Mind How You Go

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

If you are a children’s writer, you may have been asked your opinion of PRH imprint Puffin ‘cleaning up’ the language in the new reprints of Roald Dahl’s work. Everybody seems to have an opinion. Here in NZ, a respected writer and festival organizer, gave her parental take on Roald Dahl and the modern child. It is a thoughtful essay on the problems of updating writing and why we are so sensitive about Dahl and not for instance, David Walliams. The Dahl Literary estate has just been sold for multi millions to Netflix, so maybe it’s all about the money.

 

Meanwhile that other staple for children’s publishing houses Manga and Comics, which showed great publishing sales in the last few years, are looking sadly at a downturn.

But that doesn’t seem to be impacting bookshops. The Bookseller writes that there are a record number of independent bookshops up for awards in the UK this year. I’m just fascinated by the picture of one of them from the article. A bookshop that is a bar. That’s a new one for me.

 

Publishers Weekly reports that the trial is still grinding on between the big publishers and The Internet Archive. It has just passed two years. The court have finally got to oral arguments. The Internet Archive wanted to scan all their books and make them available for $ and the publishers said – That is piracy. 

The courts will decide… maybe in the next year. It’s going to have big implications either way.

 

Reuters reports that there are AI books on Amazon. Who Knew? However, comments around this range from – gosh they are dull, to they will have to compete against other AI books, to let’s have a rule about disclosure. Everyone is waiting to see what Amazon will do about it. Then the other sellers will get into line. Kris Rusch has a super blog post on what is happening in the magazine slushpile with AI submissions. (The same is probably happening with publishers.)

 

Every Now and Then Mike Shatzkin drops what he is doing and writes a post about the Publishing Industry. He is a longtime pundit and looks at the big picture. This month he wrote about publishing being not as much fun as it used to be. Depending on your mindset it could be exciting or depressing.

 

Sue Coletta has a brilliant article on How to adopt a writing mindset. Sometimes we forget that the mindset we have when we tackle something creative can sabotage how we feel about the work. (And how we talk about it to others.) Is writing an escape or a chore?

Over at The Dream Team’s website Sue has a guest article on the unbreakable promise to the reader that a writer makes. It is excellent food for thought.

 

When I need to get into a story in a hurry- I use writing sprints. This stops the tyranny of the blank page. I have something to edit which then gets my brain thinking around the scene which then leads into better words. Becca Puglisi (half of the Dream Team) has a useful article on this.

 

In The Craft Section,

What’s the best choice for Point of View?- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Show don’t tell and breaking writing rules- September Fawkes

Two fantastic posts from C S Lakin-The intersection of premise and protagonist and Developing a scene outline- Bookmark Both

Backstory is essential to a story except when it’s not- Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

5 Amazon ad tips to improve book sales- Written Word Media – Bookmark

Start locally with book marketing- Sandra Beckwith

3 essential editing tips for Beta readers- Beth Barany

Easy Mindset change for marketing books- Colleen Story- Bookmark

Book marketing mindset ideas  Joanna Penn's interview with Honoree Corder- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

While we are sorting out our New Year’s plans, getting into quarter goals, forming those To Do lists. Being busy and productive writers is our goal. But what about those Not To Do Lists?

Colleen Story has 7 important Not To Do things that writers should take note of.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for the bumper first newsletter of the year. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate virtual coffee love.

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Franciele da Silva on Unsplash

 

Title courtesy of Terry Pratchett (GNU)

The Right Mindset

 

 

In publishing news this week,

 

Mike Williams of The New Publishing Standard recently had an interesting opinion piece on audiobooks. As you know audiobooks have been the hot new thing in publishing and the audio wars are about to begin with Spotify aiming to be the one-stop-shop for audio subscription.

 

Another Mike has also been looking into subscription models. Mike Shatzkin takes a look at some of the innovative ways Amazon raised the subscription bar. 

Meanwhile The Washington Post takes Amazon to task about its lack of support for libraries. Just what is going on here. Do Amazon think the subscription model of Kindle Unlimited is better than putting books in libraries? This is an interesting story from the Washington Post given that Jeff Bezos owns the paper. 

 

Recently David Gaughran reposted the comprehensive article on Author Solutions he wrote a few years ago. The Author Solutions company is a predatory publishing entity with many different names and imprints, some of which are owned by big five publishing houses. Their “boutique” publishing arm demands huge sums of money to newbie authors for minimal publishing services. Just because you haven’t heard of them lately means they haven’t gone away. Some of their scams get a new twist every year. Recently there was an agent promising a bestseller list placement for $10,000 as part of a package deal. Forewarned.

 

Mindset plays a big part in the creative process. Being in the right headspace to create. Being in the right mindset to plan a project. Being open to criticism, rejection, and disappointment are all part and parcel of living the creative life. Recently I was reminded by a friend that imposter syndrome was insidious. I had let it take over my thinking. Instead of seeing the opportunity, I was seeing the failure before I had even tried. I didn’t trust myself. These two posts on mindset resonated with me today.  3 traps that subvert our ability to accept feedback by Lisa Cooper Ellison and The Book Promotion mindset by Penny Sansevieri. Penny takes a good look at the mindset that stops you from giving your book, good promotional love.

 

Co Authorship anyone? If you have been thinking about sitting down with someone to write a story check out this little series on how to do it from Story Empire. It could be the start of a beautiful friendship…

 

In The Craft Section,

How to write genre story- Karen Woodward

Archetypal character arcs – The Queen- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Two great posts on editing -25 editing tips – Alexis Grant and  Trimming your word count- K M Weiland- Bookmark Both

5 pieces of writing advice- Lauren Sapala

 

In The Marketing Section,

The Authors guide to ebook preorders- WrittenWord Media- Bookmark

Amazon algorithms for authors- Reedsy-Bookmark

Best day of the week to discount ebooks- Bookbub

5 ways to solidify your branding- Penny Sansevieri

Develop your book sales strategy and tactics- Brian Jud

 

To Finish,

How often do you find yourself scrolling down your social media feeds and feeling despair. You have to be seen to be engaging… because your fans want you or your publicist told you or the publishers said establish a media presence. Sometimes we can get wrapped up in the social media whirlwind and not see what it is doing to us. Judith Briles offers some very good advice in her Bashing the Myths of Social Media.

Colleen Story also examines the hit creativity takes when you fall into a doomscrolling loop.

Let’s be careful with ourselves and our mindsets. 

Look for all the kitten and puppy pictures to give us the right mood boosters. 

 

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 – Johnathan Kritz

 

Scrubbing Up

This morning parts of New Zealand were declared officially in drought. (finally…)

The kids have gone back to school. 

The floor still needs scrubbing. 

I’m still trying to find my desk under the summer onslaught of papers, Christmas wrappings and other detritus that has to be put away. 

Business as usual.

I need to change my mindset.

Scott Berkun has descriptions of 3 writer mindsets that he switches through.

I need to revisit the story that makes me have nightmares.

Mark Wisniewski has 3 pieces of advice that he should have given when he taught writing.

I need to understand my history as a writer and view my books as an annuity.

Seth Godin on The truth about Sunk Costs and Mark Coker on treating your ebooks as annuity earnings.

I need to relook at my print book project.

Elisabeth Spann Craig on why we still need print copies of our books.

Conference planning is underway with my great team. News will be coming soon. If you found yourself instantly linking to some of the above for a different way of looking at your career ... you may want to keep October 2-5^th free and come to Wellington.

In the Craft Section,

Every one of these is a bookmark post...

How to place turning points on a beat sheet

What your first 250 words is telling your reader

11 secrets to character description

The art of story - when telling trumps showing- Angela Ackerman

4 ways to think about narrative architecture- (Warning-ChuckWendig)

What are the needs and goals of your character- Jami Gold

What it means when they say the story is didactic.

In the Marketing section,

40 questions to ask an agent

The one page synopsis- Killzone

Giving the people what they want

12 book marketing tips

How to send review copies

How to use Facebook to help other authors

Tools for writers.

To Finish,

Joanna Penn revisits her favourite craft books for writers... and I’m nodding my head as I own about half of her list... Now do I dive into a craft book or scrub the floor…(save the water…)

maureen

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons- Nick Perez