Book Love

Where were you twenty years ago?

I was teaching and scribbling stories at night. We had just got internet and I found a great group of UK writers on a listserv. One night the discussion turned to word of mouth promotion.

‘There’s a great debut story just published, everyone is talking about,’ said one UK author. I went to my local specialist bookseller (who passed away recently,) While he was stacking on the counter the pile of books he thought I should read to my class, I asked him about this book, Harry and the stone... He put Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on the pile saying- ‘my last book, it’s a good read.’ I finished it at 2am and started reading it to my class that day. 

It became the most talked about book in the playground. I was seeing in real time the power of good storytelling transporting children to another world. Teachers and parents would stop me and ask about the book that even the non readers were talking about.... 

That’s the holy grail of writing when the reader can’t bear to close the book. It has nothing to do with clever phrases or perfectly executed grammar. It grabs you by the throat and demands your attention. You can’t sit down to intentionally write a story like this. The magic can't be forced.

This week is the 20 year anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Di Dickenson looks at the criticism leveled at the book series and asks is it justified.

Kris Rusch has her next post on discoverability. This weekshe looks at brand loyalty. This series is cracking along. Kris always gives you plenty to think about.

Brain Pickings has a great post on different styles of great writing. Are you an explainer, an elucidator or an enchanter? Which should you aim to be?

Orna Ross has been thinking about the underlying prejudice towards self publishers in the wake of the recent Byte The Book debate. Why is self publishing still seen as vanity publishing when the reality is very different. Is traditional publishing the new vanity?

R L Stedman has an interesting post on rights. Do you know all the different rights that you have in one piece of work? This is a great reference and eye opening for the new writer.

If you are an illustrator or know one, point them in the direction of this global award for illustration. Entries close in a few weeks and the prize is quite nice...

Jami Gold has been struggling with burnout. She writes an important article on writer self care.

A group of grad students have got together to pool their talents and set up a research group for writers to use. Check out their new weekly blog. If you need a grad student to do some research for you this could be a valuable resource.

Litreactor has an interesting blog on book reviews, specifically why they don’t look at 5 star reviews. This is a really interesting read about how important the 3 and 4 star reviews are to people looking for the next book to invest time in.

In The Craft Section,

4 reasons to outline your settings K M Weiland - Bookmark

Write better fiction- Killzone blog

Better book titles- April Davila- Bookmark

World building in sci fi and fantasy

Check out Writing excuses podcast. This weeks episode –outlining

Book disclaimers don’t have to be boring- Helen Sedwick- Bookmark

6 fantasies that stop writing success- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Getting book reviews- Book marketing tools

Audiobooks should be part of your strategy

Book launch marketing  questions and a print it out checklist – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Boost eBook sales with box sets

Reasons your bookbub got rejected- Bookmark

Do this not that book promotion- The Book Designer

3 best practices for marketing- Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

To Finish,

I met a composer friend yesterday and I was lamenting that I couldn’t make up my mind on whether to take up the offer of a piano to replace our keyboard. It means moving some bookcases to make room. He laughed and noted that I could always put the books on top of the piano... win/win.

It’s not that I hoard books... um they are just good friends... all of them... (over 2000.) But I’m not a true hoarder. These famous people had much more extensive collections....

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: The first cover. Ours is a patchwork of spellotape holding it together... but nobody in the family wants a new edition. The magic is still in the old one.

If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links and other goodies you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Come and share the book love.

Collaboration and Innovation

This week I was preparing for my first podcast of the year and thinking about the general themes of 2017, Collaboration and Innovation.

This week Amazon announced a new imprint. Yes another one.  But this one is their second in the German language. Translations are becoming a hot property. Amazon is also trying to figure out India with a proposed launch of Audible- the audio publishing arm of Amazon into  India. Nate Hoffelder warns that price is going to be the biggest driver of whether this will work.

John Biggs from TechCrunch asks What’s Next for Books? We all would like to know... Is it mobile reading or mini bookstores?

If it is mobile reading, Wattpad has introduced a new app that delivers stories as a conversation... A very interesting idea and built for your mobile phone. Writers could have some fun with it and grab the teen market on the way.

Elizabeth Craig has been guest posting over at Anne Allen’s blog. Her article -Yes you can make a living from writing fiction, has been shared all over the place. Elizabeth shares ten tips on how to make a living from your fiction. While you are digesting that read Rachel Thompson’s great post on why you might not be achieving your goals... and take note!

Jane Cable talks about how a group of authors can collaborate effectively in a promotional setting. Over the last few weeks I have seen a few articles and blog posts about the power of collaboration. Creatively it can be a lot of fun. The FABO team of children’s writers are starting to think about what we will do this year... only because people keep asking us to start soon.  

Jami Gold has a great post on story arcs over trilogies. If you thought plotting an arc over one book was hard try keeping the details of a trilogy together. She has a stack of useful tips for trilogy story structure.

I’m in edit mode for my ten book junior fiction series... That’s why I can’t quite bring myself to hit 100% on my target widget. I absolutely wouldn’t be without my A3 Visual diary to keep track of story arcs.

In The Craft Section,

What to do with a stalled novel- WriteToDone

8 mistakes beginner writers make- Elizabeth Andre

How to make your settings come alive- GoTeenWriter

Manuscript rejection feedback – What to heed what to ignore-WritersDigest- Bookmark

Using Text to Speech software- WritersHelpingWriters- Bookmark

2 questions to ask for stronger characters- Janice Hardy

Ultimate guide to a structural edit- WritersEdit- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

7 book marketing trends author should expect in 2017- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to make blog images tell a story- Jami Gold- bookmark

Social Sharing Tricks – The Writelife

2 great posts From Joanna Penn Using Pinterest and Help my book isn’t selling

What you should spend your marketing budget on- AllIndieWriters

To Finish,

How to work magic with your writing? Everybody wants to do it and what better inspiration than the Queen of Magic herself, J K Rowling, to show the tips to keep motivated.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic From Flickr/ Creative Commons/ Chris Lott

If you want to get a monthly roundup of my best bookmarked links and other goodies... Subscribe here.

Striving for Gold

This week the news is all about some big sporting event... meanwhile in publishing...

Mike Shatzkin was interviewed recently by Teleread and they asked him to make some predictions for the future. Mike believes that the biggest changes have already happened in publishing but he did have five events that if they happened would be just as big a game changer as the Kindle.

Jane Friedman has written two excellent posts on using pop-ups on websites. I hate them but apparently they work. Jane comes from the same viewpoint but she has delved into why they work and what her experience of using them is. A very interesting examination of a modern website feature.

Bob Mayer has a pair of interesting articles on why he thinks publishing hasn’t plateaued and what he thinks authors can do to thrive in publishing now. Niche is where it is at. Carve out your spot.

Mediashift have an interesting article on bringing in Beta readers much earlier in the publishing process. They are trying to eliminate the reason why books don’t earn out.  What do readers want to read? Then commission the book. They decided to give it a go with kid’s books. Do kids want to read about Vampire Cinderella? (Start with the cover and then write the book to go with it. Advice I have heard from the SP podcast guys.)

The Alli Blog has some great articles so have a trawl around when you stop off to read this little gem on short print runs and why they can be very valuable.

In The Craft Section,

Recently I had to do a novel synopsis in a hurry. Here are two excellent resources to Bookmark

Jane Friedman – Novel synopsis. and How to write a novel synopsis from Glen Strathy.

The single best way to write powerful themes- K M Weiland Bookmark

5 great writing tips from J K Rowling – Now Novel

How to write from the opposite genders point of view

12 questions to ask your character about the setting they are in- C S Lakin-Bookmark

What is arch plot and classic design- Ingrid Sundberg- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Facebook ads that reach niche readers

Elizabeth Spann on preorders

4 things you need to know about Hybrid publishing

Molly Greene on going wide in sales

10 low cost ways to market your book

Why you need to learn to create visuals for marketing- Rachel Thompson

To Finish,

The Olympics... you can’t get away from them in a sports mad country. As they are happening overnight for us a lot of people are bleary eyed in the morning here. Joanna Penn pulled out a piece she wrote when she was in the thick of the Olympics in London. It’s still relevant for authors. Ten things the Olympics can teach writers.

Maureen

@craicer

Get a selection of the months best links and other gold medal extras when you subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

Playing Nicely In The Trenches

Today my Twitter feed exploded with agents who were appalled at a blog post written by a disgruntled author. Agents don’t talk about the abusive letters they get from rejected authors. But to write an abusive blog post naming the agent and pouring scorn on her was not a good idea for this writer’s career. 

You should play nicely online. The internet is long on remembering and unforgiving. Agents do search you online and on Social Media. If you get a rejection, wail in your own home over a wine. DON’T wail all over the internet!

Joanna Penn has worked hard at her self publishing business. She has fans all over the world for her podcasts and her books and her willingness to answer questions and experiment. Today she posted a tech survey of the tools she uses. A very interesting post.

 James Scott Bell asked the big question. Why do you want to be a writer?

This is a great blog post to sit with and maybe ask yourself. Then take note of the answer.

Publishing Perspectives takes a look at the publishing franchise of Bourne. How did they select writers to carry on the Ludlum legacy? It has to do with love...

Kris Rusch has another brilliant post on contract snags in her deal breakers series. This week it is on definitions. If you thought you knew what the terms meant, think again. This is a comprehensive post looking at Net royalties, time limits and other dastardly goodies.

Staying on Contracts, Susan Spann (lawyer and writer) has a must read post on short contracts. That’s when the publisher does you a ‘favour’ and sends a 3 page contract instead of a 30 page contract because you don’t really need much more than that. Just don’t worry your little writer head about those rights clauses....

In the Craft Section,

Turn on your creative spark with a different point of view

8 must read writing craft books (I have most of these and agree)

10 tips for writing in different styles - Now Novel

How to condense your writing without losing anything- Ava Jae -Bookmark

Creating layered characters- Jami Gold – Bookmark

How to write your villain scenes- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

29 ways to sell more books

A hobbits guide to launching your book- Writer Unboxed

What do your analytics reveal about your readers- Frances Caballo - Bookmark

The definition of an author platform- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

Industry insights from RWA 16- Jami Gold

How to make the most of Goodreads- Rachel Thompson

Explode your following by doing these 7 things- Jen Blanchard- Bookmark

Website of The Week

Bookriot always has interesting posts and a ton of information all over their site. Recently they collected together a list of great writer podcasts. 

If you like to listen to podcasts while exercising or doing chores check these out. (You can hear the latest Writer’s Island podcast if you click on the tropical island pic in the side bar.)

To Finish,

If you are a writer you get used to rejection. Writing is subjective so not everybody will love what you bled onto the page. J K Rowling mega writing superstar that she is (with another Potter book out this week) decided to show some of her recent rejection letters. It does give hope to the rest of us bleeding in the trenches.

Maureen

@craicer

 Get a selection of the months best links and other ephemera when you subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

Pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons/ Oran Viriyincy

The Trials Of Growing Up

In publishing news this week...

The news is filtering through about mega selling YA Author Cassandra Clare being taken to court over plagiarism by another big selling YA author Sherilyn Kenyon. This is an interesting case as it hinges on whether you can plagiarise an idea. 

While authors digest that one- if you were thinking of translating into German you need to understand that titles are copyright protected in Germany. Joanna Penn talks to Rebecca Cantrell about this and other meaty topics in the hybrid world of publishing.

A new Author Earnings survey is out. For the first time they included print books. The numbers make interesting reading. Traditional publishing still holds up Print... but the Indies are not far behind.

This week Nielson announced that they have decided to track ebooks. This is slightly after the fact as ebooks have been around for a few years now. However the data may be useful in the future.

Publishing will be rubbing their hands at the news that an 8th Harry Potter book is about to be launched on July 31^st in print and ebook. This is the book of the script of the play which also opens in July. With over 70,000 fully illustrated books of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (retailing in NZ at $70) sold in the last three months, I’m going to predict that there will be a market for this book featuring a grown up Harry Potter. Add to that a new expanded version of Fantastic Beasts and all things Potter will be the publishing saviour of 2016.

Outside the phenomenon of Harry Potter, Children’s Books receive very little review space in print media. A UK author has launched a campaign to try and redress this. This has been picked up by The Bookseller magazine with an article about why these reviews are so important.

Jami Gold has an interesting article on the dilemma for the writer of a public life for a private individual. 

Janice Hardy has an interesting article by Marcy Kennedy on the single biggest mistake authors make... and its important... BACKUP. Marcy details the ways you can fix this!

Jane Friedman has a guest post by Ursula Wong on writer groups and co ops. This is a comprehensive how to article on what types of groups are around, what they do and how they can be set up. 

I have long been an advocate of writer groups... of all kinds. They can be a great support individually and can morph into small publishing companies.

After all that’s how Bloomsbury started and look who they first published... J K Rowling

In the Craft Section,

How to write open ended endings

10 tips for trimming a lengthy manuscript

Kathryn Goldman-When and when not to use Trademarks- Bookmark!

K M Weiland - 5 reasons a book is re readable- Bookmark

Anne R Allen- How to hook the reader- Bookmark

Kristine Rusch on The Serious Writer Voice- Bookmark!

Jane Friedman on Creating Audiobooks

In the Marketing Section,

Writeitsideways has a nifty post on 4 steps to take forAuthor Branding.

Jane Friedman looks at whether paid book reviews are worth it- Bookmark

Writers in the Storm has a great post on helping your readers to write good reviews

Lindsay Buroker has a great post on Amazon adverts for authors- read the comments!

Promote a book without using Social Media

Miral Slatter has a great post on putting together a marketing plan for your book. Bookmark

Joel Friedlander has a post on the importance of keywords for Amazon

If you still need help with websites and ideas check out FirstSiteGuide. Lots of interesting articles.

Passive Guy links to an excellent article on going exclusive or going everywhere with your book

To Finish,

If you are thinking about productivity apps- here is a full on one- Flowstate... keep typing or lose all the words you have written. No time for musing or looking at kitten pictures... I wonder if J K Rowling uses this.

Maureen

@craicer

Standing Up for Conferences

This week I’m still digesting the mega online Indie publishing conference Indie ReCon. I still haven’t caught up with all of the online content, but I’m happy it will stay there for a while. There is so much juicy information there. A big cheer to the behind the scenes team for putting it all together. More than 25,000 people dropped into Indie ReCon last year. I would say that was surpassed this year, hugely!

Porter Anderson, spent some time at the London Book Fair and dropped into The Indie ReCon meet-up at Foyles in London.

Two interesting developments have caught the eye of The Passive Guy this week. The rise of digital reading in China, over 50% of adults are reading online.

And a new bookselling venture in Florida. This one caught my attention as it seems to be taking the showroom bookstore model and tweaking it for Indie Authors. There are lots of comments about how successful this model might be.

I am seeing more Indie authors grouping together to share resources and publish collectively. I’ve been saying this is the way to go for years - this  bookstore selling model seems to take it all a step further.

Authors rarely talk about the hazards of their profession but with J K Rowling tweeting this morning about writers back... (too long sitting in one position,) attention is back on stand-up writing desks. Michael Hyatt blogged about his desk this week and then Nicola Morgan decided to share how she improved her health dramatically in the last month. I’m eyeing up my desk... if I can get to it. It seems to be the repository of the families clutter.

Author websites have been the focus of Joanna Penn’s blog this week. This is an ultra comprehensive post on the subject. You will find yourself coming back again to it. Don’t get overwhelmed as she says... small tweaks.

Joanna has also interviewed Tim Grahl about book titles, productivity, marketing and other stuff.  It’s a wide ranging interview and full of tips.

Last week I linked to Delilah Dawson’s plea about Self Promotion and Social Media. This week staying with this topic Rachel Thompson gives some tips to deal with this stress and not become a spam monster.

In the Craft Section,

Tips for developing Story Ideas

Roz Morris on tips for writing when time is scarce (which also has a link to her indie Recon video)

All about Pacing. This is a great post on that tricky craft subject.

Improving your character action beats- great post from K M Weiland

Editing – craft tips

Picking the right editor for each stage of writing.

Real rules for writing magic

The ultimate guide to what to do about the boring bitsbetween scenes. Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

Using Pinterest to connect with your cover designer

Book design tip- include reviews

Author Newsletters- Bookmark this

7 reasons people unsubscribe from email lists...(Great read)

How to cross promote your books in back matter

Website of the Week

Dropping back into The Book Designer for a guest post on time saving tools for writers

To Finish,

This is one writer’s experience of attending Indie ReCon. I would agree with her. It is always good to meet up with other authors somewhere just to reassure yourself that you are not alone in this writing gig. Although Indie ReCon was amazing, checking in face to face at an author event is also important. We can spend too much time sitting in front of a screen. Tinderbox 2015 is gathering steam... the timetable is becoming a juggernaut with lots more cool stuff being added. (We’ve got to stop tweaking it!)

I’m off to re-jig the Tinderbox2015 timetable, again, and play around with my writing desk.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic is from a review of Standing Desks… this one goes up and down at the push of a button.

It’s All Subjective

.@ardit_haliti You think I should write something where nobody dies? Hmm... it wouldn't be easy. I'm all about the death.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 18, 2015

This week I have been mulling over the perfect conference program. This is highly subjective. Why do you go to conferences? Some people say networking. Some say up-skilling in your craft. Some say to learn new approaches to old ideas. That’s my ideal, learning. I’m not into great big crowded rooms where everybody is glad handing and I know no one. So planning the perfect writers conference for me has to have plenty of learning opportunities and meet and greet without being overpowering. We are in the middle of refining our program for Tinderbox2015 and I have a big problem. I want to go to everything!

As I look through this week’s links for you it is amazing how many of them link into something in our conference program.

Passive Guy has linked to two posts this week that have people talking. Do publishers really understand SEO (do you?) and Authorpreneurs. from The Economist which has weighed in saying what authors should be doing regarding their business which is finding influencers and publishers should be publishing celebrity authors to stay afloat. Reading the comments on both those articles is entertaining. And in breaking news Pharrell is writing a series of children’s books... about being HAPPY.

Porter Anderson takes a good long look at publishing terms everyone gets wrong and the implications for planning your writing business. Do you really get royalties if you self publish? And why you need to know the differences.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting opinion piece about whether agents and publishers want authors that know about the publishing business. Do MFA programs want clued up authors?

Darcy Pattison talks about her last 18 months. This is chock full of information about the decision to Indie Publish and what she has learned. (this is a bookmark post!)

Today was a #MSWL day on Twitter. Agents and Editors write on Twitter what Manuscripts they wish would come across their desks. Type #MSWL in the search bar. If you do query an agent or editor from this, mention the tweet. Another cool search on Twitter is #tenqueries. Agents and Editors going through their slush pile will comment on ten queries live on Twitter and their immediate response. This is a great heads up about what grabs and what doesn’t.

In the Craft section,

The great James Scott Bell has a new post on story and structure and how they must love each other.

Author Biz has a great interview with Editor Shawn Coyne who is working on a story grid book for editors. This is a bookmark post! (and a print out the Storygrid and stick it on your wall post.)

Jeff Goins on overcoming writers block.

Jody Hedlund on the 5 point character checklist (great revamp of her website)

When do you rewrite an old manuscript and when do you let it die...

Ava Jae on what she’s learning as a publishing intern

How to make the most of a writing retreat

In the Marketing section,

55 digital branding tips for Authors

Lindsay Buroker has been sourcing covers from fiverr for short stories - she explains how to do this.

7 must do tactics for promotional tweets. (please don’t spam... the 90/10 rule should apply- thats 90 pieces of interesting stuff for every 10 promotional tweets)

7 things you learn when your book is published.

Moderating panels – How to be rude in the nicest possible way

Writelife interviews four authors about the real cost of self publishing

Website of the Week

Bibliocrunch is an interesting hangout. Not only do they host chats on Twitter but they have lots of resources for the Indie Authors.

Here are two of their recent articles- Using Skype to organize a virtual writing groups and

Tshirts with memorable book quotes on them...

To Finish,

John Green is known for a lot of things that he does well. However today he found out something he doesn’t know well - The quotes from his books. This made for a great confessional post to his brother about how he always assumed that the quote memes were from his books...oops 

If you are interested in finding out more about Tinderbox 2015 - The National Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference in Wellington, NZ, October 2-5^th  send us an Email to 2015tinderbox AT gmail DOT com and we’ll put you on our dedicated mailing list for updates and news.

maureen

John Green's confession below.

Tweet from a conversation thread with J K Rowling.

Her Majesty's Voice

If you have a pitch-perfect awesome VOICE to your manuscript, you could have other weaknesses. But if you have a weak voice, you're screwed.
— jennifer laughran (@literaticat) July 17, 2013

I’ve been thinking about Voice lately. 

Voice is that ‘something’ that informs the reader about the style and motivations of the characters without actually being visible on the page.

Meg Rosoff, in her Writer Unboxed article on voice this week, says

There is nothing superficial, however, about voice when used in the context of writing. Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.

This is the ‘something’ that writers struggle with. 

Do they have the same voice for every protagonist? Is every book they write in some way autobiographical from their deepest being?  

Ah the big questions. 

If somehow this is true...how come nobody picked the distinctive voice of J K Rowling...after all we have been told by literary critics that she is not much of a writer, using all those adjectives and not writing tightly enough...or did the fact that she had a male pseudonym fudge the fact that it was quite a good story...moved along ok... did everything a detective novel should. The cynics are out saying great PR by her team and now you can only buy the hardcover on eBay at hugely inflated prices. The Passive Guy has a look at the Robert Galbraith (aka JKR)saga.

Porter Anderson has been looking at agent relationships this week. In two articles for Publishing Perspectives he examines the agent/writer relationship now in this Hybrid/Indie revolution. How close can it be? The Agents who have cannily enrolled best selling Indies to manage print deals and the Agents who-have-become -Publishers...He takes a close look at Rogue Reader...and very interesting it is too. 

David Gaughran has sharply criticized PenguinRandom...in particular the RandomPenguin washing of Author Solutions. Author Solutions began as a vanity press that did everything for you at a huge cost. They are facing a class action lawsuit because of some of their questionable practices and you would think that maybe they would pull back...but no. This is a Writer Beware story that will make your writer heart shrivel a little.

The New Yorker has an opinion piece on the decline and fall of the book cover...and Bibliocrunch checks out virtual writing group hangouts using Google and Skype

Chuck Wendig has a distinctive voice...and a distinctive turn of phrase that occasionally makes your hair curl up and spontaneously combust. His latest 25 things post looks at Story Stakes...very good. And a superb little post on ten stupid writer tricks that might actually work.

In Craft,

The character therapist examines an archetype on the therapists couch. These are always interesting.

Two most underrated things writers do to build trust

7 cardinal virtues of successful writers

What we should expect from Freelance Editors

In Marketing,

From The Book Designer, two great articles, 7 strategies of Blog Marketing and

Amazon Algorithms (this is all the latest on metadata Amazon style - a must read.)

Another Must Read is what this author is doing right across the tech spectrum...his character has taken over...is this the future?

Website to check out,

This list has a solid helpful link for every creative you know...There is literally something for everyone working in the publishing industry here.

To Finish,

One of my favourite adult fiction authors Jenny Crusie (who has a fantastic voice) has written a great post on Sharknado. This film, shown on US cable this week, had my twitter feed fill up with writer reactions. The premise is so off the wall that there are very jealous writers out there wishing they had thought of a tornado that sucks up sharks and dumps them on a town in a hungry and vengeful mood. Jenny writes about high concept, going with your gut, ideas that are so off the wall and the courage a writer has to have to grab something like this and make it work.

I’m out and about around the country next week...so there won’t be a blog post...but by then Twitter will be filled with Royal Baby news and the cynics who don’t care...so just as well I’m taking a break...heheheheh.

maureen

Tweet from Agent Jennifer Laughran...talking about MG this week on Twitter.