Authors from the 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlist share their tips: Tips for getting started writing each day: Ross Coulthart, Charles Bean (Harper Collins Publishers, shortlisted for the Australian History award): Before you go to bed each night, read through the next bit of writing that has you stumped. I find my subconscious works […]

Where does inspiration come from? A selection of authors shortlisted in the 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards share where they get their inspiration from. Rebecca Lim, The Astrologer’s Daughter (Text Publishing, shortlisted for the Young Adult Fiction prize): Inspiration is everywhere. I’m a champion eavesdropper. I’m an inveterate newspaper skimmer and collector of weird stories and new words. […]

by Jon Gresham From our Members Around the World series Singapore has a reputation for being clean and a little too contrived. The brochures emphasise the city state’s hyper efficiency, business friendliness, shiny buildings, cuisine and vast shopping opportunities. These clichéd condescensions obscure the far more eclectic stories swirling around this small red dot. Singapore’s […]

When you approach journalists, television and radio producers, bloggers, reviewers and basically anyone that may help promote your book and your writing, you need to have an already prepared promotional kit at the ready to give to them. As the world of media is super fast paced, you need to be able to respond to […]

Blogs are a great source of writing advice and industry insight; they’re up there with reading a book or doing a workshop. They are varied and can respond quickly to news or changes in writing and publishing. Here are some stellar blogs that have won awards or caught the eye of readers across the web. […]

By Claire Scobie You can have your entire book, research drafts and redrafts all in ONE project, making it simpler when working with lots of text. All the titles of your documents are visible at any one time (although not open). So much better than clunky ol’ Microsoft Word where you have to shuffle back […]

Rebecca Douglas is the SA Writers Centre’s current Digital Writer In Residence. She’s also an awardwinning Adelaide based writer, having written for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Big Issue, and Women’s Agenda, among others. Rebecca had a chat with us about her latest project. Could you briefly explain the project you’ll be working on at the SA Writer’s Centre? […]

Sean’s Shorts – Sean Williams gives us some short, yet insightful, answers to a short Q&A about writing and reading. Sean will be a guest at our upcoming Children’s and YA Creators Festival, which is a festival not to be missed! Favourite writing tip: Write what you love: dive right in and don’t stop until […]

By Riana Kinlough Have you finished a short story or poem and are ready to send it out into the world? The process of submitting to a magazine or journal can seem long and mystifying. So here are some quick tips to get you started. After you finish writing, editing and polishing, the very first […]

By Sarah Gates Wattpad.com is a part book distributor, part social platform with over forty million users. Anyone can upload a story or become a reader, accessing over 100 million stories on their phone, tablet or computer. Stories are serialised and updated chapter-by-chapter. It’s used by writers of all levels, from young writers trying their […]

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT An Australian first study of Australian authors highlights the dramatic and profound impact that technology is having on authors and the publishing industry. Technology has opened up significant opportunities for self-publishing with the study showing that 84 per cent of fiction authors are changing the way their work is published or distributed. Technology […]

DON’T FORGET TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS FOR THE CHILDREN’S AND YA CREATORS FESTIVAL. ALAA Agents share their top tips for writing children’s books. Brian Cook, The Authors’ Agent: Read Australian books as widely as possible.  You are most likely to get a publishing opportunity in your home market first so read, read and read some […]

Clare Forster from Curtis Brown Australia brings us an inspiring summer reading list of some of her favourite works of life writing as we edge towards the warmer months… Some of Australia’s most remarkable and inspiring stories stem from true life. Told in voices plain, ornate, and everything in between, first-person accounts serve many purposes […]

By David Chapple   1. You don’t have to write what you know but you do have to write what you care about. Stories can have technical frailties but honest, brave, challenging content are always worth reading. 2. Write what you have to write. I think short stories should burst out of you. They don’t […]

As well as the Melbourne Writers’ Festival this past weekend, the First Nations Australia Writing Network’s Annual Conference was held at the Wheeler Centre in the heart of Melbourne. Aboriginal writers from all over the country came together, to collaborate and celebrate ideas for future projects both as a collective and as individual artists with […]