In publishing news this week,
Mike Williams of The New Publishing Standard recently had an interesting opinion piece on audiobooks. As you know audiobooks have been the hot new thing in publishing and the audio wars are about to begin with Spotify aiming to be the one-stop-shop for audio subscription.
Another Mike has also been looking into subscription models. Mike Shatzkin takes a look at some of the innovative ways Amazon raised the subscription bar.
Meanwhile The Washington Post takes Amazon to task about its lack of support for libraries. Just what is going on here. Do Amazon think the subscription model of Kindle Unlimited is better than putting books in libraries? This is an interesting story from the Washington Post given that Jeff Bezos owns the paper.
Recently David Gaughran reposted the comprehensive article on Author Solutions he wrote a few years ago. The Author Solutions company is a predatory publishing entity with many different names and imprints, some of which are owned by big five publishing houses. Their “boutique” publishing arm demands huge sums of money to newbie authors for minimal publishing services. Just because you haven’t heard of them lately means they haven’t gone away. Some of their scams get a new twist every year. Recently there was an agent promising a bestseller list placement for $10,000 as part of a package deal. Forewarned.
Mindset plays a big part in the creative process. Being in the right headspace to create. Being in the right mindset to plan a project. Being open to criticism, rejection, and disappointment are all part and parcel of living the creative life. Recently I was reminded by a friend that imposter syndrome was insidious. I had let it take over my thinking. Instead of seeing the opportunity, I was seeing the failure before I had even tried. I didn’t trust myself. These two posts on mindset resonated with me today. 3 traps that subvert our ability to accept feedback by Lisa Cooper Ellison and The Book Promotion mindset by Penny Sansevieri. Penny takes a good look at the mindset that stops you from giving your book, good promotional love.
Co Authorship anyone? If you have been thinking about sitting down with someone to write a story check out this little series on how to do it from Story Empire. It could be the start of a beautiful friendship…
In The Craft Section,
How to write genre story- Karen Woodward
Archetypal character arcs – The Queen- K M Weiland – Bookmark
Two great posts on editing -25 editing tips – Alexis Grant and Trimming your word count- K M Weiland- Bookmark Both
5 pieces of writing advice- Lauren Sapala
In The Marketing Section,
The Authors guide to ebook preorders- WrittenWord Media- Bookmark
Amazon algorithms for authors- Reedsy-Bookmark
Best day of the week to discount ebooks- Bookbub
5 ways to solidify your branding- Penny Sansevieri
Develop your book sales strategy and tactics- Brian Jud
To Finish,
How often do you find yourself scrolling down your social media feeds and feeling despair. You have to be seen to be engaging… because your fans want you or your publicist told you or the publishers said establish a media presence. Sometimes we can get wrapped up in the social media whirlwind and not see what it is doing to us. Judith Briles offers some very good advice in her Bashing the Myths of Social Media.
Colleen Story also examines the hit creativity takes when you fall into a doomscrolling loop.
Let’s be careful with ourselves and our mindsets.
Look for all the kitten and puppy pictures to give us the right mood boosters.
Maureen
@craicer
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Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Johnathan Kritz
