Any Excuse

 

In Publishing news this week,

Heading into the last quarter of the year and Author social media has been commenting on the saga called Bad Art Friend. I don’t think there are any winners in the story of writers behaving badly. The real winner was the man who got the kidney.

 If you are going to write about a true event – change the details.

 

Dave Eggers is launching a new book. However, he has a caveat. He is only allowing certain bookshops to stock it. Maverick move or cunning publicity stunt- Check out the Guardian article and see who gets the new book.

 

Another publishing platform follows in Wattpad’s footsteps. Techcrunch reports that Inkitt has scored some big money to get into film, audio, and merch, all from an AI figuring out what the top stories are on their platform. While we’re on the tech side- StoryOrigin has launched a Beta reader model for authors.

 

If you have been trying to figure out just how we ended up in a paper – ink - labor - haulage- book shortage, read this explanatory article from Vox. And order your Christmas books now!

 

The New Publishing Standard has an interesting article on Podcastle- an AI podcasting production platform. I went down a rabbit hole checking them out and they really sound interesting. It seems like every week I have something about AI and audiobooks in my blog. This form of publishing is rising like a rocket.

 

Fiction has been renamed. I can see you all scratching your heads and saying To What?  Fiction is now ‘Upmarket Fiction’. Anne R Allen explains how this term became a catch all. I think I’m still firmly in the down-market fiction bookshelves…

 

Kristine Rusch has been musing on writer burnout. When everything gets too much, and you come to a screeching halt in your work what do you do? Do you take your own advice?

Be kind to yourself- We are living in interesting times.

 

Joanna Penn talked with Katie Weiland in the latest Creative Penn podcast. K M Weiland has been writing excellent blog posts on the craft of writing for years and has a series of excellent craft books. (I have some.) Check out the podcast and/or the transcript on outlining. Lots of meaty craft tips.

 

Do you need a Writing Coach? Jane Friedman has a guest post from Seth Harwood, a writing coach, on what it is they do and how to figure out whether you need one.

 

Now Novel has an interesting article on how to develop a story idea. This is chock full of advice so bookmark or print it out to study.

 

In The Craft Section,

7 ways to write pertinent antagonists- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Writing and the art of surrender- Lindsay Syhakhom

How to write conflict without bad guys- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Self editing tips- Write Life

How to kill your side characters- Sacha Black – Bookmark

10 ways to write better plots – Now Novel

 

In The Marketing Section,

Maintaining an Author blog is easy- Anne R Allen – Bookmark

How to be your own book publicist- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Don’t rely on Facebook- Miral Satter- Timely!

Be where your readers are- Frances Caballo

Promote your book before its published- Bookbub

3 simple ways to improve your platform- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The Alliance of Independent Authors collected a list of craft books that their members think are indispensable. There are some familiar titles on the list. If you are thinking of getting any of them for Christmas, order now.

Every year Kevin Anderson curates an excellent collection of writing craft books for NaNoWriMo. It’s out now and there are some hot off-the-press ones in this collection. As I said in my newsletter- It’s a win/win. The authors get the money directly, you get great books and for another win you get to support a charity.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Daniel Oberhaus (2020)

 

Where Is The Money?

Yesterday the big news in New Zealand, the finalists of the new combined NZ Children’s and Young Adult Books And NZ Librarian and Information Services Children’s Book Awards were announced. This combines the Elsie Locke Medal for Non Fiction and the Russel Clarke Award for Illustration with the annual National Book Awards. It is a big deal. Along with the standard categories there is a children’s voting component sponsored by a Pizza Chain. Voting is now open for those schools selected as judging schools. The finalists have a nice mix of established practitioners and newbies. And I notice that we are continuing the 20% mark of finalists being Indie or Boutique published books.

This week the latest Author Earnings snap shot was being digested. And it has some interesting information. Around 50% of all publishing sales in the US are on Amazon. The Author Earnings team are looking across all publishing formats now. There is a significant difference in earning capacities if you debuted traditionally or Indie in the last three years. Porter Anderson looks at some of the stand out claims and compares them with Joanna Penn’s publishing disclosure.

While you are digesting that have a look at Jane Friedman’s article on the myth of the print revival. Yes, children’s authors have been saying for years that it’s only the Young Adult franchises propping up print publishing... With no big YA blockbuster what’s holding up print at the moment...

With Amazon striding like a behemoth across the publishing landscape what are its competitors doing? If you are watching Apple then this news for publishers may be what you have been waiting for. Just remember writers you are content creators. You choose what medium your content will be delivered in. This makes more sense if you publish Serials on Apps or by subscription or Picture Book Apps etc etc. Apple may be quietly game changing your future here.

While you are thinking about content creation spare a thought for podcasting and audio books. Podcasting is another sort of content creation and this article looks at where it might be going and who might be poised to make an awful lot of money.... If you have been flirting with the idea of audio books, Jane Friedman has an interesting interview with a rising competitor for ACX.

In The Craft Section,

The Scene Outline Template– Bookmark also Fine tuning your writing style by  C S Lakin

The 10 beginnings that turn readers off

Character development –credibility- Michael Hauge (who is at NZRWA this year)

How to map out your fight scene

Turn your setting into an obstacle course- Angela and Becca -Bookmark

Mixing it up in your books using alternative media- Bookmark

Going deep with a series character- James Scott Bell

In The Marketing Section,

How successful authors are using social media-

Creating a Single Author Boxed set- Molly Greene

Are you ready to be an Entrepreneur- Bookmark

Creating your Author Brand

How Young Adult authors are using Tumblr- Bookmark

5 best apps for writers

Website of the Week

Taking a trawl around Katie Weiland’s website is always a rewarding experience. Whether it is a great blog post like this one -How to write faster and why you shouldn’t to her fantastic video writing craft tips to finding out she has written helpful workbooks to go with her Craft Books on Structure and Outlining. Check it out!

To Finish,

Molly Greene hosted an Estate attorney on her blog. This blog post looks at estate planning basics for the Self Published writer. However Traditionally published writers should be eyeballing this as well. There is lots of information to think about. (As an aside NZ has free ISBN numbers – which works like a US Copyright office- you should use them.)

Slipping under the wire is a standout post on Non Compete clauses from Kris Rusch. This is a must read! (Yes these clauses appear in NZ. Especially from foreign owned publishing companies.) 

Being aware might just save you money. 

(P.S. The Write Stuff Story Bundle has only one week left to run. You can get to it from Kris 
 Rusch's site. I've filled up my kindle with writing craft books... and saved money!)

Maureen

@craicer

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ khrawlings

First Impressions....

Ah Facebook...such a time waster sometimes, and sometimes not.

This week Facebook friend, Sarah Billington, posted on her blog what it is like being an intern at Black Dog Books (Aus.) Sarah is a writer herself and as part of her Uni course got to look at life on the other side of the desk. Sarah has written a small series of posts about being an intern at Black Dog...one of the takeaways this week was her comment ‘that if you say you are a published author, they will google you.’

I am sometimes told by writers here in NZ that we don’t need websites. Sarah’s comments in her blog and facebook are timely. Yes, writers down under, you need a web presence! (And remember to spend some time making your web presence interesting.)

‘Send them to my Blog, Maureen,’ she said...So I am sending you....

You have slaved over the query letter and now you send it in...You are hoping to make a good impression... Rachelle Gardner commented this week about receiving a query letter that starts thusly...

“To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been written. Ever. It is utterly fresh, mine and complete."

Um, Yeah...Rachelle talks about being confident, doing research so you can back up that statement...and being original.

Kristin Nelson, of Pubrants, talked this week of being on the receiving end of 200 pitches and gave her checklist of 10 reasons why she rejects Adult and Children’s SF and F query letters.

This is a good list to look at...and check your work against, before you craft that important query letter.

Before the query you need to make sure your manuscript is as good as it can get. This post by Douglas Van Bell is a must read. The most Comprehensive and Totally Universal Listing Of Every Problem A Story Has Ever Had...(warning strong content...heheheheh I did warn you...)

And if you are feeling worn out with fixing all those little mistakes here is an inspirational post on keeping the momentum going...The secret is all in the first thing you do each day...

Mike Shatzkin is looking at the serious money being put into enhanced digital books for children. Companies are scrambling to be first in the new wave of publishing that is going to transform children’s books....Will they be called 'books' in the future?

Pimpmynovel has also been looking at the future and what it will mean to publishers very soon....He predicts the rise of the Indie bookstore...check out what he says about agents...

Greg Pincus interviewed Holly Cupala about all the innovative ways she is using to market her books. Holly has kept the audio rights and is making her own audio versions using her own narrators, etc. This, and making episodes available as podcasts, has generated huge interest in her print books. A must read if you are interested in podcasting and retaining your rights.

If you are thinking of ebook publishing first, Michele Rafter has a great round up of how you can do it.

Over on Craicerplus ( My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on,

What do Self Publishing Success Stories Have In Common (marketing)

ePublishing All You Ever Wanted To Know.

Anatomy of A Best Selling Novel -Structure Matters (very very good)

5 Things Every Writer Should Know About Rights-(the great Jane so a must read.)

The Great Semi Colon Debate...(do you use them )

And back we go to the first place I mentioned in this post, Facebook. Allison Winn has a very good post on what writers should be thinking when they are on Facebook Personal Vs Professional.

I’ll leave you now, senses reeling from all that valuable information....with the first in a great YouTube series by the Plot Whisperer...If you are looking for novel help (NaNoWriMo people) check this out. From this video I realised I have a plot hole in my Mars Project...crater sized...back to work!

enjoy
maureen

pic is from a website looking at neural first iimpressions