Need Chocolate- STAT

This week around the publishing blogosphere seemed to be filled with stories about how to manage
creativity during stressful times. If you have been following social media I guess you
would be feeling overwhelmed at the relentless negativity on display.

So here are a few posts designed to help you put everything into perspective.

Joanna Penn has a great post on Imposter syndrome…. We all suffer from it…

Ruth Harris has an outstanding post on decision fatigue. You might not even know you are suffering
from this in your writing life until you run down Ruth’s list.

September Fawkes has a great post on taking risks as part of the creative process.
No this doesn’t mean dodging traffic… but how often are you talked out of doing something by the
voices in your head telling you not to take the risk…

Kris Rusch puts the writing life into perspective as she examines priorities.
What is your number one priority… hint it shouldn’t be your writing.

Last week I mentioned the big scandal that has the hashtag #copypastecris  
Mixed up in that mess were Ghostwriters. There are legitimate Ghostwriters out there and it is a writing job.
Shiloh Walker talks about how writers choose to be ghostwriters.

Have you thought about the emotional journey that you take when you are writing your book?
I didn’t until I read this interesting post on the emotional journey of writing fantasy by Rachel Hartman.  

Every year/book project I challenge myself to do a deep dive into an aspect of the writing craft.
This year it is scene construction. I was fascinated to read this great post (several times)
on crafting a scene by Suzanne Lakin (C S Lakin)
This is a BOOKMARK post and I’ve ordered Martha’s book as well.

In The Craft Section,

Beginning from the middle- Writer’s Digest- Bookmark

Test your story concept- Scott Myers

Writing Action- Mythic Scribes - Bookmark

Don’t let those ideas get away

Story midpoint- using the heroes emotions to transform- Angela Ackerman - Bookmark

Does your novel have too many characters- Janice Hardy

What Things are your characters hiding- K M Weiland- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Smashwords introduces Global Coupons!- Bookmark

Author Super Powers with Street Teams - Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Three things to consider designing book covers

9 tips to help you build a great website

How to win at Book Marketing- Charli Mills

To Finish,

Sometimes all you want to do is get away from the world and retreat to a happy place
where it is just you and your writing project. A writing retreat…
If you find yourself day- dreaming about writing cruises or holidays… and you know it will never happen…
STOP.
This post is for you! How to plan the DIY Writing Retreat.   (Don’t forget to take chocolate.)

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Andrew Writer

 

Running To A Standstill

This week around the blogosphere there was consternation as
a plagiarism scandal erupted and grew bigger by the hour.

As events unfolded the writer in question blamed the ghost writers that she hired to write books
with her name on it… and therein lies the problem. If you have your name on it then it must have
come from you and been approved by you. As the plagiarised writer,  an ex-supreme court lawyer,
said on Twitter… you picked the wrong person here.
Unfortunately she was not the only writer targeted... at last count 27 writers had been picked up.

Kris Rusch outlines the very reasons why this mess happened and why you should be very
clear in writing cooperatively, however you do it.  

If you have been on social media lately you will have seen all the hype around the new Masterclass
with Neil Gaiman. Actually Neil is everywhere… Good Omens is coming out, American Gods is in
a second season...  Masterclass must be rubbing hands all the way to the bank. So if you have been
on the fence about shelling out for this…you might like this article about
whether it is worth doing a class with Mr Gaiman...or Ms Attwood.

Are you a company of one?
Joanna Penn interviewed Paul Jarvis on how to approach your writer business if it’s just you.

It’s Book Fair season around the world.  The New Publishing Standard keeps an eye on
the international book fairs with India having record attendances lately but they aren’t the only ones.
Belgium has just racked up record attendances too Is print back?
Meanwhile London is expanding their offering and opening up to podcasts.
(It’s all about audio you know….)

Nate Hoffelder pointed out in his blog this week that there is a new wordpress plugin that gets
Alexa to read your blog for you as a podcast and if that isn’t enough to be going on with...
in Joanna Penn’s latest podcast interview with Will Dages of Findaway voices the discussion touched on
a future copyright IP- for your author voice.

Are you worried about finding your ideal reader- The Superfan who will
buy all your books, shout your name to the heavens, and leap to do your every bidding?  
Anne R Allen has the blog post for you... Should writers despair if they don’t have superfans?
It must have struck a chord… there are a pile of comments.

Penny Sansevieri has an interesting post on 4 common book marketing complaints.
Check them out just in case you are doing something wrong and don’t know it.

Reedsy is getting into the book review business… which surprised me.
They have trusted book reviewers for a price… but then you are just marketing to other authors…
Maybe I’m missing something.

Scott Meyers has a great post on his screenwriting blog about writing sprints…
Yes you can achieve much when you write against the clock especially with others…
but don’t forget that a writing walk is just as good… you’ll need your running shoes tho.

In The Craft Section,

2 great posts from Angela Ackerman- When character flaws go too far and Exploring the dark side of your hero - Bookmark Both.

Creating an easy habit of writing- Write to Done

Kill your darlings - editing- Write for Kids

How to write authentic injuries- Scriptmedic

What the 'Friends' pilot can teach writers- Bang2Write- Bookmark

Should you join a writing group?- Leigh Shulman

10 steps guide to the likable hero - Captain America -K M Weiland- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

5 tips to spice up your Amazon Profile- Chrys Fey- Bookmark

5 powerful ways to market your book using Pinterest- Bookbuzzr

How your reader profiles informs your book marketing- Bookworks- Bookmark

Is distribution of your print worth it- LM Preston

How to cut down on your business expenses- Creatifwriting

What’s in your signature- Judith Briles

Using Twitter for your author platform- No wasted ink- Bookmark

To Finish,

If you are really in a hurry for that book… check out the Book Espresso machine.
They are becoming more common in book stores in the U.S. Walk in… order the book…
it gets printed while you wait…
Print can be almost as fast as buying an ebook.

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 also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee- hit the coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic; Flickr Creative Commons - Victor Navarro

How Do You Count Success?

Around the publishing blogosphere this week...

Ah Bologna! The biggest children’s book fair in the world. (Secretly every children’s writer wants to go…)
Bologna is about to get bigger! This years themes African American culture, women, and handwriting.
Check out Porter Anderson’s run down on what’s new to the fair.

It’s writing convention season in the Northern hemisphere… so you need to know what to pack.
Check out this list of must haves from Gail Carriger- (don’t forget foot lotion!)

Bustle decided we needed to be reminded of the book scandals so far this year… We are in the seventh week
and we have had five scandals in publishing… Are we in a depraved industry or finally at the point where we are
calling out BS?

A scandal that wasn’t mentioned was The Authors Guild report on author incomes and their downward trend
that came out in January. This caught some people by surprise. (Who knew there wasn’t any
money in publishing?) However there were plenty of people who disputed the figures. Orna Ross,
Director of Alliance of Independent Authors made some interesting comments about using money to
figure out if you were successful. (Some genres had a problem with that…)

A friend told me about an email last month from a company offering to write her autobiography as she was a
busy scientist. She must be famous. We laughed, but it is a serious matter. These scams target the clueless
about publishing. Be a great friend, alert people to scams. (If you want to laugh, check out their emails along
with their spell checker and understanding of science papers… ;)

I was interested to read Agent Janet Reid’s answers to a question about what to do when your
publisher looks like they’re going belly up… This reminded me of Kris Rush’s blog on IP a few weeks ago
and if you haven’t read it… YOU MUST! (- and the comments).  Kris is back with an interesting view of
the Consumer Electronics Show and new media. Remember, once upon a time eBooks were NEW.
(And look how they changed publishing.) Kris points out some new ideas
to be aware of. (Check your contracts… beware of rights grabs for media not invented yet.)

Last month I mentioned that Mike Shatzkin, publishing futurist and commentator, had been down under
and visited our fair shores. Mike took the time to speak to people in the book industry here about
what the big problems are.Here is what he found out and what publishers can do about it.

Jami Gold has been looking at Social Media platforms… which do you use and why?
Jami has some good advice for which ones would best suit you.

If you are an Indie publisher you will have come up against this important question… Go wide or Select?
Here are the pros and cons. Meanwhile Richard Charkin charts his Indie publisher journey so far…
who knew it would start with 1000 emails...

The WriteLife blog has compiled their best sites for authors 2019… There are the tried and trusted ones…
and some new kids in the mix.

In The Craft Section,

How to write a Macguffin- The Maltese Tiger- Bookmark

Creating authentic villains- Kyla Bagnall- Bookmark

The 6 figure master fiction plot-Janice Hardy - Bookmark

How to create a wiki to support your world building

What to watch out for in spell checkers - Alli Blog

Look forward not backward to pull your reader in- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Pay attention to trends- Scott Eagan

In The Marketing Section,

How to get 10x the eyeballs on your next post- Writetodone

How to use Goodreads for authors- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

How to work with street teams for a successful campaign- Angela Ackerman - Bookmark

How to keep your newsletter from sucking

10 reasons why people leave your website- infographic- Barb Dozdowich

Run your own online book tour

To Finish,

It’s great to check in with Catherine Ryan Howard every now and then.
It shows how far a life can change in a decade in publishing. Catherine has just
published her 72 easy steps to get an Edgar nomination. If you are a thriller/ crime writer,
these are big genre awards! Practically an overnight success story!

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 coffee button up top. Thanks.

R.I.P Opportunity... The last message... My battery is low. It is getting dark.

15 years of exploration on another planet... originally designed for 90 days.  

An OUTSTANDING achievement for the Rover Robot Team!

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons Thomas

Whose attitude is right?

Around the publishing blogosphere...

This week was unsettling on Social Media. First there was the big Twitter pile on

about a forthcoming book from Young Adult writer, Amelie Wen Zhao.

Amelie was about to publish her debut novel. As authors do, she drew on her upbringing

and culture from her own country. She has a 3 book deal with a traditional publisher in the USA.

She was forced to ask for a delay in publication due to the backlash on social media

about content in her book.

From what I could see as the Twitter rage grew… many commenting had not read advance copies so did not know the context but raged about it anyway. Many immediately took the author to task for seeming to use American historical events badly in her fantasy.

For writers from other countries watching this rage fest unfold on Twitter it was deeply unsettling. The rest of the world has stories to tell of slavery, human trafficking happening now or in the past. Other cultures experiences of this is just as valid to use as a basis for a fantasy book. Do we always have to use and be mindful of the same western viewpoints in an age where stories are shared globally with the click of a button?

While writers and commentators were getting steamed up over a fantasy book,

publishers and agents were getting spooked by the story broken in

The New Yorker of a prominent writer and editor who seemed to have based

all his credentials on a fantasy life. As the events in his fantasy life were exposed

it read like the famous novel The Talented Mr Ripley. The writer/editor had relationships

everywhere and there will be many people in publishing feeling they have been

the townspeople in The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Another big story this week was the subscription service

Scribd passing 1 million subscribers. Publishers have been flirting with subscription

services for a while. Amazon has what could be the world’s biggest with Kindle Unlimited

based mainly in the USA but that leaves Scribd with the rest of the world…

and they have lots of plans for growth.

Another publisher with global ambitions has just opened publishing portals in another

21 countries over 6 continents.

Italian based Streetlib seeks to publish everywhere that has an internet connection,

in any language, in any format.

If you are a writer in Lesotho or Nandi, writing in your own language…

Streetlib is for you. Among the new countries just enrolled in their publishing

portal are Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.    

Amazon is looking at the rest of the world and thinking hmm great kids books in

other languages- they need us. They are opening up their Amazon kids publishing

arm to translations.

Meanwhile Google is contracting- with Google Plus set to disappear by April.

And so we come to Kris Rusch’s last blog post looking at the changes for publishing this year.

It has been an fascinating series. If you haven’t been reading her posts you are missing out
on learning about this industry. Last week’s post is a must read!

This week Kris talks about the attitude change in publishing.

In The Craft Section,

Writing a single POV story - K M Weiland

5 ways to turn off your inner editor - Janice Hardy- Bookmark

6 ways to show emotion for non POV characters- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

What is your protagonist object of desire- Bookmark

Writing skill you should cultivate- Jerry Jenkins

In The Marketing Section,

3 principles of selling rights- Orna Ross- Bookmark

Discoverability and Going Wide- The Book Designer

Social Media tips for the introverted writer- Ella Barnard-Bookmark

How can I get more subscribers- Indies Unlimited

Distribution for the indie author- Alli Blog

Smart author advertising strategies - Penny Sansevieri - Bookmark

To Finish,

We are living through major changes in our climate and our perceptions

and understandings of our place in a global village.

The internet has opened up the democratisation of information across the world.

For the author having an online presence is essential. Careful curation

of your digital presence is important.

Anne R Allen takes a good look at mistakes that authors have made in

their online presence and how to fix them.

Remember that gossip is not restricted to your own village now,

it can spread throughout the world with a click of a button.

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons Guilhem Vellut