This month for the first time, we are profiling one of our company members, Ink Academy. You've already met Claudia Medlam and Marina Kemp in previous newsletters, but let's find out a bit more about Ink Academy and their special offer for our members.
Do you want to write your book, but just never seem to… well, write it? Whether it’s finding the time or motivation, editing what you’ve written, keeping up your confidence or just getting inspiration for the next stage, many writers find it difficult to get through the process of writing their book alone.
If this is you, Ink Academy is here to help: a bespoke creative writing course that is tailored to you, your writing, your life.
One-to-one and face-to-face, our course is focused 100% on your writing and flexibly arranged around your life and availability. The Ink Academy course is personal, collaborative and interactive – the only way writing should be taught.
We are offering Byte The Book members a special 10% discount until April 2018.
“Ink Academy is to writing what personal training is to exercising: In theory, you could do it on your own, but with someone experienced and knowledgeable to guide you, motivate you and keep you on point, you can keep up the momentum more easily and achieve much more than you would do alone.” Read more of our testimonials, and how we can help you, at www.inkacademy.co.uk.
If you want us to help promote your company to the Byte the Book community, please get in touch with us at info@bytethebook.com for more information
One of our founder members is about to release his latest book and run some events around the launch. Hats off to Rohan he's managed to get some great reviews from the likes of Iris Murdoch and The Guardian. Here's some info from him.
Author Rohan Quine
The Beasts of Electra Drive will have a two-part launch: first, on 6 April at Waterstones in Covent Garden (6.00-7.30 p.m., 9-13 Garrick Street, WC2E 9AU), launching alongside Kill Land by Guardian blogger Dan Holloway; and then on 12 April at the London Book fair #LBF18 (2.45 p.m. at the ALLi stand, 1D48), launching alongside Kill Land and Jane Davis’s Smash all the Windows. Literary fiction with a touch of magical realism and a dusting of horror, it is a prequel to Rohan’s previous titles, which were reviewed by The Guardian, New York Press, Iris Murdoch and others, as linked to from here and here.
And here's the book's blurb: From Hollywood Hills mansions and Century City towers, to South Central motels and the oceanside refinery, havoc and love are wrought across a mythic L.A., through the creations of games designer Jaymi, in a unique explosion of glamour and beauty, horror and enchantment, celebrating the mechanisms and magic of creativity itself.
Byte the Book's Justine Solomons was invited to be a judge on the if: book Award for New Media Writing last month, here's their report from the event at Bournemouth University with links through to the winners work.
The winner of the 8th annual if:book award for New Media Writing , was The Cartographer’s Confession. Written by UK writer James Attlee, it is an immersive story based in London, where ‘players’ interact with the app on location, to discover the long-hidden secrets of ‘The Cartographer’. Containing visual- and sound-scapes to further immerse the audience, as well as having an original musical soundtrack, this is a ‘mixed reality’ experience. Accepting his award from if:book director Chris Meade, Attlee confessed that this blending of sound, video and story is something he had wanted to do previously alongside his print-based works, but wasn’t able to make happen until collaborating with digital producer Emma Whittaker, who was also present to accept the award. Atlee also told the full-house audience that his ‘unposessive-ness’ around his text was an important factor in being able to twist and change the story in order to be able to make it viable with this locative media format, as originally the entire narrative would have taken 8 hours to complete!
NMWP organiser Jim Pope
Kicking off the evening, the year’s attendees were lucky to have the opportunity to listen to Adrian Smith, Amuzo director and one of the creators of the original Tomb Raider games. Smith talked about his experience with interactive narratives whilst creating Tomb Raider in 1996. Using the New Media Writing Prize’s key elements - Innovation, Interactivity and Immersion - as a starting point for his presentation, Smith gave a rivetting talk about the creation of the phenomenal gaming franchise. The most important element of Tomb Raider’s success was what the heart of the game should be: being able to let the player explore the world, making the game accessible to all, or producing achievable goals and challenges, Tomb Raider provides options for whatever type of gamer you are. Of course, the iconic Lara Croft also played a major part in bringing new players to the game, and chairwoman Stella Wisdom spoke of her own love of the early Lara, pixelated hair and all.
Amuzo’s Adrian Smith talking about Tomb Raider
The winner of The Unicorn Student Prize was Canadian Natasha Nunn. Her piece Mary Rose is a thrilling ghost story about her children’s great grandmother. Speaking on video, Nunn thanked Unicorn Training boss Peter Phillips, and talked about how experimenting with genre and technology is helping new beauty to emerge in digital storytelling.
The Dot Award, also sponsored by if:book UK, is awared to the most promsing idea for a narrative that uses new media technology in an interesting and innovative way. The winner will develop the piece with the £500 prize-money, and report back at next year’s awards event. This year’s winner was Lou Sarabadzic whose piece called ‘Nerd’ is about reader response criticism and how readers are the ones who make a piece of writing truly exist.
Lou Sarabadzic speaking to if:book director Chris Meade
The Gorkana/Cision International Journalism Award was presented by Bournemouth University’s Brad Gyori, on behalf of sponsors Gorkana/Cision. Gyori spoke about how great journalism and innovation in terms of new media can be used to tap into common and shared humanity. The 2017 winner was Lunik IX, created by Polish journalist Magdalena Chodownik. It shows the destruction and poverty in the Lunik IX estate in Romania, and is a media rich collation of videos and photos taken and edited on a mobile phone. The web-based piece is structured to mirror the tower blocks the residents live in, giving a horizontal and vertical navigation around the narrative. Chodownik Skyped in to accept the award, saying that bringing people into the digital online space changes the perspective of the audience: ‘let them feel like they’re in this place.’
Brad Gyori introducing the Gorkana/Cision Journalism Award winner
Organiser Jim Pope said all the shortlisted pieces ‘were of a particularly high standard and there were several other excellent works that could have been shortlisted. Each year we see brilliant work from familiar and previously unknown writers and artists from all over the world.’
if:book award winner James Attlee, with (l to r) Chris Meade, judge Justine Solomons, Jim Pope, judge Andy Campbell, judge Stella Wisdom, if:book award winner Emma Whittaker
Words by Jim Pope and Pictures by Jon Beale of Bournemouth University
Byte the Book's Justine Solomons was invited to be a judge on the if: book Award for New Media Writing last month, here's their report from the event at Bournemouth University with links through to the winners work.
The winner of the 8th annual if:book award for New Media Writing , was The Cartographer’s Confession. Written by UK writer James Attlee, it is an immersive story based in London, where ‘players’ interact with the app on location, to discover the long-hidden secrets of ‘The Cartographer’. Containing visual- and sound-scapes to further immerse the audience, as well as having an original musical soundtrack, this is a ‘mixed reality’ experience. Accepting his award from if:book director Chris Meade, Attlee confessed that this blending of sound, video and story is something he had wanted to do previously alongside his print-based works, but wasn’t able to make happen until collaborating with digital producer Emma Whittaker, who was also present to accept the award. Atlee also told the full-house audience that his ‘unposessive-ness’ around his text was an important factor in being able to twist and change the story in order to be able to make it viable with this locative media format, as originally the entire narrative would have taken 8 hours to complete!
NMWP organiser Jim Pope
Kicking off the evening, the year’s attendees were lucky to have the opportunity to listen to Adrian Smith, Amuzo director and one of the creators of the original Tomb Raider games. Smith talked about his experience with interactive narratives whilst creating Tomb Raider in 1996. Using the New Media Writing Prize’s key elements - Innovation, Interactivity and Immersion - as a starting point for his presentation, Smith gave a rivetting talk about the creation of the phenomenal gaming franchise. The most important element of Tomb Raider’s success was what the heart of the game should be: being able to let the player explore the world, making the game accessible to all, or producing achievable goals and challenges, Tomb Raider provides options for whatever type of gamer you are. Of course, the iconic Lara Croft also played a major part in bringing new players to the game, and chairwoman Stella Wisdom spoke of her own love of the early Lara, pixelated hair and all.
Amuzo’s Adrian Smith talking about Tomb Raider
The winner of The Unicorn Student Prize was Canadian Natasha Nunn. Her piece Mary Rose is a thrilling ghost story about her children’s great grandmother. Speaking on video, Nunn thanked Unicorn Training boss Peter Phillips, and talked about how experimenting with genre and technology is helping new beauty to emerge in digital storytelling.
The Dot Award, also sponsored by if:book UK, is awared to the most promsing idea for a narrative that uses new media technology in an interesting and innovative way. The winner will develop the piece with the £500 prize-money, and report back at next year’s awards event. This year’s winner was Lou Sarabadzic whose piece called ‘Nerd’ is about reader response criticism and how readers are the ones who make a piece of writing truly exist.
Lou Sarabadzic speaking to if:book director Chris Meade
The Gorkana/Cision International Journalism Award was presented by Bournemouth University’s Brad Gyori, on behalf of sponsors Gorkana/Cision. Gyori spoke about how great journalism and innovation in terms of new media can be used to tap into common and shared humanity. The 2017 winner was Lunik IX, created by Polish journalist Magdalena Chodownik. It shows the destruction and poverty in the Lunik IX estate in Romania, and is a media rich collation of videos and photos taken and edited on a mobile phone. The web-based piece is structured to mirror the tower blocks the residents live in, giving a horizontal and vertical navigation around the narrative. Chodownik Skyped in to accept the award, saying that bringing people into the digital online space changes the perspective of the audience: ‘let them feel like they’re in this place.’
Brad Gyori introducing the Gorkana/Cision Journalism Award winner
Organiser Jim Pope said all the shortlisted pieces ‘were of a particularly high standard and there were several other excellent works that could have been shortlisted. Each year we see brilliant work from familiar and previously unknown writers and artists from all over the world.’
if:book award winner James Attlee, with (l to r) Chris Meade, judge Justine Solomons, Jim Pope, judge Andy Campbell, judge Stella Wisdom, if:book award winner Emma Whittaker
Words by Jim Pope and Pictures by Jon Beale of Bournemouth University
Words by Chris Russell, photos by Katrina Hopewell
The final Byte event of 2017 was a lively discussion on the topic of independent publishers, and the ways in which they are shaking up the book industry. Emma House of the Publishers Association chaired, and her four-strong panel comprised Nicolas Cheetham (Head of Zeus), Jasmin Kirkbride (Endeavour Press), Aimée Felone (Knights Of) and Sam Jordison (Galley Beggars Press).
Our panel (from left to right): Sam Jordison, Emma House (chair), Nicholas Cheetham,Aimée Felone and Jasmin Kirkbride
Interestingly, Emma’s opening question — “Are independents really shaking up publishing, and if so, what does that mean?” — was met with unanimous agreement from the panel. As indie publishers, they see themselves very much as part of the wider book community, as opposed to being angry renegades pushing a revolutionary agenda. “I’m slightly uncomfortable with the idea of ‘shaking things up’ or being a ‘disruptor’,” confessed Sam, “because it makes me think of Uber”. In any case, argued Jasmin, it tends to be technologies, rather than companies, that truly disrupt the publishing landscape, the most recent examples being the internet and, as a corollary, the invention of the eBook.
Our sponsors from left to right: Dan Conway, Emma House and Stephen Lotinga
What advantages, pondered Emma, do indies have over the major publishing companies? Aimée Felone was perhaps best placed to answer this question, since her company — the widely-hyped children’s publisher Knights Of — is less than a month old, and employs only two people. “We’re more flexible, we’re quicker to respond and we can put a message out much faster,” she explained, a sentiment echoed by Jasmin. “Independents are fast and nimble,” she said, “whereas making a change at a big publisher can sometimes feel like turning an oil tanker”. She added that when a small publisher takes on a project, it’s “personal to everyone at that company; it’s in their bones”. Or, as Sam put it: “Editors at big publishers might only get one passion project a year, but at Galley Beggars, all of our books are passion projects”.
The panel in action
As the event went on, it became very clear that 2017 is a fertile time for indie publishers. But why is that the case? “The current technological environment is very favourable to smaller outfits,” reflected Nicolas. When they set up Quercus, his team had to shell out tens of thousands of pounds on an email server for staff; but when Head of Zeus was launched, just a few years later, the equivalent cost was £3.30 per employee. “And it worked better, too,” he added, wryly. Meanwhile, Jasmin pointed to the current global feeling of instability and insecurity, commenting that “a world where no one knows what’s happening can be a fruitful environment for storytellers”. Similarly, Aimée credited reader dissatisfaction for the emergence of Knights Of, which among other things aims to address the glaring lack of diversity on our bookshelves. “There’s a group of fed-up readers and fed-up writers out there who are sick of the lack of representation, and we’re the answer to that”.
Lots of people and lots of networking
Finally, asked Emma, what lies ahead for independent publishers? “Everything is connected now”, responded Nicolas, foreseeing a bright future for Head of Zeus and its fellow indies. “From our leafy corner of Clerkenwell, we can now reach every single market in the world, and that simply wasn’t the case ten years ago”. Sam agreed, referencing Galley Beggars’ growing subscriber base as evidence of their customer loyalty. “The average literary fiction novel sells 264 copies a year,” he revealed, “but we break that number from the word go, just from our subscribers”.
Lots of networking!
To close the conversation, Aimée laid down the Knights Of gauntlet in the plainest of terms. “We’re giving the next generation the place and space to find books that they love. Hopefully they’ll say about us that we kickstarted something that will eventually become normal”. No mean feat, perhaps, but if the buzz in the room was anything to go by, one that is very much within their reach.
If you enjoyed this report and want to keep up with the latest happenings in publishing as well as network with publishers and authors alike keep yourself posted by visiting our events page here. You can join us from £36 a quarter here
More photos can be found on our Facebook Page
Our friends at HW Fisher & Company have been advising authors and publishers for many years, helping them manage their finances in the most efficient way possible. If you have any questions about tax or your finances HW Fisher is kindly offering Byte the Book members access to their free helpline on 020 7874 7846. If you wish to make use of this service please quote reference ‘BTB’.
For more details about the great work they do please visit their website https://www.hwfisher.co.uk/sectors/authors-journalists/ or follow them on twitter @HWFWriters
Prolifiko is a new digital coach for writing and the founders are inviting BtB subscribers to be first in line to take the product for a test drive and get early free access.
Find out more and join the waiting list here.
Both Byte the Book members, founders Bec Evans and Chris Smith have been building Prolifko for the past three years and have designed it to help writers find the time to write, overcome their writing blocks and barriers and keep super-productive.
An early version of the product was used by author Wyl Menmur to write his debut novel The Many – which then went on to be longlisted for the ManBooker prize 2016.
Menmuir credits Prolifiko for keeping him on track with his writing and providing him with the motivation and structure he needed to keep going to the end.
With careers spent in publishing, UX, writing support and marketing the founders have designed Prolifiko around behaviour change science and psychology. The product uses persuasive design and data-driven crowd learning to keep people moving forward with their projects. It also learns about your writing process and with the help of the crowd, helps you optimize it in a way that works for you and your lifestyle.
Byte the Book subscribers can sign up to the Prolfiko waiting list through this link and Prolfiko will get in touch as soon as they are ready to send you a free copy of the coach.
Also, if you share news about Prolfiko through a special share link you receive when you sign up, you can win some great writing prizes – like professional 121 writing coaching, a manuscript read or a whole new writing productivity bookshelf!
London Book Fair and The Writers Digest have joined forces to create an amazing day for authors on Saturday 11th November and they are offering a discount to our subscribers, just use the code WSBB which gives you £10 off the standard ticket price.
Details on the programme and ticket booking can be found here
Our friends at Ink Academy are running a Memoir Masterclass in November, here are some more details:
Do you have a real-life story to tell, but are worried about sharing too much of your life – as well as that of others? Are you struggling to give a narrative arc to your memoir so that it isn’t just a catalogue of events? Or wondering how much creative license you can bring to true events?
Life-writing – whether memoir or auto-fiction – involves a tension between truth and creativity, between memory and interpretation, intimacy and exposure. In this masterclass Lu Spinney, author of Beyond the High Blue Air, will teach you how to stay true to real-life events and feelings whilst creating a compelling and readable story – and how to navigate the challenging ethical implications of life-writing, as well as the psychological impact of sharing our lives and those of others. She will talk to you about the challenges she faced when writing her own searing account of her son’s life and death – and how she overcame them to finish her memoir and share her story.
Date: 21st November 2017 Time: 6.30-8.30pm Location: LIBRARY, Covent Garden, London Cost: £80
Book now - only ten places available
At the heart of life-writing, there are countless contradictions and tensions: how much to share, what to hold back; how to write from true life, but provide a narrative arc to hold the reader’s interest; how to write honestly, whilst supplementing your story with imagination and unreliable memory; how to write about events that are often private and painful, to share with strangers. How does a writer reconcile these tensions? How can you give substance and structure to your real-life events whilst remaining true to what happened?
Memoir treads the line between fiction and non-fiction, and so can provide the writer with unique difficulties. It is also frequently the offering of a debut writer – it is from having a true-life story to tell that many people are compelled to begin writing.
Whatever your story, this two-hour masterclass will equip you with techniques to balance the fine line between truth and creativity. You will learn writing approaches to help you master the delicate and subtle art of writing from real life. And in addition, the class will provide guidance on how to address the unique obstacles of writing memoir, and how to negotiate the publishing world as a new writer.
The masterclass is small and personal – just ten writers including you – allowing you a genuine opportunity to learn how to write from true life, and discuss with Lu the finer points of creating an engaging, engrossing and unputdownable book.
Course Content:
- The basic principles of writing from true life
- How to give a narrative arc to your real-life events
- Advice on how to open yourself up without giving yourself away
- How to avoid invading others’ privacy whilst telling the whole story
- Writing techniques that you can apply to your own work
- Tips on self-editing to pare back your story to its essential components
- Examples of great memoir – how they shaped real-life events to create a compelling story
- Practical writing exercise
- Final Q&A*
*the class is interactive and there will be many opportunities for discussion throughout
About your tutor:
Lu Spinney is the debut author of Beyond The High Blue Air, a “profoundly moving and grippingly readable book” (The Sunday Times); this “devastating, important memoir” (The Daily Mail) begins with the accident that caused the traumatic brain injury of her eldest son, and follows his journey – and that of the family – from hope of full recovery to the anguish of realising that, although he has been saved from death, he has not been given a meaningful life. A work of “highest literary skill and heroic courage” (John Sutherland, author of Blue: A Memoir), Beyond the High Blue Air has been published in the UK and the US. Lu has written for the Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Independent and The New York Times.
“Lu Spinney has a tragic story to tell. The circumstances are unique. But what she expresses – disbelief, hope, anger, dismay – is universal. And the ethical questions she raises are vitally important. Most important, she writes beautifully." (Blake Morrison, author of And When Did You Last See Your Father).
Places on the course can be booked here.
Words by Chris Russell, photos by Katrina Hopewell
Education and technology came under the spotlight at October’s Byte The Book, in a lively discussion chaired by Alex Hardy of law firm Harbottle & Lewis. The panel comprised Joseph Noble of Oxford University Press, Pamoja’s Darren Hughes and Caroline Wright of BESA (the British Educational Suppliers Association), all sharing ideas on the various ways in which “EdTech” is enhancing and disrupting the publishing industry.
Our panel (from left to right): Alex Hardy (Chair), Darren Hughes, Caroline Wright and Joseph Noble.
Alex began by asking for clarification on what EdTech actually means in the current day and age. Caroline mused that “it’s actually very difficult to define”, pointing out that the term encompasses everything from digital and curricular content to hardware, computer systems and virtual learning environments. “Basically,” she said, “it’s anything technological that furthers learning”, and its influence is growing year on year. By 2020, the global market is estimated to balloon from $68billion (where it stands today) to somewhere in the region of $250billion. Meanwhile, in the UK, we already spend around £60K per state secondary school on EdTech facilities, employing it for at least fifty per cent of the average lesson time.
From left to right: our sponsors Alex Hardy and Sam Purkiss of Harbottle and Lewis chatting to Byte the Book members Sara Schumann and David Sherwood of Bibliotech.
Such a rapidly growing industry presents teachers and schools with innumerable implementation obstacles, and this is where companies such as Darren Hughes’ Pamoja come in. Pamoja promotes learner-centric tools and platforms for the education sector, and its courses are the first of their kind to be approved by the International Baccalaureate examination board. The company offers EdTech solutions to all manner of problems - challenges around teacher supply, for example, or assisting schools with small class sizes (if a school only has, say, five students wishing to study a particular subject, in the past that may have been an insurmountable roadblock, but EdTech offers ways around it). Similarly, Joseph Noble’s work at Oxford University Press is helping to thrust one of the oldest publishers in the world to the very forefront of the EdTech sector. He spoke of an initiative known as “truckside learning”, for instance, that OUP are currently rolling out in Indonesia. Connectivity in rural Indonesia remains relatively poor, but this project brings the education to the children by sending teachers around the country in purpose-built “education trucks”. The benefits of this are wide-ranging, explained Joseph, commenting that “it’s not just the content that’s important, but the human interaction with the teacher”.
We had another full house, listening to our brilliant panel in the Gennaro Room at The Groucho Club.
So, asked Alex, for those interested in pursuing opportunities in the EdTech universe, what are the main challenges? “Finding the balance between simplicity and flexibility is tricky”, said Joseph, “and no one’s quite got it right yet”. Darren pointed out that “teacher advocacy is a challenge”, and Caroline agreed. The majority of teachers, she suggested, still put most of their trust in peer-to-peer recommendations, so figuring out ways in which schools can effectively communicate with one another is key.
In true Byte the Book tradition there was plenty of networking to be had before and after the talk.
Finally, argued Caroline, many EdTech schemes rely heavily on the rigour of their teacher-training. “The products are only as good as the teachers that deliver them”, she concluded. In other words, as is often paradoxically the case with technological advances in the publishing industry, it’s nurturing the human element at the centre that’s the secret to long-term success.
If you enjoyed this report and want to keep up with the latest happenings in publishing as well as network with publishers and authors alike keep yourself posted by visiting our events page here. You can join us from £36 a quarter here
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