In Publishing News this week…
As a teacher by trade, I have a special interest in encouraging children to read. Reading widens their horizons and can unlock the most amazing movies in your head. Reading can be a safe way of exploring a different world environment from your own, an escape, a comfort, and a learning opportunity. I have been watching the book banning in school libraries in the US with concern. My heart goes out to teachers trying to do the best for their students. This latest attack on teachers fills me with despair. Banning children’s books is a slippery slope to banning education for some children and then you become just like… ( Pick your repressive regime.)
Brandon Sanderson went back on Kickstarter yesterday. He was only looking for $50,000 to fund figurines. Of course, he blew by that figure in the first hour or so. Brandon explains what he has learned about Kickstarter from earlier in the year and how he will be using it in the future.
Kris Rusch also talks about Kickstarter and how you can structure it for your own author career. She has a free course for authors if you want to learn more about it.
Spotify announced that they are beginning audiobook trials and have some exciting things lined up. Audio streaming is going to be shaking up the audiobook world. I think we may be at the tipping point from nice to have new format to necessary to have new format.
Big Bad Wolf has entered Africa. This is the first time they have moved to another continent. Mark Williams talks about their potential impact. They are only bringing 500,000 books for 12 days. (That’s books in the English language- ‘rescued’ from being pulped by publishers who won’t be paying a royalty to the author for ‘destroyed’ books.) So if there is such a demand for these books how come they don’t get sold in these regions in the first place?
Mark has been looking at the ongoing mess, now in its second month, that is the distribution arm of the UK’s biggest chain bookstore, Waterstones. Waterstones is trying to climb out of the pit by asking publishers for help. Their plea to publishers to send books to individual stores has not gone down well. That’s 300 stores x post and packing and inventory etc. Smaller publishers are going to the wall over this.
Meanwhile, one children’s publisher in the UK is looking further afield. Nosy Crow have been around for 12 years but is about to invade the US. Publishing Perspectives has the details on how they will be shaking up children’s publishing.
The Alliance of Independent Authors has been talking about author overwhelm. They have a great article where many authors were asked how they deal with this very real problem in the writing community.
Suzanne DeFreitas has a guest post over on Jane Friedman’s blog on Writerly Grit and how it leads to publishing success. Writerly Grit does not mean ploughing on alone, in fact it’s the opposite.
In The Craft Section,
Is deep POV always the best choice- Jami Gold- Bookmark
Do you know the central conflict of your story?- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark
400 story ideas from Scott Myers
10 important don’ts to think about- Lucy Hay
Understanding the 7 types of Archetypes- Now Novel Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
How to email a press release- Sandra Beckwith
Back cover copy tips from Judith Briles- Bookmark
5 self-publishing mistakes writers make- Bang2Write
15 clever book promo ideas- Servicescape- Bookmark
How to choose best colours for graphics and branding- Infographic- Frances Caballo- Bookmark
To Finish,
There has always been a fascination with finding out how other writers write. Are you a Plotter or a Pantser? Is one better than the other? Do you kill creativity with plotting carefully? Recently Ada Plamer wrote an interesting article on Tor.com on how the plotting pantsing divide has been greatly exaggerated. It’s not all in on one side or the other but something in the middle.
Once you figure out your process the books will be easier to write, won’t they?
Thanks for the kind words for last week's post -Number 700. Cake was eaten for breakfast as the news broke. R.I.P. Queenie. We will not see your like again.
Maureen
@craicer
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Pic Photo by Freddy Kearney on Unsplash
