Everybody in publishing wants to get a handle on where the
future is in publishing.
The big changes... the new trends... the ‘Will I have
a book deal / career... next year kind of questions. Analysis of what’s being
discussed in the halls of the book fairs dominates Twitter along with the
kitten pictures. Indie....Trad... digital...print... book sales...up graphs...
down graphs, everybody is trying to grab a stake to hold onto as the
floodwaters of change pull them in over their heads.
The London Book Fair is on. #LBF14 If you want to dive into
the maelstrom and surf the comment wave.
Among the talking points so far...BookTubers…their presence and prominence in book discoverability. A force to be reckoned with.
Random Penguin and the new Goodreads style community My indie bookshop (still in BETA testing but getting hyped at LBF) Readers rank their ‘best of’ book lists
which have a buy button to their favourite Indie bookshop. Readers earn money
as an affiliate...Independent bookshops earn money...win/win.
Porter does a round up of Day One at LBF14
Discoverability is on every publishers mind. (Reminder: If
you Indie publish –you are a publisher.) How do you break through the crowded
marketplace?
Is Hybrid just a phase for authors and will we ever go back to the
good/bad old days (like last year.) and yet more comment on Elisabeth S Craig’s amazing post which I highlighted a couple of weeks ago.
Kris Rusch finishes her series on discoverability with a
flourish.
Roz Morris reflects on what she is telling people now about publishing at LBF. Learn the business regardless of what side of the road you
go down. Get better informed about all the little facets of publishing a book.
Bologna Children’s Book Fair is still being talked about.
Wipeout
Two authors have given up publishing over the constant
trolling and stalking happening to them on review sites... this is a cautionary
tale to all authors.
Bestselling author Shannon Hale pleas to be left alone to write books. Constant demands for engagement from fans are causing huge
stress. This is the other side of success.
In the Craft Section,
How to deal with the Dreaded Sagging Middle
How to complete every writing project that you start...
(rewire your brain- great post!)
Great descriptions in SF (great post)
In the Marketing Section
Killing the myth that self publishing is easy –Dean Wesley
Smith.
To Finish,
Among the many posts that caught my eye this week were these
two. The Importance of Community for Authors and
Seven Reasons to Join an Author Collective. I have said all along I think that
author collectives are the future
model which will work best for going forward into the future. The power of the
group model can be a lifeboat in the rushing water of the publishing journey.
maureen
Pic is from Michael
L. Baird, flickr.bairdphotos.com
