Crisis Mode

This week I put the above cartoon on my Facebook page. To me, it highlights the disconnect of the world that our children are facing and how we are trying to protect them from it. Sometimes I have muttered under my breath at the latest dire news bulletin ‘Stop the world I want to get off.’ But it is important to take a deep breath and continue to support the changemakers. This month UK children’s publishing house Greystones announced that all their non-fiction books coming out will be issues-driven. (I wish that we didn’t have to have preschool books explaining climate change. Gulp.)

Publishing Perspectives reports on the changes to Book Expo for next year. In the past, the changes have resulted in very dissatisfied publishers and agents so 2020 Book Expo is almost a return to normality except that its shorter. Why, when the book industry is supposed to be expanding?

The week has been filled with reaction to the Medium article by Heather Demetrios -How to lose a third of a million dollars without really trying. This sad little tale comes from an Author who got big advances for debut novels and then watched the dream descend into a nightmare. 

For two very interesting perspectives on this article, you need to read Dean Wesley Smith and learn about what you don’t know. Then read Chuck Wendig for a dose of reality.
This is a business. After the flowers and the Champaign of your first book launch, you need to understand the book world and you need to ask questions. There is no question too dumb as Chuck points out in his own style.

Chris Syme has an interesting guest post on Anne R Allen’s blog this week about crisis management. When an author needs crisis management… it’s not as bad as you think it is.

David Gaughran, the fearless knight defender of the little author, writes about a book exhibit scam that is wrapped up in a veneer of publishing respectability. The big Book Fair comes around and there are companies ready and willing to take your book and exhibit it to the international book-buying world. Yeah, about that….. 

This week Joanna Penn interviewed James Scott Bell on his latest craft book- The Last 50 Pages. If you haven’t come across James Scott Bell’s craft books check them out. He is a master at showing another way to look at craft!

In The Craft Section,

Character development tips - Now Novel- Bookmark

Creating memorable characters- David Griffin Brown

3 tips for writing children- Lucia Tang

5 types of character arc at a glance – K M Weiland – Bookmark

Beyond two-dimensional character-building- Therese Walsh- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section

Book Ad design tools- Bookbub

What the ideal writer website should look like- Laksmhi Padmanaban- Bookmark

Before marketing your book- Boni Wagner Stafford

How to improve your email newsletters- Barb Drozdowich- Bookmark

Cover design terms you should know- Mary Neighbour

Selling books to an international audience – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

To Finish,

Killzoneblog is a great blog to drop into for all things writerly. Recently Jordan Dane wrote a fabulous post on rediscovering your writer mojo. I was reminded of this as I dropped into Alli’s 24-hour conference earlier this week and saw Dean Wesley Smith talking about the negative associations of calling writing ‘work.’ It got me thinking about mindset and negativity, which helped me over a hump in some scenes this week. Go out there and rediscover writing FUN!

Maureen
@craicer

The monthly newsletter is due this week. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, why don’t you subscribe? Then you can also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
I appreciate the virtual coffee love so if you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top.
Thanks.

We all need a Scottish Granny

Around the publishing blogosphere this week...

In the U.S. getting an ISBN number means either accepting a free one from Amazon... where they are listed as the publisher on record or buying one from Bowker which costs a lot of money but at least you or your publishing company is the publisher on record. You need a separate  ISBN for every format of the book so this can really add up depending on how many formats you have. Bowker’s website was hacked this week and they almost shut down their whole operation....

(NB. Here in NZ we can get free ISBN’s by going to the National Library of New Zealand website.)

In a recent article on Publishers Weekly some literary agents listed their MS wish lists for Young Adult. Themes wanted are teens dealing with the real world. If you keep an eye on the publishing houses bottom line you soon learn that a year without a breakout YA bestseller really hits the revenue of the big publishing houses. Everybody is chasing the next big thing because the readership is almost 50% older than teens and in paperback and voracious. Ka- Ching!

The teen’s themselves find the whole genre problematical. In a recent post on her blog teen reader Vicky found many of her generation agreeing with her when she wrote about how YA isolates teens. 

Meanwhile Scholastic scored a hit when the viral video of a Scottish granny reading kiwi book Wonky Donkey started a craze. The scottish granny is on tour, reports Publishers Weekly, and is being seen as having a magic touch.... Some savvy marketing person saw an opportunity. 

Staying with the children’s book theme... Augmented Reality has become a talking point. What more can you do with it and is it really reading? Check out the new iterations of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

Chris Syme has an interesting guest post on Joanna Penn’s blog about crisis management for authors. What do you do when your reviews go missing or you get pirated or doxxed. First, don’t panic. Read this excellent post.

Quartz has a fascinating article on the rise of the new Sci Fi genre’s. Over the last year I have seen more references to Utopia fiction and Solar Punk but missed the defined niche of Cli Fi. What determines a new niche/genre? And is Cli Fi really contemporary thriller or non fiction depending on where you live in the world right now?

Character names are always challenging. I don’t feel the story is started unless I have the right character name. Once I have the name I often have the voice sorted in my head. Reedsy has a nifty character naming generator for those moments when you are stumped for a character name.

In The Craft Section,

Character arcs- Reedsy- Bookmark

Plucking heart strings with word choice- Vivian Kirkfield- Bookmark

Will readers find your protagonist worthy- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

The value quotient of your core story-Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

How to write a fight scene- Standout Books

Why you need real facts in your fiction – WriteOnCon

6 questions to help Non Fiction writers find their niche- Erica Meltzer- Bookmark

Resources for NaNoWriMo

How to improve writng productivity

Five Steps to Improved Process

5 Surefire ways to win NaNoWriMo

30 tips for conquering the 30 day writing challenge

Don’t forget The Storybundle of craft books curated by Kevin Anderson and available all month.

In The Marketing Section,

Learn How to market your books-Sacha Black

How to tap into street teams and micro influencers-Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Taking care of business for writers- Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

3 keys to blogging sucess- Joel Friedlander

How to get the reviews you want ethically- EC Murray- Bookmark

To Finish

Spare a thought for the poor writer that must write a promo blurb for another writer. Sometimes it can be very hard to find something positive to say. Tara Sparling helps authors to break down a series of honest blurbs so that you can mine the promo gold in the paragraph. Warning do not have a beverage to hand as you will choke... with laughter.

If you are a Scottish Granny then I have some great books you might like to read….

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter where 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. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top. 

Pic Flickr Creative Commons- Bryan Ledgard

Who Are You

What are the themes of your writing life? Do you know? Sara Letourneau explains how to find them in your writing. Will knowing about your unique themes make you a better writer? This is a great read on an interesting topic.

This week Children’s authors in the U K were not happy. Every year a range of books are made available for one pound for children. The new line up for World Book day 2018 heavily features celebrity authors. Any children’s bookseller can tell you that very few celebrities can write for children. Are we dumbing down our kids literature on purpose?

I have reported over this year Amazon’s venture into brick and mortar stores. First with their bookshops... or book showrooms as they seem to be, then buying the chain of Whole Foods shops and now they are venturing overseas. Can you see them in France?

David Gaughran has made it his mission to defend the innocent writer from Author Solutions shady practices. A S has many names and seems to be able to survive by changing names but not tactics. Lately David has been turning his crusader eyes to the shady practices of Kindle Unlimited scammers.

What is the psychology of good cover design? Is it to fit in or stand out? Damon, the man behind Damonza book covers tells all.

The next ALLi Indie Fringe conference is coming up in two weeks. If you haven’t dropped in on the other two this year don’t miss this one! It’s free. The Alli conferences are on around the time of the big Book Fairs. With Frankfurt Book Fair coming up this Indie Fringe conference is on Author Business. Check out the speakers they have lined up.

Some of the speakers at the Alli conference have writing books in this years NaNoWriMo Storybundle which is available now. Every year I point out this bundle of books going into National Novel Writing Month. October is NaNoPrepMo. This years NaNo Storybundle is stuffed full of workbooks for writers. For the cost of one book get 15 and there are some gems among them!

Chris Syme is pulling back on Facebook ads. Chris is a marketing guru whom I’ve often linked to in my roundups. She has an interesting article on why she is cutting back and the new strategy to be more effective going forward. This is a bookmark post.

Another bookmark post with warnings is Chuck’s post on saggy middles. If you have read Chuck Wendig before you will be prepared for his 25 ways to fight saggy middles. If you haven’t read a Chuck post... be warned!

In The Craft Section,

How authors can write faster- Daisy Hartwell- Bookmark

How and why you should write an anti hero- Jessie Mullins

How to make your reader cry- Livia Blackburne

What is an emotional wound? – Becca Puglisi-Bookmark- This is a sneak preview into the next Emotion Thesaurus, coming soon from the Dynamic Duo!

5 ways to instantly improve your story- Christopher Kokoski

What’s the dark moment all about?- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Plot isn’t Story- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Developing Themes- The inciting incident- Sara Letorneau- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

5 ways to market a memoir- Andrew Emery

The ideal cover photo size- Bufferapp

Indie Ebook promotion strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

3 basic rules and 5 best practices of Social Media- Frances Caballo - Bookmark

Inspirational Marketing tips from Authors- Bookbub

Multi tiered price strategies- Martin Cavannagh - Bookmark

Book Marketing checklist- Tim Grahl- Bookmark if you haven’t already

To Finish

This week Anne R Allen decided to explore whether having a pen name was still relevant in this day and age. With Google search at everyone’s fingertips can we stay anonymous? Do we still need a pen name?

Maureen

@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be ready to go out soon.  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.

Pic: Flickrr Creative Commons Fiction of Reality

Navigating Writing in the Whirlwind

This week politics filled the news channels. Domestic and foreign policy was under the spotlight. Writers went around in circles trying to make sense of the narratives or gave up and wondered if we had crossed over into a parallel dystopian universe.

I have regularly struggled with the notion of where should I be marketing my books given that I am a children’s writer... Publishing Trends takes an in depth look at this problem that children’s writers face and has some solutions.

Spare a kind thought for Kat Rosenfield who wrote a Vulture article this week on The Toxic Drama of YA Twitter. Readers criticising a manuscript before it is even finished seems to be at the far end of acceptable behaviour. I’m not surprised that Y A authors might be playing it safe after reading this.

So if children’s writers have to play it safe what do they do on Social Media?

Anne R Allen has a great article on her blog on why blogging should be where an author is.

Agent Janet Reid talks about the contact page on your author website and how important it is. It’s not about whether you can be contacted. It’s the way you say it!

Jane Friedman has been hosting some great guest authors on her blog lately. Recently she has a case study by literary fiction author Nicole Dieker who self published her book. This is a fascinating ‘how to’ for a difficult niche.

Also in the case study file Jennie Nash has a terrific article on Why Writers Should Conduct A Performance Review. And you should download her review template. Call it professional development!

Startup Indie Author has gathered together a list of resources of great books, podcasts and articles on launching a new book. I can endorse this list because I have half the books and they are really good. (If you are looking for more information on this subscribe to my monthly newsletter and get my Book Marketing Summit notes for free.)

Kris Rusch has her final post on discoverability and it’s a must read. Kris looks at aggressive growth strategies – No it is not scary... it’s about timing.

Angela Ackerman’s post on authors working collaboratively is still making the rounds and getting comments. If you missed it from last week’s roundup- Check it out!

Tabitha Lord has an excellent article on Writers Digest about editorial calendars and how to use them to juggle the writing life.

In The Craft Section,

Two Bookmark posts from James Scott Bell

Story and Structure in love and  Let your characters breathe

Character motivation-hurting characters- Angela Ackerman

Writing all around your MS- Susan Dennard- Save the Cat-Bookmark

Character transformation in Guardians of The Galaxy- Bookmark

Write yourself into a corner- Janice Hardy – Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Unique swag ideas- Kate Tilton

10 twitter hashtags for writers- Bookmark

Increase book sales – Ryan Holiday

10 things your competition can teach you- Chris Syme

Effective lead magnets- Meera Kothand- Bookmark

Using Beta readers wisely- Shelley Hitz

Market to grow your platform- Matt Aird- Bookmark

To Finish,

Chuck Wendig is always a sure bet for making sense of the turmoil of writing. This week he looked at writing as an act of resource management. This is entertaining and relevant as we all try to find our way through the politics and back to the page.

Maureen

@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be going out this weekend. 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. I appreciate the virtual coffee love so a big THANKS to everyone who hit the coffee button this week.

Pic: Flickr/ Creative Commons - Jon Aslund

The Sabotage Backup

Today we suffered the first of the big winter storms. Half the country seems to be digging themselves out of snow or suffering power cuts because of high winds and wind blown debris. I saw a comment today from an illustrator friend who was obsessively backing up her work every 30 seconds just in case. So....

Have you saved your work today? Do you have a plan for saving your work? Mary Moore has a list of ways that you can save your writing just in case...

This week CreateSpace rolled out a new barcode policy. Things get tricky when you have a barcode generated that doesn’t fit their guidelines.  They are being very specific about where the barcode should be on the back cover. Being forewarned will save you time and money.

SCBWI summer conference just wrapped up. If you are a children's writer and dream about attending from afar... (like me) Check out their conference blog. The next best thing to being there.

Audio books are this years hot topic with ACX finally getting competition from Draft2Digital. Kevin Tumlinson explains why writers should think audio as part of their publishing strategy. Anne R Allen talks with her Audio Book narrator about producing audio books and how to choose the right narrator.

Sophie Knowles has an interesting post on Digital Book World about resources for Indie Authors. She highlights a few great sites that are worth checking out.

Kris Rusch continues her branding series with an in depth look at brand loyalty with a strategic look at the also boughts on the Amazonpage. There is a wealth of information right out in plain sight!

Molly Greene has been doing other interesting things instead of writing and publishing this year. She takes a candid look at what happens when you step away from your production treadmill.

Suzanne Lakin has a great post on self sabotage. Writers can be excellent at this. She has a must read post on how to recognise the signs and ways to deal with it. It’s all tied up with your self esteem as a writer.

James Scott Bell is a master at the craft of writing and this post shows you why. How do you stand out from the crowd with your work? How do you ride the edge of great writing. This is a must read!

In The Craft Section,

K M Weiland has got three great posts for you to Bookmark

Myers Briggs for characters

Examining the first act in your sequel

and her Free Scrivener Template.

Writing Dialogue for teenagers.

How to steal time to write.

When is imagery description overkill- Mary Kole

How to create an elevator pitch

In The Marketing Section,

Using Amazon's preorder to boost sales- Penny Sansevieri

2 great posts from Joanna Penn Instagram for authors and Mistakes with book promotion- Bookmark both and the link to Freebooksy

139 tools and resources for building your author website- Bookmark

10 sneaky hacks with Draft2Digital

Three keys to selling more books with social media- Chris Syme

To Finish,

In the old days writers weren’t at the mercy of a power cut but they didn’t have the luxury of endless tinkering of a sentence before they printed it. The craft of writing has remained the same though. Take a look at Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 tips on how to write a good short story and ponder them deeply. And for extra homework, check out his ideas on shapes of stories which has now been backed up by a computer.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flicker Creative Commons- Andrew Fogg

Backup Data. ;)

I round up the best of the months bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. Subscribing to my monthly newsletter also is a form of backup plus you get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes when you subscribe. 

Contingency Planning

This week New Zealand was rocked by a 7.8 earthquake. As luck would have it, it struck two minutes after midnight on Monday morning. After we picked ourselves up we spent the night on a hill waiting for the Tsunami.

New Zealand is known as the shaky isles and we have had our fair share of big earthquakes recently. In the back of our mind we think we are prepared for just such an emergency. But when you are sitting on the side of a hill in the middle of the night waiting for the all clear it occurs to you that better planning would have meant you ate chocolate instead of the cough drops from the bottom of your coat pocket.

In publishing this week Roz Morris has been on a panel lately looking at the convergence of Self Publishing and Traditional Publishing. Roz wrote a great article looking at the spectrum of publishing.

(Read the comments.)

Publishers Weekly has an article on Horror Writers and the growing rise of Self Publishing in that genre.

This week Amazon allowed paid advertising on Amazon.com for ebooks. Previously you had to jump through several hoops and make sacrifices but now it seems straight forward.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article on the Danish Book Fair. They like to mix it up and this year had some interesting new things. They must be on to a good thing as they break records for attendence.

Lawyer and Author Susan Spann does a great Wednesday Pub Law tweet stream. This week she has been looking at spreadsheets and author finances. While we are on things legal take a look at copyright rules for settings

Keeping one eye on children’s publishing trends. Reedsy talked with an illustrator from Finland who had an idea... and went looking for a writer... and then Kickstarted a business.

If you are hankering to write your own children’s book, Writer Unboxed has a good article on the midgrade voice.

In The Craft Section,

3 tips to strengthen our voice- Libby Heily

Writing vivid descriptions- Mythicscribes

Using archetypes to develop novel concepts- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Ten steps to developing the practice novel- Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

What is the theme?- Writingforward

What is head hopping?- Bryn Donovan

10 keys to plot structure-Michael Hauge- Bookmark

What English to use. American... British...- Roz Morris

Using multiple Points Of View- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Does paid marketing work? -Alli Chat

Fiction email lists- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

4 step plan to sell more in less time on Social Media- Chris Syme

Respectful Book Reviews

11 ways to quote from your book- and 7 signs your book is professionally published - Book Designer

Using Facebook groups to build Book Buzz- Bookbub- Bookmark

Book Layout basics- Bookmark

KDP – The rules roundup now-

To Finish

Is your plan for success I just want to write my books? Judith Briles wrote a kick in the pants article for The Book Designer today. In this modern time of publishing it is not enough to just write your books. You need to plan before, during and after the book.

And this is true for Earthquakes and other natural disasters....

Always know where the chocolate is!

Maureen

@craicer

If you want a handy collection of the best of my bookmarked links and other interesting items click here to subscribe!

Pic from  Kaikoura Coast near the epicentre of the earthquake. - TVNZ