Being Diverse.

This week I have been reflecting on the rise of self publishing and small press in our small pool of children’s books published in New Zealand. I popped into The (Award Winning and Independent) Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie and had a chat with co-owner Ruth about how many books were now being author published. We then had a look at the finalists of the New Zealand Children’s Book Awards...bet you can’t pick the self published books on this list. The strength and depth of the stories from the finalists*, the production values and attention to detail of all the books and that half of them are from small press.’ shows a very good snapshot of what is happening in our publishing industry.

(*and boy was that hard to pick as several phenomenal books I thought would be automatically on the list were left off.)

Last week I highlighted the hot button issues exercising the minds of the publishing industry. These issues are still being talked about. Porter has a roundup over the boys and books debate and Jonathan Emmett which was the subject of last weeks Ether Issue chat.

The Diversity button continues to be pushed as the panelists for BookCon for the KidsLit were announced, (4 white dudes) and then this was followed up by John Green (white dude) being named as a Y. A. prophet in The Times 100 most influential people (much to John’s discomfit) and this caused howls about how JG should be using his influence to highlight...Diversity.  Book Riot have started a campaign asking people to highlight #WeNeedDiverseBooks in various ways. Librarians and authors across the spectrum have jumped into highlighting this issue, including Chuck Wendig (the no holds barred version.)

In the Grab A Big Cup of your favourite beverage and hunker down to read...

Bob Mayer looks at the harsh truths of making a living as a writer.

Chip McGregor answers author’s questions on his Lit Agent blog... a good resource here.

Jane Friedman asks questions about issues I covered last week, including Mike Shatzkins big change of tack.

Joanna Penn on productivity for authors and fighting overwhelm. (Great article)

In the Craft Section,

How to use emotional growth to propel the character

Free resources for writing and editing

Pros and cons of writing a novel in the present tense

The Capt. Jack Sparrow method of first drafts.

Developing your writing voice

5 common problems I see in your stories...(great post by Chuck!)

What killed it for me...#8 in this list of when the reader stops reading.

How to enjoy editing

Seven core competencies for writing success- K M Weiland

How to do location research.

Using macros to show vs tell...amazing post from Jami Gold

In the Marketing Section,

What is a cover reveal?

How to make people read your business card

Author website checklist from Darcy Pattison

ACX tips for authors and producers of audiobooks

15 places to promote your book for free

Running a business as an author – excellent article from Joanna Penn

11 ways to quote and promote your book using images

To Finish,

Elisabeth Spann Craig is one of my favourite Go To writers for practical help around all things publishing. She is one of the duo behind Writers Knowledge Base but also she is not afraid to show how she is coping with the Hybrid publishing journey. In this excellent post she looks at her mistakes and procrastinations and so of course you can’t help loving her more as she reveals the very human side of being a writer.

maureen

Pic from Oakland Library for the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.

Pressing Hot Buttons

Hey genre snobs, Shakespeare did fantasy (Tempest), thrillers (Macbeth), comedies (As You Like It), YA (Romeo & Juliet) & erotica (sonnets).
— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) April 23, 2014

This week the publishing blogosphere was doing some soul searching as they digested an article by Jonathan Emmett on the gender imbalance of children’s books, that The Times picked up and ran away with...causing a mini feeding frenzy from other news outlets around the world. 

The Times headline trumpeted that the majority of buying/ producing/ reviewing in the publishing industry is being run by women so it is no wonder that boys aren’t reading.

This is a hot button issue. 

There are many angles to this story. Why has publishing become dominated by women? (low paid... low status...= women) Where are the books written by men for boys? ( low paid...low status...= ?) Who are the gatekeepers and why aren’t more books for boys being promoted and reviewed? - they would review if there were books for boys being written and published (low paid...low status...)

Why is it a women’s problem if boys don’t read? (Jonathan Emmet say’s it is not our problem.)

The next hot button issue... the same arguments this week but this time over diversity in publishing... Where are the books written by and for people of colour? In this Buzzfeed article the same blocks are being questioned. The editors are white middle class women who don’t understand the issues/stories from another cultural/colour perspective.  Few books by these authors are being picked up for publishing... which equals less readers... which then becomes one of those assumptions...that people of colour don’t read.

Why is this a middle class white woman’s problem?

Who are the majority of readers?  Demographic/age group.... (answer in your own time)

How do we address the imbalance?

How do we make reading cool for everyone?

Where do the brown boy readers go when they get to high school? (our resident representative of that demographic reads Stephen King Horror (Thanks Mr King! He is still reading!)

And the next hot button issue.

Are we over being good literary citizens? Have writers had enough of supporting publishing platforms?...because it’s good form and expected by their publishing houses but costs in time and money for the writer. Where are the blogs/ reviews from the CEO’s promoting the books? Why does the writer have to promote other writers and reviewers...and bookstores and .... Jane Friedman has a nice response to the above article.

When Mike Shatzkin came out to talk positively about When Authors should Self Publish  (minor earthquake in publishing world) and then goes on to ask for submissions from everyone about the next five years in digital publishing where he predicts that Trade publishers will conduct most of their business online... then you have a lot to talk about.

We are 18 months out from the next National Children’s Writers and Illustrators conference and so Mike makes timely reading as we look to work out what issues should be on the hot button list to discuss.

Pick your button… PRESS.

In the Craft Section,

How not to begin your novel.

James Patterson on how to write the unputdownable story.

Using a crowd to create tension in your story.

Bob Mayer on The Story Grid - a writer’s tool

Janice Hardy – when you’ve got everything right how do you leap over the line into requested/ bought 
territory.

What will be the next big YA sub genre?

10 SciFi and Fantasy stories that editors are so over...

When the first book kills the series... Great article on the fine line of writing a first serial book.

In the Marketing Section,

Building audience with bundles... Dave Gaughran’s book bundling experiences.

Popular Tumblr’s for readers – how authors are managing Tumblr

7 tips to help promote your self published book.

To Finish,

This is my 300^th post on the Craicer blog, my sixth year of providing a weekly look at the hot topics and trends in publishing. In six years I have seen the publishing world go through huge changes. The amalgamation of publishing houses... the collapse of bookstore chains... the rise of author publishing. Six years ago I would not have predicted the topic of this article from Porter Anderson but it does show how far the publishing pendulum has swung for the author.  Predicting where they may be heading to next will continue to be a fascinating weekly hot button on Craicer.

maureen