JaneShuff

  • Thanks Seagreen. Glad you laughed. Well, Terrie, there’s a coincidence. I’ve barely been able to write for the last month having been fitting our new kitchen. Completely new from top to bottom including having to rebuild joists under the floor and fit a kitchen to an accuracy of 1mm per metre. As I’ve never done anything to that accuracy except by…[Read more]

  • Sea,  I well remember, a couple of years ago admiring your shorter haircut when you picked me up at Markinch station, Promise I wasn’t thinking of the competition we might meet at Craigievar! I did hope to do something more inspired for this great prompt, but ran out of mental space, so well done Ath.

  • Anyone else got ???? Supposed to be a smiley face 🙂

  • Sorry for being so late with this…

    Sandra and Ath, thanks for entering – and both with a hair-related topic! ???? Alex, no worries. I’ll catch you next time.

    Sandra – your chosen article left me gobsmacked. Clearly, I have been a victim of this. Brainwashed into keeping my hair short because my good looks are a threat to other women. I’ll be on…[Read more]

  • Yes, it’s the old vanity approach of taking advantage of unaware writers’ naivety. There’s a common belief that editing more or less equals proofreading without so much as a beta read along the way. I imagine all vanity publishers will be using AI in the same fashion.

    I think what’s notable about Spines is the number of books they plan to…[Read more]

  • I’m not surprised by this. For some time there have been AI editing features available with Prowritingaid, Grammarly and so on. I have the former, and although I seldom use the AI features, some of which are behind an additional paywall, I have given them a spin in the past. What you get from one of the reports does appear to be a reasonably…[Read more]

  • Argus 26 November 2024

    Brighton man grows hair for five years for special reason.

     

    I remember the blonde hair on the windowsill. My hair’s brown, so it must have come from Taz. Her hair is, or was, I should say, long, and rich, and blonde. Curious, I ran my fingers through my hair a few times and then examined what had come loose. Not a lot,…[Read more]

  • Hi @janette

    I agree it could bring self-pub into disrepute though the large number of self-pub books on Amazon that seem not to have had human editing, regardless of the availability of AI, is already doing that.

    The publishing industry can seem very off-putting. I’ve never tried to be published by it so I haven’t been through that particular…[Read more]

  • If you haven’t seen it before this report from April 2022 on paid-for publishing is interesting and depressing. I can’t remember if it mentions AI. A questionnaire was sent to authors who’d paid for an all-in editorial and publishing package. These weren’t indie authors paying for their own editors, cover designers etc and doing the hard work of…[Read more]

  • Yes, it’s rather chilling, isn’t it?

    One doesn’t tend to think of Roald Dahl as a sci-fi writer, but he foresaw something like this. Over seventy years ago one of his early adult short stories, The Great Automatic Grammartizator, told the tale of a nerd who invents a machine that generates stories at such a prodigious rate that he takes over the…[Read more]

  • It was only a question of time. I’m surprised it’s taken this long. Perhaps there are other ‘offers’ that haven’t hit the newspapers.

    Writers condemn startup’s plans to publish 8,000 books next year using AI | Books | The Guardian

    • I share your sentiments, Libby, as I do the statement from Bluesky (in the body of the report). This is wholly about money, bypassing the love of writing and reading altogether. Sadly, I feel it could also have a knock-on effect on self-publishing, causing increased distrust in the quality you can find there. I hope I am wrong, but I’m becoming…[Read more]

  • 5 days left to give me the lowdown on what really happened behind the headline!

  • Looks very promising. I shall be donning the headphones when I set about cooking dinner.

  • If it has any impact at all on the publishing world, I would be pleased. I can see that it is galling when an author with a genuine passion for writing, say for a young audience, hones their craft and achieves moderate success, and then watches a celeb waltz in like an unoriginal bargain-basement Roald Dahl, have a small fortune spent on…[Read more]

    • I wholly agree, though in a fit of madness, I thought that an increased gathering of writers might at least get our voices heard, if not have any bearing on sales. It would be a start if some regulation was brought in regards being able to blatantly claim someone else’s work is your own – but too many influential people are on the opposing side to…[Read more]

  • Take Four Books starts today. Looks interesting. An author will talk about the influence of three different writers on their own writing. First up  is Graeme Macrae Burnet discussing his Gorski trilogy.

    BBC Radio 4 – Take Four Books, Graeme Macrae Burnet

  • https://emmadarwin.substack.com/9f42c2c1

    To celebrate the Itch’s first birthday on Substack and help spread the word Emma is offering 20% off all new annual or monthly subscriptions. Click the link before 6th December:

  • My view is that publishers are in it for the money, and celebrity sells more – and more reliably – than as-yet-unknown novelists (potentially supplying a profit which might enable them to take more chances on unknowns?) It might be seen as ‘not fair’, but in my view is more honest to trust readers’ appreciation of well-written novels than bombard…[Read more]

    • Sandra, it isn’t so much a bombardment campaign, rather a sharing of a meme to ask for support. I appreciate the view that regular novelists are enabled to be taken on because of the success of celebrity books, but the avalanche of them in such an unlevel playing field is instrumental in creating this huge imbalance, and I think the dishonesty is…[Read more]

      • I suspect, lacking conviction in my opinions, I’m not a campaigner.

        • I have bowed out of this. My intention was to be supportive, but the feelings stirred and opposing views given have me concluding that I should leave it to published authors and their representatives to fight the battle. Lesson learned.

  • Recently, @Philippa East posted a copy of her letter to the Society of Authors on facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2364405197250152&set=pcb.2364405367250135

    It refers to the unfair bombardment of celebrity books and their many promotions, especially during a holiday season. Though I am not (yet) published, I wholeheartedly agree…[Read more]

    • Hi @janette, thank you for sharing this. As I’m not on FB I can’t read the whole letter on screen. Are you able to copy and paste it here?

      • Hi Libby and @janette.
        Here below is a copy of my original letter to the society of authors.
        I think that a “Christmas appeal” letter, encouraging readers and book-buyers to support ordinary authors by avoiding celebrity titles would be great! I’ve been chatting loads about this issue in my various writing networks, so I think that if we were…[Read more]

    • Thank you, @philippaeast for posting this. @Libby hope you agree with the sentiment.

    • I’m happy to join any communal effort. I’m an associate member of SoA, because I haven’t sold enough books to classify as a full member. Our Monmouth branch of SoA is very active, and as you can imagine, the subject of celebrity authors comes up a lot, particularly in relation to children’s books. A good friend, Claire Fayers, has just scored a…[Read more]

    • On listening to other opinions, both here and on Messenger (FB), I concede that I have perhaps not worded my intentions very well and may have come across as too confrontational. I also apologize to those who feel ‘bombarded’ and will happily remove names from the list of those I have shared into the conversation, or remove the message altogether.…[Read more]

    • I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience trying to get the message out Janette. I share your and Philippa’s frustration with the celebrity Christmas book, especially now I’m truing to get my funny children’s book under people’s noses. An unfair situation, but one I doubt publishers will be interested in rectifying.

  • Bella posted an update 1 year, 5 months ago

    Does anyone have any experience of pitching a non-fiction title to publishers or agents? I’m part of a small team (mostly North American) writing a book about Complex PTSD. We’re reaching the stage of having a decent manuscript and would like to try pitching it even if we do end up self-publishing. But none of us really has a clue…

    • I have an old school friend who I’m still in contact with. He was senior non-fiction editor for Penguin Random House in Canada, and although he’s just retired he knows the business inside out and still manages a couple of clients for them. I’ll see what he says.

  • Janette posted an update 1 year, 5 months ago

    Good to see so many taking part in the Winter comp. I’ve been wrestling with two ideas though one appears to have risen above the other. I was ready to post it … but late corrections reminded me to be a little less hasty and allow some thinking time, when I’ll probably change my mind again.

    • I’ve been struggling to come up with anything, because my initial idea seems beyond my ability. I’m going to try something simpler.

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