Opening Chapter Blag

To my imaginary reader
by Derec Jones
I confess. I have never read Jane Eyre. I have tried - honestly, well a bit. The only thing I know about the book is that the final chapter starts with the words “Reader, I married him.”, and I had to click over to Google to confirm that. I suppose it’s something to be ashamed of, calling myself a novelist and having no inclination to read what is reputed to be one of the greatest novels ever written. My logic goes like this: ‘Charlotte Bronte wrote the aforementioned great novel without first having read it, so why do I need to?’ OK, the truth is, I have tried to read it many times, but it just doesn’t do it for me. The writing might be brilliant and insightful but the story is mundane - perhaps I’ve seen too many soap-operas.

I have learned one thing from Charlotte though. That phrase: “Reader, I married him.” often pops into my head when I’m writing my novels. As I write, I have two imaginary readers; there is one that looks over my shoulder and nods or tuts at the words that leak onto the page or the screen. I don’t like that reader. That reader is too critical, checking all the time if I am following the correct rules, pressurising me to think about plot and structure and character development, and eventually driving me away screaming with frustration.

It’s the other imaginary reader I like, the reader that Charlotte addresses. This is the reader that sits enthralled at the fireside on a damp dark night, sipping from a glass of warm mulled wine; or smiles to herself on a bus, as the words I am writing chime with something real and beautiful deep inside her. That reader exists for me now, as I write, it’s just time that separates us. When I finish writing something to my satisfaction I bundle the words up into messages, put them in bottles and send them off into the cosmos. Before the internet those bottles invariably ended up in a drawer, and when that got full, up the attic in boxes.

In the pre-blog days I tried to get bottle messaging companies to take my bottles to the seaside and set them free but they weren’t interested. That upset me at first. Why are my messages unacceptable? I asked myself. It took a decade of rejections and the acquisition of an MA in Creative Writing before I realised that the rejection was nothing to do with the quality of the message - it was simply that the bottle delivery companies are actually commercial entities, their job is to make as much money as possible while doing as little work as possible. Naturally they go for the safer options of sticking to bankable names and those that write in a way that has sold before. There is not much room for new voices. Occasionally a writer is plooped from the slush pile and bandied about as the next literary genius, but that’s just because it makes good television, like the X-Factor or American Idol.

Things are different now, they really are. Some of my imaginary readers have now got names and e-mail addresses and blogs. Without the internet my bottles would gradually decompose and their contents disintegrate without ever finding a fellow human being’s eyes to devour them. They would be brushed aside by some future archaeologist as he grabs for the fascinating object that is my decomposed computer monitor.

Having instant access to the opinions of readers does have its problems though. As I write now, I’m thinking of how the output of my fingers will fare out there in the ether of the internet. Will it attract praise? Am I exposing myself as a deluded twat, like those miserable wannabees on the X-Factor? If I do get praise, is it genuine? Who cares anyway? And so on. Of course thinking of these things will influence my writing, I might as well go and study Jane Eyre and accept that I’m just not good enough to share my own voice; I should learn instead how to mimic and modify the formula, to dress it up in contemporary clothes and apply a thick layer of anti-seramide-dioxin-plump-it-up cream to every crevice of its bloated body.

The thing is, I can’t do that. There is another, much more important imaginary reader. He is my future self. He insists that I deliver only truth in my own voice. He is the other human being waiting at the end of the universe for my communication. Of course, he is not me in the sense of who I am in this particular form in this particular place and at this particular time. For I am a Shapeshifter and a Timelord, so there!

Derec’s Website

Debi Alper talks about a new initiative by bloggers with book deals

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already aware that the internet is packed full of potential and new initiatives can develop at a giddy pace. The means of production have broadened in a way unimaginable a decade ago, providing new opportunities for writers, both in publishing and in publicity.

Blogs themselves offer the ultimate media democratisation, whereby your unedited words can be read by anyone with an internet connection – a potential audience of millions. (At the last count there were well over 71 million blogs, with a new one being created every second. Ooops – there’s another one. And another …)

So why, among all these gadzillions of words floating round cyberspace should anyone bother to read yours? The obvious answer is to offer something different; something new and exciting; to have a Unique Selling Point, in other words.

This Blag ticks those boxes. And so does an innovative new website I’m involved with - Bookarazzi. The site is the public face of a private forum known as Bloggers With Book Deals – which in itself is yet another good example of an online phenomenon with a USP.

BWBD was set up in November 2006 by one of the most proactive bloggers of them all, author Clare Sudbery, who sent emails to various bloggers she knew to have published books or who had recently negotiated deals. The initial intention was to provide networking opportunities and mutual support as well as discussing issues specific to the publishing process – dealing with agents, editors, publicity, readings etc.

As the membership grew to include some of the biggest names in the literary blogosphere, relationships formed both online and crossing over into Real Life. Inevitably the subjects posted moved into wider areas, encompassing more personal issues. In other words, BWBD had become a community in its own right.

I was invited to join in February. It took a while to find my way around, like the new kid moving into an already-bonded class in school. The original forum was hosted on Yahoo. Posts appeared in chronological order so it was difficult to follow threads and there were no avatars, so it was hard to work out who people were or what books they had written. Even so, it was abundantly clear that the ethos of this very diverse group was both generous-spirited and supportive.

Some time after I joined someone suggested it might be good to have a collective website. (I’m not sure if any of us can remember who came up with the original idea!) Somewhere we could share our experiences and skills with other writers and also extend our promotional potential by association with each other.

The response was immediate – the boxes ticked in our collective consciousness.

• Was it a new idea? Tick.
• Was it exciting? You bet.
• Does it have a USP? We’re all bloggers – right?

Although there are other sites offering resources for writers, this would be the only one with a link to the blogosphere. Some of the forum members had blogs that had become books (eg Girl With a One Track Mind and Petite Anglaise). Others had been offered book deals as a result of their blogs (eg Caroline Smailes). Still more had started blogging to publicise their books or as another outlet for their creative writing skills.

When many of us write, one of the first things we need to have clear is the title. Without it, we can’t establish our book’s identity or theme. So it was with Bookarazzi. We liked the idea of a collective site, but what should we call it? Alternatives were bounced backwards and forwards on the forum but none of them seemed quite right. We all felt that, like naming a child or a fictional character, we’d know the right name when it presented itself.

These were the suggestions in a post dated 28th April:

• The Bookarazzi
• Between the Lines
• Blog, Book & Candle
• The Blogbury Set
• Book In Here
• Like Blogging For Chocolate (oh dear, starting to fall apart now)
• We Have To Talk About Books
• The Man Who Mistook His Book For A Blog
• Harry Potter And The Bloglet Of Fire

The responses came thick and fast. It was clear we had reached a consensus. Bookarazzi was born.

Over the next few weeks there would be flurries of activity on the forum followed by a lull, when things would seem to go off the boil. The turning point came in early June when mega-talented techy whizz, Lucy Pepper, began the process of building the site by producing a gorgeous shiny new forum. We had easy-to-follow threads. We had avatars. We could see each other and conduct proper conversations. While ideas for content were discussed, Lucy got to work on the design and build of the site, using Joomla which would enable all forum members to publish and edit content.

There were still occasional fallow patches. We all had books to write, edit or publicise. We all had our own blogs. And our own lives. Some have other jobs. Many of us have young families. Bookarazzi could only be successful if enough of us were able to find the space to put our creative energies into a project that would be time-consuming and occasionally (especially for the more techy-challenged among us) irritating. We had to learn new skills as well as initiate ways of collective working that we all felt comfortable with.

Our key strength was in the numbers of people involved (as well as their awesome writing skills, of course). Hopefully, at any one time, there would always be people able to find time to add new content.

The site was launched on Monday 9th July. An incredibly fast process when you think about it. At that point there were nearly 50 members of the forum. We decided on a slow burn, publicizing the site on our own blogs to start with and checking the feedback before sending out press releases and ensuring the word went out to all the major players in the literary blogosphere and beyond.

In the first week we received 1094 site visits and 5868 page views. New people have joined the forum and the feedback from visitors has been constructive and positive. With a house blog and regular features and news articles, the content will be constantly updated. The comments facility on all posts and articles means anyone can join in debates. We have a fledgling FAQ section and a burgeoning collection of links, which we hope will be an invaluable resource in itself. Bios of the forum members and links to their books, blogs and sites make Bookarazzi of interest to readers as well as writers.

Our aim is to make Bookarazzi the coolest place to hang out in the literary blogosphere. An imaginative use of the internet and its potential? I’d say so. But then I would. Check it out for yourself and see if you agree.

Debi Alper

Debi is the author of the novels Nirvana Bites and Trading Tatiana

blog:- http://debialper.blogspot.com/
website:- http://www.debialper.co.uk/
Bookarazzi. http://www.bookarazzi.com/