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Who's in July 2014 Writing Magazines

CarolCarol
edited June 2014 in Writing
Yes, it's that time again...

Who'’s in July 2014's magazine? The magazines probably won’t be in the shops until 5th June so DON’T EXPECT THEM UNTIL THEN.

If you spot yourself, please let us know which magazine and WHICH PAGE; and the name the article appears under if it differs from your Talkback name. If you spot someone else, PLEASE LET THEM post the details here.

Remember: if mentioning a story, don’t give away the ending.

Comments

  • CarolCarol
    My copy arrived today. Anyone else?
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    No Mr Postie yet.
  • OnlinegenieOnlinegenie
    Arrived this morning.
  • WiltsWilts
    Mine has just arrived!
  • sallyjsallyj
    Mine arrived today and I've been given a lovely spot in Members' News about my e-book on Kindle Publishing.
  • ClaudiaClaudia
    edited June 2014
    I had a look in WH Smith today just in case. Needless to say, nary a whiff of a writing magazine...

    Well done, Sallyj - I'll look for it if/when I find a copy.
  • WiltsWilts
    Only had a glance through but have recognised at least two tbrs so far.
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    The subscribers usually receive theirs before the shops.
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    Mine hasn't arrived yet.
  • CarolCarol
    Claudia, usually the shops get theirs Thursday, but more likely Friday in some places.

    Recognised a couple of names, including sally j's- well done.
  • ClaudiaClaudia
    edited June 2014
    Claudia, usually the shops get theirs Thursday, but more likely Friday in some places.
    I know - I was just living in hope. The problem is, I don't have a local WH Smiths where I'm staying.

    p.s. we're now a bit stuck with our friends while our car is being repaired. Hoping to get it back tonight, but Uxbridge is now looking distinctly shaky! :(
  • CarolCarol
    You might find an enlightened newsagents that stocks it...

    Fingers crossed for the car repair.
  • NefertariNefertari
    Mine hasn't arrived yet.
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    Nor mine. Have received a lovely new book to read. It's all shiny and stuff.
  • LizLiz
    i have received mine, but absolutely no time to read or open the darn thing.
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    If I'm honest, mine wouldn't be read for a few weeks. I seem to have a pile of books and magazines requiring attention.
  • Helena-WHelena-W
    Yes, I got a mention on page 27. I was shortlisted for the SP award, which I won in 2007 and was runner up in 2009.

    However, I don't think the judges are abiding by their own guidelines. I am sure that I have heard and read more than once, and certainly in David St John Thomas's speeches in 2007 and 2009, that it is crucially important that the person who is awarded self publisher of the year really has done all the publishing tasks themselves, and can show that they marketed the book extensively.

    At the ceremony in 2009 I chatted afterwards to the winner, asking her what programs she used for typesetting, layout and design. A very wealthy woman, the wife of a a bigshot QC I believe, she told me she hadn't done anything herself except write the book! She had thrown pots of money at it -- thousands of pounds -- on a professional cover designer, professional typesetter, professional editor to rewrite it, etc. The book had no webpage, wasn't marketed anywhere that I could find through extensive "Googling". It was women's history and I wanted to buy a copy, but it wasn't available in any bookshops or online. She didn't need to sell a single copy because money was no object.

    I had done every task myself (editing, cover design, interior design, typesetting etc). I paid nothing to anyone except the book printer who printed from my preformatted PDF, so I felt disgruntled that we weren't all on a level playing field.

    I see the same thing has happened this year. The winner employed professionals, it says so on page 26:

    "commissioning the eye-catching cover illustration, specialist layout design, copyediting".

    When I see that an author has engaged an editor, alarm bells ring. We do not know to what extent an "editor" re-writes the text. I am currently employed by a major publishing house as a book editor, and so I know darn well what the word "editing" can mean - anything from tweaking the odd phrase to completely rewriting a very poor text.

    The runner up was the same. On p27 it is admitted that the author "assembled a team of...professionals to help her polish and refine the text...finally enlisting a freelance editor...and commercial design service."

    I believe this goes against the spirit of the awards as laid down by the original organisers. If you employ a team of professionals to re-write your text, typeset the book and design the cover, to my mind you are not a self-publisher at all. You are someone with a shedload of money to spend on (practically) "buying" yourself a self-publishing award by employing professionals to do all the tasks.

    This is totally unfair to the authors who genuinely do all the tasks themselves.

    If I invited you to my house and showed you a magnificent tapestry on my wall, saying I'd done it myself and it had won first prize in a tapestry competition, then it turned out that I'd paid a team of stitchers to do it, I am sure you would disagree with my description. Or if I offered you a home cooked meal, and you found out later that I'd picked up the phone and had a take-away delivered?

    I'm not happy about this at all.

    Helena
  • WebboWebbo
    The crux of it is, Helena, that you are insisting the competition still be organised in the same way it always was. Self-publishing in 2014 is not what it was ten or five years ago.

    Outsourcing some aspects of production is well within the rules of the Awards for as long as we've been running them, and indeed expected in modern self-publishing.
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    edited June 2014
    Congratulations on the shortlisting, Helena.
    I don't think the judges are abiding by their own guidelines ... that it is crucially important that the person who is awarded self publisher of the year really has done all the publishing tasks themselves
    Helena
    Unless you read this in the competetion rules then I'm not sure why you feel the judges aren't sticking to their guidelines. They really can't be expected to stick to everyone else's.

    If you can do your own editing, cover design and all the rest then that's excellent. I don't see anything wrong with those who can't paying for a professional to do these things though.
  • CarolCarol
    And they're still self-publishing under the definitions used today.
  • Lou TreleavenLou Treleaven
    I've got an article in this month - The Proof is Out There. It's a rollercoaster ride of a read about grammar checking software!
  • datco2014datco2014
    Oh Helena I so agree with the spirit of your point but I suppose money has always talked and it is and always has been about who you know rather than what you know - but I have to say that if you use a whole team of editors to practically - rewrite your book then it puts you in the 'air-head' celebrity category and I'm not sure I'd ever want to be there even if it meant 'winning' awards. If however someone has written a good yarn and is only using professionals to make it look better then that's different I think - not sure in the end how you can really tell though.
  • CarolCarol
    Congratulations, Lou.
  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    Haven't read my copy yet, but I shall hang on to your every word, Lou.

    Just thought... wasn't there a thread started recently where someone was looking for grammar-checking software?
  • debjbennettdebjbennett
    I was shortlisted in the self-pub awards. I'm not rich but I'm not ashamed to admit to buying in the skills I don't have. Why wouldn't I? I'm a business and that's what businesses do - they don't put out an inferior product because they can't do it themselves. I subcontract my cover designs to an expert but we discuss what I'm looking for and he works to my brief. And my copy-editor is a reader who I later found out used to work in publishing - I bounce ideas off him occasionally and he tells me when things aren't working. He certainly doesn't rewrite anything.

    Surely all small businesses work this way? You make money on sales and reinvest it to make the product as good as it can be.
  • CarolCarol
    Congratulations on the shortlisting debjbennett. :)
  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    I've got an article in this month - The Proof is Out There. It's a rollercoaster ride of a read about grammar checking software!
    Just read it - I might be a tad biased, but it's very interesting. By coincidence I was reading something this morning and it also mentioned 'donkeys years'.

  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    I sent a text reply to my daughter and wrote 'Okey donkey' instead of 'Okey dokey'.
  • sallyjsallyj
    Well done, Lou!
  • Tiny NellTiny Nell
    Just read an article by another TBer who hasn't been around for a while.
  • ClaudiaClaudia
    Finally bought a copy of this issue in a WH Smiths today. Both Writing Magazine and Writers' Forum were so well hidden I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't asked a member of staff where they kept the mags!
    Now, I'm looking forward to settling down this afternoon for a browse.
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