I’ve been thinking about content lately.
Content is the new
word for story. Container is the new word for form that the story comes in. It
could be digital or print or images or audio or interactive game…
A creative
project I’m involved in is creating a found artifact which takes the form of a
journal. This is to be part of a larger art project looking at different ways
artists and writers collaborate together. I seem to be coming across content collaboration everywhere.
Porter Anderson reports on an opening keynote speaker at the
recent Publishers Forum held in Berlin. Author Kathrin Passig gently told the
publishers that they were using outmoded technology when they worked with authors. Had they ever heard of collaboration?
Joe Wikert has been thinking about content too. Specifically how he thinks publishers could improve the e-book sample and be better at converting samplers into buyers by working with authors.
Joanna Campbell Slan talks about serialising a novel on her website and what she has learned. Is this controlling your content or letting
it go? I know of other authors who do this in other canny ways. (If you can’t wait for the next
installment you can go buy the whole book...)
The latest Author Earnings snapshot is out. You may have
heard that e-book sales are declining. Author Earnings gurus Hugh and Data Guy
have discovered that this is happening only to Trad publishers who raised
their prices after negotiating new deals with Amazon. Check out the Author
Earnings website for other interesting news from the 6th snapshot.
Joel Friedlander has an interesting guest post up. Short is the new black- your shrinking reader attention span. This is spinning your
content in another way.
Mandy Hager recently had to give a lecture on Dystopian Fiction so she posted it on her blog. What does an author have to think about when constructing a dystopian world.
With the suspension of NZ Book Month... A group of writers
have taken to Twitter to promote NZ Books. #NZBookMonthMay A lot of us are
posting a NZ book a day so check in for your next great read.
Tinderbox 2015 has a website. We are getting ready to post
delicious tidbits about the conference.
In the Craft Section,
Is your prologue destroying your subtext? K M Weiland
2 great posts from the Emotion Thesaurus team. Moving Beyond
Screenwriting tricks has a story elements checklist.
Why you should put your book on Wattpad (this is a quick
intro to Wattpad.)
In the Marketing Section,
Making a living from your writing – Joanna Penn (Bookmark)
Spine out - Design tips for your Book Spine.
Good Font choices for books (Bookmark)
Kameron Hurley (popular sci fi author) has posted an in depth article on why Patreon is better than Kickstarter for writers. If you
are interested in crowd funding this is a must read!
Website of the Week
Last week I linked to Dave Gaughran talking about Author Solutions. Indie Publishing Magazine has a link to the class action depositions
(testimony from the other side) and what I read had my eyebrows achieving
liftoff. I am honestly amazed that Random Penguin would be associated with this
outfit.
SFWA, who sponsor Author Beware, have a link to the list of DISREPUTABLE publishers out there.
To Finish,
Brian Pickings always has interesting long form articles.
This week they look at Delacroix’s journal notes about the need for writing in
solitude. If you had to go away to collaborate on content, how about going to a castle which is a dedicated library and hotel...
Pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons- Butch Delisay
2 comments:
No NZ book month? What more will it take for the industry to realise we have a crisis on our hands? Surely the public should be made aware of this? Or have all authors and publishers resigned themselves to obscurity (while print books are in revival overseas). Utterly bizarre.
Yes, you are right. We are facing the crisis of NZ obscurity to our own people and to the the world. With no national awards this year we need to work extra hard to highlight the books being published. The children's books awards have started this by asking over 150 schools to judge the submitted books. Then the short lists will be compiled from that. The Twitter campaign is going well.
It is interesting to see what happens when something is taken away. The SNP result in the UK came from the grassroots being disgusted that they lost the referendum on independence. Something similar might happen here in the book community.
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