My daughter has been wandering the house singing ‘Happy
Birthday New Zealand’ loudly as I try to collect my thoughts to put together
this weeks roundup of opinion tips tricks and trends in publishing.
The collecting my thoughts bit has been haphazard over the
last year with different things happening in this very busy... occasionally
chaotic... household. My elder daughter back from Uni observed...Mum you don’t
have a dedicated writing space anymore and put her finger on something that has
been niggling me. So this week I got the chance to join a writing friend for
four hours a day and just write...well write and plan a new children’s writing
project that is as light as I can make it and a great challenge if I can pull
it off.
Writing with another person in the room is interesting... there is a
mental whip hanging over you... the other person will see if I don’t keep at
it. When we take a break for lunch we talk over something frustrating us in our
project and bang the answer seems to be crystal clear coming from the other
writing head, who is finishing a memoir project.
Another interesting side effect...is arriving ready to work.
The twenty minute journey on a good day down the motorway...has me shedding,
with each kilometer, household concerns. When they are all gone I can begin to
think of my writing project and in pops something that I really need to take
notice of.
Russell Blake puts it well with his great 3 D’s blog post onwriting.
Rebecca Smart wrote in her opinion piece for The Bookseller
an interesting observation about publishing in Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Publishing must become flexible and agile to stay afloat. This post
has been resonating through the blogosphere as it comes from a publisher.
Porter Anderson looks at the continuing debate over Mike
and Chucks opinion pieces, that I profiled last week and how the debate has widened and almost polarised people into two different nations.
Bob Mayer has looked at the debates around self publishing
over the last few weeks and written his perspective about being agile as a publisher. How he is walking the talk and bridging the gap between both sides.
Last week I mentioned the #EtherIssue debate on giving
percentages to all collaborators in a self publishing project. Porter Anderson published an excellent roundup of the Twitter debate and has set the topic for
the new debate. (5am our time tho)
Yesterday Icelandic author Baldur Bjarnason wrote a great piece on ethics in publishing. This is a great observation on what many commentators are seeing as the great divide between the two different
publishing communities. (Traditional and Self Publishing)
Elisabeth Spann Craig has written a great post on her self publishing mistakes that have her readers saying Bookmark this!
Dean Wesley Smith has written a great post on publishing schedules. Always something to learn from Dean!
Publishers Weekly has highlighted the 6 best blogs to read if you want to keep up on what is happening in publishing.
In Craft,
Janice Hardy on strengthening your writing and studying the wake up scene.
Rachel Gardner on thinking of your muse as a puppy that
needs training and Good first drafts.
Writers Workout looks at divorcing the draft.
Sci Fi writers – you need this tool, Stellarium.
K M Weiland- when your protagonist is MIA.
In Marketing,
Joanna Penn on getting reviews and marketing
Melinda Szymanik on what should be included in info to reviewers
Bibliocrunch on using Dropbox to review epub files and what
your epub file size should be for each outlet.
To Finish,
Today is Waitangi Day, or the day we commemorate the signing
of a ‘mutual respect’ treaty between two nations which began the
‘establishment’ of our country 174 years ago. Our biggest selling newspaper
shot itself in the foot in my opinion by using a stupid fist raised logo to
advertise there were no pictures of protests in today’s coverage of the annual
commemoration ceremonies. Waitangi Day should be a day when we, as a nation,
look at ourselves critically. 174 years ago Maori Chiefs sat down and debated
among themselves for three days about whether they would sign a treaty. There
were protests and arguments and very pointed questions aimed at the British
about what was in it for them. Protest and debate shine a spotlight on what is
not working well in a partnership. In the last forty years the watershed
moments in our nation’s history (Land Marches, Nuclear Free ... ) were all
aired at Waitangi. Denying that there is protest is not responsible or ethical
journalism.
PS This post was supposed to be up last night…the computer ate my homework….
Maureen
Pic from Dylan Horrocks…His Logo Fix for the NZ Herald.
