Are the barricades being breached yet?

In Publishing News this week...

The UK publishing scene is feeling a little nervous. The Waterstones chain of Bookshops has bought the Foyles chain of independent bookshops from the Foyle family. It could be a good thing... or ... time will tell. (Already commentators are saying the goodwill of all parties may last only as long as the Waterstones CEO stays in his job.)

The EU parliament has voted to progress a controversial Internet copyright law. Free Speech may now not be so free. Publishers are cautiously optimistic. Internet watchdogs are not.

This of course has no bearing on Brexit at the moment. However Tara Sparling has raised some interesting questions about what happens to authors and publishers who publish into the UK after Brexit? Royalties... Contracts... Agents... Markets... At the moment she notes there is a big silence from the publishing community and there shouldn’t be. How will Brexit affect anyone publishing into the UK?

In wider news Audible has tweaked their offerings and are now giving two audio books away each month as well as selections from Bestsellers... Do they finally see some competition on the horizon?

I keep one eye on the academic publishing sector which has been very resistant to change in the digital publishing space. The Guardian’s top journalist George Monbiot shines the spotlight on the rip off that is the academic journal. I have heard rumblings about this for a few years now but things are about to change. (I hear the cheering from the students and the screams from the publishers...)

Kris Rusch has another interesting post on negotiations. She examines the perils of the Hollywood verbal contract. As she explains Johnny Depp’s lawsuits are going to be setting precidents in contract law that are long overdue. Hollywood is not above the law despite what they might tell you. This is a must read about contract negotiation.

Joanna Penn has reached her 7th anniversay milestone of freedom from the day job and she takes stock of all that she has learned. It’s a nice roundup and offer pointers for other creative authorpreneurs.

Jane Friedman has updated her evergreen post on 10 ways to build traffic to your website... How many are you doing?

In The Craft Section,

Start me up- Janice Hardy

Writing emotions effectively- Litreactor

11 things every writer should know about copyrights- Helen Sedwick Bookmark

Applying tv lessons to chapter hooks- Jami Gold - Bookmark

7 strategies for creating clever coincidences- Writers Digest

4 ways to limit character options- K M Weiland

4 tips for stronger writing- Kathy Stinemann- Bookmark

6 types of turning points for climaxes- Mythcreants- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Should authors be on Instagram- Frances Caballo

12 effortless marketing tips- Bookbuzzr- Bookmark

Big Book Marketing blunders- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Marketing uncovered- David Gaughran- Bookmark

How to keep your book marketing alive for years- Anjali MitterDuva

Going wide with Kobo- ALLI Blog

What self publishers can learn from 2018 bestsellers – Ingram Spark Blog

Print On Demand books- a nice little comparison from Reedsy- Bookmark

To Finish,

Have you ever fallen out of love with your book?

Sarah Letourneau has written a great post When the fire goes out, what to do when this happens. Sometimes that book you were dying to write just remains dead no matter what you try to do to resusitate it. Sarah has some helpful strategies. Chuck Wendig has also been musing on this topic and as usual he has talked about trusting the process in his own special style.

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for 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. If you want to say thanks for all the blog posts you can hit the coffee button and help fuel my week. 

It’s nearly Circus Quest book launch time and there is soo much to do. If you know a quirky confident beginning reader then check out my Circus Quest series. Custard Pies at your own risk….
 

Pic; Flickr Creative Commons Ken Bosma

Opportunity Knocks

In Publishing News...

Anybody want to buy a bookstore? How about a chain of bookstores? The continuing saga of the struggling Barnes and Noble bookselling chain has many in the publishing industry worried. 

How open are you to opportunities? Will you say yes to everything? Or do you lock yourself away in your writing garret? Wendy Jones talks about the power of saying yes to everything and what that has done for her writing career.

Nick Stephenson has an article on whether authors should still blog. Blogging goes in and out of favour all the time. If you are a fiction writer it can be problematical thinking up what to blog about. Nick has some great ideas on this.  Check out the top 50 writing craft blogs .

Tara Sparling asks an interesting question this week.Is your book good looking enough for  the internet? Is viewing books in thumbnail sizes changing the way cover designers approach the book cover?

Jane Friedman has an interesting guest post from Betsy Fasbinder about public speaking for authors. For many writers this is a side of the business that is the least liked. Betsy has some great tips.

Staying with the business side of writing, Joe Solari has an interesting article on managing cash flow in your writer business.

How to legally use quotations in your book. This question comes up again and again. Helen Sedwick gives you the legal lowdown.

I came across this article- Microtargeting with Facebook ads- and had to think carefully about the Brave New World we are living in. On one hand, as authors, wouldn’t it be great to have our dream reader profiled and targeted so that they always saw our books. On the other hand...  

In The Craft Section,

Advice that saved my novel- Therese Walshe

Protagonist vs Nemesis Key to conflict- Go into the story-Bookmark

Should you outline backwards- K M Weiland- Bookmark

The characters controlling belief- Mary Atkinson

6 steps to consider before writing a novel- Rebecca Monterusso

2 fantastic posts from Jami Gold Showing vs telling in context and

Creating Layered characters- Bookmark Both

In The Marketing Section,

Everything to know about ISBN’s 

(In NZ you can get free ISBN’s from National Library)

Self publishing 101- Nick Stephenson

Amazon Author Central – book discovery- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

What’s new in Pinterest for writers- Frances Caballo

Grow your email list through Pinterest

Updating your author bio- Alli blog- Bookmark

How to create Merchandise for books 

3 Book Promotion myths- Build Book Buzz

The easy opt in gift- Writetodone- Bookmark

To Finish,

Being a writer is so much more than just being the typer of words. It is to be a marketer, a cheer leader, a critic, a business owner, an editor, a muse wrangler...

Greer Macallister has put togther 25 truths about writing over on Writer Unboxed. You will smile and agree with most of them.

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.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Rebecca Siegel

Book Love

Where were you twenty years ago?

I was teaching and scribbling stories at night. We had just got internet and I found a great group of UK writers on a listserv. One night the discussion turned to word of mouth promotion.

‘There’s a great debut story just published, everyone is talking about,’ said one UK author. I went to my local specialist bookseller (who passed away recently,) While he was stacking on the counter the pile of books he thought I should read to my class, I asked him about this book, Harry and the stone... He put Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on the pile saying- ‘my last book, it’s a good read.’ I finished it at 2am and started reading it to my class that day. 

It became the most talked about book in the playground. I was seeing in real time the power of good storytelling transporting children to another world. Teachers and parents would stop me and ask about the book that even the non readers were talking about.... 

That’s the holy grail of writing when the reader can’t bear to close the book. It has nothing to do with clever phrases or perfectly executed grammar. It grabs you by the throat and demands your attention. You can’t sit down to intentionally write a story like this. The magic can't be forced.

This week is the 20 year anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Di Dickenson looks at the criticism leveled at the book series and asks is it justified.

Kris Rusch has her next post on discoverability. This weekshe looks at brand loyalty. This series is cracking along. Kris always gives you plenty to think about.

Brain Pickings has a great post on different styles of great writing. Are you an explainer, an elucidator or an enchanter? Which should you aim to be?

Orna Ross has been thinking about the underlying prejudice towards self publishers in the wake of the recent Byte The Book debate. Why is self publishing still seen as vanity publishing when the reality is very different. Is traditional publishing the new vanity?

R L Stedman has an interesting post on rights. Do you know all the different rights that you have in one piece of work? This is a great reference and eye opening for the new writer.

If you are an illustrator or know one, point them in the direction of this global award for illustration. Entries close in a few weeks and the prize is quite nice...

Jami Gold has been struggling with burnout. She writes an important article on writer self care.

A group of grad students have got together to pool their talents and set up a research group for writers to use. Check out their new weekly blog. If you need a grad student to do some research for you this could be a valuable resource.

Litreactor has an interesting blog on book reviews, specifically why they don’t look at 5 star reviews. This is a really interesting read about how important the 3 and 4 star reviews are to people looking for the next book to invest time in.

In The Craft Section,

4 reasons to outline your settings K M Weiland - Bookmark

Write better fiction- Killzone blog

Better book titles- April Davila- Bookmark

World building in sci fi and fantasy

Check out Writing excuses podcast. This weeks episode –outlining

Book disclaimers don’t have to be boring- Helen Sedwick- Bookmark

6 fantasies that stop writing success- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Getting book reviews- Book marketing tools

Audiobooks should be part of your strategy

Book launch marketing  questions and a print it out checklist – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Boost eBook sales with box sets

Reasons your bookbub got rejected- Bookmark

Do this not that book promotion- The Book Designer

3 best practices for marketing- Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

To Finish,

I met a composer friend yesterday and I was lamenting that I couldn’t make up my mind on whether to take up the offer of a piano to replace our keyboard. It means moving some bookcases to make room. He laughed and noted that I could always put the books on top of the piano... win/win.

It’s not that I hoard books... um they are just good friends... all of them... (over 2000.) But I’m not a true hoarder. These famous people had much more extensive collections....

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: The first cover. Ours is a patchwork of spellotape holding it together... but nobody in the family wants a new edition. The magic is still in the old one.

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