Subscribing To NaNoWriMo

This week Amazon review policies and translations are still topics of interest at the publishing water cooler AKA Twitter.

Selfpublishing Review has written a blog post about the new Amazon review policy detailing what you can and can’t do. A must read!

Roz Morris always has interesting posts and this week she adds her thoughts to the Translation discussion. It is always good to check out the comment stream where the discussion continues.

Porter Anderson has been looking at the Society of Authors call for fairer contracts. The Society is the UK authors collective. The Society is joining with The American Authors Guild and momentum is growing to change publishing contracts. Take the time to read this.

Subscription services may be making a come back if the latest Disney deal is anything to go by.

Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant have a popular writing blog but they are branching out into subscription too. They have been working on an App called Story Shop. They have a Kickstarter for it. Check out what they are offering, The App almost writes the stories for you!

This week a spotlight was put on organisations behaving badly.

Wil Wheton called out Huffington Post for not paying authors and then went on to expand that call to other creatives who should be paid for their work. Exposure doesn’t pay the mortgage you know.

Agent Natalie Lakosil helped by Jen Laughran shone a light on agents. Yes, agents have other jobs, they are just as poorly paid as writers... but be wary of Schmagents!

It’s the last week of October and writers around the world are holding their heads and thinking why did I say I would do NaNoWriMo.

Chuck Wendig asks the same question and adds his own particular spin to why you should/shouldn’t do it. (Usual Chuck warnings!)

Anne R Allen has a great post from Ruth Harris on the joy of writing and how to keep it going during NaNoWriMo. Ruth shares inspirational words from other authors about how to keep the momentum going.

Here is an interesting post on when to design your bookcover... If you said before you write the book... you would be right.

In the Craft Section,

Help for Pantsers and Plotters- Stephen Pressfield

Janice Hardy has two great posts, How to tighten the MS and How to polish the MS

Jami Gold has a great post on research.

Jody Hedlund talks about Tension- Bookmark!

Jane Friedman talks to Larry Brooks about compelling concepts Bookmark!

Critique Circle has 3 essential tips for NaNoWriMo

Joanna Penn on Self Editing

In the Marketing Section,

Joanna Penn lists all her marketing posts in one place. Bookmark!

Molly Greene has the website essentials

Penny Sansevieri has the essential book selling how to

Bookbub shows how to craft Author bios

Novel pitching with Chuck Sambuchino

Author platform building using email lists.

To Finish,

The people behind the Stop Procrastinating App have put together a tell all infographic on NaNoWriMo... How to survive it... How to achieve it... How to do it.

For all those attempting NaNoWriMo... Good luck

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons- Mondo

After the Feast

This week Wellington has been celebrating writers. As part of the International Festival of the Arts (held every two years) a week is devoted to writers. An eclectic mix of genres including literary and poets was represented. Stars like recent Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton, Tom Keneally, Marcus Chown and Jung Chang along with children’s book luminaries Ulf Stark from Sweden and Leo Timmers from Belgium.

Writers feasted their ears for pearls of wisdom, feasted their eyes on books, or just feasted with friends and discussed books, writing, their dwindling budget and soaring credit card.

The independent bookshop Unity made a brand statement all over Wellington as they held bookstalls outside all the writer venues with copies of the speaker’s books. Their distinctive Unity bag was everywhere on the streets.

For those unable to get to Wellington this week, bloggers Maria Gill and Phillipa Werry provide some excellent notes on sessions they attended. Thank you to Kathryn Carmody and her team for all their efforts in bringing together such a great lineup.

Around the publishing blogosphere comment is still continuing over ACX and their dropping royalty payment. Porter devotes an Ether post to the discussion...because Amazon owns ACX will royalty payments for ebooks also drop?

Another post getting comment is Mike Shatzkin’s. Mike initially got the wrong end of the stick when commenting on a Huffington Post article by Mark Coker on data but then he crunched the numbers himself and found he was backing up Mark’s claims of Indie earnings.

Bob Mayer takes a look at the interview with the Harlequin CEO and shakes his head. Does Harlequin know who their competitors are now? Bob points out some facts the CEO overlooked.

Warrior writers has a great post from an editor/agent on taking criticism like a pro. This piece echoes discussions I have had with other writers this week talking shop after various writer events. 

Maya Rodale has an interesting article in Huffington Post on Serial Fiction and a new app called Rooster which chunks a book for you in 15 minute bites so you can read on your

phone.

Jane Friedman has a free article from Scratch to read (you need to create a login but it is worth it) Four agents talk about the business and what they are doing. Kristin Nelson is doing some interesting things with her digital arm which echoes this guest post on Joel Friedlander’s site this week. It will turn your ideas of content upside down.

In the Craft Section,

Sarah Megibow on having an Emotionally Healthy Publishing Career

Elisabeth S Craig talks about writing in longhand (something I do.) and the differences it makes to thinking about your writing.

7 ways to write thrilling crisis scenes

K M Weiland on tying up loose ends in your story.

James Scott Bell on writing the middle first...brilliant post from the master!

Jami Gold on Beat Sheets...Bookmark!

In the Marketing Section,

Getting Book Reviews

21 ways to add magic to your brand and stand out as a creative

Joanna Penn on Changing Book Covers...this is an interesting look at what works and what doesn’t and the emotional connection of the reader.

Website of the week...Two again.

3 habit building apps for writers.

Darcy Pattison has a wealth of information for the writer on her website. Check out this one on using spreadsheets to keep track of characters.

To Finish,

Chuck Sambuchino from Writer’s Digest’s Agent’s blog profiles new agents and updates books regularly. There is a contest on his blog for midgrade contemporary novels looking for agent representation. You have to spread the word to enter the contest. An interesting way to run a contest...win/win. (and No, I am NOT entering I’m full up on midgrade SciFi.)

maureen

Pic from Shodan

Flickr/Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/klauspost/92783024

The Thursday Vibe...

Today I was stopped twice by people who said to me ‘My friend has written a book and wants to know what they should do next....’

Is it because it is Thursday and subconsciously I am sending out vibes that say I need a topic for my blog today?

I don’t think I am, as I often have 8 - 10 links already to talk about when I sit down to put it all together.

Maybe I’m sending out a vibe on super busy Thursday that says ‘stop me rushing off to the next appointment and ask me a question about writing.’  

My answer both times was ‘Tell your friend that now you must research!’ The internet is full of great sites that can point you in the right direction and the library is full of great books on the craft of writing, so you can make sense of what you have created.

So in that spirit, here are a few places to look.

Jenn an Intern at the Elaine English Literary agency this week posted a great little article on synopsis which outlines what a good synopsis should have.

A synopsis can make or break your chances. After your query has been accepted, it is your first chance to make a good (or bad) first impression. You have to find a good balance between saying enough and not saying too much.

Mary Kole of Kidlit.com has a good article about knowing your category. This is good advice from an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

For example, and this is from my own imagination, not a recent submission: what do I do with a 5,000 word fiction picture book about world politics? Or a 5,000 word middle grade about a baby puppy who goes on a naptime adventure? Or a 300,000 word YA starring a talking salmon? Maybe a 10,000 word YA about a character’s messy divorce?

If all of those examples weren’t immediately funny to you, you need this post. When I speak at conferences, I tell people all the time that booksellers will not build you your own shelf at their stores just because you want to do something different.

Tony Eldridge has a great article this week on his Marketing Tips for Authors Blog about off line marketing specifically teaming up with a fellow author to present workshops.

 I want to suggest a different approach. Why not team up with another local author and do a free "workshop" for writers and aspiring writers? Think of the benefits of presenting a joint presentation:

He outlines some useful ideas to help you think about how to structure the workshop and make it be of use to you. (As I am in the middle of planning some workshops for later in the year, this is very timely.)

Last week I linked to Jane Friedman’s article on Writer Unboxed which discussed blog content and how much unpublished work you should put on your blog. There has been lots of talk in the writers blogosphere about Jane Friedman and Chuck Sambuchino’s different points of view on this topic.

Jeannie Ruesch looks at both arguments, boils them down to their essential points, then she offers her opinion on the topic and some good ideas to mull over.

Their posts seem to have a slightly different focus on what “your work” qualifies as, in regards to this topic.  Sambuchino focuses on your fiction summary, your high concepts as most important to keep off the web.  But ultimately, the point that both make is to establish WHY you are putting your work–whatever it is– out there for the world to see.  What is your objective?

Jeannie is right - for your blog or your website you must have a plan.  The Illinois chapter of SCBWI has a great newsletter called Prairie Wind and their contributor Margo Dill looks at three very popular blogging writers and talks to them about their blogs and their styles.

In the big wide world this week.

The Wall St Journal reported Google’s announcement of its new e-book  service  which will be ready to roll in the next few months. And so it has begun, the dividing up of the digital publishing world, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

Google says users will be able to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers—even independent shops—to sell Google Editions on their own sites, giving partners the bulk of the revenue.

The company would have copies on its servers for works it strikes agreements to sell. 

Personanondata a publishing industry blog has taken a look at the e-publishing world of the Now and what may become the industry norm in The Future with it’s article entitled Content Farms....yes think of all the connotations... then read this article.

Demand Media’s approach is a “combination of science and art”, in the words of Steven Kydd, who is in charge of the firm’s content production. Clever software works out what internet users are interested in and how much advertising revenue a given topic can pull in. The results are sent to an army of 7,000 freelancers, each of whom must have a college degree, writing experience and a speciality. They artfully pen articles or produce video clips to fit headlines such as “How do I paint ceramic mugs?” and “Why am I so tired in winter?”

Over on Craicerplus (Just click the amplify button on the right) 

there are links to articles on...

The cost of quoting lyrics in your book

A great article on loading first impressions of characters

Twitter – a book addicts paradise

Parent problems in Young Adult Literature

What writers really mean...

7 Reasons Why Writers Need To Start Using Video For Book Promotion

Jodi Picoult - All she wants is respect!

I feel bed vibes...

maureen