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 10th 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
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Pic: Photo by Ameer Basheer on Unsplash
