Writing Resistance

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

AI is back in the news in publishing, specifically how big the international petition calling for a halt to unlicensed use of creative work for training AI is. Publishing Perspectives looks at the big players that have signed and how critical this is to put a stake in the ground for creative livelihood.

 

Frankfurt has wrapped up. One of the interesting sessions which reflects the uneasy feelings of global politics was the session on Storytelling as Resistance. This article has some great statements which could be important to reflect on in the coming months. This one caught my eye. “Storytelling is a tool for human rights…”

 

Publishers Weekly has an article on a new imprint from Penguin partnering with John Green- Crash Course. This builds on the popular Crash Course YouTube channel that he started with his brother Hank over a decade ago. These books are aimed at young adults/students non fiction. The first book on tuberculosis has a 500,000 print run ordered. Just contemplate that last sentence again. If you haven’t investigated Crash Course and you have a teen getting ready for exams point them in this direction. My PHD student child swears by the physics courses which helped her at Uni.

Rachel Thompson has an in depth article looking at the prevailing scams targeting authors at the moment. Facebook scammers are quite prevalent. Scammers are getting more sophisticated so check out this article. Rachel has quite a few tips to show you what to look for. 

 

Publishers Weekly also has an article on Lit RPG becoming a mainstream genre rather than an interesting niche genre for gaming aficionados. Lit RPG is Literature based on Role Playing Games. Ready Player One was the crossover hit. But it now includes anime and other big interests of today’s young adults.

 

Thomas Umstattd has a deep dive into the two act chiastic storytelling structure that is used in anime and manga. He looks at best sellers over the years that have used this eastern form of storytelling. Dracula fits this storytelling structure as does Goodnight Moon.

 

Kim Bullock shares her journey of Promoting Literacy with a side of Activism on Writer Unboxed. This is a subtle form of putting a stake in the literary ground without confronting or using a loud hailer to get your point across.

 

Stephen Pressfield, known for his popular books on creative resistance has been writing a really interesting series of posts on how to get to the 'I love you stage' in your writing. This is not just for romance writers. There is an I love you stage in all genres. Check out this post and then deep dive into the series.

 

Marissa Graff has an interesting article on when you start to lose your readers trust. 

 

In the Craft Section,

How to master story rhythm- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

2 elements you need to catch readers- C S Lakin

Types of POV head hopping- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 plot hacks that can save your novel- Susan DeFreitas- Bookmark

9 ways to craft the perfect opening line- Ryan Lanz

 

In the Marketing Section,

7 ways to promote your book on Goodreads- Rob Bignall

Book marketing on a budget- Jenn DePaula- Bookmark

How to write a book press release- Fussy Librarian- Bookmark

Master consistency to promote an indie published book- Penny Sansevieri

The must have author success checklist- podcast from Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Rachel McLean about scaling your author business. This interview had me thinking about all the possible ways to spin off stories, work with different tools and ways to work differently. If you are wondering how to scale the next mountain in your author journey this is a must listen or read. Absolutely fascinating.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Pic Photo by ALEXANDRE DINAUT on Unsplash

Writing Tools That Stand The Test Of Time

 

 

This week in publishing…

Screams were heard around the news desks as over-excited journo’s read the press release that Dr Suess Enterprises would no longer be publishing his books due to racist content. Of course, if you stopped and thought a bit you would know that some of the reporting must be wrong and you would be right. They are only pulling 6 books from republication… and it’s not the words that are the problem it’s the stereotypes depicted in the pictures. Theodore was a cartoonist first and a stereotype was the fastest way to get across an idea. The world has moved on. Some books haven't made the cut 70 years later. It makes me wonder what books published now will still be beloved and relevant in the future.

 

A year on from the beginning of the Covid lockdowns and all the Covid books are coming out. Publishing Perspectives looks at the scientists who are bringing out books about the pandemic.

 

There have been rumblings for as long as I’ve been writing this blog about predatory tactics used by unscrupulous publishers preying on the vulnerable newbie writer. Every year you hear of a new shonky player, usually an old shonky player with a new name, ripping off writers. Now the Society of Authors and a few other writer organisations have banded together to target these publishing predators. The first stop should be the large publishing companies that have taken these predators under their wing giving them a smattering of publishing cred.

 

Ruth Harris has a great blog post on the power of the writer’s notebook. What do you choose to write notes on? I was interested to see that writers still go for paper and pens.

 

Steve Potash the CEO of Overdrive has written an interesting thought piece on searching for the perfect library access model. Overdrive distributes ebooks to libraries and they have been having great success with their bulk buys for schools and library districts. These models may be coming to a library near you.

 

Writing Guru Stephen Pressfield recently wrote about a problem he was having. Are you too scared to sell yourself? In these modern publishing times, you have to hustle for your book and your publisher. It is the opposite mindset of the writer.

 

Kris Rusch writes this week about the power of backlist and how the publishing model of velocity out of the gate has hurt some publishers. Will we go back to the way publishing worked before covid? The numbers suggest a very different publishing future.

 

This article popped up in my Twitter timeline. How to format ebooks in Google Docs. I’ve never really explored Google docs… they have some nifty features hiding there in their tools menu.

 

In The Craft Section,

Introducing unique story elements- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

The key to writing genre stories- Brian Hill

What things is your character hiding- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How to choose scenes for your novel- Mythcreants- Bookmark

Definitions of the anti-hero - Nofilmschool

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to market a book with smart planning- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

10 free ways to increase author website traffic- Sandra Beckwith

Infographic -6 ways to increase social media traffic- Barb Drozdowich

How to make eye-catching graphics- Sonja Yoerg- Bookmark

How to boost your backlist sales- SelfpublishingFormula- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

There are many tools that writers would consider essential in the modern-day writer toolbox. I consider that at the very least you need a good computer/word processing program, a great writing craft book to hone your skills, and a list of places that will help you sell your book when it's finished. So here are two great posts that you can stash away in the toolbox that address two out of the three. A collection of great character tools to boost your plot and David Gaughran’s updated best promo sites guide. David’s YouTube channel is essential viewing.

 

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: Flickr Creative Commons – MikeLao26

 

Creativity

Around the writing blogosphere this week the talk was all about the Writers Guild suing the big talent agencies over shonky deals with writers. I have been hearing over the years the grumblings from the screenwriters over Agencies practice of packaging which has torpedoed careers and projects. It’s an insidious form of creative accounting. NPR explains what is happening and why. 

Wattpad has been moving from being an online publisher of fan content to being a TV and movie studio... to being a 'proper' publisher. They have a new imprint for the country from which their biggest supporters come from. It's not who you think... 

Amy Shojai has an interesting post on the Alliance of Independent Authors blog on audiobooks. This format has been increasing in leaps and bounds over the last year with some new players on the block shaking things up. Also well worth trawling through is the Alli conference website with all the fabulous goodies from their recent 24-hour online conference.  

We are heading in Easter weekend and writers everywhere will be wondering how much writing they will get done over the weekend. Here are three really interesting posts on the creative life.
Creativity and discipline- 3 ways to cultivate it by Nathan Wade, guest posting on The Creative Penn

Creative life boundaries by Scott Myers from Go Into The Story

The critical voice- Kristine Kathryn Rusch- Excellent blog post!

E J Runyon has a guest post on Anne R Allen's blog on writing what you know as a starting point for writing. She discusses using sense memory as a creative kick start. Great Post! 

In The Craft Section,

Story structure explained- September Fawkes- Bookmark

The understory- Stephen Pressfield- Bookmark

Struggling with flashbacks?- Sara Letourneau- Bookmark

Are writing prompts helpful- Savannah Cordova- Bookmark

Ctl Alt Del 3 act structure- Go Into The Story

In The Marketing Section,

How to promote with your posse- Pauline Wiles

Focused goals help sell books- Penny Sansevieri

How to use your book cover to sell more books- A D Starrling- Bookmark

Metadata and Book distribution resource checklist- Alli Blog- Bookmark

Creative resources for making the most of Instagram - Frances Caballo- Bookmark

To Finish,

Collaboration is a beautiful thing. The most fun I've had is when I've been involved in a team planning a project. There's something about creative energy in a team that magnifies your ideas and kick starts your own creativity. I'm lucky to belong to the Fabo team of writers who started quite a few years ago writing story prompts for children in the winter terms of our school year. We kick off again at the beginning of the next school term. However, read this little gem of a story which takes the collaboration model of writing and kicks it up a notch.

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. I appreciate virtual coffee love so if you like the blog hit the coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Tristan Schmurr

The Good and The Bad….

In publishing news this week,

Book Funnel has released download codes.
These are one use codes that you can hand out at events for free copies of your books…
This is another great tool in the PR arsenal for writers.

The New York Times has an article about the alternative Nobel Prize for Literature that the
Swedish librarians are promoting. If you haven’t caught up with Nobel news… due to a scandal the
Nobel Prize for Literature was not awarded this year.

Joanna Penn has two really interesting videos up this week on her blog.
Writing a series - the continuation issues to avoid. This is part of her video shorts series.
The other video is a long form interview with Stephen Pressfield. I linked to Stephen’s blog
last month … he has been posting his latest book as a serial on his blog, The Artist’s Journey.
Stephen is a writer’s writer. He looks at deep issues that fuel or stop creativity.
It is a great interview.

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog about reader tastes and blaming the writer.
Many people agree that not everything released on TV or at the movies is to our taste but somehow we
hold writers to a different standard. What happens when our favourite writer tries something different?

Editor/Agent and Kidlit specialist Mary Kole writes interesting writing craft articles.
This week she looked at writing the book that you don’t want to… what can you do about it?

What would you sacrifice to be a successful writer? First born child… health…. Sanity?
Writing and wellness has an article on the five sacrifices every writer must make in order to succeed.

Jeff Goins writes interesting long form articles.
This one touched a chord with a lot of writers commenting. What to do when you feel like a fake?
Why a shadow career is necessary. (Jeff references Stephen Pressfield in the article.)
Jeff talks about the dance we make between art and money...

Blogging isn’t to everyone’s taste.
Many writers struggle to know what to put in a blog.
I did, hence you have been reading writing craft tips and marketing ideas etc for the last ten years on this blog.
Anne R Allen has an interesting post on how blogging jump started her career.
Long term blogging does work for your writing output and has other unexpected benefits.

Sara Letourneau is celebrating her ninth blogoversary with a list of great writing tips.
Sara always has great advice so check these out.

In The Craft Section,

Katie Weiland has been on fire with great craft articles. I discovered I had
bookmarked four of them for this weeks blog.

Write a better antagonist

Point of View Problems

How to write unique themes

The truth your character believes.

Mythcreants has an interesting article on hiding your foreshadowing in plain sight.

Now Novel looks at Person vs Society conflicts- Bookmark

Reedsy has The Book Title Generator… go and have some fun….

In The Marketing Section,

Mailing lists for authors- Chris Fox- Bookmark

10 reasons Book Reviews still matter- Interesting long form article from Litreactor

Book reviews - The primer- The Book Designer

When to start book marketing - The Creative Penn

How to make instagram work for authors- Monica Corwin- Bookmark

12 key ways to make sure your website is helping you sell books-Penny Sansevieri

The lazy authors guide to platform building by the fab David Gaughran.

To Finish,

There are writers who you read everything they write...follow their social media… enjoy hanging out
with talking shop… or worship from afar through time and space.
And then there are the other kind- The ten types of writers we need to throw down a well.

Amy Collins details what you should do to not be a bad writer on social media.

Maureen

@craicer

 I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thank you for the blog. (I needed it... I'm nearly ready to push the publish button on my first two Circus books...)

 

Rumblings and Rumours

O what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.*

The more authors dig under the cockygate saga rocks, the more slimy practices are being exposed. They seem to be going in a circle as David Gaughran has sleuthed a connecting rod from one chancer to another.  Book Stuffing - a scam to fool the page read algorithm so the author can grab more from the pot of money in Kindle Unlimited gets a close look. 

Following closely on this is the bribery and the bullying tactics being placed on readers. This hurts everyone in your genre. We want to nurture our readers not pillory them.

Kris Rusch has written an interesting post on learned helplessness.  Do you suffer from it? Have you got fixed in your mind that you need to have help to achieve in your writing career? Many writers actually suffer from it though they might not know it. 

Stephen Pressfield is writing a new book on the writers journey.  He's writing it as a serial on his blog first. Stephen is pretty famous for his writing book, The War of Art, which is a fabulous read. Take a look at some of his serial entries.

Now that Book Expo is over, the analysis of the new format begins. Separating the rights area off from the main display hall might have been a sound idea in theory but in practice...

Publishing Perspectives looks at what they got right, what they got wrong and where to next for these big book expo's. 

Bookbub looks at all the shiny new marketing tactics on display there.

The Author's Guild is like the American version of the Society of Authors. They have been changing their way of operating to make it more responsive to its members needs. Regional chapters and a help desk with a direct line into Amazon have made writers sit up and take notice.

There are rumblings and rumours about whether Amazon is winding down Createspace in favour of KDP Print. Nate Hoffelder takes a look at what might be happening within the world of Amazon Print On Demand.

As the Northern Hemisphere slides into summer, thoughts turn to all the big writing conventions that happen over summer.  Gail Carriger has the must pack list for authors who are planning their professional development trips.

In The Craft Section,

Are sneaky plot holes lurking in your story- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Writing exposition in your science fiction novel

How writing romantic and fight scenes are the same- Now Novel-

Bookmark

What to do when there is no clear antagonist- Janice Hardy

Writing rules vs Writing Guidelines- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

A cop reveals how to write a realistic crime scene

In The Marketing Section,

How do you work out what your brand mantra is?

Turning your readers into fans- Bookworks- Bookmark

5 tips for getting a non fiction deal- C S Lakin

6 book marketing lessons from the big guys- Bookbuzz- Bookmark

5 ways to build your local market- Indie Reader

To Finish,

Kate Krake has listed 52 fears of writers. Who knew we were such a fearful lot?  Naming your fear and confronting it can help. Spending too much time worrying about your writing fears can paralyze you. 

Check out this post by Ann Kroeker on filling and stilling your mind so that you can cope with your writer fears.

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you just want to say thanks for the blog you can hit the coffee button up top... Thanks.

Pic: Flicker Creative Commons- Steve Glover

 * Walter Scott

Self Examination

This week there have been some interesting posts by writers looking critically at their success or lack of it. A thread runs through all these articles of perseverance or maybe it’s  just mule like stupidity (paraphrasing Terry Gilliam here.)

Lisa Cohen has written an entertaining article on Writer Unboxed about the lessons learned over five years and six books. There are some great takeaways in here.

Taking the theme of challenging yourself... Paul Searles writes on the Save The Cat website about how he won the midnight challenge in screenwriting. The whole competition is about challenging yourself as a writer...

Fear of success is just as debilitating as fear of failure. Anne R Allen has written a blog post that is resonating across the publishing blogosphere. This is a follow on from articles I have highlighted in the last couple of weeks. An excellent read!

Roz Morris writes about moving from being a ghost writer to a writer with her own name on the cover of the book. Reviews hit harder... Accolades make you cry. This is a great article about the unexpected experiences of having your name on the book.

Joanna Penn has a great interview with David Wood on how to have bestselling series and running a small press. He publishes other Indie authors and has an interesting idea on the publishing future landscape.

Joanna Penn is coming to Auckland in February 2017. She is offering a one day seminar on self publishing. If you are dipping your toe in... or thinking about it, you probably need to go to this.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting interview with Jason Cooper of Unbound, a crowd-funding publishing house. This model is becoming quite attractive to authors who have projects that are unusual. This comprehensive interviews talks about the crowd funding model and the future of this style of publishing.

In The Craft Section,

How to write a book with NaNoWriMo- NowNovel

Ten steps to plotting your practice novel- Writer Unboxed

Roz Morris- How to write emotions and feelings- Bookmark

Four tips for preventing flat descriptions- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Kaizen Writing- Bookmark

The Master List of Romance plots- Bryn Donovan

The two minute writing workshop already at your fingertips- Larry Brooks- Bookmark

7 steps to writing the first novel- Joanna Penn

Trimming words from a too long manuscript- Janice Hardy

In The Marketing Section,

Tips for making yourself more promotable- Writers in the Storm Bookmark

How to create a box set bundle- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Perfect Instagram marketing

DIY Print On Demand- The Who Is Doing What List and How Much It Costs.

Publicity for authors- Joel Friedlander interviews Dana Kaye

A case study in covers- Interesting read!

In the Print It Out and Post It On A Wall Section,

April Brown and Becca Puglisi have compiled the most exhaustive checklist of actions for publishing a novel. I think everything is covered here! (Of course you have to write it first!)

To Finish,

What Kind Of A Writer Are You? Stephen Pressfield asks the question of himself but this self examination throws up some truths about your own motivations for writing. An excellent and thought provoking read.

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time to send out my monthly newsletter. If you want to get a selection of the months best links and other odd thoughts you should subscribe... 

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ Kaex0r

On The Journey

It must be the season for figuring out how to get people reading again. Here in NZ our Book Council published a report that said Kiwi’s weren’t reading their own fiction. Why aren’t they? Everybody has opinions. Maybe it’s because they can’t find the books in bookstores.

Hugh Howey talks about the dismal earning reports of B&N and then goes into detail about how Indie bookstores are changing the face of bookselling. This is a fantastic read and for extra reading credit check out what Hugh would do if he owned a bookstore... highly likely in the future.

So what are Bookstores selling? The Guardian wrote about The Secret DNA behind Bestsellers and talked with the writers of an algorithm that attempted to find out. They have published their findings in a ... Book.

To make the bestseller... you need word of mouth... marketing... advertising budget.. etcetc or you can just get some pods. Jane Friedman has a fascinating guest post about street teams/ mini marketing brigades of fans

What about the contracts of all those people helping you to get published. Kris Rusch winds up her deal breakers series with a comprehensive list of who and how to deal with foreign rights requests.

And that brings us right to the beginning.... The writing.

Rebecca Solnit has Ten Tips On How To Be  A Writer. They are all good.

In The Craft Section,

Is your tone in tune with your novel- Roz Morris

Easy tip for developing story ideas- Janice Hardy

Giving your characters backstory- K M Weiland Bookmark

Inciting incidents – Stephen Pressfield- Bookmark

How to self edit- Now Novel-Bookmark

The pantzer outlining method – Molly Greene- Bookmark

Sharing your protagonists deepest feeling- Angela Ackerman

Shelters for homeless characters- Go Teen Writer

Sara Letourneau has a great series on character evolution

In the Marketing Section,

Developing your online relationship plan- Romance Times

Self publishing vs Traditional- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

4 steps to selling books on Social Media – Anne R Allen

Writing The End is only the start- Alana Kirk

Do writers need a FB page- Kirsten Lamb- Bookmark

How much does a book cost – Digital Book World

Social Media Care- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

To Finish,

While we are figuring out how to get our book out there... it’s a fact of a writers life that they will be spending time alone trying to figure stuff out. Daphne Grey Grant has a great post on how to work alone. Self care tips for the stressed writer. I’m off to find a warm drink... chocolate...

Maureen

@craicer

Pic : Flickr/Creative Commons /Jogendra Joshi

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