Did We Make the Final of the Shorty Awards?

This is the screen shot when the contest closed this morning.  All those in the first five of each category go through to the finals.  It looks as if we are all through, as are Stephen Fry and my friend Anne (of Izzibag) but it's not that simple.  Over the weekend, MC Hammer and his chums at The Academy will judge things.  Any one of us could yet be booted out.  


For a moment, let's just enjoy this screen shot.  We are all placed and - more amazingly - we are all placed higher than Britney Spears.  If that's not an indication of Twitter Power I don't know what is.


Must sleep and write but I'll be back soon.  Don't forget to sign up to my newsletter at the top, and feel free to forward it to friends.


Thanks for all your support,


Rebecca xxx
www.rebeccawoodhead.com 

Did We Make the Final of the Shorty Awards?

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HELP!! Last Day of Shorty Awards. I am Top Non-Published Writer and Neil Gaiman Nominated Me but I Need Your Help!

What an interesting week!  Congratulations to everyone who's voted for me to this point.  Thanks to you, the Literature category in the Shorty Awards is now an official Awards-in-New-York category.  Take a bow.  Take another.  Done yet?  Jolly good.  


Well, my first goal is accomplished.  I toyed with the idea of backing off once I saw this happen, but then I noticed a development; people are switching their votes.  As I am now the top non-published writer in the awards, and people in the writing community on Twitter would like an unpublished representative in the final, they are voting for me rather than their friends further down in vote numbers.  Everyone seems fine with this.  Seems churlish not to keep going eh?  Why not?  If I won Ms Twitter UK for the Word Nerd Army, I don't see why I shouldn't try to get placed in this contest for them - and other writers - too.


The thing is... this isn't the Ms Twitter contest.  It is much harder.  I am up against actual writers with actual New York Times best selling status.  I need your help.  


This is the last day to vote and I need as many voters as possible.  PLEASE tell people today.  It goes without saying that I will give you credit for your help.  This contest has been more 'about me' than the Ms Twitter contest was, because I need to be published, but it's never 'all about me.'   Where is the fun in doing well in this if I can't get my friends involved too?  As ever, I can't do any of this on my own.  Let me know your thoughts here and on Twitter - my username is @rebeccawoodhead

PLEASE VOTE TODAY!  If you don't want to vote from their site, simply cut and paste the following - including the link at the end - replacing the '...' with your own reason, and tweet it. 

  

I nominate @rebeccawoodhead for a Shorty Award in #literature because ...... http://bit.ly/shorty

HELP!! Last Day of Shorty Awards. I am Top Non-Published Writer and Neil Gaiman Nominated Me but I Need Your Help!

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Shorty Awards - top non-published Writer!

WE DID IT!

Literature is now recognised as an official category and I'm now the top non-published writer in it.  Can we get me into the final? It has been an intriguing journey.  I even got (almost)punked by a famous comedian who then kind-a-sorta complimented me for taking it well.  He's v funny actually.  Didn't know him by name before this but knew him by reputation.  His 7-legged spider picture gag is legendary.  Am honoured.  


Anyhow, by some strange coincidence, a bunch of my chums are also in 4th place on the front page - out of reach of the screenshot, Stephen Fry is 4th in the celebrity category.


Things are getting really competitive in the literature category so I need your votes.  The link is shortyawards.com  for the front page (you need to pick 'literature' when it asks for category) and the direct link is http://tiny.cc/TheRandomer 


Can an unpublished writer be placed in the Twitter Oscars?  Come on guys.  I need your help!  Tell everyone you can as the number of voters is more important than the number of votes.  PLEASE HELP.  


Thank you.


Rebecca

Shorty Awards - top non-published Writer!

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Exciting Times!

Will have much to post soon.  Have been bee-like in my busy-ness.  Until I can be more clear about developments, I just want to draw your attention to the newsletter.  This is something I plan to make far more use of in future.  There will be exclusive content and goodies for newsletter subscribers, so click the button on the right or the tab at the top and get in on it.  Feel free to forward my newsletters to your friends and also to spread the word about my posts using the 'share' buttons.  Things are going to get very exciting soon.

This is the last week of voting for the Shorty Awards.  I am still beating JK Rowling and am a good few votes ahead of Neil Gaiman but I need more voters to win.  Any help you can give me - by mentioning this to your followers - will be much appreciated.  The short URLs are: http://tiny.cc/ShortyAwards and http://tiny.cc/TheRandomer - my personal Shorty Awards page is http://tiny.cc/therandomer

Thanks everyone,

Rebecca.

Exciting Times!

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Who's Steering this Thing?

This year has been intriguing.  A year or so ago, we all had a rough idea what the book industry was.  In fact, the premise of the blog I set up a year ago was that my words would eventually end up on a bookshelf.  As I gave my blog a make-over today I was aware of this.  How likely are my books to end up on a bookshelf now?  It is by no means certain that actual, physical books will be made from my words.  They could become best selling novels and never go near paper.  With every month, it is more clear to me that writers are not the only ones fumbling through a maze whilst wearing a blindfold: everyone is doing it.  

Readers are confused.  One minute, books were physical things.  The next minute, you could download PDFs for free - or for pennies.  Suddenly, ebooks can sell for as much as, or even more than, physical books.  I laughed at the idea of paying $75 for an ebook the other day, when I saw it being discussed on Twitter, only to be pulled up by someone who had thought nothing of spending $150 on one.  Meanwhile, independent shops have been forced out of towns by big book stores and they, in turn, are now being forced out by supermarkets and Amazon.

Ah... Amazon.  How convenient it is.  I love Amazon - there's even a little carousel of wonderful writerly things I lust after at the bottom of this page - but I am a little startled by their newest offer.  It is something wonderful for writers: utterly liberating.  We can finally grab our careers by the lead and march them through the park of profitable endeavour.  That said, it is a cloudy day for publishing.  What am I on about?  Well... you know that writers can now self-published through Amazon?  Their very generous royalty calculations have just exploded.  30-ish% is now 70%!  A fair share for writers will be exchanged for a fair price for readers and exclusivity to the Kindle.  Is this the best thing to happen for writers and readers in an age?  Should we all buy Kindles and publish our books with Amazon?  What would that do to publishers and book shops? How will the Apple iSlate change the literary climate?  Should we wait?  What do you think?

Who's Steering this Thing?

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The Randomer Returns

I overtook Neil Gaiman but then New York Times best selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon snuck up and overtook both of us so I need your help. Please put the word around.

If you need short URLs, the following go to the literature category http://tiny.cc/TheRandomer  http://tiny.cc/ShortyAwards    

One thing I have going for me is that Shorty Awards have chosen one of my answers to their interview as a featured quote - there are about 15 and mine is one of them.

Did the newsletter come out okay by the way?  Would love some feedback.

Thanks everyone.

Rebecca.

The Randomer Returns

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Stiff Upper Lip and all That!

Stiff Upper Lip and all That!

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I Have Been Nominated for a Twitter Oscar!

Real-Time Academy for Short Form Arts and Science Award ('Shorty')

This is a real, proper, no nonsense award and I've been nominated for it by a bunch of people, including the top magazine for writers in the UK! The people behind the award are here:http://rtacademy.org/ 

At the moment, I am in 3rd place behind multi-award winning best selling author, Neil Gaiman .

Please vote for/nominate me.  To do this, click here - http://tiny.cc/VoteRebecca and tweet a message about why I should win.  Look at what others have said if you need an idea what to write. It needn't be anything amazing but to qualify as a proper nomination/vote it has to be something.  In only 7 votes time I will be in 2nd place but this will get very competitive. It's a big award with a ceremony in New York and everything so what I really need you to do, if you feel you can, is to blog about it.

I am very close to getting published and this could tip me over the edge.  You are the best friends and supporters I could hope for in the online world and I know you'll help.  Thanks in advance. 

Rebecca

 

I Have Been Nominated for a Twitter Oscar!

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New Year, Same Plan

As they say in these parts, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - so the plan continues as before.  This year I will be published.  I am planning a meet up or 'tweetup' for supporters in September at which the book will be launched.  In other words, if there is no publisher by the end of the summer, I'm taking matters into my own paws.  This is the last year I will be an author-in-waiting.

What are your plans for 2010?

Rebecca
http://www.rebeccawoodhead.com/

New Year, Same Plan

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