DANNY DOWN THE DRAINPIPE

The Jelly Bean team are currently busy at work on their latest project, Danny Down the Drainpipe.

Written by GCSE English teacher, Lynda Nash, Danny Down the Drainpipe is a fresh and vibrant picture book that sees a reluctant Danny sent to have a bath by his Mother, only to be sucked down the plug hole and taken on the adventure of a lifetime! From the sewers to the sea, Danny sees rats, bobble hats, goldfish having tea and he even flies on a cloud!  

With Lynda’s sharp and enjoyable text and featuring beautiful illustrations from up-and-coming designer Carie Martyn, we are certain that Danny Down the Drainpipe will be another Jelly Bean success.

Check out some of the artwork below.

Danny as he travels through the pipes

Sewer rats and bobble hats

Danny Down the Drainpipe is available to pre-order now at a reduced price for a limited time. To secure your copy, please click here. The finished book will be released in March (2013).

If you have a book that you’d like to print through JellyBean Books then please get in touch. 

JELLY BEAN PROJECT - 'JUST ANOTHER DAY'

In October we created a poetry book for Philomena A’Herne. She wanted to print a book which contained the poetry of two of her family members – Gus and Bernadette A’Herne. We helped her decide on an order for the poems and worked with Philomena to write biographies for both Gus and Bernadette to go in the beginning of the book. Next we proofread the text, and Shaun did the typesetting.

Philomena wanted to call the book ‘Just Another Day’, after one of the poems that Gus had written, so we worked around this title to design the cover. Philomena requested that there were trees on the front cover, and we eventually settled on this photo.

We decided to put photos of Gus and Bernadette on the back cover. They were edited and cleaned up in Photoshop to blend in with the overall design of the book.

As there was a theme running through both Gus and Bernadette’s poems, Philomena decided she would like an illustration at the beginning of each section to reflect this. We decided on cogs for Gus’ poems and shells and ferns for Bernadette’s. We comissioned Terry Cooper to draw the images.

 

Once the book was finished we sent it off to the printers. We were very pleased with the final result and Philomena was too!

If you have a book that you’d like to print through Jelly Bean Books then please get in touch.

SELF-PUBLISHING WORKSHOP - 04/12/12

The Candy Jar Team

Jelly Bean Books is hosting a self-publishing workshop for aspiring writers who need help with getting their work into print.

The workshop will take place on Tuesday 4^th December between 10am and 4pm at 113-116 Bute Street. It will consist of talks from industry experts, interactive sessions and a Q&A session for potential authors to ask all the questions they need answered.

Writers will be able to bring in a page of their writing for critiquing by the company's editor.

Each workshop participant will be given an information booklet to take home with them. A place on the workshop costs £5 and can be booked online or by contacting Rose Widlake on 02921 157202.

10.00 – 10.15 Registration & Introduction

10.15 – 11.00 Self-Publishing: A Crash Course in ebook Publishing

This session will guide you through the essential questions for an author choosing to self-publish: why go it alone? What skills are needed to be a self-published author? What do you need to be aware of before embarking on a self-publishing project?

11.00 – 11.40 How to Successfully Edit your Work

A session on the importance of editing. Should you edit on your own or pay for an editorial service? What kind of editing does your manuscript need - developmental or a close copy-edit? If you go it alone, what should you be looking out for?

11.40 – 12.00 Coffee Break and Networking

12.00 – 12.30 Eileen Younghusband

A chance to learn from Eileen's journey as an author, which began with self-publishing her autobiography Not an Ordinary Life.

12.30 – 13.10 Social Networking for Writers: How to Market Yourself

Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress... which social media platform should you choose? This session will show you how to build an online presence and attract fans.

13.10 – 13.40 Lunch

13.40 – 14.10 Andy Frankham and Terry Cooper

This session gives participants an opportunity to ask published authors Terry and Andy questions about their writing careers. How did they get published? How do they market themselves? What advice can they give to new writers? etc.

14.10 – 14.40 Choosing Your Route: A Discussion Panel with Shaun, Steve and Justin

In this session we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing compared to mainstream publishing. The discussion will last approximately half an hour, followed by a chance to have an informal chat with the panel afterwards.

14.40 – 15.00 Coffee Break and Networking

SELF-EDITING - PREPARING YOUR WORK FOR SUBMISSION

Self-editing is a quintessential part of making your writing look polished and professional. It can be a tedious task, but the following tips will make it all worth your while. 

Most publishers will expect your work to be pre-edited to a certain standard before submission. The final stage of self-editing is not about elements such as character development or plot; that should have been done already. It’s about stylistic mechanics such as the overall layout, spelling mistakes and repetition. There are several things to bear in mind when editing your own work.

1. Firstly, you need to distance yourself from your writing. Set it down for an hour or two before you begin.

2. Once you've given yourself this much needed space, print your work off. When reading a hard copy you are far more likely to pick up on obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. 

3. A good place to start is by looking at the visual layout of your writing. Bear in mind that a whole page without a break is uninviting to the reader. Are there paragraphs in appropriate places? Is speech appropriately indented? Look at existing published work to get an idea of what a finished novel looks like.

4. Once you've done this it will be easier to read your work aloud, which allows you to see how your writing flows. If you stumble over words or phrases, then you know what parts to rewrite. This will also inform you whether you’re using the most appropriate word for the piece. 

5. When self-editing you must check for unintentional repetition and emphasis; you don’t want an excess of exclamation marks and italics cluttering up your writing. You should also cut out the clichés and replace them with more original descriptions of your own. 

6. Finally, after reading your piece as a whole you should completely dissect it. Read it sentence by sentence, analysing whether each word conveys your intended point. Rewrite extraneous words or phrases and importantly, remember to vary sentence structure and check for consistency.

Thorough self-editing should leave you with a smooth and refined piece of writing. 

Robyn Paul

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED SELF-PUBLISHING?

Many writers seem to shy away from this question, afraid that self-publishing is in some way admitting defeat. But the recent rise of self-publishing marks a radical change for readers, writers and publishers and shows that this is no longer the case.

Self-publishing is no longer associated with ‘Vanity Publishing’ – a process where authors are left with poor quality books and are often significantly out of pocket.

Now several companies, including Candy Jar Books, offer quality self-publishing services which deliver real results. Reputable companies offer professional support throughout the self-publishing process, from initial guidance on the first draft through to publicity and marketing of the final book.

Deciding to self-publish is becoming increasingly popular. Many who self-publish are later noticed by publishers and some have had huge success – current bestseller E.L James’ Fifty Shades trilogy being the obvious example. Self-publishing has existed as long as publishing has – Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and William Blake all printed their own work.

Authors are increasingly using alternative publishing routes to get their work noticed. Larger publishing companies are also recognising the importance of self-publishing as a source of talent. This summer Penguin acquired Author Solutions Inc, one of the world’s largest self-publishers for £74m. As Penguin CEO John Makinson said: "Self-publishing has moved into the mainstream of our industry". Similarly, HarperCollins launched the website authonomy.com several years ago, which encourages writers to share their self-published work. Their website says: “The publishing world is changing. One thing’s for sure: whether you’re a reader, writer, agent or publisher, this is an exciting time for books.”

Have you written a book which you are unable to get published? Would you consider self-publishing your work? If you have a book that you'd like to publish then please get in touch!