Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Publishing insider launches Australian website for writers

A new Australian website for writers who want to learn more about the publishing industry has been launched.

The Book Salon is the brainchild of writer and book publicist Steph Little, who has worked in the Australian and UK book industries for close to 10 years. Little is currently a senior marketing campaign manager at Hardie Grant, however, the Book Salon is a personal project and is not affiliated with Hardie Grant.

The Book Salon launched this month with blog posts about how ‘to get in the mood for writing’ and how to pitch books to media outlets, as well as a review of Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche (Viking) and a Q&A with DeRoche. The review includes links to purchase the book from Amazon.

Subscribers to the Book Salon newsletter can also access a free ebook called 50 Essential Resources Every Writer Needs, which has been edited and published by Little.

Little told Books+Publishing that she is currently writing all of the content for the Book Salon, but has plans to publish guest posts from other writers and reviewers. She is also interested in hearing from publishers that ‘have books for review or authors who’d like to talk about their journey to publication’. ‘My aim is to offer real publishing industry insight to emerging writers so that’s what I’m looking for in terms of content right now,’ said Little.

While Little said the Book Salon is ‘in some ways a selfish project’ that allows her to indulge her love of books and writing, she said that she believes there is a gap in the market for a website that offers ‘advice and tips for writers, insight into how to get published and book reviews all in the one place’. ‘These days publishers expect a lot of their authors—to have their own author platform, to be adept in various social media channels—and while many are, there are writers who might need some guidance in that respect,’ said Little.

Little said her experience working in the book industry, including as publicity manager at Summersdale in the UK and in various marketing roles for Borders in Australia, will influence the content that appears on the Book Salon, as will her own writing. ‘I’ve worked with a lot of writers and publishers over the last ten years so I’m happy to share some of the things I’ve learnt in terms of book marketing, publicity, social media for authors and more,’ said Little. ‘But I also write fiction in my spare time so in that respect, I’m also tackling how to pitch, editing, writer’s block and the nuts and bolts of writing.’

For more information, visit the Book Salon here.

 

Tags:

Category: Local news