Karen Comer

Interview – Michael Hanrahan on self-publishing

December 4, 2015 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

Have you ever thought about writing a non-fiction book about your area of expertise? Perhaps you have built up knowledge in your career? Perhaps you are an expert in teaching kids to play soccer, after coaching for years on weekends? Maybe you run seminars for colleagues on health issues or people management or interior design? Maybe you already have notes and notes and notes on how to run a not-for-profit organisation or how to encourage children to eat their greens?

Let me introduce you to Michael Hanrahan, who is the director of Michael Hanrahan Publishing. I met Michael when we both worked for John Wiley and Sons – Michael was the managing editor for Wrightbooks. Now Michael helps many, many authors publish their own books, and takes them through the process from initial idea to tangible product. He is knowledgeable, scrupulously detailed and a great communicator. His own book, Stand out, outlines the ‘7 steps to self-publishing a book that will build your profile, promote your business and make you stand out from the crowd’. Michael has kindly answered my questions about self-publishing. If you know someone who has always wanted to write a non-fiction book, please pass on Michael’s details!

KC: What sort of books do you publish?

MH: We work predominantly with authors who are self-publishing a book to help promote themselves and their business. We’ve helped these authors publish books on investment, business management, real estate, share trading, health and fitness, marketing – all sorts of subjects.

KC: What is a typical day for you?

MH: My primary role is project management. I spend a lot of time on the phone to authors, editors, printers and designers. It’s my job to coordinate between everybody and keep the project on track. I check everything that comes in, and then send it where it needs to go. So, when a manuscript comes in from an author, I check it and then send it to the editor. When a cover comes in from a designer, I check it and send it to the author. I also do some editing and layout and a little bit of everything else when needed.

KC: Are your authors people who have always dreamt of writing a book?

MH: Some of them are and some not. For some it’s mostly a business decision. For others it’s a business decision but also something they have wanted to do for years.

KC: What are your three top tips for people who would like to self-publish their book?

MH:

Always use experienced people to help you with your book. Every month or two we receive a call from an author whose book has run aground and they need help. It’s almost always because they used inexperienced people. Your web person might do great websites, but that doesn’t mean she can design a good book cover. The person who edits your school newsletter does not automatically know how to edit a book. These people always have good intentions but they quickly get in over their heads.
Produce a high-quality book. A few years ago, calling a book ‘self-published’ implied that it was poorly produced. That’s not the case these days. There are all sorts of people who can help you produce a top-quality book that will be just as good as a book published by Penguin. Yes, it will cost a little more, but you won’t regret it when you hold your printed book in your hand.
Plan your project. Publishing a book is complicated, so make sure you plan the project start to finish.

KC: In your book, you discuss the seven steps to self-publishing. Can you tell us briefly about these seven steps?

MH: Step 1: planning

DIY self-publishing

If you’re going to manage your publishing project yourself, you’ll usually require:

an editor
a proofreader
a designer: for your cover and your interior layout
a printer: obviously!
a bookshop and ebook distributor
an ebook converter (or your designer might be able to help with this).

Self-publishing companies

The other option, rather than finding the members of your self-publishing team yourself, is using a self-publishing company to help you. This means that, rather than having to locate and manage five or six people to help on your book, you’ll have (usually) just one person coordinating the whole project for you. You’ll still be involved in all the decisions, but the job of managing all of these service providers will be taken off your hands.

At the planning stage you’ll also need to consider:

the schedule for your book
the budget for your book.

Step 2: Editing

It’s a good idea to talk to at least two or three editors or self-publishing providers about your book before selecting somebody, and even meet with them if you can.

A good editor will be very involved with both you and your book, and will be just as enthusiastic about it as you are. Far from just ‘correcting’ your work, an editor will improve it in many ways small and large, while working with you to ensure you are producing the book that you want. Your editor will fix up spelling mistakes, inconsistencies, incorrect grammar and other errors, but a good editor will do much more than this. A good editor will:

suggest additions where more information is required
suggest deletions where you’ve included something unnecessary or repeated something
assist you with any possible copyright concerns
discuss with you changes that will improve your writing.

Step 3: Design

Designers have websites with portfolios on them, so these are a great place to start looking for a designer if you’re handling the publishing process yourself. Look around a number of sites and browse through a number of portfolios. Once you’ve found, say, three portfolios you like, get in touch with the designers and have a chat. Another way to find a good designer is to find a book cover you like – the name of the designer will be inside the book.

If you’re using a self-publishing company to help you with your book, cover design will usually be part of the package.

Step 4: Proofreading and indexing

Proofreading is the final quality-control step in the production of your book. One or two minor errors in your book aren’t the end of the world, but if you don’t have it proofread there will probably be more than that. Even the best editors won’t pick up every single problem and error in your book, so proofreading is important. And by the end of the editing process, you’re the last person who will find any mistakes. You may have spent three to six months writing it, and another month or two – or three – on the editing, layout and cover. By this point you (and your editor) will be so close to your book that some of the pages could be upside down and you might not notice. You need fresh eyes.

An index is a useful tool to help readers find what they want in your book. An index goes at the very back of your book, and lists all the major topics in your book in considerable detail. Not all books include an index. You can discuss with your editor whether you think your book needs one.

Step 5: Printing

Ask printers or self-publishing companies you are considering to send you a sample copy of a book they have recently printed – make sure it’s a book, not a brochure, poster or anything else. Any quality company will do this without hesitation. If the company is reluctant to do so, they’ve made your decision easy: don’t use them.

If you’re using a self-publishing company, you won’t be as involved in the details of the print management.

Step 6: The ebook

The most common ebook format is EPUB, and you’ll also need a MOBI file for Amazon. ‘EPUB’ – not surprisingly – stands for ‘electronic publication’. Most ebook conversion services will supply you with an EPUB file and a MOBI file as part of their standard service.

If you’re going to do it yourself, you can set up accounts on each individual ebook store you wish to sell on and upload your files yourself. Setting up the accounts can be a bit fiddly, but isn’t difficult. You provide the information you’d expect, such as price, an author bio and ISBN, and then upload your files.

Keep in mind one major drawback of doing it all yourself is that for some US-based sites you will need a US tax ID to receive your payments.

The other DIY option is to use what’s known as an ‘ebook aggregator’. This is where you upload to just one site and they upload your book to a large range of ebook stores – for a fee, of course.

If you are using a self-publishing company, the ebook conversion and upload will most likely be included in your package.

Step 7: Distribution

You may consider trying to get your book into bookstores. This can be tough as a self-published author. Understandably, bookshops are often reluctant to deal with individual self-publishers who have only published one book and are managing the distribution themselves.

There are two methods of distribution: DIY and using a distributor. The DIY route involves contacting bookshops yourself (or advertising to them) and asking them to stock your book, then supplying the books ordered, invoicing for them and taking any returns.

A number of excellent book distributors are available in Australia, both small and large, and this may be the better option. The distributor will take the whole thing off your hands, dealing with bookshops, invoicing and sending out books. The cost of using a distributor is usually around 60 to 70 per cent of the RRP, but most of this actually goes to the bookshop.

Some self-publishing providers offer bookshop distribution, some don’t. If you use one that doesn’t, this is something you will have to arrange yourself.

KC: How long is the process of self-publishing from beginning to end?

MH: It usually takes about three months for a book of about 40,000 words. It’s about a month for editing, a month for layout, a few weeks for proofreading and wrapping up, and then a couple of weeks for printing.

KC: Do any of your authors ever regret the decision to self-publish their book?

MH: Never. Sometimes half-way through it weighs them down a bit, because even with a company like us helping them there’s still a lot of effort involved. But, when the book is printed and they have been able to produce it exactly as they wanted, they are always happy with their choice.

Michael, thank you so much for your knowledge. I know December is probably not the time to be thinking of a new project – but January certainly is!

November writing

December 1, 2015 by Karen Comer 18 Comments

This month, my one and only writing goal was to start and finish the second novel in my children’s series. I signed up for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, where participants are encouraged to write 50,000 words of a novel. And I am happy to report I did it! 55,638 words in November!

I am tired and my house looks like a bomb has hit it – you see, I am so out of words that I am resorting to cliches! But despite a messy home and a month with more takeaway dinners than usual, I now have a messy first draft that I can work with in February after the kids go back to school. There’s no point in touching the thing now – it has plot holes so large you could build a freeway through them. There are minor characters who have three names each because I decided during chapter 23 not to go back to chapter 14 to find out their name. The ending definitely needs work and will probably change. I expect I will delete at least a third of my first draft, and add another two thirds in. I have written myself some notes so I know where to start in February.

But, I now know I am capable of writing almost 2,000 words in an hour. If you write quickly enough, you can’t hear the inner critic, telling you your work isn’t good enough. And I’ve learnt that I can live with the uncertainty of knowing what my characters are going to do next. And it’s ok to type in the password on my laptop and not know what I are going to write until a minute later. One of the minor characters took off and demanded a bigger space on the page, and I’m glad she did. I loved the forward momentum of a month’s deadline – there’s no time to go back, the only way is forward. Next time I would try and plan out the whole book more – I did try to do that in September and October and it wasn’t enough time to do it properly. And I’m glad I didn’t do much research before I started writing – otherwise the plot would have been influenced by facts rather than my imagination. Never let truth get in the way of a good story.

The accountability and support of my NaNo facebook group was extraordinarily helpful. Knowing that there were other writers out there, staying up late, getting up early, writing around work and family commitments, made the process seem less lonely. Showing up day after day to write a story that might not be publishable is not an easy thing to do. Knowing that there were others out there facing the same demons and inner critics was a huge boost.

Thank you so much to all my friends and family who have supported me this month, with words of encouragement, asking me how my writing is going, lovely comments on Facebook and looking after my kids to give me extra writing time. I could not have made it without you! I really appreciate your support with my writing and my blog.

This month, I also applied for a mentorship program and worked on an editing project, a non-fiction marketing book.

December will be a non-writing month. I need to finish up my editing job – and buy a few Christmas presents. And birthday presents – there are five family members with birthdays in December. Writing is cyclical – after such an intense month, I need some time to plan how I’m going to finalise my first book, and then redraft this second book.

I will be posting Christmas book lists over the next few weeks – for adults and kids. Let me know if there’s a particular age group or area you’d like me to consider.

Sad, the dog – a video book review

November 27, 2015 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

The Little Bookroom in Carlton is one of those wonderful places that I could stay in all day. It’s cosy and inviting, and filled with children’s books. In the last school holidays, I took Mr 6 there for a story and drawing session with Tull Suwannakit. Tull is the illustrator of Sad, the Dog, written by Sandy Fussell.

Tull read us Sad’s story, and then taught us all – kids and adults – how to draw dogs. So much fun! Some of my dogs looked a little wonky but Mr 6 was very proud of his efforts.

Sad the dog is the story of a neglected dog, who eventually is given a new name because – you guessed it – he is not so sad at the end of the book.

I can’t imagine a small kid who wouldn’t like this story – a gorgeous dog, a lovely and satisfying story, beautiful watercolour illustrations.

Some students from RMIT filmed a short video about Tull. Thank you to Binny Park from RMIT for allowing me to share it. For those of you who know our family, you can find a tiny glimpse of Mr 6 and me in the film. Tull’s words about art offering the ‘freedom to express, to explore’ resonated strongly with me.

You can read a fabulous interview with Sandy Fussell on Nicole Melanson’s blog, Word Mothers.

The fourteenth summer of Angus Jack – book review

November 24, 2015 by Karen Comer Leave a Comment

The fourteenth summer of Angus Jack
Jen Storer
2015
Harper Collins Children’s Books

The story: Angus Jack, fourteen, and his younger sister, Martha, ten, have recently moved to Australia with their father, constantly on the move since their mother’s death a few years ago. It’s summer, school hasn’t started yet, and Angus and Martha don’t know anyone. Their professor father is away all day at work, leaving them to their own devices, which includes making friends with the donut lady, who unsurprisingly sells donuts from her caravan on the beach and observing Reafen, the strange old lady next door who has a shop filled with curiosities. Their holidays are suddenly filled with nosy strangers, goblins from other worlds and a mysterious talisman. It’s hard to know who to trust. They need to work together. Lives are in danger.

The highlights: What I loved about this fantasy story – the highlight for many fantasy books for me – is that Angus and Martha are so real. They argue like any pair of siblings, they annoy each other and then stand up for each other. And because they are so realistic, the background story of Norse mythology and magic becomes believable. Jen Storer gives us this fabulously real set of siblings, arguing at home, alternatively bored and then intrigued, and then once we start to care about them, leads us into the make-believe world of goblin girls and magic boats and frightening mirrors.

It is a book for boys and girls – despite Angus having the title, Martha is the other main character. I love how Angus grows up, being aware of his freckly face and reddish hair, knowing where his skills lie – in drawing – and coming to a greater understanding of his background and strengths.

‘I thought I was imagining it all,’ he said. ‘I thought my imagination was dangerous … that if I paid it too much attention, it would spin out of control and send me mad. It scared me. I hated it.’

And Martha, who is such a feisty, lovable, vulnerable character, comes to peace a little bit more with her mother’s death, and forgives her father for abandoning them and leaving them by themselves.

Lucinda Gifford, the illustrator, has created some wonderful single page pictures and some evocative sketches for the end of each chapter.

For me, it is always the characters who come first – whether I’m reading or writing. I loved Angus and Martha so much because they are realistic kids. But the story with hints of Norse mythology and magic is fast paced and a page turner. Characters to care about and a story that enthralls – this is such a wonderful combination. A good Christmas read for nine to twelve year-olds!

The NaNoWriMo writerly haze

November 20, 2015 by Karen Comer 2 Comments

I’m two thirds of the way into NaNoWriMo, the international program where you sign up to write 50,000 words of your novel. First time, and it’s intense. I’m sitting at 34,159 words, to be precise. Eleven days left to write 15,841 words. The numbers are very important, both the one going up and the one going down.

I like writing this way – I like knowing that I only have a month to write it and I like fully immersing myself in it. I’ve written two other books this way, in a couple of months. I’d rather do a little bit of thinking and planning, and then dive in, without going back to think things through. There’s no editing, no rewriting, no going back – just typing the next word, and the next sentence and the next paragraph.

What I don’t like is the uncertainty. It’s like living in a fog for a month, not being able to see clearly, not knowing where you’re going. One of my favourite writing quotes is from E. L. Doctorow:

‘Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’

There are times when I type my password into my laptop and open up my file and think, I have no idea what to write next. So I sit for a minute, and try to find one sliver of the next part of the story. I try to find one fragment of a conversation or a feeling from my protagonist. It’s the first 400 or 500 words every day that are the hardest, until I get into the flow.

If you write 1,667 words a day, seven days a week during November, you will reach your target of 50,000 words at the end of the month. I started off with that target, but when I realised I could reach it, and would then stop, I decided to increase it to 1800. So now I’m about a day or two ahead of where I need to be, and that is a very reassuring feeling.

This week, I’ve sat in my favourite local cafe every day, ordered a chai latte from the lovely baristas and told myself I can’t leave until I write the 1800 words. And I also reminded myself of the editing job with the looming deadline waiting on my desktop at home. I have surprised myself that I can write 1800 words in an hour – I thought I was capable of about 600 words per half hour.

I’ve joined a NaNo Facebook group with writers Allison Tait and Allison Rushby. There’s almost a hundred of us, and it’s so interesting to see how everyone writes. There are excellent links, stimulating conversations and lots of encouragement. It is so incredibly motivating to know that there are others out there, writing when they don’t feel like it, fitting writing in around work and family, getting up early to write, staying up late to finish. And we’re all cheering each other on.

And now I’m starting to feel on solid ground, I know all the plotlines are starting to merge – although some of them are still pretty loose! I know I’m working up to the climax of the novel, I know the pace is going to pick up and I know I have only eleven more days of living in this writerly haze with dimming headlights.

I’ve discovered that I am a don’t-break-the-chain sort of person. In other words, I have written at least 1,667 words every day and I am terrified that if I miss a day, I will find it too hard to pick up again. Others in the group have written 3,000 words on one day, then 400 words the next, skipped two days, and then written 2,000. I need the non-negotiable type of habit to keep writing.

And the writing is full of holes, and I know I’ve named the same character two different names and not a lot happened in the second third of the book and I haven’t described the setting very well and my characters seem to be talking more than doing and there are inconsistencies everywhere you look. But I know that I can fix some of those things up in the next few drafts. Once you have 50,000 words, you can edit 50,000 words and make it better. But if you don’t have those words, you can’t edit a blank page.

So for the next eleven days, I’ll be inching my way one word at a time, headlights on, closer to the finish line of 50,000 words.

Podcast listening

November 17, 2015 by Karen Comer 10 Comments

As well as all the words I’m writing and reading, I’m also enjoying listening to words as well. I don’t think I could possibly iron a school shirt without listening to something! Sometimes ironing can feel like a guilty pleasure because I close the door in my tiny laundry and listen to a podcast. I am inevitably interrupted by someone wanting to know what we’re having for dinner and someone wanting to know where their gel pens are and someone wanting to know if they can have a friend over to play. But usually I can listen to something creative and inspiring while the shirts are moved from the to-be-ironed hook behind the laundry door to the have-been-ironed door knobs on the laundry cupboards. It’s all about the process!

This is what I’ve been listening to:

The Australian Writer’s Centre podcast So you want to be a writer with Valerie Khoo and Allison Tait – all the latest in blogs and writing tips and writing books, for writers and readers of fiction and non-fiction. It’s a great balance for freelance writers and fiction writers, and I always come away with something useful. The author interviews are wonderful – if you’re a reader, you’ll be introduced to some great books and if you’re a writer, you’ll learn a few things about the writing habits and tips from various writers. Valerie and Allison are old friends and I almost feel as if I am eavesdropping on their conversation.
Your creative life with Vanessa Carnevale – this is a new podcast, and one that I am relishing. Vanessa has an amazing array of writers, agents and editors to interview and the subject matter is meaty and deep. Sometimes I want to put my hand up in the air and say, ‘Me, too, that’s how I feel!’
The beautiful writers podcast with Danielle Laporte and Linda Siversten – Danielle and Linda are American writers, who are passionate about the publishing industry and creativity. They start each podcast with a blessing, and interrupt the more serious questions with a rapid-fire volley of multiple choice questions. Beautiful, in-depth conversations.
Magic lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert – if you are a Liz fan, these podcasts are a must-listen. She chats to a creative person who is ‘stuck’ in some way and offers her suggestions. Then in the next podcast, she calls on one of her friends – we’re talking Cheryl Strayed or Brene Brown here – and discusses the creative person’s dilemma with them. The creative types range from writers, photographers, artists and so on.
Become a problogger with Darren Rowse – Darren has a lovely, melodious voice that is so easy to listen to, and makes his wise words seem even wiser. He has such great advice which comes from years of blogging. I intend to go back through his podcasts and take notes, rather than simply listening in the car – there is a wealth of information there for bloggers.
TED talks – TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. There is a huge array of topics, and the speakers are entertaining and perceptive. Whether you want to learn about vulnerability from Brene Brown, writing from Elizabeth Gilbert or happiness from Shawn Achor, you will find something to move, entertain or educate you.

I’m interested to know if you listen to podcasts, and which ones are your favourites. And whether you’re ironing or driving while you’re listening. Let me know in the comments!

Ranger’s apprentice – book review

November 13, 2015 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

Ranger’s apprentice – book 1
The ruins of Gorlan
John Flanagan
Random House Australia
2004

I am in so much trouble now. I have just read the first book in the Ranger’s apprentice series, which Mr 11 has been telling me to read for over a year. He has read all twelve books in the series, and so has my husband. And I knew that if I started, I would want to keep going until I’d read the whole series. And to me, that’s the perfect sort of summer holiday reading – to binge-read a whole series. Not so ideal in the month before Christmas, with work deadlines and lots of social events. I pulled it from the stack on my bedside table – where it had been sitting there for months – and decided that I would be strong enough to read just one book. Well, I’ve already started the second …

The story: Will is a ward of the castle, brought into the castle as a lonely baby with no parents. At fourteen, he and the other four wards, are chosen by various craftmasters to learn their crafts – battleschool, cooking, diplomacy, scribework. But none of the craftmasters are interested in Will. Will had hoped for a chance at battleschool, despite the fact that he was small. He is eventually chosen to be a ranger’s apprentice, which fills Will with dread because Halt, the Ranger for the fiefdom, is grim and is said to be a soccerer. Will learns the craft of the Rangers – horse-riding, archery, camouflage, tracking animals and enemies, gathering intelligence. These skills are needed, as Castle Redmont and the Kingdom of Araluen are about to enter a war with Morgarath, the evil lord who destroyed part of the kingdom fifteen years ago.

The highlights: This is such a fabulous series for 9-12 year-old boys – even though I’ve just started on the second book, I can make this claim! Mr 11 read the first three books from the library at age ten. Then we bought him the complete set for his 11th birthday, and he has read the entire series twice. There are fabulous male role models, who can be admired for their battle skills but also their fine leadership skills. (I am waiting to see how the two girls in the book develop over the series – they make a pretty sketchy appearance in the first book. Apparently, there’s a strong female character coming up in later books, which I’m just starting to see in the second book now.) There are fight scenes with frightening beasts and fight scenes with bullies. There are thoughtful scenes of dialogue between Will and Halt, where Will learns a little more about himself and his family. It’s a fast-paced adventure story, with a timeless, classic feel of a quest and the themes of courage and loyalty.

The website has screensavers and a fabulously dramatic book trailor for the whole series, plus descriptions of the characters.

Stories within stories

November 10, 2015 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

I read two books this week which had stories within stories, and saw a musical on Saturday night which had a story within a story. I love it – stories are fabulous enough but a story within a story is pure magic! Let me explain.

Miss 9 put Angelica Bank’s Finding Serendipity on my bedside table with a note saying, ‘Mum, you really should read this – it is so good.’ It is so good because it is about a writer called Serendipity and her daughter Tuesday. When Serendipity goes missing from her writing room, Tuesday decides she needs to be as brave as Vivienne Small, the heroine in her mother’s children’s book series. So she ends up having an adventure within the pages of her mother’s books and meets her mother’s character, Vivienne Small, confronts Vivienne’s antagonist and writes her own story. Real life taking place inside the pages of a book. As with all fantasy books, this works because the characters are strong and true and believable – so I was more than happy to follow Tuesday in her magic adventures. I loved the mother-daughter relationship – Serendipity is a famous writer, a magical adventurer herself and also a typical worrying mother. But she does eventually trust that Tuesday can look after herself. I am looking forward to reading the second book, A week without Tuesday, and the third book is coming out next year. Angelica Banks is the pen name of Tasmanian writers Danielle Wood and Heather Rose. I attended two writing workshops with Danielle a couple of months ago. Warning – if Miss 9 is invited to any birthday parties for nine or ten-year-old girls over the next few months, this book will be the birthday present!

Then I read The Women’s Pages by Debra Adelaide, another mother-daughter story, which alternates chapters between Dove, who has recently buried her adoptive mother and is feeling lost, with an abandoned job and no family now. The alternative chapters are about the story Dove tentatively starts to write, with no experience of writing. Dove writes the story of Ellis, a young woman living in the 1960s, who feels trapped in the conventional life of being a wife and mother. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will say that Wuthering Heights also features in this book as well, so that’s another story within the main story. This story reminded me again of how limited the choices were for women in the 60s. This book is a quiet one – there’s lots of thinking and reflection and small moments. It would be a fabulous read for a bookclub because the rich themes of mothers and daughters and babies and adoption and Emily Bronte and family secrets and women’s choices offer so much to think about.

Then on Saturday night I saw the musical City of Angels, about a writer living in Los Angeles in the 1940s, adapting his book for a Hollywood screenplay. Half of the play focused on the ‘real’ world of the writer – the actors wore coloured clothes. The other half of the play showed the characters from the screenplay – dressed in black and white. To add to the complexity, some of the characters from the ‘reel’ screenplay were based on the characters in the ‘real’ life of the writer. And then to add to that complexity, the actors played dual roles, often the ‘real’ life person and then the ‘reel’ character from the screenplay. The orchestra was fabulous, the jazz singing soul-stirring, the script witty and the plot so very clever. One of my favourite moments was when the writer, typing away at his typewriter in an argyle patterned yellow and brown vest with matching socks, was forced to write some really terrible lines, as directed by the film producer. The main ‘reel’ character, a fabulous womanising detective delivered the terrible line, and then turned to look at the writer as if to say, ‘Mate, you’re kidding me?’ This happened just before intermission, and in the second half, the ‘real’ writer mixed with the ‘reel’ characters.

Unfortunately, the show only went for four nights and it’s finished now, so I can’t recommend that you go and see it!

Stories within stories, characters living lives as real and authentic as their creator – this has been my theme for the week and I am trying to apply it to my own life, to make the kid characters in my book seem as real as the three kids in my home.

Bec Mackey, Brightside Creatives – interview

November 6, 2015 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

If you are a creative person interested in applying for grants or mentorship programs, or want to set up a crowd-funding campaign or you know a friend who might be interested in this, you really need to meet the talented Bec Mackey from Brightside Creatives. Bec and I connected through Big Hearted Business at a conference last year, and it is my pleasure today to interview her.

KC: As one of those talented multi-passionate creatives we all admire, can you tell us, what is it – exactly – that you do?

BM: The million-dollar question! I still don’t have a short answer to this, and in a lot of ways I resist the expectation that is put on all of us to define our professional role (and therefore ourselves) very simply. A blog post I wrote about what to do when you’re a multi-passionate person was republished on ArtsHub recently and it had an unexpectedly big response on social media. I think it shows how many people struggle with the fact that they do, in fact, want to do many things!

To attempt to answer your question succinctly, I am a writer, educator and coach. My background is in the ‘business’ of media and the arts. I worked as a producer, then in management, administration and financing at various major organisations such as ABC and Screen Australia (the federal funding body for screen). That led me to one of the things I do now, which is assisting artists and creatives with financing their project-based work. That either takes the shape of writing and editing grants, partnering to run crowd-funding campaigns, or broader coaching to help with clarity, confidence and practical elements like project management, and – of course – financing.

The coaching part emerged when I realised there were many early or emerging career creatives who were overwhelmed and confused about how to go about making a key project happen. Business coaches exist, but it’s hard to find a ‘project coach’. So that’s one of the things I do. Besides that work, I am currently focusing on doing more freelance feature writing (as well as writing for the blog of course!). I also work part-time in arts education, and am looking at more ways to connect my media/arts industry experience with education. I am a qualified teacher and love everything about education and teaching. I still occasionally do producing work as well.

KC: What does a typical day look like for you?

BM: It varies depending on whether I’m working at my part-time job or not. No matter what I’m doing that day, I begin the morning at my laptop while eating breakfast. I check all my email accounts: work, business, personal, as well as Facebook and Instagram. I might read some interesting articles or watch some vlogs that I follow. I will usually do 5-10 minutes of meditation at some point in the morning, either before breakfast or post internet-binge, which I know is not exactly conducive to being Zen.

If I’m working from home I’ll either be working on my website or writing (for the blog or an article to pitch to publication). I stopped working with clients for a little while so I could focus on developing the website and writing, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the client-based work now.

There is no typical day for me really, they’re all different which is exactly the way I like it. I thrive on variety. Sometimes I’ll spend an entire day writing, or, seeing as my website is relatively new, I might spend an entire day doing and planning bits and pieces for the website – sourcing images, thinking about building traffic, planning social media, updating or installing things etc. When I’m working at home I try to get to a yoga class at some point during the day, which makes all the difference mentally and physically. I also spend a bit of time in the kitchen throughout the day preparing food. My husband does 50-60% of the cooking though, so I can’t complain!

KC: What is your favourite part of your job?

BM: My favourite part of all my different roles is that I have different roles! The variety keeps me inspired and interested. In terms of my Brightside Creatives work, I love talking with interesting and passionate clients, but hands down the best feeling in the world is when I’ve had clients convey that I’ve managed to help them feel less daunted, overwhelmed and alone, which are such common feelings in any given creative field, and ones I can relate to. I love to write and have wanted to take my writing more seriously for quite some time so it’s a delight to be spending a lot more time writing nowadays.

KC: You have a few blog posts on crowd-funding and asking for money. Do you have three top tips when it comes to asking for money or grants?

BM:

Control what you can control. A lot of the panic and confusion around raising funds comes from all the uncontrollable factors. You can’t control exactly how others are going to react to you when you’re applying for, pitching for or sourcing funding. What you can control is the amount of work and care you put in, and the way in which you convey your strengths, abilities and passion. Ultimately, that’s all anyone can do.

Pay attention. This is something people miss – a lot. If you’re applying for a grant or mentorship, READ THE GUIDELINES properly! It’s so important. You need to understand what the grant or mentorship has been set up to support, and if you and/or your project fit into that. You need to understand what is being asked of you. Usually it will be quite clear what they are looking for once you’ve taken the time to read through. If it’s crowd-funding you’re going for, then pay attention to what is happening in that space. Hint: videos, photos, stories, connection. Those that succeed at crowd-funding are doing all of this. And they’re also putting in a lot of work.

Remember why you’re doing it. It’s so easy to get caught up in the pitch, telling others what you think they want to hear so that they’ll jump on board. But you won’t get where you want to go by trying to mould yourself into something you’re not for the sake of funding your work. Remember why you decided to do this in the first place. How will it feel if this project comes to fruition? Why is it important to you? Allow your true intentions to come through in your proposal — people find passion, enthusiasm and uniqueness attractive. Note: this does NOT get you out of doing the work, or being professional. Passion and enthusiasm without hard work and professionalism can create a part-time hobby, but not a project worth funding.

KC: You wrote a beautiful post on vulnerability – how important it is to tell your story with vulnerability in order for people to connect with you. Do you have three top tips for sharing stories in order to apply for grants, crowd-fund or pitch ideas to clients?

BM: This one is very difficult, and I don’t like to gloss over it because if you tell someone to be vulnerable and share their story they can be left sitting there confused thinking ‘but how?’ and ‘I don’t have anything interesting to tell’. What I meant when I was writing that post is that creative people tend to pull back once they’re in the position of ‘selling’ or any situation that involves money – but in fact this is the time that you really need to reveal your passion. And not in the salesy kind of way that people might think.

So essentially:

Believe in yourself first – understand that you are unique and brilliant.
Take the brave step of finding the most appropriate, genuine way to tell your story and express your passion, knowing that it won’t always work. In fact, being truthful does not protect you from being rejected, because you will repel those that are not aligned with you. But if you want to succeed, you’re unlikely to get there without some vulnerability — and you’ll make it a whole lot easier for the person on the other side to recognise your talent and unique qualities if you own, and are committed to, telling your story.
Combine the first two with focus and hard work and you’ll be much more likely to stand out.

KC: What is your vision for Brightside Creatives?

BM: My vision for BC reaches a lot further than the blog and project coaching as they stand now. I intend to take my writing a lot more seriously from now on, and so my writing both on the blog and elsewhere will form a large part of it.

Something I’ve only touched on so far is the element of career, business and entrepreneurship. These are areas I’m intensely passionate about and I’m particularly interested in those who are navigating these parts of life as multi-passionate people. I know through my own experience building a career (and now business) that it is not tied to one specific role or even industry, and it’s a path that can be fraught with confusion. Multi-passionate people are usually creative and want to have a meaningful career, but can come up against that feeling over and over again that they should just ‘commit to one path’, or feel ashamed that they haven’t built up years of experience in the one role. In the near future I’m hoping to explore career and business in a lot more depth, through the prism of being multi-passionate. That will form part of the blog, some resources I’ve got in development, and career coaching for multi-passionate types specifically. I really, really, enjoy coaching and so want to pursue that in a broader sense.

Ultimately I genuinely want Brightside Creatives to be of use to creative people. To distill areas that feel confusing and daunting into easy to understand and interesting information, and most importantly, to help people feel better and more confident in themselves— whether that be in relation to seeking funding, promoting their work, being creative, managing their career, or simply being human.

KC: Thank you so much, Bec! Bec’s website is here and you can sign up for her newsletter here.

October writing

October 30, 2015 by Karen Comer 10 Comments

So in October, I planned to work with my writing mentor on the first book in my children’s series. I had a wonderful conversation with Julia, where I had the chance to ask her all my questions and listen to her wise answers. Some of what I need to do is the small stuff – adding in a few details, deleting a paragraph or two because I’m labouring the point too much. But the big stuff requires some deep thinking and well, I just haven’t had time to do that this month. Maybe in November – I would love to have it finished before Christmas.

I also wanted to plan out the second book as I’m going to write it for NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write a 50,000 word novel in a month, which means 1,666 words a day. I have a sketchy plan and I know most of my characters so I vaguely know where I’m going. I’m writing about twelve-year-old Calvin, who loves to paint street art. And I know that his art puts him on the shortlist in an environmental competition, and then he works on his project again to try to win. And I know that he will have to make a stand between his art and the environment and maybe his friends at some stage of the novel, that these aspects will cause him conflict. And I know the antagonist has his own environmental concerns about the Yarra River, and starts off being a new friend to Calvin but then has his own agenda which clashes with Calvin’s needs. But that’s all I know! If you have any ideas of what my street art-loving Calvin might get up to, I’d be so grateful!

Mr 11 designed a fabulous cover for me – see above – with the working title If I stand.

I had a great time in two grade four classrooms this week, teaching an Aboriginal Dreamtime writing workshop. The kids were really engaged, we had a lot of fun playing a few word association games, and I have left them with a plan for their collaborative writing story. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Yesterday, I received another knockback for one of my short stories. Add it to the collection. Proof that at least I’m sending my writing out there. Better than staying invisible on my computer.

And as for November writing, well 50,000 words is a good start! And I am also applying for one, maybe two writing mentorship programs. And I will dip in and out of my first book. And there is a rather large editing job heading my way. Looks like my family will be living on ten-minute pastas, cooked chook salads and weekend barbeques!