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Is it worth entering writing competitions?
29 March 2012
Last year, I heard about a competition organised by an independent theatre group that was looking for new writers. The prize was to work with a director on refining the script and then to have your play staged. A representative from the theatre company spoke to a group of writers, including me, and told us there were no preconceived ideas about what kind of play they were looking for. We should let our imaginations run free.
Recently, I saw the two winning plays and they were brilliantly staged. But they were also something of a let-down: they covered religious conflict, teen pregnancy, and knife crime. They’re difficult issues, but they’re very easy from the point of view of commissioning theatre. Nobody is going to complain if someone invests money in those kind of productions because it’s just what theatre groups are expected to do. It would have been truly daring to commission a farce, a sci-fi play, or anything else that felt a bit fresher. That would have really helped to discover new voices.
I hadn’t submitted anything for this particular competition (I didn’t have a strong enough idea, and I was working on promoting Web Design in Easy Steps, and writing iPad for the Older and Wiser at the time). Watching this play made me realise that I’m highly unlikely to ever write the kind of play that could win, though. I ended up quite pleased that I hadn’t found the time to submit an entry because I’m just not the kind of writer they’re looking for.
I’ve entered a few writing competitions over the last couple of years when publishers have been looking for someone to write stories for their characters or plot outlines. I was a close runner-up twice in competitions organised by one publisher, which is a frustrating place to be, although it’s possible I might be lucky third time around if I give it another go.
Seeing this theatre production and thinking about my recent competition entries made me question whether it’s worth entering writing competitions. The upside is that the prizes can be hugely beneficial: they can raise your profile and give you new creative opportunities to find an audience and tell it a story. If a competition prize helps you to create a new work, you’ll learn a lot along the way, usually from people with much more experience than you. Competitions are often the most approachable way to break into a new style of writing too, because they welcome all-comers.
But the downside is that you’re writing to somebody else’s agenda, and sometimes you don’t even know what that agenda is. There will nearly always be safer options for the judges to choose than your work. There might be entrants with a stronger track record, or stories that tick more boxes.
You’re also going where the competition is fiercest. There might be hundreds or thousands of writers who are writing something to the same brief as you are. When the judges are choosing from similar submissions, how can you make your work stand out? Minor differences between the submissions become hugely important, in a way that they wouldn’t in most other contexts.
Whenever you write, you’re in competition, of course. You’re vying with other writers to win an agent’s representation, a publisher’s budget, and a reader’s attention. But when you come up with your own projects, you can use your ideas and style to differentiate yourself and stand out. You might be the only person who’s writing fiction about how technology is affecting the music industry, or at least you’ll be within a select niche. When you enter formal writing competitions, you have to run with the herd.
Not all competitions are the same. Some give you a lot of freedom to shape the story to your own vision, and to take the characters in new directions. Some give you detailed feedback, which might be valuable, depending on who’s giving it. And some have prizes that, even with the odds stacked against you, are well worth the gamble. Many will push you outside your comfort zone, and teach you something about writing, purely through the experience of creating your submission. You only become a better writer by practising, and I don’t regret spending time on anything I’ve written.
Writers should remember, though, that their time is precious and they can only write one thing in any given moment. It’s easy to get seduced into entering competitions, instead of cracking chapter one of your new novel, which perhaps begins a more difficult journey.
What do you think? Are writing competitions worth the time?Labels: books, journalism, writing
What’s new in the Apple iPad 3 (or iPad HD)?
09 March 2012
Apple has unveiled the iPad 3, and perhaps the most surprising thing is that there were few surprises. There had been so much speculation before its release, some of it informed by leaked photos of parts and some of it possibly planted, that there was already some consensus on what would be introduced in the iPad 3.
There were a few predictions that didn’t come true, including a fascinating story in The Guardian about a haptic technology that makes the flat screen feel like it has texture, so you can feel the edges of keys, for example. There were rumours the Home button would be removed so that all the controls are gesture-based, although this seemed unlikely, both for usability and branding reasons.
We now know that there are two main changes: the first is that the camera quality has been improved. It still lags behind the iPhone’s camera quality or a dedicated digital camera, but it’s significantly better than the iPad 2. Until I get my hands on one, I won’t be sure what kind of shots it will be good for, but the previous camera was only really suitable for video calling or for quick grab shots. It couldn’t be used as a real camera, to make photos you’ll want to keep forever. Hopefully, the iPad’s new camera will be much closer to what we would expect from a camera phone.
The other main change is that the screen resolution has doubled, so text and images will look sharper. The device will be able to play back HD video at its full resolution, which led to some speculation that the device would be called the iPad HD, although there’s no indication of that on Apple’s website. Apple just calls the device a third-generation iPad. Apple says the higher resolution has no significant impact on battery life, which is good news.
There are a few other changes that will be less obvious. The iPad now supports 4G mobile communications, but since there isn’t much coverage for these in the UK, that’s unlikely to make much difference here. You can use your iPad’s mobile connection to create a wi-fi hotspot for other devices, although this is probably of most use if you’re getting superfast 4G speeds in your mobile connection.
The new iPad also has a new processor, called the A5X, which has double the graphics processing capability of the previous processor, so it can manage the enhanced screen effectively.
The release of the iPad 3 also came with some software enhancements. The camera app has been redesigned, most notably so that the button to take a photo is somewhere you can actually reach it without having to juggle the iPad with one hand. It’s now possible to delete photos from the Photo Stream folder on the iPad, although that delete instruction doesn’t seem to synchronise with other devices, so you’ll need to delete the photo on your other devices too. The camera is also said to have face detection built-in, so that it can optimally balance the exposure across all the faces in your photo. Apple says it’s also improved the sound quality on the iPad so that films and TV shows sound better. All these features, plus some bug fixes, are available to owners of older iPads who upgrade their iPad software to version iOS 5.1 (obviously, you still need an iPad 2 with a built-in camera to use the Camera app). If you’re not yet running iOS 5.0, see my guide to upgrading to iOS5. If you have upgraded to iOS 5.0, you can upgrade again to this latest version iOS 5.1 by going into your Settings app, tapping General, then Software Update.
There’s also a new software feature which Apple hasn’t rolled out to older iPads, which is a new dictation button on the keyboard which enables you to dictate text to the screen. At first I thought this was a simple software feature that could easily have been given to those with older iPads, but on reflection, voice recognition is quite processor-intensive, so it might need the new A5X chip to work.
Apple has also released iPhoto for the iPad (pictured, above). When Apple announces a new application like this, I feel a little conflicted. On the one hand, it’s great that they’ve invested in creating new software. On the other hand, given the device costs about £500, it wouldn’t hurt them to give away the software, rather than charging £3 for it, which almost seems petty. When you buy a new Mac, you get iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband for free, and these are all sold separately for the iPad. Apple did introduce basic photo editing capabilities in the iOS5 software upgrade for the iPad, so perhaps I shouldn’t grumble about them making enhanced features available to those who are prepared to pay a bit for them, given they have to invest resources in creating the software.
The iPad 3 will be released on Friday 16th March and Apple is taking pre-orders now if you’re interested. Amazon doesn’t have a proper listing for the iPad 3 yet, but I expect other retailers will be advertising it for sale and pre-orders over the next few days.
(Corrected, with thanks to Michael Hülskötter, to clarify that the quad-core is for graphics only).
Labels: Apple, iOS5, iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad HD
Download free Back to the Future game for your iPad
16 February 2012
BBC launches search for new comedy writers
03 February 2012
The BBC has announced that it is running a new talent search to discover comedy writing talent. If you have an idea for a comedy that 'reflects modern Britain', and that will have a studio audience roaring with laughter, then you have until 21st March 2012 to submit your entry. You need to put together a 30 minute script (roughly 30 pages), together with an outline of how you see the series developing. Since it's recorded in front of a studio audience and there's talk of catchphrases, I expect they're looking for something fairly mainstream.
Speed up your PC and shrink your slideshows
02 February 2012
I've written two short tutorials for Microsoft Office, picking up on a couple of specific problems that I've come across recently.
Labels: Microsoft Office
Apple releases free multimedia ebook authoring tool for iBooks
26 January 2012
Last month, I wrote about The Beatles' Yellow Submarine ebook, which is like a modern pop-up book, with animated illustrations, interactive pictures, embedded videos, and text that reads itself aloud. Since that was published, there have been some educational interactive books appearing in the iBooks store. It's clearly something that Apple is putting a lot of weight behind, and it represents a new class of content that is ideal for the iPad.
Labels: iPad, iPad 2, journalism, webdesign, writing
Five short pieces of book news
15 January 2012
I just wanted to write a short blog post to round up a few snippets of news about my books:
- Lulu is running two special offers applicable to my novel University of Death. You can pay no shipping using the code WHOASHIPPINGUK305 or you can save 25% of the book price using the code LULUBOOKUK305. I believe these offer codes work on all books in Lulu's store. My novel takes a comical look at the music industry and has had rave reviews from magazines including Record Collector, Music Tech and Metal Hammer. Find out more and download the free sample here, but don't delay! Both offers expire 31 January 2012 and only apply to books bought through Lulu's website. The novel is also available as an ebook on iBooks, but I can't create a link for that so you'll need to search in the store (sorry!).
- Web Design in Easy Steps is following in the footsteps of iPad for the Older and Wiser, and is an Amazon bestseller. It's currently #1 in the categories for website design; web graphics and animation; and books published by In Easy Steps.
- Tata McGraw-Hill has published an edition of Web Design in Easy Steps for sale in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. It's wonderful to know the book is helping people in all these countries to create their websites!
- Saga Magazine has published a review of iPad for the Older and Wiser. It says the book "will have you set up on your new device in no time". See a scan of the review here.
- If you got iPad for the Older and Wiser recently (thank you!), you might have missed that there is a free supplement available for it here, to explain the latest software updates available for the iPad.
Labels: books, iOS5, iPad, university of death, webdesign, writing
Sharpen your proofreading skills with a short test
06 January 2012
Proofreading is all about quality control, making sure that an article is accurate and consistent. Often, it will involve picking up factual errors (such as names that have been spelled incorrectly) and layout problems, but the focus is usually on grammar and consistency of style. The art of proofreading interests me greatly. I have written an interview with the Guardian's style guide editors and created a proofreading exercise, and have some more ideas for content I can share on this subject.
I've also spent a lot of time on quality control in agencies and publishing houses I've worked with, and one of the key things I've noticed is that you can get better at proofreading. It's tempting to think you've either got an eye for it or you haven't, but I've seen people improve markedly by practising it and focusing their attention on getting their copy right. That's why I encourage writers to work on their proofreading skills. You can do it almost anywhere: simply pick up a newspaper and see if you can spot the errors the subs missed.
WM Group, which runs training courses on writing among other things, has put a short proofreading test online. In some ways it's easier than my test: it's shorter, and there are fewer errors in it. But in other ways it's harder, because the errors are quite subtle and easy to miss. The company says that only 31% of people who sent in a response were able to get full marks. People often queried accurate punctuation but missed some significant mistakes which made them cringe when they were told the answers afterwards. I've seen the results breakdown for 49 people who tried the test. I don't want to give the game away, but one mistake was only picked up by three people, even though there's a heavy hint in the article itself. WM Group has revealed that there are eight errors, but the two top scorers only found five of them. Can you do better? You can try the test here.
Labels: journalism, proofreading, writing
A charity project to help you kick off your writing year
05 January 2012
Whatever your ambitions, you can learn a lot from those who have already achieved them. The biography section of the library is packed with life lessons that can inspire you and provide practical advice, so that you can learn from others’ experiences and avoid repeating their mistakes. The internet too, makes it easy to find tips and tricks for almost any situation.There’s no real substitute for being able to speak to exactly the right person one-on-one, though. You can learn so much by asking a few well-composed questions to the right person. That’s why I think Pro Dono is an interesting concept. It enables you to meet with leading public figures, including famous writers, by making a donation to the charity of their choice. Here’s a short interview with Duncan Turnbull (pictured, right), co-founder and MD of Pro Dono, to explain how it works...
What is Pro Dono?
Pro Dono is a not-for-profit organisation that arranges meetings between members of the public and eminent public figures. The public figure gives their time, and the client makes a donation to the charity of the figure’s choice.How can young writers benefit from Pro Dono?
This is a unique experience for donors; the opportunity to talk one-on-one with someone we admire. For a young writer, this could be meeting a journalist such as Evan Davis, Toby Young or John Micklethwait; or a great author like Dame Jacqueline Wilson, Jill Shaw Ruddock or Alain de Botton. We hope that donors can gain advice, insight and inspiration from meeting our Ambassadors – and at the same time, raise funds for a good cause.What do the ambassadors get from participating in the programme?
All of our public figures (Pro Dono Ambassadors) have agreed to be part of Pro Dono as they see it as an effective and efficient way to raise money for their favourite charities. Most donors meet their hero over dinner, but we also organise events relevant to the Ambassador’s area of expertise. For example, afternoon tea at Lord’s with a cricketing legend, a tour of a museum with its Director, or an afternoon of wildlife spotting with an ornithologist. Additionally, the Ambassadors get the opportunity to talk about the charitable work they believe in and are passionate about.While I'm sure young writers would want to be as generous as possible, I doubt they can afford the real market value of a famous writer's time. How much does it typically cost to meet with someone under the Pro Dono programme?
Our Ambassadors have target donation amounts, but we encourage our clients to suggest donations on a case-by-case basis. Often donors group together and come to the meeting with one or two friends. Pro Dono is a popular gift idea – this is giving with a conscience.Where can people find out more?
There is more information about Pro Dono and our ambassadors on the Pro Dono website www.prodono.co.uk and we have a youtube video (below) to show the donation process. Pro Dono already has many Ambassadors from the journalism world, as well as sports icons, artists, politicians, businesspeople, Michelin-starred chefs, and TV personalities. Finally, we also encourage people to suggest new Ambassadors they would like to meet, and we endeavour to arrange this.Labels: writing
Download a free guide to iOS5 for the iPad
20 December 2011
In October, Apple published a free update to the iPad software, called iOS5, that introduced 200 new features and bug fixes. New iPads bought after the introduction of iOS5 will have it installed by default and older iPads can be updated for free.
Working with my publisher John Wiley, who have done a fabulous job on editing and layout as usual, I've published a free update to the book to cover iOS5.
The free iOS5 for the iPad guide shows you how to update your iPad (if necessary) and introduces the new features, including iMessages, tabbed browsing, the Reminders app, iCloud for wireless backup and synchronisation, the Notification Centre, new gestures and more.
If you have a copy of my book iPad for the Older and Wiser, this guide is like a bonus chapter that would come at the end of the book. If you don't have a copy, this guide will still get you up and running with iOS5 and will also give you a taster of the style and content of iPad for the Older and Wiser.
The 47-page guide is available as a PDF that you can read on your iPad or on your computer. Download the free iOS5 for the iPad supplement.
You're welcome to share that free supplement with your friends and post it on your blog. Let me know if you'd like any images, text or anything else to help you spread the word!
Labels: Apple, books, iOS5, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, iPod
Download a free MP3 album from Mute Records for your iPad
16 December 2011
Mute Records has been home to some of my favourite artists, including Inspiral Carpets, Depeche Mode and Erasure.
Amazon is now offering a free sample album from Mute, which you can download and play on your computer, iPad, iPhone or other MP3 player. To buy MP3s on Amazon and add them to your iPad, you'll need to use your computer. Visit Amazon on your computer (click here to go straight to the Mute album), click the button on the right to add the song or album to your basket, and then click the basket in the top right and click Check Out to begin the buying/downloading process. Amazon has some special software you will need to install, which will download your music and add it to your iTunes library for you. When you synchronise your iPad, iPod or iPhone with your iTunes library, the music will be copied across so you can play it on your device. See iPad for the Older and Wiser for advice on synchronising your computer with your iPad.
Amazon's music is in MP3 format, which means you should be able to play it on any digital music player, including the iPad.
Some of the music on the Mute sampler is quite experimental, but there are some poppy tracks too, and the price is a bargain! If you haven't tried downloading MP3s at Amazon before, it's a risk-free way to test the process too. These sample albums tend to be available for free for a limited period, so I recommend you don't delay, download today!
Labels: Amazon, Apple, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, iPod, music, music promotion
Apple announces 12 days of free downloads for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
12 December 2011
Apple is once again running the 12 Days of Christmas promotion this year. From Boxing Day (26 December) through to 6 January, Amazon will make a song, video, app, TV programme or book available for free download for just 24 hours. The promotion is a great way for Apple to welcome people into the iTunes store who got an iPad, iPod or iPhone for Christmas, and also gives its loyal customers some nice freebies too.
In previous years, downloads have included the Trivial Pursuit game, pop videos by Lily Allen, Ting Tings and Katy Perry, and lots of songs and music EPs.
Check in at the store each day during the promotion period to see what's new, or download the dedicated app.
Labels: Apple, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, iPod
The Beatles Yellow Submarine iPad ebook signals the future of iBooks publishing
09 December 2011
Apple is promoting a free ebook of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, which shows the capabilities of the new version of its iBooks app. It's fantastic fun for younger readers, and a showcase for what the concept of a book might become for everybody.
There have been lots of apps that modernise the concept of the pop-up book. My friend Chris Stevens created the Alice for the iPad app, which is one of my recommended iPad apps. It uses clever physics simulation for the reader's interaction with the pictures, so that the characters move as if on springs, or respond realistically to you shaking the iPad. He shared the code to do this in his book Designing for the iPad. There are lots of other people who have created apps for their books too, so that readers can interact with them in memorable and engaging ways.
The interesting development here is that the Yellow Submarine app works within the iBooks app, which further blurs the lines around what defines a book. The iBooks app is great. I was really impressed with the user experience iBooks offers with my own books (including iPad for the Older and Wiser), but so far it's been mainly about reflowing text, searching text and viewing images. It hasn't offered a huge amount of interaction. Maybe that's because I don't usually read children's books, but in any case, I haven't seen anything like the Beatles app working as iBooks content, and the fact I had to upgrade iBooks to get it to work suggests this type of interaction is new to iBooks.
The Yellow Submarine book is everything you would expect: colourful, surreal, and interactive. The animations are quite subtle: it's not a video, but small parts of the image move, such as a waving hand or a waggling tongue. You can tap pictures to make them perform other moves and can sometimes drag pictures (such as butterflies) around. The Sea of Holes is fun, with The Beatles popping up and down like a whack-a-mole game. There's an option to have the book read aloud to you, with the words lit up as each one is spoken. The app includes embedded videos you can play within the page, and short bursts of music that are played when you tap some of the characters. The only disappointment is that the music bursts are quite short. I haven't bought the Yellow Submarine album from iTunes, but I do have many of the songs from albums I've bought on CD and it might have been nice for there to be a way to integrate playback of those.
There's still some work to be done on refining the user interface. The problem is that there can be a conflict between the book's content and the iBooks controls. For example, you can often touch a character to make them sing or move. Indeed, the whole point of the book is that you touch things to see what they might do. If you touch a character that doesn't have an action assigned to it, though, iBooks is likely to interpret that as a tap on the app, and turn the page or show/hide the iBooks controls. It feels broken when you touch a character to see what they might do, and it turns the page, or when the controls keep popping in and out of view as you try to explore the book.
These new iBooks capabilities create fantastic opportunities for book authors and publishers: it's easy to think of educational content that would benefit from simple animations, embedded videos or interactive elements (such as lifting the flap to reveal an answer). It's also a nice way to add value to written content. Authors often have access to audio recordings or other research materials which would be considered bonus features on DVDs, but which don't really have an outlet in book publishing.
To get the app working, you'll need to update your iBooks app (tap the App Store icon on your iPad, then tap Updates at the bottom, then find iBooks in the list, and then tap Free). Then go into the iBooks store and download the Yellow Submarine iBook. If you put the book into the app before you upgrade the app, it won't work unless you've previously upgraded to iBooks 1.5. Here's a direct link to download the Yellow Submarine ebook. There's more information on updating apps and downloading ebooks in iPad for the Older and Wiser.
Now I have the urge to check in with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and catch up with Henry the Horse, Lovely Rita and all the other surreal characters there. Cue the music!
Labels: Apple, books, iPad, music promotion
Holy Zarquon! My iPad book is a bestseller
01 December 2011
My book iPad for the Older and Wiser is officially a bestseller. It's currently the #1 book on Amazon.co.uk in the Silver Surfers category, and the #1 book on Amazon.co.uk in the computer hardware category. It holds the second position in the chart for all computer science books.
You could argue that all the niche charts make it easier to get a bestseller now, but there’s still a lot of strong competition out there. It’s nice to know that my book has charted above every other book about the iPad and every other book about computing for the over 50s.
The book’s sales ranking overall is #1,655 out of all the books Amazon sells, which puts it ahead of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (#2,808), Pride and Prejudice (#1,925) and The Catcher in the Rye (#1,834). That’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek: these books have sold steadily over a generation or more, and will continue to do so for decades to come. But it’s still nice to think that for a brief period my book was more popular with Amazon’s customers than some of the most famous books in English. And this is the highest ranking I remember any of my books getting on Amazon, too.
The response to the book has been fantastic. I attended a U3A meeting recently and the members there were really enthusiastic about the book and the iPad. It’s been getting some great reviews too. Many thanks to everyone for their support with it. You can find out more about iPad for the Older and Wiser here. It's available to buy in all good bookshops, including Amazon.
How to create an advent calendar on your computer
23 November 2011
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have already seen this, but I've written an article explaining how you can create an advent calendar on your computer using PowerPoint. It's a simple project that uses a built-in template, which you can customise with your own pictures. The template features some nice PowerPoint animations and comes with some great default clip art, so even if you don't want to make your own calendar, you can use the default template to count down the days to Christmas.
Labels: books, Christmas, Microsoft Office
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