Counting Down To Breaking Point

This week the news that young adults preferred printed books brought a cheer throughout the publishing blogosphere. There has been a lot of talk about the rise and rise of ebooks so the reading survey made interesting reading. 

Secretly most writers prefer the printed page because they are bibliophiles. This morning I did a funny online survey which asked how many books I read a week and gave a small sample up to 3 (I scoffed, only 3?) 

Along with the survey the other big discussion topic is Mike Shatzkin’s interview about the future of publishing. He is a publishing futurist guru and I have been following him for the last five years and so far he has predicted right an astonishing amount of times. This time he has had to write a disclaimer blog saying he is not predicting publishing is going down the drain. Take the time to read the initial interview which is short, sharp and to the point and then settle in for his blog disclaimer which amplifies hispredictions and puts things in context. The publishers job is getting harder but they have some good aces up their sleeve...the ability to help build brand is one of them.

The FutureBook 2013 conference happened last week and some of Mike Shatzkin’s comments are echoed in the takeouts from the Bookseller’s roundup.  This is an interesting list of short articles on what the presenters said.

Jill Corcoran has been getting high fives this week on her blog post about the devaluing of writers by writers. In your race to find the sweet spot in ebook pricing are you driving down the ability of all writers to achieve a fair price.

DigitalBookWorld has followed this up with an article on the digital pricing middle.

Kody Keplinger has a blog on disability in Kids Lit. How do you portray someone with disabilities? Are they the noble sufferer or does their disability limit their character growth? This week she shares her own experiences of disability and the reality that is often glossed over in Kids Lit. She is an award winning Kids Lit writer and a very good read. This should be widely shared around.

Penny Sanseveri alerts writers to Amazon changing theirkeyword use policies.

Writer Beware is looking at Vanity Radio scams on Authors.

Bob Mayer looks at a day in the life of an Indie Publisher... this shows you why his concierge writing service is doing so well.

In the Craft Section,

Janice Hardy has her real life diagnostics on Point Of View. Great stuff.

Are you stifling your creativity?

If you can’t take a research trip –No Problem

Janet Reid on do you know enough to send a query? (This is a quick survey for you to do before you send the query to an agent...)

In the Marketing Section,

Ruth Harris has been doing a writers toolkit series and this weeks installment is on promo and advertising ideas.

Jill Corcoran on what makes a book sell.

5 Indie authors tips on ebook launches.

Facebook fan engagement tips.

Marketing with promo cards.

Website to check out,

LiveHacked has listed what they think are the top 100 blogs for writers. They cover all facets of the business. You will see some familiar names among them as I am a regular visitor to quite a few of them.

To Finish,

Gift giving seems to be on peoples minds so several writers have got lists of popular gifts for writers. From 12 fun holiday gifts to 10 concentration apps for writers or you could check out Chucks list of 25 gifts to give a writer. Neil Gaiman checked it out today and broke Chucks site after tweeting about it. Of course he was apologetic...but I wonder if it was deliberate as Chuck wanted someone to steal Neil’s writing gazebo with him in it so Chuck could have a personal muse slave....hehehehehe.

maureen

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons Charles Atkieson

Scattered Stars....

This week I have been thinking about children’s book illustration...on many levels. We are putting together a workshop day in children’s book illustration which looks really good. I am learning about print for the print version of Craic and making changes...and I have been studying websites and learning some new tricks.

Around the publishing blogosphere the pay for review saga goes on with more unseemly author behaviour being exposed. ‘Sock Puppetry’ where authors make up an alter ego email and leave 5 star reviews on their own work and 1 star reviews on their competitors...

The bookseller exposes who has been doing this...and Mediabistro has provided a good info graphic to show you what your review curve should look like...

Anne R Allen talks about these current practices and exposes what authors really need...independent book reviewers. She tells you how to find them and how to treat them...

Forbes takes a look at how Amazon are subverting the bestseller lists...

Recently the Oxford Society of Young Publishers asked Roz Morris to address them. Her speech - How I Self Published and How It Changed My Outlook As A Writer. Roz has posted this speech on her blog and it is very interesting with some recommendations to the publishers on what they should be looking at...partnership models like Discovery imprints...for those books they love that Accounting rejects...  

Anna DeStefano is finally able to blog about her trials and tribulations with Dorchester Press. Publishing isn’t for Sissies. This is a really interesting article with Anna talking about her ultimate goal for her writing and how this goal had her making the decisions she did as Dorchester was going through the rocky shoals of print to digital to being bought by Amazon...along the way not paying advances and pulling books after contracts were signed. It is a timely piece for authors to consider their whole career and how each publisher contract should be viewed as part of the whole career plan.

Elle Strauss (mid grade /YA writer) has written an interesting post on Why you can’t indie publish the same way as traditional and how to approach publishing after her year of discovery.

Susan Kaye Quin is doing a week of self  publishing basics...These are practical posts on where and how to do it...

Write practice asks is it possible to write and promote at the same time?

Dean Wesley Smith has been getting hot under the collar with writers who give away a % of their rights over a manuscript in return for services...this is a growing problem with authors who don’t understand what rights they do have....After all would you give your gardener a share of your house? but authors are falling into some nasty traps.

Two agents this week have highlighted what they are looking for.

Jill Corcoran (mega kidslit agent) has a list of what she is looking to represent.

Bridget Smith of Dunham Literary has detailed how and what she looks for in the first five pages of a submission.

Over in Craft

Scribblers Cove looks at the emotional structure of a novel

Dean43 talks about his list of SCI Fi rules...for the geeks among us.

Indiereader has 25 ways to chip away at writers block

Joel Friedlander talks about how to find out and give your readers what they want.

Roz Morris looks at 7 tips for keeping your motivation going 

The great Larry Brooks has a post on the square one story killer. This is one of those bookmark posts of Larry’s... An effective story is ultimately about its concept. Just great advice and a new way of looking at your story.

To finish,

Are you meant to be a writer...

“It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” Robert Benchley.

 pic Omega Centauri