Can You Hear The Rising Voices?

 

 

In publishing news this week,

NBC News published an opinion piece on the conflicts in publishing coming from the staff of publishing houses challenging the books that their publishing houses are publishing. In this week's challenge- It’s Mike Pence’s memoir. There have been rumblings around publishing Twitter on whether some books should be published, citing free speech and a balanced viewpoint against books that should never have been picked up because of their subject matter and/or author. (See last weeks blog) Are the publishing house’s only doing it for a quick buck to finance other books in the production list?

 

A task force of authors has come together to highlight the Disney-Must-Pay campaign. This campaign is gathering momentum. After all if the boot was on the other foot and people were using Disney’s exclusive content for their own gain – Their lawyers would be all over it.

 

Two interesting articles caught my eye this week from Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard. Wattpad has paid out over one million dollars to writers in their subscription model. Apple is moving into podcasts with a subscription model. Are subscription models really worth it to writers or are we stuck with the new payment model for entertainment? Will we be seeing subscription wars soon between the big digital players?

 

Horrified magazine-(Guess the genre) have an interesting article on the revolution happening in their genre – The female experience of fear. Bram Stoker nominee Gemma Amor writes about the rising number of women writing in the genre.

 

Bookriot has an interesting article on disability in children’s books. How often do disabled children see themselves in a book in a positive way? How many books do you know where the protagonist wears glasses? Such a little thing but a huge deal to a child who doesn’t see themselves in a book. I remember my child running up to me clutching a book saying, ‘Look the boy has glasses just like me!’

 

Joanna Penn recently interviewed Mark Leslei Lefebvre on his new book Wide For The Win.

This is a great book on publishing wide – across all marketplaces, not just Amazon. The Title comes from the great Facebook group Wide for the Win which is full of authors who are working out how to market across all platforms. I have the book and I’m in the group. I recommend listening to/ reading this great interview.

 

Ruth Harris has a great blog post on the eight stages in the life cycle of a writer. This is a read and share post. Every writer will relate to the life cycle… and then we do it all again.

 

It’s the last week of April and that means a third of the year has gone. If you are still trying to make sense of this year and marketing books, take a look at Bookbub’s comprehensive list of ways to market in 2021.

 

A lot of the time I have, hopefully, inspiring blogs and links for you to think about to help you in your writing. Today I came across the anti-post. What writing advice do you love to hate?

 

In the Craft Section,

The importance of subplots- Scott Myers- Bookmark

How Can I have a Jerk Love interest- Mythcrants

Writing an audio first novel- Sophie Masson

Archetypes – The Negative King- K M Weiland – Bookmark

10 ways to write better plots- Now Novel- Bookmark

Debunking 6 myths on Steadfast flat characters- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to create a YouTube channel- Hootsuite- Bookmark

30 days of Social Media content Infographic- Barb Drozdowich

Instagram Book marketing ideas- Bookbub- Bookmark

How to write a book title- Written Word Media-

Author Branding- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Nalini Singh is a publishing superstar who writes in the paranormal genre. Recently, she was interviewed by Mitzi Rapkin from First Draft Podcast. Nalini talks about the unnecessary divide between Literary and Genre fiction.

Literary Fiction is just another genre, in my opinion. 

What do you say?

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

My monthly newsletter full of the best of my bookmarked links will be going out soon. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a blog birthday coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Kimba Howard 141119

 

Between The Covers

 

This week in the publishing world,

Simon and Schuster are back in the news again- for all the wrong reasons. In a case of not knowing what their left hand is doing- their distribution arm picked up a controversial book – this week of all weeks. This also begs the question, What was the publisher thinking when offering a book deal to someone involved in a heinous crime that hasn’t gone to court? Is it news? Is it privilege? Is it balanced? It’s not justice for the victim!

 

While everyone is talking about Amazon moving into serial publishing… Wattpad, the first serial publisher is heading to the movies. Publish the story – find the best – make a movie.

Is this what Amazon wants to copy with Vella? Crowdsourcing movie ideas?

 

This week, Mark Williams commented on Mike Shatzkin’s article about half the NY Times list being Print on Demand Books. Have the publishers turned a corner because of Covid 19?

 

Jane Friedman has two excellent posts on her blog. Everything you want to know about Hybrid publishing, a comprehensive rundown of this style of publisher. And how the pandemic has affected book publishing. Will 2021 be better? 

 

Kris Rusch celebrates 12 years of her business musings blog this week. She started it to make sense of the publishing world and we have all benefitted from it. She is an inspiration, mentor, and teacher to so many people in the business.

 

Kevin Tumlinson of Draft2Digital has an interesting blog post today on imposter syndrome. How do you know you are a real author? What are your benchmarks for this? Kevin offers some ways to think about what you are really asking yourself. 

 

Have you got a writing routine? Kristen Kieffer has an interesting post on the strong foundations you need to build a good writing routine. First, start with self-trust. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How David Lynch writes a script- take 70 cards.- Scott Myers

How to nail the first 3 pages- Lisa Cron- Bookmark

Writing prompt ideas- Now Novel

Write a story backward for climactic results- Save The Cat- Bookmark

Naming fictional characters- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

The negative Queen archetype- K M Weiland - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Do you need to copyright your manuscript- Anne R Allen

Book promotion ideas for May- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Marketing a children’s book- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

DIY graphics and fonts Pam Hillman- Bookmark

How to make an editorial calendar- templates- Norm Brekke- Bookmark

Should you start a podcast? Liz Barret Foster

 

To Finish

This writing game can take a lot out of you. Recently I had the day to myself. Right, I thought, I’ll get some writing done. That little comment to myself seemed to sabotage the whole process. I had an attack of the Writer Shiny Object Syndrome.

In the end I listened to MY music up loud and folded washing. Wonderfully energizing and I got some good ideas out of it too!

Scott Myers has a great article on writing and playlists for creative inspiration.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter full of the best of my bookmarked links. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a blog birthday coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: The assassins cabinet inside a hollowed book 1682- Article by Open Culture

 

Another Year – Another Publishing Model

 

 

In Publishing News this week… It is all about Vella. 

Amazon has developed a new publishing arm to publish serials- Amazon Vella.

But why, and how will it work? has been all the gossip in the last 48 hours since the news dropped.

Mark Williams takes a look at why Amazon might have jumped and jumped quickly as they seem to be making this up on the fly. 

Meanwhile, commentators are examining Amazon’s announcements and trying to pull together how it will work. Exclusive- America first. 50% revenue of ‘tokens’ to writers. Subscription model, sort of. Only new work allowed.

Time will tell whether it will take off. It could go the way of Worlds and Singles… but you never know. It could be the next big thing.

 

The subscription model of acquiring entertainment is becoming the norm. Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors and Joanna Penn have a monthly salon where they talk about big picture stuff in publishing. Recently they looked at Subscription models and how publishing might change because of it.

 

In Book Fair news – BookExpo is no more and in its place will be a digital fair called The U.S. Book Show. Publishing Perspectives has a look at what’s on offer. 

Just announced- London Book Fair will be digital this year. After last year’s debacle of will-it- go-ahead-or-won’t-it. They may have learned some lessons.

 

Kristine Rusch has Part 4 of her interesting Hollywood and The Writer series and this one is all about money- You would think that money would be the most important thing in the contract but Kris says No. There is more at stake than that. (N.B. Hollywood is a catch-all term for all film and TV work, regardless of country. They all operate in much the same way.) 

 

Randy Ingermanson (AKA – The Snowflake Guy) has an interesting article on action plans. He has developed templates for action plans for writing, for book projects, and other tricky tools for writers. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to cut the cost of a professional editor- Jim Dempsey- Bookmark

How to build tension successfully- Angela Ackerman

The basic scene checklist- K M Allen- Bookmark

When you talk about your Work In Progress- Robert Brewer

3 ways to increase reader belief- Roz Morris- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Know what you want to say and how to say it – Sandra Beckwith

Marketing questions – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

A beginners guide to Author Branding and 11 Book Marketing myths- Penny Sansevieri- 

Bookmark

Creating an author newsletter- Kirsten Oliphant- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Today is the Blog Birthday! 13 years of weekly posts. 

It has morphed a bit from the beginning. I started the blog to learn about publishing and I must say I have had an education over the last 13 years. Publishing has changed significantly in that time. Publishing Houses have contracted. Gone Digital. Print On Demand. Kindle. Kobo. Subscription. Wattpad. Audio. Serial. 

There have been scandals, lawsuits, scammers, #publishingpaidme and dodgy deals done. But still, authors hang in there, sometimes by our fingernails. 

Around this time of the year, I start thinking about the next financial year- tax time etc. Writer Mag has a collection of products for writers to stay organized and The Plot Whisperer, Martha Aalderson, has a post on creating a universal story planner. 

 

Onto Year 14… I might finally get organized.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Andreas Cappell

 

The Scammers Wonderland

 

 

This week in publishing,

 

Scammers… Just when you think they couldn’t stoop lower – you find that they can.

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware is wondering if the scammers have just made a monumental mistake. They are using the names of Big 5 publishing houses, along with editors and agents in some big publishing scams. Will big publishing finally wake up and do. something? Reputations are on the line.

 

Rumbling along in the background is the class action being taken against Amazon for price fixing. This week there was a splash of publicity when an Indie bookstore came out to join the class action. Sounds like the movie You’ve Got Mail- said one commentator. Except I don’t think there will be a happy romantic ending here.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on a call from UK translators to use racial equality in literary translation. If the book is written in its first language by a particular gender /race writer then it should be translated by a matching translator, shouldn’t it?

 

The New Publishing Standard reports on Big Bad Wolf’s latest mega sale, online at the same time as in person… (How many English remaindered copies can one mega company sell? Millions.)

 

Kris Rusch continues her interesting series on Hollywood and the pitfalls for writers- She examines the story of The Luminaries and how the screenplay was a nightmare of rewrites for Eleanor Catton.

 

Anne R Allen has an interesting post on The Fashion Of Writing. What is in and what is out and how fashions in writing change. ‘For instance, once you could sprinkle adverbs willy nilly in dialogue tags,’ she said happily, channeling her inner 1920’s diva.

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with a story dialogue coach this week. How do you stop your characters from sounding all the same? Check out her interview with Jeff Elkins. 

 

In The Craft Section

2 Great posts on motivation for writers.-How to find the motivation to write- Now Novel

And 5 creative ways to get writing – C S Lakin- Bookmark Both.

The roles of secondary characters- Writers in the Storm-Bookmark

Choose the right story setting- Becca Puglisi

How to avoid weasel words when you write- Kristen Hogrefe Parnell- Bookmark

5 guidelines for writing helpful critiques- Maggie Smith

 

In The Marketing Section,

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri

Book Marketing plan for audio and How to sell books by strategically engaging readers- Bookmark

Email Newsletters and why they are not going away- Catherine Baab Muguira

5 steps to finding a books ideal audience- Angela Ackerman

How to prep for your Book Launch- Heather Weidner

Do Bookbub deals work for permafree? - Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark

Selling Direct - Joanna Penn -Bookmark

 

To Finish,

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to the books that had entered the public domain. These are books whose copyright has expired. (Generally, after 70 years.)

I came across a list of children’s books today in this category. They are all classics and always seem to be reprinted every few years. (cash cow) However, if you want to mash up Alice In Wonderland with some hot modern genre- now could be the time. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic. The Famous Tea Party- John Tenniel

And Another One Is Gone

In publishing news this week.

Another one bites the dust and another one’s gone – you know the rest. Yes. Publishing houses buying up publishing houses. Harper Collins, smarting after missing out on buying Simon and Schuster, have bought Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. They smacked cash down to buy the backlist- however, the frontlist looks good too. When you read the news report it is clear that backlist is important. Publishers asking for all rights must see the potential money to be made. This is where last week’s blog post from Kristine Rusch is important reading and then you can follow that up with part two published today from Kristine on why Hollywood is bypassing their own writers and rushing to woo book agents for books to turn into films.

 

This time last year there were rumblings of disquiet as the pandemic began to bite into those big events that mark the publishing industry. Would the London Book Fair go ahead and then all the others… This year the same uncertainty is happening. LBF isn’t making a definite answer, yet again. Others are delaying or deferring.

 

Meanwhile, some interesting stats on the 2020 publishing year have been issued. Mark Williams casts his weather eye over the news from the UK that they had a record publishing year despite bookstores closing. That seems odd. Where did they make their money?

 

The New Publishing Standard looks at the publishing industry right around the globe. The English-speaking world tends to look at just the U.S and UK markets but the bulk of the English speakers are outside of these two countries. That’s why it was interesting to see Mark Williams talking about China Literature wanting to grow their North American writers to 100,000. The numbers are mind-boggling. Read the article for the first inklings of how the publishing world will be changing in the future.

 

Anne R Allen and Ruth Harris have a fantastic blog. They have a wealth of great articles to trawl through and always have a weighty nugget to get you thinking. This week Ruth looked at the Look Inside- the make or break of a sale. It is timely to ponder how this important feature is overlooked.

 

Jacqui Murray has an interesting article on writing collaboratively. I did this years ago and it was heaps of fun. (but also hard work.) I know a few writers who are writing stories in a linked up world and they are having loads of fun together. Now take a story where everyone writes a different chapter. This is taking it to the next level.

 

Every now and then I dream about the perfect writing office. The amazing writing desk that I will write epics on. Open Culture recently had a great article on Writing Desks. These stunningly beautiful desks made for royalty are swoon-worthy for writers.

 

Jenny Hansen from Writers in the Storm has written a beautiful article on The Simple Writing Resolution That Changed My Writing Career. This is one of those articles that hit you in the feels and will resonate throughout your writing life. A must-read!

 

In The Craft Section,

Tips for dividing your story into chapters- 10 minute novelists- Bookmark

How writing improves your relationship with yourself-K M Weiland- Bookmark

Getting the motivation to write- Now Novel

Writing exercises- Reedsy

Handling perfectionism- Elizabeth S Craig- Bookmark 

 

In The Marketing Section,

13 book marketing ideas to consider before publishing- Penny Sansevieri

Narrating your own audiobook- Patty Jansen- Bookmark

5 little changes that make a big difference- Frances Caballo 

What to do when a writer is weary of social media-Edie Melson- Bookmark

Engage readers with your emails- Heather Gardner- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It had to happen sometime. We needed to be able to let go. But it was hard to read that Beverly Cleary died this week aged 104. When I read the news, I had to stop and say thanks for the fantastic stories and the inspiration to write. 

When Beverly was a librarian she was challenged by a young boy who asked her where were the stories about kids like him- ordinary kids. And Henry Huggins began to take shape in her incredible mind. There have been many heartfelt reactions to Beverly’s characters but this one about the value and the challenge of Ramona Quimby is the best one I’ve seen this week. 

R.I.P. Beverly Cleary - forever 8 yrs young.

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full of marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.