We are half way through Winter and the local news is about
flooding and snow storms and we are going into Election Season. It’s enough to
make you depressed. So what’s happening in the Northern Hemisphere? They are in
the middle of Summer and the news is just as dire and everyone is depressed.
Writer’s suck in the atmosphere around them and try to make
sense of it in their writing. Their words can be the solace at a difficult
time... a challenge to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes... an idea that
changes a world.
The price for this can be carved out on the writer’s soul.
Sometimes it’s hard to remain upbeat.
Anne R Allen has a standout post on Writers Block and Depression. This is a must read. Even if you have never suffered from Writers
Block, recognising the signs might help you to care for your self better.
Self Doubt is another insidious dis-ease that writers suffer
from. Cat Friesen has some practical ways to cope with this common writer ailment.
For a bracing dose of writer medicine read Chuck Wendig - So you are having a bad writing day.
Don’t beat yourself up about it!
If you are struggling to explain why sometimes this industry
gets you down. Take a look at Kristen Lamb’s post from December. It’s a
reminder on how much publishing has changed in a decade.
Looking at changes to the familiar, Frances Caballo has
taken a close look at the changes on Twitter and Facebook. She explains how
useful the new tools we’ve been given are.
Last week I linked to a post by Jami Gold. Did you notice
her new website? Jami writes this week about why and how she changed her website. (This is all interesting to me as I play in a private sandbox tweaking
ideas for a revamp here.)
Alli- or The Alliance of Independent Authors have a great
blog. Recently Richard Bradburn shared his thoughts on the proper care and feeding of Beta Readers. (This week my Beta Readers found a critical mistake,
proving that it doesn’t matter how many times you check something, another
person’s eyes on your work is worth gold.)
PublishDrive has an interesting article on publishing books on Google Play. They can do it. While you are checking out the article, check
out the company, who are an ebook distributor based in Europe. They now sell in
over 400 online stores including all the big ones and they sell into Asia. (The
next big market according to Joanna Penn.)
Joanna Penn has been promoting her new edition of How To
Market a Book all over Social Media. She has an excerpt from the book about the polarities of Book Marketing. What do you do if you have no money to market...
In The Craft Section,
Two great articles from Angela Ackerman on setting. – Make your setting a character and Turn your setting into an obstacle course.
Bookmark
How do you know when you need to revise- Blood Red Pencil
Describing character eyes- Now Novel-Bookmark
Feedback Frenzy- Everyone’s opinion - Janice Hardy
Structuring events in sequence- September Fawkes- Bookmark
Sensory details in setting- Christina Delay
In The Marketing Section,
How to create pre launch buzz- Rachel Thompson - Bookmark
Building an email list for your book – The Write Life
Bookcovers and Indie Author brands- Bookmark
How to be a top book on Goodreads- Penny Sansevieri
Advanced approaches to author marketing- Draft2Digital-
Bookmark
To Finish,
I like to dive into a podcast over lunch or on car journeys
when it’s just me. It is a way of connecting to the wider publishing world.
Some podcasts are mini workshops. If you haven’t listened to a podcast take the
plunge. Check out 30 outstanding podcasts for authors. Today I listened to the
superb team from the SFF Marketing podcast who chatted about editing and mailing lists. I always learn something new which helps me to stay upbeat in
this crazy publishing world.
Maureen
@craicer
1 comment:
Thanks for the shout-out, Maureen. I think it's true that there's an atmosphere of dread around us all right now and writers are feeling it in many ways. Nothing to do with the weather, but I do think the political climate has something to do with it. Nobody feels safe when there is so much chaos in our leadership.
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