This week in the publishing blogosphere
Scribd changed its subscription model. A little
shiver fluttered through the online publishing community at the news. Were they going to fold? With the dominance of
Amazon Unlimited and the demise of Oyster, Scribd is really the only
alternative in subscription reading. Scribd still lives but the day of the all you can read buffet is
ending.
This week Google entered into the reading market... with
books that cannot be printed.
These books aren’t even for e-readers. They are short, just right for a commute and designed to be read on a phone.... and they are choose
your own adventure type books. Taking the story and
gaming it into your phone challenges conventional storytelling. With Google behind this experiment it will be
interesting to see where it goes.
At the end of January, Berlin hosted a Future Publish
conference. One of the keynote speakers, Chantal Restivo-Alessi, talked about
the value of the story across all mediums, harnessing digital across all
platforms and building deep engagement. Backlists are crucial and Authors and
their brand should be marketed on a global scale. This is a really interesting article. (I can't help wondering what it would do for NZ if the individual imprints here marketed NZ Books globally instead of to two chain booksellers.)
Jane Friedman has an interview with Agent Laurie McLean
specifically about one of her clients who operates in a hybrid fashion across
the publishing and music industries with one feeding into the other. So Simon
Curtis writes a Y.A. book and happens to create music and so references it in
the story and brings out an album of music which promotes the book
which promotes his music and.... Hybrid storytelling going in all directions
now.
By now your brain has probably gone into Popcorn Kitten mode
so you should read what James Scott Bell has to say about coping with the writers bane of too many ideas crowding in all at once. This is excellent
advice which will keep you productive or at least allow you to sleep easier.
Writer Beware is continuing to warn authors about the many
and varied scams that Author Solutions are perpetuating across all their
various fronts for reputable publishing companies. The latest examination is the marketing on-sell. This is where they really make their money charging
hundreds of dollars for simple services. The charges are truly eye-watering.
Even if you know that you will never get caught on this - read it so you can
inform others.
Jami Gold has been thinking about the times when an Author might work for free. This is hotly debated in the creative community where we
see little enough money for our work. A few weeks back we had Phillip Pullman
campaigning to pay authors at festivals. Jami has some good points to make
about choosing carefully which projects we do for free.
I have been thinking about Dean Wesley Smith's article all
day. He takes a look at the longevity of the writer in the digital age. It does
make you think. If books don’t go out of print because digital backlists are
still selling... authors really need to understand the long game and plan their
careers for it. Dean is still finding readers for books that are 30 years
old... and you can too.
In the Craft Section,
The Book Designer- 3 mistakes you made writing the first book.
Tara Sparling- Dissecting the blurb formula
September Fawkes – 15 tactics for writing humour- Bookmark
Steven Pressfield -The difference between subject and theme- Bookmark
Anne R Allen – a guide to co writing -Bookmark
Darcy Pattison- find your novel opening
Janice Hardy – Deep P.O.V is not the only P.O.V.
In the Marketing Section,
Rachel Thompson- 4 ways to improve your sales
Anne R Allen- Using Google plus and why you should. (This
post is getting a lot of comments
around the blogosphere. You should read it!)
How writers ruin their Amazon links- Bookmark!
Jane Friedman on finding a Book Publicist
Website of the Week
Besides being an awesome blogger Lindsay Buroker manages a
podcast called SFF Marketing. This podcast is a deep look at marketing issues and
has great guests. Being a podcast it’s easy to listen to while doing other things. Today they interviewed Data Guy of Author Earnings. The latest
Author Earnings report is ruffling a few feathers. Data Guy is being touted as
a guest at Digital Book World’s upcoming conference so this podcast is a must
listen if you are following what is happening in the Indie World. Then you can
check out all the other goodies in past podcasts.
To Finish,
Angela Ackerman writes some great articles. This one for Romance University on romancing the reader is a must read. After all readers are why we spend so much
time crafting the characters. We want them to love our characters as much as we
do.
Loving the reader means we have to show up for them.
This week the annual SCBWI conference in New York was rocked by an amazing keynote from children's author Gary Schmidt. Besides reading the keynote... check out the great conference blog.
Maureen
@craicer
No comments:
Post a Comment