In Publishing News this week.
The news dust is still swirling after Spotify’s purchase of Findaway last week. While everyone was venting opinions the Futurebook conference happened in London. Dan Holloway from The Alliance of Independent Authors goes over the main talking points, subscription, sustainability and the rise of new digital products. How bad is the print publishing industry for the climate? Are eBooks just as bad?
Meanwhile, Mark Williams from The New Publishing Standard shone a bright light on the Futurebook conference interview with the CEO of Penguin Random House. Mark was wondering where the hard questions were about the Simon and Schuster merger and the rise of subscriptions as a marketing model. PRH pulled all their books from subscription sites. Will this change?
Publishing Perspectives reports on Ingram Lightning Source opening their new Print On Demand facility at Sharjah Publishing City. The world's first publishing free trade zone was announced in 2018 with a commitment by Ingram to the East and African book market. Print On Demand does have the ability to reduce at least one of the unsustainable practices of the publishing industry, returns.
Penny Sansevieri has a guest post on Anne R Allen’s blog about creating reader connections. How many readers do you need to make a difference in your sales. It’s all about the right readers, says Penny.
Have you got an idea for a book but are not sure where to start? How to blog a book takes a look at how you can get started by blogging the book. They use the idea for marketing the book right alongside.
Have you tried writing with soundtracks? Many authors swear by the practice. I find them distracting because I tune into the music instead of writing. Matt Frick has another way of using soundtracks. He uses them to write the book when he isn’t writing. This idea could be super inspirational for story crafting.
Ann Patchett has an article in Lithub on creating the workspace that you need. Are you really sitting well? Do you have the right keyboard?
Jami Gold turns her lazer eyes onto the Dune Movie and looks at the Plot Arc focus vs the Character Arc focus. Jami is an excellent writing craft teacher so make sure you read this.
In The Craft Section,
3 critical elements in opening scenes
Award season PDF’s of screenplays- Scott Myers- Bookmark
5 tips on writing fiction- DIYMFA
Avoiding excessive detail in your descriptions-Mythcreants- bookmark
Writing using Word Styles.- Libertabooks- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
What is an Author Platform? Rachel Thompson – Bookmark
Unique marketing ideas for December and How to sell direct to the consumer
Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
How to track book marketing activity- Sandra Beckwith
Case study with Bryan Cohen on Amazon Ads
To Finish,
The Black Friday Sales are on. Everywhere you look there is an Ad for something. For writers there are sales on subscriptions or courses or books. Dave Chesson has compiled a long list of Black Friday gifts for writers. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have found some great Black Friday bargains as well. If you are thinking of stocking up gifts for Christmas check out Robyn Roste’s list of writer gifts.
Don’t forget this week is the last week to get the NaNoWriMo Storybundle Craft Book collection- which has often been my yearly gift to myself.
Maureen
@craicer
It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter where I share the best of the bookmarked links and other things that have caught my eye. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
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Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- GoFishDigital
