So nothing much has happened in the writing blogosphere this
week....
YEAH RIGHT.
New Zealand writers were gripped with Man Booker fever as
they followed Twitter streams, news reports and rumours to find out if our own
Eleanor Catton had won. At 11am Thursday morning, writers around NZ were
cheering. This was a nice patch of bright news in an otherwise depressing
publishing landscape here in NZ. (Not sure about Publishing Perspectives calling it a Kiwi Twin Peaks tho.)
Victoria University Press published her here...in
conjunction with a larger press in the UK.
With the race to leave NZ by the bigger publishing firms,
this does leave the field open to small nimble presses. They and NZ writers
need to think global and Eleanor’s success may be the kick we all need. In
other comments about the win here...NZ writers were saying to the NZ public -
See we have great writers...why don’t you get behind us instead of thinking
that all good writing comes from overseas. Cultural cringe is alive and well
here.
Before the Man Booker award took over the blogosphere what
was everyone talking about..?
Frankfurt. (Implications and analysis ongoing)
Bloomsbury and Author Solutions (scary but true)
Book Discovery problems (when a booksellers website goes
down over erotica.)
Frankfurt threw up some interesting statistics. This years
Book Fair saw the impact of Self Publishing, both to the sales part of the
industry and the traditional model of publishing, cease to be the elephant in
the room.
Jane Friedman has fully examined these implications and they make interesting reading. Take some time to look at her series of reports....
it’s a weekend workshops worth of information.
Laura Hazard Owen also brings her considerable analysis
skills to bear...as she looks at the eBook marketing battles from Frankfurt.
Porter Anderson’s Ether at Jane Friedman’s site and his Ether at Publishing Perspectives gives you more information if you want to pretend that
you went to Frankfurt. Always a comprehensive overview.
David Gaughren, champion of the small guy (self
published writer) and defender of the newbie writer, continues to rage about the
insidious ways that big traditional publishers are trying to jump on the self
publishing bandwagon by telling writers that they can publish with their
special imprint if they pay all the costs (exorbitant.) The imprints are fronts
of Author Solutions, which is being taken to court, over questionable dealings
with writers...The latest reputable publisher to engage Author Solutions to run a self-publishing imprint for them is Bloomsbury. If you are not aware of this
please read and share with other writers...Eyes Wide Open People!
Mike Shatzkin takes a look at book discovery in the new world, in light of Frankfurt and also comments on the unfortunate nature of a major
bookseller coming afoul of a publishers drive to clean up all mention of
erotica. The publisher using a filter pulled all mention of erotica and the Bookseller,
who had linked all their eBooks into their website found the website disabled.
A bit of a problem for the biggest Bookseller in the UK. * Update* Writer Beware takes a look at the impact of this on authors.
Joanna Penn is always good value and in this blog post she looks at her writing business two years on...what she has learned and where to next. Very good reading.
Romance University (always a great go to site) interviews an ex Harlequin editor going freelance and what she found out about self
publishing quality and no it’s the opposite of what you think...great read.
In Craft, (all must read posts)
Agent Rachel Gardner on cutting thousands of words and how
to do it...easy.
Jody Hedlund on how to know which scenes you need in the
book.
Livewritethrive on Creative mind mapping for novelists.
Writer Unboxed on Using Save The Cat to find the story
In Marketing,
Novel Rocket on Studying the market! (agent rant that is a
must read)
Susan Kaye Quinn on write what you want...(Great post)
Anne R Allen Social Media secrets for authors (Anne is a
must read anytime)
KidLit.com Agents vs Editors and why they all have a
different focus.
Website to check out,
The Bookshelf Muse team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
have changed their great website into an even spiffier one which
celebrates what they do best... Writers Helping Writers. They have launched it
this week with two more companion Writer Thesauri.... Positive and Negative
Traits. If you have not had a chance to check out the phenomenally successful Emotion Thesaurus For Writers...YOU
MUST.
To Finish,
Indie Reader has looked at the growth of Self Publishing and has refined it down to five books and their impact on the publishingworld...see if the book that you immediately thought of is in the list...you
may be very surprised. Every one on the list has been a game changer much like
the predictions from Frankfurt...London and maybe the Man Booker on New Zealand
Publishing.
maureen
