Last week the blog
post you would have got didn’t happen because I was traveling unexpectedly for
most of a day. Arriving back to where we were staying at 10:30 pm was not
a great time to start writing it...so you got a week off.
I have finished
traveling up and down the country and so there are no excuses this week.
January continues to
be the month of setting writing goals for the coming year in publishing along with planning or attending conferences to beat the Winter blues in the
Northern Hemiphere.
Here in the Southern
Hemisphere the weather is changeable from wet to frying. The kids are still on
holiday and for me getting stuck into writing, battles with, finding air
conditioning or towels to mop up the sweat or the rain or the puddles from the
kids tracking through the house and sorting out the fights from overheated kids
or bored kids or manuscripts that won’t play nice!
The battle for
predicting a clear direction for writers to follow in 2013 continues with commentator
Brett Sandusky on how this is the year that publishing must address the elephants in the room. Brett names seven elephants. Among them Agents and
Amazon.
Social Media Examiner has the Social Media predictions for 2013... the ongoing battle for your attention...
Victoria Mixon has decided to repost her last years rant because she still feels strongly about the non artistic people running publishing who over the last 30 years published
work of low artistic quality (because it brings in money quickly) and what that
means for the rest of us. This is an interesting read and you will find
yourself saying ‘so that’s why....’
Jane Friedman touched
a few sore spots as she examined self publishing and the rush for genre commodity over literary quality. This is a great essay which weighs up both
sides and their future. Will epublishing help one over the other...118 people
have an opinion so far. Jane also asks the question, How long should you (battle) keep trying to get published?
Once you are published
it is only the start of the uphill slog to stay relevant and in the game.
Melinda Szymanik tells the honest truth about being a children’s writer in New Zealand and how much it costs. Hats off to Melinda for telling everyone just
what it takes to stay in the battle for hearts and minds and damn good writing!
Who are your writing stakeholders? Kate Gale suggests you won’t succeed unless you have some of these on your
side.
Why authors who say they don’t have time are doomed to lose the battle...or are they?
Why backing up your work twice will save your book...a cautionary tale.
Have you tried a stand up writing desk?...this could be the solution for all those niggling pains
writers get...
In Craft,
Tami Cowden has the 16 Villain Archtypes....(after all you need someone to battle against)
In Marketing,
A case study on how readers discovered a debut novel (half the battle)
Unexpected battle moves
in publishing ...
Variety reports that a film media company has moved to get an exclusive first look at all new titles
from an epublishing only publishing house. This is a new move for acquisitions and
film rights and something authors and agents should take note of.
Janice Hardy takes a hard look at Twitter followers and tells you who to dump.
Agent Mary Kole
becomes one of the first children’s publishing agents to offer a few other
extra services in addition to agenting. This is a move that some see as a
logical response to the current state of publishing and others as the thin edge
of the legitimate Agent wedge. Take sides now.
Finally,
The figures are out
for 2012 and children reading ebooks. Passive Voice takes a look at what it all
means as the numbers are higher than predicted...and Scholastic releases their own ebook reader numbers.
The battle for
children’s electronic eyes is upon us.
maureen
photo from Augapfel Flickr photostream
