Katy Brand at Unbound Live.
You can click here to find out more about the book, Brenda Monk is Funny, and how you can get involved in its publication.
For more videos of the event go to: www.youtube.com/unboundvideos
Anonymous Asks:
unbounders Said:
Hi Paul,
In the future we hope to do a series of interviews with our authors and editors to give more in-depth advice on this kind of thing for aspiring authors such as yourself, so keep an eye out for that.
For now, a few basic tips:
- First, this is rather obvious, but given some of the submissions we receive it needs to be restated: always follow the submission guidelines. Read and re-read them carefully, whether for publishing houses or literary agents. Make sure that you have formatted your work correctly, and that the content of your story is in line with whatever the publisher or agent is looking for.
- The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook is always a great source of helpful information on getting books in any genre published, so if you haven’t got a copy yet, you should probably get one.
- The most important thing, of course, is the quality of your writing - which means that you should edit and re-edit (and re-edit again) as much as possible once you are finished.
Give it to friends who love reading critically and try to consider their advice objectively (naturally, this will be extremely difficult to do). - But since you are still in the process of writing the first draft, have fun with it! Difficult as it may be, try not to think too much about getting published, but rather, focus on making the book as great a book as you could wish to read.
- Furthermore, as a fantasy author, it would be a good idea to cut back on reading fantasy works for the period while you are writing, and focus on expanding your reading in a whole range of other genres. Assuming you have already read lots of fantasy and are comfortable with and clear on the genre, taking a step back for a short while could be a good move. This could help you to ensure that your writing doesn’t automatically emerge steeped in the tropes of the genre and instead is fresh/original/different.
Anonymous Asks:
unbounders Said:
The number of readers needed to pledge for a book to be published is different for every book. First of all, depending on the content, size and design, one book may cost more or less to make than the next one.
Secondly, there is the fact that there are several different pledging levels for each book, so for example a book that only has a few supporters who all pledge at the highest levels (£200-2500), might be able to achieve the same level of funding as another book that has several times as many supporters who only pledged at the lowest levels.
When fully funded and made, our books are distributed by Faber & Faber to all the normal physical bookshops (Waterstones, Foyles, various independent bookstores) as well as online bookshops (Amazon UK and US, The Book Depository etc.)
For example see Crushed Mexican Spiders by Tibor Fischer (Waterstones, The Book Depository, Amazon UK, Amazon US) and Evil Machines by Terry Jones (Waterstones, The Book Depository, Amazon UK, Amazon US).
Anonymous Asks:
unbounders Said:
a) Yes, we consider pitches for books of all genres.
b) Already having a draft is perfectly fine - that has actually been the case for some of our authors, but either way you should still just send a pitch via email (authors@unbound.co.uk) in our standard format:
- a max. 400 word pitch (summary) of what your book is all about.
- a short excerpt of no more than 1000 words.
- an author biography.
Don’t forget to enter the Flash Fiction Prize we are running in celebration of The Elegant Art of Falling Apart by Jessica Jones, which we are crowd-funding for UK publication. The deadline for entry is tonight (31st May) at midnight.
Click here to find out more about the writing competition and how to enter, and you can click here to read an excerpt of Jessica Jones’ book as well as find out how to get involved in its publication in return for anything from an ebook and first edition hardback (with your name in the back of every copy ever) to a goodie bag of natural beauty products and invites to the launch party.
Comedian Katy Brand and the novel she is crowd-funding for publishing with Unbound, (Brenda Monk is Funny - a story about a woman who decides to try and be a comedian), have been featured in the Daily Mail this week. You can see an excerpt of the article below.
And you can click here to find out more about Brenda Monk is Funny, read an excerpt of the book, and also find out how to get involved with its publication of (in return for anything from an e-book and signed first edition hardback with your name printed in the back of each copy of the book, to invites to the launch party and comedy advice from Katy herself).
The book where you’re the story: TV comedian Katy Brand offering fans the chance to be a character in her first novel… for £2,500
By Emily Allen
Comedian Katy Brand is offering her fans the chance to have a character named after them in her first novel - for £2,500.
Her startling offer, which includes advice on any comedy script or stand-up and an invitation to the book’s launch lunch, is featured on a pay-to-publish website offering writers a new way of connecting with their readers and funding their publishing dreams.
On Unbound authors pitch their book ideas directly to readers and they can stump up cash to contribute towards its publication if they like the idea - in return for rewards.
If the authors raise enough money, the book will be written and published. The author will get half of the proceeds and Unbound the other half.
The books will always be available in digital form but if enough money is raised then it will be published in a paperback or hardback.
Ms Brand, who has appeared in numerous films, TV, radio and live shows including Have I Got News For You and Peep Show, wrote on the website: ‘I have always wanted to write a novel about comedy, maybe even several novels, so here I am, just a girl, standing in front of an internet, asking it to pay.’
George Chopping at Unbound Live
For more videos of author performances at the event go to: www.youtube.com/unboundvideos
Hardeep Singh Kohli at Unbound Live
For more videos of author performances at the event go to: www.youtube.com/unboundvideos
Anonymous Asks:
unbounders Said:
Jonathan has been writing and editing the book for the last few months and the book is currently being typeset and then will shortly be at the printers. It will then be with subscribers about a month after that. You should receieve an email from Unbound letting you know its on its way.
If you have any problems or further questions about your order do please contact us on support@unbound.co.uk with your details and we’ll try to sort things out for you.
Ex-Blue Peter presenter seeks funding for a book about the programme
by Tom Cole
Former Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry is seeking funding from the public to complete work on a book about the long-running children’s TV programme.
Trust Me I’m a Blue Peter Presenter is a project Curry has been working on for some time, in which he aims to tell the definitive story of the show and the people who made it over the last 53 years.
As well as exposing the realities of working on the programme, Curry aims to clear up various Blue Peter controversies in the book, such as whether or not ex-presenter Michael Sundin was sacked from the show for being homosexual.
He has already lined up interviews with alumni including Peter Purves, Sarah Greene, Janet Ellis, Peter Duncan, Yvette Fielding, Anthea Turner, John Leslie, Diane Louise Jordan, Liz Barker, Stuart Miles, Tina Heath, Tim Vincent and Lesley Judd, and hopes to persuade others to talk about their work on the show once the project gets under way.
However, owing to the fact that many former Blue Peter stars live in far-flung places, Curry needs donations from fans to cover travel expenses so that he can conduct interviews and carry out research for the book.
Anyone who contributes money via publisher Unbound’s website will have their name printed in every edition of the book, with further benefits available for particularly generous contributors.
Click here to read the rest of the article…
Come and see Chris Yates in conversation with Unbound founder Dan Kieran (talking about Yates’s new book, Nightwalk) at the Southbank Centre on 25th May.
Click here to find out more…
Anonymous Asks:
unbounders Said:
Hi,
Email your details to zita@unbound.co.uk and we’ll sort it out for you.
You can now see the story of how Robert Llewellyn got his new book, News From Gardenia, published via crowd-funding, relayed on Storify.
