Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

Book reviewer and freelance journalist Maureen Eppen highlights the importance of taking a professional approach to promoting your book.

If you want to be taken seriously as a published author, you should prepare a professional-looking, single-page Media Release to accompany your book when you send copies to book editors of newspapers and magazines or to writers of blogs about books.

It is a relatively straightforward document, but it’s surprising how often even the most highly regarded publishers and authors forget to include some of the key pieces of information that journalists or bloggers might need when writing about their book.

The most obvious details to include are – of course – the name of the book; the name of the author (your name); the name of the publisher; when it is being published (or was published); the formats in which it is available (such as Trade Paperback, Hardback, eBook etc)…

“As an emerging filmmaker, it is vital to meet people in the industry, develop relationships and to see the standard of work being produced by people os a similar skill set.”

Next Gen is a unique monthly event for emerging West Australian filmmakers, providing a platform to screen shorts on the big scree, network and get involved in Q&A’s with special guest filmmakers.

Emerging filmmakers don’t often get to see their work on a big screen in front of an audience, unless selected in one of the few local film festivals. Next Gen has been created to address this and celebrate short form work produced by local emerging filmmakers. As the name implies, Next Gen is an initiative which aims to support and grow the next generation of filmmakers.

Held monthly at The Backlot Perth, emerging filmmakers will also be treated to a Q&A from successful filmmakers prior to each…

reluctant to abandon the stage
still twirling her faded green skirts
swirling warmth in the face of first frost
she resents the progression of time
a lady after my own aging heart

I first met Lori Grusin Degman though the 12 x 12 challenge.  My kids and I read and fell in love with her books, and I was thrilled to meet Lori in person at the New Jersey SCBWI conference.  She is warm and witty and the best kind of writer friend and I’m excited to interview her on Writer’s Rumpus!

Kirsti Call: When did you start writing children’s books, and why?    

Lori Degman: When my sons were young, I read to them all the time and saw how much they enjoyed hearing the stories, particularly the rhyming, funny picture books. I really wanted to write stories that would make my kids and other kids laugh, so I took a night class on how to write and publish picture books for children. I submitted manuscripts for a few years and amassed a pile of rejections. Then, I went…

Interview by Nicole Melanson ~

Susan Midalia is a fiction writer and freelance editor. She has published three collections of short stories: A History of the Beanbag, shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards; An Unknown Sky, shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award; and the recently released Feet to the Stars. She is the judge of several literary awards and was recently a peer assessor for the Australia Council for the Arts. She has a PhD in contemporary Australian women’s fiction and has published on the subject in national and international literary journals. Susan has lived most of her life in Perth, Western Australia, where she regularly conducts short story writing workshops. Her two most precious creations are her adult sons.

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I began writing fiction in response to the death of my father, as a means of trying to understand my…