Festive Greetings from Hornsea Writers

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house...  

...glasses are chinking as members of Hornsea Writers offer wishes of health and happiness to all our readers for the Festive Season and the coming New Year.

Cheers!

[with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore (1779 - 1863) for hijacking his poem]

An author asks for help on where to send the money

Writers as a group are not amongst the better paid so it might seem odd to find a group of authors whose profits are routinely shared with others. But such groups exist and in the one I'm writing about a new author is asking for help in deciding which charity should benefit from her début novel. Firstly, a bit of background:

A recent comprehensive survey by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society showed not only below-minimum-wage returns, but that writers’ earnings were going down. Contrast this with the creative industries as a whole, one of the few sectors whose overall contribution to the economy remained steady and even went up through 2008 and the on-going recession.

Now focus on an old publishing model and a fairly new publishing house. The original publishing model was a profit share between writer and publisher. That didn't last the transition of publishing to multinational conglomerate status whilst writing remained a cottage industry. The writer became, very decidedly, the poor relation.

However, some small publishers are veering back towards the original model. Fantastic Books Publishing with whom several Hornsea Writers are involved doesn't just work to a profit-share model, they also take 10% from their book sale profits and give it to charity. The authors choose the charity to benefit from sales of their book.

The charity model has been discussed on their own blogs by various of Fantastic Books’ established authors:

Why I have chosen Mind by John Scotcher

Charity begins at home by Drew Wagar
The Great North Run by Stuart Aken

Fantastic Books’ newest author, Melodie Trudeaux, has yet to decide which charity will benefit from her book sales, but she says, ‘Horse of a Different Colour is a children’s adventure tale. It might be appropriate if it earned money for a horsey charity, but there are so many good causes that I can’t make up my mind.’

If you want to help Melodie decide, please visit her blog HERE and leave your suggestions.

John Scotcher is author of The Boy in Winter’s Grasp
Drew Wagar is author of Elite: Reclamation  and Shadeward: Emanation
Stuart Aken is author of M.E. and Me. and the Seared Sky trilogy

Cottingham Book Fair with a difference

On Saturday afternoon 12th December, Cottingham East Yorkshire will host a Christmas Fair with a difference. A group of creative artists have banded together to negotiate big discounts on top quality books and merchandise with the aim of providing a collection of unusual and unique Christmas gifts. The Fair is organised by Hornsea Writers Penny Grubb and Pippa Ireland.

In addition to books, visitors will have the opportunity to obtain professional photo portraits and buy a host of items including virtual reality headsets, science-fiction and fantasy memorabilia (fans of Brian Blessed, Star Trek, Dr Who and Lord of the Rings take note). Refreshments will be on offer.

As well as the group’s own books – many of which have been internationally recognized with prestigious awards – on special sale will be the recently released Dr Who autobiography My Dalek has a Puncture.

Hull is a strong theme at the Fair and includes three crime writers who set their stories in the city; Penny Grubb, author of the award-winning Annie Raymond mysteries; Nick Quantrill, author of the much-praised Joe Geraghty series and Alfie Robins author of many novels including the best-selling Hull-based Reprisal.

From further afield but still from Yorkshire comes journalist and performance poet, James Nash, who when not travelling, writes in an old laundry that used to be home to a Buddhist. James has many stories to tell and we aim to persuade him to tell some of them at the Fair.

The Fair boasts another celebrated performance poet, writer and painter, Cliff Forshaw. Cliff’s writing has taken him around the world and won many prestigious awards.

Also represented at the Fair will be contemporary romance from Rhoda Baxter; memoir from Bob Jackman; historical fiction from Suzanne Marshall; and award-winning family sagas from Annie Wilkinson.

About the Book Fair

Date and time: Saturday 12 December, 2 pm to 5 pm

Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire. Methodist Church Hall, 166 Hallgate, HU16 4BD

Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1000641129974062/

About the authors and artists

Rhoda Baxter http://rhodabaxter.com/
Cliff Forshaw http://www.cliff-forshaw.co.uk/
Penny Grubb http://www.pennygrubb.com/
Pippa & Laurence Ireland http://lascalastudios.photium.com/
Bob Jackman http://scarboroughwriterscircle.com/some-of-our-members/#jackman

Suzanne Marshall http://scarboroughwriterscircle.com/some-of-our-members/#marshall
James Nash http://www.jamesnash.co.uk/
Nick Quantrill http://www.nickquantrill.co.uk/
Alfie Robins http://alfierobins.co.uk/
Annie Wilkinson http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/annie-wilkinson/

About the sponsors

Fantastic Books Publishing is providing special discounts for Fair.

Susan Alison Art is donating designer Christmas cards to be given to shoppers who buy Fantastic books.

Launching - Scent of the Böggel-Mann

For the grey days of winter, when the wind whistles and the house creaks, Linda Acaster launches a new supernatural short.

Elaine haunts auctions held in crumbling country mansions, dreaming of a find that will make her and Gary rich. A plain wooden shipping trunk has no key to its iron-banded locks but is far heavier than it should be. What might it contain? Bricks laughs a suave competitor. A body retorts Elaine. 

Both are wrong. Both are right. Beware the Böggel-Mann. 

Kindle ¦ Kobo ¦ iBooks ¦ Smashwords all formats
Nook - to follow

Check Linda's other titles via her website or via the links at the top of this page.