Blue DingoMoving forward - Blue Dingo in 2012

January, 2012

Press

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who are you? and why am I reading this journal...

What can Blue Dingo do for you?Blue Dingo gives you the opportunity to showcase your talent bank - you. Whether it’s displaying artwork, sharing your words through a blog, con-necting with book groups or looking for book publishers, our Blue Din-go Network is solely committed to connection. Think of it as stamping your own pawprint in the book industry’s sand...

What are we looking to achieve?The Australian book industry is an enormous market bursting with opportunities. For a writer, illustrator, poet, book lover, self-publisher - this world can get very big, very quick! We know what it’s like to be a voice unheard in a busy world of business - so we want to help cut out the middle man and present you with direct pathways and resources to help you feel less like an ant, and more like a professional, in the fast-growing world of books.

What makes Blue Dingo different?We take pride in our most valued asset - we’re one of you.

No business mumbo-jumbo, just two work-from-home chicks who have a passion for literacy and illustration. We’re always learning and growing, and believe that because we love our jobs - we do them well.

WHAT’S IN STORE THIS EDITION

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BLUE DINGO NETWORKYour Industry Your NewsHello and welcome to the new look BDNN (Blue Dingo Network News).

This issue we are keen to introduce J.B. Sullivan our new writing advisor who will be offering advice, tips and resources while also addressing any questions or comments that have been sent in.

If you would like to ask J.B. a question email bluedingopress@bigpond.com with J.B’s Desk in the subject line.

This year we are going to continue to bring members updates to you in our blog as well as any news and events, so make sure you keep an eye on your in box if you are a member of Blue Dingo Network. If not you can subscribe to the blog at: http://bluedingonet.wordpress.com/.

BLUE DINGO PRESSBlue Dingo Network would like to thank all of the current members for your ongoing support. In May we reach our birthday and will be celebrating by dropping our promotional membership price to just $30. There is of course free membership available for those who just want to network and use the network features without promotions and advertising. Those who choose not to renew promotional memberships will simply be downgraded to f ree membership.

Don’t forget to take full advantage of your promotional membership by getting in touch with me at bluedingopress@bigpond.com or include your news, blogs and events on Blue Dingo Network.

FREE YOUR INNER CHILD

JAMIE SULLIVAN

WRITE A SHORT STORY

KAREN TYRRELL

ASK DUDLEY

Angela Danielle

The Blue Dingo

Team

HAPPYAUSTRALIA DAY

Cover Artwork by Danielle Bagshaw

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Good morning dear readers!

I can be fairly certain of the time because mornings seem to be when humans most like to procrastinate, and what better way to procrastinate after pouring that first cup of coffee than browsing through the pages of yet another artfully crafted issue of Blue Dingo? So, without further ado …

Do not adjust your monitors! The randomization of pixels you are about to experience – manifest as a collection of dodgy punctuation and blunt clauses – is yet another episode of Ask Dudley. Fumble through it at you own risk, but, while doing so, kindly keep your hands to yourself – dashing though I am, I’d look pretty bad in a law-suit (O where’s a corny “boom-tish!” when you need one? I tell ya, what I’m expected to accomplish on this meagre budget is insane).

Now it has been said, and by wiser would-be authors than I (though no doubt less hairy or ruggedly handsome), that there is no such thing as a dumb question. However, there will always be those people who enjoy pushing the boundaries (I bet you know some too). One such person approached me the other day. He must have realised that I nodded off at some point in his tedious monolog because when I woke I found a question that he had scrawled on a bit of paper and subsequently thumb-tacked to my chest. It read thus:

“Can penguins fly?”

To which, of course, the answer is “yes” (but only briefly, depending on the exact height of the cliff they just fell from), and with a glide ratio only marginally better than that of a brick.

But then I got to thinking, maybe there was more to that question than originally met the eye? Just because the current generation of penguins can’t fly, at least not for what we might consider a practical length of time, doesn’t mean they never dream of doing so.Then, as luck would have it, on one of my many travels I found evidence of just that …

What I admired most about this guy (even more than his ability to remain conscious amid the noxious stench being emanated by his brethren) was his perseverance in the face of adversity against all the odds (spe-cifically the odds pertaining to his obvious wing-area to body-mass ratio, and the whole gravity thing); and he persevered because his dream gave him something to aim at. Of course, he may never soar quite as high, or be quite as graceful, as the albatross that were wheeling in the sky above him, but that wasn’t about to stop him from trying.

The more I thought about it, the more parallels I saw between our penguin friend here and the lives of many aspiring authors. There are many pre-published folk out there whose existences might outwardly appear every bit as mundane as that of your average penguin (and Public Servants shouldn’t feel like they’re being singled out here), but it doesn’t stop them from having dreams.

When kick-starting a writing career it is important for your continual progress (and ego) to set yourself regular achievable tar-gets. But … to find out what you are really capable of, you need a dream (or, translating for the Public Servants who might still be reading, a “stretched objective”).

Pick a spectacularly successful author whose style you are enamoured of on which to set your sights, and hurl yourself in their direc-tion (metaphorically, for preference) with all your heart and enthusiasm.

Sure, there’s a fair chance the idea you had may not work out quite the way you hoped, but it’s bound to get you a lot further than you ever would have by always playing it safe.

Our penguin friend may well have had delusions of grandeur, but while trying to fly never made him an albatross, it didn’t make him a turkey either. What’s more, he seemed to have a lot of fun in the process, not to mention providing a lot of valued entertainment for those around him; doesn’t sound like a bad outcome to me. Of course, the story you haven’t heard yet is that of the albatross soaring high above, who is pres-ently knackered and starving after having flownhalfway round the world, thinking “Man, I wish I could glide through the wa-ter like one of those damn penguins to give my wings a rest and get my beak on some of those fish!”

From which we can glean at least a couple of important facts: (1) in their right environ-ment, anyone can fly (some just require a denser medium – which has nothing to do with the aptitude of their fortune-teller); and (2) it’s just in our nature to want for things we haven’t got (i.e. the grass is always greener on theside of the fence … or at least the side of the fence with the most dog poo).

Bearing all the above in mind, your outline for an enjoyable and fulfilling life as an aspiring author should be along the lines of: nice food, good laughs, great friends and inspirational dreams.

On a final note, while it may seem a little unrelated (but only because it is), since this episode has been a tad short on writing tips I wanted to stress the importance of clarity and context in all of your writing, other-wise when you are talking to your outback friends about the wonders of sealed roads, they may actually be picturing something like this...

Ask Dudley

Until next time,yours with paws ~ Dudley.

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The battle between social media and email marketing is heating up, with many businesses finding it easier to set aside their efforts at sending email newsletters in favour of the im-mediate interactivity of social media. Facebook is currently the most feature-rich social media option, offering landing pages, interactive walls, event management, tagging of other pages and people with the “@” symbol and the capacity to message all followers. Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and others can also be used to great effect when businesses have a method to obtain followers.

Social media messaging tends to be short and specific, best suited to situations where followers might have questions or comments to make on the public “wall” of your page. It is a simpler medium to manage than email marketing because a company only needs one trusted individual to look after their social media presence. Generally speaking, this person’s training and knowledge of the company gives them the authority to respond immediately to incoming messages, and to take steps to reach out to others on the social media network.

Email newsletters, on the other hand, are a longer medium that needs to follow a specific workflow. Once you have an approved template, each email newsletter must be written, edited, designed, tested, proofread and sent out. Like printed newsletters, e-bulletins are usually made up of one or more articles. They tend to be at least 300 words in length and con-sist of useful links, a unifying theme and a call to action. If your business has a lot of information to cover, then email newsletters

are a much better choice than social media marketing.

If you have a database containing at least 2,000 opted-in email addresses, you should be utilising that to encourage repeat busi-ness, increased spending and referrals. The percentage of reads you can expect from any given email newsletter will range from 20–50% depending on your audience. Only a small percentage of those people will respond to your offer or call to action, so it’s important to crunch some numbers to determine if email newsletters will be worthwhile for you. Each one you send out may cost you up to $120 in outsourcing fees or staff time plus subscription fees to email newsletter websites like MailChimp, Aweber, Constant Contact and StreamSend.

Many business websites have a subscription form on their home page for their email newsletter as well as links to follow them on social media websites. It is a good idea to try to capture the contact details of your customers at every opportunity so you can market to them in the future. Even if you don’t start sending email newsletters straight away, make it a high priority to obtain opted-in email addresses. With social media you need to push your presence both online and offline in creative, relevant ways. Shoot a funny video, run a competition, bring a local celebrity in.

However you choose to mix up email and social media market-ing, it’s important to offer unique vouchers in each arena so you can track the responses. Then adjust your marketing based on the responses and on the number of followers or subscribers.

Social Media vs Email Marketing

Amanda Greenslade is a work-from-home mum with a one-year-old baby boy. Amanda’s creative and technical abilities combine to offer a broad range of services in copywriting, editing, website maintenance, book production (print and eBooks), social media and email marketing and graphic design for print and web.

How should you balance resources between social media and email marketing? ~ Amanda Greenslade.

{

Dimity PowellAustralian Children’s AuthorTo Read, Write and Inspire are my ambitions.To wake up smiling is my goal.To share life’s magic is my dream.

Join me in the sharing, caring and fantas-tical world of children’s literature on my Blog.

http://dimswritestuff.blogspot.com/

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Book Cover Cafe welcomes writers and authors inside to find free, practical and actionable re-sources along with quality award winning cover design and book production services.

Founder Anthony Puttee assists authors create and launch their books into today’s marketplace.

Having presented on panels and industry events with best selling authors and industry professionals, Anthony helps authors demystify today’s evolving publishing industry.

Advertise HereDive in to the world of online advertising.

Blue Dingo Press has many options open for advertisers - from the popular Bug in a Book quarterly E-Mag, Buginabook.com, Blue Dingo’s Ning Network to our newest addition - Blue Dingo News.

We guarantee the highest quality designs, with competitive prices.

Email bluedingopress@bigpond.com for more details.

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Top #10 SECRETS to Writing Short Stories

1. Create an original, intriguing story, show ing a decisive moment in life.

2. Compel your reader to care deeply about the main character from the very start.

3. Express your main characters hopes and motivations early on in your story. What does your main character really want? ... What do they fear?

4. Connect the Reader emotionally to the main character using sharp dialogue, personal thoughts and original emotive body language.

5. Orientate and anchor each new scene with SHOWING detail so the reader knows exactly where and when they are. Illustrate your scenes in the most cinematic way possible … Utilize your five senses.

6. Structure your short story so that its circular and comes back to the beginning in a captivating way.

7. Amp your nouns and verbs to the max. Create strong vocabulary and cinematic images that project your story forward.

8. Base your short story on one idea or one theme, while a novel has many ideas. A short story creates a unified impression, leaving us with a vivid sensation rather than a number of remembered facts.

9. Craft a short story aiming at unity of characterisation, theme and effect.

10. Share your story with your writing bud dies. Let them critique it. Follow the BEST advice that resonates within you.

How to Write a Successful Short StoryWant to create a short story that connects immediately with the reader? Yearn to write a winning story that is publishable and in big demand? Do you crave to leave them begging for more? ...Then follow my ten sizzling secrets for a successful short story, writes Brisbane author Karen Tyrrell.

{Short stories can be written in any theme or genre, for example:• Fictionisastorythatfitsintoageneralstorythemewitha main character and a plot structured with a beginning, middle and end.• Memoirisastoryaboutyourownuniqueexperiences, expressed in the personal “I” first person point of view. • Narrativenon-fictionhasasimilarstorystructureasfiction.• Crimeisamysterystorywithaprotagonistandanantagonist. The writer lays out clues for the reader to solve.• Romance—theplotcentresaroundtheconflictsofalove relationship.• Sciencefictionisanimaginativestorywhichusestechnologyto solve the character’s problems. • Fantasyisanimaginativestoryusingmagictosolvethe character’s problems. • Urbanfantasyisanimaginativestorythatmightfocuson zombies, werewolves, vampires or an newly imagined creature.• SteampunkisVictorianerasciencefiction.• Children’sgenreisanentertainingfictionstorysuitablefor children of pre-school, primary or high school age groups.

A skilful short story MUST grab the attention of the reader straight away and hold it until the very end.

Karen Tyrrell is a Brisbane memoir and children’s writer ... ME AND HER: a Memoir of Madness, her gutsy story about how a Teacher was harassed by parents at her school to Breaking point and Beyond. ME AND HER will be launched on the 1st May 2012 at Logan North Library, Brisbane @ 6 pm.Karen’s the founder of Logan City Writers collectiveFor more information visit www.karentyrrell.com

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We all know by now that children have the most vivid and creative imaginations about. It is also no secret that many writers throughout the ages have said to others or to themselves that they would like to be a child again, if just to capture that zest, that passion and that sheer joy behind every idea we had. We also figure out later in life, as we become older, that our ideas become more scarce, or rather, more mundane. Speaking in a juvenile sense, at least.

So, are you stuck for ideas? Lacking inspiration and yet you have that insatiable urge to write something, but cannot? Well, the first thing you have to do is dismiss everything anyone has ever told you about taming or training your imagination. You do not need to do that to conceive more fruitful ideas. In fact, do-ing that only weighs your mind down and stops you from creating. What you do need to do is, let your imagination fly. Unchain it from the prosaic reality it is attached to and let it turn the most pitiless and banal things into a soaring and epic adventure.

Do not mistake a lack of inspiration for Writers Block. Writers Block is where you have the ideas and the story flow rooted firmly in your mind, but you cannot find the right way to put thought down on to paper, in words.

Inspiration, where oh where does it come from? Let me show you.

You are sat in front of your computer, staring at the white, flicking screen and you are urging yourself to write, but you have nothing in the way of fresh ideas and you cannot bring yourself to write -what you would consider- trash. In fact, the most you’re doing right now by staring at the monitor is giving yourself RES. That’s Repetitive Eye Strain. So, what do you do? What can you do? Continue sitting there, staring at the computer screen, wasting your life away? No! What you do is look around yourself. Don’t just look around yourself, but really LOOK. Look with your imagination and your heart, not with your eyes or mind. Let your imagination show you the magic in the things around you, and your heart tell you how it feels, and then let your muse speak a fantastical tale to you. Confused? Let me put it in a simpler way.

Look at the glass sitting there on the windowsill. What do you see? Not a lot. What do I see? From the glass alone I see a ship sailing on an angry sea, beneath treacherous thunderheads. I also see a maginifcent waterfall on which a lone rider on horseback has just lunged through, it being the covering to a hidden cave.

The same goes for the flower in the porcelain pot stood next to the glass. I see a meadow in the height of summer; warm, full of life. But on the other hand I see a blood stained field, the sky plunged into premature night as black arrows swarm through the air.

See how fast and vivid the ideas come? How did I do that? I did what you can do. You just have to see the magic in things, Instead of seeing a lonely brick on the pavement as your do your grocery shopping, think of where and how it came to be strewn there. Don’t just think that a builder dropped it. Let your imagination fly. Let it take off, unbound. That brick could have come from a castle under seige, or from a brick stairway on which a lone hero strides in search of his goal. So many ideas can come from so many mundane things if you could but just see the magic in them. Everything in this world has a story to tell, it just depends if you can en-visage the story or not, and that comes solely from the magic of a free imagination.

Jamie Sullivan

Free your inner child...

To submit your questions to J.B ~

email us at bluedingopress@bigpond.com

with the subject line ‘J.B’s Desk’.

Jamie Sullivan