Fair Value

This week I have some links to articles about the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (as promised last week.)

Publisher’s Weekly looked at what was happening in the Children’s App market at Bologna and then had a round up of the major trends coming through.

The New York Times had a piece looking at the rise of children’s publishing and the large Chinese contingent at the fair. This augers well for the new fair being inaugurated this year in Singapore for the ASEAN nations.

The London Book Fair is underway right now. Publishing Perspectives has a quick look at what the major talking points will be.

Children’s author C Alexander London this week wrote a brave article about coming out as Gay to children... and their reactions. All they really wanted to know was when the next book was coming out.

Larry Brooks has a great article on story development. What is the key criteria to the story? It’s a compelling premise. Another must read article from Larry.

Molly Greene has been carefully examining her earnings and her book goals. She sets out her Marketing goals for 2016 and the reasons why she is doing all these changes to her book business.

Recently I was chatting to my husband about Scrivener as I thought it might be useful in his office for a project his team was working on. He downloaded a free version and became a convert. This seems to be what happens when someone tries Scrivener- instant writing software love. Here is a master tips article for all those Scrivener users.

What are the marks of a Professional Independent Author? The key word in that sentence is ‘professional.’ The Book Reviewers site has a breakdown of what you should be aiming for.

Elizabeth S Craig has a great article on valuing your time. Writers are often asked to do things for free and it’s hard to say No. How do we evaluate the events we participate in so that they add value to us as writers? This is a great article to get you thinking about your time price.

In the Craft Section,

3 essential tips for your anti hero

The secret ingredient for POV magic- Kristen Lamb

Creating a strong emotional response from readers- C S Lakin

How to resuscitate a lifeless scene- Bookmark

5 important ways to use symbolism- Bookmark

10 questions to beef up your conflict.

5 traits of a winning concept- Mythcreants

When you are telling the wrong story- K M Weiland

Essential writing tools -Angela Ackerman Becca Puglisi Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

What you need to know about Merchandising rights

Online marketing mistakes to avoid

How to put together a marketing plan

Using images for marketing- Joanna Penn Bookmark!

An Instagram primer for authors- Frances Caballo Bookmark

How to sell your book direct- Bookmark

Managing your Author Blog

Using private Facebook groups as your street team/marketers

To Finish,

This week marks the eighth year of Craicer. I have been thinking about all the things I have learned along the way.

1. Commitment to a deadline. There is nothing like the creeping hour hand of the clock to make me stop researching and get the blog published.

2. Chances to push out of my comfort zone. Researching and writing this blog every week has made me a Go To person for speaking to groups or planning programmes or podcasting. Somehow people think I know stuff.

3. When I’ve struggled with my health the fact that I had a regular appointment to research and write up for others what I have learned has kept me sane. Ok not as crazy as I could be.

I am grateful for the people who read the blog, ask questions or share the blog to new readers. It always makes me laugh when I’m with a bunch of authors and someone asks 'how do you...' and the response from the group is “Read Maureen’s blog!”

Thanks everyone for reading and sharing the blog over the last eight years!

Maureen
@craicer