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Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
26 May 2014
Title
| How to write for magazines … in one weekend |
Author
| Diana Cambridge |
Publisher
| Canal Street Publishing Ltd |
Publication Date
|
2006
|
Pages
| 164 |
Genre
| Writing guide |
Blurb:
Diana Cambridge, Writers News' agony aunt, shares her secrets in this book.
It will change your writing life! Whether you want to get a reader's letter
printed, a travel article, or a feature for a women's magazine, Diana shows
you how, step by step in just one weekend.What's stopped many writers from
seeing their work in print is NOT rejection letters, Diana says. It's the
fact that they never finish their articles or send them out. You, maybe?But Diana understands - and she can help.
It will change your writing life! Whether you want to get a reader's letter
printed, a travel article, or a feature for a women's magazine, Diana shows
you how, step by step in just one weekend.What's stopped many writers from
seeing their work in print is NOT rejection letters, Diana says. It's the
fact that they never finish their articles or send them out. You, maybe?But Diana understands - and she can help.
I just love to read books / guides on 'How to write' . I can't remember who, but one famous writer once said 'If you need a guide book on how to be a writer than you will never be one, it has to come naturally.' Ok fair enough, maybe that's why I'm not a bestselling author :) However, my favourite author Stephen King said, and I paraphrase: "The only way to write is… to write."
And this craft also need to be learned and polished.
The magazine market in the UK is huge - just go to any large newsagent and the shelves are filled with a large amount of magazines catering for everything from the popular one's like beauty, sport etc to more obscure like little known hobbies, collecting etc. If there is a hobby there is a magazine. And all those magazines need to be filled with articles. So, if you like to write, and like magazines, than this book will provide you with excellence guidance on how to write to magazines from start to finish.
The author recommends you take 48 hrs - start on a Friday night - no interruptions - and work through the book. By the end, not only should you be well aware of how to write for magazines, what to look out for etc, but should also have your first written submission ready to go. Of course, taking 48 hrs out is easier for some of us than others (I haven't managed yet - anyone want a husband, 3 children, a dog and 5 cats for 48 hrs :), but the idea is good and it will work, I'm sure of it.
You will work through the book and cover the following:
- first steps
- what do magazines want
- letter to the editor …how/what
- what type of magazines i.e. travel, women's, hobbies, food
- take yourself to the market
- moving on
There is a lot of brilliant ideas and infos incl. top tips, and many examples to make everything clear. The writing is very easy to understand for someone not in the publishing industry. For a beginner, this is a great guide if you want to get into writing for magazines, maybe starting small with a few submissions and build up on it. Of course, many magazines also pay for submissions.
Of all the writing guide books I have, this was one of the easiest to understand and a very 'hands-on' step-by-step guide if you like this kind of writing. If you are already an established writer and maybe had a few submissions paid for, than most of it in this book is probably less use to you.
14 April 2014
Title
|
Write Your Life Story
|
Author
| Michael Oke |
Publisher
| How To Books |
Publication Date
|
2001
|
Pages
| 34 |
Genre
| non-fiction |
Biographies are not just for celebrities. 'Normal' people's lives - your own, in fact, can be so much more fascinating and interesting. With the help of this book, you can experience the joy and fulfilment of writing about yourself, and produce a unique record for generations to come.
My children and friends always told me I should write my life story down. I grew up in East Germany and the country doesn't exist any more, my children will never experience it, so I think it will be really good to tell them how different my upbringing was before this part of history gets lost. Maybe one day it would be a very interesting read for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.
But … I'm not a writer. I never had any formal training nor attend any courses and felt quite unsure about the whole process. So I sat down on my PC… and than? Started to put a few paragraph headings , thinking it can't be all that difficult. I won't need to create characters nor come up with a fantastic plot. It's all there. Well, I got stuck almost straight away and it wasn't so straight forward and I was overwhelmed.
This is where Write Your Life Story came in. The book is written for people like me, and it is presumed that you have no experience of writing and no idea where to start. It starts you off right at the beginning and provides a full structure and takes you all the way to the end. The following is covered:
- Reasons for writing your life story
- Defining the project
- Preparation
- Planning the Structure
- Considering Alternative Structures
- Preparing to tell the story
- Some writing tools
- Inspirational extracts
- Undertaking the research
- Ready to write
- Difficult areas
- Revising the manuscript
- Presentation
- Production
- Publishing
- Producing your own book - general and technical considerations
- Advice from those who have written
Yes, you will still need to write the story yourself and time investment is needed, but if you want a structured approach, work through the paragraphs one by one and you will end up with the story written.
This book was an excellent purchase and I can only recommend it for anyone thinking of writing their own life story who does not really know where to start and how to proceed to the final product. It may not be so useful if you have writing / researching / publication experience - as you will know most of the information I guess. One other point to mention is that my copy is quite old (from 2003) and of course, the publishing world has moved on enormously (eBooks), in fact, eBooks have probably revolutionised publishing, so some aspects of the book are slightly outdated now. Still, this was the most useful books I bought on that subject.
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