Genre Bashing

Why did @JustinTrudeau choose a gender balanced cabinet? "Because it's 2015." https://t.co/oZhL8422pU

— George Darroch (@georgedarroch) November 4, 2015

This week I have been reflecting on the idiocy still perpetuated that somehow literary genres read by a majority of women are inferior to other literary genres.

Romance novelists were taken aback by a snarky article on plagiarism at the Washington Post this week. Instead of talking about the plagiarism that had been discovered the journalist went for the who-can- tell-because-it’s-not-real-writing angle.

Jenny Trout writes an excellent rebuttal and if you want to further enjoy the smack down read the comments following her post about Shakespeare.

Amazon has changed its Kindle Unlimited payouts again. At the same time as doing this it has finally (after twenty years of business) taken the plunge and opened a bookstore in Seattle. Just one... with 6000 books, a lot of them face out on the shelf....

If you are diving into NaNoWriMo and have popped your head up for air, check out Chuck Wendig’s post on surviving it...

November besides being the month of insane novel writing is also Non Fiction month. Nicola Morgan had a passionate post on the lack of recognition to our Non Fiction children’s writers.

Anne R Allen has written a post that has been passed around the blogosphere - 5 delusions that block writers from succeeding. The speed of the sharing showed that many writers found some truths in this excellent post.

Jane Friedman takes a look at literary journals... the struggles of writers to get published echo the struggles of these journals to publish.

The rules of storytelling… from Pixar.

In the Craft Section,

Two great posts on dialogue tags- Actions speak louder from C S Lakin and 10 dialogue mistakes from Marcy Kennedy - Bookmark both!

5 ways to build a flimsy villain

The single best way to finish a novel- Kristen Lamb

5 smart tips to write a draft at speed- Roz Morris – Bookmark

Planning a Character Arc – Angela Ackerman

Building a Great First Chapter- Beth Revis

Planning your Novel Ending- Janice Hardy

NaNoWriMo -planning

In the Marketing Section,

Promoting Pre Orders- Bookmark

How to get readers to lust after your book- James Scott Bell

Trying new things for visibility- Elisabeth S Craig

How to sell without being sleazy- Kate Tilton

How much does it cost to self publish- Bookmark

How to get your book reviewed – Molly Greene

Author marketing –ways to support your writer friends without compromising your own platform.

To Finish,

Stephen Pressfield and Black Irish books have a great series of videos on The Story Grid which you should check out for NaNoWriMo. Darcy Pattison has some tips to help you carve out a writing life.

If you are a fan of popular podcast serial Night Vale... Then look out for the book. It is 2015 and publishing has changed. Now we can take podcasts and get big publishing deals.

The new Canadian Prime Minister was sworn in today. Three words have echoed around Twitter following the swearing in ceremony. It’s a reflection on long it has taken and that we still have a way to go.

Maureen
@craicer

Subscribing To NaNoWriMo

This week Amazon review policies and translations are still topics of interest at the publishing water cooler AKA Twitter.

Selfpublishing Review has written a blog post about the new Amazon review policy detailing what you can and can’t do. A must read!

Roz Morris always has interesting posts and this week she adds her thoughts to the Translation discussion. It is always good to check out the comment stream where the discussion continues.

Porter Anderson has been looking at the Society of Authors call for fairer contracts. The Society is the UK authors collective. The Society is joining with The American Authors Guild and momentum is growing to change publishing contracts. Take the time to read this.

Subscription services may be making a come back if the latest Disney deal is anything to go by.

Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant have a popular writing blog but they are branching out into subscription too. They have been working on an App called Story Shop. They have a Kickstarter for it. Check out what they are offering, The App almost writes the stories for you!

This week a spotlight was put on organisations behaving badly.

Wil Wheton called out Huffington Post for not paying authors and then went on to expand that call to other creatives who should be paid for their work. Exposure doesn’t pay the mortgage you know.

Agent Natalie Lakosil helped by Jen Laughran shone a light on agents. Yes, agents have other jobs, they are just as poorly paid as writers... but be wary of Schmagents!

It’s the last week of October and writers around the world are holding their heads and thinking why did I say I would do NaNoWriMo.

Chuck Wendig asks the same question and adds his own particular spin to why you should/shouldn’t do it. (Usual Chuck warnings!)

Anne R Allen has a great post from Ruth Harris on the joy of writing and how to keep it going during NaNoWriMo. Ruth shares inspirational words from other authors about how to keep the momentum going.

Here is an interesting post on when to design your bookcover... If you said before you write the book... you would be right.

In the Craft Section,

Help for Pantsers and Plotters- Stephen Pressfield

Janice Hardy has two great posts, How to tighten the MS and How to polish the MS

Jami Gold has a great post on research.

Jody Hedlund talks about Tension- Bookmark!

Jane Friedman talks to Larry Brooks about compelling concepts Bookmark!

Critique Circle has 3 essential tips for NaNoWriMo

Joanna Penn on Self Editing

In the Marketing Section,

Joanna Penn lists all her marketing posts in one place. Bookmark!

Molly Greene has the website essentials

Penny Sansevieri has the essential book selling how to

Bookbub shows how to craft Author bios

Novel pitching with Chuck Sambuchino

Author platform building using email lists.

To Finish,

The people behind the Stop Procrastinating App have put together a tell all infographic on NaNoWriMo... How to survive it... How to achieve it... How to do it.

For all those attempting NaNoWriMo... Good luck

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons- Mondo