Navigating the Writing Road

This week was Book Expo.

What used to be the biggest Book Fair in America has been slimmed down. The fair was split into a Book Con and a Trade Book Fair.  Porter Anderson rounds up the key takeaways from the Book Expo conference on Wednesday. A big focus was children’s publishing and library trends.

Not everybody was impressed with the new look Book Expo. Independent publishers were being shunted off to the side and all the innovative Book Marketing companies are starting to court the Traditional publishers. Brooke Warner of She Writes Press examines Book Expo from a small publishers point of view.

Alongside Book Expo was Indie Author Fringe. This 24 hour conference was put together by the great folks at Alli - Alliance of Independent Authors. The conference theme was book marketing and there are some standout presentations up on the Alli blog. I have been dipping into them all week. Just chock full of brilliant advice. For a taster check out Chris Well's presentation on Media Kits for Authors.

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Nick Stephenson on managing time and it is really worth taking some time to listen or watch her podcast. There are so many ways to automate what you do.

Another great podcast to drop into is SFF Marketing. Lindsay Buroker and co hosts Jeff Poole and Joe Lallo  talked this week about all the hot tips Joe learned from Book Expo on Book Marketing.

Bookbub also pulled together a great roundup of 7 marketing takeaways from Book Expo.

Jami Gold has put together a great roundup table of contents for all her indie publishing series of posts. This has been a mammoth series over two years. It is more than a 101 course... more like a Masters degree.

Kris Rusch continues her branding series with a great post on Brand Identity. If you have been wondering how to straddle genres or just what exactly is author branding you need to check out this article.

With the introduction of Amazon Charts there has been some discussion about the worth of bestseller lists. Amazon breaks up their charts by Most Sold and Most Read, they are not the same and there is no distinction on genre. (New HP Covers anyone?) Polygraph Lit Magazine’s new imprint, Pudding, takes a look at gender bias on the bestseller lists and in MFA programmes.

Publishers Weekly interviewed the outgoing chair of the Independent Book Publishers Association about his radical idea for Bookstores.Why don’t they have Book Espresso machines and other goodies... They could be a hub for the community... and sell ... BOOKS.

If you have ever thought about owning your own bookstore... It is now possible with Aerio. Have a curated list of books on your own website and get an affiliation cut if anyone buys a book from you. Judith Briles tells you how to do it.

This week I have been hearing about the rise of audio books and how this section of the industry is taking off. Savvy authors out there are holding onto audio rights. But now the big publishers are waking up to this gold mine. Michael Sullivan posted a breakdown on his wranglings with his Traditional Publisher Del Rey and why they are parting ways. Audio rights was the break point. This is a must read for any traditionally published author.

In The Craft Section,

Making unlikeable characters likeable- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Three types of Character Arcs – Sara Letourneau - Bookmark

Are you a writer or a storyteller- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Hiring an editor-Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Stop info dumps before they start- Jennie Nash

Collaboration mistakes to avoid- Joanna Penn and J Thorn- Bookmark

Create Awesome Female Villains- Sacha Black

In The Marketing Section,

Best categories for book sales on Amazon- Bookbaby- Bookmark

Newsletter surveys- Kate Tilton

The ultimate cheat sheet on queries- Bookmark

No one is born famous- Penny Sansevieri

Marketing your books as a group (another author collective idea)-Bookmark

Q and A on Kindle worlds and fan marketing- Aleatha Romig

Tips for selling more books on Amazon- Written Word Media

To Finish,

Navigating your way through all the advice on writing is almost a fulltime job. But have you thought about the journeys your characters are taking on the page. Writer Unboxed examines Google Maps and how you can plot out your characters journey in real time.

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces.  Get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes when you subscribe. Thanks for hitting the kofi button this week. I’m living on caffeine as mother of the bride.
 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons Mike Tually

Shiny New Toys for Authors

What more can Amazon come up with to change the publishing landscape? 

(I hear you whimpering.) The Kindle, Subscription reading, CreateSpace, Audible, GoodReads... Taaa Daa.... Amazon Charts.

No more wondering what book is the biggest seller... No more wondering if anybody has even read the bestseller or if the publisher bought the slot. Now every Wednesday you can find out... and that’s not all everyone in publishing is talking about. Porter Anderson takes a look at the first list.

Reedsy has published a white paper where they examine the take up of editorial freelancers to Traditional Publishers. With everyone outsourcing for editing, design, formatting, proofing etc, in publishing, is everyone on a level playing field?

Scribd has finally ‘fessed up to how big their subscriber base is... and they have added newspaper subscriptions... so is this where we are headed? Instead of subscribing individually to news outlets we subscribe to a service and have a buffet from everyone?

Digital Book World takes a close look at why audiobook growth is soaring.

Along with The Creative Penn podcast I like to drop in to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing podcast. This week, the team were the interviewees. This was a great listen on what they are all individually doing to market their work. (After all they’ve learned from their guests....)

Kris Rusch continues her branding series of posts with a meaty article on the first things to define when you are sorting out your brand. This is a writer must read. Even if you think you know what you are doing, take the time to read this.

Jane Friedman has an interesting post on how mainstream media outlets sometimes highlight the wrong thing in a publishing story... She uses the latest publishing news about Amazon changing the buy buttons on their site as an example. Are 3^rd party operators really that bad if they bid for and get control of the buy button on your book?

If you are wondering about how you can get the word out about your book... Check out The Book Blogger List... It is an amazing resource of who’s who in the Book Blog review world.

How to form an Indie Collective (There she goes again... Seriously, why wouldn’t you?) Take a look at all the different ways you can use each others expertise.

In The Craft Section,

Choosing the right protagonist- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Two great posts from Now Novel- How to write a classic and Writing Suspense Cliffhangers

How to write better endings- Writers On The Move

Writing subtext- Forever Writers- Bookmark

Memorable protagonists

Creating believable characters- Grace Rankin

Romantic Subplots- Writers Write

In The Marketing Section,

How to write an author bio- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Amazon ads for indies-Frances Caballo

Using Statistics to find your ideal reader- Bookworks

Children’s Book covers-Penny Sansevieri

Creating a successful email campaign- Bibliocrunch

Optimizing your back cover- Bookworks- Bookmark

Content marketing for authors- WritetoDone

Go local in your publicity first- The Book Designer

Using Goodreads effectively- Barb Drozdowich- Bookmark

To Finish,

Jami Gold has rounded up some interesting resources for the cash strapped author. Oooh Shiny Shiny... and I’m not just talking about the way to put glitter animation on your book cover...

Maureen

@craicer

In 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. Thanks everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love