This week in publishing,
The dynamic duo of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have launched a new writing thesaurus – The Conflict Thesaurus. As usual, there are lots of cool giveaways but first, you have to go through a choose your own adventure in the writing camp of doom. This is lots of fun and the new thesaurus looks amazing. Well done Angela and Becca!
The School Library Journal is an important trade journal for teachers and librarians. They recently had an article on the supply chain woes that are beginning to bite. Libraries are starting to see a slowdown in acquiring books.
Joanna Penn interviewed an anthropologist this week on creating cultures. It is fascinating stuff. Are you trying to create cultures for games or book worlds? Find your trusty anthropologist… or dust off those old Uni notes from those courses you did- it turns out that you can have an exciting career in anthropology after all.
Paul Simon is releasing an audiobiography. If you thought I spelled that word wrong- I didn’t. Paul has been working with Malcolm Gladwell and recorded an audiobook autobiography with some new music he has been working on. He has also added conversations with his close friends along with stories of his life. It is an expansion of the audiobook format to encompass a documentary for the ears. This offers loads of possibilities to writers wanting unique audiobook ideas.
How much do you know about the paper your books are printed on? Do you know what 80 gsm or uncoated means? Jane Friedman has a guest post from Andrew Watson who has delved into the treasure trove of printed paper and compiled a book of tips and explanations for working with printers.
Writer Unboxed has an interesting post from Kathleen McCleary on being a passive protagonist of your own writing life. This gets to the heart of some knotty issues that you may be facing but didn’t know it.
Barb Drozdowich has a guest post on Anne R Allen’s blog on the 5 Indie author mistakes. The first one caught me by surprise- a failure to think globally. As I was reading, I was thinking about the implications of selling yourself short. Are you frightened of success?
We are beginning the last quarter of the year and Penny Sansevieri has a timely post on refreshing your book marketing. She suggests 5 core marketing strategies that you do every quarter to keep yourself current.
Angie Hodapp of the Nelson Literary Agency has an interesting post – Genre Isn’t Everything and High Concept Isn’t King. She breaks down stories based on four different types of appeal. This is a great article for looking at your stories in a different way.
In The Craft Section,
Using writer’s intuition to solve problems- Laura Highcove - Bookmark
The only reason your story premise is important- K M Weiland - Bookmark
5 tips for nail biting suspense- Savannah Cordova
How and why reading improves writing- Sue Coletta - Bookmark
Are epilogues good or bad?- Mythcreants- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
14 Virtual tour strategies- Leila Hirschfeld- Bookmark
Top 10 tips for a BB featured deal- Draft2Digital
Advertising design elements that impact ad clicks- L A Sartor- Bookmark
How to grow your author social media platform- Frances Caballo- Bookmark
How to do a Multi-author anthologies- This is a fascinating read- Bookmark
To Finish,
Colleen Story, a writing coach, talks about the four questions you should ask yourself about why you write and whether writing really matters to you. This is a chance to dive deep into your psyche and examine your motivation.
Kristine Rusch has been looking at these questions from the deadline end. Do you have external deadlines? Do you make internal deadlines? Are they stimulating or terrifying?
Are you more productive when someone else is holding the stopwatch?
Maureen
@craicer
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