Comments on: First Draft of Book Presentation

By: A Day at the Frankfurter Buchmesse at Climb to the Stars (Stephanie Booth)

A Day at the Frankfurter Buchmesse at Climb to the Stars (Stephanie Booth) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:42:03 +0000

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By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:22:38 +0000

Chris: thanks a lot. Actually, I’m not quite sure what this was meant to be. I mean, it’s a rather brief and superficial description of my book, but clearly not meant to be a formal proposal. I mainly didn’t want to be going to the Frankfurter Buchmesse with empty hands in case I met any “interested” people… not that this text here was very useful (I have a post to write on what I learnt from the book fair, I think I’ll do it tomorrow).

The proposal itself will have to be in French, as that’s the language I’ll be writing the book in. But I guess it could also be useful to have some English version of what I’m doing stashed away somewhere.

As you can probably see, I’m still swimming in the beginning of the big blue sea of “where do I start”, and using the “start with a really shitty first draft” technique to at least be writing something, rather than kicking myself repeatedly for not doing anything.

Your series on writing a book proposal seem really interesting and I’m certain I’ll use those posts. So thanks again for stopping by.

By: Chris Webb

Chris Webb — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:50:18 +0000

Hi Stephanie,

Is this just a small part of your proposal? It looks like a great start, but from my point of view it's not nearly enough. A great proposal has sevral sections you have not included here, so I suspect this is just a sampling.

I've written a series of posts on writing book proposals that may provide you with some additional ideas.

Good luck!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:09:31 +0000

Cathy: I agree with you 100% — I changed the order of the questions. This is exactly the kind of feedback I need, keep it coming!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:32:21 +0000

It sounds very interesting, and I think very useful. My one comment - and this is nitpicking! is that your first question is about danger. I know that this is what parents think about first when they think about their kids’ internet usage, but this first place gives it once again a prominence it might not merit - and could indicate that the book will be dealing with online predators and how to avoid them. Then again, it is nitpicking and I am a little bit oversensitive on the issue - as are I think a lot of people who study and research young people’s internet lives. People’s reactions are nearly always either dismissive or fearful, so I can only applaud a book that will try and change this! May you reach many many parents

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:05:55 +0000

Bertrand: thanks for the tip about the tense, I’ve changed it. I know I have a problem with bracket over-use. And I’m not sure that in this situation I’d really consider myself a native speaker

By: Bertrand Delacretaz

Bertrand Delacretaz — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:12:32 +0000

Style nitpicker here: using the present tense everywhere might make your proposal more punchy. “This book IS a guide…” makes it more real and convicing. Same for the bio part - most of it still happens today, so present tense might help. And I’d remove as much of the stuff in parentheses as well. All IMHO - you’re the native speaker of course

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:43:43 +0000

DK: already answered here: http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/10/08/a-book-on-teenagers-and-the-internet/ (most importantly, it'll be in French and with a European perspective, and written by a different person)

By: DK

DK — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:27:48 +0000

Looks good - want to challenge you with this question: how will it be different to this?:

http://www.mediasnackers.com/report/2007/March/08/296/

DK MediaSnackers Founder

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:57:24 +0000

Thanks a lot, Marc! I’m a strong proponent of “accompanying” rather than “spying” — a point I think I managed to get across when the BBC interviewed me about parents signing up on FaceBook so they could snoop on their kids. Education and parenting haven’t changed fundamentally because the internet is there. It’s about building trust, respect, and a certain quality of relationship.

By: Marc

Marc — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:50:19 +0000

Very good overview. I have some (parent) friends who’d be delighted to have this book next to them.
Of course, I’d like to know more about the “What can parents do” chapter, since I’d hate to be a kid nowadays; all technologies can be used in such a powerful way to track me and keep a perpetual eye on me… where’s the limit between “accompanying” and “surveilling”? That’s another responsibility that should be taken into account…