Book extracts – are they a Good Thing?

I was on Strictly Writing the other day talking about how embarrassingly un-British is it to have to go out and plug my own book. But that’s tough – the alternative is to sit around and whinge that it’s someone else’s fault when it doesn’t sell, so I have to publicise it as much as possible and hope that if people don’t like it, they won’t find out until after they have paid money. That’s why I’m in two minds about whether to put an excerpt on my website.

Lots of author websites have a taster of the book, but I wonder whether or not it’s a good idea. For everyone who says “ooh, that sounds great, I’ll get me to Amazon right now,” there are probably ten who think “what a load of crap,” when they might otherwise have taken a punt on it.

 

That’s if they read it at all. I very rarely get beyond more than a few paragraphs of an online extract, even if I like it (though I tend to keep the page open for a while in case the poor author, agonising over the stats, gets depressed to see someone only spending three seconds there). I just don’t normally like reading fiction online.

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There must, however, be plenty of people who do, so I thought I’d consult the wisdom of the internet (though if you’re reading this blog, I probably know you, so chances are you’ve read some of the book already).

But anyway … do you ever read book extracts on author websites, do they ever make you want to read the rest, and do they ever put you off?

Art for people who can’t draw

I recently did one of those “25 random things” lists that have been doing the rounds of Facebook and forums, and in a failed attempt to make myself sound interesting I put that I can draw Celtic knots. That reminded me to dig out some paintings I did a while back, and seeing as I’ll probably never get round to framing them or anything (plus I’m casting about for stuff to put on my blog) here they are.

Above: I tried to take a close-up of the bronze bits on the far left and right, but couldn’t get a focused enough picture. They are under-and-over knotwork like the middle cross, but on a 2mm grid so I had to use a magnifying glass to paint them. The four segments surrounding the cross contain stylised images of birds and snakes. In ancient Celtic mythology, these symbolise the fact that birds and snakes are quite easy to draw.

 

Above: I’d forgotten I’d even done this one, but I like it.

Above: Border from a painting I might finish one day.

 

Above: another detail from the same unfinished painting.

So … that’s it, really.

To find some tenuous link to writing, I must say that when I painted these I thought they were pretty crap. After the space of a few years I am quite pleased with them and this gives me hope that I will eventually feel the same about my book.

Top 10 Picture Resources for Writers

 OK, it’s not a proper top ten, it’s just that I read somewhere that top ten lists attract blog traffic. The sites aren’t specifically for writers, either, but I’m trying to get better at thinking up snappy titles.

These ten websites – in no particular order – are some of my favourites for finding historical images to help with research. Whether I need to know about clothing, architecture or interior design, want to gain an idea of Victorian sense of humour or just want to be inspired by the atmosphere of a historical print, I love using pictures to aid my writing.

I hope these resources will be useful to others too. Even if you’re not writing historical fiction, take a look – there are some fascinating images out there.

 

1. Liam’s Pictures from Old Books

This site has nearly 2390 hi-res scans from public domain books. Most can be reproduced freely, but if not, the copyright status is clearly marked. The pics are available in a range of sizes and some are centuries old, such as this one from Robert Burton’s amusingly gruesome “Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement and Mercy” (1685).

I don’t know if you can see it from there, but the guy standing underneath the tattered sail is tucking into a severed arm like it was a big ice cream cone. This makes me want to say LOL, but I won’t because you might think I’m weird or something.

 

2 .LIFE photo archive

LIFE magazine, which ceased publication in 2007, has an enormous collection of pictures apparently dating back to the 1750s (although I haven’t managed to find those ones yet). LIFE has teamed up with Google, as part of the latter’s mission to take over the world, and started to make them available online – eventually all 10 million will be searchable. Photographs going back to the 1860s cover just about any subject you care to name, and the whole thing is fascinating to browse even if you’re not looking for anything in particular. Strangely, there doesn’t seem to be a copyright statement yet.

 

3. Old Book Illustrations

Collection of interesting illustrations from out-of-copyright works, including some 19th-century cartoons. The pics are public domain and the site design is attractive and easily navigable. My favourite is this guy, who looks more or less how I feel most of the time:

 

 

4. The Newgate Calendar

This page lists the images from the popular 18th/19th-century Newgate Calendar, and you can also find the text here. The pictures aren’t always very clear, but they’re a useful resource. They are part of the Ex-Classics site, which gives the full text of works that are are now largely forgotten. (Don’t miss English as She is Spoke by Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino.)

 

5. Wikimedia Commons

Good old Wikipedia has a section for pictures that are in the public domain or available through a Creative Commons licence – either because copyright has expired or because people have generously released their own photos for all to use. There are a lot of images of old paintings, plus other useful historical and contemporary stuff.

 

6. US National Library of Medicine

Although there is a medical focus (no, duh), which I find really useful when looking for pictures for my Quack Doctor blog, this is worth a look for more general pictures too. Refreshingly, the Library does not claim copyright on public domain images, and for more recent pictures it tells you clearly when you need to make further checks on copyright status.

 

7. Wellcome images

This is another one that’s focused on medicine but shouldn’t be ignored if that’s not your area of interest – it’s full of historical and contemporary images on anything tenuously linked to health. The pictures are not freely available for commercial use but you can download them for personal study or for teaching.

 

8. The National Archives Image Library

This site displays sample images from the National Archives Collection, arranged by topic and covering loads of subjects from advertising to fashion to pirates. You aren’t allowed to reproduce them but they are good quality enough to view online or print for private study.

 

9. The Mary Evans Picture Library

This organisation licences images for commercial use, such as in newspapers and books. Over 200,000 of these pictures are available on their lively, up-to-the-minute website. Although you’d have to pay if you wanted to download the pics, you can view them online if you just want to look at them for research. They include all the images from the Illustrated London News, dating back to 1842.

 

10. John Leech Sketch Archive

John Leech drew cartoons for Punch from 1841 until his death in 1864, and over 600 of them are available online. His humour is typically Victorian in that it labours the point a bit, going into a Bruce Forsyth-style explanation of the joke long after everyone has got it, but the drawings are exquisite and full of fun.

 

I’ve been enjoying this site for a while but have only just looked to see who runs it and am pleased to see it’s Andrew Cates, CEO of the charity SOS Children’s Villages. I’ve sponsored a child with them for the past couple of years, and they do a brilliant job providing a home and a hopeful future to children who have no one else to care for them. He sounds like a really nice bloke, and if you need hi-res copies of the cartoons, all he asks is a donation to SOS Children – can’t say fairer than that.

 

 

 

These websites are just a few I happen to have found useful – it’s not meant to be an exhaustive list and I’ve probably missed out lots of other great stuff. If you have other favourites, do add them in the comments.