Joy: Welcome, Wendy and Bridget. First of all, congratulations to both of you for your recent successes. Being shortlisted and then awarded ‘Commended’ status in the Society of Women Writers Biennial Book Awards is a great achievement. Please tell us about your awards.

Wendy: Thanks Joy. I received a ‘Commended’ for my Young Adults book, Bollywood Dreams.

Joy: What readership is Bollywood Dreams aimed at Wendy?

Wendy: Well, my main character is a sixteen year old Indian girl, so I would say the readership for my book is twelve to sixteen year olds.

Joy: Bridget, congratulations to you too. Please tell us about your win.

Bridget: My book, Living the Journey: Everyday Heroes Tell their Story, received Commended in the Society’s Non Fiction category. Living the Journey is for adults who like biographical stories with a social welfare and health/spirituality agenda.

Joy: What gave you the idea or inspiration to write your book?

Bridget: Well, for me it was the people I was meeting on a regular basis who started to spontaneously tell me their stories.

Wendy: My inspiration for Bollywood Dreams came from an Indian writing retreat I went to in 2005. We went to Kolkata, Kalimpong, Gantok and Darjeeling. I started to wonder what it would be like to bring a family of teenage kids from such different cultures to live in Sydney — how they would fit into the school system and what they would think of Australia’s lifestyle.

Joy: So how long did it take you to write your book and publish it?

Wendy: Well Joy, I spent about four years dreaming up the idea and working on the story, on and off. I did lots of writing courses and received lots of feedback and advice on my progress. After I did your writing course, Gulp!Fiction, and then came to you for some coaching, I felt encouraged to publish Bollywood Dreams with A&A.

Joy: What about you, Bridget, how long did it take you to write and publish Living the Journey?

Bridget: It took two years from inception to publishing my book.

Joy: How did you feel, Bridget, when you held your published book for the first time?

Bridget: Absolutely ecstatic — it was such a buzz! A lot of people gave me favourable feedback and encouragement, and it gave me the confidence that it was worthwhile to have had my book published.

Wendy: I had a similar feeling when I held my published book for the first time; I was thrilled when I saw the finished product. The whole production process took about four months where we worked through the edit, the cover design, the layout, proofreading and changes. It was a very rewarding experience.

Joy: That is one of the best things about the publishing process; the satisfaction you get when all the hard work and dedication to your writing turns your dream of being published into reality. Tell us about the success your book has had since its publication.

Bridget: Living the Journey has been distributed around Australia by Gary Allen. I have personally done several tours, offering my book to different bookshops up the NSW coast to Queensland, and I have given numerous talks to groups in Sydney and Canberra. It was only last week that my book had been awarded a commended prize in the Society of Women Writers Biennial Book Awards. That was a big thrill; the award has brought my book back to the attention of people who are interested. I still have many books to get out into the world but I’m stumped for ideas on how to achieve this. I’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Wendy: I also had some very positive feedback for Bollywood Dreams. I received reviews in Pass It On, Buzz Words, Reading Stack, Girl Magazine, Indian Link, Bharat Times and Indus Age newspapers, Fiction Focus, Ciao and North Shore Times. On 11th November I was thrilled to receive the commended prize from the Society of Women Writers Biennial Book Awards.

Joy: What unexpected opportunities opened up for you since publishing your book, Wendy?

Wendy: Publishing Bollywood Dreams has opened up a host of wonderful surprises and taken me to places I would never have dreamed of going. Firstly, the book launch that you organized at Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt in February, Joy, was a fantastic night.

Other highlights include the interview I had with Anita Barar from the Hindu channel on SBS radio, as well as two other radio interviews I did, one with FM 88.7 in Adelaide and the other with FM 99.3 in Sydney. I also had an interview with Joy Hruby on TVS community television, an article in the North Shore Times and I gave an author talk at the Lindfield Library as part of Youth Week. On top of that, I was involved in a number of school visits and activities in Book Week through the Children’s Book Council and then I was invited to be a judge at the Miss Bollywood Australian Beauty Pageant at Riverside Theatre in Parramatta. It was such a thrill, I didn’t even know that there was a Miss Bollywood competition until I was invited!

I am now teaching creative writing for teens at the Ku-ring-gai Art Centre in Roseville.

Joy: What unexpected opportunities has publishing Living the Journey opened for you, Bridget?

Bridget: Well, I was asked to run a writing workshop last year at a writer’s weekend in far west NSW. That was fun and well received. I think it opened my eyes to what is possible for me as writer. I have produced a collection of my own poetry and self-published that last year. It is titled Five Seasons – poetry of the soul. I have also become known as someone who can help others to get their story into print; so far, I have helped two other women achieve this. I continue to write for my own satisfaction and to study the written works of a wide variety of writers. Early last year I joined the Society of Women Writers NSW and started to work on their Committee, which I enjoyed very much. I enjoy the regular monthly meetings and the fellowship of other women writers.

Joy: That’s fantastic, Wendy and Bridget. You must be very proud of your achievements. It seems you are both enjoying the successes that come with publishing. What was your favourite part of the publishing experience and why?

Wendy: My favourite part was being involved in the publishing process. With the A&A team I enjoyed working through the editing and I liked being linked to the design forum where I could help plan the cover, the layout, the puzzle section in the back etc. I am glad I published Bollywood Dreams with A&A and I have learnt a lot. I feel that my experience with publishing Bollywood Dreams has kickstarted a very exciting phase in my writing life. It is very hard to break into the industry without experience and a record of success. I’d like to thank you, Joy, for giving me the push I needed.

Joy: Oh, you’re very welcome, Wendy. I thoroughly enjoyed working with you throughout the publishing process, too, and I am pleased to hear that you are doing so well with your writing endeavours. What was your favourite part of the publishing experience, Bridget, and why?

Bridget: Favourite part?… Well, meeting you, Joy; your enthusiastic approval of my book was a big thing. But so was the follow up with weeks of working with you to get my book finished. It was satisfying to work to a timeline with a definite end in sight. I also got a lot of pleasure working with David Andor and his ideas were so brilliant, I really think David’s cover design does a lot of the selling. Then the extra attention by the printer, Ligare, and their very respectful treatment of my “job” – even giving us a tour of the book factory was fun and really involved us in the nuts and bolts of publishing at ground level. I also loved getting ready for the Big Night of the launch and was delighted at the way it went off.

Joy: It is great to hear how much you enjoyed working with the A&A team on publishing Living the Journey, Bridget. I’d like to thank you both for joining me to talk about your experiences with publishing, the successes you’ve gained and the opportunities that have been presented to you from publishing your books. I’d like to congratulate you both again for being awarded the commendation prize from the Society of Women Writers Biennial Book Awards and I wish you will with your future writing endeavours. We all hope to see more of your quality writing published for others to read.

I’ve learnt to listen very carefully to what comes after that first statement because it is the words they utter next that will usually tell me whether or not they are serious.

Statements like, “but it’s so hard” or “they’ll make me change my story” tell me that the speaker isn’t really at that point where they have committed to making their dream a reality.

It’s a shock to most writers when they realise what comes after writing a story. Turning up to the computer every day to get the story out; surely that was the important bit, right?

Well, I agree that writing – and finishing – the story is vital. But it’s only the first step on the road to publication. What comes next is just as important and it requires your commitment, dedication and downright hard work. Do you think you’re up to it?

Why not take five minutes to answer the following questions as honestly as you can. If you can truthfully answer “yes” to all of them then you really are ready to take the next step – and I would love to hear from you.

Happy writing,

Joy Aimée

1. I can pitch my story idea to a prospective publisher in 30 seconds.
2. I know my potential market and I have ideas about how to reach them.
3. I understand that every month 6,000 new titles hit the bookshops in Australia and that when my book is released it will be competing with 5,999 others.
4. I agree that my manuscript could benefit from the input of a good editor who is sympathetic to my intentions and my writing style.
5. I am prepared to help promote my book in whatever ways my publisher and publicist deem necessary.
6. I am prepared to talk to my readers. I will not hide from them.
7. I am ready for my story – my precious baby – to be birthed into the world and I will do all I can to ensure its smooth passage.

Congratulations! If you answered “yes” to all seven of the questions, you are ready to take the next step and we would like to hear from you. Please make your submission at www.aampersanda.com/submissions or send your hard copy to:

A&A Book Publishing,
PO Box 449,
Leichhardt   NSW   2040
Australia

A&A Publishing: working hard for our authors
www.aampersanda.com
and
Write Well Write Now – Professional services for writers.
www.writewellwritenow.com

Nicolaides has been jailed for three years after it was claimed that a reference to the crown prince in the author’s self-published novel,’Verisimilitude’, was deemed offensive. Nicolaides says he printed fifty copies of his book and sold seven. It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d only sold one copy because Nicolaides forgot – an inexcusable error for a budding writer – the power of the written word. Remember Salmon Rushdie? Alexander Solschenizyn? The written word has the power to topple regimes and invite death threats. Hiding behind the label of “fiction” is no defence if someone with a gun has decided to take offence.

It is also no defence against a legal writ. For that very reason A&A Publishing has a legal team review any manuscript that has the potential to be defamatory. This adds to the cost but it is an insurance policy to both the author and our publishing house.

Were you aware that even self-publishing houses are potentially liable for anything defamatory that one of its authors publishes? That’s right. The author can be sued and so can the publisher, even if the author has invested in his or her own work.

That being the case, A&A Publishing has very strict guidelines in place. Autobiographies and memoirs are reviewed by our legal team as a matter of course. In several instances the reviews have resulted in passages being rewritten or deleted. We have also been in the situation of insisting that one of our titles be sold only in Australia because, as Harry Nicolaides has discovered, the legal freedoms that we enjoy as Australian citizens do not necessarily apply elsewhere.

As already mentioned, it is also not enough to think that you can hide behind opinions disguised as fiction. We have recently instructed one of our authors, the writer of crime mysteries, to change the ending of a story because of legal advice that the organisation named as being responsible for the fictitious crime might be prepared to sue. The author resisted, he wanted to “publish or be damned”. I told him that I would not be his publisher unless he was prepared to follow the advice given. He changed the ending.

I would be neglectful in my duty to my authors if I did not always ensure that they receive the very best legal advice and that includes the very important matter of copyright. As a writer and publisher I view copyright violations very seriously. Whether we’re talking about music being downloaded from the Internet, or pirated DVDs, or quoted words not being acknowledged, copyright violations are disrespectful to the original artist. How would you feel if a poem you had created was being quoted around the world but you were not acknowledged as its rightful creator?

With each new project that A&A publishes we make every attempt to ensure that permission is sought for quoted material and that it is properly acknowledged.

I think of the policies we have in place as a form of publishing karma; if we do what is right by other artists then others will respect our books.

Finally, let me say this to all you writers out there; write fearlessly with no thought of lawyers or censorship. Let what is best for the story and the characters become your only guiding principles. But then when the story is done and you are going to publish, look at the story with new eyes and be prepared to negotiate with your publisher and their lawyers. There are many ways to say things; that is the beauty of language, and often manuscripts are improved with a re-write. My author of the crime fiction told me he prefers the new ending over the original. I’m sure that if Harry Nicolaides had the option he would re-write the passage in question in a second and that he will never again forget the power of the pen.

“When in doubt, check it out” is the stance that A&A takes when it comes to protecting our authors and our business from future liability. It should be your stance too.

A&A Publishing: working hard for our authors. To submit your manuscript for publication go to www.aampersanda.com/submissions.

Write Well Write Now – Professional services for writers.

If you have a question about copyright you would like answered go to www.writewellwritenow.com/copyright. Our legal consultant will answer one emailed question for you free of charge.