Gazing into 2015

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,

5 ways to reveal backstory

Working with multiple POV’s and timelines- Janice Hardy

6 ways to make characters stand out- Jody Hedlund

Painting characters into corners

Writing poverty in YA

When the narrator knows as much as God

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!)

Bob Mayer’s video on conflict lock

Hooks, Lines and Stinkers

In the Marketing Section

3 simple ebook marketing tips.

Understanding Search Engine Optimization-  (SEO)

27 royalty free stock image sites

Planning marketing with a content calendar

Finding the right critique partners

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

Christmas wishes

Today I was braving the hordes with my kids as they did their Christmas Shopping. This is a once a year activity where the kids get to budget and think creatively. (Sounds like publishing.) While they were engaging in creative accounting to make their dollars go further, I was wondering what I was going to write for the last blog post of the year. This was not a year I planned. I was going to have a go at writing a small series of junior fiction books because I wanted to challenge myself. I was going to finish tidying up my Mars book and send it out!

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

I ended up spending way too much time this year staring at hospital food and wondering how anyone was supposed to get well while eating it or whether it was all a psychological experiment to make you get well faster. (If so, it didn’t work as I kept going back.)

So next year... (God and Surgeon willing.) I will restart...

Joanna Penn was in Auckland recently and wowed authors at a meet-up. She was sponsored by Kiwi tech guys Booktrack. They’re the guys behind soundtracks for books. Joanna interviewed them to find out all about this nifty idea.

Chuck is curious about everybody’s experience with Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. Is it worth it to the author?

The Verge took a trip into the ‘Zon to find out what might be coming in 2015.

John Scalzi has called out a couple of digital magazines about their rights grab… and they listened. Always check the copyright clauses!

I’m in conference planning mode with a bunch of excellent, talented, goodlooking and creative Children’s Writers and Illustrators for the New Zealand National Conference of Children’s Writers and Illustrators. October 2-5 2015 Wellington. (Start looking for those cheap flights.) Janice Hardy writes about the benefits of a small writers’ conference. She is right on the money with her thoughts. (and we have some interesting things planned...*grin* )

One of the tricky things about planning a conference is trying to predict what will be relevant in publishing a year into the future. The Bookseller is doing just that by asking a bunch of publishing tech people what they think will happen in 2015.

In the Craft Section,

7 rituals to steal from creative people

Writing Unforgettable Characters

How to become a better writer – Rachelle Gardiner

6 ways to write your title

Sample Permissions letters - Jane Friedman (Bookmark it)

Writing Faster but keeping it OK

Stop research becoming procrastination (guilty)

In the Marketing Section,

The before you submit check list

Book Promotion networking for Introverts

Marketing Strategies

4 reasons readers don’t buy your book

Set Book Marketing Goals for 2015

My Writers’ Christmas Gift wish and K M Weiland's big book launch give away

To Finish,

I would like to thank all the writers and readers of this blog, the writing communities on Facebook and Twitter, and the Wellington writers who have had my back all year. Although most of you didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes your comments and thoughts encouraged me to keep going even when the going was tough.

Wishing you all a Happy and Safe Christmas. See you in 2015.

maureen

pic from Flickr/Creative Commons/ Berit Watkin