Your Bookshop News

Your Bookshop has expanded it's range in time for the Festive Season with gift ideas to spoil the whole family! Luxurious soaps to pamper, the craved after Beanie Boo’s, The Russell Glassware Collection and magical decorations for your tree.  PLUS OF COURSE BOOKS, BOOKS & MORE BOOKS.  Explore Your Bookshops current BEST SELLERS!
Make Me Lee Child $24.99  The Girl In The Spiders Web David Lagercrantz $24.99 A Mothers Story Rosie Batty $32.99        Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes Rick Riordan$22.99  The Fate Of Ten Pittacus Lore$22.99 The 65 Storey Treehouse Andy Griffiths $12.99      Bloodline Conn Iggulden$32.99   Murder House James Patterson$24.99 The Taming Of The Queen Philippa Gregory $24.99
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My 3 Tips On Running A Successful Book Group - Annie McCann

My 3 Tips On Running A Successful Book Group By Annie McCann From Read3r’z Re-Vu

written on OCTOBER 5TH, 2015 under MY 3 TIPS.

Greetings readers,

This month our guest blogger on ‘My 3 Tips’ is Annie McCann, the founder and co-ordinator of  Read3r’z Re-Vu.  Established in 2008, Read3r’z Re-Vu is a a network of passionate book enthusiasts with over 200 online members and approximately 15 participants who meet once a month in Sydney. The group's philosophy is rather than analysing a prescribed text, they choose their own title based on a set theme each month. 

With great respect for printed book, members actively promotes and advocates their love of literature with various events throughout the calendar year. Examples of such events include ‘bookstore crawls’,  the Annual Athletics Carnival BBQ  at Parramatta Park,  Supanova Pop Culture, Book Expo Australia, and other literary events held by Australian Publishers.

I first met Annie in 2013, when she invited me to talk to Read3r’z Re-Vu about my then upcoming book, The Russian Tapestry.  During the session, the members asked me questions about the inspirations behind my books, the writing process and my journey from aspiring author to being published.Whenever possible, Annie invites Aussie authors to meet members at their monthly sessions. Past guests included Kate Forsyth, Greg Barron, Will Kostakis, Wanda Wiltshire, Sarah Ayoub, Gabrielle Tozer, Juliet M. Sampson, David M. Henleyand Kylie Fornasier. 

I was very impressed by the group's enthusiasm and love for the written language. Their discussions were lively and I enjoyed hearing each person's take on the theme. So when it came to choosing tips on running a successful book group, I asked Annie to share with us her 3 Tips.

1. Know your members

Take the time to get to know the members of your group. Understand their favourite genres, authors, even location. That way you’re able to enhance the quality of book club meetings and tailoring themes to what the group likes.

2. Dare to be different

In organising my network of readers, I didn’t want to be another cannon in the assembly line. One of the traits that make Read3r’z Re-Vu unique is our sessions. We allocate a theme per session rather than a prescribed text. A theme enables consistency, however, also allows members to choose any title for review that relates to the theme, encouraging wide reading.

3. Have fun with it

Don’t just schedule book club meetings, get together and organise different events to keep things interesting like movie nights, picnics even attending author signings and festivals.

If interested to learn more about Re-Vu Newz, join their quarterly newsletter with summaries of upcoming events and activities. For details, visit

www.litlovers.com

or find them on Facebook

Thank you for stopping by ‘My 3 Tips’.  I hope you’ve enjoyed Annie’s tips.

If you wish to be part of ‘My 3 Tips’ or have a topic you’d like us to cover, please contact me via BanafshehSerov@gmail.com

This blog will also appear on Your Bookshop’s blog.

Till then,

Happy Reading

This post originally appeared on Banafsheh Serov's website. 

YB's Nicholas at Sydney's Comic-Con

Our staff have always been fans of Pop Culture. There's great excitement whenever Supanova and Comic-Con is in town, with several staff requests to get the weekend off.

One of our Rhodes staff, Nicholas spent Saturday morning (September 19th) at the AIE's (Academy of Interactive Entertainment) stand where he's currently a second year student. After a fun morning green-screening participants, he spent the rest of the afternoon exploring other exhibitions at Comic-Con,

The following is a visual diary of his day and the new friends he met along the way...

My 3 Tips to Aspiring Authors - Bernadette Foley

Welcome to the inaugural edition of 'My 3 Tips', where every month, I ask a person in the book industry to share with us their 3 tips on a particular topic.

I thought I'd kick start with my  former publisher, Bernadette Foley. I met Bernadette in 2007 when she commissioned the manuscript for Under A Starless Sky for Hachette Australia. We worked together again with The Russian Tapestry. She's since moved on to launch Big Country Book Club, a new community for readers and writers online.

As an aspiring author then, I found Bernadette to be nurturing but firm in her guidance. She's been an inspiration behind my writing, aspiring me to aim higher and improve with every book.

So without further ado, here's Bernadette with her tips.

My 3 tips to aspiring writers want to get published - by Bernadette Foley

1. Ask why you are writing
2. Be patient
3. Keep reading

There are many other tips I could offer, some would depend on what you are writing, but these three stand out for me.

1. Why are you writing? Because you can’t not write. That is one of the best reasons. Because you want to be rich and famous…mmm, stop now. Because you have a message, a story, information or expertise you want to share with others. This is also a great reason to write, but it could mean that you need help from a publisher or editor to develop your manuscript. Knowing why you are writing will help you decide how to approach the task, who your audience is, which publisher or agent to approach, or to self publish. Be honest when you answer this question.

2. Be patient throughout every stage of the writing and then publishing processes. Start by being patient with yourself. Writing is a skill that improves with practice; write as often as you can and don’t be afraid to experiment with styles and ideas. No one else needs to read your exercise pieces. Don’t rush – very few published authors write only one draft. Write, rewrite, put your manuscript away, come back to it and read your work as if you are its editor; not its creator. Once you submit the manuscript to a publisher or agent, be patient with them. They are not being slow because they aren’t interested in finding new authors. Most likely they will be reading submissions in their own time, not in the office, and they will have added yours to a mountain of others. Then, if you are offered a publishing contract you will need to be patient with the whole publishing team. There will be times when you think nothing is happening. Meanwhile, in the publishing house editors, designers, sales and marketing people will all be working to make your book a success; they just might not have had time to stop and let you know that.

3. Writing takes time and brain space but that is no reason to stop reading. If your manuscript is fiction you might decide to read non-fiction, and vice versa. Read critically – think about the writing and how you might have approached it differently if you’d written on this subject. Equally, analyse what the author has done well. This will help you to edit and appraise your own work. Read for research and for relaxation; just don’t stop.

I would like to wish you all the very best with your writing

Bernadette

Bernadette Foley has worked in book publishing for 30 years, most recently as a publisher of fiction and non-fiction for Hachette Australia. She teaches at the Australian Writers Centre and Professional Editing at UTS. Bernadette is also the manager of a new community for readers and writers online, Big Country Book Club. You can visit us: www.facebook.com/BigCountryBookClub

This blog is also published under the author's website

www.banafshehserov.com.au

If you wish to be included in our 'My 3 Tips' blog, please send your topic to yourbookshopb@iinet.net.au for consideration

Shaynna Blaze @ Rhodes Waterside

On Saturday, August 1st, award wining Interior designer and co-presenter of Selling Houses Australia and The Block, Shaynna Blaze, visited Rhodes Waterside for styling sessions, followed by meet and greet.

Your Bookshop was there with copies of Shaynna's books for sale and signing.

The following are some of the highlights of the two hour session with thanks to Rhodes Waterside.

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