Exploding Heads...

December is the craziest month of the year in New Zealand. 

It is the month when you juggle end of school year events at schools. Christmas celebrations with all the organisations you are involved with, as well as your children’s and your spouse’s. It is the start of the summer holidays. 

While you are rushing around trying to prepare for Christmas, you are also trying to juggle the holiday timetable, travel, destination etc etc.

Throw in a few unexpected events and life gets more than complicated. In December I find myself just concentrating on each day at a time because otherwise my head will explode.

This week around the publishing blogosphere there is a lot of head exploding about this article. Ebook readers to go the way of the dinosaurs. Of course writers publishing ebooks are worried...Do we need to be?

In the last week Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware (an excellent site) has dealt with sock puppetry of a different kind...where a small publisher has had writers extolling their virtues...unfortunately the writers in question didn’t know they were. The twitter feed exploded when Chuck Wendig found his name had been used. Victoria does a great job bringing scams to writer's attention and her latest find is on International Scams...watch out if you are contracting for or to services overseas.

James Scott Bell has written a great post on 10 ways to sabotage your writing. Hopefully you are doing none of these...I could be guilty of letting the Zombies in...

Zoe Winters drops in from her Social Media Blackout to say what she has learned and achieved. Do you remember life before Social Media? How was your writing then? (a safe sane existence?)

While I was away from Social Media a few weeks ago on my travels, Kassia Krozser from Booksquare was interviewed by 40K Books. I have seen snippets of this great interview all over the place and the whole thing makes VERY INTERESTING reading. Kassia is in demand as a speaker at big publishing industry conferences where she regularly explodes heads with her presentations. In this interview she has the heads up for publishers and what they should be doing now and also for authors. Flexibility is the ultimate key!

Porter Anderson in his new Ether for Authors round up talks about the rise of publishing industry conferences targeting Authors...join the dots... Authors increasing interest in Indie publishing...ergo they need tools and skills... and as Porter says Krozser’s interview works as a useful position paper, and it’s the kind of thing I hope more authors are taking the time to read these days. Craft work is grand, but when it comes to understanding the business in which that craft must be published, authors can no longer “stick to the writing blogs.” Knowing what publishers face in today’s market is the only way for an author to find a place for him- or herself.

So with this clarion call ringing in your ears The Alliance of Independent Authors has a free online conference for ... Independent Authors.

Check out their speakers...many of whom have been featured in this blog over the years.

I note that the cost of a publishing industry conference is nearly $2000 NZ so maybe a 3 day holiday away around the 12-14^th February where you can drop in to this makes good economic sense.

The FutureBook Conference held last month in the UK goes under the microscope in Nick Harkaways blog. How broken is the old publishing system when the accountants are running the asylum... (cue zombie music)

Passive Guy highlights the wonderful Indie author Hugh Howey (author of mega selling Wool) and his new contract whith S&S which breaks new contract ground. I know this has been a hot topic here in NZ among authors so take a look at this. (Is this the contract of the future...please please please...) 

In Craft,

A nice round up for this week.

From J R R  Tolkein. 6  writing tips.

From K M Weiland. Structuring scenes and also Why stupid characters make stupid books (must read)

From Gina Conroy. Cutting fat from your WIP

From Elisabeth S Craig. Writing in small chunks of time

From Kissmetrics. What Tarentino can teach you about reader engagement.

From MythicScribes 9 Amazing Blogs for Writers...and yes there are familiar names here for you.

In Marketing,

7 Things I learned about marketing books

Wise Ink has 12 lessons they have learned coaching Indie Authors in 2012

To finish,

Scholastic Editors have forecast their top 10 trends for 2013 (remember people that it usually takes a year to publish a book...)

Hold Your Head NOW

maureen

P.S. As always I urge you to read the comments on the links I put up each week.

Conversations I highlighted in last weeks round up are still going so if something from last week caught your eye, check in again... there is still plenty to talk about.

Pic from Grmisiti who has a whole lot of scary pictures from the Zombie Walk in Sao Paulo. This is not the scariest!

Conversation Starters

I’m always up for a good conversation and there are many happening in the publishing blogosphere this week.

Publishing Perspectives' recent one day conference had people talking about what’s happening next in YA.

Quite a few people are talking about Amazon’s latest initiative, a subscription service targeting... KIDS?

Curtis Brown (respected literary agency) are partnering with Amazon in a new initiative...the conversations are just getting started on this breaking news. Are we getting into the murky waters of agent publishers?

Smashwords are talking up Apple iBookstore move into Australia and New Zealand.

Anne R Allen has had some big conversations about her blog post this last week on the changes in the publishing industry due to the Kindle and how the algorithms, to become a best seller, on Amazon have changed Indie Publishing.

Artistsroad is having a conversation on Kickstarter for Authors...is it worth it?

Bubblecow has an interesting conversation on giving your book away for free. Why would you do it?

Porter Anderson has gathered quite a few conversations about the Publishing Future along with Jane Friedman who has a conversation about curation and best business links for Authors.

Publishing Perspectives has a conversation going on e-serials and how they are turning into the next big thing!

NY Times is talking with bookshops about the shunning of Amazon published books and and what it all means for sales.

In Craft

Agents are telling anyone who will listen what to do at revision time...listen up all you NaNoWriMo-ers...

Roz Morris always a great conversationalist has a pursuasive argument on how to be original in your writing.

Steve Laube wants to tell you about fair use and permissions to copy another authors work. When do you need them?

The wonderful Children’s Publishing Blog is having a great conversation on making your characters totally loved.

The superb K M Weiland talks about the 10 lessons she learned while writing her novel Dreamlander (which took 12 years) and each lesson is a conversation in itself.

In Marketing,

Bob Mayer has a great post on using your storyboard to market your book...This is one of those lightbulb learning conversations.

Metadata is a scary conversation but necessary for all publishers (that’s you, Indie author) to understand so get yourself over to 

Publishing Perspectives and listen in on 13 tips about how to use metadata effectively.

The Book Designer wants to tell you about 5 things to consider in Book Cover Design...first up Genre!

Have you wondered about selling books off your own site? The Passive Guy has a great conversation about the pitfalls and plums of doing it all yourself.

The Bookshelfmuse is doing more than talking they are having a huge Be Nice To Others Promotion on their blog where you can nominate people to get a present from the Christmas Elf. Go and check it out.

Ebookfriendly is NOT talking. They are showing! They have a cool infographic showing the biggest themes in bestsellers.

So what issue on this list gets you talking?

maureen

Pic from Lovelornpoets /flickr