Talking Across The Room

This week ahead of the Futurebook conference, a day was organised in London where authors and publishers got together and talked to each other. This is unusual in the book business as generally the dialogue is one sided. If you do a Twitter search on #authorday it will bring up some pithy quotes that were said throughout the day to authors and publishers by authors and publishers. The first report of #authorday is up on The Bookseller – Can we trust each other? It is a must read.

Among the discussions at Author Day was the continued lack of illustrator credit in the book business. Sarah McIntyre has made this a special campaign and after Author Day updated her website to reflect this. Pictures Do Mean Business For Illustrators. Authors need to read this!

Also discussed at Author Day – Assisted Publishing and Agents as Publishers. Jane Friedman has an interview with an agent that does this... Is it ethical?

The Author Earnings team of Hugh Howey and Data Guy have turned their sights on Amazon UK. Are the results the same as the US? Some interesting takeaways here... especially for global bestsellers.

Roz Morris has been taking a close look at pseudonyms especially in this digital world where a Google search can haul up stuff you may not want associated with your pseudonym.

21 ways to turn your book into a business - this is great advice for Non Fiction writers.

If you are juggling a writing life with full time work you need to read Darcy Pattison’s excellent blog post on ways to make your life a little easier along with the 10 must have qualities for the Indie author.

In the Craft Section,

5 important ways to use symbolism- Angela Ackerman

How to bring characters back into the action- James Scott Bell

7 easy ways to research – K M Weiland

Is there enough Death in your stories?- Devlin Blake

How to write good beginnings

The biggest problem in beginnings - Agent Sarah Davies

In the Marketing Section,

Two great posts from Molly Greene- How to upload and sell on Google Play and Using Contests and Giveaways

The risks of offering a freebie- Jami Gold

How to launch a thriller series- James Scott Bell

How to launch a book for new authors - Susan Kaye Quinn

Querying a new novel while the old one is still doing the rounds - Agent Janet Reid

To Finish,

I will wrap up the year next week... in the mean time if you have a project ready to go Pit Mad will be taking over Twitter on December 4^th (US time.) Have fun!

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons/ Ray Bouknight

Premature Babbling

This morning my Twitter feed filled up with reaction to a new kid on the YA publishing block and his attitude. Normally a new kid on the block would be welcomed and included but when the new kid talks down about the very genre they are writing in and then writes some dubious blog posts, the YA community will not ignore you. Chuck explains it best with his witty no-holds-barred post on not spitting on the legacy of the writers that have gone before you.

The Guardian also has a pertinent article on literature writers who deny that their work is actually genre... they wouldn’t lower themselves. SIGH! Read it and cheer.

This week there have been a few posts celebrating pre orders and warnings about pre orders.

Publishers Weekly has an interesting article by Mark Coker of Smashwords on using pre orders to ramp up your first day sales. You need to have preorders across the bookselling sites to get on the bestseller lists.

Then Mindy Klasky detailed how a preorder went horribly wrong for an anthology on Amazon.

If you are contemplating using pre orders in your marketing strategy, Carefully reading both these articles will give you the full picture.

November looks like the month I mention Asia every week. Mark Williams has a very detailed post looking at the global publishing industry using mobile phones. If you are looking into the future of publishing, check out what he has to say... grab a beverage of your choice, as it will take a while but it is worth it. Time to think GLOBAL!

Anne R Allen has a blog post that is being mentioned a lot around Twitter. If you are still trying to get your head around the changes in Amazon’s review policy, Anne has carefully laid all the do’s and don’t out for you.

Joann Penn has a very interesting interview up with LiteraryEstate lawyer, Kathryn Goldman. There are lots of things to think about in this interview. If you haven’t given a thought to what might happen to your Intellectual Property in the future... you need to read or listen to this interview.

Future Book has a section on Future Book Tech.  As we are in the middle of exam season here this post caught my eye. Here is a profile of a young man who saw a need to provide mobile exam preparation courses. He is now partnering with some of the worlds biggest educational publishers.

In the Craft Section,

How to learn fiction writing techniques- Jody Hedlund- Bookmark!

How to write multiple antagonists – K M Weiland

What is bad writing and how can we fix it - and Adding Conflict to Your Scenes-Janice Hardy Bookmark Both!

When back story kills your plot- C S Lakin

Expand deepen and create – September Fawkes Bookmark!

What is narrative thrust?- Jane Friedman

In the Marketing Section,

Making picture quotes easy

Rachel Thompsons book marketing tips part two (Part one was in last weeks blog)

How to create a book that sells - Penny Sansevieri – there is also a video of Penny with some great 

marketing tips.

How to keep your fans raving for your books- Author Basics

Marketing plans- Jessica West

To Finish,

Last week I had Kristine Rusch as my website of the week. This week she wrote a great post on the journey of one writer, Marie Force. Often we hear we should write to the market... or we shouldn’t write to the market or we should write contemporary or we should write genre.... Read Kris- (take it to heart) and Write what you love!

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flick Creative Commons / Werwin 15