Christmas wishes

Today I was braving the hordes with my kids as they did their Christmas Shopping. This is a once a year activity where the kids get to budget and think creatively. (Sounds like publishing.) While they were engaging in creative accounting to make their dollars go further, I was wondering what I was going to write for the last blog post of the year. This was not a year I planned. I was going to have a go at writing a small series of junior fiction books because I wanted to challenge myself. I was going to finish tidying up my Mars book and send it out!

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

I ended up spending way too much time this year staring at hospital food and wondering how anyone was supposed to get well while eating it or whether it was all a psychological experiment to make you get well faster. (If so, it didn’t work as I kept going back.)

So next year... (God and Surgeon willing.) I will restart...

Joanna Penn was in Auckland recently and wowed authors at a meet-up. She was sponsored by Kiwi tech guys Booktrack. They’re the guys behind soundtracks for books. Joanna interviewed them to find out all about this nifty idea.

Chuck is curious about everybody’s experience with Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. Is it worth it to the author?

The Verge took a trip into the ‘Zon to find out what might be coming in 2015.

John Scalzi has called out a couple of digital magazines about their rights grab… and they listened. Always check the copyright clauses!

I’m in conference planning mode with a bunch of excellent, talented, goodlooking and creative Children’s Writers and Illustrators for the New Zealand National Conference of Children’s Writers and Illustrators. October 2-5 2015 Wellington. (Start looking for those cheap flights.) Janice Hardy writes about the benefits of a small writers’ conference. She is right on the money with her thoughts. (and we have some interesting things planned...*grin* )

One of the tricky things about planning a conference is trying to predict what will be relevant in publishing a year into the future. The Bookseller is doing just that by asking a bunch of publishing tech people what they think will happen in 2015.

In the Craft Section,

7 rituals to steal from creative people

Writing Unforgettable Characters

How to become a better writer – Rachelle Gardiner

6 ways to write your title

Sample Permissions letters - Jane Friedman (Bookmark it)

Writing Faster but keeping it OK

Stop research becoming procrastination (guilty)

In the Marketing Section,

The before you submit check list

Book Promotion networking for Introverts

Marketing Strategies

4 reasons readers don’t buy your book

Set Book Marketing Goals for 2015

My Writers’ Christmas Gift wish and K M Weiland's big book launch give away

To Finish,

I would like to thank all the writers and readers of this blog, the writing communities on Facebook and Twitter, and the Wellington writers who have had my back all year. Although most of you didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes your comments and thoughts encouraged me to keep going even when the going was tough.

Wishing you all a Happy and Safe Christmas. See you in 2015.

maureen

pic from Flickr/Creative Commons/ Berit Watkin

Eclectic Gifts

It is an eclectic mix of links for you all today (a day late, SORRY)

In The News,

Hachette is working with Gumroad using Twitter to sell selected books.  (No prizes for guessing why after their recent experience with Amazon.) This is really interesting and may change the face of online buying. Gumroad enables creative people to sell work directly using social media.Their first test (today), Amanda Palmer’s book The Art of Asking sold out in 20 minutes. 

Bookbaby ends its free distribution of eBooks. Indie Pub Magazine looks at what this might mean for authors.

Zoe Sugg, author of best selling book Girl Online, reveals they had a ghostwriter help.

People are still finding ways that Kindle Unlimited subscriptions are not necessarily helping the author. Go in with Eyes Wide Open.

An interesting discussion over at Writer Unboxed on writing resumes... Do you need that MFA?

Anne R Allen talks about how to craft a blog for the long haul.

Two wonderful writers who produce a lot of work look back on 2014 and examine where they went wrong. These are two very good articles on production and marketing schedules and organization. Kris Rusch - Business Musing and Popcorn Kittens and Johnny B Truant – 15 Self-publishing lessonsin 2014

With NaNoWriMo over, thoughts are turning to revision checklists.As any writer will tell you the work is in the rewriting!

In the Craft Section,

Goals for you and your characters- Plot Whisperer

The importance of Vulnerability- Angela Ackerman

5 writing lessons from a vocal coach

10 thoughts about writing sex in YA (good stuff in this article)

Dungeons and Dragons and story conflict

Free writing

One simple step to ensure your plot and story work- Jami Gold

The fine art of Story Resonance

In the Marketing Section,

10 ways to promote your book

Using Scrivener to Research and Market your book –Susan Kaye Quinn

Small publisher myths busted –Julie Musil

What are agents, editors and art directors looking for when they search you online -InkyGirl

Joanna Penn - Interview with Reedsy. Another of Joanna’s amazing info packed interviews. (Reedsy is an author concierge service with a difference)

Looming up on the horizon, Christmas! I am constantly being asked what do I want for Christmas. That’s tough because the asker can’t actually deliver the tropical island with the dedicated time to write and cocktails. Some good pens, kids!

In the Christmas Gifts Section,

Gifts for Writers – Chuck Wendig (usual warnings)

Children’s Illustrators who sell on Etsy

Insanely clever gifts for book lovers

To Finish,

Some Charts...

The Periodic Table... yes but its figures of speech

Do you have Writing Talent? –Jane Friedman

The mad mad mad world of End of School Year and Christmas has overtaken. If you are lucky you may get one more post this year.

maureen

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons/ Kasia

Breaking The Container

This week in the publishing blogosphere...

If you have any interest in the global publishing world you will be aware of the new VAT rules coming into the EU. This is where the governments of the EU finally get tax off Amazon... or rather Amazon tells all authors who publish with them that they will add the tax on.

The ongoing saga of Maurice Sendak’s estate is back in the news. He had collected some amazing paintings folios and first editions. Then the executors pulled 10,000 original items from the Sendak collection held at a Philadelphia library. Is it in accordance with his wishes? There is quite a debate on as the executors are not writers...

Boy books.... Girl books.... Book books!

A seven year old girls complaint about a non-fiction book being promoted as a boys book has prompted a change in policy from a publisher.

The news that over 60,000 UK boys have failed in their literacy by age 11 has galvanized a children’s writer. But he has an interesting way of going about it. Build some free gaming apps to go alongside his novels. Is there buy in from his publishers... YES. (This reminds me of a proposed idea along these lines here - No publisher buy in.) This is all interesting in light of a recent study on the use of tablets in schools.

Where are the books exploring conflict for children and teens from the other side. One writer is appalled that they are the only one writing with middle eastern protagonists.

New Zealand writers have been reeling lately with a string of publishing houses closing their NZ offices. Writer Beware has posted a warning, that writers taking their own rights back after disputes with publishers have to be very careful.

Jane Friedman has a guest on her blog sounding a note of caution on signing up for Kindle Unlimited.

Rachel Gardner details the kinds of rejections from editors she gets as an agent. (These are for books that went on to do well –we are not alone)

In the Craft Section,

What makes your characters uncomfortable- Janice Hardy

Double your Story Conflict in seconds. –K M Weiland

Are Series worth it if you are not published? –Ava Jae

The brutal truth about Beta Readers

20 ways to become a more productive writer

Plotting the non plot driven novel

Scenes - and how to write them

New ideas on how to plot

10 tips for short story writing

In the Marketing Section,

Social Media- how to toot your own horn without turning off your audience

How to develop a business mindset- Rachel Gardner

Juggling multiple projects – Elisabeth S Craig

Update on the ACX alternative in audio books. (I linked to this a few months ago, so the update makes interesting reading.)

5 ways to start building your fan base

To Finish,

Two big projects that made the news this week.

One of the biggest YouTube sensations in recent years is a teenage girl blogging about her life. Girl Online by Zoe Sugg was released as a book this week and broke all sorts of records for a first book. How did this happen?

Serial, a podcast sensation, finished its first season... and asked its listeners for donations to do a second. How can publishing learn from this success? The Bookseller asks.

The power of the storytelling transcends the container it is delivered in.

maureen
Pic from Flickr/creativecommons/Joanna Bourne

What Are The Odds?

It is a funny old world...

This morning I read a Salon article on the echoes of the film Mockingjay with the real life events happening in Ferguson. The use of propaganda today to shape public opinion is held up as a mirror while scenes from the movie echo scenes from videos by extremist groups.

On Facebook, children’s authors are telling of publishers pulling out of signed publishing contracts. Projects, sometimes years in the production, just scrapped leaving the authors and illustrators frustrated and wondering what to do next. I look on Twitter and suddenly I’m seeing articles about self-publishing picture books and what it takes... Hugh Howey has dipped his toe into kids book publishing  and writes about it in his lucid way.

The guru Jane Friedman has also written about self-publishing kids books and the perils therein. Kids books are still firmly in the realm of print but with Amazon ramping up their sales of Kids Kindles and software to create kids books, you can see where they think the market is going.

Porter Anderson writes about the question he got asked at a London conference two weeks ago. Can I reasonably expect to succeed? The questioner was talking about both print and digital publishing. With digital publishing you are competing with every book that has every been published...

On the other hand you could be lucky as the publishers who get behind Print are handing out 7 figure advances.

Joanna Penn has a great interview on book covers (she is coming to Auckland!)

Kate Tilton is running a giveaway for Joel’s Friedlander’s book design templates (well worth looking at with 40% off, especially the new children’s book designs.)

This Saturday loads of authors in the US are heading to their local independent booksellers to sell books... in a sharing the love event. Great idea to take up here.

It’s getting towards the end of the year and thoughts of Christmas shopping fill everyone with dread. Jami Gold has updated her gifts for writers list.

Product Hunt has a list of apps for writers.

In the Craft Section,

Using sticky notes to help you revise.

A NaNo timetable (remember you can use this on any month)

Stealing Without Shame – Stephen Pressfield

How to tell if your script sucks

The author as actor

7 world-building tropes SciFi and Fantasy need

In the Marketing Section,

Timing for book launches (interesting article)

Email marketing secrets for fiction writers

Author platform expansion

Is your online presence a fantasy?

3 tricks to survive public speaking

Why marketing a book is like trying to lose weight

To Finish,

Jane Friedman has some predictions for next year and Writer Unboxed has a post telling how you can plan for the upcoming writing year.

Next year will the odds be in our favor?

maureen

Pic from Hunger Games movie

Thoughtful Words

A comic for anyone who thinks writing picture books is easy: pic.twitter.com/3pnl4EqsSo
— Debbie Ridpath Ohi (@inkyelbows) November 17, 2014

This week in publishing Twitter went wild over the Amazon/ Hachette settlement. The New Yorker gave it thumbs up for getting back to the new normal. 

Hugh Howey warned that things won’t change so fast... because of publishers shipping delays to Amazon warehouses. At least they have settled before the Christmas buying rush.

Mike Shatzkin had a few words to say about the behemoth that is Randy Penguin and what he thinks they should do... run their ownsubscription model. Hmmm they already publish half the books in the world... maybe they just need their own bookstores. Either way when it is their turn to negotiate with Amazon it will be watched with interest.

Authors have been asking for years why can’t publishers bundle print and eBooks together

Publishing Perspectives reports on a pre Christmas trial of bundling by HarperCollins in Australia. So if you are lucky enough to live in Australia.... I wonder if it extends to NZ as well?

Porter Anderson took a look at the journey to nearly superstardom by traditionally published author Emily St John Mandel. (Who missed out on the NB Award announced as I write this.) Emily did her own marketing being published by small presses until her 4^th (breakout) novel and then the story changed when a big publisher put marketing muscle in. If you read that report I featured last month on blockbusters vs award winners you will see some familiar themes.

Janet Reid has a tell all post about what you should do whenyou get an agent...

The cartoon up top is from the wonderful Inky Elbows AKA Debbie Ridpath Ohi

I know people who would love that as framed merch!!!

In the Craft Section,

Planning your setting

The art of making your characters frustrated

The stages of revision.

Tips on what to focus on when you are revising

Janice Hardy tells you what to do when you have to kill a major part of your novel.

Becca Puglisi has an excerpt from the new Talents and Skills thesaurus... Strategic Thinking. This is a great writer resource.

In the Marketing Section,

BookBaby has ideas for Author Merchandise

The Book Designer has a guest post on using video effectively

Sterling and Stone (better known as Sean, Johnny and Dave) have a guest post on getting 50 reviews a month

Joanna Penn talks about public speaking for introverted authors.

When you feel invisible in the marketplace

To Finish,

K M Weiland, author of some very good craft novels has responded to requests to produce a workbook for her excellent Structuring Your Novel book.

This is a great book on structure so her workbook will be the bee’s knees if you are looking for Christmas presents for yourself...  

The National Book Awards in the US were announced overnight and everyone is talking about Ursula Le Guin’s speech. It is not long but it is as masterful and inspiring as she is herself.

maureen

Twists and Turns

Ahh the twisty world of publishing...

This week Barnes and Noble, the biggest bookstore chain in the US (owner of Nook and a model for other chains to follow) introduced a Print On Demand service.

Yes you can upload your MS and they will print it.

They won’t sell it or make it available in their store but they will print it. If you want it sold in Barnes and Noble stores you need to get your MS printed by CreateSpace. (owned by Amazon.) Just reflect for a minute on that last sentence….

Dave Gaughran wonders if the fell hand of Author Solutions may be behind this especially given the “charges” for basic editing etc that you may need.

St Martin’s press an imprint of Macmillan have decided that they will not be shopping for successful Indie authors. This is interesting as they took on Amanda Hocking and sold truck loads of her print books. Are the negotiations too difficult with savvy Indie authors? Digital Reader takes a look at implications.

Publishing Perspectives reports on a children’s book subscription model being trialed in France. This is aimed at libraries and schools first. If it works it will roll on to the English-speaking world next.

Joanna Penn has been attending the Screenwriters festival in London... She is all fired up with what she learned there. This is an interesting read. If you are at all interested in what Joanna is doing she is coming to Auckland in December and wants to meet up with kiwi writers.

Sir Quentin Blake has been thinking about accessibility in his work lately. He talked with the BBC on what he would like to see more of. (We need more of these voices advocating for children!)

Jane Friedman wrote an interesting article looking at the benefit (or not) of creative writing degrees. Some very thoughtful words of wisdom here.

Amazon just bought the .book domain name and a few others…hmm I wonder what their future plans may be.

Claude Nougat has taken a close look at free promotions and finds some surprising information and some great tips. (A must read)

In the Craft Section,

4 ways to write a killer plot twist

Excel at developing characters

Story questions to keep your novel on track (a print it out post!)

Writing humour - K M Weiland

How to make your scenes play out like the movies

6 steps to researching

How to finish projects.

In the Marketing Section,

4 mistakes authors make soliciting reviews

Making a catalogue of your work

Email tactics for writers

Business plan basics for authors

How to do a boxed set

How to do a powerhouse about page

Extra ways to make money as an author

To Finish,

Rolling Stone interviewed Stephen King about writing recently. Writers can take heart, Stephen King still has fears about his manuscripts failing….

***Breaking News*** Amazon and Hachette have resoved their differences and made up…. sort of. Wait until they hear what the Authors Guild wants.

maureen

Pic from Flickr/creativecommons/ Jenn Durfey

Have I got a deal for you!

This week the Seattle Weekly took a close look at the world of Bezos. Is Amazon publishing over?

Hugh Howey is trying to understand digital disruption. Could the author become obsolete?

Script Mag has a post on author’s estates if the worst happens… 

BUT REALLY…

November is all about NaNoWriMo. (National Novel Writing Month) This is where the writer commits to writing a 50,000-word novel in a month. Just to let you know 50,000 words is on the light side for a novel unless it’s a children’s one. Agent Janet Reid has the genre word count lists... so you might want to rethink your 50,000-word picture book.

If you are diving into NaNoWriMo there are always lots of cool deals around for writers...

Scrivener (MS software) always has a free download trial and there are various writing craft book deals around.

Last week I urged you to pick up Joanna Penn, David Gaughran, Sean Platt and Johnny B Truent’s book bundle for 99c. Each day Joanna, Dave, Sean and Johnny are writing great articles and linking to their 99c deal, which is available for the rest of this week!

Kevin J Anderson has chosen 12 books to go into a mega NaNoWriMo bundle for the month of November. You pay $15 or more and you get all 12 including the writer craft books from Kris Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, Chuck Wendig... whom regular readers will recognize as often being referenced in this blog. (Christmas came early...Yeah!)

Live Write Thrive has a list of inspiring books that aspiring writers should read. Have you read them all? (4...)

Helen Sedwick recently got the chance to hear someone from Author Solutions speak -  Welcome to the Hotel California...

Author Solutions has some dodgy clauses in their contracts... and they are the behind the scenes company for many SP options being run by the big 4...(this is a Writer Beware situation.)

Murderby4 is a group blog of Thriller writers. They have a nice post about helping budding authors without killing their spirits.

Long time readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of group blogs... Romance University has a great post on how to set one up.

James Scott Bell has a post on Killzone about writing what you love and earning money from it.

BooksellersNZ have an interview with Julia Marshall of Gecko Press. (She’s looking for junior novels at the moment...)

In the Craft Section,

Creativity on demand... The BICHOK solution.

Chuck Wendig on NaNoWriMo writing tips...

Stephen Pressfield on the most important minutes of the day

Teaching yourself to write better

How do we describe characters –Jami Gold

In the Marketing Section,

How to use Rafflecopter

Storyboarding a book for marketing – Bob Mayer

How to help your books sell themselves – Sean Platt (Don’t forget the 99c bargain)

How to kick start your sales – Dave Gaughran (Don’t forget the 99c bargain)

Marketing - how to use your early readers

To Finish,

Last week I hinted that Joanna Penn was coming to Auckland. 

IT’S TRUE and she wants a meet up with any Kiwi Authors who would like to meet her. 16/18^th December.

Go here and fill out a form for her... so she can figure out how best to cater for everyone!

Sadly I won’t be there... but you guys can party with Joanna on my behalf!

maureen

Pic from Flicr/creativecommons Eastlake Times

Flying Past The Trolls

This week in the publishing blogosphere, there was lots of discussion around the article published in The Guardian about author Kathleen Hale (gleefully) stalking a reader/book reviewer because her book didn’t rate a 5* review. The ethics around this and the fact that The Guardian published this and effectively implied that book reviewers/bloggers could be called out for giving a less than brilliant review has riled a lot of people. The Dear Author site and The Passive Guy have got very strong opinions on this. Yes, book reviews are subjective. Yes, you might get a lukewarm review... but you don’t engage in troll behaviour. You suck it up and move on.

Published to Death has a list of online reviewers who will look at your book. Obviously they won’t want any troll behaviour.

We want book reviewers. They benefit the whole industry. Do we want to have a reading public who won’t read anything new because they can’t be sure the review was paid for?(sock puppetry)

Hugh Howey is on a roll with some more examination of publishers and book stores.... should we really feel sorry for them? Possibly not when you see what earnings the big 5 (4) racked up in the last few years.

At a recent conference in the US... a comment was made about authors having all their eggs in the Amazon basket.  Porter looks at the use and abuse Amazon may be wielding with Kindle Unlimited.

Audible (the audio book publishing outlet) is owned by Amazon. Recently Jane Friedman had a guest post on her site comparing what CD Baby has to offer... and it’s all good! (starting with 90% royalties vs 30%)

Julie Musil has a great post on how to find your book narrator.

The Plot Whisperer takes a look at NaNoWriMo. What is your goal and how are you going to achieve it. November is always quiet in the publishing blogosphere. Authors are writing and editors are quaking awaiting the December onslaught.

Publishing Hub reckons they have found the secret to writingfor children... hiking up the emotional intensity.

Brain Pickings has the article that explains that Einstein quote that reading Fairy Tales is the best way to improve children’s intelligence.

The 50th Anniversary of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has arrived this week... The only children’s book written by Ian Fleming.  It is being re-released with new covers etc and the original illustrations by a much loved illustrator now. (Chitty was his second book.)

Also in the news this week a Slovakian company has made the flying car a reality. This is a seriously up market Chitty!

In the Craft Section,

Using layers to pre write your scenes – Janice Hardy

20 Common Fiction issues

How to pick a killer opening for your science fiction

Whose point of view should you use? – Jami Gold

Writing tips from 5 Aussie authors

Is worrying about genre holding you back

Do you have sympathy for your villain? –James Scott Bell

Effective story description – K M Weiland

Finding your writing voice

In the Marketing Section,

10 point website check

Social Media for authors

Finding your books ideal audience – Angela Ackerman

Writing for money and love

5 Tips for writing your author bio

Blogging ideas for writers

To Finish,

Joanna Penn has joined together with Dave Gaughran, Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant to bring you a deal that I urge you to get. They have combined their 3 magnificent writing and marketing craft books into an Indie Ebook bundle for 99c (no that is not a typo) I already have one of these books (eye poppingly good) and had put the other two on my Christmas list... but I snapped up this deal and you should too. Fly Fly Fly to Joanna’s site and learn more (and get your preorder in on your favourite reading platform.)

The deal is for a limited time. Release date is 3^rd November.

(secret news: Joanna will be in Auckland over summer... )

maureen

Deals and Demigods

This week around the publishing blogosphere the news was all Simon and Schuster. While Hachette and Amazon are still embroiled in their contract war, Simon and Schuster quietly went about negotiating new contract terms with Amazon. And everyone wants to know just what those contract terms are.... Hugh Howey has a pretty good idea... it is probably very close to what the Indie authors are getting.

Hugh has been busy this week. His latest quarterly report Author Earnings is out. And it is the first one that looks at the impact of Kindle Unlimited on author income. Porter Anderson has a very detailed look at what Hugh found out. Subscription models look here to stay and authors need to keep a weather eye on their impact.

Australian Author Patty Jansen has been looking at her Indie income with a fine toothcomb. A very interesting analysis.

Articles about the Frankfurt Book Fair are still coming out. Reedsy has one looking at a panel discussion on when publishers get it right... with sales and content. Great read!

In our neck of the woods Walker seems to be going through a tough time. A long time popular editor has been let go and some Picture Book contracts have been cancelled. This is devastating news to the authors concerned as the illustrations were nearly finished. Picture Books can be anywhere from 18 months to four years in production and to pull them at such a late stage in the process sends alarm bells. Time to pore over those contracts... with a lawyer.

The huge success of the Percy Jackson series has the New Yorker looking hard at the quality of the books children choose to read. They draw on Neil Gaiman’s famous address which was in the “Just–so-long-as-they-are–reading” camp and contrast it with Tim Parks essay on reading habits where he suggests there is little evidence of reading upwards from Pulp to Proust. Having a Percy Jackson fan in my house I was treated to a diatribe this week about the important characters in the Greek demigod world. I don’t have a problem with that at all. Where else is the average Kiwi kid going to find out about thirty centuries old myth and legends?

In the news this week Disney has turned its sights on the South Pacific and their newest ‘Princess’ movie is in the works. Moana... ably supported by the demigod Maui. (Please Disney, don’t make it a white bread yawn!) Taika Waititi has written the original screenplay.

In the Craft Section,

Janice Hardy on finding the right rhythm and voice to nail your beginning.

Now Novel on Unreliable vs Omniscient narrators

How to get around using Trademark in novels from a Trademark lawyer. This is a Must Read post!

K M Weiland on the difference between Story Concept and Story Premise.

Quality not quantity in your writing.

In the Marketing Section,

Elisabeth S Craig looks at making your content work hard

Julie Muesil has a list of podcasts that are required viewing/listening. In the list are two people whom I have referred to before, Joanna Penn and Sean Platt. This week Joanna interviewed Sean so it’s a two for one deal in excellence!

Book Marketing tips for eBooks.

K M Wieland has a guest post on Book Cover design.

Matt Wallace has a comprehensive post on selling books from your own website.

The best ways to use Twitter lists

Tips on monetizing websites.

Using Book Trailers to promote your work.

To Finish,

NaNoWriMo is almost upon us... so Janice Hardy revisits her prep list for this event.

Every year Scrivener writing software do a free trial for the month… Go here to find out about it.

The Book Designer has a wonderful bundle discount on book interior designs. Well worth a visit and to grab an absolute bargain!

Huge Congratulations to Jack Lasenby who is receiving a Prime Ministers Award for literature tonight. Jack is one of New Zealand's finest writers for children. I am lucky to be attending this event… where we celebrate NZ demigods of literature.

Unleash your Demigod!

Maureen

Pic from The Disney press release