This week seemed to be genre week with interesting articles from across the genre spectrum.
Children’s Publishing day at Digital Book World had some interesting takeaways. A few years ago it was widely speculated that with all
these smart phones the early adopters would be teenagers. But they aren’t. They
still want a physical book with printed pages.
But the genre could be slowly changing.
Over in the Romance field the HEA (happily ever after)
ending is being questioned... do modern romances need this? It isn’t reflected
in real life... is it? Some interesting thoughts in this blog post and comments.
James Patterson, who is his own genre, has been making waves
this week with the revelation that there is a whole publishing arm devoted to just him... and he is employing them through his publishers, which would make
him a Self Publisher with a traditional publishing house or a traditional
publishing house with a self publishing imprint devoted to one person. No one
can decide but it makes fascinating reading especially as he is publishing across age groups.
Leo Hartas, an illustrator, makes a plea for writers to
understand how to commission an illustrator. If you are in the market for
having illustrations for your project... read this first. I know illustrators
who say these words often.
One of the most heart felt posts on Social Media came from
Anne R Allen this week. This follows on from Jami Gold’s post last week. Anne talks about the increasing pressure on writers to be everywhere... You don’t
need to be. She makes absolute sense and this is a must read for every author
out there.
Catherine Ryan Howard who is a Go To Guru on how to self
publish has an agent and a traditional publishing deal. This is an interesting journey... and one a lot of writers are taking as Hybrid is seen as a good
career move.
This week publishing futurist Mike Shatzkin has been
thinking about the need for publishers to use critical data research in the acquisitions process. These days research and data profiles are becoming easier
to find and use so why aren’t publishers using them? As always read the
comments for the robust discussion points.
Today while traveling on an errand a character, whom I had
put on hold for a few years, popped into my mind demanding that now was the
time to tell his story... never mind I’m in the middle of something big...
somewhere else. Some characters are so rude! This got me thinking about Story
Structure and this led me to one of Larry Brooks latest posts on structure versus pantsing. There is no opposition. There is subliminal understanding that
every story should have a beginning and an end. This is a one of those A-HA
posts that you will print out!
In The Craft Section,
18 tips to deconstruct novels to nail genre- C S Lakin
Bookmark
How to write a love scene- Jane Friedman Bookmark
6 emotional motives for your characters- Mythcreants
2 Bookmark posts from
K M Weiland 5 ways to trim your word count and 11 killer chapter breaks.
The 4th rule of storytelling from Pixar
Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have compiled a popular posts list.
The critical importance of crafting a strong opening- Jody Hedlund
Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
How authors can find readers- Jane Friedman- Bookmark
To Finish,
Y A Highway is an interesting site where YA authors hang
out. They have an interesting infographic (very Jasper Ffordish) with lots of
clickable links on all sorts of interesting posts. This is well worth a trawl.
Children’s writers cover all genres the good and the bad...
Maureen
@craicer
