Selling Your Wares

This week in publishing,

Last week’s hot news of Storytel partnering with Spotify has been rippling through the publishing community. It’s been a rollercoaster lately with publishers buying publishers and audio publishing subscription services getting bigger. This week Amazon laid down $8 Billion and bought MGM. Not everyone in the entertainment business is pleased about this. Mark Williams looks at the IP treasure trove that Amazon has just acquired.

Meanwhile, Amazon inks its first library deal.

 

Jane Friedman wrote a salutary article How Much Do Authors Earn which has us all wincing but agreeing. Many authors earn more from side hustles than from straight writing. But all is not lost says Jane.

 

Being an Author is all about…Networking. Did your soul just shrivel a little when you read that? The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive post on the art of networking for authors. How and why it is important and full of great tips. If you are really struggling as an introverted author for marketing advice check out this week’s 6 figure author podcast especially on marketing for introverts.

 

Today is the last day to pick up the Storybundle of writing business books. Don’t miss out.

 

SEO Sherpa recently contacted me to let me know of a comprehensive post on metadata that they have prepared. Before you scroll past- Stop. Do you have a website? Do you want your website to show up in searches? Do you know that a few simple tweaks of your description metadata will boost your website in a google search? If you know all the tricks scroll past- if not, take a look.

 

Kris Rusch is continuing her interesting blog series on fear based decision making. She is making some strong points in this series about how this affects what projects get greenlit. If you know how to frame a project so it sounds familiar, you have a much better chance of getting it picked up.

 

Jordan at Now Novel has a comprehensive post on how to write critiques and evaluations. This is something that every author should have in their toolbox of tricks- you never know when you will be asked to give critical feedback. (Like today’s request from my nephew…)

 

In The Craft Section,

How to submit to Literary Journals- Meredith Allard

5 ways to write realistic dialogue- Courtney Walsh

Balancing your cast of characters- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Organising research and notes in Scrivener - Gwen Hernandez

Setting as character- Jami Gold - Bookmark

What to include in your first draft- J D Edwin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Planning a Book Launch- Bookbaby- Bookmark!

How to write a query letter- Nathan Bransford

Are you ready for book marketing? -Frances Caballo

Help others, help yourself- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Unique Marketing ideas for June- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Writers Digest has been in the business of writing inspiring articles for writers for many decades. Recently they asked a bunch of authors, what is the one piece of advice you would give to writers. Here is a comprehensive collection of advice with links to interviews. Go forth and be inspired. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, come and 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. Thanks for the coffee love this week. I really appreciate it. 

Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Chas B

 

Crowd Success

Today I received the writing craft book I ordered (see my blog two weeks ago) and it was a bittersweet moment. The book looks fabulous, Writing Deep Scenes by Martha Alderson and Jordan Rosenfeld, but the bittersweet moment was the realisation that it was published by F&W Media. This week F&W Media filed for bankruptcy. Their most recognisable brand is Writers Digest which they have been publishing for nearly 100 years. They publish writing craft books, magazines, and Writers Market yearbooks. They hold popular conferences and run courses in writing. Hopefully, they can work through this.

Crowdfunding seems to be the answer to lots of publishing questions. There is crowdfunding when you directly fuel a creative project and there is crowdfunding... where it’s a little bit murkier. Writer Beware shines a spotlight on a crowdfunding option for pitching manuscripts... authors enter their MS into the crowdfunding site. If they get over 250 pledges the MS gets looked at by lower-tier agents and publishers. Over 500 and a higher tier of agents and publishers look at it, except that the agents and publishers all have open submission anyway and the publishers have red flags often against their names. Sounds Legit?

In crowdfunding of a different sort... publishers are getting together at the London Book Fair and one of the initiatives is the Book Aid charity. This year they are helping to get Mosul University Library back on its feet after they were largely destroyed by ISIS. 

Slightly digressing I was pleased to see that a local group of authors had got together and started a little venture called The Underground Bookshop. They have committed to having a stall at a local market every week. Good things happen when writers get together. 

The Digital Reader always has his digit on the pulse of what is happening in publishing. This week he reported that Amazon has set up a new ebook quality control feature in author dashboards. While Amazon is tweaking their digital store... they are pulling out of all their pop up stores.

Have you ever spent a long time hunting for a writing file you know you put somewhere in your computer? Editor Lisa Poisso has the article just for you (and me) how to name your files correctly so you don’t lose them.

How to survive rejection. Even the great writers struggled with this bane of the writer life. Lit Hub details how poet W B Yeats coped with rejection. It is a great essay. If you have been struggling lately John Kerr has a great practical piece on ways to survive the rejection blues.

Joel Friedlander has written a great post on tips for the work at home writer. This is a must-read. By the way, Joel has just launched a new book template – Gourmet. This is especially for all those people who have dreamed of writing a cookbook. 

In The Craft Section,

Six subplots that add style to your story-Writers write- Bookmark

Why lack of structure is killing your characters-Bang 2 Write- Bookmark

Beginnings and Backstory- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

Stuck in the middle- Margot Kinberg

Writing Backstory through Dialogue- Becca Puglisi

Imagery description overkill- Mary Kole

In The Marketing Section,

Spotify now has ads... John Kremer

5 great ways to get readers engaged- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

7 ways to use Instagram- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

Getting your rights back- Elizabeth Spann Craig- Bookmark

Set up local book links for ebooks- Alli Blog- BOOKMARK

To Finish,

I have been wrestling with carpal tunnel effects all week and it is annoying. Aside from the tingling in my left hand, I have been keeping reasonably good health. However, that is not the case for other writers. I am in admiration of those writers who have a severe chronic illness and still manage to write new words.  Kris Rusch has a short excerpt from her upcoming book – writing with chronic illness. Kris talks about celebrating achievements even if they are small. This week I have been thinking about that and a day with new words is a good day.

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 like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, just hit the coffee button up top.  I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic Flickr Creative Commons - James Cridland

It’s That Time Of The Year

Ah Bologna, Bologna... The biggest children’s book fair in the world. This generally kicks off the start of Book Fair season.  Everyone is looking for the next greatest thing. The Bookseller reports the top news of the fair as well as the shock announcement of the demise of the 2nd biggest children’s publisher in Australia. For our own corner of the world the brand new One Tree House Publishing firm has picked up best Oceania publisher from Bologna after less than a year in business.

Coming hard on the heels of Bologna is The London Book Fair.  Alli- The Alliance of Independent Authors have pivoted their online conference away from a LBF concurrent fringe event into something a little bit different. Their conferences are always packed full of great info. Make sure you sign up.

Publishing is all about marketing. Jamie Engle has a guest post on Janice Hardy’s blog about how to analyse your book for better market value. This is important as a publisher can quickly go out of business if they don’t read and fill the gaps in the market.

Kenilworth books published a must read article about the role of the author in the chain of the book. Often publishers seem to forget that without the author you would not have a product. Isn’t it time the authors got some better royalty rates?

It’s been a horrible week for Facebook. However the talk in publishing is that FB isn’t going to be going anywhere as they have 2.2 billion users. However FB is changing its focus to facilitate more genuine sharing amongst its users. Groups are one of the best features of FB and publishers have finally got some ideas on this and how to make money from them.

There is so much information on the internet that it does get a bit tedious to be constantly fielding the same questions about publishing. Susan Kaye Quin’s heartfelt post about being your own genius has been doing the rounds. We all studied and researched and experimented and worked things out for ourselves. We share our thoughts coz we’re good like that but... 

Two great marketing posts caught my eye this week. How to get five star reviews- from Writer’s Digest and How to get also boughts- The holy grail of Amazon success from Written Word Media. If you are Indie publishing these are must reads.

Ruth Harris has a monthly guest post on Anne R Allen’s Blog. This month Ruth talks about Summoning The Muse. How you can get your subconscious working for you when writing.

In The Craft Section,

6 Writing exercises to help start or finish a novel- Indie reader- Bookmark

Using punctuation to greater effect- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Deepening story theme- Jami Gold- Bookmark

5 rules for spring cleaning your manuscript- Tara Sparling

Frequently asked writing questions- K M Weiland

Best Books for Writers- Ann Handley

In The Marketing Section,

99 Twitter icebreakers

Pre order strategies and 9 Amazon secrets- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark Both

Book Marketing ideas – Reedsy- Bookmark

How to create pre order buzz for your book – Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Creative ways to boost reader engagement- Bookbub- Bookmark

Content Marketing promotion- Joanna Penn

To Finish,

Stuck for an idea? Use this infographic to help you get an elevator pitch from which to start your epic novel.

I’m off to write the compulsively readable thriller about a lovesick ghosts dream to explore their eating disorder....  It’s going to be a best seller I’m sure!

Maureen

@craicer

If you want a round up of the best of the months bookmarked craft and marketing links  then subscribeto my monthly newsletter. You will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes.
If you enjoy this blog share it with your writing friends- A nice Easter gift...

Pic Flickr Creative Commons – Jules Morgan

Party Details

Today I hosted an hour of an online FB Book Launch Party for a Y A thriller by Helen V Fletcher called Broken Silence (Promo: grab the ebook for 99c.)

I felt a bit nervous as I have never done anything like this before but Helen said she would hold my hand and so I jumped in. It was a blast! I started with party music and the hour just flew by. Lots of authors joined in the launch. They talked about their books and had giveaways and mini competitions for prizes. And the prizes are up for 24 hours so jump on over and join in the fun.

Helen’s book is contemporary Young Adult. Anne R Allen has a great post on her blog about writing contemporary fiction. I had no idea that the word lengths were getting shorter. Anne writes about the reasons you can’t write War and Peace anymore and expect it to sell.

If you were writing a huge novel you need time to beaver away. Where do you find it? Aha! Try this technique for working smarter, suitable for any writer.  While we are on nuts and bolts of the writer’s physical environment check out Copyhackers best practice for setting up your home office!

My lunchtime break saw me riveted to the SFF marketing podcast. Lindsay, Joe and Jeff were interviewing Joanna Penn on her new book Launch to Market 3rd edition. Joanna says that it is 60% different from the first edition, which I have so... It’s on my want list.

Cynthia Shannon has a comprehensive breakdown of all the things you need to do for planning and having a Goodreads giveaway. I have been watching the results of experiments in an author group I belong to and it seems like a good thing to try.

Kathryn Goldman has a comprehensive post on audio rights. Who actually owns them? This can get tricky when you produce your audio book. Performance rights... broadcast rights...  translation audio... All the rights you didn’t know you had... (see Joanna Penn’s interview above for more options.)

The fabulous Kris Rusch continues her excellent series on marketing and brand discovery. Her in depth attention to detail posts are like a university course. I feel she should be required reading in a Creative Writing diploma.

Writers Digest has an interview with Kristen Owens on 10 actions she has learned in her first year of professional writing.

In The Craft Section,

Avoid opening page info dump- Jami Gold – Bookmark

How to skip the boring parts of your writing- K M Weiland

The power of the unlikely protagonist- Writer Unboxed – Bookmark

What is irony?- a cool post from Reedsy

8 tips for writing in cafes- Louise Marley

How to add meaningful subplots- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Saving the day by solving the problem- Beth Hill- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Using your official name on Twitter- Roz Morris

Digressing slightly to shout out to Kevin Tumlinson who writes such great content for the Draft2Digital site. Here are three recent posts.

8 elements of a good title- Bookmark

10 low or no budget ways to promote your book- Bookmark

Author overheads-What you need to know.

Kevin is also the host of the Wordslinger podcast, which is one of my new great podcasting finds!

To Finish,

Today has been a day about organising... Helen organised a fun online book launch but it wouldn’t have worked without attention to detail. What were the secret schedules of the great authors... did they work the same way? Check out this article and be surprised!

maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time to schedule my monthly newsletter. (Hi to the new subscribers!) I round up the best of the months 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. Thanks everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

The End Of...

I’m a day late in blog posting.

Excuse #1. We were traveling up the country.

Excuse#2. It is the end of the world...and I had more important things to do...like traveling to spend time with relatives.

Around the blogosphere there as been the usual look back at the past year...who saw those mergers coming?

and the usual what writers  want for Christmas...not necessarily a new notebook and pen...try writing retreat.

And then there are the predictions for publishing in 2013...that’s if there is a 2013.

Uber Agent Richard Curtis has his trends list which he sees as a direct result of publishing house mergers. As I run my eye down it I am struck by how many I can see beginning now...and this was a list put together a few months ago...before the end of the world.

Another Lit Agent with her eye firmly fixed on the future, Laurie Mc Lean, has her predictions...mobile... cloud... folding screens?

Mike Shatzkin has his take on where he thinks publishers should be putting their energy in the future...The Reader The Reader The Reader...or verticle marketing.

Renee Pawlish has a blog article looking at 2013 Amazon and the Indie author...What now for Indies when Amazon removes reviews, changes ranking algorithms and starts own imprints...or dies a fiery death as the chasm opens up and the...

Publishing Perspectives believes in the future and has their wish list for 2013...what do you want to improve in publishing in 2013...(please give us a deal like Hugh Howey...)

In Craft,

How Stephen King writes imagery?

Jody Hedlund's ten techniques for tension.

Supporting characters- Make them interesting!

Finding the perfect writing spot.

6 Tools that change the way you write and publish. (sit down with a Christmas beverage of your choice to mull over these possibilities...)

In Marketing,

Innovative marketing of your book...make a game.

Tools of Change has 7 key features of a good online community...are you a member of one?

How Kickstarter changed my career and my life (very interesting article)

To finish,

Writers Digest has the 19 best articles on writing from this year...that should keep you going while I take a two week holiday or start living my life in a bunker as it is the end of the world...

Written by Maureen,  December 21^st 2012.

@chuckwendig New Zealand, on the other hand… zip! Gone! The ocean, she is empty. And on fire.
— Adam Christopher (@ghostfinder) December 20, 2012