Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

My Book News & Advocate for the Writing Community ©

A Paid Advertising Opportunity Taken…2nd July

July 2, 2015
mandyevebarnett


Book cover

As we juggle writing time, home and social life and book events, it is not just our personal commitment that requires organization but deciding on how effective we can make each aspect. With social media we can blast our books onto the internet but a single post soon disappears into the abyss. Book signings, author readings and book fairs are usually a more effective mode of advertising ourselves and our books. A chance to converse with our readers gives them a real insight into the backstory of the narrative and a sense of the author too. A website is a great way to keep readers informed on upcoming events and publication dates but also gives us an opportunity to reveal how we write, why we write and how the story was created. Character interviews, excerpts and sneak peeks of current projects tempt our readership.

All these options are positive venues for advertising but we also have the opportunity to use selected publications too. I recently decided to spend a nominal fee on an advert in a children’s magazine. It is issued monthly and has a great readership. With download or print options available my advert has the potential to be seen repeatedly and this was a good part of my decision to pay for the advert.I will certainly be repeating this exercise later in the year.

Take a look and see if Five Star Publications can help you. My advert is on page 33 – The Spring Reading Guide.

http://www.fivestarpublications.net/storymonsters

storymonsters_ink

What paid advertising do you use?

How was your experience?

Would you repeat it?

Do you have any tips on where to advertise?

Featured on Be A Best Seller.com…

June 30, 2014
mandyevebarnett


featured 

Hello All,

I have  been featured in the Makin’ It Happen article of the magazine from Be A Best Seller.com today. As this is a subcription only I am just highlighting my piece within it.

Makin’ It Happen
 
 

Mandy Eve-BarnettThis week’s Makin’ It Happen author is Mandy Eve-Barnett, a freelance writer and regular contributor to the e-zine, Strathcona Connect, and the “Never Been Better” page in the Sherwood Park newspaper.

Mandy has been an avid reader her whole life, but it wasn’t until after promising herself an outlet for her creativity that serendipity took her to the Writers’ Foundation of Strathcona County, where the writing ‘bug’ took hold.

Now, Mandy is deeply involved with the Writers’ Foundation and its members as Secretary. Plus, she sets a writing prompt every Saturday on the WFSC website.

You can find Mandy’s writing in an anthology, Writing Prompt Journey. Plus, she regularly blogs about her writing experiences.

Additionally, Mandy has successfully completed four consecutive National Novel Writing Month challenges from 2009 to 2013 with the subsequent volume of work resulting in four novels. 

Her children’s print book Rumble’s First Scare was published in September 2011. And in August 2012, her adult fantasy eBook, titled The Rython Kingdom, was released on Smashwords along with Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk and is now available as a POD through Create Space.

Mandy also collaborated to produce a ‘how to write your memoir’ workbook, called Your Lifetime of Stories, which was published in 2013.

 

Currently, the illustrations are being completed for Mandy’s fantasy children’s book, Ockleberries to the Rescue, to be released later this year. Plus, Mandy is in the midst of editing her cowgirl romance novel, Willow Tree Tears, which is also scheduled to be released later this year.

You can learn more about Mandy and her work at: 
https://mandyevebarnett.com/

http://www.dreamwritepublishing.ca/ 

http://www.dreamwritepublishing.ca/

You can find more information here: http://www.beabestseller.com

They are always open to contributing authors: http://www.beabestseller.com/contact-experts/

Why not share your last featured blog, article or interview?

Literary News & Fun On Friday’s…

January 10, 2014
mandyevebarnett


wirheader-

My community announced the new Writers in Residence for 2014 recently – the details are below.

I would like to say if you have the opportunity to meet and gain wisdom and help from a Writer in Residence, then do so. Having an expert review your work and give you authoritative assistance, all for free, is worth its weight in gold. If you are unsure contact your local library for their residency details.

Margaret Macpherson Margaret_smaller

Margaret Macpherson has worked as a full-time professional writer, teacher and editorial/educational mentor for the last decade. With a Masters of Fine Arts (Creative Writing) from UBC and she was widely published in newspapers and magazines both nationally and internationally before moving to Alberta in 1994.

After a career in journalism and teaching, which took her to the East Coast and Bermuda, Margaret began playing in long narrative prose. She has subsequently published seven books, both fiction and non fiction, including a biography entitled Nellie McClung: Voice for the Voiceless which won the Canadian Authors Association (CAA) Exporting Alberta Award in 2004.

Her collection of short stories Perilous Departures (2004), and her first novel, Released (2007) were both nominated for Manitoba Book Awards and her last novel Body Trade won the DeBeers Northwords Prize in 2012.

An essayist, poet and storyteller, Margaret has worked as a fiction editor for three different literary magazines and regularly performs poetry and aural story telling.
She represented Alberta in the National CBC Poetry Face-Off (2006) and has won (and lost) the coveted Story Slam championship.

An expressive arts practitioner, Margaret mucks about with oils and pastels and has sold the odd watercolour. She has written and co-produced a CD of original music and has had one of her plays produced in Vancouver’s NewWorks festival.

Although Edmonton has been home for the last 18 years, Margaret grew up in the Northwest Territories, and has lived extensively in Halifax, Bermuda, Vancouver and Nelson, BC. She lives with her husband, three kids and a very black cat.

Jason Lee Norman

Jason_smaller

Jason Lee Norman was born and raised in the Edmonton area. With a degree in English from the University of Alberta and a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester he returned to Edmonton in 2009 to make his fortune. He is the author of two short story collections: ‘Americas’ and ‘Beautiful Girls & Famous Men’ and is the co-founder of the #yegwords (Words with Friends) creative writing collective which holds regular events in Edmonton throughout the year, including the very popular Word Crawl.
In 2013 he introduced Edmonton to 40 Below: Edmonton’s Winter Anthology. 70 pieces of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction all about or inspired by winter in Edmonton. 40 Below was published by Jason’s small publishing concern Wufniks Press.

In the past few years Jason has nominated himself for dozens of awards but has won very few. He hopes to one day finish his novel so that it may receive a scathing review in the National Post. Thus completing the circle of life

Full article here:  http://metrowir.com/

Literary Magazine link: http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/

And for the fun part of today : Invent your own country! It can be on earth or another planet. Inhabited by humans or aliens. Hostile or idyllic.  Let your imagination go wild.FunDay

Persistence is Key…

June 3, 2013
mandyevebarnett


Importune – definition: to plead or beg persistently

rejected

When we submit our work, whether to a publishing house or a magazine, our natural instinct is to silently plead that it is accepted. We make bargains that if we are successful we will do x,y, or z. Then we wait; the hardest part. An email pops up weeks (or even months) later and once again we plead before opening it up and reading the response to our submission.

Rejections are part of the writing life, an occupational hazard you might say. We can sit and feel sorry for ourselves or use them as a learning tool. The latter is harder to do but with persistence it pays off. If we are lucky we received comments on the rejection – these nuggets of advice are worth their weight in gold. Re-work your article or revise your novel – tomorrow is another day and another chance.

I found this great interview on Joanna Penn’s blog,The Creative Penn, which deals with this topic. Pop on over to read it.

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/04/07/writing-tips-persistence/

deadline

How do you maintain your optimism? 

 

Check this post about rejection : http://mikeallegra.com/2012/12/07/my-second-repost-my-rejection-collection/

Is it really Dross?

January 10, 2013
mandyevebarnett


Dross – definition: 1) the waste slag or scum that forms on the surface of molten metal 2) waste or foreign matter : impurity 3) something that is base, trivial or inferior

No matter if you are a new writer or a seasoned one, there are times when we read a paragraph or short excerpt and just despair. It can be the premise, the interaction of characters or just how the scene reads. We’re just not happy with it. Depending on your mind set at that moment, there are a few spur of the moment actions that may occur. Pressing delete is number one for most of us as we berate ourselves for writing such dross. Another is to focus too hard on it and become bogged down, re-writing again and again, usually having the result of making us even angrier and unable to concentrate creatively.

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If you are absolutely sure that deleting the passage is the only way, then do it but if not, save the offending article in isolation – may be create a ‘dross’ file? Leave the work and do something else, non-writing related. A walk, a workout, make a cup of tea and read a book for a while, no matter what it is distract your mind. In the terminology of the computer age – reboot your mind. Once you return you can see the article with fresh eyes and if you are lucky a revision will reveal itself.

Another aspect of ‘dross’ thinking is when you have finished a project and second-guess yourself as to its merits. Is it good enough? Will anyone like it? Is my writing worthy of submission to a publisher, a magazine or beta readers? We are uncertain literary beings at the best of times and unfortunately compare ourselves to the ‘greats’. All of us have heard the stories of successful authors receiving many rejections before being ‘found’, such J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John le Carre. Make yourself feel better just look at this link – http://www.examiner.com/article/30-famous-authors-whose-works-were-rejected-repeatedly-and-sometimes-rudely-by-publishers

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There is always a golden phrase or sentence that is worth saving or revising. Juggle the words, mix the sentences around or write it from a different characters perspective.  Do not give up hope – your words are precious after all.

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