Down The Rabbit Hole...

The Chinese Year Of The Rabbit is supposed to herald a period of tranquillity and calm. After the changes in the publishing world over the last two years we could all do with a bit of calm but I don’t think we are going to get it as the shaking up of the publishing industry continues.

It hasn’t been a year since the launch of the ipad and the explosion in the sales of ebooks. Publishers are very cagey about telling authors what their ebook sales are but just for your information, In the month of November 2010, the ebook sales, reported by the Association of American Publishers, were 14.5% higher than for the month of October and growth in ebook sales over the year (Nov09-Nov10) was 165% . This is a conservative estimate.

The implications of  readers moving to digital books have not been lost on Authors in the blogosphere. Getting an agent and getting a book deal is hard work, not for the faint hearted and with publishers insisting that authors must promote their books the Author is left looking hard at ebooks and self publishing. The books are cheaper to produce, there are no warehousing issues with POD and they are already promoting their work aren’t they?

The biggest hurdle to leap over is marketing. Who wants to spend all that precious writing time marketing? How can the reader find good books to read in the digital age, when a quick look on itunes shows more than 50,000 book apps available?( I’m probably missing a few zeros.)

Who will be the digital ebook reviewers we trust?

Who will help the new authors negotiate the quicksand of publishing in the now?

One person who has been doing a bit of thinking around this is Kristen Lamb. She has brainstormed a possible new publishing model that looks like a win/win from everyone’s perspective. Have a read and see what you think!

From the publishing marketing trenches to the how-do-I-just-get-on-the-ladder reality...Jody Hedlund posted an article on her blog last month about her agent receiving 10,000 queries in a year and accepting 0. Jody looks at what an author can do to change the numbers around.

If you are contemplating having a sales page on your website Victoria Mixon has got a great guest  post for you from Joanna Penn. These two blogging diva’s have swopped over and are guesting on each others blog.

For those looking for a bit of help before the hard grind of submitting your manuscript, here are three sites worth a good look.

Adventures in Children’s Publishing has a detailed presubmission checklist.

Writetodone with manuscript productivity tips

Bookendslitagency with an Agents perspective on revisions.

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

Extreme Book Design...blowtorches knives and spiders...

Is Speculative Fiction Poised To Break Into Literary Canon? (Guardian Article on the Man Booker.)

Rick Riorden’s experience with the effects of Ritalin on his family.

List of Most Commonly Used Cliches in YA (everyone’s checking their MS now)

6 Personality Types Who Will Fail As Writers. (laughing while you say ouch)

To finish, 

Alice Pope has a great list of SCBWI Winter conference roundups on her blog. Over 1100 people attended the winter conference in New York...that’s almost as many who attend the summer conference.

Justus Stone has written a detailed post about writing software and how they have changed his life.

Zoe Winters has the last word...(One of these characters could be a NZ Politician...)


enjoy,
maureen

Sticking Your Neck Out....

It has been a clear-the-decks week. 

Empty out a room. Paint it. Put it back together. Chuck out what you don’t want. Find stuff chucked out and rescue it. Justify why you saved the chucked out item.

Writers are hoarders. Teachers are hoarders. I am doubly dammed or blessed whichever way you look at it.

While I have been painting and contemplating treasure or trash... Bob Mayer has been taking a hard look at the Digital Book World conference and weighing up the worth of their speakers and the comments on twitter about where digital publishing is going...self publishing... and being your own publisher/bookstore owner.... This is a must read. Bob walks the talk. He pulls no punches.

Another person weighing up epublishing and her experiment with it is Zoe Winters. 

Zoe has released a couple of ebooks and designed and executed an amazing campaign around getting her name out there. This name is a pseudonym and in this critique of her year, social marketing her ebooks she compares it with her other ‘real life’ writer persona. Zoe shot to fame on the writer’s blogosphere with her video series Who is Zoe Winters...clever marketing. This article is also a must read for people contemplating ebooks.

I post these articles because the face of publishing is changing rapidly and writers should be aware of what is happening in the industry and what other writers are experiencing.

This week Publishing Perspectives posted an article entitled Half of US Publishers Believe ebooks Will Be Dominant By 2014 and Mike Shatz of Nokia wrote a guest article on Moconews On Why Online Retailers will Squeeze out Publishers In the Book Business.(as always I recommend you read the comments that these articles generate.)

Know what you want to do and go in with eyes wide open.

So after that dose of reality...back to Fiction

Callihoo has posted George Polti’s 36 dramatic plots...a good reference tool and Publetariat has answered the question How Do You Keep Your Plot from Feeling Contrived..if you are stuck for ideas. 

On Craicerplus (my Amplify page) I have links to articles on

Hunger Games- Why Kids Love Disaster Distress and Dystopia...(not only kids...this is a great article by a psychologist.)

10 Steps for Working Past The ‘This Stinks’ Blues.

How To Organise Your Assignments, Research, Interviews and All The Rest

How To Write Your First Novel In Under Four Weeks.

A Handy Beginners Guide To ebook Formats Apps And Devices.

Conference season is upon us and WriteOnCon kicked off with an Agent’s Panel which is covered on Heather McCorkles Blog.

And the Big One SCBWI NEW YORK...kicks off tomorrow....However you can hole up in your office and follow it all as it happens by going to the live blog site...I did that for LA...great little insights and it didn’t cost me the ticket...(but oh how I wished I was there.)

If you are interested in a conference closer to home Spinning Tales in Auckland is still open for registrations for another month.

Anita Laydon Millar advises that you must stick your neck out because you never know where it might lead you...(all from a reader of her blog...)

Here is episode 2 of Zoe’s Self Publishing Video Series...have a laugh.

enjoy,

maureen