Links to Giveaway...

Last week there was a lot to read through...so I forgive you for not making it to the end and discovering the cool giveaway! (Maureen watches last week’s post stats jump....heheheh)

This week I have some interesting links for your delectation.

The awesome Cris Dukehart explains why she loves her job as an audiobook narrator and the little tricks you need to know if you want to do this yourself.... A brilliant interview with tips for authors to help make their work more audio friendly.

One of the Blue Rose Girls, editor Alvina Ling gives a detailed breakdown of what happens when she gets a manuscript to edit. This is a fascinating look at the editing process and there are lots of tips to think about for writers when you get to the editing process.

Joanna Pennhas an interesting post on series continuation hassles...when you discover that you have a series on your hands how do you go about retro planning for the future life of your characters. Lots of comments on this one with some great advice.

Lydia Sharp has taken a look at the difference between inciting incident and catalyst and breaks it down with examples. This is a great reference for writers out there looking to nail how their plot can move forward.

Nicola Morgan has taken a long look at the synopsis and defined what really should be in it. Don’t get hung up on your timeline...say what...? Go and read this valuable post.

Bob Mayer has been attending the Storyworld Conference and he has some interesting things to say about transmedia and the three screen revolution...Is this where we are all headed?

On a similar theme Publishing Perspectives takes a look at the hoops publishers have to go through to produce a halfway decent picture book on an eBook platform.

Two marketing links that may be of interest...

Tony Eldridge looks at 10 Ideas for Non Traditional Book Marketing 


Hubspot has taken a close look at Facebook business pages and has highlighted the best ways to get them moving and sparkling...This has great relevance for websites so check out the article.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify page) I have links to articles on

Keeping Your Superpowers Current

7 Gadgets That Won’t Be Around In 2020

To finish, 

Roni Loren has an hilarious article on the life cycle of a blogger and...
 Amanda Hooper has created the ultimate dream (and referenced her friends) for a writer who has a book coming out...watch the video!

I’ll keep the ebook giveaway up for another week...just remember to comment with your Zombie name...
enjoy,
maureen

Accolades

This week I have been contemplating the future of the modern book launch. 

A book launch is a celebration and a promotional opportunity for the author, bookseller and publisher to highlight a creative achievement and to get the printed story into the hands of readers. Pre the book launch the reviewers would have been given advance copies to review, hopefully favourably, to generate interest. People would be awaiting the party...book launches are great affairs where the writing community gets out in support. A good book launch can propel a book onto the best seller list which then gets it noticed more....

I have attended many fabulous Book Launches at The Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie where John and Ruth McIntyre have been proud Godparents (and sometimes midwives) of some very special books... They were wonderful Godparents at my own book launch 3 years ago and have been encouraging and commiserating with me as my midgrade novel Craic repeatedly gets so close to the acceptance bar. Today it was announced that they have been awarded the Betty Gilderdale award for Services To New Zealand Children’s Literature and they are worthy recipients! As the current Convenor of the Wellington Children’s Book Association I am proud to announce our co hosting of the Award ceremony for them at Turnbull House on the 21st of November. (it’s nice that I can now blab this secret as well.)

With Amazon commenting last week that they were selling 2 eBooks for every 1 Print Book...the future of the book launch, the count down to the day you hold the book in your hands, has changed.

An eBook launch is a different beast altogether. You can still have the party but the signing table will be empty...the cash register won’t be ringing in the background.

Melinda Szymanik was telling me that the launch of her eBook, The Half Life Of Ryan Davis, was an email from her publisher with an Amazon gift certificate for the book attached and a celebratory glass of wine with the publisher. There will be a party when the print book comes out later in the year tho!

Three years ago the printed book would have been launched with a splash then later in the year, unheralded, the audio book and the eBook. Now the eBook comes first with the book trailer then the audio book and, if you want, you can have a print book...either P.O.D. or traditionally.

Reviewers slot in all along this process so the three months or so of new book publicity can be dragged out to a year if you are a canny marketer....A quick look at a new publisher on the New Zealand block, Pear Jam Books, shows that they understand this very well. (Great acronym use of the word PEAR! )

So here are some more great writers who are launching eBooks this week and how they are doing it.

Jane Friedman has a great guest blog from Roz Morris on her experiment of the serialisation of her novel on Kindle. Roz talks about what works and what didn’t. This model of publicity made Dickens famous...

Victoria Mixons second book on The Art and Craft Of Story is getting great reviews around the blogosphere. You can check out free samples of the practitioner’s manual here on a bookbuzzr widget or over on Storyfix where she has a chapter up on science and story in a great guest post.

Victoria also has a fantastic interview with Joanna Penn about her very successful ePublishing career and why she chose to publish this way.

The Huffington Post has spotlighted Self Publishing this week with an interesting guest post from Felicia Ricci entitled How to self publish (and seem like you’re not.) If you are looking for a step by step guide check this out!

Greg Pincus has highlighted an interesting post by a successful picture book writer who is trying to get an intriguing historical non fiction story picked up by a publisher. Think about trying this idea out!

In marketing the eBook you need to be just as careful in your planning as you were in formatting it. Tony Eldridge has a revisited a link to an article about how not to use Print On Demand (worth rereading for the tips on how to do it better.)

Tony also has a popular resource of the week series. Check out YouTube creators for help with that book trailer and Paypal tips for getting the money flowing into your account from your website.

Of course you will have a website to promote your book, eBook or trad...Bookmarketingmaven has a punchy post that reminds writers of what should be on their website...(hint; it begins with B)

Publisher’s Weekly has put the spotlight on Children’s publishing this week with an indepth article on YA publishing and where it is at. There are great quotes from agents and editors in here.

I received my copy of the 2012 Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market book this week and this article backed up all the agent interviews in the book.

Chuck Sambuchino, who edited this years CWIM, has a great interview on his blog where an agent pulls apart a successful query letter and shows why the novel got picked up which subsequently launched a successful career.

Another great interview to catch my eye was Johanna Knox’s interview with Mandy Hager on Tim Jones’ blog. Mandy is an accomplished writer and here she talks about how her Blood of the Lamb trilogy has unsettled Americans and how her scriptwriting skills came in useful...

Over in the Craft section,

Janice Hardy talks about script writing a scene that is not working to find out how to fix it.

Agent Mary Kole has some timely advice on how not to use Social Media when looking for agents and editors.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to

Konraths E predictions in 2009...This was Joe talking about what he thought would happen in the future...check out the comments about where we might be heading to now!

Writer Beware – Bad Publishing Clause series...ouch!!!

Make Books Easily for the iPad

To finish,

This week Mike Shatzkin examined the Amazon/ Apple, clash of the behemoths, with the launch of the Kindle Fire. Is it about the device or the content....

As I have been writing this blogpost, news has come in of the passing of Steve Jobs, one month after he stepped down as Apple’s CEO. He was a visionary and an extraordinary man. He could polarize a room and inspire it the same time. His commencement speech for Stanford University, just after he was diagnosed with the cancer that killed him today, is one of the most viewed speeches on YouTube and a superb testament to the power of one man who changed the world.

maureen

P.S. From time to time I put up a video as a Thank You for someone who has sent quite a few Readers over to Craicer. Melinda the following video is for you... 

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....

Doing The Right Thing...

Over the last few days one of my friends has been having an interesting time with a National television programme. 

My friend is a Wild Foods blogger. She writes about and is interviewed for her expertise in harvesting and preparing wild food. The television programme in question was using her recipe in a cooking demonstration on the show and attributing them to their guest celebrities on the programmes website. Unfortunately they weren’t acknowledging her in any way or the other chefs whose recipes were taken and appropriated by the show.

If you post things on the internet you take the risk of having someone like it so much they use it and claim it as their own. This is plagiarism. For some scummy people it is fair game and the amount of website content that is stolen and repackaged as eBooks is frightening.  Be careful about the eBooks you buy. The best thing you can do on your websites is to say copyright on your content somewhere on the front page or to use a creative commons licence. A Creative Commons license means people can use your work (but not make money off it) so long as they attribute it to you. There are various licenses that you can use. Check out this cool video that tells you all about it.

My friend received a sort of an apology this morning from the TV show. What her friends were wondering on Face Book was How come the TV Network can have teams of lawyers looking out for any breach of copyright on their own behalf but can allow their programmes to not offer the same courtesy back. 

Acknowledgement takes only a moment and shows that you are a fair person and a responsible internet user.

Cory Doctorow has a great post on donations to creative people as a direct interface between reader and writer. He is documenting his self pubbed ebook, ‘With A Little Help,’ experiment through his blog and Publishers Weekly column. ‘Pay The Creator You Love’ is the catch phrase and Cory is all for it.

Bubblecow have a great post on Seven Publishing Companies who have embraced ebook and ebook marketing in creative ways. They are respecting their authors and the creative content.

Google have been rolling out their Google plus site. This is direct competition to Facebook. Greg Pincus checks out what Google has to offer for authors with Google plus. Lets be careful out there.

In the Craft Corner

I read a lot. It is called research. (hehehe) At tax time I get to count up all the books I have bought for research purposes and wince a little. I try to be careful in what I buy, after all I might be called upon to explain to the taxman why I claimed it on my tax return. Yesterday a package of books arrived for me from the wonderful Book Depository (they have free delivery and to NZ that is a Godsend.) In the pack was a book (which I can’t get here easily) by my favourite midgrade author Gordon Korman. Last night I devoured it and started it all over again today. Why am I telling you this? Gordon has a great handle on voice and first lines and I just happen to have links to great posts on these.

I was thirteen the first time I saw a police officer up close. He was arresting me for driving without a license. At the time, I didn't even know what a license was. I wasn't too clear on what being arrested meant either. Schooled by Gordon Korman

Check out First lines by The Writers Alley and Tips on Discovering Your Characters Voice from the wonderful Bookshelf Muse Team.

Cheryl Reif has a good post on Ten Ways To Craft A Sense Of Place

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on

The Art Of Being Different- Justine Musk is an inspiration.

6 Ways To Improve Face Book Fan Pages

The 7 Ways To Improve Viral Videos

To Finish,

Tony Eldridge has posted a few gems on his blog this week. First he talks about the impact Dean Wesley Smiths Brilliant idea (which I have blogged about and if you haven’t read it Do So Now) has been on the marketing of his book and second he has a link to great freebies for authors to check out...

enjoy,

maureen

pic from here

Niche Learning

Do you have a niche?

How do you get one if you don’t have one? 

Does a writer need a niche?

Tony Eldridge has a great article on niche and what it means to an author when it comes to marketing yourself and your books.

The BlogHer group have taken these ideas a step further and put together a comprehensive social media strategy to think about when you have defined your niche/brand.

As part of looking into niche and branding, these ideas had me thinking about Author websites and blogging.

Alexander Chee has written a great post on Author blogging. Why should an author have a blog? Should you blog if you have been pressured to do it? 

This is thought provoking stuff to all the author bloggers out there.

I was encouraged (strongly) to blog by a friend. As you can see my blog is not about my writing...(if I didn’t have the link to my book blog you wouldn’t even know.) 

This blog is about my learning. 

Since I have been blogging (just over two years, once a week) I have learned an amazing amount. I have found new friends that share some of my ideas (or humour me:) I have been challenged, stretched and energised by the blogs of others I have read and the discussions that I have participated in. The discipline to write an article once a week about my learning has hopefully made me a sharper fiction writer.... I hope that my learning discoveries have helped others.

Alexander also has part two of this article which is even better about the story that sells the story. He takes a look at James Kaelan and the Zero Emissions Book Tour and how James got corporate sponsorship and ended up bare chested on the cover of Poets and Writers magazine.

Seth Godin and his decision to abandon traditional publishing has been a hot topic across a niche blogosphere that I read this week. The decision has angered some and dismayed others. Seth’s ideas on marketing and his innovative way of publishing has given him a huge following. Linchpin was an instant bestseller and will be the last book he traditionally publishes. (i.e. paper and ink)

Mike Shatzkin has talked about Seth’s decision and what it may mean for authors and publishers now and in the future. As Mike says 'not everyone is a Seth Godin...'some of us need traditional publishing but for how long...

Two best selling authors have taken their book into social media and mixed it up. Today Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear announced that they have partnered with Subutai Corporation to deliver the worlds first digital novel on a social book platform. They are publishing a chapter a week with lots of supplementary material, all their research etc all on the ipad, iphone and ipod touch. This is story telling into the future. Of course it would be two speculative fiction guys who would do this....

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify page) I have linked to articles on

Tension = Conflicting Emotion Article by  Donald Maass.

Beware The Eyes That March-What Eyes Can And Cannot Do In Fiction

Words To Think About from A to V from the Blood Red Pencil

Two Items Needed In Every Authors Toolbox (Melinda linked to this from her blog)

Mr Rochester Is A Creep...(those weird Bronte sisters)

Making The Most Of Criticism...( a good post for those critique-ing out there)

So there you have it... a round up of my learning and reading this week. As I ask my kids every day... what have you learned...anyone want to share what they have learned this week?

maureen

pic from niche market

Forgiveness and Group Branding

I am guilty.

I am guilty of not having a set routine, of not setting goals to check off, of procrastination...which is why this blog post is late.

Forgive me.

So what have I found to get you thinking for the next week.

The Author as Publisher...this thought was revolving around my head as I hung up the washing on the first sunny day here in two weeks. The Wall Street Journal has a good overview of what is happening with Amazon moving into the publishing market. They use several author experiences as case studies. In particular the royalty amount Amazon is paying (70%) which makes it worthwhile to look at what they are offering to authors and how this changes the publishing landscape.

With all these possibilities in mind Tony Eldridge retweeted a blog post from October last year on marketing plans with a multiple pronged attack. This is a handy list and as he says you don’t have to do all of it. One of his bullet points is joint ventures. Tony had already posted an excellent article on the synergy of working with other authors on a joint venture. Each week as I research my blog post I am finding more of these author collective initiatives. They are a very good idea.

Create a Group Presence

If you are finding the whole author online presence very daunting, get together with a few friends and create a group presence. This divides up the work each author has to do online. It promotes collective branding as a group. It can give you wider exposure.

A while ago I talked with Stacy Nyikos about the class of 2k8 and how that was set up and how it operates. It is such a good idea that it has morphed branding on its own with 2k9, and 2k10....

In a collective author venture everybody has input into the brand. The brand promotes itself collectively and individually. The brand provides speakers to events, a fan club to promote them, a built in author blog tour....

You can be as big a presence as you want and can cope with, from Readergirlz with their video TV channel to PBJunkies, writers with its focus on parent events.

(Note: As I was loading up the links to the blog I found this one for dystopian writers, courtesy of P J Hoover of Spectacle writers....)

In Facebook land I am part of a collective of writers experimenting with writing a group book. We are still developing the story but alongside we are brainstorming ways that we can bring children along for the ride online. We are going to have to think seriously about collective and individual branding the project. This all seems like adult work...when at the moment the collective energy and camaderie has us feeling like the kids at the back of the class having a secret plan and executing it while the teacher (publisher) is not looking. When we grow up and put the whole project on a more serious footing, it is still going to be fun given the personalities involved....

So having confessed I spend too much time researching social networking...Chip McGregor of McGregor Literary has a timely reminder with a guest post by Rob Eagar of what an author should be doing with the 10 plus hours they spend online.

Following on from this is a good post by Mike Duran on routine and how this can benefit an author’s career. He makes the point that he never understood why his agents asked him how fast he wrote a novel...and why that fact is important to know.

This month is SoCNoC. (Southern Cross Novel Challenge)Yes, here in the Southern Hemisphere we have our own NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month) in a winter month. Kiwiwriters.org are organising it and people from all around the world are taking part which goes to show that authors like a goal and need a whip cracking challenge to apply butt in chair.

I attended Ruth Paul’s Two Little Pirates Book launch last night, at The Children’s Bookshop. The publishers representative commented in her speech that so proud are they of this book they had ordered 19,000 copies to be printed and distributed in Australia and Canada as well as here in New Zealand. This is a well deserved accolade for one of our best writer illustrators. Two Little Pirates is gorgeous!

Over on Craicerplus (my amplify page)

Marketing Tips for Authors 10 Tips on Preparing A Speech

The Number One Habit of Highly Creative People

The Three Best Takeaways from Book Expo America (this is a must read on copyright and royalty changes)

Author Marketing Experts inc.Free Toys and Downloads for Authors

Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize longlist...great lit for under 10s

Enjoy

maureen

Pic is the cover of Two Little Pirates

Author Websites and the Personal Brand....

I’m over rain...and yes I know we were all praying for rain two months ago when we were facing a country wide drought but all those collective prayers seem to have been answered this last week in constant downpours so that we are looking at floods.

So now that we are stuck inside, our attention turns to Social Networking sites...coz I’m researching them for a little project.

As part of your brand profile publishers expect you to be social networking as well. Now some authors engage with their readers very well on facebook but it is a time suck. After all the business of being an author is writing. So before you set up your facebook fan page, your twitter account, your blog, sit down and make up a profile plan. Where do you want to spend your time?

Dan Schawbel of Personal Branding Blog has written an interesting article that has been posted all over the web this week entitled R.I.P Facebook. He has some pertinent things to say about personal branding and one of them is devote your energy to YOUR website not someone else’s!

So with this in mind I am revisiting author websites.

What should an Author website do?

Bookmarketingmaven has a short post profiling some excellent author websites.

Yael Miller has a guest post on Tony Eldridge’s blog about good web design for authors.

 Publetariat has reprinted a page from Joanna Penn about a great example of an author website. Make sure people can buy your book!!! That is the big message but there are lots of other important little snippets as well...profile... engage readers...FAQs...flash stuff....

Writer Tools

Joanna Penn is a great source of advice. She has successfully self published three books and has a huge following for her blog and website.  On her blog, thecreativepenn, this week she has a guest post focussing on 22 websites every writer must use. It is a great list. There are some great new sites to check out. Two from the list are 3D Animated Avatars for your characters and an Emotion Thesaurus (this is a wonderful resource compiled every Thursday by children’s writer Angela Ackerman.)

Icyte is a great bookmarking site that takes bookmarking to a whole new level. Your bookmarked web pages are always available stored with your highlighted tags and comments so you can access them on other computers or servers. This is especially interesting if you are researching or working collaboratively on a project.

For more ideas on author websites check out my Marketing 101 series. 

In the Blogosphere this week.

B.E.A. (Book Expo America) is underway. Check out Alice, in the sidebar-she's blogging from it. 

Galleycat has links to hot topics at the Expo including  this little video where the CEO of Figment Publishing talks about their latest initiative to bring cellphone novels to American teens.

There is a lot of comment flying thick and fast over Neil Gaiman getting 40K to speak at a library.

Neil is bemused by it and his blog post on the subject is very interesting. I always knew he was a great guy!!! More power to him I say...(holding signed copy of The Graveyard Book close to chest and sighing...)

Over on Craicerplus (myAmplify page) I have links to articles on

The Konrath effect - Will technology ruin new authors?

Ask The Publishing Guru - Choosing a title for your novel. (This one started some interesting comment on facebook)

The Feckless Goblin - 9 unsavoury characters traits of real authors (ouch)

From Victoria Mixon – 7 reasons to be glad that you are a writer. (ohhhhhh)

George Orwell, Mills and Boon writer: Taking literary mashups to the next level (ideas for your next masterpiece)

Enjoy,


maureen

pic is the master himself... Neil Gaiman

The Thursday Vibe...

Today I was stopped twice by people who said to me ‘My friend has written a book and wants to know what they should do next....’

Is it because it is Thursday and subconsciously I am sending out vibes that say I need a topic for my blog today?

I don’t think I am, as I often have 8 - 10 links already to talk about when I sit down to put it all together.

Maybe I’m sending out a vibe on super busy Thursday that says ‘stop me rushing off to the next appointment and ask me a question about writing.’  

My answer both times was ‘Tell your friend that now you must research!’ The internet is full of great sites that can point you in the right direction and the library is full of great books on the craft of writing, so you can make sense of what you have created.

So in that spirit, here are a few places to look.

Jenn an Intern at the Elaine English Literary agency this week posted a great little article on synopsis which outlines what a good synopsis should have.

A synopsis can make or break your chances. After your query has been accepted, it is your first chance to make a good (or bad) first impression. You have to find a good balance between saying enough and not saying too much.

Mary Kole of Kidlit.com has a good article about knowing your category. This is good advice from an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

For example, and this is from my own imagination, not a recent submission: what do I do with a 5,000 word fiction picture book about world politics? Or a 5,000 word middle grade about a baby puppy who goes on a naptime adventure? Or a 300,000 word YA starring a talking salmon? Maybe a 10,000 word YA about a character’s messy divorce?

If all of those examples weren’t immediately funny to you, you need this post. When I speak at conferences, I tell people all the time that booksellers will not build you your own shelf at their stores just because you want to do something different.

Tony Eldridge has a great article this week on his Marketing Tips for Authors Blog about off line marketing specifically teaming up with a fellow author to present workshops.

 I want to suggest a different approach. Why not team up with another local author and do a free "workshop" for writers and aspiring writers? Think of the benefits of presenting a joint presentation:

He outlines some useful ideas to help you think about how to structure the workshop and make it be of use to you. (As I am in the middle of planning some workshops for later in the year, this is very timely.)

Last week I linked to Jane Friedman’s article on Writer Unboxed which discussed blog content and how much unpublished work you should put on your blog. There has been lots of talk in the writers blogosphere about Jane Friedman and Chuck Sambuchino’s different points of view on this topic.

Jeannie Ruesch looks at both arguments, boils them down to their essential points, then she offers her opinion on the topic and some good ideas to mull over.

Their posts seem to have a slightly different focus on what “your work” qualifies as, in regards to this topic.  Sambuchino focuses on your fiction summary, your high concepts as most important to keep off the web.  But ultimately, the point that both make is to establish WHY you are putting your work–whatever it is– out there for the world to see.  What is your objective?

Jeannie is right - for your blog or your website you must have a plan.  The Illinois chapter of SCBWI has a great newsletter called Prairie Wind and their contributor Margo Dill looks at three very popular blogging writers and talks to them about their blogs and their styles.

In the big wide world this week.

The Wall St Journal reported Google’s announcement of its new e-book  service  which will be ready to roll in the next few months. And so it has begun, the dividing up of the digital publishing world, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

Google says users will be able to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers—even independent shops—to sell Google Editions on their own sites, giving partners the bulk of the revenue.

The company would have copies on its servers for works it strikes agreements to sell. 

Personanondata a publishing industry blog has taken a look at the e-publishing world of the Now and what may become the industry norm in The Future with it’s article entitled Content Farms....yes think of all the connotations... then read this article.

Demand Media’s approach is a “combination of science and art”, in the words of Steven Kydd, who is in charge of the firm’s content production. Clever software works out what internet users are interested in and how much advertising revenue a given topic can pull in. The results are sent to an army of 7,000 freelancers, each of whom must have a college degree, writing experience and a speciality. They artfully pen articles or produce video clips to fit headlines such as “How do I paint ceramic mugs?” and “Why am I so tired in winter?”

Over on Craicerplus (Just click the amplify button on the right) 

there are links to articles on...

The cost of quoting lyrics in your book

A great article on loading first impressions of characters

Twitter – a book addicts paradise

Parent problems in Young Adult Literature

What writers really mean...

7 Reasons Why Writers Need To Start Using Video For Book Promotion

Jodi Picoult - All she wants is respect!

I feel bed vibes...

maureen

Authors need to learn....

In the last few days I have been thinking about a New Yorker article that I found on Twitter and shared on Facebook. 

It is a wrap up of the last 30 days in publishing with the advent of the iPad-what it means for publishing and the future of publishing. This is a comprehensive well researched article that Authors should read. How will Apple, Amazon and Google divide up publishing and what will it mean for the Author...

My brother who designs and builds industrial robots commented to me last night ‘the way the technology is going why aren’t authors selling their own stuff?’ And he doesn’t know anything about the industry. On the other hand he markets his own work so it makes sense to him. He hadn’t read the New Yorker article either.

Out in blogosphere land these ideas are gaining traction. Tony Eldridge’s interview with Edwin Crozier about blogging your book which was posted a year ago is being retweeted all over the place as people think hang on maybe there is something in this.

With each segment they increase their desire to keep reading. Then they hit a wall that says "…to be continued, but not until next week." Just below that statement is a "Buy Now" button. Watch the mouse hover over the button. The debate is on. "Can I wait until next week? I don't want to spend the money and I can read this book for free. Oh, but I need to know what's next. But if I'm patient I'll find out next week. Yeah but then I'll have to wait another week for the section after that." CLICK. Someone just bought your book. 

C Patrick Shulze has gone one further in his post on How to promote your book using technology, video blog it or podcast it.

As a writer, you should consider using podcasting and videocasting to promote your novel. Even Simon and Schuster said this was necessary. Here’s why.
First and foremost, people spend a lot of their time on the Internet which is already transportable. Even more, the future of the Internet is video. In fact, video search is growing in popularity at an astonishing speed.

These are just a few of the rumblings through the blogosphere as the reality of the changing face of publishing starts to be understood.

In the end marketing will be the most important thing that the author will have to learn...and you thought it was learning to write well or even finishing the work in progress.

Penny Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts has put a comprehensive blog post together on online presence and using Social Media.

The quickest way to get noticed is by publishing quality work, the quickest way to get dismissed is by producing junk. Second, they want an author who knows his or her market and, if you’re connected to it online, all the better.

This is ringing true in my extended family. 

My mother in law has been told by her publishers that all of their authors must have an online social media presence. This is a big publishing company and mother in laws author level didn’t think they needed to do this as they are all well established best sellers with 100 books to their name. 

Yup. Company policy now. And the author has to maintain them. 

This is your business...just like a new store...marketing is the most important thing that the author can learn.

Over on Craicerplus (my amplify page)

There is a link to,

Rowena Cherry and her post on 25 ways to buzz an author.

Penguins interactive Q-books with 'Oh Hogwash Sweetpea,' becoming one of the first picture books to be an iPod/iPad download in Maori, English and Spanish.

Lulu, e-publishing/self publishing behemoth moving to become a full service bookstore

and a link to a comprehensive article looking at the iPad from an author perspective from Author Tech Tips.

maureen

image from http://sangrea.net/rijidij/new.htm