Is It A Lemon?

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The unleashing of the AI monsters have many in publishing concerned. Two stories caught my eye and left me feeling faintly sick. It was predicted but seeing these things blatantly promoted is confronting. 

A publishing startup/ tech company has decided to disrupt publishing (why?) by using AI to help edit, polish, and sell books. Spines reckon they could publish 8000 books a year with this model. If you give them $5000 you will get their personal attention. 

If you have $5000 – pay for a decent editor and cover and do it yourself.

Following on from this was the wonderful idea of taking out of print classics and getting AI to write new forwards and repackage them for sale. Slate has an in depth article exposing one Get Rich Quick scheme to teach you how to do this. This is problematic if you don’t check where the AI is scraping its content from. You could be breaching all sorts of copyright with university presses or believing the outright lies that AI likes to spin. (N.B. AI is not a super intelligent version of an encyclopedia which has been vetted for veracity.) 

Get Rich Quick publishing schemes have been around forever and using AI is just the latest twist of lemon in the publishing cocktail. Often these schemes are a front for a scam or are morally dubious. 

If you care about producing quality work with your name on it, stay away from them.

 

In audio publishing news, Spotify announced a deal with Bloomsbury. It looks like Spotify are approaching traditional publishers and gobbling up direct deals. Amazon has quickly moved to offer more audio choice. Spotify want to be all things audible… can Amazon compete with this? Mark Williams takes a look at the seismic shift happening with Spotify.

 

The New York University’s Advanced Publishing Institute 5 day conference is open for registration. If you have a spare $5000 you can attend in January. Publishing Perspectives has a quick overview of one of the talks that will be given by Penguin Random House on Shifting Consumer Tastes in Social Media. They hope to give tangible advice on this and other thorny problems to the attendees. For that amount of money it will have to be gold plated!

 

Publishers Weekly is releasing some of the talks from Frankfurt. This interesting article caught my eye by Ed Nawotka on the explosion of AI startups dedicated to the publishing industry.

 

If you follow Taylor Swift you might have heard that she has a book coming out based around her Era’s tour. If you are in publishing you might be surprised that she has not partnered with any publisher. She has the money and the clout and the fan base to be successful without a publisher backing her. However, not all celebrity books do well. The Atlantic looks at how she might upend the model and will there be room for a traditional publishing partnership down the trail.

 

The biggest author publishing conference happened in Las Vegas this month. Written Word Media put together a takeaways article about the trends and issues that were discussed at Vegas. Collaboration is King. 

Derek Murphy ( Creativ Indie) shares his slide show presentation and talks about Authentic Creativity As A Response To Artificial Intelligence.

Back in the day when Twitter was young and had no inkling of what a new owner might do, the publishing world flocked to the social media site. Then things changed. Publishing industry folks left for other pastures and it became harder to get back the tribe you used to have. Bluesky has spent the last week adding almost a million users a day and the publishing industry people started to flock together. Rachel Thompson takes a look at whether Bluesky will work for writers. 

 

Darcy Pattison has put together an excellent article on how to take a rights released book from Traditional Publishing and give it a whole new lease of life. Those books that didn’t get their series finished or didn’t find their audience don’t have to be consigned to the dustbin.

If you are struggling with NaNoWriMo this month you are not alone. Elinor Florence writes on Jane Friedman’s blog about how she got through the train wreck of her own NaNoWriMo project.  

In The Craft Section,

Going deeper with characterization- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

Balancing your cast of characters- September Fawkes

Don’t tie your story up in a neat bow- P J Parrish- Bookmark

How to write great dialogue- C S Lakin- Bookmark

What is your characters wounding event- Sue Coletta

 

In the Marketing Section,

Is your target readership meaningful to agents and publishers- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

5 essential steps to maximise your books success-Written Word Media- Bookmark

Social Media engagement- a how to from Hootsuite- Comprehensive

What to do when book sales start slipping- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

Turbocharging book sales with preorders- Mark Coker

 

To Finish

It’s Black Friday this week and there are deals galore for writers out there. You can check out Dave Chesson’s huge list of deals. 

If you are thinking about  Christmas/ Holiday gifts check out Sandra Beckwith’s big list of goodies designed for writers.

Infostack have their big bundle of writer resources on sale again.

Yes, It’s that time of the year already. The Credit Card Crunch!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash

Looking for Rainbows!

 

In Publishing News this week,

Microsoft launched a non-fiction publishing arm publishing original research, ideas and insights from the intersection of science, technology, and business. Publisher’s Weekly reports on this venture that looks like a mashup of a research journal and a vanity imprint.

 

Sharjah International Book Fair clocks up nearly 2 million visitors. Publishing Perspectives looks at the huge impact of the fair.

Bologna is starting to ramp up its planning and guests five months out from the big children’s book fair scheduled for the end of March. With the roaring success of the Chinese Children’s Book Fair will they be implementing any new ideas?

 

There is a lot of comment around the news of the HarperCollins AI deal that has publishers and writers talking. Publishers Weekly looks in depth at the implications for agents and writers. Under the terms HC want to split 50/50 the pot of cash for allowing AI to scrape the book. Everybody has an opinion. Authors Guild has come out with their recommendation. Don’t take the money. Publishers have a different view, it looks so sweet and backlists are just sitting there.

 

Joanna Penn commented on her podcast that in the space of a year the mood of authors has changed around using AI tools. She is just back from Author Nation – the rebranded 20books Vegas conference (also known as the biggest writers conference in the world.) AI can offer shortcuts and great tools to help with mundane tasks but it shouldn’t be used to create the content. 

Josh Bernoff writes about how his developmental editing business is being impacted by AI writing. It’s harder to edit AI generated content because it is inconsistent, repetitive, and a grammar mess. AI shouldn’t replace your own writing voice.

 

Meanwhile, after the election, the publishing industry is trying to make plans or sense of what might be coming down the track in the brave new world after January. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard details the lawsuits that face publishing from the president elect already and how this might be a sign of things to come. It looks like a lucrative time to be a lawyer.

Kathleen Schmidt from Publishing Confidential points out where publishing can learn from the election.

 

Jennie Liu writes about the authors note… that’s the page in your novel where you write about your influences. Readers love them… authors struggle.

 

Michelle Baker has a post on the five fears of writers and how to defeat them. (Don’t reach for the alcohol just yet.)

James Scott Bell reassures a young writer that writing can be good again in his excellent piece on writing past discouragement. 

Ellen Buikema has a great post on Writers In The Storm about Writing Anxiety and how to overcome it. 

Look after your mental health- give yourself healthy writing challenges, check in with your writing friends. Remember, you write so your readers can escape from stressful lives. You are vital to each other and the general population. Be the rainbow after the storm!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to trust yourself as a writer- K M Weiland- Bookmark

What are the stakes- how to find out- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Nailing teen dialogue in YA Fiction- Kris Maze

Humorous scenes  – Dale Smith- Bookmark

Balancing showing with telling- C S Lakin

 

In the Marketing Section,

18 book marketing tips from the trenches- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Harnessing the power of AI for author branding- Kimberley Grabas- Bookmark

Identify your most successful marketing paths- Emily Enger- Bookmark

Colleen Story on Selling at Craft Fairs- YouTube video

The best concepts of Write to Market-Karen Whiting

 

To Finish

Look Rainbows!

 

It’s Black Friday sales time so here are some writer focused deals. Some of these are time sensitive so don’t wait around. 

 

The Dream Team – Angela And Becca have a roundup of some great writer deals for software and craft books.

 

Don’t forget Storybundle still has their collection of writing craft books up until the end of November if you are looking for good cheap craft books. 

 

Katie Weiland has 25% off all her courses and books. (I snapped up her new revised expanded edition on structure. I loved her first edition!)

 

David Gaughran has links to the EXCELLENT AppSumo deal from Deposit Photos. This is a total no brainer if you do your own book covers or ad images. $49 lifetime deal on 100 stock photos or videos- limited time! Dave also has a video showing how to use two stock images to generate a whole ad campaign. 

 

Amid the depressing news there are little gems to make you smile. And these deals might just help with that.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Agustin Gunawan on Unsplash

Is Anyone Thinking Of The Children?

 

In Publishing News this week.

Long time readers of the blog will remember that I used to feature the writings of publishing commentator Mike Shatzkin in the first 12 years of the blog. Mike retired but occasionally would pop back to make a interesting observation on current changes in publishing. He had been around publishing in one way or another his entire life. His recent death has been marked by many across the industry. Publishing Perspectives has a great obituary of his life and times. R.I.P. Mike.

 

The UK Guardian has an article on yet another celebrity who has written a children’s book. Children’s Authors Frustrated By Rise Of Celebrity Penned Titles. Speaking as a children’s writer, yes, it is frustrating. What more do they need for validation? A children’s book. – it’s easy to write and you have a built-in marketing factor for the publishing company. Right. Publishers taking a punt on a celebrity is a no brainer. The bare minimum of editing and all the TV shows will book them so that’s the publicity sorted. Pity about the reading quality and the longevity, but there will be another celebrity author next year. 

 

If you look at the latest surveys like The Guardian last week, they report that children are reading less than ever. This has sent shivers down the spines of writers and publishers. After all, if we can’t get kids reading for pleasure when they grow up they won’t be reading adult books either. The last writer who had a huge impact on children’s reading was J K Rowling whose series positively impacted a generation. Since those heady days of 1997 when the first book was published quietly until 2000 when the juggernaut took off every publisher has dreamed of finding the next big children’s book. 

 

The Hollywood Reporter has an article on TV shows using AI to script children’s television that resulted in a hot mess of awfulness. However, the AI tools that are developing are finding favour with the creators.

 

The big children’s fairs of Bologna and Shanghai are collaborating, sharing ideas and resources in this weeks Shanghai Children’s Book Fair. Publishing Perspectives writes about their partnerships.

 

Elsewhere in the UK the GLL foundation which funds writers has created 20 children’s author bursaries for residencies in libraries across the UK. The programme aims to help writers develop their business as well. This is a fantastic initiative.

 

Publishers Weekly writes about initiatives to rebuild libraries in conflict zones. 

 

With the rise of Print on Demand publishing, Princeton University Press has opened up an office in China offering their backlist in English. A canny financial move that is paying off. 

Meanwhile, Hachette is bleeding employees who are disgusted with their new imprint Basic Liberty which is following a conservative publishing agenda. It looks like Hachette launched the whole enterprise in a hurry to take advantage of election outcomes. 

 

Two great writing craft articles caught my eye this week. Antagonist vs Villain- what’s the difference by Katie Weiland which is a must read. Sue Coletta writes an in depth article- Does your story have a full circle moment? Cue slot machine sounds as your brain makes connections. 

 

In the Craft Section,

4 things that make your writing boring- Suzy Vadori- Bookmark

Balancing your cast of characters- September Fawkes – Bookmark

Don’t make this conflict tension mistake- Janice Hardy - Bookmark

5 common reasons your hero is too powerful- Oren Ashkenazi

Four dialogue tips- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

How to create a newsletter

Ultimate guide to festival success-  J Alexander Greenwood-Bookmark

9 key reasons your book is not selling- Laurence O’Bryan

2 excellent posts from Sandra Beckwith- Finding Beta Readers and Boost your author brand- 31 tips- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Recently, social media sites have been churning with change. People are ditching their accounts and setting up new ones on different sites. The publishing world is no exception. In the beginning Twitter was the publishing industry water cooler meetup place for everybody. If you are trying to find the social media literary community Bluesky has had an influx of publishing industry people. It feels a lot like Twitter in the good old days.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Allen Taylor on Unsplash

Looking For A Hero

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The regular news has been dominated by the Election in the United States of America. The world is going to change. Publishers are already looking at how the election result will impact their business.

If you publish books in/for the LGBTQ+ community, you may have a harder time in the business according to James Folta writing for LitHub. Authors against Book Bans took the time to read the Project 2025 book outlining a conservative agenda for the USA  (all 900 pages) but very early on they were confronted with some disturbing statements that will wreak havoc on the publishing community.

 

Libraries are also looking at the challenges they will face as the result of the election. With conservative states promoting Book Banning some libraries are thinking of adopting Idaho’s model of banning children from libraries so they can’t be prosecuted if the child sees a book that would be problematic e.g. Anne Frank’s Diary or How To Be An Antiracist.

 

Elsewhere in the world of publishing, Sharjah International Bookfair and the Publishers Conference was making news. The Bookfair starts today with over 2500 publishers from 112 countries. This Bookfair is going from strength to strength. Mark Williams offers an interesting view on the importance of the Sharjah Bookfair and how quickly it is becoming a fixture in publishers diaries.

With a dedicated free trade area for anything book related it’s no wonder that big printers are seeing the benefits of setting up shop there. John Ingram of IngramSpark and Lightening Source was interviewed about the benefits to the Print on Demand community. 

 

Publishers are embracing AI after condemning it. Translators are eyeing Simon and Schuster sideways as they committed to using AI for translating into English books published in other languages. First up Dutch through the Dutch publishing house that S&S acquired this year.

 

It's November and usually writers would have been settling in for NaNoWriMo. But news has been scarce of late due to changes in the structure of the nonprofit organization. If you have decided to turn off the news and just hunker down to write you can still join in with NaNoWriMo – maybe aim for 40,000 words instead.

 

If you are looking for a news escape and want to dive into some craft reading, Kevin Anderson has curated the annual November Storybundle of writing craft books. The Storybundle offers great craft books for cheap, money going directly to authors and a charity. Wins all around. This year there is even a year’s subscription to The Indie Author magazine.

 

Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur has a swag of free tools for writers, he has just launched a little app that can keep an eye on all your reviews. Check out what Writerwatch can do for you.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an excellent post on special editions. This goes into detail about crowdfunding the edition, print runs, how to get special detailing all sorts of nuts and bolts information. If you have a special project that you want as a limited edition this is the article you need to read. 

 

Katie Weiland has a great article on the most important characters in your novel. She identifies three that you must have for your structure to work. The protagonist, the antagonist, and the relationship character. This is a super post on writing craft.

 

James Scott Bell has been looking at old movies for inspiration and he talks about the literal mirror moments in films that do the same things in a well written book.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to avoid author intrusion in the first person- Becca Puglisi-Bookmark

7 tips for finding perfect character names- Becca Puglisi

6 powerful techniques to escape tedious descriptions- Sandy Vaile- Bookmark

3 questions to ask about the protagonists goal- Susan DeFreitas- Bookmark

How to approach editing- Stephen Geez

 

In The Marketing Section,

The best time of the year to sell books- Rachel Thompson

Maximise Goodreads giveaways- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Getting Beta Readers- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Catalog sales campaigns, pros and cons- Authors Red Door- Bookmark

6 ways to boost author website visits – Rob Bignell

 

 

To Finish,

It can be tempting to wallow in the doom and gloom of an unexpected outcome. Although most people agree that wallowing can really hit your mental health. (Chuck Wendig -Terribleminds.) Many writers take their pain and rage and use it to fuel their writing. Others look objectively at how to promote the change they want to see in the world. 

Donald Mass on Writer Unboxed has a post asking if Heroes Are Obsolete. He suggests using your fiction to create the heroes you want to see in the world. 

I am reminded of the student protests in Asia where the hunger games salute became synonymous with defiance against a military regime. The power of a fictional character transcended language and culture to be a symbol for others. 

Writers have the power to change attitudes. It might be time to get your Big Damn Hero pants on.

 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Reynolds Those who know... Know.