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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Only in Canada, eh? Pity

I’m probably dating myself with this reference but an article in the Globe and Mail today reminded me of this old Red Rose Tea commercial.

The article in question refers to the Canadian habit of removing Canadian references when writing in order to be able to sell books in the United States. One would think that as a science fiction writer I would be somewhat immune to this affliction. However when I wrote The Gender Divide, I struggled with this issue.

Strangely enough it wasn’t so much the location that I struggled with. For most science fiction authors, many of our locations and environments are completely fictional and the reader has to rely on the writer to properly describe it. Ironically when writing The Gender Divide I used an American location (California, outside of LA) but only because that was the location where the idea of writing The Gender Divide came to me and I couldn’t envision it somewhere else.

The changes I did make to The Gender Divide to ‘Americanize’ it were in the areas of spelling and measurement. In retrospect it’s odd how much I worried about such inconsequential issues when there are so many more items that define Canada. Perhaps it took the recent Vancouver Olympics and the not so recent (or over) financial crisis to help me focus on what it really means to be Canadian.

I’ll leave you with this American perspective on Canada (we Canadian’s are normally too modest to do this sort of thing, despite our fierce, albeit restrained, pride in ourselves and our country).

posted by David at 3:51 pm  

Monday, July 27, 2009

Authors don’t need ‘friends’

Originally posted on The Writers Vineyard

That was the title of an article in the Globe and Mail last week. The topic discussed was the marketing of books and the requirement to be online.

The author of the article doesn’t buy into the argument that an online presence is necessary, instead suggesting that old fashioned methods like posters on telephone polls is the way to go. He also states that getting chosen for Oprah’s book club, nominated for the Giller prize or “Canada Reads”, or getting prominently displayed in Costco or Indigo is the way to get on the bestseller lists.

(more…)

posted by David at 12:01 am  

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tempus Fugit

Originally posted on The Writers Vineyard

It is quite remarkable how quickly time passes. It seems like only yesterday that I received the wonderful news that Champagne Books agreed to publish The Gender Divide. First edits came and went and just last week I received the Advance Reader Copy for final review.

I’ve spent most of the weekend re-reading The Gender Divide. I had read through it once already during the first edit but (more…)

posted by David at 2:39 pm  

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Giving Something Back

As a new author it is hard to promote your novel, particularly when it is being published by a small press publisher starting a new imprint. Having the backing of a large publishing house helps but it is hardly a guarantee. I’m not an overly religious person but the phrase ‘God favors the prepared’ comes to mind. Yet how does one become ‘prepared’? Personally I think word of mouth is the best way to build an audience for a new author but how do you go about doing that? (more…)

posted by David at 10:16 am  

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