Cautionary Tales

The theme today is Cautionary Tales...

It didn’t start out that way but as I researched in the blogosphere some ugly stories began to be talked about.

Was there a secret pact to get promo as a lead up towards Halloween?

Were they all fiction?

Sadly no. These were genuine stories that had train wreck consequences on authors and their careers.

In business there is the motto Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware. Writers are not immune and they are in business. Make yourself aware of the pitfalls so you can recognise the signs if it starts happening to you.

First up, Libba Bray, after carefully keeping quiet because of the ringside seat she had,vented her spleen on the debacle surrounding Lauren Myracle’s book being pulled from the National Book Award shortlist. One thing from her rant that I kept thinking about as I read was her comment.

*at the center of all this was a real live human being, an excellent writer, whose work and reputation were being dragged through the mud as if it were no big thang while the ruffled feathers of injured egos were patted down in a backroom somewhere.

And how often have we witnessed this.

Read Libba’s rant. Punch the air...and be extra supportive of any writer placed in this position. There by the grace of God goeth I

Second up, the sad tale of a respected small press who has publically had a melt down due to mismanagement. This case has been brewing for most of this year as disquiet grew over the affairs of the press and today The Passive Guy (lawyer, writer and popular blogger) linked to an explain-how -it-all-happened blog post by one of the editorsinvolved. 

This post is a Must Read and Learn From so you are not caught in anything similar.

My thoughts go out to the many people hurt, (careers and health) by this bad mismanagement and bad business practice. 

If you are working with a small press keep an eye on their business practice and draw their attention to this so they can assure you that nothing like this would happen to you.

By the time I got to this post I thought surely the week couldn’t get worse...

Plagiarism reared its ugly head.

Ok, we know that there are plagiarists out there...some of them respected authors(well not any more) but this one takes the cake for the hurt caused to others.

When an entire reputation is built on repeated plagiarism of others and then to begin a career purporting to help and advise others, AS AN EDITOR, based on a plagiarised reputation... you are moving into SLIME MOULD TERRITORY.

Thankfully The Rejectionist posted a sly bit of humour that had us laughing and nodding and thinking about pretentious writers who look down on others...and what we’ll do come the revolution (which many think is upon us now)

Dana Lynn Smith offers us some excellent advice on thinking like an Authorpreneur

The wonderful Victoria Mixon keeps us grounded on 3 Things You Need To Know About The New Publishing Industry.

I have long been interested on how authors can collectively work together to raise their profile or to make an impact in their genre. A new author collective just getting off the ground is Reader Rules Check out the reasons behind it.

When thinking about your author platform be careful not to make these blunders says Kristen Lamb who is guest posting today over on Jane Friedman’s popular blog

Over in the craft section...

Bubblecow has a nice post on the snowflake method of Novel Writing...always worth a serious read!

This is a wonderful survey done by a Mid Grade Writer with Kids on what genre’s they read and whether they read eBooks...Check it out and be surprised!

Drop into Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) and check out the article links there

To finish,

Facebook is changing again. I still haven’t come to terms with the status changes from last month...and now they want to roll out Timeline. Check out Nathan Bransford article on it and think seriously about whether you want your online life collected up in an album...It puts a whole new meaning on privacy.

I’m off on a writing retreat which is why this post comes to you a day early....

Sorry that this post has mostly been full of depressing links. To make up for it I have a link to a happy video guaranteed to have you singing away...

maureen

Doing What We Do

The news around the blogosphere this week has been one of disbelief. 

No it wasn’t delayed reaction to Steve’s death. 

Several prominent bloggers and agents have come out to say the blogosphere is getting crowded and unless you are getting around 15k visitors a month it is not worth it.

So why do it?

The reaction has been swift and many bloggers are sitting down and examining whether they want to go on a blogging holiday like Joe Konrath, who has one of the most heavy trafficked blogs around, or to keep going in the hope they get to the magic number....

And then there are prominent bloggers who say the argument is seriously flawed, because your blog is where you as a writer can interact with your readers, or your community, by either writing a great blog that shows off your writing voice or writing a blog that adds value to the sum of knowledge out there. 

Roni Loren has written a great breakdown about blogging addressing the issues raised this week and putting all the rants into perspective.

Bob Mayer has taken a hard look at indie publishing with his post, The Sustainability Of The Indie Author. He doesn’t sugar coat and some of the points he makes could choke you....As always, read the comments to get a sense of the discussion this post has started...and breathe deeply.

Mike Shatzkin has been looking at the other side of this with his interesting post on whether traditional publishers can maintain their primacy as eBookpublishers.... Magazines and other media are beginning to publish their own eBooks...but will they stop there?

This week Jane Friedman posted two excellent interviews on her blog. The first was with Scott Sigler and looked at how Scott is using new technology and a new service to get his self published books into as many hands as his bestseller trad books do. Read and be inspired...I’ve told you before there’s merch and audio and limited edition and.....

The second interviewis with Sean Platt who started out as an entrepreneur and then moved into writing. Sean talks about the mistakes he made but also what he has found works in marketing your book.... Both these interviews can give you some concrete goals if you are feeling a little bit battered by the first links.

Angela Ackerman of the wonderful BookselfMuse also has a guest post with Donna Gephart. Donna is a great mid grade writer and she talks about how children’s writers are promoting their books and that you don’t have to go crazy over marketing.

Socialmediaexplorer has written a warning post on social media contests...There have been law changes and bloggers could find themselves in legal hot water if their contests break the new rules...and if you think it doesn’t apply to you because you are in different country think about where your website is hosted...Yes, it may apply.

The popular blog YA Highway has taken a good hard look at writing mid grade. In particular they have looked at nailing the mid grade voice.

Over in the Craft Section

Storyfix has a popular series of posts looking at ten important tips to nail your NaNoWriMo. This weeks post is on the first 12-15 scenes...the set up (NaNoWriMo is next month).

I09 has a great list of ten types of writers block and how to overcome them...

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

Future Proof Your Digital Publishing...This is an important article about the changing formats of epublishing.

Suffragette Steampunk...a match made in heaven?

Digital Rights...Do you really know how many you have?

To finish,

The Frankfurt Book Fair is happening right now and if you want to get a feel for the topics under discussion drop into this German blog which has roundups on every topic...It is in English!

There are posts on gamers needing storytellers, eLearning futures where Taiwan is leading the way, Books meeting games...

It is where we are heading...Are you going to be still there? 

maureen

pic is from here