Month: January 2014

Conflux Writers’ Day – Saturday April 5 2014

~ Tehani

9837-Conflux-writers_blkThe very clever Conflux team, headed most ably by Nicole Murphy, have decided to run the inaugural Conflux Writers’ Day on Saturday April 5 – that’s the day of the Aurealis Awards, which are of course now hosted by the Canberrans!

Details!

The inaugural Conflux Writers Day will take place at University House, Australian National University, Canberra. For one day, Australia’s speculative fiction writers will gather for hours of professional development.

The theme of the day is ‘The Writers Journey’, which will be covered by four sub-themes – ‘Writing Skills’, ‘Writing Processes’, ‘Submission and Publication’ and ‘Building a Career’.

Four plenary speakers will be addressing these themes. These speakers are:

Joanne Anderton
Kaaron Warren
Ian McHugh
Keri Arthur

There will also be concurrent presentations bringing great thoughts and ideas to writers at all stages of their career.

For more information, including the full program, head to the website!

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the day as I have to be at the CBCA Judging Conference, but I’ll look forward to hearing all about it after the Aurealis Awards that night!

Badass Women of History article

~ Tehani

Not sure whether it’s just because we’re working on the Cranky Ladies project, but we’re noticing new articles about awesome cranky ladies all the time! This one comes to us via Glenda Larke, and showcases a bunch of badass women of history: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/world-leaders/140108/the-badass-women-history

What’s even cooler is we were pitched several of these badass women for the Cranky Ladies of History anthology, and have accepted the pitch for one of them!

Notes from Pozible information session

~ Tehani ~ 1 Comment

pozible-for-web-jpg_800x600fitBack in November last year I attended a really interesting Pozible crowdfunding information session in Launceston. I tweeted and made notes, but completely neglected to collate my notes, which I’m doing now for my own reference (and anyone who is interested!). While the session was specific to Pozible (and very well presented by the friendly, approachable and knowledgeable Reuben), much is also relevant for other crowdfunding platforms. So here it is (reminder, this is in reverse order of tweets – perhaps read from the bottom up!):

 

  • Undelivered rewards are surprisingly uncommon. #crowdfunding
  • Pozible charges 5% service fee on total raised IF project funds – no charge if it doesn’t. #crowdfunding

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    6:16 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    Pozible subscription #crowdfunding model now available – could be of interest in publishing!

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    6:15 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    As creative people, your traction is in how you tell stories; you have the advantage to involve people at a personal level. #crowdfunding

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    6:09 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    Success rate goes through the roof just by attending a Pozible information session. #crowdfunding

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    6:06 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    When the campaign is over, thank your supporters – a lot! #crowdfunding 

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    5:58 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-mentions=”reubenacciano KaleidoscopeTPP” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>

    Hee! @reubenacciano played the @KaleidoscopeTPP Pozible video because I asked a related question – he said nice things! #crowdfunding

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    5:45 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    Research several projects similar to yours – 8-10 including a couple of unsuccessful ones (to consider what NOT to do). #crowdfunding

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    5:44 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>RT: @Krasnostein: interesting – lots of this stuff not true for my Pozible campaign – Twitter the best platform for publishing #crowdfunding

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    5:40 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-mentions=”Krasnostein” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>90% of campaigns that reach 25-30% in the first week will fund – the “sheep” effect. #crowdfunding

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    5:39 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>Significantly more Pozible traffic via Facebook than from Twitter! #crowdfunding

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    5:34 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>Offline engagement: talk about project in the real world. Plan a live event halfway through. Have iPad there to demo Pozible! #crowdfunding

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    5:33 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>Reinvigorate campaign by adding special rewards AFTER target has been reached – stimulate interest again. #crowdfunding

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    5:28 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>Heh. “I’m special” is a really popular narrative in social media. Unique rewards can be very effective, even at high price. #crowdfunding

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    5:27 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>90% of successful Pozible #crowdfunding projects have a video as part of the project page, and these raise more money.

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    5:25 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>… Creative rewards; strategic planning; offline engagement. #crowdfunding

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    5:24 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>How do you convince people to pledge to your #crowdfunding project? Be personal/transparent; use video; use social media (40% of traffic)

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    5:23 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    <br /> </div><br /> ” data-you-follow=”false” data-you-block=”false”>Most common pledge on Pozible is $100, then $25, then $50. #crowdfunding

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    5:17 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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    5:14 PM – 27 Nov 2013

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The Isles of Glory by Glenda Larke

~ Tehani

Tainted CoverThis morning I pressed “publish” on the final book of Glenda Larke’s Isles of Glory trilogy, The Tainted. FableCroft has been privileged to publish the ebook editions of this fantastic series over the past few months, and I have been personally delighted to revisit them. It has been a decade since the paperbacks were first released (via Voyager in Australia and Ace in the US, with later German editions as well), and this is the first time English ebook editions have been available.

If you enjoy epic fantasy with an intelligent and action-filled plot, detailed and logical world-building, and characters you will weep for, fall in love with or loathe with justified passion, you need to read Glenda Larke’s books. This genre has been my first love, my go-to comfort read, my preferred escape from reality for over 20 years, and Glenda’s novels are some of the best examples of the form I’ve come across. This trilogy is as good (or better!) than most fantasy being published today, and the themes explored are just as relevant as ever.

The great thing is, you don’t have to just take MY word for it – over the years so many people have said wonderful things about the books. We list some on the Isles of Glory page here on the FableCroft site, but check out Goodreads and the paperback editions on Amazon for even more.

Here at FableCroft, I only publish stories I love, and I love these books. I think you will too!

The books of the Isles of Glory trilogy, The Aware, Gilfeather and The Tainted, are (or will soon be) available for just US$3.99 each from Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords (and affiliates, including iTunes and Sony Bookstore), Wizard’s Tower Books and Weightless Books. Choose your preferred format and supplier!

New Books: What is Focus 2012?

~ Tehani

Focus2012-Cover2In the second half of 2013, Deborah Biancotti made one of those throwaway comments that piqued my interest and set my creative brain rolling. The biggest advantage of operating a boutique press is that the projects I choose to publish can evolve from idea to fruition far more quickly than for a major publisher, and also that I’m the only one I have to talk into doing things! Thanks to Deb’s comment, within a week I had the title and tentative table of contents in hand for what I plan to be an annual series.

Focus 2012: highlights of Australian short fiction reprints an exclusive selection of Australian stories that have been recognised as the best of the best – stories shortlisted for and winning major national and international awards. We looked at the Hugo, World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, BSFA, WSFA, Aurealis, Ditmar, Chronos, Tin Duck and other relevant genre awards lists to select stories and artwork (by the incredibly talented Kathleen Jennings, appearing on several awards lists for 2012 including the prestigious World Fantasy Awards) to include in the inaugural volume.

And what an amazing table of contents we ended up with: Joanne Anderton, Thoraiya Dyer, Robert Hood, Kathleen Jennings, Margo Lanagan, Martin Livings, Jason Nahrung and Kaaron Warren, most of whom I have been fortunate enough to work with in the past, all of whom create brilliant work. Interestingly, several of the 2012 stories fall on the darker side of the speculative fiction spectrum, and a number of them are novelette length pieces, which of course means that while the selection is elite, you are getting hefty chunk of reading nonetheless! And of course, the quality of the inclusions is incomparable.

Focus 2012 is deliberately an ebook-only publication – we wanted to make it a readily accessible price-point, and to make it easily available internationally, to showcase the highlights of Australian speculative fiction for the year. And while the nature of the selections means the book comes out quite late in the year (we want to wait until all the major international awards shortlists are announced), that means it can act as a refresher for readers who may have not come across publications in the year they first appeared.

With the Focus series, we look forward to introducing readers to the astonishingly good work being produced by Australian speculative fiction creators for many years to come.

Focus 2012: highlights of Australian short fiction is available from your preferred ebook retail platform: find it for US$4.99 on Kindle, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords and more!