Is Anyone Thinking Of The Children?

 

In Publishing News this week.

Long time readers of the blog will remember that I used to feature the writings of publishing commentator Mike Shatzkin in the first 12 years of the blog. Mike retired but occasionally would pop back to make a interesting observation on current changes in publishing. He had been around publishing in one way or another his entire life. His recent death has been marked by many across the industry. Publishing Perspectives has a great obituary of his life and times. R.I.P. Mike.

 

The UK Guardian has an article on yet another celebrity who has written a children’s book. Children’s Authors Frustrated By Rise Of Celebrity Penned Titles. Speaking as a children’s writer, yes, it is frustrating. What more do they need for validation? A children’s book. – it’s easy to write and you have a built-in marketing factor for the publishing company. Right. Publishers taking a punt on a celebrity is a no brainer. The bare minimum of editing and all the TV shows will book them so that’s the publicity sorted. Pity about the reading quality and the longevity, but there will be another celebrity author next year. 

 

If you look at the latest surveys like The Guardian last week, they report that children are reading less than ever. This has sent shivers down the spines of writers and publishers. After all, if we can’t get kids reading for pleasure when they grow up they won’t be reading adult books either. The last writer who had a huge impact on children’s reading was J K Rowling whose series positively impacted a generation. Since those heady days of 1997 when the first book was published quietly until 2000 when the juggernaut took off every publisher has dreamed of finding the next big children’s book. 

 

The Hollywood Reporter has an article on TV shows using AI to script children’s television that resulted in a hot mess of awfulness. However, the AI tools that are developing are finding favour with the creators.

 

The big children’s fairs of Bologna and Shanghai are collaborating, sharing ideas and resources in this weeks Shanghai Children’s Book Fair. Publishing Perspectives writes about their partnerships.

 

Elsewhere in the UK the GLL foundation which funds writers has created 20 children’s author bursaries for residencies in libraries across the UK. The programme aims to help writers develop their business as well. This is a fantastic initiative.

 

Publishers Weekly writes about initiatives to rebuild libraries in conflict zones. 

 

With the rise of Print on Demand publishing, Princeton University Press has opened up an office in China offering their backlist in English. A canny financial move that is paying off. 

Meanwhile, Hachette is bleeding employees who are disgusted with their new imprint Basic Liberty which is following a conservative publishing agenda. It looks like Hachette launched the whole enterprise in a hurry to take advantage of election outcomes. 

 

Two great writing craft articles caught my eye this week. Antagonist vs Villain- what’s the difference by Katie Weiland which is a must read. Sue Coletta writes an in depth article- Does your story have a full circle moment? Cue slot machine sounds as your brain makes connections. 

 

In the Craft Section,

4 things that make your writing boring- Suzy Vadori- Bookmark

Balancing your cast of characters- September Fawkes – Bookmark

Don’t make this conflict tension mistake- Janice Hardy - Bookmark

5 common reasons your hero is too powerful- Oren Ashkenazi

Four dialogue tips- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

How to create a newsletter

Ultimate guide to festival success-  J Alexander Greenwood-Bookmark

9 key reasons your book is not selling- Laurence O’Bryan

2 excellent posts from Sandra Beckwith- Finding Beta Readers and Boost your author brand- 31 tips- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Recently, social media sites have been churning with change. People are ditching their accounts and setting up new ones on different sites. The publishing world is no exception. In the beginning Twitter was the publishing industry water cooler meetup place for everybody. If you are trying to find the social media literary community Bluesky has had an influx of publishing industry people. It feels a lot like Twitter in the good old days.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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

 

Pic Photo by Allen Taylor on Unsplash

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

 

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 all your kind virtual coffee love, 

Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by ALEXANDRE DINAUT on Unsplash

Dedicated to the Business of Writing

  

In Publishing News this week,

 

 Coming To a Book Fair near you…the Bologna Children’s Book Fair is touring to other book fairs. They are showcasing a pop up Pre Bologna experience. Porter Anderson explains why the ‘fair’ is making guest appearances and how it hopes to drum up more interest in its expanded format offerings.

 

The Oxford University Press recently settled their employees collective bargaining contract and everything looked rosy until they abruptly terminated a whole teams employment this week. Mark Williams offers his acerbic take on the news which must be how their employees are feeling now.

 

Amazon is holding out an AI carrot to Narrators. The Verge reports that Amazon Audible Narrators can now clone their voices and use them for projects. It is in beta but still it could be a lifeline for narrators whose livelihood is under threat from AI narration.

Meanwhile there is a new kid on the block offering 50 % profits to authors who want to provide audio options for their blogs and other written material. Check out Spoken, which is also in beta. Providing audio narration seems to be the 2024 big format mover.

 

Joanna Penn recently chatted with Sacha Black on pivoting genres. This is a chance to listen to two powerhouse writers and speakers chat about their different author business and how they are staying relevant and successful. Check out the podcast/transcript.

Joanna is also celebrating 13 years as a full time author and all the lessons she has learned along the way. Every year at her anniversary she does a roundup show about her journey to where she is and how the last year has shaped up for her. Congratulations Joanna. 

 

Reuters reports that a class action has been taken against Academic publishers over their non payment of peer reviews which effectively amounts to price fixing in the academic publishing world. They report that academic publishers made over $10 billion dollars last year and paid out nothing to the people who provided the work. If you speak to any scientist you will hear this complaint constantly. When you publish an academic paper you have to pay the journal to take it. (Cost: thousands) Then the journal demands a peer review of an academic paper in the same field (which is done for free.) The journal publishes the paper and demands that the university pay a massive subscription so they can access their own research. Add in academic textbooks to a captive student population and you can see why they are rolling in money. Kudos to the neuroscientist professor who has finally had enough and brought the class action. I just want to know why it has taken so long for the scientists to do this? (career suicide anyone?)

 

Sue Coletta takes issue with a recent article written by AI on how to respond to 1 star reviews or even 4 star reviews. The advice given was Bad… very bad. Sue relates why you should never engage with reviewers.

Staying with reviewers and the fabulous Killzone blog, Elaine Viets writes about one reviewers annoyance at seeing the same things happening in book after book. Publishers should be picking up these errors. Check out the gripe list.

 

Katie Weiland has an outstanding article on trusting yourself as a writer. When do you know enough to write a good story? This is a print out and stick on the wall article.

 

In The Craft Section,

Should your novel have a prologue- Lucy Hay

How to resolve a characters internal arc- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Torn between two projects -James Scott Bell – Bookmark

A deep look at deep editing – C S Lakin-Bookmark

5 unexpected plot devices to consider- Savannah Cordova

 

In The Marketing Section

Two interesting articles on Book Promotion from Bookbaby- How to create revenue streams and Book promotion ideas- Bookmark

Building an author platform- Bookbub- Bookmark

Supercharge your mailing list- Cori Ramos- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

 

You have finished the book… the editor is happy. You have checked page proofs until your brain is fried. Then the knotty problem of who to dedicate the book to rears its head. Which family member … friend… inspiration… will you choose? Sophie Masson writes about the perils of dedications in books.

 

I am fast coming up to another big milestone with the Craicer blog. I have to dedicate all the many articles to the readers of the blog. Of course, as a teacher and learner I am hardwired for research and talking about what I learn so I would do it anyway. It is nice to hear that I’ve helped writers along the way with the right article at the right time or a new income stream or just greater knowledge of the world of publishing. The occasional tip into the coffee fund has been greatly appreciated over the years too. 

Thanks for reading.

 

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.

 

Pic Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Uniquely You

 

 

In Publishing News This Week

Who is making money in the book industry? Lagadére seems to be leading the pack. They are up 48% in sales in the first half of 2024. They attribute their good fortune to sales of audio and front list and back list… or did the total reorganization of Hachette have something to do with it.

 

If China is the elephant in the room for all things sales wise… then the elephant likes cats. They feature in all the children’s bestsellers in China. If you have a cat main character ….

 

Publishers Weekly has an interesting article on Children’s Booksellers engaging audiences in different ways. It brings in the readers… which drag in the payers and everyone has a good time.

 

In the UK, Newcastle wants to be a centre of writing and publishing. They have an historic building and buy in from publishers, they just need lots of cash from the new government. It has to be cheaper to run a publishing business out of Newcastle than London, one of the most expensive cities in the world, right?

 

Colleen Story has an interesting article on 5 steps to building a strong foundation to your writing career. Have you considered that emotional, physical and mental health is just as important in your writing career as having a website.

 

Rachel Thompson has a must read post on phishing scams targeting writers  and how to tell if its legit and thriller author Cat Connor takes issue with digital marketers trying the same thing and what she does to discourage it.

 

If you are hunting around for interesting writing competitions take a look at this list compiled for the month of August.

 

Joanna Penn has an excellent interview with Roz Morris about writing emotion. How do you know when you have nailed it for the reader. Check out the transcript/ podcast.

 

How much does your environment influence your writing? Sue Coletta has a great post on how it has affected other authors. Does changing your environment result in a totally different book?

 

Joy York writes on Story Empire about how to go about seeking feedback on your writing.

 

Katie Weiland continues her story structure series with a great article on the art of The Hook.

 

In The Craft section,

Adding subtext to dialogue- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Does your scene need more tension- Angela Ackerman

5 effective outlining techniques- Rachel Thompson-Bookmark

Learning to love synopsis- Diana Giovinazzo

Infusing mood into your fiction- C S Lakin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Gaining more reviews- Fussy Librarian

Multiple ways to sell the story- Brian Feinblum

Social Media sells- Jennifer Windrow- Bookmark

Creative book marketing strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Book Promo timing- Sandra Beckwith-Bookmark

Reader Magnets and other questions - Alli Podcast

 

To Finish

Today I was checking that a review on Amazon that I had written was up and at the top of the review pages was Amazon’s AI roundup of the reviews and what they were all commonly saying. Woah, I thought, AI gets everywhere. Dan Blank recently had an interesting article on how AI was sliding into our everyday lives making shortcuts and time saving. What we really should be doing, he said was celebrating our unique creative voice.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

I’m running late on the monthly newsletter. This weekend I will get to it.  If you want the best of my bookmarked links 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 virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Evan Fitzer on Unsplash

Shopping For Content

 

In Publishing News this week

 

Another publisher is eyeing the content creation opportunities in mixed media. Penguin Random House has bought Boom Studios. Boom is a graphic novel publisher and film studio producing animated series for television and streaming. 

Dan Holloway reports that Webtoon, the biggest digital comics platform, has just launched on the stock exchange and is now valued at nearly $3 billion after the first day of trading. South Korea firm Naver owns Webtoon and Wattpad. Watch for other publishing companies going shopping for media companies.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on Germany’s almost 2% growth in sales for the first half of the year. Should we be optimistic?

 

Mark Williams offers his acerbic take on the annual speech to the publishing faithful by Charlie Redmayne (yes, he is the brother.) CEO of Harper Collins. Will publishing embrace AI? It seems that quietly there are toes being dipped in the water. Speechify is promoting its text to speech app as an alternative to audiobooks and in the education sphere there is Bookbot doing text to speech for disadvantaged children.

 

Natalie Aguirre has a guest post over on Anne R Allen’s blog about tips on finding an agent. Joanna Penn recently interviewed agent and developmental editor Renee Fountain about preparing manuscripts and submitting queries for agents. 

 

It was nice to see a positive news story about romance readers coming out of a media organization. Teenagers are discovering romance book clubs.

Meanwhile, Gabino Iglesias asks Does America Still Care About Authors in Esquire. He had the novel experience of being welcomed in France for his work, the same work in America gets him brickbats.

 

Jane Friedman has an interview with a midwestern publisher about what it takes to thrive away from the usual publishing cities. This is an interesting interview on being nimble and carving out your own niche.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an in depth article on plotting strategies. It doesn’t matter whether you are a pantser or a plotter there are some good tips here.

 

Katie Weiland has a great post on Everything You Need To Know About The lie Your Character Believes. This is one of those AHA posts where you shake your head and wonder how you could have missed this profound principal of story.

 

In the Craft Section,

Creating Characters- Stephen Geez- Bookmark

8 different types of scenes-K M Weiland- Bookmark

Three emotional problems to avoid- Becca Puglisi

How to avoid dumb moves- James Scott Bell

Suspense vs Anticipation- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

5 steps to better sex scenes – the Bridgerton way- Bang2write

 

In The Marketing Section 

How to create an e-newsletter- Stylefactory productions

How to talk about your book before publishing- Sam Missingham- Bookmark

Ask for a review- Rob Bignell

Book cover ideas- Cameron Chapman- Bookmark

Guide to book giveaway platforms- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

 

To Finish

I seem to refer readers to Katie Weilands story structure website every week. The reason is she is a great teacher of the finer points of character and story structure. She has written excellent books on the topic. I own some and they are very readable and straight to the point. Katie has just released two new story craft books. She has revised and updated her excellent Structuring Your Novel and released a new book Next Level Plot Structure. Check out her detailed post about the books and treat yourself to a great 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.

 

Pic Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

The Freedom To Read

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

This week the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) issued a statement on The Ongoing Violation of Children’s Rights in Gaza. IBBY is an international organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting reading all over the world. Every two years they award children’s literature’s highest honour, The Hans Christian Anderson Medal (often referred to as The Little Nobel.) Publishing Perspectives highlights the statement as not casting blame or fault. An exercise in deft diplomacy, calling everyone to work together on behalf of the children.

 

Down here in the Pacific, we watch the political moves happening around the pond. This is also true of the Book Fairs that have been gaining more prominence down our way. 

The Beijing International Book Fair has just kicked off with 71 countries attending this year. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard looks at who is attending and speaking. All eyes will be on the AI in publishing event happening at the fair.

 

Publishing Perspectives highlights the World Expression Forum which recently met in Norway and dedicated a portion of its programming to how the freedom to read is tied up with democracy. They caution that the publishing industry can’t be complacent.

 

Not complacent is the American branch of Oxford University Press, whose workers are picketing outside the office. 

 

GoodeReader highlights a new piece of tech aimed at the educational market. A foldable eReader tablet you can read and write on, from ReadTych. Is this what we have all been waiting for? 

 

Two fantastic podcasts caught my attention this week. The SPA girls interviewed Maggie Marr, a specialist contract lawyer and writer. This is a great insight into contract language, negotiations, and best practice. Everyone should listen to this. 

Joanna Penn interviewed Steve Pieper on click testing and selling direct. Steve looks at how click testing works and why you should do it. Check out the podcast or read the transcript.

 

Are you looking after your health? It’s the Winter season down here and I’ve been simmering chicken soup most of the day. While the house is smelling wonderful, I’m also reminding myself that I need to follow the advice for writers in caring for your health by Emily Young.

 

The Mary Sue published a list of the greatest Young Adult reads of all time. Any list is subjective, but they may have nailed it with this list. What do you think?

 

Choosing names for your characters is often fraught. Sometimes the right name is elusive, and you can’t quite get a handle on the character until you have the name sorted. Ginny Moyer likens it to naming a child. It means just as much.

 

In The Craft section,

10 tips on writing a fantasy novel- Lucy Hay- Bookmark

Finding your story's throughline- Mythcreants

Avoiding headhopping- Anne R Allen – Bookmark

Scene structure and transitions- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Redeeming your villain- Becca Puglisi

 

In The Marketing Section,

Why you should care about library distribution-Draft2Digital

Direct sales strategies- Bookbub- Bookmark

What’s in a title- Jane Corry – Bookmark

When is the best time to release a book- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

Learning to love Amazon’s freebies- Caroline Howard Johnson

 

To Finish,

How often have you closed a book and decided not to finish it. I used to force myself to read the rest of the book hoping it would get better but now I shake my head and put it down. Amy Bernstein has a great post on Jane Friedman’s blog on making sure your book doesn’t fall into the DNF book club. 

With so much news on the ways to stop people reading, you owe it to your reader to give them the best reading experience you can.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band and get the best of my bookmarked links and other extras.

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.

 

Pic Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Challenging Times

 

In Publishing News this week,

The Romance Writers of America has filed for bankruptcy. For many years this association was the biggest writer organization out there. They had huge conferences which were the industry standard. A series of scandals in the last few years has seen their membership dwindle from over 10,000 to around 3000 or less. This means they can’t pay for hotels which they used to book 5 years in advance for their big conferences. The bills are due. There is no money leading to the filing. It is not the end of the association, but tight times are ahead. Meanwhile, the way things have been left has annoyed some writers. 

 

When Simon and Schuster was up for sale, Meta (Facebook) was interested in acquiring it. Good E Reader reports from recordings shared with the New York Times that they didn’t want the publishing company really- only the content. This is a heads up for any other publishing companies going up for sale. You could get bought for AI training purposes.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports that Bloomsbury have bought the academic publishers Rowman Littlefield. This is their biggest ever acquisition and doubles their footprint in the US. Richard Charkin’s monthly column on the good and the not so good aspects of publishing has academic publishers in the profitable section, so an excellent bottom line for Bloomsbury. Academic publishing has a captive audience- much to the annoyance of academics.

Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors has a quick rundown of the opposition by some of the corporate sponsor behind the Hay Literary Festival. Do you take the money and close your eyes to where it has come from? Can literary beggars be choosers?

 

Lorna Fergusson writes about getting the balance right when you go on a writing retreat. She has a list of very good advice to consider from planning to expectations to the type of experiences that could help or hinder the benefit you might get from it.

 

Christine Webb writes for Writers Digest about balancing humour and emotion in your books. Going too far one way or the other can wreck the reading experience.

 

So what does fear have to do with bad writing? Ruth Harris answers this question in her monthly column on Anne Allens blog. Is fear stopping you from what you really want to write?

 

Do you let your characters fill in backstory? John Kelley has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about letting your minor characters fill in information. Stories within stories.

 

Suzanne Lakin has an interesting post on inner conflict. How well do you know your characters motivations? She has a series of questions to ask your character that reveals their inner conflicts and can give you great pointers on where to take the character in the story.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to use white space And How Did I Get Here - Sue Coletta- Bookmark

Crafting compelling backstory- Michelle Barker- Bookmark

Steadfast arcs vs flat arcs- September Fawkes

Introducing your characters- K M Weiland- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Using universal book links – Draft2Digital- Bookmark

Marketing forever mindset- Podcast- ALLI conference- Bookmark

Marketing to agents- Karen Whiting

5 tips for building superfans- Rachel Hanna- Bookmark

15 book promo ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is always interesting to drop into Joanna Penn’s podcast. This week she has an interview with a former mental health nurse, Adam Beswick, about planning for success. Adam has a bestselling dark fantasy series using TikTok videos. He talks about going from being terrified to video himself to viral videos. It is an interesting interview on mindset and being open to new experiences. We send our characters on challenging journeys- shouldn’t we be challenging ourselves too?

 

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.

 

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