by Allison Tait | May 15, 2019 | Advice for Writers, Blog, Books, Freelance writing, My books, News, Social Media for Writers, The Business of Writing, Writing
It’s been a big year for the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast team!
Not only have we screamed past the ONE MILLION download mark (you’ll find my 15 favourite interviews here), with a LIVE event at VIVID Sydney (book now!) in the works, but we’re happy to announce that we’ve written a book!
So You Want To Be A Writer: How To Get Started (While You Still Have A Day Job) by Allison Tait and Valerie Khoo will be on sale from 8 June (be at our event to be the first to own it!)
Here’s the blurb
The ultimate guide to making your writing dreams come true!
Want to write a novel or earn an income as a freelance writer, but not sure how to go about it? Authors Allison Tait and Valerie Khoo – co-hosts of the popular So You Want To Be A Writer podcast – will give you the steps you need to make your dream a reality.
In this book, you’ll discover everything you need to be a successful writer, including how to connect with people who will help your career grow and productivity tips for fitting everything into your already busy life. You’ll also explore how to keep your creative juices flowing and where to find other writers just like you.
This book lays out a blueprint to help you get started and thrive in the world of words. With advice from over 120 writers, you’ll tap into proven wisdom and find the path that will lead YOU to success!
Here’s what five of Australia’s favourite authors have said about the book
‘Practical, grounded and inspiring. When a thousand voices tell you that you can’t, you need a voice to make you believe you can. This book is that voice.’
Candice Fox, #1 New York Times bestselling author
‘So many pro tips in here from working writers. This is like Tim Ferriss’s Tools of Titans but exclusively for writers. I loved it.’
Tristan Bancks, award-winning children’s author
‘Perfect for the person who wants to write but doesn’t have the confidence or the know-how to start.’
Pamela Hart, award-winning historical fiction author
‘Essential reading for any aspiring writer.’
Graeme Simsion, international bestselling author
‘Val and Al were a godsend to me before I was published, offering a guided tour to the world of publishing that was otherwise closed to me. Their advice is highly, highly recommended.’
Dervla McTiernan, international bestselling author
And here’s a picture of the co-authors on the day (nearly a year ago) we decided to write a book
We are thrilled to bring this book to our podcast audience, our writing community and to new and aspiring writers everywhere. It will be available through a range of online booksellers, here and overseas, so stay tuned for more details.
If you’d like to read more about So You Want To Be A Writer the book, or register your details to receive notice as soon as the book is on sale, you’ll find all the details here.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait and you can find out more about me here and more about my online writing courses here.
by Allison Tait | Dec 17, 2018 | News, Writing
I can’t believe it’s that time of the year again! I’m taking a break from the online world for a few weeks at the end of this week, so I thought I’d start sharing some of my ‘new year’ posts early, starting with this one.
I’m always fascinated to see which of my ‘writing’ posts resonate the most each year, and this year is no different. So here they are, in descending order from 10-1, the 10 most popular posts about writing on this site in 2018. (Click the title to see the full post)
The one superpower that all published writers have
Industry Insider: How do you know when a story is finished?
Ask the writer: How to build your author platform
Starting Out #3: Do you need to do a course to be a writer?
6 skills you need to make it as a copywriter
Writing for kids: How to create remarkable characters
Writing for kids: 10 top writing tips from bestselling author Jacqueline Harvey
My top 3 tips from nine years of author blogging
Industry Insider: How to tell when your writing is ‘good enough’
10 things I’ve learnt from writing my debut novel
Want more? You’ll find all of my posts about writing here.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m the author of two epic adventure series for kids 9+, and you can find out more about me here. Click the images below to discover more about my books.
by Allison Tait | Sep 12, 2018 | Advice for Writers, Industry Insider, Writing, Writing for kids
The life of a children’s author is a funny one. On one hand, we sit alone in our offices, talking to no-one, revelling in isolated splendour. And then term three of the school year rolls around, and suddenly we emerge, blinking, into the light, and into the wonderful chaos that is author talks and Book Week (which now seems to extend for about three months).
If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been talking. And talking. And talking. To thousands of kids. After a week of Book Week school sessions in Sydney, which looked (in part) like this…
I rolled into a week that included a school literary festival, which looked like this…
With David Legge, Belinda Murrell and Louise Park.
Can you spot me?
And then straight into the amazing Word Play program at Brisbane Writers’ Festival, which looked like this…
Full house for ‘Find Your Writing Superpower’ presentation.
With Allison Rushby and Megan Daley: The Your Kids’ Next Read Team at BWF
My first webinar presentation as part of the Online Literature Festival at BWF
The weirdness of seeing your face on a wall…
The excitement of The Mapmaker Chronicles being in the Festival Top 10 (for a minute)…
In the process of all this, I lost my voice, caught up with author friends, met new author friends, and remembered the reason
why we all do this in the first place – because kids are enthusiastic and creative and incredibly entertaining and it is an absolute honour to write a book that a 10 year old will tell you is ‘the best book ever’.
I also answered questions. Lots and lots of questions. And I am here to tell you that if I had to give an aspiring children’s author any advice about author talks and presenting to kids it would be this:
Be prepared for anything.
When you get to the Q&A section of your author talk or presentation, and you are looking out at a sea of waving hands, all desperate to find out… something… brace yourself.
Questions you are likely to be asked include, but are not limited to:
How much do you get paid? (Be ready with a short, succinct answer to this)
Where do you get your ideas?
How long does it take you to write a book?
Did you draw the picture on the cover of your book?
What’s your favourite book?
Who was your favourite author as a child?
When did you know you were going to be an author?
When did you write your first book? (I’ve always wished I could answer ‘when I was six’ like some of my author friends, but this is not me…)
But then there are the other questions…
Over the course of three weeks, I was asked everything from ‘what colour is your toothbrush?’ to ‘does your dog ever get tired of walking?’ and ‘do you have any time to spend with your own children?’. Pulling out a favourite question wasn’t easy, but in the end, I think this one wins:
To show just how ready you need to be, I asked some of Australia’s favourite children’s authors to give me their favourite question from their Book Week presentations this year…
‘Do you sleep with your books under your pillow in case of burglars?’ – R.E. Devine, Jack McCool series
‘Can I have your jacket? / How was your weekend? / Can you dab? / Do you play Fortnite?’ – Mick Elliot, The Turners series
‘Does your mother ever steal your story ideas?’ – Allison Rushby, The Mulberry Tree
‘How do you have blonde hair?’ – Jacqueline Harvey, Kensy and Max series
‘When you were at school did you use a pen or a quill?’ – Catherine Pelosi, Quark’s Academy
‘Can you take your beanie off?’ – Matt Stanton, Funny Kid series
‘What do you want more than anything else? – Zanni Louise, Errol
And now I’m heading back into my quiet study for a few weeks, before my next appearance at Burdekin Readers’ and Writers’ Festival in October.
It’s time to get some writing done.
Are you new here? Welcome! You can find out all about me here, and all about my books here. If you’re interested in talking to me about presenting at your school or event, go here. And if you’re keen to write your own book, you’ll find a heap of posts about writing here, as well as information about my courses, and you can listen to my podcast here.
by Allison Tait | Jan 8, 2018 | Advice for Writers, Industry Insider, Social Media for Writers, The Business of Writing, Writing
So here we are, the last of my top 10 blog post posts for 2017. Probably just as well as we’re into the second week of January 2018…
This time, the focus is on authors and author life, and so we have a mix of posts about publishing, social media, blogging, book launches, author platforms and all the various bits and pieces encompassed in an author’s career OUTSIDE of the writing (you can find my top 10 posts about writing here).
Enjoy!
10. The one superpower that all published writers have
9. Industry Insider: How to get published
8. An important question for every writer
7. How to host a book launch
6. Ask the writer: How to build your author platform
5. 10 of my favourite book dedications
4. What to blog about: 5 top tips for new and aspiring authors
3. 10 things to do while you’re waiting on your writing
2. 6 more Aussie Instagram accounts I love
1. Five Australian author Instagram accounts I love
If you’re writing children’s or YA fiction, I’d also suggest having a look at my top 10 posts for readers here. This top 10 mostly comprises book lists, created from recommendations from the Your Kid’s Next Read Facebook community.
These are the books, across many different age categories, that parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers, authors and other interested parties are recommending to each other over and over again. It’s really worth having a look at what those books are!
And, if you’re new here, you can find out all about me here or check out The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, my two epic adventure series for middle-grade readers.
by Allison Tait | Sep 3, 2017 | Advice for Writers, News, Writing
I’m over at The Creative Penn today, with a guest post about what writing for kids has taught me about writing.
Joanna Penn is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the most influential voices in indie publishing today – and one of the most generous writers I’ve met since I first ventured into blogging all those years ago.
If you’d like to know a little more about her, here’s the podcast interview [transcript + audio] that I did with her when So You Want To Be A Writer was in its earliest weeks!
And here is a terrific Q&A in which she shares her best self-publishing tips.
You can read my full post ‘What Writing For Children Can Teach You About Writing Fiction’ here.
And don’t forget, I’ve got a little giveaway going on – click here for all details on how you can be in the running to win a pack, including signed editions of Race To The End Of The World (The Mapmaker Chronicles #1) and The Book Of Secrets (Ateban Cipher #1) PLUS a money-can’t-buy Mapmaker cap!
