There’s been a couple of Tonto news items kicking about in the last few days.

First up was an interview on Manchester Radio online – click here to listen. There isn’t a listen again on there, but Tonto author Charlie Walduck has his own show on and is well worth checking out.

feature about Sheila Quigley in the Sunday Sun – click here for the full story.

Then yesterday there was a Tonto feature on Essential Writers website. Looks like this is going to be a really useful resource, so make sure to bookmark the site. – click here to read the interview.

The new short stories writing competition is still ongoing. 27 July is the deadline – there’s been a fair amount of entries so far and loads of enquiries. I think this is going to be the most successful Tonto anthology yet! We’re currently in talks over launching the book and setting up signing sessions UK-wide.

‘The night was dry, but it was raining.’

It’s been a while since I saw ‘Throw Momma from the Train’. The main reason is that I used to know someone who looked like ‘Momma’ and it freaks me out.

Billy Crystal’s character struggling with the opener to his novel is a real classic. It reminds me of my own writing blocks when I’d be pacing up and down the office floor, dressed in the same pyjamas day in, day out, glass of red wine in hand, the cat looking at me like Spot used to look at Hong Kong Phooey. Ah, those were the days.

But enough about me.

Opening lines are crucial. We need to hook our audience immediately… grab them by the ‘you know whats’ and drag them into your story. It’s a real artform, this writing lark. I was interviewed today and one of the questions was ‘what advice would you give to writers?’, and I hate to admit, but I probably didn’t say anything new. I could have easily came out with my usual rant about how not to approach (I actually think I did), but now that another short story comp is on the go, it is making me think.

 I’m sure I’ve been told several times about writers completing a piece and then going back to the beginning and eaither deleting the first paragraph, or having a drastic rethink. As a Creative Writing tutor (I know about stuff, me) I used to run workshops on opening lines – how to hook an audience and how to get them to stay with your story. I think it’s even more relevant with short stories. If you don’t hook them from the start, they’ll just skip to the next story, and you’ll be lost amongst the rest of the collection and forgotten about. In shorts, you need to make EVERY WORD count. Don’t waste any – don’t drag it out, don’t give the reader an excuse to skip through. Hook them! Intrigue them … leave them wanting to know something … leave them needing to know something.

The next Tonto anthology comp has a 27 July deadline. With Caroline Smailes  (that there writer with that there new-look website) stepping in to judge, we were talking about what we should be looking for in submissions. I’m always reluctant to base competitions on a theme. I think themes are ok for workshop exercises and to me, that’s where they should stay. What if you’ve just completed the best short story in the world, but it isn’t based on my theme? Then you may shoehorn it in, compromise your story in the process, or not enter – and then I’ve missed out on publishing the best short story in the world … and that won’t do. Call me shellfish.

This time round, and as the competition coincides with Tonto’s fourth birthday – it’s a competition to have fun with. And why waste a lovely carnival-themed cover. D’oh! Did I just say themed? What I mean is, it’s great for us to see these submissions coming in where you aren’t trying to second guess what we are looking for. We’re looking for page-turning entertainment; we’re looking for comedy, tragedy and ‘humidity’.

How to enter ‘Even More Tonto Short Stories’.

Here’s the cover for ‘Even More Tonto Short Stories’ - hot off the press!

And even better news to announce … author Caroline Smailes will be judging the competition and helping to put the collection together.

The competition is open to new writers as well as experienced writers, as long as the work has not been published. Please click here for full details of how to enter.

Entry fee is £6.99. Everyone who enters will receive a FREE COPY of the book.

We look forward to reading your submissions. Best of luck with it!

Tonto launched as a company in 2005 with its first call for anthology submissions.  Tonto Short Stories and More Tonto Short Stories proved to be instrumental platforms for a number of new writers to launch their careers. Appearing in short story collections has long been a ‘calling card’ for writers on their way to their first novel or to create a buzz about their work in general.
The publication of ‘Even More Tonto Short Stories’ will prove Tonto’s commitment to supporting new writing as well as experienced authors.

Closing date for receipt of entries: 27th July 2009 (midnight GMT).

Maximum of 5000 words with no minimum.

The next person to buy one book and get one free will receive free book stuff forever.

Just follow the instructions on www.tontobooks.com and get an email back from me.

Stay tuned … some new writing competitions will be announced very soon.

Don’t forget – Buy one book, get another book ABSOLUTELY FREE from Tonto.

Don’t forget – Rosalind Wyllie and Caroline Smailes are at the festival tonight and Nik Jones is there tomorrow. Details on previous blogs and on Events page.

And speaking of events – I was at one of the funniest events of my life last night. Gav Webster, John Scott, John Fothergill and Simon Donald held a stand-up show in a bar in Blaydon. I’ve never laughed so much. Really, when you’re known for having a ‘mental laugh’, comedy clubs are usually something to steer clear of. There was enough laughter in the venue to drown me out, so it was ok.  I’ve still been chuckling today.

Anywho – get along to Middlesbrough tonight and tomorrow. I know Middlesbrough is the last place anyone wants to go, but it will be worthwhile.

It’s great getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning … chucking it down with rain, slight headache, fancying a McDonald’s brekkie. On mornings like this, it makes me want to write my own ‘That’s Entertainment’, but then I realise I can’t write songs and would never even attempt to disguise it as a poem.

What’s been going on this week? I hear you ask.

Most of this week has been taken up with writing: a business plan and financial forecast for the Business Account Manager  – who if reading this, is the best business account manager I’ve ever met.

Work is progressing on the three new titles for 2009. Dirty Leeds edit has started, the cover will be finalised very soon and a launch party is in discussion. A couple of actors are lined up to read at the launch party – one of them was already in my list of favourite UK actors (yes, really), so I may have to start an online petition to get him to do it for free. We’ll soon be setting up events in and around Leeds – any bookstore people reading this, feel free to drop me a line to book events and signings for Robert Endeacott.

Slimmer Charlie is also progressing well. Charlie’s PR will soon kick in and I can’t wait to get the ball rolling. A top PR company will be handling the PR for Charlie and the book; he’ll be back on This Morning for the release of it as well as a few more appearances to be confirmed. For those unfamiliar with Charlie’s story, you can view the film inserts from the show here that made him the most talked-about guest in the show’s history.

The Road to Hell by Sheila Quigley is gathering momentum all the time. PR for this title will be handled by the same company as above, with much media planned around it. Sheila’s final draft manuscript came in yesterday and pre-production will resume next week. There’s been so much interest in this title – it’s unreal. To launch this one, we’ll be holding events around the north east in neutral venues and branching out from there into bookstores. Again, anyone reading this and interested in hosting an event for Sheila, get your bids in quick because dates are going fast. A full schedule will be posted up very soon. Phase two is to take to the road on a national book tour. After going on the road with Ashley Hames last year, my liver usually cringes at such fighting talk.

The final cut of Sheila’s book trailer is now complete and will be up on t’internet this weekend.

New Acquisitions:

I’m in the process of acquiring two new titles for next year. I had a meeting yesterday with one of the writers – an extremely funny man whose career I’ve followed for a number of years. Already with a Tonto connection, I look forward to working with him on his autobiography. Contracts have been exchanged and full details will be announced next week.  The other title is a true crime book I’ve been interested in for a long time by a best-selling author and an award-winning photographer.

More news as it happens…

… IS NOW ON!

Buy one book and get another one absolutely free! What are you waiting for?

Get over to the Tonto Shop immediately.

Although today doesn’t seem like the kind of weather where a semi-naked, slick-back-haired Paul Weller would go punting down the river and have a friendly lie down with Mick Talbot before doing a very iffy dance on his pick-er-nick blanket in front of a beret-clad bongo player. If you don’t believe me, have a quick shuftie at the Style Council classic on Youtube. Sheesh… remember Espadrilles? You’d never see him doing anything as embarrassing these days. I don’t count Prague as embarrassing.

To celebrate such a promising start to the summer, the Tonto Books Summer Sale will be starting this week. I’ll post it up here when it officially starts, but keep checking the website to make sure.

Tonto is no different to the other indie/tiny publishers, you know. Granted, I may have a better haircut and be a little more refined than most, but we all have our problems. ‘The Credit Crunch’ is a huge kick in the pants for the independents. What it means is that even less people than usual are buying books and most of us cannot absorb such losses, some have had all their funding cut and can’t carry on and other more commercial publishers are experiencing cashflow problems. So rather than trying to sell our second homes, we have to keep reinventing ourselves. Let’s hope it doesn’t last forever.

So, rather than sticking with the doom and gloom, rather than moaning that the weather is rubbish again, your football team sucks, you need to pay your car tax, are sick that Morrissey keeps postponing gigs and you’re too old to go to music festivals now… you could have TWO NEW TONTO BOOKS within a couple of clicks. The Summer Sale means you can have two books for the price of one! How good is that? There’s never anything good on the telly anyway – Sarah Beeny’s not been on in ages and Stewart Lee’s series has finished. OK, so we’ve still got Sunday with Suralan and his two hopefuls, but that’s about it. By the time the books arrive, The Apprentice will be over and you’ll be looking for something to do.

It’s just like one of those Top Shop sales where they put BOGOF on the labels – totally wacky.

And I’m going to email everyone I know to tell them about it. I’ll be knocking on doors too, I expect. I’ll be wearing Tonto Summer Sale t-shirts when I’m out in town. Remember – it’s not just BOGOF… it could just as easily be BTGTF.