New Moves

The weather scientists this week said that Winter has been so warm that Spring has come a month early. And this is a symptom of climate change. At the moment we have a late blast of winter going through and it is bleak and wet out there. (So breaking Elmore’s sacred rule never start with the weather....)

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

KOBO KOBO KOBO KOBO...

Kobo launched three new e-reading devices this week in NewYork...and got the publishing blogosphere talking...because along with the hardware...Kobo has new content to go on the hardware. Kobo Kids a dedicated e-bookstore for children...Beyond The Book for all stuff beyond the book including a special Font for dyslexics... and other nifty things. So another shift in the publishing world has happened.

Also in a quietly heralded move...The Alliance of Independent Authors has done a deal with PubMatch. If you are a member of Alli you can get a 90% discount on getting all your overseas rights sold...Read all about it...It is an interesting move.

Dave Gaughren has been comparing distributors...Smashwords and new kids on the block Draft2Digital.

Long Time readers of this blog will know that I have a bit of a geek thing with space etc etc and that this year the prominent writers in the SFF Geek community have been calling out misogynist and threatening behaviour towards women in the community. John Scalzi (just stepped down as Pres. SFF) has been targeted for his very vocal support by troll lowlifes. This week around Social Media a picture of John in a dress went viral calling John a feminist. John’s beautiful reply will have you chuckling. Way To Go John...also if you haven’t read any of his work...you are really missing something, he is a great writer!

Bob Mayer has 53 books under his belt and has decided to write a quick article about ten things he has learned as a writer...This is a good checklist for yourself.

The fabulous Debbie Ridpath Ohi and her comics on rejections...This will put it all in perspective.

Roz Morris runs a few blogs which I have referred to over the years in this blog...however I haven’t ever profiled her Undercover Soundtrack blog. Writers who write with soundtracks in their ears, talk about why they write to music and what sort of soundtracks they use.

In Craft,

Eleven Tips On Editing

Five Places To Find Critique Partners

Ten Things Emerging Writers need.

In Marketing, There are some very fine articles this week.

From Writer Unboxed –A key book principal that authors mustnot forget.

From Killzone – The best way to market your book.

From Marketing tips for Authors – tips for authors onAmazon.

From Bookshelfmuse...marketing for introverts.

Website to check out.

If you write Midgrade...Check out Emblazoners. This is another example of an author collective that niche market themselves. Roam around and get a feel for what they are doing and read the excellent article on writing midgrade series.

To Finish,

Rachel Gardner writes about Happy Authors and the things they don’t do.

Be Surprised.

maureen

pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/

Being Social In The Media

This week I have been thinking about the Author and Social Media.

Publishers are seeing Social Media as a tool for marketing their Authors and Authors are being told that they have to be on Social Media. But which Social Media is best for you?

Should you Blog, Tweet or Facebook and if you do what sort of platform should you have?

Platform? I hear you squeak! 

If writing is a business (which it is) what does your business stand for? Are you a purveyor of finely crafted gentle bedtime stories for the under fives or a rip roaring paranormal farce for the fifteen plus age group. Do you write edge of your seat thrillers or explorations of the teenage psyce? Is your writing home in Non Fiction for kids or Fantasy Fair? Or are you all of these?

If you can define your platform for your readers then you have an easier time using Social Media to promote your brand of writing.

Three different ways that some Authors are using Social Media.

Sean McManus has an interesting article about using Twitter-Can you tweet your way to a bestseller?

Mary L Tabor blogged her second book as a way of coming to terms with a significant event in her life and this turned into a book deal.

Hire some actresses to read your book in prominent places. Ok it isn’t social media but it is social...

One of the key things about using social media is that to use it effectively you must add value.

Writing about your cat obsessively unless your writing platform is tied up to your cat in some way is not enough. However if you are a cat whisperer....and you have written a series of tween novels about the adventures of a spy who whispers to cats...then maybe you have a valid social media platform.

Jody Hedlund has an excellent post on social media for those people who think they have no platform.

If you are using Social Media already and are looking for another challenge Indie reader has a great article on podcasting your book, Books for your ears. More people are turning to podcasting as a way of getting the word out there about their work.

Seth Godin and Tom Peters were interviewed recently about blogging. Should we do it?

Two links on writing to think about.

Publetariat has a great list of links to help you critique better. This is good news for me as I start to pull apart my own work before sending it to a new critique partner.

Bob Mayer has an excellent article on pitching based on your goals. Bob has written some great thrillers and teaches a popular writing course based on Special Forces goal setting. As a former Special Forces Agent he knows of what he speaks.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez was interviewed recently by bookviewcafe about where he thought digital publishing was headed. Guy is one of the founders of the Digital Book World conference and he sees the future of publishing as looking extremely bright.

So Authors...You  may as well get digital savvy because to take advantage of publishing in the future you have to be Social In The Media.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify page) there are articles on

For the closet geeks out there....How To Write Silly Science Fiction

Plot to Puctuation has a great article on What Star Wars Teaches On Character Introductions

Digital Book Covers...lets make them interactive...

What To Ask The Agent When You Get The Call...(pinup on your wall)

Adventures in Publishing are doing a great conference roundup over on their site (see my blog roll in the 

sidebar) There is a must read article on middle grade writing there with Linda Sue Park.

And now you have finally come to the end of this long post...to celebrate here is a joke for you.

 Guysread.com put together this great video to promote their children’s author collective.

Enjoy

maureen