Books in 2013: A list with no order

I wish I could give a huge top 10 list of the best books of 2013 but I haven't read all of them so it would be disingenuous.

I spent the first half of this year finishing my degree in Literature and didn't have much time for reading outside of the curriculum so unless you want me to recommend Beowulf (Which I don't) here are the top books I have actually read this year. These are in no particular order, except that of my memory

1. Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas. nothing needs to be said it it freaking amazing. Read it or regret your own life forever.

2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I enjoyed my first foray into the Russians and it was a pleasure to read for school.

3. The Most Beautiful Walk in The World by John Baxter. Francophiles unite and read about one writer's great gig running literary tours for writers in Paris.

4.How to Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen. Essays that made me rethink my whole outlook on myself as a writer and reader. Franzen justified my own beliefs in loneliness and it's likelihood of producing great fiction writers. If you are a loner, and because you read you most likely are. Read this.

5. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. I wrote by Ernest Hemingway. That should be enough to persuade you to read it. Also, most of it set in France. I like France.

6. Taipei by Tao Lin. I think he got mad at me at Melbourne Writers Festival but his book is excellent. Specificity is an underutilised tool in fiction. Not for Lin though.

Read them and be amazed. If you hate them email me and tell me why. If you love them email me and tell me why.

Will writing ever make you any money?

Earlier this year upon finishing my first novel and having fellow author Christopher Wheat read over it and offer me feedback I was shocked, though not entirely, when he told me to get a job outside of writing. Even though I had written a good novel. I was studying Literature at the time and have since graduated. I had planned to have my degree and then write novels for the rest of my life, I wanted my first one to be a best seller, it wasn't, though it did sell a medium amount on Amazon.

What Mr. Wheat had told me essentially boiled down to the following point

"Writers don't make much money"

My initial thought was of my childhood writing hero J. K. Rowling. Who has more money than the Queen of England. But that is children's literature, fantasy literature has a wide readership. Literary novels don't do as well, that is true, the Franzens of the world will attest to that.

It is my assumption after several talks with other authors that in this world, there exists more writers than readers. Writing a book that doesn't make much money must tell you that the book wasn't very good, that however was not true for Annabel Smith who wrote 'Whisky Charlie Foxtrot' in 2012 and received rave reviews, the marketing was excellent and her novel sold more copies than the average 700 for first time authors. It is an excellent novel and the reviews told of that. It sold 1300 copies and she received in royalties a meager $2200.

So what now? Live poorly until you write the next Harry Potter? Of course not, you have to get a day job. Outside of Australia Council grants for writers your only option is getting a day job, my preference is to have one that doesn't involve writing, writing is my home job. My day job is teaching taekwondo.

Christopher Wheat told me that writing is more of a supplement to income rather than a full time job for most writers. So before you give up on writing all together, keep the hope alive, maintain the dream of selling 1,000,000 copies and keep writing. I don't write full time but the meager income I receive is enough validation for me. Meager income is more than you would make writing nothing.

Can you write a good novel in a month?

Is it possible to write a good novel in a month? On Friday I will be commencing my second NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know what the hell I'm talking about NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it challenges the aspiring writer to finally put down 50,000 words of a novel. Weather or not the 50,000 is the total of your word count is up to you. Completing the gargantuan task will make you a NaNoWriMo winner.

Critics have said that if you are just writing to put down the words you mustn't be putting down the prose necessary to create a good novel. Let alone a great one. Last year I wrote my first novel during the month of November called Twenty Two  and it was good enough to garner entry to a Master of Arts (Writing) program. I spent the first half of this year work shopping Twenty Two and getting it ready to sell on Amazon which I did with a medium level of success.

So the question remains, can you write a good novel in a month? My answer is no. You can write a good first draft but if you enter into the event with the idea that Penguin Random House will come calling on December 1st you will be sorely disappointed. Join in the forums and get involved, buddy up and get a first draft out. I read a lot of blogs by writers who complain about not having finished a novel yet. Find an idea, throw editing to the wind and write without fear. Good luck in November.

France legislates against Amazon

A few weeks ago France created legislation that would prevent Amazon from offering free delivery alongside a five percent discount on a book. The move will curtail the increase in book sales amazon has had in the country, a number that has increased exponentially over the past ten years, in 2003 the amount of book sales conducted online was 3.2 percent, in 2011 however it was 13.1. The increase of Amazon's power over the book selling industry has affected brick and mortar stores all over the world, not as heavily though in France.

While most of the western world experiences closures of bookstores France seems culturally immune to ditching the paperback in favor of the e-book. In France there are over 2,500 bookstores spread across a population of around 65 million. That is about 1 book store for every 26,000 people. In Britain the population of around 60 million has only 1,000 bookstores, 1 book store for every 60,000 people.

In France book culture is not just book culture, it is French culture. They do not tread lightly when it comes to matters of literature. Melbourne is one of UNESCO's cities of literature and rightly so, we have a thriving culture, a whole bunch of festivals and some real standout writers. France though is what still comes to my mind when I think of literature. I think of the lost generation, I think of the word 'expatriate' and I, like other authors would love to move to Paris, stroll the left bank and write books that the world will remember forever.

Personally I don't care if readers reach my books from brick and mortar sellers or by Amazon but I like to think that somewhere in paris there is an apartment waiting for me and waiting to be filled with paperbacks of the greatest novels ever written, not just a lone kindle resting on a shelf.

NRL Grand Final and a built in Audience

With millions of people watching around the country tonight Twitter and Facebook will be inundated with NRL Grand Final posts. Sport is big in Australia and we take Grand Final days very seriously. The amount of tweets tonight will leave no one, especially if you are in NSW or Queensland, any doubt as to how the game is going. If you were away from the TV you would still be able to find out what was happening.

Sport has a such a built in audience that excitement via the internet is impossible to avoid. How do we as writers garner that much excitement? Become a celebrity.

I don't want to audition for Big Brother (Although it would be fun) I would love to be on Survivor (life dream), I would hate to be involved with something like Jersey Shore. Snooki from Jersey Shore has a book out and at times she has struggled speaking the english language. Why would a publisher take a chance on Snooki and not a more serious writer? Built in audience.

Snooki, just like NRL players, AFL players, any kind of celebrity or someone with some built in exposure will have the publishers eye. Although these books won't win prizes they will do what a lot of beginning authors will not, sell large amounts of copies. This is an almost certainty, publishers can rest assured that whatever Snooki or an NRL Grand Final player puts out will sell because they have cross over fans.

If I had become famous for example on the show Survivor (only in my dreams) then I could publish something that might not even relate to the show at all and still gain a contract because people will think of it as 'The book by that guy on Survivor' without the show just like Snooki without Jersey Shore the book will be looked at as 'the book'. See the difference?

The goal isn't to become a celebrity from being stupid like Snooki and then taking advantage of it. If you want to be taken seriously as a writer you still have to produce great work. Snooki's book is, I'm going to go out on a limb here, probably shit.

No one expects any more, the publisher will put out another one though,  because in this business, just as much as quality literature talks, money shouts.

The Importance of Gaining a Readership

The thing with being a self-published author is that without a loyal readership you put that book you worked so hard on up on Kindle or Smashwords or whatever you want and still get peanuts. That isn't an accurate representation of the work you must have put in to the novel.

Start a blog, write about things you love and people will feel the passion you have for the topic. Gain a readership, these people will be familiar with your work. I write as often as possible. I work on my novels in between writing for this writing tips/personal blog, I write a Travel Blog and I contribute to and edit a Literary Magazine, I also contribute to a Film and Television industry blog with my brother found here.

I have multiple ways for potential readers to connect with me. Blogs and websites are a great marketing tool. You should use them.

Harper Collins signs up for Scrib'd

Harper Collins has come to an agreement with book subscription service Scrib'd which entails including the publishers catalogue in the service. Scrib'd for those of you who don't already know is a digital library not unlike what Netflix is for movies and television. The Chief Executive Trip Adler told The Australian that Scrib'd wants to be the "Netflix of books". They are well on their way, once Harper Collins has their books up Scrib'd will have over 50,000 available.

Harper Collins will however not include new release titles on the service which they have come under fire for. What the audience and members of Scrib'd have to understand is that Netflix doesn't get new release movies from studios either. If you want a library service you can go to a library and get the book for free.

The idea is that if Harper Collins released their new titles on Scrib'd at the same time they hit stores they significantly reduce the impact the Scrib'd members have on brick and mortar sales. You wouldn't pay $24.99 for a new release book if you could borrow it from Scrib'd for nothing more than you already pay per month for the service.

Customers sometimes have the 'Customer is always right' emblazoned so permanently on their brains that they fail to see that business is give and take. The sole purpose of book publishing isn't to provide a customer with a book, it is to sell a customer a book. The sooner consumers realize that the better.