A Twist in The Tale

  

In Publishing News This Week,

 

Porter Anderson at Publishing Perspectives has an in-depth article looking at why Melissa Fleming, the UN undersecretary of Global Communications is speaking at the International Publishing Association conference in Mexico this year. It all ties in with publishing sustainability. Melissa will be coming from the UN Summit of the Future. The article highlights the challenges that publishers face with disinformation, AI, and sector sustainability.

 

Dan Holloway takes issue with the big jump in subscription pricing from Canva. They justify their price hike on customers wanting AI bells and whistles. Canva still has a free tier which is pretty powerful. Just right for all your marketing graphics needs. (If you haven’t checked it out yet Go Do IT)

 

Publishers Weekly has a big article on making reading fun again. This is an answer to recent articles on the decline of children reading. Many children’s writers offer their opinions as to how to get the kids reading. Shorter, snappier, visual heavy books could be the way forward.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard looks at how Macmillan Education is launching an AI service for teachers with the goal of helping them find the right courses for their students. But as anyone who has attempted to use AI - you have to know how to write a prompt question for it. Have they got a course on that?

 

TechCrunch reports that the music industry is reluctantly embracing AI. The Grammy awards will allow its creative use. This is opening up a big can of worms when there are lawsuits on deepfake voices out there. Last year they banned it, this year they’re flip flopping. The music industry often changes before the publishing industry so keep an eye out.

 

Alistair Sims writes in The Bookseller on dyslexic friendly books for adults. Finally, a publisher is listening. Bloomsbury is beginning to produce these format books. Can we get a snowball effect happening?

 

If you have been wondering how to get the words down without being distracted you need to look at some new nifty tools that are coming out through crowdsourcing sites.

I was emailed a link to a little screen device that operates as a word processor, just link it up with your favourite keyboard and write anywhere. No distractions. They have a successful Kickstarter campaign on, if you are interested.

 

Lately there have been some high profile authors who have tumbled off pedestals they have been put on by adoring fans. Mythcreants has an interesting article on whether you can judge the author on what they write. At what point do you separate the work from the author?

 

Joanna Penn has an interesting interview with Sword Guy – Guy Windsor on creating training courses and looking after your true fans. Check out the podcast/transcript.

 

The seven habits of highly ineffective writers or how to sabotage yourself. Joni B Cole has a guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog about how you might be sabotaging your writing career.

 

Writer Unboxed has an article from Terah Shelton Harris about rethinking your Writer Bucket list. Are you open to outside the box thinking?

 

Jami Gold has another super writing craft article on story tropes. If you have wondered about them and whether to use them this is the article for you! Lots of great learning packed in here. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Using colour and pattern to enhance your stories-One Stop For Writers

Going beyond the first 50 pages- Sally Hamer - Bookmark

7 ways to find telling in your writing- Suzy Vadori

Story structure – 2^nd act- K M Weiland - Bookmark

Story Foreshadowing – Kay Dibanca- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

10 tips for children’s book freebies- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to title your non fiction book- Dale Roberts- Bookmark

10 things to be a successful marketer- Penny sansevieria- Bookmark

76 ways to market for free- Aspiring Author

Why content marketing can be successful- Mandy Ellis

 

To Finish

My bibliophile child was waxing lyrically on her idea of a perfect bookstore combination - Books and Cocktails. There was general laughter. Cafes in bookstores are a thing and book décor in bars are a thing but a genuine melding of the two – not likely. Or so we thought. Enter New York Book Bars. 

Where everybody knows your name and what you like to read…

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. 

Thanks.

 

 Photo by Whitney Wright on Unsplash

 

Speaking Truth to Fear

 

In Publishing News this week.

I wonder how an organisation becomes so frightened that it gives in to any perceived threat, even by one person. Publishers Weekly highlights the latest book banning nonsense. In Virginia a community book reading event of the Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, was derailed because one person worried about a tree having two reproductive systems.

You know you can thank the complainer for bringing it to your attention and invite them to NOT PARTICIPATE rather than giving in, ruining the community event, and making yourself a laughingstock internationally.

 

A new way of getting your book noticed in this busy world is to record the audiobook in a novel place. In this case 900 feet down a mine. The author thought it would be a good idea as he set the novel in the mine. I don’t think the audio production company and his publishers were that excited by his plan though.

 

Mark Williams reports on the latest numbers released by Amazon on their payout of Kindle Unlimited. There must be money in subscription after all everyone is getting into it. Mark compares numbers and looks for trends in Amazon’s financial reporting.

 

The London Book Fair wrapped up and a good time was had by all Porter Anderson gives a run down on all the news from the fair and looks forward to Bologna – the big Children’s Book Fair in April.

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Claire Taylor on The Enneagram and how it can help you sustain an author career. It is super interesting and well worth listening to or reading the transcript. These two authors give so much to the writing community. 

 

Wired recently had an article on training an AI on out of copyright material to prove it could be done. This might be gold for all the lawyers currently representing authors in court cases.

 

Elizabeth S Craig has a great post on setting yourself up on the path of least resistance to accomplish your goals.

 

Have you read any fan fiction lately? Before you shudder and express horror, consider the freedom in trying out ideas in someone else’s sandbox where you don’t have to do all the leg work to establish the world. Laura Samotin writes on Gizmodo that playing with fan fiction can be a shortcut to finding out what topes resonate with your reading audience. A great read. 

Anne R Allen has a great post on breaking the rules. Sometimes authors can be so scared of breaking the show don’t tell rule that their writing suffers from it. Anne talks about when the rules can go too far.

 

Samantha Cameron has an interesting post on writing underrepresented characters. Do you let fear get in the way of attempting to tell their stories? Samantha has some steps to overcome this so you can write great three dimensional characters.

 

In The Craft Section,

4 mistakes to avoid when writing dialogue- Rose Atkinson-CarterBookmark

Writing fiction based on real life figures- K D Alden

How to write a psychological thriller- Lucy Hay

Writing protagonists without a strong goal- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Beginning your story introducing your characters- K M Weiland-Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

The secret to a compelling bio- Lucy Hay- Bookmark

How I sell at live events- Ben Wolf- Bookmark

How to market a book that doesn’t exist yet- Rachel Thompson

How to go viral on TikTok- Hina Pandya

5 effective strategies to avoid engagement farming- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Heather Webb has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the big truths in fiction. Recently she was on a book tour, wearing her read banned books tee shirt and was asked in a panel discussion ‘if you were to write a banned book, what topic would you choose.’ It opened up some interesting ideas to think about. This is a thought provoking read. Does your writing reflect ‘the big truths?’

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

Holding On To Your Own Creativity

In Publishing News this week…

Amazon is raising their subscription price for Kindle Unlimited by $2. This comes on the heels of the lowest page read payout to date. Today writers using Amazon Print were informed that the cost to print would be going up. 

 

Recently The Association of American Publishers had their AGM and the big event of the night was the CEO Maria Pallente addressing the issue of AI and publishing. Porter Anderson  has a full report of her speech. If you are keeping an eye on AI you will know that this week the CEO of Open AI has been asking for a regulatory framework from US lawmakers to control AI going into the future.

 

Pearson Textbooks has taken issue with the use of their IP content to train AI’s. They have started sending cease and desist letters and taking legal action. This is because they have plans to train their own AI on their own content so they can expand their business.

 

Scholastic are finally embracing digital publishing. Apparently paper mills see no extra value in making book pages. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has some pithy words for the publishing industry as the head of Scholastic points out just how shaky the print arm of publishing is.

Mark also shines a spotlight on HarperCollins India and their search for a realistic AI Indian voice to change the face of audio narration in India.

 

Bookriot reports on PEN America and Penguin Random House taking a school district to court over book banning. This is a warning shot in the battle for freedom to read. How many school districts can take on these giants and win?

 

If you live with anyone whose profession is the subject of TV dramas you will be used to the constant comments about unrealistic work portrayals. Melodie Campbell takes a look at unrealistic portrayals of crime scenes.

 

Katie Weiland has a great article on Why There Is No Such Thing As ‘Just A Story.’ 

Suzanne Bennett has a great article on what to do with abandoned manuscripts… you don’t have to junk them. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to write organic themes- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Setting and sense of place- Joanna Penn

Does your story make sense-Susan DeFreitas

5 ways to avoid white room syndrome- Linnea Gradin- Bookmark

Ignite with the inciting incident- Lynette Burrows- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Infographic 7 tips to grow your social media platform- Barb Drozowich

Get reader reviews- Sandra Beckwith

Data on author newsletters- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Booklinker article on Bookmarketing- Bookmark

Tips to improve newsletter design- Sue Coletta – Bookmark

The Rebel Author Podcast -advanced marketing strategies (great episode)

 

To Finish,

What are you doing to fill your creative well? This is a question I often asked my teaching colleagues. You can’t keep giving out creatively to others if you don’t fill your well. Kris Rusch has been musing on the nature of cross training for your brain. This is a good article to mull over at the change of seasons. Are you stretching your writing brain by doing something else?

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

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 Amritanshu Sikdar on Unsplash

 

Out There Doing The Business

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is on this week and the hot topic this year is AI and children’s books. Porter Anderson has a great overview of the various keynotes around this topic. He nails the constant chatter around AI as a chicken little syndrome. Remember when everyone thought publishing was doomed with Virtual Reality, enhanced eBooks and Kindle?

 

Penguin Random House is re-organising. This is a little shakeup which sees imprints spun off or repurposed and staff moving all over the place. Publishers Weekly has the details.

 

Bookshop.org picked up steam during the Covid lockdowns by providing a place where bookshops could link in their shops and sell books online. They started offering eBooks last week. Now they are offering print books and beginning to publish. It all feels like the early days of Amazon.

 

Meanwhile, Small Press Distributors a 50 year old distributor specializing in Indie Publishers has inked a deal with Ingram and will be offering their 400 clients Print On Demand, warehousing, and international printing. However, they need some money to transition all their warehouses to Ingram so they have a Go Fund Me campaign running.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors is running an author income survey. If you spent 50% of your time writing and publishing they want to hear from you. Apparently, the data so far is amazing. You only have a few days to participate. 

 

Mark Leslie Lefebvre has a great post on the Insights blog 10 tips for growing a global audience of readers. I’ve had this open on my computer for a few days as I mull over the excellent tips in here. 

 

Book Riot has collected what they think are the 25 iconic covers of all time. Do You Agree?

 

Ruth Harris has an interesting post on charisma and how too much could be psychopathic. Are you writing a psychopathic hero?

 

Victoria Strauss has a great article on Writer Unboxed about red flags in contracts. Do you know how to spot one? Where to look? The cluses that are most problematic. She shows examples of real contracts that she has seen. Ouch!

 

Grace Bialecki has an interesting post on the Acknowledgments page. How often do you look at it? It is actually full of great information… from editors who worked on the book and agents that repped it to writing awards and residences you might not have heard off. Grace shows how to put this information to good use. 

 

Kris Rusch has a super post on AI Audio and what she is finding out as she delves into whether AI Audio is worth pursuing. It is all about formats. Audio is expanding so much it will soon look like print.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when you say you are a writer someone will always reply, I’ve always wanted to write a book. Angela Ackerman has a great post that you can share around – 13 Tips On How To Write A Book From Start to Finish.

 

In The Craft Section,

A great article on reader anticipation- Donald Maass

How to edit- StoryGrid- BOOKMARK

Tips on How to write a mystery-K M Weiland

The 5 turning points of the character arc- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

How to amp up your conflict- Angela Ackerman

 

In The Marketing Section,

A step by step guide to using Booktok

Bad book marketing advice- Shayla Raquel

2 Great posts from Penny Sansevieri-

The definitive guide to creating a reader magnet and 

How to get more Goodreads reviews- Bookmark both

Bookfunnels explained- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The Guardian has an article on the rise of older female writers with recent hits by debut authors over 70. And the authors are not writing cozy stories. They are edgy and angry. There are some great quotes in this article. More power to them I say.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here.

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

 

Pic:  Brooke Lark on Unsplash

 

The Book Fair Smorgasbord

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

It’s Book Fair season and the publishing world is venturing out to meet in person for the first time in two years. First up Bologna Children’s Book Fair which has just wrapped up. Publishing Perspectives has the lowdown on how it went.

 

Publishers Weekly takes a look at what will be the big topics at London Book Fair, London will be buzzing next week with the organisers expecting over 20,000 people to attend. They have an interesting collection of talks around publishing in the future too.

 

Frankfurt Bookfair is next after London they are finalising their programme but the theme this year is Translate, Transfer, Transform. Publishers Weekly details what they mean by the catchy slogan.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard shares his thoughts on The Alliance of Independent Authors tenth anniversary and he also has an interesting column on what’s coming down the track -publishing in the metaverse. 

 

Dipping a toe into the future is Joanna Penn, This week she had an interesting talk with a copyright attorney and they talked NFT’s, The Metaverse, and other publishing models and how contract law is changing. This is a meaty interview about copyright so make sure you have a long drink while you listen/read.

 

Writer Unboxed has a new kid on the roster Yasmin Angoe who writes about the eight lessons she has learned as a debut author.

 

Penny Sansevieri has an interesting post on Indiereader about baking in book marketing strategies as you write the book. A whole different way of thinking as you write, identifying angles for marketing.

 

Bookfairs are full of resources for the publishing professional but down at the coal face what does the writer rely on? Ruth Harris has organised an impressive list of resources to make research easy for the writer. Need a name, an historical detail, or a date… Ruth has you covered.

 

In The Craft Section,

How To Write A Blurb- Ruth Harris- Bookmark

Cliffhangers not just for the end of the book- Jami Gold

Character states- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Writer life inside and outside story universe- Seth Myers- Bookmark

Dealing with backstory- Janice Hardy

 

In The Marketing Section,

Step by step guide to author websites - Jane Friedman

10 ways to blog about your book- Amanda Zieba- Bookmark

Author press releases- Sandra Beckwith – Bookmark

Amazon ads for Traditional authors- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

Unique branding for April- Penny Sansevieri -Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The first quarter of the year is over and we should be all back in the writing groove. If you are struggling check out Now Novels collection of group writing exercises.

The Alliance of Independent Authors celebrates its ten year anniversary at the London Book Fair. They have gone from strength to strength and have a huge international membership now. The founder, Orna Ross, had an enlightening article on the Author and The Creator Economy. It’s fascinating and full of mind food.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here. (You 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 Hamza NOUASRIA on Unsplash

 

  

Looking Back To Move Forward

 This week in Publishing news…

Most of the chatter this week seemed to center on a New York Times article about Publishers paying huge amounts to current celebrities and getting burned when their books don’t sell. That publishers were relying on the celebrity's social media following for sales seems to be shortsighted. Jane Friedman has a measured article in response to this craziness.

 

The Association of American Publishers released their last quarter snapshot. What do the numbers tell us? Publishing Perspectives takes the view that everything is in good heart and future sales look rosy. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard looked at the same snapshot and took issue with the eBook sales numbers being down. He breaks down the millions being made on untracked eBooks and suggests that AAP haven’t factored in subscription… a whole ‘nother beast.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed MichaelBrent Collings this week on writing book descriptions. It was interesting and informative. Do yourself a favour and listen or read the transcript.

 

Roz Morris has a great post on how to cope after getting a hefty developmental edit report.

This is not the time to run away and hide or drown your sorrows. Lots of good advice here.

 

Downunder- the end of the year is in sight. School finishes for Summer. It’s Christmas so there is a mad rush to clear the desk and prepare for the end of year review while in the midst of Christmas events. Kris Rusch is looking at her year in review. How was 2021 for you? We are in year two of the pandemic and instead of thinking the world will go back to how it was, maybe we need to look at a new normal.

 

Penny Sansevieri has an interesting post on the 10 keys to successful publishing. If you are putting ideas together for next year this might be a useful starting point.

 

Sometimes the end of the year brings pressure to complete all your writing tasks. It might not be good for your mental health. Writing and Wellness blog has a great article on when it is time to break the writing rules to boost your productivity.

 

Anne R Allen has a great post on the rule of three. Yes, every story no matter how small needs the rule of three.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Editing – Redundancy quiz (12)- Kathy Steineman

Guide to Flash Fiction – Reedsy

2 great posts from Angela Ackerman- Bookmark Both- How to draw in the reader through character choices and How symbolism adds depth to the story

How to write great endings- Staci Troilo- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Best Apps and tools for writers- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Using magnets to attract readers- Terry Odell- Bookmark

2 interesting posts from Bookbub- Advertising Design Elements and Boosting revenue with audiobooks

How to launch your book and still have a life- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish

It’s the season of gift-giving or wracking your brains trying to figure out what to give others.

Here are two lists for you to study for gift-giving ideas for the writer.

13 unique gifts for writers, and Gifts for the work from home worker.

 

 

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. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: 

 

Giving Thanks

 

 

This week in publishing news,

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard took a close look at this week’s report from the UK Publishers Association on the rise and rise of audiobook revenue. Mark looks at the bounce in publishing revenue from the pandemic. The numbers are truly startling. I never suspected that Children’s digital publishing had risen by 26%. 

 

Several days later and it was Nielsen’s turn to deliver their report on audio publishing. Publishing Perspectives compares both reports and the strong indications of subscription being the way of the future for our ears.

 

Recently two posts caught my eye on data protection and online privacy. 

How many times have you just skated around the edge of disaster, nearly losing all your work files. Lindsay Syhakhom on how to keep track of multiple copies of your work. You are filing multiple copies away, aren’t you?

 

How secure are you from hackers? Jacqui Murray has a great article for writers on protecting their online identities. If you ever wanted to scare someone about how easy it is to hack someone, check out the little embedded video of a hacker at work. Let’s be careful out there.

 

It’s interesting to look from the other side of the world at the North American holiday of Thanksgiving. On the surface, it seems to be all about the food, insane travel stories, family feuds, and getting ready for Black Friday sales. But underneath there is a simple message - stop what you are doing and be thankful for being. 

Ruth Harris listed her reasons to be thankful and they made me stop and think about the little things in my writing life that I am thankful for.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors have published a useful glossary of terms for writing contracts. Know the meaning of the language.

 

Today I saw a comment about December being the Friday of the year. For some writers that piles extra pressure on to produce or finish a big project. Dave Chesson has an interesting article on coping with writer burnout.

 

Recently Joanna Penn interviewed Chrissy Metge on pitching to film studios. It was an information packed interview. If you think your writing project has potential you should listen/read the interview. Chrissy mentioned that studios need content all the time now with streaming services. 

Joshua Robinson follows this up with a post on Writing for Video Games on Insecure Writers Support Group. He writes for Video games. Yes, they need writers to do plot development and narration and dialogue. Writing is not only printed words on the page. 

 

Nina Amir has an interesting article on bringing writing ideas to life by creative visualization.

 

Now Novel has an excellent article on Story Planning. There are many ways to do this. Whether you write a bullet point list to begin with or a detailed plan- Jordan has broken down the main points of how to start from the first idea.

 

In The Craft Section,

Editing- The redundancy quiz- Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark

10 mistakes to avoid writing fantasy- Lucy Hay

Populating your story with background characters- Jan Drexler

Writing from the end- Mary Moore- Bookmark

The static hiss of description- Donald Maass- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Common Author questions- Draft2Digital team

How To format a book- Dave Chesson - Bookmark

Start marketing your book now- Stevan Spatz

Ultimate guide to getting reviews- Alliance of Independent Authors

22 must have resources in 2022- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s December and thoughts turn to getting ready for Christmas and the end of the year wind down. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are back with another Advent calendar for writers. Check out the daily offerings and send Thanks to the Dream Team.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

My monthly newsletter of the best of my bookmarked links is due out soon. 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. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks to the lovely person who donated coffee this week.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons –  Mike Gnuckz