The Places You Will Go

 

 

This week in Publishing News

 

It’s Queen’s Birthday Honours at the moment in the UK.

Arise Sir Quentin Blake (I can just imagine the fabulous illustrator's whimsy portrait of the event.) 

Arise Sir Ian Rankin- (Can I borrow that sword for my next murder mystery?) 

Across the pond the number one bestselling book is Oh, The Places You Will Go by Dr Suess. It must be graduation time. This illustrates the power of the Suess backlist for keeping publishers afloat.

 

Amazon is pulling out of China. They are shutting up shop for Kindle eReaders immediately and will close their e-bookstore and app down next year. Could be tricky times ahead if you sell into China.

 

This week the New Statesman business magazine published an article looking at the rise of independent bookshops and compared them with Amazon’s increasing prices for books.

Are they really losing out against bookshops? 

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on the latest numbers from Italy. Heading into Summer, visits to bookstores are up which means print sales are up. Everything is looking good but what is really behind the numbers… comics?

 

Publishers Weekly has an interesting report on the Readmagine conference, an annual publishing futures conference in Europe. The first sessions looked at current global trends in reading. There are lots of intriguing ideas to unpick here on reading, its communities, and opportunities to mix it up with other forms of communication and streaming, and its only day one! 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting opinion piece on how Kobo’s move to add the Arabic language, which I reported on last week, is a potential game changer for the predominantly English language based eBook industry.

 

Kris Rusch attended the 2022 Licensing Expo and shares her initial thoughts. If you can remember way back before Covid, Kris was fascinated by the opportunities licensing had for content creators (writers). She is still optimistic but cautionary.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Tammi Lebrecque (NewsletterNinja) this week on The Creative Penn podcast. This is a power house interview that should be mandatory listening/reading for authors. Yes, I know it’s scary but you can adapt ideas for your genre.

 

Julie Issac has a written a great guest article on Sandra Beckwith’s Bookbuzz blog, When ‘good enough’ is not good enough. This is a thought provoking post on what not to do when you are thinking of adding value to your readers.

 

In the Craft Section,

9 ways to approach relationship dynamics in fiction- K M Weiland - Bookmark

The art and importance of ambiguous writing- Becca Puglisi

How to sharpen your first sentences- Carolyn Dennis- Willingham

5 solutions when you are stuck- Bang2Write- Bookmark

Your microcosm is our world- Donald Maass- Bookmark

4 tricks to transform scenes- Zena Dell Lowe

 

In the Marketing Section,

6 strategic benefits to publishing an ebook- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

7 ways to build an author platform- Reedsy

9 things learned from tracking 150k books on Amazon- Ingram- A deep dive into detail.

Prize ideas for book promo- Bookbub

6 ways an author bio sells books – Ruth Harris- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The writer’s imagination - where would we be without it? Sometimes it lets us down, cue writer's block. Sometimes it keeps us up all night. Di Anne Mills has an interesting article on how we can enhance our imaginations, so our readers get a better experience from our writing.

 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Pic: Photo by Rumman Amin on Unsplash

 

 

Twists and Turns

Ahh the twisty world of publishing...

This week Barnes and Noble, the biggest bookstore chain in the US (owner of Nook and a model for other chains to follow) introduced a Print On Demand service.

Yes you can upload your MS and they will print it.

They won’t sell it or make it available in their store but they will print it. If you want it sold in Barnes and Noble stores you need to get your MS printed by CreateSpace. (owned by Amazon.) Just reflect for a minute on that last sentence….

Dave Gaughran wonders if the fell hand of Author Solutions may be behind this especially given the “charges” for basic editing etc that you may need.

St Martin’s press an imprint of Macmillan have decided that they will not be shopping for successful Indie authors. This is interesting as they took on Amanda Hocking and sold truck loads of her print books. Are the negotiations too difficult with savvy Indie authors? Digital Reader takes a look at implications.

Publishing Perspectives reports on a children’s book subscription model being trialed in France. This is aimed at libraries and schools first. If it works it will roll on to the English-speaking world next.

Joanna Penn has been attending the Screenwriters festival in London... She is all fired up with what she learned there. This is an interesting read. If you are at all interested in what Joanna is doing she is coming to Auckland in December and wants to meet up with kiwi writers.

Sir Quentin Blake has been thinking about accessibility in his work lately. He talked with the BBC on what he would like to see more of. (We need more of these voices advocating for children!)

Jane Friedman wrote an interesting article looking at the benefit (or not) of creative writing degrees. Some very thoughtful words of wisdom here.

Amazon just bought the .book domain name and a few others…hmm I wonder what their future plans may be.

Claude Nougat has taken a close look at free promotions and finds some surprising information and some great tips. (A must read)

In the Craft Section,

4 ways to write a killer plot twist

Excel at developing characters

Story questions to keep your novel on track (a print it out post!)

Writing humour - K M Weiland

How to make your scenes play out like the movies

6 steps to researching

How to finish projects.

In the Marketing Section,

4 mistakes authors make soliciting reviews

Making a catalogue of your work

Email tactics for writers

Business plan basics for authors

How to do a boxed set

How to do a powerhouse about page

Extra ways to make money as an author

To Finish,

Rolling Stone interviewed Stephen King about writing recently. Writers can take heart, Stephen King still has fears about his manuscripts failing….

***Breaking News*** Amazon and Hachette have resoved their differences and made up…. sort of. Wait until they hear what the Authors Guild wants.

maureen

Pic from Flickr/creativecommons/ Jenn Durfey

Being The Doorman

My last post for June was on Gatekeepers and their shiny new keys and as I look down the list of interesting links I have for you today I can’t help thinking that the theme today will also be Gatekeeper but from a different perspective.

First up Bob’s great article on Authors as Gatekeepers....I urge you to read it and think about what he is saying...I found myself nodding a lot...10 great points. Sweat Equity...I know so many writers who fit into this one...

Media Bistro reports on an Author Guild court case that is ringing alarm bells. The increasing laziness/underhanded actions of some publishers who source content online and then try to register it as orphan...all attempts were made to find the owner of this work....when a Google search and phone call located the author in three minutes....sadly this is not a one off.

Greg Pincus has taken a close look at Facebook and the changes that are happening. Do you want subscribers to your Facebook status?

Elizabeth Craig has a great post on being your own Social Media Gatekeeper....she has a list of useful tips to help you manage your online life to make time for your writing life.

Agent Scott Eagan looks at Blooms Taxonomy And The Author and explains where he thinks authors should be before they submit...A very good look at the stages of writing leading up to creating....Go check it out!

Audiobook Creation Exchange has a great little article about an author who used Kickstarter to get the funds to create a professional audiobook. Neil Gaiman has been tweeting about this as a great way to think outside the box to get leverage...OK it was his idea.....

Tony Eldridge has got some great links to promotion and marketing ideas for your books...Did you know you can print your book cover on M&M’s...and it is not that expensive....

The best resource of the week, Tony has ever pointed me to, is this one (this week)...A Royalty Free Music Site intended for use as soundtracks to short films, book trailers, commercials, Youtube projects. It is absolutely stunning...and I am saying this with my musician hat on. I have already shared this around to editors and teachers who are making films with children. Combine this with Audacity and you have a recording studio and full orchestra at your disposal for free. Kevin MacLeod is a genius! Bookmark It!

Over in the Craft Section,

Jenny Hansen has written a great post on Story DNA on Writers in The Storm.

Victoria Mixon has interviewed Larry Brooks on this topic as well.

HarryPotterForWriters is continuing their focus on clues and raising questions for the reader to answer...which also strengthens your book.

On Craicerplus, (My Amplify Page) I have a link to

Authors Say Agents Want Straight YA. This has been much talked about on the blogosphere and Twitter.

To finish,

To Celebrate 50 years of Roald Dahls work...You have a chance to connect with Quentin Blake in a live streaming event...

As the political gatekeepers threaten the UK Library system, in Scotland random beautiful paper sculptures made from and celebrating books have been appearing in libraries and stores with little messages highlighting the work of the libraries...Check out the article and marvel at the beautiful work of a secret paper engineer.        

enjoy,

maureen

pic is from an article about a Doorman strike....