ISSUE 01 | AUTUMN/WINTER 2016 | FREE
g n i r i Insp y t i v i Creat
CREATIVE TALK / FLASH FICTION / EXPERT ADVICE OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK - WHEN TO CALL IN THE PROFESSIONALS JOE EVANS - ADAM JENKINS - OHPEAS! - GARETH DAVIES - BRITTANY DAVIES
The Pilcrow is published by
¶ARAGRAPH PRESS This issue was edited by Charley Rogers and designed by Bekki Steele FOLLOW US AT Twitter @ParagraphUK Instagram @ParagraphPress Facebook /ParagraphPress
Welcome to the Pilcrow Welcome to the first issue of The Pilcrow, a magazine dedicated to art in all its printable forms. From the poetry in song lyrics, to beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, we celebrate the creativity in everyone. In this issue we have various insights into the self-publishing industry, from the ins and outs of digital publishing, to an interview with Cardiff-based author Joseph Evans, who got his start through selfpublishing and is now making a living as a working author. We also have some creative work from local writers and illustrators, and an insight into how we do things here at Paragraph Press.
CONTENTS pg3 The Sequence of Success pg6 Write Left, Write Left: A Writer’s Guide to a Regular Schedule pg9 Independent Reading pg12 Digital Matters pg15 A Job for Life pg17 Peas and Love pg22 The Devil’s in the Blank Page: Writer’s Block and how to Deal with it pg25 A Little Coffee Talk pg27 An Intro to Paragraph Press pg28 The Bottom of the Fridge / An Elephant Never Forgets pg30 The Professional: When do you need to Call in the Publishing Cavalry? pg33 Tea in the Drawing Room
We started Paragraph in an effort to see varied and interesting stories put out into the world. As creatives ourselves, we understand the importance of maintaining as much control over your work as possible whilst using all resources available to produce it to the highest standards. The creative process is a long one, often paved with many obstacles, doubts, and the giant hurdle of procrastination. Here, we bring together the local artistic community to encourage and support one another, and share stories and tips on how we each make our way creatively. We hope you enjoy perusing some of the brilliant contributions we have in this issue, and that they help inspire your own creative journey.
@paragraphuk paragraphpress.co.uk
The Sequence of Success Cardiff-born writer Joseph Evans is an author of young adult fiction, including the science fiction series The Seckry Sequence, and various story arcs for the popular online animated platform Episode. Joseph started his career as a self-published writer, and has now landed an agent, and is making his living as a professional fiction writer. An inspiration to us all, we sat down with Joe to pick his brains about how he got started, how he battles the procrastination devil, and his some of his top tips for aspiring authors. Hi Joe, thanks so much for taking the time to have a chat with us today. You started your journey by self-publishing your first novel, City of the Falling Sky. What made you decide to publish it yourself? Self publication was something I never even considered during the two years that it took from initial novel ideas to a finished manuscript. But after an entire year of rejections from publishers, I began to accept that I might have to do things a little differently. I began looking into selfpublishing, and that’s when I learned about Amanda Hocking and John Locke, both selfpublished authors who are now millionaires due to their success on Kindle. I uploaded my book to Kindle, and with a bit of self-promotion on social media, after a few months I had enough money to set up print-on-demand paperback copies and get them into physical bookstores.
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Since then I’ve been able to quit my job and live my dream of writing full time, tripling my income in the process. I’m still self-published to this day, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s currently getting rejections, or simply doesn’t want to wait for agents and publishers. As well as the incredibly popular Seckry Sequence, you’ve also been writing stories for Episode, which is – as the name suggests – a platform where stories are delivered in an episodic format. How do you find writing a novel and a shorter series of pieces differ? A novel certainly takes more time and a different kind of discipline. Since the aim of Episode is to provide readers with constant, quickly consumed content, the stories tend to be lighter and more playful than my novels, which is a pleasant change. It’s fantastic to be able to switch between both formats and writing styles because it mixes things up and doesn’t let my imagination go stale. How did you source your editing and formatting when you were starting out? I actually didn’t! At the time, I was barely able to pay my rent, so paying for editorial services, no matter how affordable, was out of my budget. This did impact reviews, though - the majority of negative ones criticise the lack of professional editing. If you can afford to get your manuscript edited professionally, it will give you a massive edge over your competition, since there are so many self-published titles out there with spelling, grammar, and formatting mistakes. Most writers struggle with writer’s block or procrastination at some point, how do you get around these?
I struggled with writer’s block for years before The Seckry Sequence. After many failed attempts I understood the root of the problem - a lack of planning. I decided I would start afresh, planning every ounce of the story in detail before I even thought about writing it. Six months of planning later, I had a huge fictional world with its own history, characters, and epic plot twists. When I began writing, it was so easy compared to what I was used to, and I never got writer’s block because I knew exactly where my story was going. Procrastination is something I combat by closing down my email and social media tabs, and giving myself word counts. I’ll most often promise myself a small reward for reaching my word count - maybe a glass of wine! Before I got into the habit of doing this, I’d spend hours mulling over sentences, then checking emails and social media. Now, I blast through those daily word counts and get so much more written because of it. You’ve made your name as a writer of young adult (YA) fiction, was that a conscious decision, or did you just start writing and figure out your likely audience as you went? I think what I’m always trying to do is write a book that would be perfect to me as a reader, and as a reader, I love YA, so that’s what I write. I would
“I struggled with writer’s block for years before The Seckry Sequence. After many failed attempts I understood the root of the problem - a lack of planning.” encourage any budding writers to write the kind of book they would enjoy reading themselves, as they’ll know what works and what doesn’t in that genre or age group. You designed the covers for your own novels, having studied graphic design at university. What advice would you give to authors who don’t have the experience to produce their own artwork? My advice to any authors out there who aren’t comfortable in Photoshop is to hire someone like yourselves at Paragraph to make you something professional. Without a professional cover, a book has very little chance of selling well, even if the written content is outstanding. I think with self-publishing, a striking cover is more important than ever, because self-publishers don’t have a marketing team behind them driving sales. That cover is your advertisement to the world. Many great works have been inspired by previous creations. Do you ever look to other writers or films for inspiration? There are so many things that influenced The Seckry Sequence
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- some intentional, some unintentional. The setting was predominantly inspired by the city of Midgar from the video game Final Fantasy VII, and the structure of the plot was directly inspired by Harry Potter (especially The Prisoner of Azkaban), but this was more of a tactical decision - I wanted my books to flow just as smoothly, and foreshadow with a similar drip-feed of information before flooding with multiple twists. The appreciation of physical bookstores is definitely having a resurgence in our culture. How do you think having copies of your books available for perusal in places like Waterstones impacts your success? There’s certainly something special about physical books that is lost with Kindle and shopping for books online. I think it is important for an author to have physical copies in bookshops because it adds credibility to the work. And moneymaking aside, just in terms of sheer joy and dreamcome-true fulfilment as a writer, nothing is more satisfying than walking into a bookshop and seeing your book on the shelves! The publication of your novels has led to various other writing opportunities, and has allowed you to pursue writing fulltime. Do you think taking the
self-publishing route helped you to develop the skills you needed to build your career? Absolutely. I now know exactly what I need to do every time I publish a book to make it a success. If a publisher had taken my manuscript at the beginning of the process, I imagine the majority of the business would have been invisible to me, and I wouldn’t have learned anywhere near as much as I did. Even if a book is published by a major publisher, there’s no guarantee that it will be a success, or that the publisher will want to keep an author around for the rest of their writing career. Self-publishing eliminates that fear because you always know that whatever happens, you can make it on your own. Joe is currently working on Fate of the Fractured, the third instalment of The Seckry Sequence, and his fourth story for Episode, entitled The Secret of Rain. You can find his published novels online by searching ‘The Seckry Sequence’ on Amazon.co.uk, and interact with him on Twitter and Instagram @JosephCEvans. Joe also has a Facebook page (/theseckrysequence) where you can keep up to date on all of his publications and general goings on, and for Episode tutorials, check out his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/authorjosephevans. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity
Write left, Write left. A WRITER’S GUIDE TO A REGULAR SCHEDULE So you’ve got a great idea for a book, but you’ve heard that to be a proper writer, you should have a particular writing space, rhythm, and schedule. That all the real novelists sit down in the same place at the same time every day to tackle the writing beast. This is all well and good, but how do you organise your space, and your schedule? The writing space is arguably the easiest to tackle – any space you have available that is comfortable and free enough of distractions that you can settle down to work for as long a time as possible. But the schedule thing is much more of a bother. Is it best to get up at 5:00 every morning and dutifully type your 1000 words before allowing yourself so much as a piece of toast and a shower? Or should you go about your day and get all your errands and other work done before settling down for an hour before bed? You can spend hours and hours dissecting the writing patterns of various famous authors (there are loads of appealing infographics on Pinterest) and quizzing your fellow creatives for their particular time-keeping activities.
us come to the conclusion that although we’d love to be the kind that gets up at the same time every day, and writes an uninterrupted stream of brilliance before quietly packing up our gear and retiring to the study for a civilised brandy and a glance at Proust, there are so many elements of our modern lives that get in the way of this; ourselves and our natural
But the problem with all of this research is the fact that you’ll come up against a plethora of different experiences and advice as to how to make yourself The Most Productive Writer Ever. And sadly, most of
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rhythms not being the least of these. As with exactly how long you should sleep, and the best way to structure your meals for the most effective digestion, the elusive onesize-fits-all remedy for productive writing is, it seems, a complete myth. The biggest hurdle in the productivity circus is to find out what suits you best. Now, how to figure out what does in fact suit you. Unfortunately, there are no hardand-fast rules as to how to get your ideal schedule in place from the off. The best practice you can use in this instance is the rather more lengthy process of trial and error. But it is worth it. One of the ways in which you can start to think about what might suit you though, is to take stock of your typical daily routine. Do you regularly wake up early in the morning, or are you more of a night owl? If you’re unable to so much as utter your own name before midday and a humongous coffee, you may be more of an evening creative, whereas if you find yourself dozing off in front of the telly by 9.15pm you’d probably be better off trying to write in the morning. The most important
thing though, is just to write when you can. You may not even be the kind of writer that sticks fastidiously to any kind of schedule at all, simply writing when you get the chance. This is more likely to occur if you have other strict responsibilities, such as shift work, or taking care of a child. When your life is incredibly busy, you should pat yourself on the back for any writing you do manage to get done, regardless of when. However, if you’re hoping to make your living from writing, implementing some kind of routine will likely make your life a lot easier, and more profitable.
Some tips on cultivating a writing regime:
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Give it time. Studies suggest that it takes between 18 and 245 days to successfully form a habit, and that some habits are much harder than others to manifest. So be patient. And if you find you’ve gone a couple of months without finding that your writing habit is getting easier to implement, change tack and try again.
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Be strict. In order to successfully develop a writing schedule, routine is the name of the game. Again, studies of habit suggest that taking a day off here and there doesn’t make much of a difference, but it’s not a habit if you only do it sporadically. Whether you’re aiming to write once a week, or every day, try and keep on top of your aims, and make a note of when you’ve reached your goal, and when something else got in the way, and what it was. This will help you analyse how well your schedule plan is working for you, and what, if anything, you need to change.
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If you’re keen on keeping track of your writing progress, you can make a note of how long you spend writing during each allocated session, or how many words you write. You can do this manually, or download software such as WriteTrack to keep an eye on your goals and how well you’re doing. We’d love to hear how you’re getting on with your particular project, so let us know how you decided on a schedule, and how it’s shaping up on Facebook /paragraphpress and Twitter @paragraphuk.
Work within your means. Being strict is very important, but even this has its limits. Be sure to set your writing aims within reach, otherwise you’re likely to get easily disheartened and give up. Start by setting your targets quite low – perhaps 500 words per day, or one hour on your given day - and gradually increasing them until you feel that your ability and productivity are aligned to create your best work. Starting out saying that you’re going to get up at 5am every day and write 3000 words might sound great, but may be difficult to achieve, thus making your schedule very very hard to adhere to, and the habit very difficult to form.
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Write when you’re inspired. If you get a great idea outside of your designated writing time, don’t wait until the next time you sit down to make a note of it. The human brain is a cruel and unusual mistress, and in all likelihood by the time you’re sat at your desk, coffee in hand, fresh document open, you’ll have forgotten what the hell it was that got you so excited yesterday. Each note-taking occurrence doesn’t have to be a full on session, but making sure to save a note on your phone, or scribble on a sticky note and stick it to your computer screen will give you a great jumping-off point when you next dedicate your time to writing a more lengthy piece.
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Independent reading
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There’s no joy quite like browsing a real-life bookshop. Internet shopping may be quick and convenient, but it doesn’t have that same thrill of wandering around a physical store, perusing titles and having a sneaky sniff of those fresh aromatic pages. The fact that you can actually buy book-scented candles on Etsy is a testament to how seriously some of us take our love of new books.
Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to have a chat with us, and congratulations on such a lovely shop!
Luckily, Cardiff’s literary scene is a flourishing one, with various literary publications popping up all over the place. For book-lovers, there are a plethora of charity shops offering up second hand selections, but the vista of independent bookstores is somewhat a little thinner. However, residents of Roath and the surrounding areas are delighted to house Wellfield Bookshop, which calls Wellfield Road in Roath its home.
Sarah Baskerville: Our owner Paul opened his first bookshop in Wellfield Court Arcade almost 35 years ago - his was one of the first shops to open there. A few years later the shop then moved to where we are now. Paul wanted to start a chain of indie bookshops and thought that Roath, with its great community spirit, was the best place to start. And staff members who are passionate about books have been a cornerstone since the beginning.
We were lucky enough to chat to the bookshop’s manager Sarah Baskerville, and a couple of her booksellers Hannah Liddle and Conor Grant to quiz them on all things Wellfield.
Running a small independent business during this economic rollercoaster we’re all riding must be pretty tricky. What is the ethos behind Wellfield that keeps it running?
Hannah Liddle: Thank you very much! Glad we’ve made a good impression. First things first, could you give us a bit of an introduction on how long you’ve been going, and how you got started?
HL: I think one of the things that keeps people coming back is the ability to talk about books with a real human being that can offer recommendations, rather than having to rely on a computer program that only considers your previous purchases. We want our customers to go away with a book that’s right for them - or for their dad, or wife, or child, if they’re buying presents - and we take the time to make sure that happens. You have a brilliant selection of books, including some great local writers. Do you see the landscape of Welsh writing in English as a growing one? SB: One hundred percent yes - you only have to look at the likes of Owen Sheers, Tessa Hadley, Sarah Waters, and Thomas Morris to name a few that have made waves in the best-seller lists. Connor Grant: Local authors such as Peter Finch are incredibly popular too. I think it may be something to do with the inherent pride and passion of being Welsh, a real sense of belonging to this country that can often transfer into writing. How do you go about selecting the books you stock? Do you stock any self-published material or publications from small independent presses? SB: Paul has lots of experience in the book trade (around 40 years) so makes a lot of the decisions with new titles, but he also grants us a lot of authority in putting our own spin on the stock which is why we get so many comments on our interesting stock collection! We also go by customer recommendations as they’re the people who keep us going, as well as following best-seller lists, and reading reviews on Twitter etc. We do also stock self-published material, often by local authors who we’re incredibly keen to support in their endeavours to get into the big world of books.
How do you feel about the creative community of Roath? HL: Roath is great; it’s a wonderfully creative community. CG: We have local authors, poets, composers, artists - there’s a lot going on! HL: Plus it’s really nice to feel like we’re a part of what gives Roath its unique character. As a local independent business, do you have any particular views on chain outlets such as Waterstones, or the web giant Amazon? CG: Not particularly in terms of chains like Waterstones to be perfectly honest. They’re a multi-national brand and offer a completely different shopping experience which is fine with us; people are still more than happy to support their local bookshop even with Waterstones so near by. However we don’t really mention Amazon in here... they impact on so many small businesses, not just ourselves, in such a huge way that you have to adapt. Which is a positive thing I guess. Your staff are so friendly and clearly invested in books. Are any of them artists or writers? HL: I’m definitely invested - I love getting to work in a place where geeking out about my favourite authors is a good thing! I don’t know if I’d precisely call myself an Artist, but when I’m not reading I’m usually drawing, painting, or making things out of fabric.
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Residents of Roath and the surrounding areas all know of Wellfield Bookshop and its wonders, proudly sharing their corner of Cardiff with the business for years. Do you find that people come from further across the city to shop with you? SB: It’s hard to say. Definitely a bit of yes and no. We undoubtedly have a very large local customer base, many of whom we see on a regular basis. But often people will call us saying they live in Canton, for example, and check whether a book is in stock before popping over. Interestingly we also have some customers who no longer live in Cardiff who still like to support us that we post books to.
Chambers, Lamentation by C.J. Sansom, The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood, We Don’t Know What We’re Doing by Thomas Morris, and Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson. Connor: (I can also really recommend Thomas Morris’ new collection We Don’t Know What We’re Doing by the way; it’s great so far). Keep up to date with all the goings on at Wellfield Bookshop by following them on Twitter @WellfieldBooks1
What the folks at Wellfield have been reading so far this year... SB: My top five are... ‘The Paying Guests’ by Sarah Waters, ‘Life After Life’ by Kate Atkinson, ‘Girl On The Train’ by Paula Hawkins, ‘Moving’ by Jenny Eclair, and ‘Dead Simple’ by Peter James. HL: There are always so many books to choose from so not all the books I’ve been reading recently came out this year. They are... The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (brilliant sci-fi, will appeal to those who enjoys shows like Firefly or Killjoys), The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi (one that was on my enormous ‘I must get round to reading that’ list for a long time, I was very impressed when I did read this brilliant and funny coming of age novel), The City and The Pillar by Gore Vidal (another one from the aforementioned epic list), The Great British Sewing Bee: From Stitch To Style (very informative and easy to use), and Sparrow Falling by Gaie Sebold which I’m reading at the moment (it’s the sequel to the very entertaining steampunk adventure Shanghai Sparrow.) CG: I’ve been reading... The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Illustrations by Bekki Steele
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l a t i Dig s r e t Mat by
Kylie Rodier
You’ve written your book and decided you want to cut out the middleman and publish your book yourself congratulations! The digital age makes it easier than ever for a writer to self-publish. However, as you’ve probably figured out, self-publishing means that you have to find your own editor, cover designer, marketer, and distributor (among other things). And maybe you’ve got all that figured out already, but what about the lesser-known aspects of publishing that aren’t covered in How To Market Your Book 101? Here are a few details that self-pubbed authors should be aware of.
ISBNs
International Standard Book Numbers. These are integral to the publishing process, as Nielsen Bookscan uses ISBNs as one of the key fields when tracking book data and book sales across the publishing industry. While you don’t absolutely require one to publish and sell your book, it certainly helps with distribution, as most sites and platforms expect an ISBN. A new one is necessary for each different format of the book (i.e. hardback, paperback, and digital) but not for each digital format (for example, the same one can be used for epub, awz, and PDF versions of your book). A new ISBN must also be used for each new edition of a book.
Copyright & Piracy
If you’re publishing through a platform, read up on the small print in the terms and conditions. Treat the process as though it were a publisher contract, and make sure you’re not giving away any author rights that the platform isn’t entitled to, or signing up to anything unscrupulous. In the UK, artists have copyright over their works as soon as those works are created. You don’t need to publish your work or register copyright in order for your copyright to be recognised or defended. This is not always the case in other countries, especially those not signed up to the Berne Convention. If you know your work will be distributed in other countries - which is likely if you’re making your work available online - do read up on copyright protection if you’re concerned about theft. Be aware of the ‘fair use’ clause and understand it. A quote of your book in a review is covered under ‘fair use’, reproducing large sections without commentary is not. The digital age has made it very easy to find an audience, but also very easy for others to pirate creative work.
Compared with music and movies, books are the least pirated creative works, but if this is a concern for you, be prepared to periodically check dubious sites for illegal copies. Have a cease and desist letter prepared. You can also consider DRM software or watermarks for your work, but do some research before deciding if this is the approach for you. Making your work affordable and conveniently available is the most important factor in offsetting losses from piracy.
Legal Deposit
By law, the British Library requires a copy of every work published in the UK, in at least one medium. Publishers normally do this for writers; check with whatever publication platform you’re using if this happens automatically. If not, and you’re concerned about fulfilling this requirement, getting in touch with the British Library yourself is a good idea.
Formats
Kindle isn’t the only space where readers are reading books! Make sure your book is available in a variety of formats and that it looks good across all of them. Epub, PDF and mobi are all widely used, and for some readers, actively preferred. Audiobooks are a less-considered format, as audio is considered a subsidiary right compared to printing rights, and it can involve extra expenses, but do consider that as a way to reach those readers who may have difficulty with print.
Corrections
Your book should be as free of errors as humanly possible before publishing to the wider world (and this is where paying for a good editor is money worth spending). I’m not just talking about grammar and spelling, I’m also talking about facts, references, and potentially libellous claims (please don’t libel anyone. It’s not good for your authorial reputation).
However, everyone makes mistakes, and you need to consider how to handle them. There is a general assumption about digital content that it’s easy to update and change, and that any changes and corrections can and should be made whenever needed. Please don’t think this way. Data integrity is important to maintain, and not just for ethical reasons. For one, historically, a printed mistake couldn’t be easily replaced with a new copy of the book. For two, an ISBN is only valid for one edition of your book. If you significantly update and correct your book, it must be published as a new edition with a new ISBN. That’s expensive. Treat your novel as the final, finished deal. Once it’s out, it’s out. If it cannot remain published due to errors, withdraw it, learn from the experience, and try again.
About the Author
Kylie Rodier has worked in digital publishing for almost five years, and is constantly amazed at the technological age we live in. Nonetheless, she loves reading print books. She doesn’t fold the corners.
Handling Royalties
Royalties! The sweet rewards of writing (as well as the creative reward, of course). Ensure you have a secure means of collecting them, whether that’s via PayPal, your chosen publishing platform, or straight to your bank account. Also, royalties count as taxable income. I know tax is a deathly boring topic, but it’s vital you understand how royalties fit into your personal tax situation. Do register yourself with HMRC accordingly, especially if you’re not already self-employed, and make a note of tax return due dates. Monitor the amount you collect in royalties and declare them honestly. Pay tax on them if the royalties add up to over the annual tax-free threshold—if you already have a job, this is likely to happen. If you take nothing else away from this piece, I urge you to make sure your tax situation is airtight. Tax fraud is no small matter. This applies to all authors regardless of publication stream, whether you’re self-pubbing or being represented by one of the Big Five. Authors, I wish you the best of luck with publication. Go forth and publish! https://www.gov.uk/copyright/overview http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/legaldeposit/ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/24/ebook-pirate-uk-statistics-2015
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a Job for life ADAM JENKINS Hornady Manufacturing, invites applications for employment, Seeking qualified individuals for mechanical deployment. Before specification of the ideal candidate I’ll provide some information on the products that we make Accurate, deadly, dependable, is our company tagline No detail is expendable for our peerless product lines Seeking candidates with an aptitude for mechanical vocation, it’s essential your attitude fits our values and direction. You’ll operate machinery, produce the goods we manufacture. Represent the company to ensure our feted stature. You’ll be required to cut lead wire into uniform lengths Before it’s fired and filed and pressed to give it extra strength. For improved durability, you’ll then add copper plate, to reduce the probability the lead will oxidate. Some discerning patrons require upgraded commodities, like reinforced brass aprons and other oddities. We box stock for delivery, sell it by the packet, with improved flight stability and even full metal jackets. When people are responsible, our products cause no harm. We just overcome the obstacles, to your right to bear arms. Unavoidably, from time to time, an incident arises, and down the line people are hurt or meet with their demises Perhaps a nasty accident or people slow to flee, from a loony in a crack den or a nutter on a spree. An unbalanced crackpot, shoots classmates at his school Or a sniper takes potshots at drivers pumping fuel Or a black kid starts to run or he’s slow to hit the deck and a cop pulls out his gun and fills him full of lead.
Or people dancing in a club are sprayed by rapid gunfire Because of who they love, they expire in a gory mire A fanatic talking nonsense, pulls a gun from his jeans, and swears some ancient magic book justifies the means. Or a wacko white supremacist tries sparking a race war Leaves a congregation of methodists bleeding on the floor, A toddler stumbles on mummy’s gun and gets it in her head it’s just a toy, oh this is fun, then shoots mummy dead. Thankfully these incidents are few and far between. At least in all the continents our salesmen haven’t been. Hornady just makes ammunition, counts the dollars and cents. So legally, our position, is of complete innocence. Remember the benefits we supply, cherish the job you’ve got. Your health insurance even applies when it’s your kid that gets shot. So when you hear of gun deaths, it’s important to remember, the job you do is honest, you simply work for the vendor. Don’t feel responsibility, you weren’t the perpetrator. You’ve got full deniability, you’re just the bullet press operator.
Adam Jenkins is an up-and-coming talent on the Cardiff arts scene, and writes mostly a mix of politics, humour and general rantings about life and love. Follow Adam on Twitter @ AdamRJenks.
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Peas and Love
Have you ever listened to your favourite song and marvelled at how the lyrics are so carefully constructed, how the words move with the music to tell a story and stir the heart? The art of writing songs is something so many of us wish we could do, but even if we are writers of other forms – prose, poetry, essays – the poignant and carefully constructed song can often remain a mystery. Here to shed some light on the whole thing is Rosie Smith of Oh Peas! We sat down with Rosie to chat about her creative process, what it’s like playing the Green Man festival, and what she thinks of the modern music industry. Hi Rosie, welcome! First of all, congratulations on your album The Difficult Second Chair. It’s brilliant. I love the mix of more musical tracks with the spoken word pieces. What initially attracted you to spoken word? Thanks! Good first question. My attraction to spoken word comes from a persistent teenage poetry hangover - I don’t read as much as I used to then but still really enjoy it. A healthy obsession with Calvin Johnson, Ivor Cutler, and Belle and Sebastian in the early days helped to shape my approach to writing songs too. Most of my lyrics come as words
first, or sort of co-currently with the music, neither is really made for the other but now and again things come in to sit together quite nicely. There is such a close crossover between writing poetry and writing song lyrics. Have you ever written poetry, or are you strictly a write-the-wordsto-go-with-the-music kind of girl? Ohhh I definitely dabbled for a while - I recently found a bunch of notebooks from between maybe 14-17 and wow, some embarrassing poetry in there, that’s for sure. I did once win some kind of poetry competition in Cardiff though – maybe I was 15, GCSE time – but my stint as a Poet with a capital P ended with some I did for my undergrad course which were published by my University’s English society. It’s a modest effort but definitely formative in how I write things now. You are hilarious on Twitter. Your feed never fails to make me chuckle, I love it! Do you work hard on your Twitter presence as a kind of marketing for your music, or are you just naturally lovely? Ha! Thanks, I guess I really like Twitter because it’s fun and fleeting, and Instagram too, so you can be as daft as you like or totally lose your shit and everyone’s forgotten by lunchtime. It’s very strange
promoting yourself and I find it difficult, so it makes it easier to have a bank of hilarious people keeping an eye out to take you down a peg when you start pushing it a bit, or even do the opposite if you’re struggling to find anything positive to say about yourself! I find Facebook or anything that requires any amount of earnest housekeeping in terms of ‘marketing’ makes me very uneasy though – there’s less interaction, it’s less fun. Your music is available mainly through the online music site Bandcamp, and you distribute it yourself. What do you find are the benefits of a more DIY process as opposed to working with a big studio? Well, the whole DIY thing is pretty important to me. Because I’m a massive control freak, ha! The benefits are in the absolute freedom you have over how you do pretty much everything, it’s been great fun learning how to record myself and also do things with the artwork, and then the actual physical production of things. I love every bit. Aside from that though, it stems from an interest in the punk ethos and staunchly DIY outfits – Calvin Johnson (K Records) being my ultimate hero, and then bands like The Minutemen (everyone go watch ‘We Jam Econo’) and a lot of my brilliant friends’ bands and record labels who fund and fuel all their
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own output. Don’t get me wrong though, I’d bloody love to record in a proper studio with someone I admire, but it comes down to money at the end of the day. Your songs all have really interesting lyrics – whether they make a fascinating sound in their own right, tell a story, or both. How do you go about composing them? I guess I never sit down and Write Lyrics, I’ve never really been able to do that. I get a lot of inspiration from the things people say, and books. When I’m not reading I generally find I don’t really write much either. I keep notebooks – real ones and in my phone – and generally lyrics come along all the time when I’m out and about and get some pleasing sounding words bundling around in my head. Or if I read something and it’s a satisfying turn of a phrase, it usually sparks a bit of a thought train. I’ve sat through different phone-free situations repeating words in my head endlessly until the first opportunity to write them down just because I think they have a nice rhyme! I’ve read that Brian Eno focused almost exclusively on finding words that sound nice - I always find that idea fascinating - and Gary Numan starts off by singing nonsense over the music then strategically fitting words into the structure of nonsense. It’s really interesting.
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In terms of writing songs, what comes first – words or music? Ultimately, it’s rare that the lyrics for one song come along altogether, all at once, so songs end up being about a few different things a lot of the time – it’s like when they construct one full dinosaur skeleton out of composite bones from many dinosaur skeletons. Saying that, there’s one on my new EP that I wrote about my sister when I was upset about seeing what she was going through, that came together all at once in about twenty minutes. A very emotional twenty minutes! And spoken word ones are different again, they usually start with set pieces of text, closer to prose-poetry (big Beckett fan) with no real idea of how it’d be set to music – in fact, most of the spoken word ones I’ve recorded are from stream of consciousness poems written sporadically maybe three or four years ago. There’s definitely a different feeling between knowing which words need to be shuffled and rhymed and set to some nice jangly guitar and then those morose monologues destined for droney loops of misery! When it comes to recording, most parts are sort of improvised unless I’ve performed it with a band and made up a part beforehand. My favourite thing is writing ad-hoc bass lines while recording, that’s a lot of fun. I also really got into adding
loads of backing vocals and harmonies while recording Difficult Second Chair, which is a lot of fun to do but hilariously uncomfortable for me – I end up locked in my room for days listening to choirs of myself, you really get to know your limits! Wales’ arts scene is definitely a growing one. You even played the infamous Green Man festival this year! What was that like? It’s rare that I get to say my favourite part of a thing is the bit where I was playing but at GM2016 it was! I cobbled together my all-time favourite band of pals (minus one who couldn’t make it, sorry Graf) to come and play so we could all go see some cool bands and have a nice time, and also so that they could make my songs sound better because they’re all great. There was a very nice team there too, and the crowd were very generous and kind given the weather and time of day. As with ebooks, digital downloads saw a huge surge in popularity for a long time, but now there is definitely a movement back towards the physical ownership of music, with the sales of tapes and vinyl skyrocketing in recent years. What’s your favourite medium? Psychic? No, um, I’m going to be obvious and say vinyl because I’m a sucker for the larger physical format. CDs
are the main format I grew up collecting so there’s not much shine left on those, and tapes are pretty cute but not my favourite choice for regular listening. Having said that, I’m putting out my e.p. on tape because a) it’s cheap and b) I found gold tapes and couldn’t resist. I mostly listen to digital though, modern convenience wins out.
fiction though, people like Raymond Carver, Miranda July, Banana Yoshimoto, Virginia Woolf, Anna Kavan, James Kelman…. they’ve all been pretty useful catalysts to get the old right-side lobes ticking over!
You actually used to work for a major UK bookseller, and are a keen reader – do you have any literary inspiration for your music?
Hmm, this year has been a pretty excellent year for my reading list. I’ve done a lot of cat-sitting this year, or staying in spare rooms, so I’ve had free access to the wealth of my friends’ personal libraries. My discovery of the year is Alain de Botton, particularly On Love – what a writer. The most inspiring book has definitely been, weirdly maybe, UFC star Ronda Rousey’s autobiography, which is just incredible – she’s a total powerhouse, physically and mentally, and I don’t even like MMA or UFC! I recommend that one for everyone though, especially if you find yourself needing some inspiration to go and try again twice as hard. I’ve recently started reading more music biographies too, Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, a Yo La Tengo number, and right now I’m just getting round to Carrie Brownstein’s Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl which is totally great so far.
I’ve always wanted to be asked this question! Reading plays a very large part in my ability to write and the substance of whatever I end up with lyrics-wise. Working at said major UK bookseller was a useful and inspiring time (rose-tinted glasses needed for the day-to-day drudgery, obviously) and I worked with some great book fans full of wisdom and recommendations to fuel the fire. Big influences who seem to worm their way into both my process and content include Harold Pinter, Philip Larkin, Kurt Vonnegut and Samuel Beckett – I’m definitely from a certain school of miserable, middle-aged man thought! I like reading diaries too; I’ve recently read Susan Sontag’s diaries from when she was around my age, which were fascinating (and incredibly humbling). I mainly read
And finally, what have you been reading this year, and what’s been your favourite read?
To hear more of Rosie’s music and purchase The Difficult Second Chair, her new EP, or some glorious limited edition merch, head to ohpeas.bandcamp.com You can also keep up to date with the musings of Oh Peas! on Twitter (@ohpeas) and Instagram (@therealohpeas). This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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The Devil’s in the Blank Page: writer’s block and how to deal with it. Writer’s block. Possibly the worst phrase in any creative’s vocabulary. And it’s not just fiction writers that are afflicted. Painters, songwriters, and sculptors can also be similarly blocked. As far as its reputation goes, there are those that don’t believe it exists, that you are just being lazy, or don’t want it enough; those that throw inspirational quotes at it, scouring Pinterest for that ever-elusive perfect adage that will shine a light through the fog. And then there are those that, from time to time, are left cowering in its shadow (i.e: most of us). If you’re of the first ilk, congratulations. As you were. If you’re of the second, you might find a couple of quotes you like here, and if you do, feel free to pin them or share them on Twitter! And if you’re of the third, take a deep breath, unfurl out of that foetal position, and come right this way. We’ve had a good long think about the
detestable WB, and our fair share of battles with it. We’ve also done some research on what causes it, and how to get around it...
Apps
One of the biggest causes of procrastination for writers in the digital age is the unfathomable array of apps on offer. From flinging birds across your phone screen, to creating just the right combination of little digital sweets, there’s nothing we love more than wasting time online. However! Luckily enough for us, the Great God Internet has also blessed us with some pretty useful apps that can actually get us moving with our writing, rather than hindering it. Try downloading an app that prevents you from using the internet for a certain amount of time (such as Freedom), or that turns your desktop into a zen space of clutter-free creativity (Omm Writer), complete with soothing soundtrack.
There is a plethora of such apps available online, so if you’re the kind of writer that’s not getting that novel written because you’re too easily dragged into a 7-hour Buzzfeed binge, then this may be the answer for you.
Journaling
Another large contribution to writer’s block is the devastating fear that whatever you write will be utter rubbish. Some of us get so wound up in the thought that anything we produce will be pure tripe that we never actually get around to producing anything at all. A painfully unproductive catch-22. That’s where journaling can come in handy. Writing something you know will never be seen by another pair of eyes can often help free up your process, and relieve the pressures of perfection. Just start writing something – anything – safe in the knowledge that you’ll never have to face someone else’s opinion of it. Once you’ve got into the stride of writing, you can start work on a project that might be for public consumption, whether that’s a blog post, an article, or a novel. The same can work for artists, too: try sketching out ideas for a little while before ‘really’ starting your project, and odds are you’ll be warmed up and in the groove of creating something. And remember, not everything you create will be your best work. The majority of projects are works in progress, and will
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need revising many times over before you’re happy. Don’t fear your mistakes – that’s what editing’s for.
Read
It might seem counterproductive, but sometimes taking a bit of time out to read can really help you to write. Good books will inspire you, and not-so-good books will help you to keep the pitfalls of writing, such as cliches, repetition, and over-description in mind as you go. If you’re feeling really stuck, and you benefit from structured analyses, take a pencil or some sticky notes to the book or magazine you’re reading, and make notes on what you like and don’t like, what you think works, what doesn’t, and why. Once you’ve done this exercise a few times, you’ll start noticing the attributes of your own writing that help or hinder your story. And reading something that gets brilliantly under your skin might just inspire you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys). As Stephen King famously said, “If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot, and write a lot.”
Get a Change of Scenery
There is a certain feeling of stagnation that comes with the blow of writer’s block. One such bringer of boredom can be the fact that you’ve been sat in the same spot staring at the same page for days
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on end. If you’re lucky enough to live near a good coffee shop, try packing up your writing gear and heading out. Most coffee shops these days do have WiFi, which is useful if you have research to do, but for the actual writing process try finding one that doesn’t have internet access, or heading to your local park if the weather’s
good. This way you’ll have no choice but to focus on writing, without the lure of checking emails, reading the news, and just having to know the whereabouts of each of the Fabergé eggs. A change of scenery is also the perfect opportunity for some good old-fashioned people watching. You never know when a fascinating creature is going to stumble into your path and inspire your next protagonist, or plot twist.
Have a Break
If your writer’s block has fallen upon your person after hours of furiously typing away, there’s a good
chance that you simply need to take a break. Not knowing where your story is going to go after an outpouring of creativity is completely natural, and very common. Ernest Hemingway is perhaps the most famous proponent of taking a break before your creativity is sapped for the day, purporting that “I learned to never empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.” Of course you may not have to wait until the next day to write. Sometimes taking an hour to read, or eat, or simply have a walk outside is enough to refuel you for another bout. The only thing is, to ensure that 90% of your writing time is actually spent writing, and not constructing ever more elaborate sandwiches, using the excuse that you’re taking a much-needed break. You need to make sure that you’re taking a break from something for it to be useful. Hopefully these tips will give you a bit of inspiration as to how to overcome your writer’s block, and get back to creating your masterpiece, whatever it may be. If you’ve got any fail safe methods of your own, we’d love you to share them with the Paragraph community by tweeting your suggestions @ParagraphUK, and we’ll retweet our favourites. Illustrations by Ewan Stovell
- Maya Angelou
A Little Coffee Talk For our first event, we decided to approach Rob Cooper at The Little Man Coffee Company. The Little Man is an independent Welsh coffee shop, specialising in various coffees from local roasters, and has quickly built a strong reputation as the place to be for the underground arts scene in Cardiff. Rob started Little Man almost two years ago, deciding to channel his love of coffee, and anger at the unfairness of the little guy always getting a poor deal, into an independent venue where entrepreneurs and creatives can gather to work, socialise, and of course get a great cup of coffee. Rob described the ethos and intention behind the business as wanting ‘to serve great coffee in a great building.’ He says of his team, ‘we wanted to make the space appealing to entrepreneurial, creative, positive, energetic, funny, caring people. Big tables for laptops and sketch pads, decent wifi, and lots of light. I think one of our competitors says that they have no wifi because they don’t want you working in the coffee shop? Well we don’t want you drinking coffee in the office! Unless it’s a takeaway.’
With coffee brewing technology really taking off, and the UK independent scene being an ever-growing industry, there are now a great many shops like The Little Man that are providing their local areas with a unique and community-minded boost. However, it’s not just about the space they provide – obviously there is a focus on really great beverages. As well as eighteen different local roasters that they use on rotation, The Little Man are open until 9pm every night bar Sunday, and serve a lovely selection of beer and wine, if you are so inclined to go more Hemingway than Balzac. Speaking of famous writers, unlike many coffee shops that are merely a quick stop for a mid-shop hit, or acting temporary office spaces for freelancers, the folks behind The Little Man have taken their mission one step further, and regularly put on events run by the creatives of Cardiff and surrounding areas. From poetry readings, to art exhibitions, to craft evenings where people meet up to chat, drink, and make stuff, there’s always something to satiate the creative spirit
here. Even the baristas have some hidden talents, with Rob intimating that there is a certain ‘kitchen Panda’ (no, we’re not sure either) that makes amazing home-made donuts. Despite being a business, the biggest feeling that comes from being in The Little Man is that of community. All the staff are friendly, and get on beautifully. They’re happy to chat, and help provide a brilliantly chilled atmosphere to the place. With a mix of different sized tables, a couple of armchairs, and a kind of industrial hipster vibe to the décor, it’s both comfy and cool. But don’t be intimidated – the ethos of The Little Man Coffee Company is to be open to all, and with their variety of offerings so far, we’ve got to say they’re doing a pretty darn good job. You can find The Little Man at Ivor House on Bridge Street in Cardiff, and can keep up to date with all their goings on on Facebook (search The Little Man Coffee Co.) and Twitter @littlemancoffee.
What the folks at The Little Man have been reading so far this year: (Amongst others...) The French Laundry Cookbook Thomas Keller The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath (a Paragraph favourite!) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child J.K.Rowling Advanced Dungarees Couture Lewys Stack The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway Community and Growth Jean Vanier The Wood Fire Handbook Vincent Thurkettle
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An Intro to Paragraph Press Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. -Edward de Bono Self-publishing is becoming more and more popular as the years go by. With so many writers and artists realising that they can get their work out into the world without the restrictions of the traditional path, the future of self-publishing is looking very bright indeed. The desire to start up our own hybrid press came from the belief that quite often the publishing industry can be too concerned with safety, and with money. It is getting less and less likely for one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses to take a chance on an interesting and original piece of work if they don’t think it will bring in big cash. We reject this outlook. Great art is great art, and we’re interested in getting your stories heard, and if we can smash some preconceptions and moulds along the way then all the better. Dorothy Parker famously said that ‘creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye,’ but it’s often difficult to produce consistently high standards across all areas when trying to create a book or magazine by yourself. Sometimes you
have great dreams for your cover but have trouble finding a good artist to make it a reality, or you end up resorting to editing your own work, which is a notoriously bad idea. So that’s where we step in. We have the experience and the resources to create beautiful publications that live up to your high expectations, but allow you to keep all creative copyright for your work, and 100% of royalties from sales. Our fees come only from the work we do for you – namely the hours we spend designing, formatting, and editing your book. We can also do as little or as much for you as you’d like, and can work with your budget to produce your book or magazine, and allow you to rest easy in the thought that you won’t be paying a chunk of your royalties on top of work you’ve already paid for. If you’re interested in the question of when you might need to call on professional input when self publishing, check out our run-down list on page 30. As well as being keen on trying to level out the publishing playing field, we’re excited to be a part
of the growing arts scene in Cardiff, and to help bring different communities of creatives together. Whether you write, draw, sing, or play music, there is a good chance that you’ll benefit from meeting up with other folk that love to make things, even if it’s just for a pint (or cuppa) and a good chat. It’s well-documented that surrounding yourself with other creative people will help fuel your own artistic endeavours, whatever they may be. The creative path is often long and arduous, but it doesn’t have to be lonely. There are so many new ways to get your work out into the world without having to compromise what is most important to you, and the idea that there are so many people out there that can help and encourage you to do so is just lovely, we think. If you need a hand with any part of putting your publication together, we're here to help, so drop us a line for a chat at talk@paragraphpress.co.uk, or head over to www.paragraphpress.co.uk for more info on what we can do for you.
¶ARAGRAPH PRESS
The Bottom of the Fridge Jeff was lying on the floor looking at his fridge. He couldn’t remember when he’d taken off the bottom panel or why for that matter. It certainly wasn’t yesterday, or the day before, he’d probably removed it fourteen months ago or maybe more and it was still missing. How many times had he said he’d put it back tomorrow? Well, tomorrow never comes. Would tomorrow ever come? Jeff wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t sober, but he wasn’t drunk. He was a mixture of drunk and resigned. Resigned to a life so ordinary that lying on the floor musing about a detached part of a fridge for twenty-three minutes, not only seemed perfectly normal but also quite comforting. The fact that it was 11.26am was immaterial. Time really didn’t matter anymore. He couldn’t really say why he found solace
in the bottom of a bottle and the bottom of a fridge before lunch on a Tuesday. Of all the options available this was the easiest, the most attractive. He wasn’t completely hopeless. He could still think clearly enough to know he should pull himself together, but he didn’t quite have the energy or will to act on that thought. If this was a movie there’d be a kid; there was always a kid, his estranged kid or the local hooligan or the concerned girl next door. A kid who’d befriend him and, via a tortured friendship, make him see the error of his ways. But movies are make-believe. In life here’s no kid, no saviour. Jeff knew full well that the only person that could save him from his malaise was himself. But the floor, the fridge, the Famous Grouse seemed just fine right now.
An Elephant Never Forgets Elephants, the room was full of elephants. Big cuddly elephants, small ceramic elephants, wooden elephants, plastic elephants, pictures of elephants everywhere I looked there was a trunk or a tusk or an elephant’s ass staring back at me. There were at least 35-40 elephants in that room. She’d not mentioned elephants for the entire evening. You’d think for someone more than a little obsessed by pachyderms she’d have brought them up in conversation. But no, she’d kept her elephantine fascination firmly under wraps. “Elephaaahaherher...” She’d come back from the bathroom wearing
nothing but the cutest smile you could imagine. I stepped forward and kissed her, tasting her minty tongue. We had sex like only strangers can; wild, passionate, carefree but something was missing as we both made love to our previous partners, while making love to each other. “Why all these elephants?” I asked, taking a drag of my post-coital cigarette. “Every time my husband goes on a trip, he brings me back an elephant.” “You’re married?” It was only then I noticed the male paraphernalia around the room.
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Funny how you miss things when lust mists your eyes. “Does it matter?” she asked. It didn’t. I didn’t have any illusions this was anything other than a one-night stand. “Hm, why are so many facing the wall?” I asked. “Guilt,” she said. “An elephant never forgets, you see. So if I’ve taken a lover while he’s away, I can’t look at the elephant he gives me.” I looked around the room. I was impressed. This woman had a lot of elephants’ backsides on display.
Gareth Davies is an author and poet based in Cardiff. He writes and performs at various events across the city, and is an active member of the Roath Writers group. See more of Gareth’s work at garethdaviesauthor. blogspot.co.uk
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The Professional :
When do you need to call in the publishing cavalry? The term ‘self publishing’ is actually a bit of a misnomer. When it comes to publishing a book or magazine, there are many more elements to consider rather than just getting the content together. You can happily write a novel by yourself, albeit occasionally relying on friends and family for support, and on your friendly neighbourhood barista to keep you in enough coffee to see the thing through. But editing, designing, and printing it is a whole different story. So when do you need to call in professional help? There are some elements of the publishing process that you can get through yourself, but the point at which you need some outsider input largely depends on the quality of publication you’re going for. If it’s a personal blog post, you probably don’t need any at all. If you’re publishing a book for sale, the need for help is going to ramp up quite significantly. Below we have detailed the most important parts of the publishing process, and noted when you might ask a professional to step in for each stage.
Editing
This is such an essential part of any publication, that if you’re planning on selling
your book or magazine for any price, you should look into hiring an editor. It’s not just spelling and grammar that are critiqued during the editing process, but also the type of language you use, sentence structure, and larger narrative elements like plot and character development. Even if you’re offering your work for free, making sure that it is well constructed and free of errors will dramatically improve its reception and reviews, both of which are invaluable for any self-published author.
Proofreading
A step down from full editorial, but just as important, giving your work a final proofread before publication will weed out any details that the editor may have missed. Even professional editors miss the odd typo, simply due to human error. It is, therefore, a good idea to have a separate proofreader in order to ensure a fresh pair of eyes for your manuscript. Hybrid publishers such as Paragraph will ensure that your work gets thorough proofreading to decrease the chance of any errors, leaving your work open to better reviews, and a greater readership than if it was riddled with mistakes.
“Everyone needs a professional printer. However, simply sending your finished manuscript isn’t the only consideration.”
Cover Design
As a self-published author, it is unlikely that you’ll have a huge marketing budget, if any at all. You’re also going to be reliant on your own manpower to fuel your marketing campaign. One of the best marketing tools you can have for your publication is a great cover; the old adage of ‘never judge a book by its cover’ is thoroughly ignored in the current market. Because there are so many books on offer, you want to catch your potential readers’ attention in as many ways as possible. Great covers are also brilliant to share on social media, so unless you’re an artist or graphic designer, we would suggest hiring someone to design your cover for you. You won’t regret it.
Often overlooked, a blurb is another great marketing tool for your book. Whether you’re printing physical copies or releasing a digital publication, the blurb is your chance to sum up what your book is about, and to entice readers into choosing your book over others. If you’re looking for help with marketing your work, getting a professional blurb could really help your campaign, and again is a great social media tool. Good blurbs are short but informative, drawing the reader in and making them want to see the rest of the book, without giving too much away. It’s a delicate balance, and one you want to get right.
to create your own illustrations, especially if you’re writing something like a graphic novel. However, if you don’t have a handle on illustration, and are producing a volume that heavily relies on them, you would be remiss not to get them professionally developed. An illustrator can work with your ideas and concepts to create various different illustrative designs for you to choose from. Although the illustration process can be lengthy, and therefore expensive, if you are creating a publication that would feel lacking without a strong visual element, we suggest taking illustration costs into account when planning your budget. Photography is also an integral part of many books and magazines, especially if they are non-fiction. If you are compiling a cookbook for example, you will want professional and enticing photographs of your creations to really bring the book to life. As with illustrations, unless you have professionallevel experience with photography, hire someone who does. Quality photographs will bring a sense of professionalism and credibility to your book.
Illustration and Photography
Layout
Blurb
Illustrations are not necessarily part of every publication, but for something like a children’s book, they play a majority role. If you’re an artist, you’re likely to be able
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Whether you’re sending your manuscript to a printer, or uploading it to a digital outlet, you’ll have to think about layout and formatting. Making sure that your
book or magazine is formatted correctly and looks great on the page will add to the professional feel, and will ensure that your publication is up to a commercial standard. A well-chosen font, and consistent and clear page design will certainly give you an edge over your competition. When it comes to professional layout and formatting, if you have the software that will enable you to make a document print-ready, with correct line breaks and page bleed, then there is a chance you will be able to format your publication yourself. If you’re reading this with a feeling of confusion and terror building inside you, then you’d be better off hiring someone to do it for you.
Printing
Everyone needs a professional printer. However, simply sending your finished manuscript off isn’t the only consideration. There are various different elements to the printing process, and lots of decisions to be made, from paper thickness, to print size and run, to the type of binding and finish you want. If you’re not sure which type of printing you’re after, or where to start with getting a quote, you can hire someone to sort it all out for you, and advise on the best print fit for your publication. Here at Paragraph we outsource our printing, but can help you to find the best deal for your particular print run, and can talk you through all your options and what they mean, as well as organising the actual printing and delivery for you. If you print through us, you will only pay for the actual printing costs, without any administration fees on top.
ISBN
The allocation of ISBN numbers is one part of the publishing process that confuses everyone. Basically, if you want to publish and sell a book anywhere other than on Kindle Direct, you’ll more than likely need
an ISBN number. If you’re producing both print and ebook versions of your book, each one will also require a different ISBN. You can apply for individual ISBN numbers yourself, but if you’re keen on obtaining an entire publishing package without having to deal with any paperwork, we can sort it all out for you.
Registration
Registration is where you can really get that traditional publishing feel. If you are hoping to get your book into mainstream book shops, and let the industry know that you have something on offer, you can have your book registered with The British Library, and Nielsen BookData. It is actually law in the UK that the British Library have a copy of every published volume in some form, and Nielsen is the leading industry outlet for booksellers to find out about new publications, and how to stock them. Again this is a process you can go through yourself, or have done for you so that you don’t have to worry about paperwork and making sure you meet every criteria. As you can see, there is a lot to think about when looking into self-publishing. Of course your main concerns will be quality, and budget. We’d recommend looking through the above list and deciding which of these points are most important to you, and hiring professionals to take care of them. If you’re looking for help with any part of the self-publishing process, or to start your publishing journey to a high-quality publication, you can contact us at talk@paragraphpress.co.uk, or visit www.paragraphpress.co.uk for more information on what we can do to make your dream a reality.
Good luck, and write on!
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Tea in the Drawing Room We chatted to Paragraph’s most recent recruit - Illustrator Brittany Davies Beginning her drawing career as a student of architecture before retraining in illustration at Hereford College of Art, Brittany Davies is the incredible young artist that is making her mark as a bright new talent in both commercial and artistic fields. Growing up in a creative household with her parents in Herefordshire, Brittany has always had a fascination with domestic spaces and how people use the buildings they inhabit. After studying architecture at the University of Nottingham, Brittany decided she was far more interested in how buildings were used than in actually building them. It was then that she summoned all her courage and ploughed into the world of artistry. Of the change in direction, Brittany says ‘I always loved drawing but I didn’t have the confidence to pursue it, so went into
architecture as I felt I had a bit of comfort in the academic/mathematical side – then I realised that I had the ‘drawer’s itch’ and since starting college I draw every day’. As well as creating commissioned illustrations for businesses such as the high-end lighting company Fritz Fryer, Brittany works on her own drawings, exhibiting at shows around the country. But it’s not just standalone paintings that Brittany creates, rather building up entire characters and habitats through her work. Her incredibly intricate drawings of domestic spaces are fuelled by in-depth character studies, and take up to 60 hours each to research before the sketching even begins. Each character is fleshed out with research about the particular time period they inhabit, and details of what their
house would look like. After figuring out historical facts, and listing everything about the characters, including the kinds of things they would keep in their home, Brittany works on an A3-size sketch before building up the larger drawings, first in pencil, then fine black ink, finally filling it all in with watercolours. The image of the artist’s life that Brittany conjures when we talk is pretty perfect. Creative commissions amongst days filled with working on her epic creations, stretched out on the floor with her trusty record player and copious amounts of tea. When not working at home, Brittany shares a studio in Hereford with fifteen other artists, and likes to take meetings in coffee shops, citing them as great places to encourage the buzz of creative ideas. Brittany has also created illustrations for London-based author Rhuar Dean, creating bespoke screenprints based on his story ‘The Jazzmen’, set in a London record store. When asked about her ideal book commission, Brittany says she prefers for authors to find her, noting that ‘as a writer your world is very personal and really only you can choose who you’d like to work with to represent it. I’d never like to push my work onto a writer as I wouldn’t be able to create illustrations knowing that they weren’t comfortable. I think if you have a good buzz about each other’s creations, it will work well.’ She is somewhat more forthcoming when we ask her about her favourite illustrator though, recounting an amazing experience meeting the infamous Quentin Blake at the Hay Festival, sharing Welsh cakes and listening to his incredible stories. As well as Blake, Brittany cites the intricacies of Harry Clarke and the warmth of Phoebe Wahl as inspirations.
take similar steps toward realising their own artistic dreams, she is predictably enthusiastic, urging those that have the passion for creativity to dive in. As well as the obvious need for a love of the subject, Brittany also suggests becoming a part of an artistic community such as a shared studio or collective, in order to help maintain self-belief and to share the experience with others that can support and encourage you. Ultimately, getting yourself out there and being proactive is Brittany’s biggest tip, and if her own trajectory is anything to go by, following in her footsteps wouldn’t be the worst idea.
See more of Brittany’s work at brittanydaviesart.co.uk, and keep up to date with her goings on through Facebook (Brittany Davies Art) and on Instagram @bdaviesart. Brittany will also be at this year’s Christmas market here in Cardiff, so pop by her stall for a truly original gift.
In both her conversation on the topic of art, and through her work, Brittany’s passion and focus is palpable. Although it took her some time to work up the courage to pursue illustration as a career, after her first few years, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else. In terms of encouraging others to Illustrations by Brittany Davies
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The Pilcrow is published by
¶ARAGRAPH PRESS www.paragraphpress.co.uk @paragraphuk