Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?

 

In publishing news this week,

European Publishers and Booksellers are happy that the European Parliament has adopted the new Digital Markets Act which directly hits the global tech companies over their use of content and their ‘advantageous to themselves’ publishing business practices. Now the EU has to make them take notice. 

 

The New Publishing Standard reports on textbook printing slowdowns. This is due to the worldwide shortage of paper and the problems with the Global Supply Chain. If you add in the rising cost of fuel due to war, climate change, and staff shortages due to a pandemic then you have a perfect storm in publishing. Is this the end of print?

 

While you might be taking yourself to the latest Marvel movie for escapism, spare a thought for the creators of those comics. They are now seen as classic creators of story and they have been enrolled in the Penguin Classic library to prove it.  Finally, Graphic Novels are legit literature. (Cue much rolling in graves.) This looks like a smart move by Penguin as the latest numbers say that Graphic Novels are the fastest growing genre in sales. 

 

Last week Macmillian was hit by a cyber attack and went dark for a week. Publisher’s Weekly reports they are back up and running. This might be a time for everyone to just check their security settings, especially if you have time-critical books to get out.

 

Writer Beware has an interesting post on handshake contracts. I didn’t know that these were still a thing. Originally a handshake contract relied on the integrity of the two parties' personal reputations. In the modern world of publishing, it seems that some publishers and agents are still using this but not caring about the integrity bit.

 

Wattpad has started a creator fund. The writers with the most engaged audiences will get money. Interestingly they have a threshold count for every genre. If your story gets over your genre’s threshold of engaged followers money will flow into your pocket. Horror writers only need 900 engaged followers. So if you have a dark story to tell, get over to Wattpad.

 

Anne R Allen has a cautionary tale on dealing with internet trolls, bullies and the offended. Anne writes about the way to deal with these perpetually annoying people. Back Away slowly. Nothing you can do will soften them. 

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Clare Macintosh, a traditionally published author on how to write twists and how she markets her books. Some nice little craft nuggets in here. 

 

In The Craft Section,

7 essential questions for a better character arc- Heather Davis- Bookmark

Utilizing 3 types of death- September Fawkes

3 modes of story imagination- Donald Maass- Bookmark

7 ways to improve your craft- Dario Villirilli- Bookmark

How to keep those ideas- Insecure Writers Support Group

 

In The Marketing Section,

Timesaving tips with Social Media-Kris Maze- Bookmark

Author email lessons- Sandra Beckwith

Book marketing – Neil Patel- Bookmark

Promote your book on Social Media and feel good about it- Aileen Weintraub- Bookmark

How to create an effective website- (podcast)- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish,

It has been a roller coaster ride if you have been watching politics lately. The truth is stranger than fiction. Just when you think the stories are too outrageous to be fact they turn out to not be outrageous enough. It can leave you feeling shell shocked and wondering if you should keep doing this writing game. Nothing you can come up with will trump real life. Sometimes the best thing to do is turn everything off and start again. If your writing habit has stalled, because of life… Nina Amir has a solution to quickly get it going again.  

 

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 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Magnetic Poetry

This week in publishing news…

Wattpad has been sold to Naver, a south Korean group who own other e-publishing ventures. It’s a deal that makes sense according to Techcrunch as they will probably keep it going in the same way.

 

How many of you know someone who has a digital subscription for entertainment? 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting comment on Netflix’s goal of 500 million subscribers. If digital subscription is the new way to get entertainment where are the publishers?

 

Orna Ross of The Alliance of Independent Authors, and Joanna Penn get together once a month to talk about the publishing industry and new projects they are working on. The January meeting was all about planning for the year ahead. Check out the transcript or listen to the podcast. There are some great nuggets in there on goal setting and time chunking.

 

If you like setting yourself challenges, Austin Kleon talks about the 100 days and suck less challenge he has got going. You can also do mini-challenges It’s all about creating the habit of showing up.

 

Every few years Jane Friedman updates her infographic on all the different ways to publish. With the pandemic changing the publishing landscape, Jane has updated her infographic.

 

The Write Life has rounded up their top 100 websites for writers. Take a look. There is something for everyone in this collection. For podcast lovers check out Writing Excuses.

 

This year I have decided to read more poetry. I am in awe of poets as they seem to have a hot line into creating memorable lines. If I want to get better at writing I need to learn to read and write poems. Here’s a great little instruction list for writing poems.

 

In The Craft Section,

New Year New Writing goals- Michael Hyatt

Dreamzoning-7 steps to find new ideas- K M Weiland

Getting past the blank page- James Preston

Give your characters something to die for- Karen Woodward- Bookmark

7 ways to use deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

A beginner’s guide to Amazon pre-orders- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

The shy authors guide to book promotion- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Alternatives to Goodreads- Emily Stochi- Bookmark

8 tips for better manuscript formatting- Now Novel

 

To Finish,

Today has been an historic day for the USA. Among their ‘firsts’ on inauguration day was the first ever US National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman.

Her poem is sensational and timely. A MUST WATCH

 

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: 

 

Are you ready for the bookfuture?

As I write this the Digital Book World conference is just wrapping up. DBW is a conference firmly focussed on innovation and change in the publishing world. Many old hands in the digital publishing space attend along with a hot new startups. Big news is always unveiled at DBW so ... 

Kobo announced a new 8 inch E-Reader tablet- Forma. Amazon demonstrated their new Amazon Dot tech, which can sync with any device and continue reading your book where ever you are.

New kids on the block Novel Effect have an app that provides background music and sound effects using voice recognition to storytimes. Reading with your kids has just dramatically changed. 

Blockchain is continuing to advance into publishing with a new tech startup Bookchain from Canada - a digital publishing platform using Blockchain technology. 

There is lots to think about in the future of publishing.

Along with things future a huge reader survey was published. It makes interesting reading about who is reading and what they are reading and what on... I was surprised to see that a lot of readers between 30 and 50 were reading on their phones.

Wattpad is about to Beta test paying authors. This is big news if you publish on Wattpad. You will get paid real dollars too instead of cryptocurrency. Readers can buy wattpad tokens which they can use to unlock next chapters or whole books... sounds like an interesting income stream for popular authors on the platform.

Publish Drive has looked at comparison pricing of books in Asia. This is useful data as not much is known about buying habits there. With India having the second largest English speaking population...we should all be keeping an eye on global markets.

The global big prize in literature – The Nobel was not awarded this year due to a sex scandal. Quartz magazine writes about the cost of this to the publishing community.

This week Joanna Penn Interviewed Dave Chesson. Two fab podcasters in the one session. Dave took a deep dive into keywords which is his special interest. This is a must read/listen podcast if you use Amazon Ads.

In The Craft Section,

Tips for writing rough drafts- Now Novel- Bookmark

32 fixes for microblocks and glitches in your writing- Ruth Harris- Bookmark

3 top picture book writing mistakes - Alice Kuipers 

20 things I learned after reading 150,000 opening scenes. Katie McCoach – Bookmark

Genre mashups- Write Practice

What should your editing priority be?- Alli Blog

Nailing your one sentence story concept - Suzanne Lakin- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Hot tips for conferences- Rachelle Gardner

Captivate an event audience- Build Book Buzz - Bookmark

How to write a great About Me page- Autocrit

How to use infographics to connect with readers- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

Improve your Facebook reach- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

How Indie autors can learn design on a shoestring- Auden Johnson

What separates authors who make an income full time from writing- Not what you think. – Amy Collins- Bookmark

To Finish,

Spare a thought for the second hand bookseller.  Authors love/hate relationship - a source of cheap books for struggling writers and of 'no income' to authors of these books. 

Bookriot has a guest post from a second hand bookseller about the books that they are drowning in. I am often surprised by books that end up in second hand bookstores. (Maybe because I hardly ever only read a book once.) 

 Just a thought... If you read a book through Bookchain you can onsell it and the author will get a little slice of the pie too. Just a little glimpse into a happier book future for writers.

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. If you would like to shout me a coffee hit the button up top. Thanks everyone!

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons Mr Muggles 

Are you ready to leave a legacy?

How important is your copyright to you? Is it more important to your heirs? 

This week, Australian professor Rebecca Giblin wrote an interesting article on copyright. It needs to change. The accepted practice of rights reverting back 70 years after an author dies is outdated. Singer Bryan Adams testified to this last week in Canada. He wants a small but significant word change in contracts.

Kris Rusch talks Intellectual Property and the problems faced by heirs if there is no will. This is a timely reminder that we are all mortal and the creations we make have a life after we die. Are your heirs trained and ready?

Anne R Allen takes a look at publishing fiction sucessfully now. She has 9 great tips to follow. Every one of these tips is gold and comes from experience. 

Anne also links to The New Publishing Standard (1 year old this week and read in 180 countries,) which has a focus on the global publishing industry worth $143 billion of which the US market is only $29 billion. If you are managing your own author business you have to think global.

Chuck Wendig has an interesting idea about writing careers. They are basically weird RPG’s. Writers are always looking to level up and what about the monsters they battle on the way? 

Join Wattpad and you might just have the worlds biggest Literary Agent batting for you. Forbes highlights the power of Wattpad and its business model for writers. They are now brokering film and TV deals for their writers, cutting out agents.

Janice Hardy has a great post on character careers. The type of career your main character has directly informs the plot. She offers 5 things to think about when choosing fictional careers.

Have you ever read an historical novel and wondered if the author got something wildly wrong in the research? Accuracy vs Authenticity 5 tips for writing immersive historical fiction.

In The Craft Section,

Which rules and guidelines are just plain bad

12 common archetypes- Reedsy- Bookmark

How to describe settings- Bryn Donovan

Write more in 15 minutes- Elizabeth Spann Craig

Don’t over explain to readers- Zoe McCarthy

Writing a story better than its flaws- K M Weiland - Bookmark

Even villains need affection- Writescape- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Offline Marketing Strategies

Getting the most out of events- Damon Suade - Bookmark

Book Description Generator- Kindlepreneur= Bookmark

How early should you start marketing your book

4 ways to collect email leads from Facebook groups- Nate McCallister- Bookmark

3 steps for better book marketing ideas- Ingram Spark

7 presentation tips for speaking in an online world- Gigi Rosenberg- Bookmark

What does our branding promise readers- Jami Gold - Bookmark

To Finish,

Freewrite recently came up with their top 50 writing blogs. I endorse many on this list and some of the names will be very familiar to you. If you are looking for new blogs to follow take a look.

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. If you want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. Thanks. I appreciate the virtual coffee love!

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons Pia Waugh

Taking a Breather

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

Jane Friedman has taken a middle of the year look at how 2018 is shaping up publishing wise. What is trending? Who stays strong... and what really is going on in the back lists. This is well worth reading to get a sense of what is changing in publishing. If you are chasing a Trad deal come prepared with a marketing plan along with your synopsis to editors.

Joanna Penn always has interesting guests on her podcast. I have only just managed to catch up with two of her latest podcasts. David Kadavy on redesigning your writing life and Book editing tips with Natasa Lekic from NY Book editors. Both great podcasts.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article with Sara Sargent of Harper Collins children’s division on how they are sourcing content from Wattpad. They are working with Wattpad to identify strong authors and offering book deals. They call it the reverse engineering traditional publishing and are looking at compressed timelines etc. With Wattpad becoming a content curator for film and TV studios it is worth authors taking a look.

The Book Designer blog run by Joel Friedlander is another source of great content. Joel runs a monthly cover design award along with his wonderful book templates and an active blog on book marketing. Recently Joan Stewart had an interesting article on working with journalists to get good media coverage for your book.

This week Kris Rusch looks at a problem all writers would like to have... what if that unexpected windfall in the bank account is the start of great new things to come. How long should you wait before spending the checks? It’s an interesting dilemma. Are you prepared for success?

Lately it seems that everywhere I go on the podcasts or the internet or Twitter Dave Chesson pops up. I don’t mind as Dave has loads of great information for Indie Authors. This week he was guesting over at Anne R Allens’s blog with a post on achieving Zen mastery in writing efficiency.

In The Craft Section,

Writing descriptions that wow- Linda Clare- Bookmark

Do you know the 5 different plot holes?- Screencraft- Bookmark

Writing by design using colour theory- Gabriela Pereira

Using character motivations in plot chains

Ways to write instantly likeable characters- P S Hoffman- Bookmark

Hero goals- Scribe meets world

The Rainbow editing method- Angela Donofrio- Bookmark

In The Marketing section,

Promo Stacking effective strategies-Writtenword media- Bookmark

Two great posts from the Bookbub blog- free tools to build book buzz and Creative ways to use images- Bookmark

Author Bio’s- Rachelle Gardner

What promo items do authors really need- Careerauthors- Bookmark

13 pre order strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

It's Ingram Sparks birthday... They have a free deal going.

To Finish,

School holidays and procrastination... All I want to do is sleep in and recharge. That’s what I tell my children whom I have to drag out of bed in term time. So I sleep in... and they get out of bed before the alarm to play on computers... hmmm, a role reversal here. I really need this post on 5 ways writers can be productive while procrastinating.

If you are watching a lot of movies this holidays... take notice of the films with the wrong main character.... Did the writer or the director get it wrong? This article has me looking at the films in a whole new way...

Maureen

@craicer

 My monthly newsletter is coming this weekend... after I send the kids away on holiday. 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 the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thankyou for the blog. Extra caffeine is always welcome.
 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Don Le

Ch Ch Change

Changes are afoot.

Those three words can encourage anticipation or dread depending on your past experience with change.

The publishing industry has been on a roller coaster ride since 2007 and the introduction of the Kindle, the marker for huge change in the industry.

Among the changes being rolled out this week are changes to the Kindle Unlimited page read payout. Check out the new version 3.0 rules.

Facebook is turning their attention to Groups. If you are still annoyed by the changes to Author pages... be prepared. This doesn’t bode well. Groups are popular among authors for fan communities and networking groups. Boosted posts in groups will not be welcomed.

An interesting piece of news caught my eye from Harper Collins. They are actively seeking out young writers on Wattpad and offering them print deals.

This week I’ve read two publishing commentators on the death of the Traditional or Legacy midlist publishing career. Publishers are throwing money at the big writers or the debut writers. The pressure is on debut writers to have a hit right out of the box and they have no say in their contract terms. I’m hoping that the HC/Wattpad deal protects these young authors.

Passive Guy takes a look at a recent Mike Shatzkin post on the future of Barnes and Nobel, the largest book retail chain in USA. It is looking shaky with shareholders calling for it to be sold. What does it have to do to survive? Is the future bookstore Amazon showrooms?

U K Society of Authors president, Phillip Pullman called this week for a return to fixed prices for books. This took publishing people by surprise. Can you really turn back the clock?

Kris Rusch has another fantastic blog post on Branding. Expanding your audience with slow growth. After you read her very wise words jump on over to Joanna Penn’s interview with Dean Wesley Smith on understanding copyright, intellectual property and how to license it. Dean and Kris are mentors to a whole lot of high flying authors. They are the best teachers of the business of writing around.

Ruth Harris has a brilliant post on the writers discomfort zone and how to survive and thrive in it. How do you turn anxiety into creativity?

Jane Friedman has a great post on using Amazon Ads and Joanna Penn has another standout chapter from her new Marketing Book. If you are thinking about publishing these are must read articles!

In The Craft Section,

3 ways to show not tell- Darcy Pattison

What is the theme of the book- Reedsy

Story Tropes – Lazy or helpful- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Rules for Self Editing- Bookmark

Writing cliff hangers- Now Novel - Bookmark

Character motivation- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Two rules to write by- Print Posse

The Blueprint for writing a novel- Martina Boone- Bookmark!!! (print out)

In The Marketing Section,

Building relationships with readers- Rachel Thompson - Bookmark

Choose the right stock image

Email marketing for Authors

Book Cover Design fundamentals- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

7 Book Expo marketing takeaways

How to make a perennial bestseller

What your local librarian can do for authors- Mythic Scribes

The importance of categories and keywords- Indies Unlimited- Bookmark

10 tips on working with illustrators- Kelly Mc Morris-Bookmark

To Finish,

If you are a long time reader of the blog you will know that I believe that authors need to work together collaboratively. It’s good for moral. It’s good for marketing. It’s good for accountability. It’s just good. Angela Ackerman has another six ways that working collaboratively eases the load and helps you weather the publishing changes.

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for 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. This blog runs on coffee fumes. If you want to shout me a coffee, hit the green Kofi button in the sidebar. Thanks.

Pic; Flickr/Creative Commons- Pearly 85