It is a funny old world...
This morning I read a Salon article on the echoes of the film Mockingjay with the real life events happening in Ferguson. The use of
propaganda today to shape public opinion is held up as a mirror while scenes
from the movie echo scenes from videos by extremist groups.
On Facebook, children’s authors are telling of publishers
pulling out of signed publishing contracts. Projects, sometimes years in the
production, just scrapped leaving the authors and illustrators frustrated and
wondering what to do next. I look on Twitter and suddenly I’m seeing articles
about self-publishing picture books and what it takes... Hugh Howey has dipped his toe into kids book publishing and writes about it in his lucid way.
The guru Jane Friedman has also written about self-publishing kids books and the perils therein. Kids books are still firmly in the realm of
print but with Amazon ramping up their sales of Kids Kindles and software to
create kids books, you can see where they think the market is going.
Porter Anderson writes about the question he got asked at a
London conference two weeks ago. Can I reasonably expect to succeed? The
questioner was talking about both print and digital publishing. With digital
publishing you are competing with every book that has every been published...
On the other hand you could be lucky as the publishers who get behind Print are handing out 7 figure advances.
Joanna Penn has a great interview on book covers (she is
coming to Auckland!)
Kate Tilton is running a giveaway for Joel’s Friedlander’s book design templates (well worth looking at with 40% off, especially the new
children’s book designs.)
This Saturday loads of authors in the US are heading to their local independent booksellers to sell books... in a sharing the love event.
Great idea to take up here.
It’s getting towards the end of the year and thoughts of
Christmas shopping fill everyone with dread. Jami Gold has updated her gifts for writers list.
In the Craft Section,
A NaNo timetable (remember you can use this on any month)
Stealing Without Shame – Stephen Pressfield
In the Marketing Section,
Timing for book launches (interesting article)
To Finish,
Jane Friedman has some predictions for next year and Writer
Unboxed has a post telling how you can plan for the upcoming writing year.
Next year will the odds be in our favor?
maureen
Pic from Hunger Games movie
