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Tag Archives: my books

My Writing Year: How Did I Do in 2014?

In December 2013, I took the decision to cut back on paid work and throw everything that I had at writing. This meant taking a long hard look at my finances and (1) making a commitment to living within a very tight budget, with no more than £50 spending money per month. In terms of…
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A Glimpse Inside my Rejections Folder

Early in my writing career I was given some excellent advice: develop the skin of a rhino. And at no time have I found this advice more valuable than during the tortuous submissions process. ‘The literary industry – agents, editors, media arbiters of taste, publishers – forms a chain of filters that takes raw fiction, cuts…
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Book cover design – how I do it

‘A beautiful object’ In his 2011 Man Booker acceptance speech, Julian Barnes was quick to praise the unsung hero in the publication process, his book cover designer, Suzanne Dean. But this was three years ago, and Barnes’s concern was the rise of the e-book which, as we all know, is no threat to the paperback. It is just another…
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