This week I have been reflecting on the rise of self
publishing and small press in our small pool of children’s books published in
New Zealand. I popped into The (Award Winning and Independent) Children’s
Bookshop in Kilbirnie and had a chat with co-owner Ruth about how many books
were now being author published. We then had a look at the finalists of the New Zealand Children’s Book Awards...bet you can’t pick the self published books on
this list. The strength and depth of the stories from the finalists*, the
production values and attention to detail of all the books and that half of
them are from small press.’ shows a very good snapshot of what is happening in
our publishing industry.
(*and boy was that hard to pick as several phenomenal books
I thought would be automatically on the list were left off.)
Last week I highlighted the hot button issues exercising the
minds of the publishing industry. These issues are still being talked about.
Porter has a roundup over the boys and books debate and Jonathan Emmett which
was the subject of last weeks Ether Issue chat.
The Diversity button continues to be pushed as the panelists
for BookCon for the KidsLit were announced, (4 white dudes) and then this was
followed up by John Green (white dude) being named as a Y. A. prophet in The Times
100 most influential people (much to John’s discomfit) and this caused howls
about how JG should be using his influence to highlight...Diversity. Book Riot have started a campaign asking people to highlight #WeNeedDiverseBooks in various ways. Librarians and
authors across the spectrum have jumped into highlighting this issue, including Chuck Wendig (the no holds barred version.)
In the Grab A Big Cup of your favourite beverage and hunker
down to read...
Bob Mayer looks at the harsh truths of making a living as a writer.
Chip McGregor answers author’s questions on his Lit Agent blog... a good resource here.
Jane Friedman asks questions about issues I covered
last week, including Mike Shatzkins big change of tack.
Joanna Penn on productivity for authors and fighting overwhelm. (Great article)
In the Craft Section,
5 common problems I see in your stories...(great post by
Chuck!)
What killed it for me...#8 in this list of when the reader
stops reading.
Seven core competencies for writing success- K M Weiland
Using macros to show vs tell...amazing post from Jami Gold
In the Marketing Section,
Author website checklist from Darcy Pattison
Running a business as an author – excellent article from Joanna
Penn
To Finish,
Elisabeth Spann Craig is one of my favourite Go To writers
for practical help around all things publishing. She is one of the duo behind
Writers Knowledge Base but also she is not afraid to show how she is coping
with the Hybrid publishing journey. In this excellent post she looks at her mistakes and procrastinations and so of course you can’t help loving her more
as she reveals the very human side of being a writer.
maureen
Pic from Oakland Library for the #WeNeedDiverseBooks
campaign.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing a link to my article "Free Resources for Writing and Editing" in your Craft Section!
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