Chapeltown Books

Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing

November 26, 2021 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

It is my pleasure to welcome back Lynn Clement. Her flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, is out with Chapeltown Books and I had the privilege and pleasure of editing this collection.

Prior to that, I had met Lynn when I was guest speaker at the Hampshire Writers’ Society where I talked about flash fiction, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books, and this, I’m glad to say, inspired Lynn to start submitting work to CafeLit and then a single author collection to Chapeltown Books.

This week, Lynn and I talk about the editing process and why it is never a good idea to use song lyrics in your work.

Tags: Allison Symes, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, editing, Lynn Clement, The City of Stories

Judging a Book by Its Cover – Part 3

April 30, 2021 By Allison Symes 7 Comments

This week I chat to authors from CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing, and Chapeltown Books about the importance of book covers. The variety of book covers is amazing but every writer has one thing in common. We all want our covers to be the best they can possibly be.

The three questions I set my guests were:-

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.

Feature Image – Part 3 – Judging a Book by its Cover. Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay picture.

Tags: Alyson Faye (aka Alyson Rhodes), Amanda Huggins, book covers, book marketing, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, Colin Payn, creative writing, Dawn Knox, fiction, Gail Aldwin, Jim Bates, Paula R C Readman, publishing

Launches in Lockdown – Part 4

February 12, 2021 By Allison Symes 6 Comments

This week I chat to friends from Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, and Chapeltown Books, who didn’t launch one book in lockdown. They launched several! Now there’s a challenge!

Feature Image – Launches in Lockdown – Part 4. Image created in Book Brush.

Tags: Amanda Huggins, being published, book marketing, book promotion, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Knox, launches in lockdown, Paula C Readman

Part 2 – The Chronicles Continue – Dawn Knox

December 4, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

I’m delighted to welcome back a good friend of mine, Dawn Knox, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Dawn and I are both published by Cafelit and Bridge House Publishing. Both of us are flash fiction and short story writers but Dawn is also a playwright and has recently released her second hilarious set of “chronicles” stories called The Macaroon Chronicles. This is the follow up to her debut set of chronicles called The Basilwade Chronicles. If you like a good, funny read, do check these out.

Dawn Knox. Image kindly supplied by her.

Tags: Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Knox, playwriting, stage work, The Basilwade Chronicles, The Great War, The Macaroon Chronicles

Part 2 – The Writing Game – and What to Watch For

July 31, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Welcome to Part 2 of my new series. You can find the link to Part 1 here. Writing colleagues and I share tips we hope will be useful ranging from contracts to marketing to even handling professional jealousy. There is much to learn from here!

Any industry attracts charlatans. Writing isn’t exempt. From copyright infringements to piracy, it pays to be aware of what can happen and where to go for advice. It is also useful to know what to avoid.

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Tags: advice, Allison Symes, Amanda Baber, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Kentish Knox, fantasy, flash fiction, Gill James, hints, humour, Paula C Readman, publishing, scams, short stories, tips

Celebrations, Crackers, Chapeltown, and Cafelit – London 2018

December 14, 2018 By Allison Symes 3 Comments

On 1st December, it was my great joy to travel to London once again to meet up with fellow Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit/Chapeltown Books authors at the annual celebration event. On the way up by train, I enjoyed my usual routine of writing stories on my phone app and getting quite a bit of work done by the time I got into Waterloo. [Read more…] about Celebrations, Crackers, Chapeltown, and Cafelit – London 2018

Tags: Allison Symes, anthologies, author event, book celebration, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, flash fiction, independent press, short stories

Networking Tips – Allison Symes (with Mandy Huggins)

April 13, 2018 By Allison Symes 1 Comment

Networking is vital for all writers. You make connections, those may lead to taking part in events like book fairs, but, most importantly, you make friends. There is nobody like another writer who will understand the drive to write and its frustrations. [Read more…] about Networking Tips – Allison Symes (with Mandy Huggins)

Tags: books, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, flash fiction, From Light to Dark and Back Again, writing advice

Writing Tips and Character Creation: Interview with Gail Aldwin Part 2

March 23, 2018 By Allison Symes 6 Comments

Part 1 of Gail Aldwin’s interview last week shared Gail’s memories from her round the world bus trip and how it influenced her Paisley Shirt flash fiction collection (published by Chapeltown Books). Here she shares her writing tips, the joys of creating characters and her thoughts on ebooks and “real” books. Comments on the latter would be welcome! [Read more…] about Writing Tips and Character Creation: Interview with Gail Aldwin Part 2

Tags: books, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, fiction, flash fiction, interview, writing advice

Travelling by Bus around the World and Inspirational Flash Fiction – Introducing Gail Aldwin

March 16, 2018 By Allison Symes 9 Comments

Further to last week where I discussed the frustrations of publishing, it is my pleasure to share my interview with another writer taking the independent press route. Please “meet” fellow Chapeltown Books author, Gail Aldwin. Also many thanks to her for supplying the images for this interview. [Read more…] about Travelling by Bus around the World and Inspirational Flash Fiction – Introducing Gail Aldwin

Tags: Chapeltown Books, creative writing, flash fiction, inspiration

How to Cope with Publishing and Editing

March 15, 2018 By David Lamb 2 Comments

Allison Symes’ sound advice on publishing and its perils, The Frustrations of Publishing, set me to thinking about my life as a writer and in some respects as a publisher, or rather editor of journals and series of books. I was fortunate in having a few bright ideas at the right time such that small publishers who were seeking to expand their business took me on as a series editor for books in philosophy, ethics, and science related topics. [Read more…] about How to Cope with Publishing and Editing

Tags: books, Chapeltown Books, publishing

The Frustrations of Publishing

March 8, 2018 By Allison Symes 8 Comments

There are few authors who don’t know about the frustration of getting their work out there. Also, even fewer make their living “just” via their books (as regular surveys by the Society of Authors make depressingly clear).

George Orwell made a significant amount of his living via book reviewing. The benefits of his creations passing into the English language as shorthand, sadly, were not realised by him directly. I’ll be returning to my 101 Things to Put into Room 101 (which is loosely based on his creation of Room 101 in 1984) in a few weeks’ time. You don’t want all my moans at once! [Read more…] about The Frustrations of Publishing

Tags: books, Chapeltown Books, publishing

Writing Sayings – Truth or Nonsense?

February 16, 2018 By Allison Symes 3 Comments

Sayings are strange things at times. Okay, the one about not casting a clout before May is out does make sense. We live in Britain. The weather is changeable!

However, there are others that are open to question and some relate to writing.

Tags: books, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, reading, writing

Writer Co-operatives

July 28, 2017 By Allison Symes 14 Comments

Given publishing is a tough business and it is the hardest it has ever been for a writer to find a publisher and/or agent, why on earth would writers want to form groups? Surely they should focus on their own books?

Ironically, it is because the world of publishing is so tough, that writers forming co-operatives is (a) becoming more common and (b) a fantastically sensible thing to do. [Read more…] about Writer Co-operatives

Tags: book promoting, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, fiction, writers, writers' co-operatives

Why have Book Signings? Report from the Station – Allison Symes

July 14, 2017 By Allison Symes 5 Comments

Image Credit: Many thanks to Janet Williams for taking the signing photos at the railway station. Like many women, I can multi task but there is a limit and even I couldn’t take a picture of myself signing a book!

Many thanks to all who came to my book signing at our lovely railway station on Saturday 8th July. Particular thanks go to Mark Miller and Nick Farthing of the Three Rivers Rail Community Partnership, Hilary Stone for “manning” the drinks and snacks bar, Janet Williams, Richard Hardie and Daniel Symes.
[Read more…] about Why have Book Signings? Report from the Station – Allison Symes

Tags: book launch, book promoting, book signing, Chandler's Ford Railway Station, Chapeltown Books, event, From Light to Dark and Back Again, local interest, writers

Cyberlaunch Lessons by Allison Symes

April 14, 2017 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

I loved the cyber launch for From Light To Dark and Back Again held at the beginning of the month. Thanks again to Chapeltown Books and Cafelit for hosting the event. I was co-host. This post looks at how I prepared for the event and what I learned from it. I hope it will be of use to other writers. The images used in the post were those I used during the launch itself.
[Read more…] about Cyberlaunch Lessons by Allison Symes

Tags: advice, book launch, book promoting, books, Chapeltown Books, flash fiction, From Light to Dark and Back Again, publishing, writing

What is a Cyber Launch? by Allison Symes

March 30, 2017 By Allison Symes 8 Comments

A cyber launch is basically a Facebook online party celebrating the publication of your book and promoting it. There are usually quizzes with prizes, giveaways, special offers and so on. The only requirement is to be logged on to Facebook at the time of the event. [Read more…] about What is a Cyber Launch? by Allison Symes

Tags: advice, book launch, Chapeltown Books, communication, From Light to Dark and Back Again, Information, literature, publishing, writers, writing

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