies – just treat the subject as your protagonist who takes the reader for a ride through through the blurb.
Where the blurb might differ is for something like a self-help book. You now not only have to immerse your reader, but empathise with them. Let’s say we’ve got a book about dieting. We need to establish a rapport with the reader immediately.
Open by questioning the reader. That might take the form of a single word (as it has here), a single sentence, or a paragraph full of questions. The point is to engage the reader and open a dialogue with them. They now have to answer the question(s) put forth to them. If it’s relevant to them, they will most likely read on. Then it’s time for the empathising.
Here, hopefully, we’re getting on side with the reader. Yes, they might struggle to resist sugary snacks and fatty foods. Yes, they might stack on weight regardless of what they eat, and diets have been unsuccessful. If we’ve articulated legitimate concerns of somebody who might pick up a book like this, hopefully they’ll now be nodding their heads and thinking this book knows about their situation, is specifically talking to them, and might offer them hints that they haven’t encountered before. This is now where we sell ourselves and what the book’s about. Careful, though! We don’t want to give away the book’s secrets.
We’re not only selling ourselves here, but we’re also selling why we’re qualified to write about this subject. The reader has to feel they can have a reason – or reasons – to put their trust in us and, more importantly, in the book they’re now holding. The only actual allusion to the book’s content is the ’12-Step Program’. If your book has a particular formula (in this case the ’12-Step Program’), then sell it. Make no specific grandiose promises, though, e.g. You’re guaranteed to lose 25 kilograms! There’s no way you can guarantee that. The wording we’ve used here – ‘guaranteed to … lose weight in three months’ – is non-specific. Finally, as with the fiction blurb, we sum up the book:
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Now neither of these blurbs are complete. They’re still early drafts. But they offer a framework that you can now flesh out. We can fine-tune details, as well as smooth out linkages.
Just remember, blurbs are meant to be short and concise. They’re not a report of your book. Nor should they give the content away so that it becomes redundant to read the book. Don’t waste words. A blurb sells your book. The goal is to get readers intrigued.
With practice, you should be able to blurbarize any book. The key is to find your way in. Once you do, the rest should come easily.
Happy blurbing!
LZ