The sun has been beating down and we have been traveling
through the North Island on our annual family pilgrimage. I tried hard not to
think of all the projects I wanted to start/complete this year (they are all
from last years Annus Interrumpi.) My family thought I was taking a complete
wellness break... I was sleeping ... honestly! So now I’m back with first post
of the year.
As 2015 rolls in... writers take stock of where they are and
where they want to be next year and what the publishing world is going to throw
at them. Everyone who has spent any time in this business knows that change is
constant!
Over the last five years I have read Bob Mayer’s New Year
predictions and he usually is on the money. So here is his take for 2015.
Mark Coker of Smashwords is taking a similar line and getting quoted all over the place in the last week.
With book publishing stats for last year being digested and
comments about the drop in e-book sales from publishers... does this spell the
beginning of the end of the e-book phenomenon. NO. Killzone notes the sky is not falling and Hugh Howey is busy gazing into the sky of 2015.
Chuck Wendig takes his usual hilarious (profane) ramble on
2015 writing resolutions and what he would like to see happening in publishing in 2015. Chuck cautions everyone about subscription models like Kindle Unlimited. It
might be good for the reader...but.
This week Oyster enrolled the Macmillan group into their model, which means they have a significant number of the top ten publishers.
Subscription wars may be about to start.
The Digital Book World conference is happening as I write.
(#DBW15) They kicked off the conference looking at Children’s Publishing. Jane
Friedman has links to all the slide presentations and a nifty infographic about
the demands on children’s reading time. Porter Anderson looks at Children’s Publishing figures... 25% of all print publishing and the growing take up of e- books in
this sector. Where to next?
Writer Beware takes a close look at Publishing contracts-
Are you sabotaging yourself?
Are we all over crowdfunding publishing or is there a better way… Futurebook chat roundup makes interesting reading.
If you need a lie down after all those resolutions Writer
Unboxed has a post on Tolerating Uncertainty.
In the Craft Section,
Working with multiple POV’s and timelines- Janice Hardy
6 ways to make characters stand out- Jody Hedlund
Most common writing mistakes- K M Weiland
The Smelling Post- or writing about this sense...
Graphic post on whether your main character can survivemultiple assailants (definitely for thriller writers!)
In the Marketing Section
Website of the Week
Agent Janet Reid has a great site where she answers authors
questions about agents... here she looks at what happens when an agent quits the business but still wants to rep you.
To Finish,
If you have teenagers in the house... chances are you have
heard a lot of Taylor Swift. Have you ever noticed how her songs are plots of YA novels....
Maureen
Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons Su Bo An
