The Epic Roundup of 2018…

This will be my last post for 2018.
I’m having a few weeks off over Christmas. And it’s a day late too…. So what exciting things can I draw your attention to…
I thought I’d look back over the year and see what happened…

In January everyone was processing all the changes of 2017 and making predictions for 2018. Let’s see how they did. Joanna Penn had a list of coming tech trends for authors. Imposter syndrome- (Warning it’s from Chuck) and layoffs at Createspace had authors wondering what’s up?
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
The eyes have it- A fascinating look at how people view the Amazon buy page 
Katie Weiland’s fabulous infographic on Storytelling nuts and bolts.

In February
Scandal in the Children’s Lit community, Apple and Google playing with their book store fronts and the first inklings of how big Audio was going to get this year. Author Solutions has been pinged for predatory practices on newbie authors so much that their other name is shark. But did you know how many aliases they operate under?  
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Killing Writer Perfectionism and Reverse Engineering Your Editorial Calendar

March was the month of… Death. With the deaths of Stephen Hawking, Ursula Le Guin and the news about Harper Lee’s estate… How prepared is your literary estate for after your death?
Findaway voices offer serious competition to Audible and writing podcasts – a source of information and creation for the modern writer., with serial novels. Don’t forget to stretch at your writing desk.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Seven strategies and Ninety-four tools to find readers 
Anne R Allen- Plot holes and Pot Holes

April had…my eleventh-year blogversary. Reviews disappearing left, right and center around the internet. The rise and rise of AI- Get Siri or Alexa to buy the books and then read them to your child. (I wouldn’t have predicted that eleven years ago!)
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from 
Larry Brooks- Everything you need to know about story structure and 
David Gaughran- Canva- the author Go To for graphics.

In May   
Literary Embezzlement, the demise of Kindle worlds and implications thereof and GDPR and what it means for authors were the huge talking points in May. Take control of your author business and sell direct. Responsible use of mailing lists is a must.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Jami Gold - Why head hopping is lazy writing
SFF Marketing podcast- Cultivating a rabid fan base.

June followed up with Book Stuffing scandals and the implications for writers regarding copyright that Cockygate is highlighting. Patricia Cornwall jumps to Amazon and Writers and learned helplessness. Audio publishing- The next big thing!
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Jane Friedman’s guests this month.
What does it mean to write a scene that works and The psychology of Author Marketing

July… When agents are found to be crooked.#daniellesmith and other predators in publishing. Why the literature Nobel was not awarded. Author income surveys and Wattpad the new go-to source for publishers to find the next big thing.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Sell your books, not your soul
Procrastinating productively

In August Walmart and Kobo teemed up… Is there serious competition ahead for Amazon? Createspace was shut by Amazon in favour of Kindle Print – (They are still ironing out the problems of this move.) Audible, owned by Amazon, changed their contracts… not for the better. And remember Cockygate?
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Anne R Allen-Troubled Characters and their personality problems
Roz Morris- Building readership – a quiet rebellion

In September Bookstores were bought and sold. 
Contracts were contested and explored and Amazon put up the price of their Ads.. catching everyone on the hop. How will Brexit affect publishing? The days of nice booksellers are on the wane.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Bookbub- The biggest Ad mistakes
Go Into The Story- Protagonist vs Nemesis

October saw… a global and future focus with the Future Book conference. Publishers are looking at Asia as their next big markets to tackle and you should be too. Blockchain in publishing was talked about as the next big change to negotiate. And everyone everywhere is looking into book serialisation either Audio or subscription streaming. October is also the month where you plan for NaNoWriMo.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Katie Weiland has a magical post about the power of language
Joanna Penn Interviewed Dave Chesson about keywords for Amazon ads.

November, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo…. Craft articles were the flavour of the month. In publishing news- Amazon changed their systems and glitched a whole lot of writers. Now you really need to advertise as the organic discovery writers used to be able to do has disappeared. Viral sensation The Scottish Granny elevated a children’s book from 7-year-old obscurity to marketing sensation. And China is hunting for children’s books. 
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
I guest posted over on Jami Gold’s blog on leveling up your craft learning.
70 plot twists and examples – Reedsy
Bookcover Zone - seriously addictive

And now we get to this week in December 
Publishers Weekly had an article on Hybrid publishers and how authors are redefining success and failure in publishing.
Nate Hoffelder comments on how often Publishing hit USA Today’s list of big job layoff’s in the last decade.
Bookmark worthy posts
Make your own book video trailers for free... 
Writing intuitively - September Fawkes
Writing beats and meaningful actions- Women on Writing

As I’ve rolled through the year’s blog posts I discovered that 2018 was the year of the book cover for me. I bought six and commissioned three. I finished Book Three in my Starlight series and discovered that I have to add another book to that series.  I launched the first two books in The Circus Quest Series. (On sale over Christmas if you need some great books for your child's new Tablet /eReader.) and I was part of the Judging team for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. (Waves Hi to the current crop of judges who will have their first onslaught of books about now!) It’s been a full 2018.

Have a safe and relaxing Christmas break filled with love, laughter, and great writerly thoughts.
I’ll see you back in mid-January 2019 with all those goal planning posts.

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or Buy a Circus Quest Book for the creative quirky kid in your life.   

pic: Flickr Creative Commons Lindsaye Eyink

Are you giving books this Christmas?

If you want the industry to survive and thrive say Brazilian Publishers, you had better step up and buy some books. This plea from the publishers struck a chord with Booksellers everywhere reports the Guardian. Unfortunately Barnes and Noble seem to have missed that memo.

The FutureBook conference was held last week in London. Among the topics discussed were the rise and rise of Audiobooks, voice technology, and podcasts. Can we make publishing rival Netflix was the cry… With Google entering the audio market we could be seeing interesting times soon.

While you are contemplating the news from FutureBook, Richard Charkin was issuing a list of Don’ts to traditional publishers about 2019 in Publisher’s Weekly. If you read the two articles together you will have a fair idea of the state of play in the publishing world going into the new year.

While Joanna is down under, (Hope the weather in Auckland is nice Joanna!) she is continuing to put interesting articles on her blog. Here are the two latest that I found interesting. Money management for authors and Tips for keeping in a Creative Routine while on holiday.

WriterHQ also has an interesting article on how to stay motivated in the Summer holidays… Tip one- ignore kids and don’t do housework… Roz Morris also has a great blog post on staying in touch with your writing project while navigating your way through Christmas madness.

Jami Gold has a great post on writing rules- what rules? - We don’t need those stinkin’ rules and don't forget to check out the writing gift Advent calendar from Becca and Angela! 

Reedsy has started a podcast for writers. The focus is on writing craft. Bang2Write reinforces this focus on writing craft by taking issue with the words aspiring writer. (Remember to expunge the word aspiring from your vocabulary at your next Christmas party.)

This week was my last week running away to my creative happy space for the year. I love it because I’m not faced with laundry, dishes, phone calls, etc. (Everybody needs a creative happy space.) My writing buddy and I spent our last day for 2018 studying Suzanne Lakin’s posts on vision and strategy for 2019. These are well worth doing. Check out all the posts in the series and grab your planner. 

In The Craft Section,

Plotting on Notecards- AR Beckert

Lessons from a lost novel- K M Weiland

The pitfalls of writing a series- Gordon Long

Inciting incidents- Reedsy- Bookmark

The hero’s journey- Joseph Campbell- Bookmark

Writing technique- Euphonics- Bookmark

Taking character relationships to the next level- Mythcreants- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Visibility- Nicholas Erik- Bookmark

Nate’s big list of free and paid book promo sites- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

Twitter advertising infographic- Barb Drozdowich 

Bookbub ads- David Gaughran- Bookmark

Best Book Covers of 2018

14 Twitter apps/tools for writers- Frances Caballo

Indie Authors – empowered

To Finish,

The Christmas decorations are up everywhere you look. The sun is beating down!  It’s a struggle to get the kids out of bed in the last week of school. Let alone make sure all your present buying is done by then. Writer’s gift lists get updated
so you can buy for yourself... always a good idea. But Tara Sparling has the definitive article on what 
a writer really wants for Christmas.

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be hitting inboxes in the next few days. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or (Look Right) buy a book for your favourite 6+-year-old. My books are available in print and ebook- and you can feel good about buying books for Christmas.   Next week will be the last blog post for the year... 

All I want for Christmas is....

This week around the blogosphere articles about what to get the writer for Christmas were jostling with trends to watch in 2019. I just wish I was still in November. Every year December comes faster. Things I thought I would have finished by now still linger in the To Do pile. 

December is Na No Edit Mo. The time where you take stock of your NaNo project and give it some editing love. Anne R Allen has a list of Do’s and Don’ts to consider as you embark on editing your novel.   

Ingram must have an interesting To Do List for Christmas... Rumour has it that they are looking to buy Baker and Taylor- their competitor in the Book Distributor business. This could mean a jolly shake-up in the print book world for 2019.

Also making plans for 2019 Frankfurt Bookfair are introducing a new section – Rights trading for Book Tech  

Barnes and Noble are still hanging in there so the winds of change must be blowing snow down the back of their necks. Speculation that this Christmas book buying season could be the one that seals their fate.

It’s been ten years of The Creative Penn blog. I can’t imagine a blogosphere without her. We got started at the same time blogging. She has become a huge influence and a force in the indie world for her lay it all out approach. This week’s post on what ten years has taught her... a must read. I’m also keen to try dictation over the summer. Joanna has a great post on that too.

The fearless duo of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi always have great ideas of paying it forward in the author community. They are running an advent calendar style giveaway for authors. Check out their great prize draws.

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on generations this week. Do the older generation of writers fear or embrace the newer writers in their genre. Do the newer writers learn from or imitate the elders. When are you an elder...? 

Dutton are experimenting with book sizes. They are bringing out limited edition phone sized flip books... starting with John Green’s books – all aimed at the YA market. Just like a phone but in print...

Now Novel has two excellent articles on scenes and character. Every year or big project I choose an area of craft to focus on. 2019 is the year of the Scene for me and this article on Scene is just the perfect one to launch into a year of craft study. And the one on character is pretty good too. Over Summer I hope to play with dictation so this article from Joanna Penn on the best way to do it is a good start.

In The Craft Section,

How to cope with large casts of characters?- KM Weiland- Bookmark

Publishing trends/tropes

Beginnings and Backstory- James Scott Bell - Bookmark

The sample permissions letter- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

The pitfalls of self-editing- Writer Unboxed.

Do’s and Don’ts when creating villains Pt2- Kassandra Lamb- Bookmark

2 great posts from Go Into The Story- Learning the craft in 2019 and how to write one hour TV drama. Bookmark!

In The Marketing Section,

Two great posts from Penny Sansevieri- Marketing a book on Social Media 2019 and  Boost your pre-order strategies - Bookmark

What can authors get out of video content- Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

Top book blogs to build author brand – Dave Chesson

5 social media marketing trends to watch in 2019

How to process feedback

To Finish,

It’s the time of year when all the gift lists come out. For writers, there is always some new gadget or programme that might make writing the novel easier. Wearing Jane Austen socks and noise-canceling headphones while writing with a new rollerball pen on pristine paper in a beautifully embossed journal and sipping Writers Tear’s whiskey...Hmmmm Just needs chocolate and it would be perfect! Check out what other gifts you can ask for from these two writer’s gifts lists.

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top.  I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ Marita

Are You Chasing Literary Glory?

As we head into the last few days of NaNoWriMo… remember that December is 

Na No Edit Mo. Don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for getting to the end with something written! Take a break and check out some other stories… These are the ten best podcast fiction websites.

Writers Beware is a fantastic website that doubles as a consumer watchdog for writers. Worried about an agent? Think your contract maybe shonky? Check out Writer Beware. This week they have an interesting article about what happens when your agent or publisher files for bankruptcy. And yes this is very important. If you think you get your rights back....

While that is in your mind check out Kris Rusch’s latest blog where she talks about the Sears company. They have filed for bankruptcy. If you think it is not relevant to writers... read Kris and her examination of the Sears business model and how it has been the blueprint of other successful bookselling behemoths in the business world. What happens if Amazon fails? 

If you are wondering about whether a potential publisher or service is scammy... You can check them out on the Alliance of Independent Authors (Alli) review. They have recently updated their A-Z list of publishing providers.

Mike Shatzkin always has his eye on what is happening or about to happen in publishing. In his latest blog he looks at the success of Lightning Source and the mind shift publishers need to make about just in time printing. Readers will be aware that the recent success of Wonky Donkey on the global stage 7 years after it was published illustrates perfectly what Mike is talking about. (Mike will be in NZ in January if anyone wants to catch up with him.)

Penny Sansevieri has leapt off the block with the first of the what to do in 2019 regarding book marketing. What is really interesting is how book marketing is changing and what worked in in the first half of 2018 isn’t working now. This is a must check out list of great ideas.

Dave Chesson has been busy doing guest blogs around the blogosphere. This week he popped up on Jane Friedman’s blog and wrote an interesting article on the SWOT analysis for writers. Have you ever looked at your writing this way? Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats...

Recently Joanna Penn interviewed Michael Brent Collings and it got writers talking about mental health and writing. Today I came across Michael’s ten steps to overnight success. This is one of those posts that is a must read (all the way to the end).

In The Craft Section,

Avoiding he said she said dialogue

Radical revision- Ruth Harris- Bookmark

How do we create realistic villains- Kassandra Lamb- Bookmark

The delicate art of character folding- Aerogramme Studio- Bookmark

Screenwriting and the need for original hooks- GoIntoTheStory

When your NaNo project is a hot mess-10 minute novelist- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Your book needs a presale period- Steven Spatz

How to make pretty facebook pages- David Gaughran- Bookmark

How improving your website sells more books- Book Designer- Bookmark

5 tips to rock your next open mic reading- Sarah Letourneau- Bookmark

How to write better marketing copy- Jane Friedman

5 Book Marketing myths- Rachel Thompson

To Finish,

The New York Review published this interesting article today. Is Literary Glory worth chasing? As you read it, you are struck with so many parallels about life today and the pressures of being a writer in the modern age. Which is pretty neat considering it was written in 1824.

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top. 

Pic- couldn't resist when I saw it...

Are you part of the resistance?

Hands up if you have listened to a podcast lately.

Hands up if you have read a book or a long-form essay on your phone.

The rise and rise of audiobooks and podcasts are making traditional publishers sit up and take notice. Publishing trends reports on the voice first generation. With the rise in voice AI assistants such as Alexa and Siri able to take on audiobook narration, publishers need to be thinking about audio books first not last.

I was interested in an article this week from Publishing Perspectives about the rise in children’s publishing in China. This was an almost non-existent market fifteen years ago. In the usual China fashion when the behemoth makes a decision the market can change almost overnight and so it is with children’s publishing. Stop and think what an opportunity awaits the savvy entrepreneur who markets into their school system.

Mailchimp is a popular email newsletter provider. If you have ever subscribed to an email list chance are high that you have received it from Mailchimp. Many authors use their platform to send out newsletters. (myself included) Mailchimp has recently teamed up with Square to offer a point of sale shop on a landing page. For any author who has wondered about direct sales, this is an interesting development.

Staying with tech tools for writers- Dave Chesson has pulled together his favourites. There might be something in there for you.

Joanna Penn has an interesting article on 7 mistakes that Non-Fiction writers make. How do you know if your idea is a good one, is one of them? 

Kris Rusch has a great article on resistance. Are you getting in your own way when it comes to making a decision about projects? If you have ever second-guessed yourself or put writing projects away because someone else told you it wouldn’t fly... READ THIS ARTICLE! 

Anne R Allen has two great pieces of writing advice. Confessions of a slow writer... and  Stupid writing rules. They are both timely for NaNo and important just for the freedom to write without a nagging sense of doubt. Share them around with your writing groups.

In The Craft Section,

Can you put lyrics in your book- Bookbaby - Bookmark

Showing vs Telling, how do you choose- Jami Gold - Bookmark

What makes a good story - Now Novel- Bookmark

Finding your unique planning style – Megan Barnhard on Joanna Penn’s site-Bookmark

Writing the small town setting - Elizabeth Craig

Classic Story Structure- Jess Loury on Jane Friedman’s site

Resources for NaNoWriMo

Deliver critical backstory using setting

How to focus on writing right now.

How to power through the 30k slump

Don’t forget to check out the Storybundle Nano collection. There are some great books on offer here going very cheap!

In The Marketing Section,

How to throw a book launch party that’s not a waste of time- Bookbaby

8 tips to give a book talk like a pro- Bookbuzzr

Creating promo copy that works – Marcy Kennedy Bookmark

5 questions on book production and marketing- Joel Friedlander

Easy template for writing query letters- Debutanteball- Bookmark

KDP vs Ingram Spark Paperbacks- Bookmark

To Finish,

The first of the holiday gift lists for writers have appeared with Write Life first off the mark this year. As it’s Thanksgiving in the US there are lots of specials on hand for writers in the tech scene Nate Hoffelder has the list. 

If you relaxing after stuffing yourself... Take a look at this iconic Thanksgiving song by the master storyteller Arlo Guthrie. 

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top.
Apologies for being late this week...

Pic Flickr Creative Commons – Paul VanDerWerf

Publishing News with Camels

Around the publishing blogosphere this week...

It’s been a busy old week in publishing. Authors outside the U.S woke up to find their books had vanished into a desert. They were not on the Amazon platform. Frantic calls from around the world perplexed the call centre. ‘We can see them fine here, stop worrying little author, it’s a glitch. It will sort itself.’ 
Authors talk to each other. (Odd, I know.) When the author community found out the problem wasn’t being fixed and wasn’t isolated geographically the screams were heard around the world. The heavy hitters in the Indie community called their Amazon Reps. Amazon is on it... so they say....

While Amazon was feeling the wrath of the authors...on the other side of the business, the booksellers were spitting like camels over changes to the Used and Rare book section. Suddenly booksellers were pulling their catalogues from ABE Books (rare and out of print booksellers owned by Amazon.) The issue was one of justice to the small bookshops in Africa. And Amazon caved.

Meanwhile, the publishing community is looking sideways at new conventions proposed by the EU and South Africa. Plan S has many worried about I.P. and how much it will count when changes are made to the ‘Fair Use’ guidelines. The accepted practice is restricted to Research, News, Teaching, Parody and only a limited amount at that. Publishers are already warning South Africa that their changes could contravene the Berne Convention.

While the publishers get set to fight for their IP rights there is another crisis looming. The shortage of paper is driving up the price of print. This could be another straw on the printed book camel. 

The Atlantic has an in-depth article on a rags to riches writer story that is a bit different. It was kick-started on Wattpad, written on a mobile phone at the supermarket, uploaded for free and then... 

Public Service Announcement: If you have published on Createspace you may want to check your accounts. Hackers have got in. 

Smashwords have been quietly working at things in the background while being a large distributor of Ebooks in the foreground. This week Founder and CEO Mark Coker unveiled the new Smashwords storefront. It has some nifty bells and whistles and Mark stresses that they will never game the recommendations. (Which makes a nice change from other store fronts.)

Last week I was a virtual fly on the wall at a huge conference in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Joanna Penn was attending the Independent Author conference. She shares her takeaways and lessons learned from this dynamic conference.  Even if you are traditionally published, have an agent... etc. etc... it pays to keep an eye on the indie author world. Often they are responding to changes much faster than traditional publishers. Forewarned is always a good thing.

In The Craft Section,

4 fool proof ways to be a prolific and successful writer- Writers in the Storm

Using tips from poetry to strengthen prose- Pamela Donison- guest post on Jami Gold's blog- Bookmark

10 books to read before writing your novel

How to write funny novels and why you shouldn’t.- Melodie Campbell

Writing a series from a standalone.- Alli Blog

Michael Hauge's Six stages of structure - Bookmark

Resources for NaNoWriMo

Overcoming emotional wounds showing your character is healing- Becca Puglisi

Character types- Go Into The story

The powerball of first page resources- Angela Ackerman

Plotting a novel when you haven’t figured out the details-Janice Hardy !!

70 plot twists and examples – Reedsy

In The Marketing Section,

5 tips for marketing books with a free excerpt- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

7 reasons Facebook ads don’t convert- Marie Page

How to get great book reviews- Alli Blog

New Book marketing- The bad girls guide to a book launch- Melodie Campbell-Bookmark

Meet the super fan that you want- Judith Briles- Bookmark

5 Author productivity tools- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

How to request a rights reversion- Writer Beware

To Finish,

The weird things people say to authors and what you can say in reply. This post strikes a chord with every writer I know. As we come up to the holiday season and the Christmas party round is about to begin. Store up some of these comebacks for the inevitable clueless questions from family and acquaintances.

I am guest posting over at Jami Gold's blog this week if you want to drop in and read an article on leveling up your writing. 

Maureen

@craicer

It’s time for my monthly newsletter, where I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. (This weekend, promise!) When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top. Congratulations for making it halfway through NANO!

Pic The Library Camel of the Gobi Desert./imgur pic  I couldn’t resist… you can check out Green Eggs and Ham in the Gobi. Theodore would be tickled pink over that!

We all need a Scottish Granny

Around the publishing blogosphere this week...

In the U.S. getting an ISBN number means either accepting a free one from Amazon... where they are listed as the publisher on record or buying one from Bowker which costs a lot of money but at least you or your publishing company is the publisher on record. You need a separate  ISBN for every format of the book so this can really add up depending on how many formats you have. Bowker’s website was hacked this week and they almost shut down their whole operation....

(NB. Here in NZ we can get free ISBN’s by going to the National Library of New Zealand website.)

In a recent article on Publishers Weekly some literary agents listed their MS wish lists for Young Adult. Themes wanted are teens dealing with the real world. If you keep an eye on the publishing houses bottom line you soon learn that a year without a breakout YA bestseller really hits the revenue of the big publishing houses. Everybody is chasing the next big thing because the readership is almost 50% older than teens and in paperback and voracious. Ka- Ching!

The teen’s themselves find the whole genre problematical. In a recent post on her blog teen reader Vicky found many of her generation agreeing with her when she wrote about how YA isolates teens. 

Meanwhile Scholastic scored a hit when the viral video of a Scottish granny reading kiwi book Wonky Donkey started a craze. The scottish granny is on tour, reports Publishers Weekly, and is being seen as having a magic touch.... Some savvy marketing person saw an opportunity. 

Staying with the children’s book theme... Augmented Reality has become a talking point. What more can you do with it and is it really reading? Check out the new iterations of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

Chris Syme has an interesting guest post on Joanna Penn’s blog about crisis management for authors. What do you do when your reviews go missing or you get pirated or doxxed. First, don’t panic. Read this excellent post.

Quartz has a fascinating article on the rise of the new Sci Fi genre’s. Over the last year I have seen more references to Utopia fiction and Solar Punk but missed the defined niche of Cli Fi. What determines a new niche/genre? And is Cli Fi really contemporary thriller or non fiction depending on where you live in the world right now?

Character names are always challenging. I don’t feel the story is started unless I have the right character name. Once I have the name I often have the voice sorted in my head. Reedsy has a nifty character naming generator for those moments when you are stumped for a character name.

In The Craft Section,

Character arcs- Reedsy- Bookmark

Plucking heart strings with word choice- Vivian Kirkfield- Bookmark

Will readers find your protagonist worthy- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

The value quotient of your core story-Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

How to write a fight scene- Standout Books

Why you need real facts in your fiction – WriteOnCon

6 questions to help Non Fiction writers find their niche- Erica Meltzer- Bookmark

Resources for NaNoWriMo

How to improve writng productivity

Five Steps to Improved Process

5 Surefire ways to win NaNoWriMo

30 tips for conquering the 30 day writing challenge

Don’t forget The Storybundle of craft books curated by Kevin Anderson and available all month.

In The Marketing Section,

Learn How to market your books-Sacha Black

How to tap into street teams and micro influencers-Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Taking care of business for writers- Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

3 keys to blogging sucess- Joel Friedlander

How to get the reviews you want ethically- EC Murray- Bookmark

To Finish

Spare a thought for the poor writer that must write a promo blurb for another writer. Sometimes it can be very hard to find something positive to say. Tara Sparling helps authors to break down a series of honest blurbs so that you can mine the promo gold in the paragraph. Warning do not have a beverage to hand as you will choke... with laughter.

If you are a Scottish Granny then I have some great books you might like to read….

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter where I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top. 

Pic Flickr Creative Commons- Bryan Ledgard