We have an amazingly talented community of Writers SA members, many of whom have had their book launches cancelled or delayed during the pandemic. To help get the word out, we’re introducing a monthly spotlight of new and recently-released books from our member community. Congratulations to all of our members […]
Books Articles
A Word on the Indie Publishing Scene
By Alice Grundy When I started in this industry nearly a decade ago most publishers didn’t accept short story collections, submissions were made via post and social media accounts for Australian publishers were still a relatively new phenomenon. Self-publishing was taboo – an embarrassing endeavour – and no one had […]
The Lifted Brow Announces Expansion into Book Publishing
Today, The Lifted Brow announced that they are plunging headfirst in the book publishing game, and that their first foray will be with one of their longtime and favourite contributors, Briohny Doyle. Her book — a debut novel for both her and TLB — will be yours to read in […]
Learning to Read, All Over Again
By Jillian Schedneck Think back to when you first learned to read. What was it like? Back then, you read word by word. You focused on what each word or phrase was communicating. You read closely. Today we are all practiced readers. We have become too familiar with skimming, skipping […]
Adelaide Biographer Wins National Award
An Unsentimental Bloke by Adelaide biographer,Philip Butterss, has won the prestigious 2015 National Biography Award. An Unsentimental Bloke: The life and work of C.J. Dennis has just been announced as the winner of this year’s National Biography Award (Monday 3 august 2015).
When Marketing Your Book is Like Sport
By Vanessa Jones Digital marketing tools work at their most optimum when they are used together and when they all talk to each other. Consider them a community, a family or a team that work together with one end goal in mind. Let’s think of your marketing as a sports […]
Read as Ferociously As You Can…
We were joined by Laura Kroetsch, Director, Adelaide Writers’ Week today as she regaled us with her hot tips of – as writers – who we should pay particular attention to during this year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week. We were also fortunate enough to have Laura impart some solid wisdom about […]
Writing an eSeries
by Raelke Grimmer Serialised fiction was once the way people read fiction, published in instalments in newspapers or magazines. Dickens’ work first appeared in serialised form, with fans anticipating each new instalment of his work. Over the years, serialisation has given way to completed novels, but with the advent of […]
You Can’t Judge a Book By its Cover… or Can You?
By Tracy Marsh There is an old saying that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Publishers think differently: You might not judge a book by its cover, but you sure sell a book by its cover. And yes 75% of readers use the cover as a deciding factor […]
The Urge to Tell
By Steve Evans We all form opinions, and more or less continuously. You finish reading a book and ask yourself, would I recommend it, and why? Perhaps you began to realise early on in which direction such thoughts were heading. On the other hand, maybe you got part way through […]
In Answer to Your Email
By Katrina Germein JOIN KATRINA FOR HER EXAMINING EXCELLENT PICTURE BOOKS WORKSHOP Dear Katrina, I want to write a picture book but I want to do it my own way. I’ve read that picture books should have repetition and I think repetition is boring. I’ve read that publishers […]
The Tricky Business of Book Reviewing
Book reviewing is a tricky business. As Kerryn Goldsworthy’s recent extended essay in Australian Book Review shows, knowing what a review’s purpose is (or should be), who it serves (or should serve), what its value is (or should be), are complicated and contested questions. I approach book reviewing with several […]
Who Are You and What Do You Write?
By Victoria Purman Part of being a writer is talking about yourself and your writing. I know, I know, that idea scares the proverbial out of some people. If you write purely for yourself, to experience the joys and heartbreaks and deliciousness of assembling words on the page just because […]
The Face to Face Pitch
SAWC member, Diane Hester, was published in March this year by Random House. How did she get published? She pitched her story face to face to a publisher at a conference and was invited to submit her manuscript, which was then accepted for publication. ‘This approach seems to be growing […]
Why Write Picture Books?
By Katrina Germein Join Katrina for her Perfecting Your Picture Book Story workshop. One very good reason not to write a picture book: you’re hoping to retire on the royalties. Let’s talk actual figures. The standard royalty paid to a picture book author in Australia is 5% of the full […]