The All You Can Eat Buffet

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

Mark Coker had an interesting article in Publishers Weekly about the commodification of books and how publishers must fight the dragging down of book prices.

Patreon has changed the way artists get paid. It is crowdsourcing funding directly to the artist, like the art patrons of old. Patreon has increased its fees but not by much. They have some other irons in the fire that will be interesting for artists.

The EU has passed new copyright rules. Essentially you now have to vouch for all the content on your website. Academics have not been happy with the proposed law with many signing open letters of complaint that it will hurt authors.

Apple is getting into subscription-based content starting with the news. They had their big announcement this week. The question is are they going to take on the Zon subscription service and extend it to books...

Writers can suffer from extreme loneliness. Stuck in a room all day crouched over a computer never seeing the sun... The Guardian recently had an article looking at the home office work lifestyle and made some practical suggestions for a healthy balance.

Jane Friedman recently had a guest post with four Kidslit authors who related their experiences of straddling a trad published and indie published life. Go in with your eyes open.

Staying with Kidlit. Mary Kole has an interesting article on how to get literary themes into your writing for children.

Kris Rusch has an excellent post on grammar. Kris explains how your use of punctuation directly feeds into your author voice. This is a fascinating deep dive into just what constitutes author voice.

Middle Grade Ninja has a great post on how to write fantasy quickly and Anne R Allen has a fabulous post on using Mary Sue’s or Gary Stu’s. If you don’t know what either of these terms mean you MUST read the post. Your readers will thank you.

In The Craft Section,
4 pacing tricks- K M Weiland- Bookmark

6 mistakes that can kill a great plot- Mythcreants- Bookmark

British vs American English- dictionary- Bookmark

When should I enter or exit a scene- Seth Myers- 

Creating Compelling Cadence- Writersinthestorm- Bookmark


In The Marketing Section,
Using video marketing- Frances Caballo

Using exclusive content to market- Bookfunnel- Bookmark

Using map artists- Alli blog

13 copywriting tips to help write a better novel- Writers Digest

Self Publishing Formula podcast- The necessity of mailing lists- Excellent show!

To Finish,
Janice Hardy has rounded up all the story archetypes in one big master plot article. This is where you decide if you are writing a quest plot with a revenge motif using a golden fleece style adventure. If you have been wondering about where your story fits read this. 

Maureen 
@craicer

Yes, I’m really late with my monthly newsletter. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. I promise I will get it done soon because I want to share some interesting projects with you. If you want to shout me a coffee hit the button up top. Thanks 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons - A canvas of Light

The Good and The Bad….

In publishing news this week,

Book Funnel has released download codes.
These are one use codes that you can hand out at events for free copies of your books…
This is another great tool in the PR arsenal for writers.

The New York Times has an article about the alternative Nobel Prize for Literature that the
Swedish librarians are promoting. If you haven’t caught up with Nobel news… due to a scandal the
Nobel Prize for Literature was not awarded this year.

Joanna Penn has two really interesting videos up this week on her blog.
Writing a series - the continuation issues to avoid. This is part of her video shorts series.
The other video is a long form interview with Stephen Pressfield. I linked to Stephen’s blog
last month … he has been posting his latest book as a serial on his blog, The Artist’s Journey.
Stephen is a writer’s writer. He looks at deep issues that fuel or stop creativity.
It is a great interview.

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog about reader tastes and blaming the writer.
Many people agree that not everything released on TV or at the movies is to our taste but somehow we
hold writers to a different standard. What happens when our favourite writer tries something different?

Editor/Agent and Kidlit specialist Mary Kole writes interesting writing craft articles.
This week she looked at writing the book that you don’t want to… what can you do about it?

What would you sacrifice to be a successful writer? First born child… health…. Sanity?
Writing and wellness has an article on the five sacrifices every writer must make in order to succeed.

Jeff Goins writes interesting long form articles.
This one touched a chord with a lot of writers commenting. What to do when you feel like a fake?
Why a shadow career is necessary. (Jeff references Stephen Pressfield in the article.)
Jeff talks about the dance we make between art and money...

Blogging isn’t to everyone’s taste.
Many writers struggle to know what to put in a blog.
I did, hence you have been reading writing craft tips and marketing ideas etc for the last ten years on this blog.
Anne R Allen has an interesting post on how blogging jump started her career.
Long term blogging does work for your writing output and has other unexpected benefits.

Sara Letourneau is celebrating her ninth blogoversary with a list of great writing tips.
Sara always has great advice so check these out.

In The Craft Section,

Katie Weiland has been on fire with great craft articles. I discovered I had
bookmarked four of them for this weeks blog.

Write a better antagonist

Point of View Problems

How to write unique themes

The truth your character believes.

Mythcreants has an interesting article on hiding your foreshadowing in plain sight.

Now Novel looks at Person vs Society conflicts- Bookmark

Reedsy has The Book Title Generator… go and have some fun….

In The Marketing Section,

Mailing lists for authors- Chris Fox- Bookmark

10 reasons Book Reviews still matter- Interesting long form article from Litreactor

Book reviews - The primer- The Book Designer

When to start book marketing - The Creative Penn

How to make instagram work for authors- Monica Corwin- Bookmark

12 key ways to make sure your website is helping you sell books-Penny Sansevieri

The lazy authors guide to platform building by the fab David Gaughran.

To Finish,

There are writers who you read everything they write...follow their social media… enjoy hanging out
with talking shop… or worship from afar through time and space.
And then there are the other kind- The ten types of writers we need to throw down a well.

Amy Collins details what you should do to not be a bad writer on social media.

Maureen

@craicer

 I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thank you for the blog. (I needed it... I'm nearly ready to push the publish button on my first two Circus books...)

 

The Greatest Author Fears

Authors on the Pronoun distributor website were left scrambling this week. A notice appeared on the Pronoun website saying Goodbye. There was a flurry of comment around the publishing blogosphere. The sages were out in force.

Macmillan’s eBook distribution model of gave a great deal to authors but they were not making any money. If it looks too good to be true it’s about to go belly up!

Meanwhile Draft2Digital (A rival distributor of eBooks) stepped into the breach announcing a deal with Amazon. 

Sighs of relief all round.

Did/Do you read pulp writers? They were the prolific writers of the early part of the Twentieth Century. Zane Grey, Doc Savage, Leslie Charteris, Louis L’Amour. They were machines for story and they were paid by the word. James Scott Bell takes a look at what made the pulp writers so good.

Chris Syme has a great post on Anne R Allen’s blog TamingThe Social Media Beast. If you are looking at your social media engagement and saying too hard... drop in and read  this excellent article. Don’t forget to read the comments too.

Last week I linked to a post from Maggie Stiefvater on how book piracy was threatening her. This week The Guardian talked to some other authors about their experiences... sobering stuff.

Susan Spann has a post about bad contracts... as she is a publishing lawyer as well as a published author she knows whereof she speaks, Don’t be afraid to walk away from a publishing deal.

I came across this great post today on what you should do if you fail NaNoWriMo. It is one of those sensible posts that put things into perspective and is a nice little island among the treacherous weeds of NaNo uncertainty.

Backlinko has an amazingly in depth post on SEO. Now before you immediately dismiss this article as being in the too hard basket... Take a look. They explain how Google are using new search algorithms and what that means for content... key words... Titles... etc etc.

LitHub talked to 150 writers and asked their advice. And then they compiled that advice into one comprehensive article of 8 important pieces of author knowhow.

In The Craft Section,

Character turning points- Mary Kole- Bookmark

Hinting at emotional wounds- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

What is a high concept- Danielle Burby

Movie Scene by Scene breakdown- Go In To The Story- Scriptwriter Bookmark

The most important rule of backstory- Andrea Lungren- Bookmark

How to use track changes

Masterful Character description- CS Lakin- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Where to start with Social Media

Facebook ads in 2018- CK Syme- Bookmark

Book marketing content ideas for November and Know your fans- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to write a Query Letter- Reedsy- Bookmark

Using Twitter to grow your email list- Jesper Schmidt

To Finish,

The 7 greatest fears of Horror Writers explores not just fears of Horror writers but the fears of all writers who have faced these situations.

Are you guilty of writing purple prose? Is there a place for purple prose in your writing? Do you need a purple prose self help group? K MWeiland has all the answers.

My monthly newsletter is due soon. *Hi new subscribers* I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. NaNo is killing me- not to mention my presentation-If you want to feed my caffeine habit feel free to hit the coffee tab. I’m living on fumes this month!
 

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Newtown Grafitti- Purple prose

Indie Cool

I am sitting outside listening to the cicadas and thinking hopeful thoughts that the two weeks of summer we have just had isn’t all we are going to get. The weather suddenly turned cool and now the north of the country is getting record rainfall and floods. It’s a worry.

In the publishing world Hachette just bought a boutique ebook publisher. Why? Is it because they were niche and top of their game in the Indie publishing world? Is it because now it is cool to be seen as Indie... (In last weeks roundup Waterstones disguises their chain bookstores as Indies in the high street.)

What is in the future for the publishing industry now that colouring books are no longer the break out hit?

This week Joanna Penn interviewed a music industry veteran Dave Kusek about the changes that happened in the music business and what might be around the corner for publishers. This is an interesting article. (Merch anyone?) Along with that great article she also has a standout post on Using Amazon Ads.

And where is eCommerce going in the future? Writers need to keep an eye on the real paying world here too. After all a sale could be only as far as your smart phone.

Do you have an Epic Author One Sheet? It can make a sales difference- Judith Briles. And a Stand Out Author Bio- Epic post from Anne R Allen.

Make the reader care! Mary Kole said in her excellent article on writing feelings, so the fact that Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are about to celebrate their 200,000th book in the Emotion Thesaurus series is a big tick from writers. I was first linking to their Emotion Thesaurus for Writers (Bookshelf Muse) site about six years ago. I have the first book in the series and it’s a nifty resource. I’m waiting for the next one on Emotional Wounds.

Productivity is the name and writers are always looking for ways to amp it up... so treadmills... yes? Abbi Perets says Walking and Writing= productivity.

The London Book Fair is coming up... and Alli are running their awesome Indie fringe online event around it. Check out the speakers they’ve got lined up... and it’s free.

In The Craft Section,

5 new ideas for outlining stories

Story structure and Hollywood- Karen Woodward

Story setting- Real vs Fiction-Zoe McCarthy

Co Authoring a book

Making a scene

Conflict and suspense in every novel- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

Cultivate reader interest- Donald Maass

What counts as a substantial revision- Janet Reid- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The epic guide to book launch teams- Bookthority- Bookmark!

How to print dyslexia friendly books

Why your about page matters?- Joel Friedlander- Bookmark

3 free book marketing tools- Writelife

How to sell 100x more books – Bookbub Insight

10 ways to get noticed on Social Media

10 step book launch plan- Derek Murphy- Bookmark!!

 Publishing your first book- Frances Caballo

What writers should do right after publication- Writers Digest

To Finish,

Among the more interesting bookshops I have wandered into is The Comic Bookshop. It is a haven for the geek and nerd with collectable merch but also amazing comic books.

They are Indie in every way. Litreactor has an interesting article about 8 things a Comic book store can teach booksellers. As I was reading this I was thinking of all the bookstores I know that fit the bill. They are all Indie... funny that. Indie must be where the cool kids hang out.

Maureen

@craicer

My next newsletter is coming soon so if you want to get my best of the month roundup and other goodies make sure you subscribe and join the other cool kids. 

Thank you to the wonderful people who have bought me a coffee using the Kofi button.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ Pat  Ashley- Ice sculpture

Gazing Into The Crystal Ball

Over the last week I have been watching agents trying to figure out on Twitter what kinds of books might be popular in the upcoming few years based on the political upheavals in the U.S.

If you type in #MSWL in the Twitter search bar you can get a snapshot of what they are looking for. It got me thinking about what people read in times of political upheaval. Do they read safe stories or stories about how to cope when a society is disintegrating?

Kris Rusch has a great blog post on writing in difficult times. I think it’s a must read for every author.

Tara Sparling takes a different tack and screams for Book Heroin from Publishers who are playing it safe.

Slate has an interesting post on using sensitivity readers. These are readers representing the various communities you may be writing about to give your MS a beta read. But can their wishes change the story too much.

Litreactor has decided that we all need to take a deep breath and not post on Social Media about certain things. The list is not long but it is very pointed.

Getting a book distributed is a tricky thing if you are a self publisher. Jane Friedman has written a quick guide to get you started. New distributor on the block, Pronoun, has one upped Createspace. Looks like interesting times ahead.

Jeff Goins has a few words to say about book launches and he should know... He is one of the fastest selling non fiction authors around.

Simon Owens talks about using Patreon to support various writing projects. This is an interesting alternative to crowdfunding. Build your own paying tribe... which may be what's needed as The Guardian reports that Award winning writers are forced out of full time writing.

In The Craft Section,

Effective ways to make memorable characters- Dean Elphick

How to use schedules to write- Scott Myers- Bookmark

Formatting interiority- Mary Kole

What does an agent look for- Chip McGregor

Does your character description work?- Michael Hauge- Bookmark

Conflict between protagonists- Chris Winkle - Bookmark

Story hooks- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How long should your series be- Rachel Aaron- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

7 essentials for your book launch-Keely Keith- Bookmark

Content marketing and Selling Non Fiction Books Two great posts from Joanna Penn Bookmark

DIY Marketing tools – IngramSpark

But I don’t want to blog- Indies Unlimited

Online education as book marketing- Publishers Weekly

What’s new on your marketing list – Molly Greene

Are indie authors following the music script- Interesting article from Bookbaby

Going from launch to 1000 sales in 3 weeks- Kboards- Bookmark

Social Media Marketing myths- Bookmark

To Finish

A few years ago Anne R Allen published this great blog post which is still relevant. 12 signs your novel isn’t ready to publish. This checklist is always a good wakeup call. If you can tick all the boxes you might have the next book answer to that difficult question, what to read to escape from real life.

Maureen

@craicer

I’m nearly ready to send out my first newsletter of the year. If you want to get a monthly roundup of my best bookmarked links and other goodies... Subscribe.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons Mr Muggles 

Publishing Diagnosis

It’s that time of the year again when the quarterly Author Earnings report comes out. After 27 months of the data arrows for indie publishing going only up... this quarter they didn’t. 

Is this the beginning of the end? Are there earthquakes in publishing on the horizon?

Publishing Perspectives has a measured examination of the data. There are some interesting takeaways, especially if you are a traditionally published print based author.

James Scott Bell has been thinking about the publishing industry recently too. He wrote a great article on what authors need to know about the publishing industry today.

Porter Anderson talks to UK publisher Rebecca Smart about the need for flexibility in publishing. She was being interviewed ahead of the Frankfurt Book fair on the health of pre Brexit UK publishing.

This week Alli founder Orna Ross published an article telling Indies not to pay for Book Marketing services until they knew what the reality was. Orna was highlighting a real problem in the new author world, that of knowledge. You don’t know what you don’t know. Along with this there are some predatory firms out there targeting new authors helping to part them from their money. Alli have some good news on that front.

Beth Hill talks about getting ready for NaNoWriMo. October is prep month and Beth has some ideas for you to try to get ready. A successful month depends on planning well first.

Angela Ackerman has a great roundup of resources for writers looking to elevate their craft. Long time readers of this blog will recognise quite a few names as they have featured in my weekly roundups from time to time. There are some great writing craft books in there as well.

In The Craft Section,

5 tips if you are editing for the first time- GoTeenWriter

3 enemies of writer productivity

Start your outlines with 4 questions- K M Weiland

Using Meyers Briggs to craft compelling characters – Bibliocrunch

Series beginnings- Mary Kole- Bookmark

Working backwards to define the plot- Janice Hardy Bookmark

23 Book Writing tools- Apoyocorp

Nine ways to make readers care about an amoral character

In The Marketing Section,

How to boost interest in your book

Image editing tools

How to make the most out of Goodreads giveaways

7 things an author should do before publishing- Jane Friedman

How to self publish a print book-Joanna Penn Bookmark

Writing career business plan- Janalyn Voigt - Bookmark

5 pillars to boost email list growth- Adam Connell

Jane Friedman has a guest post on Facebook ads- Bookmark!

To Finish,

Joanna Penn has a great article on creativity. How to find and capture ideas for a novel. The best thing for a writer is to be curious. You have to exercise the idea muscle often. Start small and then one day you will discover ideas hitting you from all over the place. Capturing them is the best medicine.

Maureen Crisp

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ The Italian Voice

If you want to get a selection of the months best links and other writing prescriptions you should subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

Who Are You Really?

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Last week I linked to Chuck Wendig’s series of blog post on sexism and misogyny in The SFF and gamer community. It was hard hitting and an important wake up call to the writing community on what is appropriate behaviour in the 21^st century. (we can hope) The discussion is ongoing and Chuck turned his blog over to another Sci fi writer for her view on the topic. 

Writers are what they read became a theme and a separate blog post from Chuck. If your book shelves are full of dead white dudes...will your characters be authentic if they are different race, gender....

Another writer up against it this week has been Libba Bray. She has written a blog post that sears the soul on what it is like to have a novel not work...and how many different ways she has tried to make it work. Libba is a successful YA writer and this post is not for the writing faint of heart. It is gritty and realistic...I felt like reaching for the ‘juice box’ after reading it.

Another artist examining the soul this week was Amanda Palmer. On Twitter there’s a lot of comment from people who got ARC’s of Neil Gaimen’s latest book who think this book has shifted his writing into another gear. Amanda’s post on what it is like to see this creative process and the cost to your relationship gives you an appreciation of the joys and the pains of Art. Eyes wide open.

Beta readers are the subject of Porter Anderson’s Ether for Authors...kicking off with Hugh Howey suggesting that giving $10 each to five people to read your MS and tell you when they stopped and why this is better and cheaper than paying an editor first. Some interesting viewpoints in this one.

Writer Beware talks about shonky contracts being put out by a reputable publisher on an ebook romance imprint. The fine print is very fine... and dubious. Read and Be Aware!

Dean Wesley Smith has written a thought provoking blog post on writer self respect, contracts and genre publishing...publish... learn... publish... learn... and Trad will come calling.

Jami Gold looks at using Createspace as a learning experience.

Publisher's Weekly have a post on starting a new online journal for Librarians. With the success of Huff Post and other literary journals is the time right for an online Library Journal? 

In Craft,

Mary Kole urges you to pick the right time in writing dialogue...

Jordan McCollum spills the beans on Elisabeth Craig’s secrets to subplotting

Larry Brooks has a great post on story physics...Narrative Strategy.

Quick and Dirty Grammar...has the run down on comma errors...which one should you use?

Project Mayham has a great post on analysing the first 50 pages in midgrade.

What other writing can you do when you can’t write....nifty little post.

In Marketing,

Go straight to Indie Recon...their weeks focus on marketing blog posts are up.

The Book Designer has the run down on the copyright page.

Catherine Ryan Howard has the checklist for Self Publishing.

Indie Unlimited looks at getting the most out of Smashwords

Writer Unboxed has Do’s and Don’ts for Self Publishing.

The Creative Penn has a list of advice on why your books aren’t selling

To Finish,

If it all gets too much, change your name. The Passive Guy links to a site which explores pen names and why writers became someone else.

The weather is one of the wilder nights in the city known for wild weather... so I’m signing off before the power goes out. 

maureen