'MY' WORDCON 2-PART 3

Adam Casey introduces us to Andrew Macrae, the author of Trucksong, a sci-fi novel, which almost won the Aurelis Award 2014.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Australia, Trucksong was written during Andrew’s PhD. During a PhD, students are encouraged to experiment different paths than usual. Innovation and creativity are supported. PhD is research; therefore, it gives space to unconventional roads.

Andrew Macrae was working on his sci-fi novel; experimentation with the language was the key for his novel. However, it is interesting how the open-minded attitude of a university environment finds a stop in the real world of publishing. When Andrew proposed his novel to agents and publishers, here and in the USA, his book wasn’t welcomed. Andrew was told that the story was good but the language was unconventional. He was in a dilemma: “Do I want to reach as many readers as it can, or do I want to keep going on my way?” Andrew remembers.

He resisted for a while; he was too concerned on maintaining his integrity. But eventually, he came back to the language and made it more readable.

“In the end, I didn’t have to compromise much,” he said, “because I mostly had to work on the spelling.” And while doing that he realised that his character’s authority—which he thought depended on the particular way of speaking—didn’t depend on the spelling.

“The character’s voice was still there,” says Andrew who, with his revised novel version, found publishing in 2013 at Twelfth Planet Press.

Andrew brings us also an example of marketing. Having an interest in music—he plays in an instrumental rock band—he has created a CD soundtrack for his novel that he distributed to us. This is the spirit of marketing: attracting people in a diverse and original way.     

'MY' WORDCON 2-PART 4. LINKS BETWEEN THINGS

Where a passion can lead you? Not only a passion, but also something humbler... So, let me reword the question: where a simple niche interest can lead you?

The third day of WordCon2 Brad Webb shows us a case that answers the question.

He has always found the story of Ned Kelly really fascinating, although he doesn’t consider him as a big fun. He has read different books about Ned since he was a kid. 

Brad is also interested in technology. How did the two things link to each other? In the middle of ‘90s the Internet began to expand and to give to anyone with flair of technology the possibility to create websites by themselves. Brad was fascinated by the opportunity the Internet offered and wanted to try to build a website on his own. It was in this way that he collected all his knowledge obtained through his readings about Ned Kelly and opened his first website, called Outlaw Hero Legend, about Ned’s story.

It was “a way to practice web design that might lead to a job,” Brad thought, although he was already working for the Football Australian Magazine.

The website had basic design; 11 or 12 pages with buttons and links to different sections. As simple as it was, it started to be noticed and Brad received feedbacks from people who most of the time liked it; some also wanted to write articles for the website. He received emails also from the NSW Education Department, the WA Education Department and the State Library of Victoria. The website expanded involving more people. They attended any event related to Ned Kelly and reported it.

Outlaw Hero Legend became too crowded and needed a new version that was created towards the end of the ‘90s, more structured and with also space for a shop. The website started to get the first incomes.

In 2001, Brad was contacted to create the website for the big Ned exhibition that would have taken place at the Old Melbourne Gaol. The organisation was not interested in having a catalogue; however, a great exhibition couldn’t miss it, so Brad decided to produce one. Having all the contents necessary and a friend to help him, in less than one week—the exhibition was coming up, by now—and through white nights, they made it.

“It’s probably since then that I’ve become addicted to coffee!” Brad reveals. However, Ned. The Exhibition, an A5 book printed in 20,000 copies was sold out.

Then, Brad moved to Queensland and did a master, but the publication of his first book left on him the willing to keep going in this field.

The occasion came again in 2002 when he met Max Brown, the author of Australian Son—a classic for any fan of Ned.

Brown wanted to republish a new version of it. Brad knocked the doors of many publishers on Brown’s behalf; strangely enough, no publisher was interested.

Brown died in 2003, but his Australian Son took a new life. Brad, with Brown’s friends examined all the different versions Brown had rewritten, chose the best of them and worked on the editing. In 2005 Australian Son saw a new publication in soft cover; in 2013 another publication in hard cover.

In the meantime, the evolution of technology, the increase of contents and followers of Outlaw Hero Legend requested to create a new version of it. Then, another one followed. But soon, also this became massive with 460 pages and around 30,000 images. The new website, with a much more modern and polished design and with interactivities, goes under the name of IronOutlaw.com.

Over years, Brad can count under his belt other books published: Far Beyond the Falls (2007) by A. D. Crichton, for whom Brad created also the website; Blood in the Dust (a study of Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne calligraphy) and Ellen-A Woman Of Spirit by Noelene Allen (2013), a portrait of Ned’s mum.

The interest on the Internet and the interest on the Australian story led Brad to create a website; a website connected Brad to many people and led him into publishing. As humble as it may be, an interest can take you to places you would never expect!

'MY' WORDCON 2-PART 2. BEYOND GOOD CONTENTS

The interview with Simon McKeown and the following conferences leave me with something to think about.

With a small use of technology, it is still possible to realise a book. But there are other essential aspects that Simon has not dedicated himself to. A book needs something more beyond a good story and—like in this case—good illustrations. A book needs aesthetic and marketing. It’s not only the inside of a graphic novel, but it is also and especially the cover that has to appeal to the reader. The cover is a window shop: it needs to attract, invite people to come inside.

It might be hard or soft cover with or without dust jacket, in gloss or in matte surface; in the variety of possible choices, the cover must distinguish itself from the pages.

The only element that differentiates pages from the cover in The True History of the Whipstick Sound is the colour: white for the pages and light yellow for the cover. Strangely enough, the pages are thicker than the cover paper. A choice that makes the book not to distinguish itself much from a school journal and that it might compromise the sale. If it is not supported by a strategic plan of marketing, the book risks remaining invisible. And actually, this is what is happening.

“How do people get to know about your book?” he was asked.

“They probably don’t,” he admitted.

His intention though, is not to sell it yet; he wants to realise three or four books of a series before thinking about a marketing campaign. The True History of the Whipstick Sound is his second graphic novel. The first one, A Short Lifetime on Rooftops, follows the same design.

The next conferences at WordCon 2 show good tips for marketing. André Elhay for example, proposes a case study of marketing applied to a video documentary about elderly people, athletics from the Senior Olympic Games. The film, Age of Champions has produced US $1.5 million. How? The producers focused on a niche target—elderly people, senior health organisations and universities. Keeping their audience in mind, they produced and sold merchandisings, such as DVD, bands and an educational kit. They also created a screening kit.

The latter has been extremely successful. It came with DVD, posters, post cards and so on. They attended conferences charging their speeches at $ 3,000. It included broadcasting the movie, delivering a speech of around 30 minutes and answering questions from the audiences. They collected more than 125 speaking events and generated over $ 450,000 in speaking fees and follow-up sales.

All of these tips might be translated in the writing world. It is possible to generate bookmarks, DVDs with an interview with the author or an educational tool about how to write a book of a specific genre, and so on. All of the above are tips that Simon McKeown has not considered yet, but that he should keep in mind once he will decide to present his work properly to the public.

'MY' WORDCON 2-PART 1

It’s time for WordCon 2, a three-day event organised by Melbourne Polytechnic, that offers a series of lectures and encounters with people outside school, but related to the writing and publishing field.

To open the event, there is Simon McKeown, an architect but also a graphic novels writer, interviewed by one of my teachers, the journalist Robyn Doreian. Graphic novel is a genre that I really interested in. I want, in fact, to write and illustrate books for which I create also the text.

Simon brings with him his last work, The True History of the Whipstick Sound. I am curious to know what this story is about and to see the illustrations. But I’m late.

I’m never late to events of this sort. In fact, today I was incredibly earlier than usual, more than one hour before its commencement. This was not intentional; I simply didn’t properly check the schedule posted everywhere at the university walls.

So, I decide to go to the library and spend some time writing. When I look at the time again, ten minutes has already passed since the supposed beginning of the meeting. By the time I collect all my stuff, another five minutes fly. Well, conferences never start punctually, right?

Wrong!

When I reach the conference room, the door is closed and the light inside lowered; the journalist and the interviewee give me their back. The interview has started without me.

I enter trying to make as little noise as possible; I quietly take a seat while I damn myself for being late.

“Focus Lucia, focus! You can still catch up!”

The projector is displaying a page of the book. I like Simon’s style; it reminds me some comic illustrators whose names I can’t remember, and some animated cartoon I used to watch a long time ago, broadcasted on MTV.

In black and white, the illustrations definitely show hand ability, but they are not perfect; yet, they are able to give sense and credibility. There is something that makes them unique, a personal style.

I can tune into the conversation ongoing, because the question hits my attention.

“Are they [illustrations] hand made?”

And the answer fulfills me.

“Yes, there is very little of use of Photoshop, but it is all manually made, scanned and reduced in size.”

We live in a world where everything is becoming digital, where everything is made through technology and fast, where illustrations are realised mostly by computer—although an artistic flair and ability at drawing is still fundamental. In a world like the one where we live, Simon’s work becomes remarkable and unusual.

Illustrations completely made by hand and scanned belong to the past; this is what I heard many times, from lecturers and illustrators passed by this course. However, they admit that there are some circumstances where methods of the past still survive. With my great pleasure, Simon McKeown is a proof of it.

This gives me hope; drawing and painting on paper and then scanning is exactly what I do. Having to renounce this for the sake of technology and for going with the mainstream would be disappointing. I might be old-fashioned, but paper, tangible drawings and painting are my enjoyment, the essence of this form of art that should never die.

Despite my delay, I’m able to catch up with the conference; but I still miss an important thing: what The True History of the Whipstick Sound is about?

There is only a way to discover it: I go to the library and I grab a copy!

REPORTING ‘MY’ WORDCON1—PART 3 The sprint of NaNoWriMo

The importance of building a network and the passion we need to put into what we do, even if it is just for an assignment or for a bigger project, links the head teacher’s speech on the third day of WordCon1.

Karen Simpson Nikakis has come to talk about the NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month—an initiative that has started in the Usa and that has become international. It’s a challenge that invites you to write 50,000 words in one month. The month chosen is November but there are other versions, called Camps on April and July. In those latter months it’s you who decide your words-challenge. There is a website to which you can subscribe for free and update your progress day by day. Your signs of progress are, therefore, visible on a personal chart and you can also see other people’s. If you reach that amount of words at the end of the month, you can upload your whole writing and win the competition.

Karen encourages us to participate; it gives motivation and creates a time for you to write. It’s actually what I’ve already done last November and I’m thinking of doing it again. Although I didn’t reach 50,000 words it’s helped me to keep going on a project I started last year and that I’m still working on.

Without it I would probably have stopped dedicating myself to it as soon as the semester finished. I didn’t write every day of that month, but as Karen says, it has definitely created a time and space to write; every Wednesday, in fact, I met with other people in one of the premises opened to this initiative. Being together with other motivated people encourage yourself, you are part of a team. Not to mention the fact that this is also a way to establish a network with people that share the same passion and may help you to take the first step in your future career. In Karen’s experience, NaNoWriMo has firstly helped her to get out the idea of her novel; then, in the following edition in which she participated—although she felt stressed for having more expectations—she performed better. And now that that her fantasy novel The Emerald Serpent has been published, she says, “that book wouldn’t exist except to NaNoWriMo.” To her words, “NaNoWriMo gives you a sprint; gets your project from zero to something; put you in a community who support you and say ‘Write!’”