Reading The Future

 

 

This week in publishing news,

 

The outgoing UK Children’s Laureate, Cressida Cowell called for the government to fund school libraries. The Guardian reported that Cressida's experiment where 6 primary schools received a curated collection and dedicated training to school librarians and teachers has been a huge success, now it needs to be replicated. Speaking as a teacher, the last thing you should do is get rid of the library…and it’s always the first to go when you need an extra classroom. If you want engaged, reading-for-life, children - fund the school library!

 

Publishers Weekly examined a law that has just passed in New York State – Freelance doesn’t mean Free. The onus is on the contractor to pay up in 30 days or the freelancer can double the bill. I know so many freelancers that would greet this kind of law with cheers.

 

Wordsrated released an examination of the length of best sellers in the last year. Results… the books are getting shorter. Is this because paper and ink cost more? Attention spans… reading is not trendy? Dive in for the number breakdowns.

 

Writer Beware examines a bad contract from one of the top serial writing companies. This is a must read.  Everyone in publishing needs to be aware of contract speak for taking everything and leaving you no rights at all. However, there is a sneaky way around this contract if you want to write serial fiction.

 

WhiteFox Publishing celebrated their 10^th anniversary by canvassing opinions from publishing people about how they see publishing changing in the next 10 years. Some interesting ideas were mentioned that writers should be aware of.

 

The Readmagine conference on publishing futures wrapped up in Madrid. Publishing Perspectives interviewed Luis Gonzales on the biggest challenge for the publishing industry that he sees going forward- Renewing the narrative that publishing is good for society.

 

Every week I get unsolicited offers from marketers wanting me to feature their content on my blog. Rarely do they have anything to do with publishing or writing and so I immediately junk them. This week I received a tip from Timothy Moonlight who wrote a comparison article on audiobook royalties and how he is having success with a new distributor Soundwise. Why can’t content marketers be like Tim and send relevant information that fits this blog.

 

Last week I mentioned that Kris Rusch had attended the Licensing Expo. In my inbox popped an email from Darcy Pattison on her experiences at the expo where she took her children’s books. It is a fascinating read.

 

John Wilker has written an interesting article on how he wishes Indie bookshops would support Indie authors. He makes some good points. Marketing your books is always going to be challenging and we must celebrate the Indie bookstores that walk alongside us.

 

Can you market books without social media? Penny Sansevieri has an article by Carol Michel who did just that. If you have been wondering about the value or time suck of social media for bookmarketing this is a fascinating read.

 

Beth Havey wrote an interesting article on the lure of stuffing your book full of literary symbolism. Are you tempted to throw everything and the kitchen sink in your book or do you go back once you have written it and find the symbolism naturally occurring?

 

In The Craft Section,

The Fear Thesaurus – Being watched-Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

6 ways to find the best ideas before writing- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Writing un-putdownable characters- A C Williams

Tension and micro tension to keep your readers hooked – Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

The ultimate guide to writing for audio- Jules Horne- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

July social media dates for book marketing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Write emails that sell books- Nick Stephenson- Bookmark

How to write an author bio- Beth Barany

Street teams- Angela Ackerman

Another take on book trailers- Terry Odell- Bookmark

Book promo in July – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

This week Kris Rusch returned to her current series of articles about why writers fail. This week she looked at the problem of aging. How often has a writer started a great series, realized it was going to be a life’s work, and given up halfway through or died on the job? Should we be holding back? Is the fear of big projects causing us to fail before we start? 

Can we future-proof our writing?

 

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 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Ameer Basheer on Unsplash

Bookshops and Booksales

 

This week Audible finally let creators know the changes they have decided on to address the concerns of Audiblegate. (Audible’s practice of promoting read and return audiobooks with no compensation to creators last year.) They are promising to create a new dashboard for authors to see which books have been returned and they are changing their terms of exclusivity. Publishing Perspectives asked Author groups what they thought. Not good enough was the answer. This is where the value of belonging to a strong writer’s union comes into play.

 

The Guardian recently published an article entitled Bookshops defy pandemic to record highest sales in eight years. After they published this they had to go and change the title to accurately reflect the article which was on Book Sales. Yes, bookshops were selling books but a lot of the print book sales were happening online. However, as the Society of Authors points out that’s cold comfort to a lot of writers who relied on appearances to pay the bills.

 

Publishing Perspectives interviewed the CEO of Wattpad on their merger with Korean digital publisher Naver. If you have been keeping an eye on Wattpad and how they have grown from a fanfic forum to a movie and television production powerhouse, their merger with Naver, who operates a similar model in Asia, is a good thing. The numbers are interesting. Together they will almost be as big as Netflix.

 

Big Five publishers are back in court for price fixing. Again. They are named as co- conspirators with Amazon. Publishing Perspectives looks at the case and whether it will hurt Amazon at all.

 

Kris Rusch writes this week about the rise of e-reading due to Covid-19 lockdowns and how Bertelsmann danced with the numbers trying to prove that there was a huge number of Indie publishers, so that they wouldn’t be slapped by regulators for controlling too much of the market by buying Simon and Schuster. As it is, they may have over 50% of the Trad publishers market.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an interesting blog post on whether having your book in book shops is worth it for Indie Authors. With Trad Publishers used to getting books published in China for little cost they can use the sale or return option as a carrot for bookshops to stock their books. Indies using POD have higher costs per book which impacts on discounts to bookstores. This article breaks down the numbers and the cost benefit for Indies to use bookstores.

 

Anne R Allen has a great guest post from Joseph Perry, a literary attorney, on important clauses to take note of in a publishing contract. One thing to remember, Joseph says, is that the publishing contract is always written in favour of the publisher.

 

How often do you stare at your just completed hot mess of a manuscript and wonder how to tackle the revision aspect. Jean Grant has an interesting blog post where she breaks down the way she revises. Having a checklist of things to look out for is a good starting point.

 

In The Craft Section,

5 mistakes writers make with relationships- Bang2Write

Understanding third person omniscient POV- Tiffany Martin

Using Twin Relationships in Writing- Becca Puglisi

5 point plan on how to kill a character- WritersWrite- Bookmark

Good Storytelling- Internal and external stakes- Karen Woodward- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Heart centered Book Marketing- Beth Barany- Bookmark

Amazon Keywords 101- Penny Sansevieri

February Content ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to get publicity for your book- Kaelyn Barron- Bookmark

What’s the deal with Amazon verified reviews- Sandra Beckwith

How to use Book Awards for publicity- Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish,

Are you aware of time racing differently due to how engaged you are with a book? Have you struggled with narrative time? What about reader time? How does the reader experience the forward motion of your story? Writer Unboxed has a great article on Character Time and Reader Time and how you can make the most use of time in your manuscript.

 

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 Tannery Bookshop- Christchurch

 

To Market, To Market...

As we tentatively move onto the streets and look around at what is now our new normal life, there have been a few articles trying to make sense of the statistics of bookselling in a coronavirus era. 

Everybody is busy trying to reassure themselves and others that bookselling remains viable. If you factor in the printers, sales reps, warehouse and supply chain along with book designers, editors, illustrators, cover designers, formatters, not to mention the poor old author in this list, you can see a lot is riding on maintaining or shoring up the publishing industry.

So, what are the trends coming out of lockdown?

The Guardian reported a rise in people reading. (Thank all deities) And the popular genres of crime and thrillers were to the fore. With kids stuck at home children’s books also had a nice uptick.

Publishing Perspectives report that French Publishers Association surveyed its members to ascertain how bad the hit was to their members. More than a quarter are looking at heavy losses but there was some encouraging signs in the changes in reader habits.

Jennifer Kovitiz has written two big articles on what independent presses can do to survive. Part One. These are comprehensive reports so set some time aside to read them and take them in. Part Two.

Nate Hoffelder reports that Kobo Plus may be making some moves. They have been trialing their subscription model for a few years in Europe. With the rise and rise of subscription models for consuming entertainment… Keep an eye on your Kobo dashboard and inbox.

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have a new Writing Thesaurus to add to their popular series. It’s the Occupation Thesaurus- Coming very soon… Angela also has a great article on giving yourself a creative kick in the pants.

If you need to get stuck into upskilling writer learning as a way of shaking you out of lockdown blues, here is a comprehensive list of FREE writing courses from around the world. There is something for everyone in the collection of 98 online writing courses from Couponchief. 

I get sidetracked on Font sites… yes, I admit it. I’m fascinated by the subtle way a font can change the emotional message.  

Rafal Reyzer has a guest post on The Book Designer on how your font choice, when writing, can change your writing mood.

Kristine Rusch has an interesting article on what’s happening to the film and television industry. How does it impact authors you wonder. What happens to all those options and contracts when something big like a pandemic hits? What about the writers stuck in the middle?

Anne R Allen has a great article on what to do when you realise that your novel has far too many characters. Do you really need to provide a backstory for everyone? Can you get away with not naming someone? Check out her great tips.

In The Craft Section,

7 possible hooks for your opening chapter- K M Weiland - Bookmark

How can we identify our story’s point of view- Jami Gold- Bookmark

What is an epilogue?- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark

How to write dystopian fiction- Now Novel- comprehensive!

How plotlines add dimension- September Faulkes- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

10 most common marketing mistakes- IBPA

Five marketing skills you have already- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

3 social media mistakes authors make- Sandra Beckwith

Heart-centered book marketing and 4 steps to your author branding statement- Beth Barany- Bookmark

New Tool on the block.

If you publish wide check out WideWizard. A free tool that publishes your metadata to all your sites. Fill it in once and click a button.

To Finish,

Last week I mentioned David Gaughran (All round nice guy and champion of the little battling author) in the To Finish section and here I am linking to him again. He has been almost nonstop filling his YouTube channel this week with detailed looks at different marketing ideas. David is unleashed. If you are realizing that authors must market their books check out his channel and get hypnotized by his epic lockdown beard and his wealth of information on book marketing.

Maureen

@craicer

My monthly newsletter goes out this weekend. If you want the best of my bookmarked links go on and subscribe. You will 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 virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Martin Hearn