Awesome Authors looking for Ottawa’s top young writers
by Scott on Jan.14, 2012, under Writing
The Ottawa Public Library is holding its annual Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest. Deadline is January 30. See more details below:
Awesome Authors youth writing contest
Young poets and authors – On your mark! Get set! Write!The Ottawa Public Library invites you to participate in the 17th annual Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest, a contest for aspiring young poets and short story authors. Participants can win lots of Awesome prizes!
Contest open to youth between the ages of 9 and 17
Participants must have an Ottawa Public Library card.
There is a limit of 2 entries per person, per category.
Poems and short stories must:
o be 1000 words or less
o be submitted electronically or computer-generated
o be one side of an 8½ x 11″ page, if submitted at a branch
o include the title of the piece on each page of the entry
o be entrant’s own NEW work (no previously published works)
o be in French and/or English
Entries that do not follow guidelines will be disqualified.
Do not put your name on your work.
Include one entry form per poem or story submitted.
Entries will not be returned.
Submit your work online (form below) or in person at your local branch. Print off this form if you choose to drop off your work in person.
Deadline
January 30, 2012
For more information, please consult the website at: http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/main/about/comm/contest/all/awesome
Great Moments in Social Media
by Scott on Oct.13, 2011, under Digital Publishing, Tools of the Trade
Social media has been hyped as a new communications, Web 2.0, a new way for people to connect and communicate. For book sellers like myself, it has also been hyped as a way to sell books by giving you a closer relationship with your consumers than had ever before been possible. I always thought that this was overselling it a little bit. However, I ran into an experience that showed me the power of social media.
Last week, I finally sat down and watched the first episode of Republic of Doyle, a CBC comedy about a father-son private investigator firm in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (I have a couple of co-workers from NL so I promised them that I would give it a try). I thought it was pretty good so I posted a tweet about it. Here was the reaction:
Needless to say, my question was “Who is Allan Hawco and why is he contacting me?” After some research, I realized with a shock that this was star of the TV show “Republic of Doyle” mentioning me on Twitter. Neat! So of course, I had to follow him and I felt more encouraged to watch more episodes. This was the power of social media in action. I don’t know if it was an automatic response to the hashtag #republicofdoyle but even so it is still brilliant. @allanhawco is using twitter very effectively to build his audience. Of course I have to watch more episodes now, I know the guy.
When I release (finally) Evermore: Call of the Nocturne, I will learn from Allan Hawco’s example to build me audience. This is the power of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, it allows you to build your audience through social connections outside of the (very expensive) traditional methods of advertisement.
Thank you @allanhawco for a topical lesson. And for the rest of you, check out “Republic of Doyle”. It is a pretty good show.
Cover Art – Suicide is a Tax Write-Off
by Scott on Aug.28, 2011, under Books, Digital Publishing, Personal, Writing
Wow, my apologies. It has been almost too months since my last post. Between editing the final version of E:CotN, going home for a family reunion, taking a camping trip, and the tribulations of life, I have had great difficulty in finding the time to post on this website. With the end of a busy summer, I should be able to write with more frequency from here on in.
The big news is that I’m planning to release a short story that I wrote way, way, way back in 1997 for free on Kindle. This will give people a chance to get to know my writing and for me to get some experience with the steps of digital self-publishing before I release E:CotN.
One of these steps is to commission cover art for the story. When publishing for Amazon, cover art is essential. It is your firs to opportunity to grab the attention of the reader and get him interested in your story.
Since I have no artistic talents whatsoever, my editor Erin Stropes suggested that I work with Jordan Knoll, a graphic designer based out of Toronto. Working with him was great. We were able to pass ideas back and forth until we came up with the concept that you see above. By using a discarded receipt, Jordan was able able to create an interesting image that tells the reader a great deal about the story without revealing the plot. I’m really happy with it. Jordan did some great work on it.
Next, I’ll have to purchase an ISBN for it and upload it to the Amazon Digital Text Platform. I had also wanted to upload it to iBooks, but to do so I have to charge a minimum price of 99 cents. As I wish to give away the short story for free to promote my upcoming novel, I don’t really feel it is appropriate to charge for one platform and not another. So for now, it will be Kindle-exclusive.
Anyway, I hope that all of you like it. I’ll be spending the next week plowing through Amelia’s edits on E:CotN. I look forward to the day when this project is finally completed.
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About Me
A policy analyst working in the federal government in Ottawa, Scott Blurton spends his spare time playing baseball, video games, and writing digital novels. Evermore: Call of the Nocturne is his first novel.
