Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?

 

In publishing news this week,

European Publishers and Booksellers are happy that the European Parliament has adopted the new Digital Markets Act which directly hits the global tech companies over their use of content and their ‘advantageous to themselves’ publishing business practices. Now the EU has to make them take notice. 

 

The New Publishing Standard reports on textbook printing slowdowns. This is due to the worldwide shortage of paper and the problems with the Global Supply Chain. If you add in the rising cost of fuel due to war, climate change, and staff shortages due to a pandemic then you have a perfect storm in publishing. Is this the end of print?

 

While you might be taking yourself to the latest Marvel movie for escapism, spare a thought for the creators of those comics. They are now seen as classic creators of story and they have been enrolled in the Penguin Classic library to prove it.  Finally, Graphic Novels are legit literature. (Cue much rolling in graves.) This looks like a smart move by Penguin as the latest numbers say that Graphic Novels are the fastest growing genre in sales. 

 

Last week Macmillian was hit by a cyber attack and went dark for a week. Publisher’s Weekly reports they are back up and running. This might be a time for everyone to just check their security settings, especially if you have time-critical books to get out.

 

Writer Beware has an interesting post on handshake contracts. I didn’t know that these were still a thing. Originally a handshake contract relied on the integrity of the two parties' personal reputations. In the modern world of publishing, it seems that some publishers and agents are still using this but not caring about the integrity bit.

 

Wattpad has started a creator fund. The writers with the most engaged audiences will get money. Interestingly they have a threshold count for every genre. If your story gets over your genre’s threshold of engaged followers money will flow into your pocket. Horror writers only need 900 engaged followers. So if you have a dark story to tell, get over to Wattpad.

 

Anne R Allen has a cautionary tale on dealing with internet trolls, bullies and the offended. Anne writes about the way to deal with these perpetually annoying people. Back Away slowly. Nothing you can do will soften them. 

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Clare Macintosh, a traditionally published author on how to write twists and how she markets her books. Some nice little craft nuggets in here. 

 

In The Craft Section,

7 essential questions for a better character arc- Heather Davis- Bookmark

Utilizing 3 types of death- September Fawkes

3 modes of story imagination- Donald Maass- Bookmark

7 ways to improve your craft- Dario Villirilli- Bookmark

How to keep those ideas- Insecure Writers Support Group

 

In The Marketing Section,

Timesaving tips with Social Media-Kris Maze- Bookmark

Author email lessons- Sandra Beckwith

Book marketing – Neil Patel- Bookmark

Promote your book on Social Media and feel good about it- Aileen Weintraub- Bookmark

How to create an effective website- (podcast)- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish,

It has been a roller coaster ride if you have been watching politics lately. The truth is stranger than fiction. Just when you think the stories are too outrageous to be fact they turn out to not be outrageous enough. It can leave you feeling shell shocked and wondering if you should keep doing this writing game. Nothing you can come up with will trump real life. Sometimes the best thing to do is turn everything off and start again. If your writing habit has stalled, because of life… Nina Amir has a solution to quickly get it going again.  

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Owing The Writer

 

In Publishing News this week,

The merger of Draft2Digital and Smashwords was announced this week and everyone is talking. Each company has made a significant noise in the Indie Publishing world. Smashwords was first making ePublishing accessible to everyone in 2008. Draft2Digital followed them in 2012. Each publishing portal has its own specialties and exclusive deals. Many authors belong to both, to get as wide a coverage as they can along with access to accreditation, coupons, print deals etc. Together they will be a force, a complete one-stop portal for Indie publishers. Read the Press release from D2D and the commentary from Publishing Perspectives. The two companies are merging staff and senior management with Mark Coker of Smashwords joining the board. Both companies have a wide reach into Europe and it will be interesting to see if they can crack Asia. Now that Amazon has closed down their Asian publishing arm there might be expansion room.

 

Leipzig Book Fair happens 2 weeks before London and is a useful indicator on whether Book Fairs are back to normal. Last week everyone was happy, Leipzig will be in person. 6 days later Leipzig is canceled. A week is a long time in publishing and Covid 19 is not done yet.

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware took Wattpad to task over the rules to their latest contest, which has caused a huge controversy in that part of the publishing blogosphere. The overreach in rights being denied authors entering the contest was excessive. Please read this article from Victoria on the language used and what it means. Publishing contracts and Contests are increasingly using this language. Grabbing as many IP rights as you can is highly profitable for publishing companies. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Anne R Allen has a great article on 10 dangerous critiques that can scuttle your book and your mental well-being. This is an article that anyone involved in workshopping manuscripts needs to read.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed John Kremer over on her podcast and it is a fascinating read/listen on ways to market books long term. John authored a successful book on the subject now in its 7^th edition. The two of them talk about new markets, new ventures and co-op marketing.

 

David Gaughran has a great article on 15 rules for Book Advertising. David has a wealth of information at his fingertips and all over his website to check him out and pay attention to what he says.

 

Jane Friedman has a great guest post  from Janna Maron on the 3 shifts you need to finish your book. I was fascinated by the sanctuary idea. Do you have a mental sanctuary for your book?

 

The Dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have come up with a great article on treating your writer self this Valentine’s day.

 

In The Craft Section,

Do you begin at the beginning- maybe not- Barbara Lynn Probst

5 Steps to becoming a nonfiction author- Nina Amir- Bookmark

The zigzag plot arc- Marissa graff- Bookmark

Antagonist motivations- K M Weiland

The rule of three- Anne R Allen

 

In The Marketing Section,

Leverage someone else’s network- Sandra Beckwith

Which comes first the marketing or the book- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Infographic for March marketing- Penny Sansevieri-Bookmark

Best promo sites 2022- David Gaughran- BOOKMARK

An introvert’s guide to an online presence- Tessa Barbossa

Prize ideas for giveaways and promotions- Bookmark

 

To Finish, 

Writer Unboxed has all sorts of interesting articles and this one caught my eye this week

Who does an author owe?

Before you start looking at your bills, this article is about owing energy, owing creativity, owing your story to … your reader.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

The Masks We Wear

This has been a topsy turvey old week. Chuck Wendig has written a very thoughtful post on what it means to be a writer and how writers can process the momentous event that happened this week.

Sarah Stonichava-Finch has an interesting article on embracing a pen name and an alter ego. If you ever wanted to live a different life, read this.

Reedsy looks at the rise of Literary Fiction Self Publishing. I often remind people that Literary Fiction is a genre. It has its stars just like Crime or Romance. It is building a niche in self publishing.

Jami Gold has written an excellent post on whether stories should be set in stone once they are published. If you have ever looked at a glaring error in a book and wished to fix it – should you?

Anne R Allen has an excellent post on things new writers can do right now if they want that dream writing career.

Nina Amir has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog on how to set achievable and meaningful goals. Yes, NaNoWriMo is still going on. The world is still turning.

Emily Harstone of Authors Publish has written an interesting article on the 8 trends she has seen in publishing this year. A couple of things surprised me.

In The Craft Section,

Red flags in Editing- Meg Latorre-Snyder

Two ways to use misdirection- Roz Morris-Bookmark

5 world building tips- DIYMFA

7 remedies for writer apathy

How to nail your inciting incident- Pamela Hodges-Bookmark

Passion, the best fuel for writing- Writer Unboxed

Mastering stylistic tension- September Fawkes-Bookmark

Creating powerful images- C S Lakin - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

When your book isn’t selling-Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Ways to target readers using bookbub ads

50 ways to kickstart publicity- Molly Greene - Bookmark

Audiobook options for writers- Lindsay Buroker

3 marketing success stories- Bookmark

Own your author business in seven steps-Carla King- Bookmark

Book Marketing Mistakes

To Finish,

The election this week highlighted archetypes and caricatures. Many believed that the voting public would see through the buffoonery to the straw man beneath and so they did not prepare for the unthinkable result. There are positive archetypes to identify with. Paul Minors has 8 productivity archetypes that might help you find a way to turn dross into gold.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Chris H

It’s nearly time to send out my monthly newsletter. If you want a handy collection of the best of my bookmarked links and other interesting items click here to subscribe!

Business Choices

It is cold and wet. June blasts from Antarctica have ensured that we know Winter has arrived. I spent a hopeful five minutes today looking at this publishing mini conference on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. It is in the northern hemisphere winter... and as I turn up the heating and work on the Tinderbox conference I’m wishing I could just transfer the whole thing onto a cruise ship.

This week Book Expo America (BEA) has been on. Online discussions have been on the business of publishing and reaction to Scalzi's $3.4m publishing deal. There are a whole lot of green eyed authors out there who have let their vitriol get away on them. Then there are the calm reasoned authors who talk about the business and what Scalzi’s deal might mean to authors going forward. Kris Rusch has an excellent analysis and I urge you to read the comments for the great discussion on contracts. Then there is John Scalzi himself who lays out what the deal means to him for the next decade.  This is a very generous set of posts for an author to do. Read and Learn and raise a glass to him. By the way he is a fantastic author!

The Nielson figures came out this week on e-book sales last year and Futurebook has a handy analytical break down of the figures. Overall the sales were down 6% but as Nielson was doing a five year comparison, in 2010 the number of e-books sold were 68 million and last year it was 240 million, I don’t think anyone is too worried. Among lots of interesting data was this nugget, juvenile fiction is on the rise.

Publishing Perspectives reported on BEA and the global rise of... adult colouring books. Invest now in Faber Castell.  Porter Anderson reported on the digital conference held at BEA. With the huge amount of books now we need curators more than ever... and that is where the reader has to step up. Interesting article.

Jane Friedman is one of the Go To people for a perspective on the publishing industry and here in her latest interview I think she nails how the publishing industry is now and where it might be going in the future. This is a bookmark post.

In the Craft Section,

Attention Grabbing Story Structure

Inside an edit on Non Fiction

Putting your best work out there- Jody Hedlund

5 big tips to write well

10 steps to editing with focus- (Bookmark)

How to write a brief synopsis- Janet Reid- (Bookmark)

Character portraits

How to organise your writing life, tracking characters- Julia Kelly (Bookmark)

In the Marketing Section,

5 lessons learned between books 5and 6 - Molly Greene

A quick lesson on creating imprints- Joel Friedlander (Bookmark)

How to get books top rated at Amazon

Formatting to print from MS Word – Jami Gold (Bookmark)

How to repurpose your blog posts -Nina Amir

5 top apps for writers – Wendy Jones

To Finish,

Who can resist an Infographic? Here is a great one looking at the publishing process. Two years to a print book.

Choices abound in publishing 2015 but you can’t get away from this pithy piece of advice.

Writing is an Art and Publishing is a Business – Chuck Wendig

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr/Creative Commons/ Mauro Parra - Miranda