Regular readers will notice that the roundup is a day late this week. It is Graduation time and we have been attending ceremonies and celebrating the achievements of a new graduate in the house.
In Publishing News this week
The first quarter stat shot from the AAP shows book sales were flat. If you get into the weeds of the stats, eBooks were up and everything else was down or just ticking along. Here in my city an independent bookseller said that after a flat first quarter they had hopes that book sales would be picking up. Of course I was helping their bottom line by buying books.
Meanwhile, Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard was reminding readers that the statshot doesn’t show all the sales of books. Amazon is still doing quite nicely as they are on target to get $1 billion in eBook revenue.
If you are a children’s writer you will be noticing the pleas for more midgrade books, and where are the midgrade books, and why don’t we have more breakout hits for children. The questions and end times statements are everywhere. Mark Williams was particularly incensed with an opinion piece stating it was phones that brought about the downfall of midgrade reading.
In happier news the Dream Team, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have launched their latest Emotion Thesaurus book, Emotion Amplifiers. This is a revised and expanded companion to the book that began their one million sales thesaurus journey.
James Scott Bell looks at the recent strike down of the Non Compete clause and how this clause will no longer be enforceable from September this year. The non compete clause started the practice of using pen names at different publishing houses. This could tie into book advances.
Does this mean the end of the advance too?
If you have been trying to get a handle on marketing, you will have come across the terms list builder promotions. List builders are for promoting the benefits of joining a newsletter list. One author found out the downside of list builder promotions and sounds a cautionary note on Jane Friedman’s blog.
Jaire Sims has a guest article on Anne R Allen’s blog on what she wished she had known about self publishing before she did it. First research your subject.
Sandra Beckwith has ten tips for writing an op-ed article or essay about your research, or non-fiction book.
Are you a writer that keeps your current work in progress close to your chest or do you share every step of the process? Julie Johnstone writes on Writer Unboxed about Sharing your work too early: The soft tissue principle.
The Craft Section,
2 great posts from Angela Ackerman -Throw rocks at your characters-and How symbolism adds depth to a story - Bookmark
Understanding tone- Reedsy Blog- Bookmark
Settings that crawl under the skin- Jaq Evans
Writers guide to romantasy- Alexa Nazzaro- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
Author education- a crucial investment- Penny Sansevieri
Creating an author press pack- K M Allen- Bookmark
Bookbub ads- Bookbub- Bookmark
Goodreads, the ultimate author playground – Corina Amos- Bookmark
Marketing with a blog- Karen Cioffi
To Finish
Dan Holloway reports that ChatGPT 4 has been folded into the free programme from Open AI and is available as an app. Many writers are using ChatGPT for help with writing tasks and research, now they have access to next level bells and whistles.
Bloomberg reports AI voiced books topping 40,000 on Audible averaging 4 stars. This technology is here to stay. Authors need to develop some ways of dealing with the opportunities and challenges of this rapidly advancing technology. The Alliance of Independent Authors has compiled a MUST READ list of practical steps for writers to consider how they interact with AI in their work.
Maureen
@craicer
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