Strange Media

22/09/2020

Early morning kayak - soul-lifting and necessary on a day like today but further enhanced by the audiobook of Matt Ridley’s brilliant How Innovation Works, and a soggy croissant 🥐

09/09/2020

Kids have been back at school for three days. After six months of attempting to fit eight hours' work into one (spoiler: the maths doesn't work), I'm so excited to have free bandwidth that I seem to be working on permanent fast forward. An unexpected but very gratifying side-effect of lockdown.

07/07/2020

New summer course dates released, with a 20% discount available for early birds!

WHETHER you’re interested in writing a novel, a memoir or a short story, the Strange Media Creative Writing course will encourage you to achieve your ambitions. With guidance on everything from developing prose style, to creating believable characters, plots, scenes, and dialogue, the one-day onli...

10/04/2020

Whatever you want to write, and wherever you are on your writing journey, the Strange Media Creative Writing Course will help you achieve your ambitions. 20% discount available for bookings made in April.

18/02/2020

'The Forrest Gump of fonts.' Not something I was expecting to read, but it's a fascinating and pertinent article. I've been working on typographic cover designs with a number of authors recently (for the avoidance of doubt, I am emphatically not a designer), and despite not having splashed out for this particular typeface (and this is where a proper designer will point out my error and tell me the difference between a font and a typeface), the article offers a lot of salient points relating to what we might look out for when non-designers attempt text design ourselves. 'Unfussy directness' is a phrase that I'll certainly be bearing in mind. http://bit.ly/gothamoutine

It’s the font we deserve, but is it the one we need right now?

10/02/2020

I’m delighted to have discovered that February is officially Library Lovers' Month. My local sits in a 1960s vision of a spacecraft cast in concrete. It's still a special place. But perhaps not quite as special as these. http://bit.ly/20libraries

Attention fellow bookworms: this list is for you!

27/09/2019

'Literature inspires, makes society a place worth living in, indeed can help to give clarity to ambivalence and to meld atomised individuals into a society. Filled with individual voices, with stories new and old and with argument, literature is a space of vibrant ongoing conversations. These can counter loneliness, boost the fascination of the everyday, and make its sufferings more comprehensible.'

This quote, from Lisa Appignanesi's foreword to the Royal Society of Literature's recent report 'A Room of My Own: What writers need to work today' is the most elegant argument for the importance of writing I've seen in a long time. It should be engraved on the doors of the Culture Secretary's office. I'm certainly going to attempt to memorise it.

As far as her closing statement is concerned('We need writers of all descriptions and all backgrounds. We need them to flourish. We need their stories'), I'm making it my company's unofficial mission statement.

The RSL report provides a fascinating insight into the support writers today feel they need to best create their work. I'd urge anyone considering embarking on a career in the area to read it.

http://bit.ly/rslreport

27/09/2019

How happy were you yesterday?

My kids' imminent school sports day has got me thinking about this. There's much valuable work being carried out to highlight the benefits of exercise to children's mental development, as well as physical health. This chart from Sport England's Active Lives survey suggests a clear correlation link between physical exercise and mental wellbeing. The National Literacy Trust meanwhile, is continuing to develop programmes that engage young people in reading through sport-themed lessons, and initiatives that use the power of storytelling to engage reluctant sports participants. Sport and literacy needn't be an either/or choice.

https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4D22AQEokesGBaoy8Q/feedshare-shrink_8192/0?e=1572480000&v=beta&t=I-ctikHn5Vd1WxiQXfh9EdSbjEcuRcdxia4Ku4eceLo

27/09/2019

I'm fascinated by the lessons book publishers can learn from the ways in which other media manipulate written formats, such as Netflix transposing the choose your own adventure tradition to the screen (see Puss in Books http://bit.ly/2ZupGrF). But Marvel's new initiative in the area - Marvel Hero Tales https://engt.co/2ZxvS2k - is the best example I've seen to date of something that just might remind 'non-readers' that although the adventures they go on with their heroes may be audio-visual, they're driven by words.

Netflix may just have found a way to make kids TV shows even more addictive: The video service launched a first interactive kids show Tuesday that allows the little ones to pick between branching n…

27/09/2019

Welcome, authors! At Strange Media, our passion for writing is surpassed only by our commitment to getting our clients’ work into the hands of as many readers as possible, and we'd love to help you on your publishing journey.

We provide a full suite of expert editorial services, social media support, and market-leading independent publishing masterclasses, all designed with the aim of making sure your words are discovered. We love working with our authors, and are proud to say with confidence that the feeling is mutual.

Through a unique combination of publisher insight and social media expertise, we can connect you with a world of readers. Contact us now using the email link at the top of the page or via www.strangemediagroup.com for a free initial consultation.