In Publishing News,
While various publishing houses are trying to open up their offices, Sourcebooks, one of the big independent publishers has rethought the way their staff will be working. Publishing Perspectives reports that Sourcebooks are asking their staff to decide if they want to come in or work from home in the future. (Allowing staff to live in 7 states if they want to.)
The Stats are in for the US publishers for the first half of the year. Sales are up. The lions share going to hardbacks…. This should make the publishers happy as there is a race to bring out the political analysis books over the final year of the Trump presidency with some eye-watering sums being thrown around for advance money. The publishers have to get it back somehow and hardbacks have the biggest profit margin.
Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard keeps one eye on the global publishing market. He lives in Africa, so has a ringside seat to the biggest internet-connected nation in the world. Nigeria. They are about to have their international bookfair – a mix of in-person and digital events celebrating women. Nigeria publishers are looking to go digital.
Meanwhile, Overdrive, the world’s biggest digital library has just completed the acquisition of Kanopy, a video streaming service for public and academic libraries. Entertainment and knowledge all in one big digital package for libraries.
Authors, with all the digital consolidation, keep an eye on your contract language. It might be time to revisit this excellent post by Dean Wesley Smith on The Magic Bakery. (AKA what rights are you selling.)
In our own corner of the world, the talk was all about New Zealand’s National Library playing recklessly with pirates.
Agent Kristin Nelson wrote this week about a topic that no one really talks about- When the author dream is no longer a dream.
Bookfunnel is often cited as an indispensable tool for Indie publishers. It enables fast delivery of eBooks and storefront advantages for authors. They have added a few new features that make them even more spiffy.
Kris Rusch this week takes a look at the ongoing black swan event that is the pandemic. She makes a forceful argument that business is will be an ongoing car crash due to the many people who refuse to be vaccinated. One point she brings up- kids younger than 12 will not be vaccinated. The sneaky virus is constantly mutating. Do you want to save kids?
Writing craft expert, Jerry Jenkins has an excellent article on the unreliable narrator. If you are tempted to have one of these, you have to find a way to make them consistently believable.
In The Craft Section,
The key to character introductions- Scott Myers - Bookmark
Relationship thesaurus: Forced marriage- Becca Puglisi
How do you know your story is finished- Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark
How to write plays children will love- Christina Hamlett
Four ways to create inter-character conflict- Angie Hodapp- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
10 tips for working with an independent editor- Valerie Brooks- Bookmark
Unconventional book launch ideas- Ricardo Fayet
6 ways friends can help promote your book- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
Bookbub ads- Bookbub
5 simple marketing strategies for your series- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
To Finish,
I’ve been having an up and down couple of weeks. Some of it is school holidays and some of it is an intractable computer problem. Judith Briles has an interesting article this week on being an author procrastinator. I’m trying not to tick the boxes.
On the other hand, Sue Coletta has an interesting take on multi-tasking. Apparently, it can be bad for our brains. So time to focus on …
Maureen
@craicer
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Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Trish Hartmann- Venice bakery
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