This week I’m still digesting the mega online Indie
publishing conference Indie ReCon. I still haven’t caught up with all of the online content, but I’m happy it will stay there for a while. There
is so much juicy information there. A big cheer to the behind the scenes team
for putting it all together. More than 25,000 people dropped into Indie ReCon
last year. I would say that was surpassed this year, hugely!
Porter Anderson, spent some time at the London Book Fair and
dropped into The Indie ReCon meet-up at Foyles in London.
Two interesting developments have caught the eye of The
Passive Guy this week. The rise of digital reading in China, over 50% of adults
are reading online.
And a new bookselling venture in Florida. This one caught my
attention as it seems to be taking the showroom bookstore model and tweaking it
for Indie Authors. There are lots of comments about how successful this model
might be.
I am seeing more Indie authors grouping together to share resources and publish collectively. I’ve been saying this is the way to go for
years - this bookstore selling model seems to take it all a step further.
Authors rarely talk about the hazards of their profession
but with J K Rowling tweeting this morning about writers back... (too long
sitting in one position,) attention is back on stand-up writing desks. Michael
Hyatt blogged about his desk this week and then Nicola Morgan decided to share
how she improved her health dramatically in the last month. I’m eyeing up my
desk... if I can get to it. It seems to be the repository of the families
clutter.
Author websites have been the focus of Joanna Penn’s blog
this week. This is an ultra comprehensive post on the subject. You will find
yourself coming back again to it. Don’t get overwhelmed as she says... small
tweaks.
Joanna has also interviewed Tim Grahl about book titles,
productivity, marketing and other stuff.
It’s a wide ranging interview and full of tips.
Last week I linked to Delilah Dawson’s plea about Self
Promotion and Social Media. This week staying with this topic Rachel Thompson gives some tips to deal with this stress and not become a spam monster.
In the Craft Section,
Roz Morris on tips for writing when time is scarce (which
also has a link to her indie Recon video)
All about Pacing. This is a great post on that tricky craft
subject.
Improving your character action beats- great post from K M Weiland
Editing – craft tips
Picking the right editor for each stage of writing.
The ultimate guide to what to do about the boring bitsbetween scenes. Bookmark
In the Marketing Section,
Book design tip- include reviews
Author Newsletters- Bookmark this
7 reasons people unsubscribe from email lists...(Great read)
Website of the Week
Dropping back into The Book Designer for a guest post on time saving tools for writers
To Finish,
This is one writer’s experience of attending Indie ReCon. I
would agree with her. It is always good to meet up with other authors somewhere
just to reassure yourself that you are not alone in this writing gig. Although
Indie ReCon was amazing, checking in face to face at an author event is also
important. We can spend too much time sitting in front of a screen. Tinderbox
2015 is gathering steam... the timetable is becoming a juggernaut with lots
more cool stuff being added. (We’ve got to stop tweaking it!)
I’m off to re-jig the Tinderbox2015 timetable, again, and
play around with my writing desk.
Maureen
@craicer
Pic is from a review of Standing Desks… this one goes up and down at the push of a button.
