Becoming A Super Hero

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

The Digital Reader reports on the news that the audio market was bigger than anyone thought... how big? Pick a number and put a lot of zeroes after it. This really has implications for contracts, rights and as I posted last week... audio only deals.

Influential authors in the English publishing world are speaking out about the poor payments to writers in a recent Guardian article. The news continues to be really bad with most authors working below minimum wage. What does this mean for the future of Literature... nothing good says Philip Pullman.

This week Joanna Penn had a podcast on writing with depression. Her guest Michaelbrent Collings talked about how to manage a writing life if you are also trying to manage a severe mental illness. This was a fascinating podcast and one well worth checking out and referring others to.

Ruth Harris wrote this week about writers and the F word. Failure. Failure is part of the writing landscape. How do we cope with it? Do we let it derail us? This is a great post on redefining the word and learning to deal with ‘Failure.’

Sometimes our ‘Failure’ come from the lies we tell ourselves as writers. Katie Weiland has a great post on the 5 big lies that writers believe and what we can do about them.

This week Kris Rusch talks about opportunities and how writers need to be open to learning more about the business so they can make informed decisions. This touches on Writer Fear... fear of learning because you don’t think you can... But are you open to try?

Writers residencies... sometimes seen as the Holy Grail... a chance to work uninterrupted in a spectacular place and get paid for it... How about a Swiss Tree house...

The eight stages to writing a book by Leigh Shulman details a step by step process for the beginning writer. This is one of those posts you direct people to... when they ask How do you do it...?

Jane Friedman is always a source of well thought out great content. She has a new university textbook out, The Business Of Being A Writer. Jane has updated her post on How to evaluate small publishers. If you are wondering whether small press publishing is for you check out this article. Jane hosts Dave Chesson this week on her blog. He has written a meaty article on the psychology of Author Marketing. Dave has a popular podcast on the subject so check out the article.

The first million words are practice says Kevin Tumlinson of Draft2Digital. This is an interesting article on targets and goal setting and the theory of writer apprenticeship.

In The Craft Section,

Description and setting in deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

Creating Stunning Character Arc’s- K M Weiland _ Bookmark

The 12 stages of physical intimacy to build tension in your fiction-Jenny Hansen- Bookmark-Read inside a brown paper bag...

How Structure affects pacing- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Main Character life changes – Mary Kole

Literary Devices- Repetition- Peter Rey

Good Character flaws create complex antagonists- Now Novel- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Grow your mailing list with these  7 tools- Digital Reader

7 avoidable rookie errors- Debbie Young- Bookmark

Author Brand 101 turn readers into fans- Bookmark

YouTube creators monetization- This news is important reading if you have a YouTube channel

Important author website metrics to monitor- IngramSpark- Bookmark

3D cover mockups- Derek Murphy- Bookmark Bookmark !!! Check it out... you will see why...

To Finish,

In this unsettled landscape we need to find ways to be calm and achieve a Zen mindset so we can productively put words on the page. With the right mindset and a few tools you can overcome anything so boost your creativity with these helpful oils, fragrances and crystals... and become a super hero.

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 also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you just want to say thanks for the blog you can hit the coffee button up top... Thanks.

Pic: Because you are a super hero to someone!