Looking for Rainbows!

 

In Publishing News this week,

Microsoft launched a non-fiction publishing arm publishing original research, ideas and insights from the intersection of science, technology, and business. Publisher’s Weekly reports on this venture that looks like a mashup of a research journal and a vanity imprint.

 

Sharjah International Book Fair clocks up nearly 2 million visitors. Publishing Perspectives looks at the huge impact of the fair.

Bologna is starting to ramp up its planning and guests five months out from the big children’s book fair scheduled for the end of March. With the roaring success of the Chinese Children’s Book Fair will they be implementing any new ideas?

 

There is a lot of comment around the news of the HarperCollins AI deal that has publishers and writers talking. Publishers Weekly looks in depth at the implications for agents and writers. Under the terms HC want to split 50/50 the pot of cash for allowing AI to scrape the book. Everybody has an opinion. Authors Guild has come out with their recommendation. Don’t take the money. Publishers have a different view, it looks so sweet and backlists are just sitting there.

 

Joanna Penn commented on her podcast that in the space of a year the mood of authors has changed around using AI tools. She is just back from Author Nation – the rebranded 20books Vegas conference (also known as the biggest writers conference in the world.) AI can offer shortcuts and great tools to help with mundane tasks but it shouldn’t be used to create the content. 

Josh Bernoff writes about how his developmental editing business is being impacted by AI writing. It’s harder to edit AI generated content because it is inconsistent, repetitive, and a grammar mess. AI shouldn’t replace your own writing voice.

 

Meanwhile, after the election, the publishing industry is trying to make plans or sense of what might be coming down the track in the brave new world after January. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard details the lawsuits that face publishing from the president elect already and how this might be a sign of things to come. It looks like a lucrative time to be a lawyer.

Kathleen Schmidt from Publishing Confidential points out where publishing can learn from the election.

 

Jennie Liu writes about the authors note… that’s the page in your novel where you write about your influences. Readers love them… authors struggle.

 

Michelle Baker has a post on the five fears of writers and how to defeat them. (Don’t reach for the alcohol just yet.)

James Scott Bell reassures a young writer that writing can be good again in his excellent piece on writing past discouragement. 

Ellen Buikema has a great post on Writers In The Storm about Writing Anxiety and how to overcome it. 

Look after your mental health- give yourself healthy writing challenges, check in with your writing friends. Remember, you write so your readers can escape from stressful lives. You are vital to each other and the general population. Be the rainbow after the storm!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to trust yourself as a writer- K M Weiland- Bookmark

What are the stakes- how to find out- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Nailing teen dialogue in YA Fiction- Kris Maze

Humorous scenes  – Dale Smith- Bookmark

Balancing showing with telling- C S Lakin

 

In the Marketing Section,

18 book marketing tips from the trenches- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Harnessing the power of AI for author branding- Kimberley Grabas- Bookmark

Identify your most successful marketing paths- Emily Enger- Bookmark

Colleen Story on Selling at Craft Fairs- YouTube video

The best concepts of Write to Market-Karen Whiting

 

To Finish

Look Rainbows!

 

It’s Black Friday sales time so here are some writer focused deals. Some of these are time sensitive so don’t wait around. 

 

The Dream Team – Angela And Becca have a roundup of some great writer deals for software and craft books.

 

Don’t forget Storybundle still has their collection of writing craft books up until the end of November if you are looking for good cheap craft books. 

 

Katie Weiland has 25% off all her courses and books. (I snapped up her new revised expanded edition on structure. I loved her first edition!)

 

David Gaughran has links to the EXCELLENT AppSumo deal from Deposit Photos. This is a total no brainer if you do your own book covers or ad images. $49 lifetime deal on 100 stock photos or videos- limited time! Dave also has a video showing how to use two stock images to generate a whole ad campaign. 

 

Amid the depressing news there are little gems to make you smile. And these deals might just help with that.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Agustin Gunawan on Unsplash

Just When You Thought It was Safe

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The Gremlins got into my blog and sent people off on a wild goose chase looking for my post last week. I am still trying to fix it so eagle eyed readers will notice that my header has gone back to the old old Blogspot address.

If you missed last week’s post, Writing Resistance, you can check it out here. And if you are a week or so behind you can check out the 800^th blog post here. Thank you to the readers who alerted me to the problem. You are the best!

 

As we wrap up October, National Book Month (US) The Independent Publishers Association published an article on The Copyright Alliance's website about the importance of copyright and the current moves to allow AI to erode it.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard highlights the success that educational publisher Pearson is having with AI and customized lesson plans. I was caught by the last line on the continued relevance of print in the classroom. I want to cling on to the printed book with two hands but the future might have other ideas.

 

Two trade authors who were having moderate success separately have teamed up at the request of their publishers to produce books. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the pairing and why they are now having more success as part of a team. This could be a great move or a horrible can of worms depending on their publisher support.

 

Scribd, almost the last of the all-you -can-eat digital subscription model, has now bowed to the inevitable and is introducing tiered pricing. The unlimited digital reading experience was great to get people into the eco system but whale readers, who read a book a day, can quickly have reading subscription services in the red. They read faster than the subscription model can make money.

 

Publishing Perspectives have a quick run down on the publisher’s conference in Sharjah that is happening next week. They are getting bigger every year.

 

Dan Holloway takes a look at the results of the Written Word Media Survey and there is a big chunk of change going into romance and fantasy authors pockets. 

 

John Gilstrap wrote this week of an unnerving experience when an AI muscled in on his Zoom call. This surprised everyone but what happened next was cause for concern. 

 

The Alliance of Independent authors have shone a spotlight onto contract clauses to watch out for in serialized fiction. It is useful to glance over these stories so you are familiar with contract language and what to look out for.

 

Jane Friedman looks at the recent moans about Print On Demand and the perceived lower quality of these books coming out from big publishers. For years the printing industry has been asking publishers to standardize their print sizes. With Print on Demand they may be getting their way at last.

 

Amazon is tightening up on author claims of being 'best selling' and 'award winning.' If you use these slogans in your marketing be prepared to show the evidence. Penny Sansevieri has a run down on what is happening. 

 

It’s always interesting to drop into Maria Popova’s blog The Marginalien to explore language and all its little quirks. Recently she explored the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig and shared some beautiful words for feelings that we don’t have a name for. This is an article to savor and a book to buy the word nerd in your life.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to end a scene- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

How to use Goal Motivation and Conflict- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Why conflict drives a story- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark

7 tips to avoid overwriting- C S Lakin- Bookmark

How to hook readers with character descriptions- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

5 reasons to consider translating- Angela Ackerman

Best communities for marketing- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

The ultimate book cover reveal – Sandra Beckwith-Bookmark

ISBN’s made easy- Comprehensive article – N.B. ISBN’s are free in NZ

9 Key reasons why your book is not selling.- Laurence O’Bryan

 

To Finish

If you haven’t discovered Canva yet and yes there are some authors who haven’t. Check out this powerful friendly design site. There are heaps of templates for marketing as well as Book Cover designs, banners, Ads, Video’s Reels etc. Canva is free and it also has a paid tier. The free tier can give you pretty much everything. Author, Jeevani Charika has a YouTube channel to help authors get the most out of Canva. Canva has just dropped a whole lot of new features. Jeevani shows you how you can use them. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate all your kind virtual coffee love, 

Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Nikola Tasic on Unsplash

 

Reaching A Milestone

 

In Publishing News this week

 

It’s Frankfurt Bookfair time and publishers are showing off their booths on social media.

Publishers Weekly has a report on the first of the big stage moments – the CEO’s of 3 of the biggest publishing houses talking about aspects of modern publishing and the challenges to change the industry.

 

Publishing Perspectives has an in depth chat with Philippians publishers who are guests of honour at Frankfurt about their publishing business and the challenges of a western publishing model. 

 

Amazon has released a new Kindle according to GoodEreader. Spotify have expanded their audio book business into Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. The numbers of books in these languages are growing all the time. 

 

Nielsen Book data have released their half yearly global report on which countries are reading and what they were buying. Fiction was more popular than non fiction. Many countries sales were staying the same or dipping slightly except for New Zealand which has had a nearly 10% decline in book buying. (Come On Kiwi’s- buy a book!)

 

The Guardian has an article on why bookshops are the new cool place to shop. It seems everyone is looking for the curated experiences and community that bookshops bring to the shopping experience.

 

While bookshops might be the place to hang out, this is not so true for the writers who provide the books. The income of writers has been steadily declining. In a recent article many writers who in the past would have been receiving a modest income are now struggling. ‘It’s a hobby not a profession anymore.’

 

Joanna Penn has been celebrating a milestone with her podcast. It has racked up over 10 million downloads. She examines the highs and learnings she has gained from having a popular podcast.

 

James Scott Bell has a great post on how writing can sometimes feel like trudging over the tar pits. It’s a wry look at the writer’s dilemma – when the book is not working where do you cut. 

 

Katie Weiland has made it to the end of her Structure series with a close look at resolution. This has been a super series and if you have been following along you should definitely check out her book on Structure. (It’s really good!)

 

In The Craft Section,

6 cheats to tell well- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Clues to a great story- The Pixar talk- Bookmark

Using Chekov’s gun strategically- Kevin Tumlinson

How to write a short story- ProWritingAid

Murky middles and how to strengthen them- Kristen Melville- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Authors are assets not competition- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Finding Readers who write reviews- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

When you need an author website- Grace Bialeckie

How to make a book trailer- Reedsy 

We are all marketers- Ann Marie Nieves Bookmark

 

Finish

This is my 800^th blog post. I feel like I have been talking publishing and writing forever. 

The blog has given me into some interesting insights into the publishing world. I think we can say that the experiment of the Kindle as not killed publishing. It is continually evolving. It has been interesting to see the rise of audiobooks and the changes that Indie Publishers have forced the traditional publishing houses to take. 

Staying nimble in this business is the key to success. I hope that you have learned along with me and that I have not bored you. 

A huge thanks to those who have been with me from the beginning. I’m still interested in this world, so I’ll keep going for a little while longer.

All celebrations should have cake… I’m off to find one.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, or celebratory cake, I appreciate all your kind virtual coffee love, 

Thanks.

 

 

Accessing your Fearless Superpower

 

 

This week in Publishing News

Coming soon are the new European Union laws on accessibility. This matters as digital books, if they are being sold in Europe, will need to comply with the accessibility guidelines. Publishing Perspectives reports that publishers are already asking for more clarification. Meanwhile Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors has written a quick breakdown of what you need to do. First, use the Epub format.

 

Frankfurt Bookfair is ready to start, and Porter Anderson interviewed the fellows in the Special Program. They are all publishers who are near or in war zones. This is an interesting article that shines a light of the problems of publishing in a war zone.

 

Mark Williams looks at how Korea is managing to be nimble as they stay ahead of trends. This is interesting as smaller publishers can quickly pivot into new genre trends. It’s all about Horror right now but Happiness is around the corner.

 

Written Word Media has a comprehensive guide to Tax Deductions for authors. Even though the article is skewed towards the American tax system there are still items that go across all taxed nations. Take a look you might be able to claim back some tax.

 

Kevin Anderson has curated another StoryBundle of Writing Craft books. StoryBundle is a great way to get books – You pay what you think they are worth- The Author gets the money- A charity gets a slice, and everybody is happy. Don’t forget that reference books can be claimed on Tax as professional development.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Ariel Curry on non fiction writing and marketing recently. If you have some non fiction projects that you want to dig your teeth into, check out the podcast transcript.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive guide on the Ethical and Practical use of AI for authors. This is a very useful article to help you understand how to use AI tools. Publishers are already getting on the AI train. You don’t need to use it for creativity but it could speed up those mundane challenging jobs that are part and parcel of the authors world.

 

Colleen Story has a great post on How to identify your writing business relationship type. She uses 5 well known stories to help you pinpoint where your writer business is and how you could help it get better.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have ticked over nine years with their great website One Stop For Writers. Take a look at all their resources and take advantage of the birthday discount. 

 

Greer McAlister has an interesting post in Writer Unboxed about ideas and how you can have many of them but they aren’t necessarily book ideas. Figuring out which ones are book ideas is the hard part.

 

Katie Weiland is up to the climax in her story structure series of posts. This is where the story lives or dies.

In The Craft Section,

All the different words for hard- Kathy Steinemann

Vulnerability in fiction- Angela Ackerman

The book in your head vs the book you write- Kathleen McCleary - Bookmark

Beta reader options- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

7 tips for perfect character names- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Writing good bio’s- Bang 2 Write- Bookmark

How to be a great guest blogger- Sandra Beckwith

Lessons in Business Cards and Bookmarks- Debbie Burke- Bookmark

How Substack is revolutionizing writer careers- Jaime Buckley

How to get your book into libraries- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is admit that you are an author. Aside from the inane comments like – have I read anything that you have written, or I’ve got an idea for a book, you write it and we’ll split the money, writers can feel shame that they have written something that didn’t quite work. Jennie Case writes about these feelings on Jane Friedman’s blog. It is natural to feel hesitant when you put your writing out there. But you do it. This is what Bridey Thelen-Heidel calls Fearless Writing. How to look the world in the eye and write and live fearlessly.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by James Healy on Unsplash

Dedicated to the Business of Writing

  

In Publishing News this week,

 

 Coming To a Book Fair near you…the Bologna Children’s Book Fair is touring to other book fairs. They are showcasing a pop up Pre Bologna experience. Porter Anderson explains why the ‘fair’ is making guest appearances and how it hopes to drum up more interest in its expanded format offerings.

 

The Oxford University Press recently settled their employees collective bargaining contract and everything looked rosy until they abruptly terminated a whole teams employment this week. Mark Williams offers his acerbic take on the news which must be how their employees are feeling now.

 

Amazon is holding out an AI carrot to Narrators. The Verge reports that Amazon Audible Narrators can now clone their voices and use them for projects. It is in beta but still it could be a lifeline for narrators whose livelihood is under threat from AI narration.

Meanwhile there is a new kid on the block offering 50 % profits to authors who want to provide audio options for their blogs and other written material. Check out Spoken, which is also in beta. Providing audio narration seems to be the 2024 big format mover.

 

Joanna Penn recently chatted with Sacha Black on pivoting genres. This is a chance to listen to two powerhouse writers and speakers chat about their different author business and how they are staying relevant and successful. Check out the podcast/transcript.

Joanna is also celebrating 13 years as a full time author and all the lessons she has learned along the way. Every year at her anniversary she does a roundup show about her journey to where she is and how the last year has shaped up for her. Congratulations Joanna. 

 

Reuters reports that a class action has been taken against Academic publishers over their non payment of peer reviews which effectively amounts to price fixing in the academic publishing world. They report that academic publishers made over $10 billion dollars last year and paid out nothing to the people who provided the work. If you speak to any scientist you will hear this complaint constantly. When you publish an academic paper you have to pay the journal to take it. (Cost: thousands) Then the journal demands a peer review of an academic paper in the same field (which is done for free.) The journal publishes the paper and demands that the university pay a massive subscription so they can access their own research. Add in academic textbooks to a captive student population and you can see why they are rolling in money. Kudos to the neuroscientist professor who has finally had enough and brought the class action. I just want to know why it has taken so long for the scientists to do this? (career suicide anyone?)

 

Sue Coletta takes issue with a recent article written by AI on how to respond to 1 star reviews or even 4 star reviews. The advice given was Bad… very bad. Sue relates why you should never engage with reviewers.

Staying with reviewers and the fabulous Killzone blog, Elaine Viets writes about one reviewers annoyance at seeing the same things happening in book after book. Publishers should be picking up these errors. Check out the gripe list.

 

Katie Weiland has an outstanding article on trusting yourself as a writer. When do you know enough to write a good story? This is a print out and stick on the wall article.

 

In The Craft Section,

Should your novel have a prologue- Lucy Hay

How to resolve a characters internal arc- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Torn between two projects -James Scott Bell – Bookmark

A deep look at deep editing – C S Lakin-Bookmark

5 unexpected plot devices to consider- Savannah Cordova

 

In The Marketing Section

Two interesting articles on Book Promotion from Bookbaby- How to create revenue streams and Book promotion ideas- Bookmark

Building an author platform- Bookbub- Bookmark

Supercharge your mailing list- Cori Ramos- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

 

You have finished the book… the editor is happy. You have checked page proofs until your brain is fried. Then the knotty problem of who to dedicate the book to rears its head. Which family member … friend… inspiration… will you choose? Sophie Masson writes about the perils of dedications in books.

 

I am fast coming up to another big milestone with the Craicer blog. I have to dedicate all the many articles to the readers of the blog. Of course, as a teacher and learner I am hardwired for research and talking about what I learn so I would do it anyway. It is nice to hear that I’ve helped writers along the way with the right article at the right time or a new income stream or just greater knowledge of the world of publishing. The occasional tip into the coffee fund has been greatly appreciated over the years too. 

Thanks for reading.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Belief In Your Voice

  

In Publishing News this week,

 

There were accolades and ‘I remember’s’ all over Social Media when Alice Munro died this week. Alice was a ground breaking short story writer awarded the 2013 Nobel prize in Literature for her work and was often cited as one of the finest writers in the last 50 years.

 

In audiobook news, Bonnier books joined Spotify’s audiobook premium offer. Publishing Perspectives reports that Spotify has over 200 million premium subscribers and they are listening to backlist audio books. With Harper Collins move into AI voiced audiobooks for their backlist (in the blog a few weeks ago) the publishers have found another pot of gold to exploit.

 

Meanwhile, The Bookseller reports on a hybrid first- mixing real narrator, digital voices and AI into an audiobook.

 

The EU has signed their AI Act into law and it will be in effect from June. It is more comprehensive than the United States law or the UK. The fines are whopping. Keep an eye out for expert commentary for how the law will affect publishing going forward.

 

Dan Holloway reports that Open AI, the tech firm behind ChatGPT, have disbanded their risk team. This seems particularly short sighted as a risk team might have alerted them that Scarlet Johannsson was about to launch a lawsuit against them for copying her voice.

 

Spare a thought for the Spanish language publishers. Their children’s books are in hot demand, but they can’t get them picked up in their own countries. If the book comes from America, it is a different story. Publishers are resorting to opening American offices so they can get American ISBN’s. Publishing Perspectives reports on the conundrum.

 

Anne R Allen has a great post on genre, comps and categories or where does your book belong on the shelf. This is an excellent rundown on why subcategories are important in marketing your book.

 

Dave Chesson has a must read article on the importance of making sure you have licenses for the fonts you use. Just because it’s on word doesn’t make it free to use in your print book or eBook.

 

Lisa Gardner has an interesting post on the 10 things she has learned as a crime fiction writer for 30 years. 

 

Sandra Beckwith has 9 writing tools and resources she can’t do without. Mug warmers anyone?

 

How are your endings? Katie Weiland has a great post on troubleshooting your endings to make them the best they can be.

 

Angela Ackerman is guest posting on Jami Gold’s site with a great article on the inner character arc. How do we get resolve the inner conflict and give the character layers?

 

In the Craft Section,

Character failure responses- Angela Ackerman

Writing for your readers-Linda Clare

The first million words are practice- Draft2Digital

How to avoid reader déjà vu- Jami Gold Bookmark

The three rules of point of view- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Novel writing words of wisdom- Dale Smith- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Powering through the unfun parts of the job- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Types of videos authors can make- Rob Bignell

Book marketing strategies on a budget- Dale Roberts- Bookmark

Human centered book marketing- Joanna Penn talks to Dan Blank-Bookmark

Converting Word docs to ePub- Jane Friedman

 

To Finish,

How do you know when you have a big enough story to tell? This is a question that can send the writer into a spin. Some compensate by throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the story. Others can’t write the story because it doesn’t feel compelling. Jane Friedman has an excerpt from Robin Finn’s book on self belief and the limits we place on ourselves when we are writing.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

pic Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash