This week in the publishing blogosphere writers were
cheering when Philip Pullman took a stand on writers having to do festival appearances for free, when everybody else was paid.
Phillip is the current head of UK Society of Authors. They
are campaigning on this issue, so he saw it as only logical. Others didn’t see
it quite that way and a lively debate happened over Twitter. However there has
been a change in attitude from the festival in question and a nice wake up call
to all to the wider Lit community.
As Penguin and Random House draw ever closer lots of change
has been happening recently. My first post of the year looked at Author Solutions
being sold off... but while authors may be cheering that move, the closing of some imprints is not so good.
Mike Shatzkin (publishing futurist) has been sounding a wake
up call to publishers for a few years now and recently he had two long posts that
make interesting reading if you are a publisher- (Self publishers should scan
these.) The importance of Author SEO to a publisher and playing on a theme
coming through on what 2016 trends might be, Global, Mobile and Author Backlist
and how publishers ignore these at the peril of the bottom line.
Kris Rusch has taken issue with the Author Guilds letter on Contracts.
She questions the letters bone fides as the AG membership is not only
authors... so their call for better contracts is suspicious. Great Rant!
January is the month where many make plans and goals for the
coming year. Roz Morris has a great blog post on this with advice to the 2016 writer.
Hugh Howey also offers his opinions on writing now...
(great new website- I wasted time looking at his new boat video.)
Joanna Penn interviewed Jane Friedman on trends to watch in
2016 – this is a podcast with a transcript. Grab a drink and find some quiet
space to absorb this.
The Smashwords 2015 survey is out. It makes interesting
reading... what worked last year and what you should keep in mind for this
year.
Joel Friedlander talks about the new edition of the Self Publishers Resource Guide.
If you suffer from sore wrists and hands after writing, here are the best hand and wrist exercises.
In the Craft Section,
Two great posts from James Scott Bell - Lifting the middle of the Thriller plot and how to avoid writing paralysis due to over analysis
(guilty) Bookmark!
How to write chapter structure- Bookmark
10 things that flag newbie writers- Anne R Allen. Bookmark
Make your hero suffer – Stephen Pressfield- Bookmark
In the Marketing Section,
7 Book Marketing trends you can’t ignore- Joel Friedlander
Build Book Buzz has their roundup of last year’s popular posts.
5 Book Marketing models- Jane Friedman. Bookmark
6 tips for author newsletters – Jami Gold. Bookmark
7 tips for platform building – Anne R Allen. Bookmark
5 guidelines for approaching Book Bloggers – Janice Hardy
Book Marketing tips you need to know- Rachel Thompson. Bookmark
Website Of The Week
I have linked to Katie Weiland’s posts in my craft section
so often I should have her on a shortcut link button. I have her great book on
structure. Her website is a great resource on craft questions that come up but
she also offers some free downloadable resources that are just special!
To Finish
In the writing business it pays to keep an eye on what the
Romance writers are doing – they are so savvy. Today I came across an article on a new Romance App that had my eyebrows lifting right off my head. I never
even suspected this was a thing. I’m still not sure what to think about it...
it could be a virtual reality step too far... OTOH if you love your book heroes
enough to have a text relationship...
Chuck Wendig decided to do some thinking about mid career writers. This is his ramble on what you should be doing. It echoes others that
I have linked to in today’s post but with the Wendig spin on the Good Advice.
Maureen
@craicer
Pic from Flickr Creative Commons / GotCredit
4 comments:
What a fabulous list. So much good info here. I'm proud to be included! Thanks, Maureen. :-)
You are most Welcome Anne!
Great list of useful posts for writers, Maureen. Thanks so much for including Now Novel in such good company!
B
Hi Bridget, Now Novel is an excellent resource!
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