when it comes to book sales, says Moss'
publisher Shona Martyn, of Harper Col-
lins Australia. "Tara is charming, stun-
ning and prepared to work very hard
[to promote her books], but even better,
people already know who she is," Martyn
says. Obviously not all authors have the
media skills or inclination for gruelling
publicity schedules. "Some of our writ-
ers are very shy and happiest at home
working on their laptops," Martyn says.
"We might provide media training and
public speaking assistance, but for them,
marketing their book becomes more im-
portant than the publicity angle."
der, Silver Wattle and in March 2010
Tuscan Rose, believes the best tool a
writer can have is "bum glue". "Just sit
on that chair in front of the computer
screen and write until something hap-
pens," she laughs. White Gardenia was
literally scribbled in 20-minute snatches
while she lived and worked in New York,
on subways, during lunch breaks and in
the early hours of the morning. "There
are people who wake up at 5am to go to
the gym because the reward they want is
a fabulous body. Writing is also exertion,
and the reward is to create. If you really
want to do it, you always find time," she
says. Alexandra writes six or seven hours
a day during the week, and between two
and five hours a day on weekends.
papers and popular books of the time,
watches the films and listens to the music,
even reads the cook books, in order to
absorb the spirit of the age. Researching
her character in Wild Lavender had an un-
expected and happy consequence: "I met
my husband while learning the tango," Al-
exandra admits: "It's impossible to dance
that dance without falling in love."
Alibrandi" and "Saving Francesca", the
greatest challenge is getting her charac-
ters' "voice" right. "There is difference
between character, dialogue and the
narrator's voice. In my current work,
"The Piper's Son", the story is shared be-
tween a 21-year old, Tom, and his Aunt
Georgie, who's 42 and having her first
baby. It's not written in first person, so
I had to make sure that their narrative
voices were unique and differed from
the other."
some of Australia's top popular fiction
writers, among them Di Morrissey and
Kate Morton, Tara Moss and Belinda Al-
exandra. She says the role of an agent
is to provide an honest appraisal of a
manuscript to the author, then negoti-
ate the best possible deal for her with a
publisher. "A reputable agent won't get
any money unless we get a deal, so we
won't take you on unless we are 90 per-
cent sure the book is going to sell." At
the very least, she says, a good agent will
get your manuscript looked at within a
reasonable time.
sensational media angle. "Anything that
you have heard about on the national
news is going to get a deal," she says.
Generally, fiction is harder: a book has to
fit into an existing genre. If it's the first
of its kind a publisher will probably re-
ject it. "I have to fall in love with a novel,
if I'm going to represent it. For me, it's
got to be a good love story, something
with heart."
their book, and send it to the publisher
or agent with a stamped, self-addressed
envelope and a very short letter. "The
less you say to publishers or agents the
better," she says. "I read the work before
I put a face and name to it because I don't
want to get too close to the writer. It's
lovely to be able to get them published
but the downside is telling them that we
couldn't get their work picked up."
Collins Australia says she is looking for
"something that will connect with other
c