Last week the blogosphere was filled with reaction to Hugh Howey’s new website in aid of authors. Hugh got what he wanted, lots of
dialogue...lots and lots of dialogue.
Discussion was everywhere. Porter Anderson took a look at what was being said... all sides of the report are being debated (tho
interestingly very few traditionally published authors are saying anything at
all.)
Last week Hugh’s first report looked at the top selling
genre’s. This weeks report he takes a whopping 54,000 sample snapshot and looks at the other genres including childrens books (not YA)
Ebooks are not big in the children’s publishing world,
compared to the numbers you see out there for adult genre titles, so it is
interesting to get a little look into what might be around the corner.
This week, a friend who teaches in a not very affluent
school, down the road, noted that all her kids had ipads and she was looking
for good reading apps to download onto them. I would be very
interested in seeing the numbers of Educational and Story Apps out there... and
I wonder if Transmedia is where children’s publishing may be heading rather
than an ebook take up.
Print is still king in the children’s publishing world
despite what Hugh says.
Interesting times...
Among the debates around the reports are the increasing
recognition that Hybrid authors (who straddle Trad and Indie) are doing OK.
Jami Gold takes a look at this in a very interesting post on hybrid authors and small publishers.
Julie Muesil guest, Alex Cavanaugh looks at the small publisher side of the equation.
Yahoo Finance blog also weighs in with a publishing is not dying post.
Writer Unboxed has a must read post on Plan B when the
career/contract/book dream seems over.
Chuck has written his final post on the subject of selfpublishing... and the report. (usual warnings) He has a great conclusion ‘We should demand the best and most
beautiful of one another. Not encourage the worst and ugliest.’
Passive Guy took some time out to look at a contract story
that had the publisher say to the negotiator – You don’t like the contract
–self publish...in other words, I aint gonna change it. This brings up all
sorts of issues- Take a look.
In Craft,
Elisabeth S Craig looks at the pro’s and con’s of outlining.
(I agree with her)
K M Weiland looks at the Antagonist needing a mushy moment...(say what?)
Janice Hardy Looks at what a good proof reader can do for you...(yes yes yes)
Archetypes Vs Stereotypes and Do you know the difference???
5 Voice Tools to help you write without a keyboard...(I’m
trying out Evernote)
In Marketing,
One comprehensive post... Seven strategies and over 100 links to find readers and reviewers
The incomparable Kris Rusch (who’s Retrieval Agent story I
just raced through) has Part 9 on her
Discoverability series of marketing blogposts and it is a bookmark read...as is all the others in her series.
Janet Reid Lit Agent explains (begs) how to do a book comparison in a query properly.
Website: The 2nd Indie ReCon Free Online Conference is on next week. 10,000 people dropped in last year... and it was an
amazing line up. Check out this years line up and try to catch it. Everything
Indie.
To Finish,
Creativity is the one thing we fall back on in our writing...
we need to be creative.
Here are two posts on Creativity - 3 Career Investments Every Creative Should Be Making and The Seven Stages Of Creativity -a new perspective on writing a book.
maureen
