Reality Bites

January is full of predictions and goal setting for the coming year. Writers enjoy marking off their new wall planners with book goals and organising their writing desks. Then reality sinks in as they note the first deadline is coming up fast. Productivity tool posts start filling up the internet. Writers In The Storm have a good blog post for the writer’s greatest challenge- Time Management. You may need to select from one of these useful collections of tools and tricks.

Time Management Apps.

No Cost tools for writers- Publication Coach

Five Writing Apps from DIYMFA

Every year The Write Life blog collects their 100 best websites for writers. Regular readers of my blog will see familiar names in the list. However their are some nifty new names in the different categories. (They also have a great post on writing residencies – in case you were thinking if it is worth it.)

Victoria Strauss has collected a list of Writer Beware posts from 2015. Writers should be regularly dropping into this site and getting familiar with the scams and dodgy contract language that is directed at them. Writer Beware has direct support from many writer associations.

Susan Spann is doing guest posts on what to watch out for in Contract Clauses- This month is the Out Of Print Clause.

Passive Guy takes a look at Kameron Hurley’s post on Non Compete and Rights Grab Clauses (PG is a lawyer so he has an eye for this.)

Today Kris Rusch warned about Anthology Contracts by new independent publishers. They have the best intentions and their contracts are the worst! Kris has seen some absolute nightmares in the last few weeks. Last week she wrote a great post - Whining is not a business model! Writers you must carefully look at your contracts. This is your work, your future earnings... you need to read the small print and walk away if it is not fair.

In the Craft Section,

The joy of nuances and shades of feelings- Celtic Frog-Bookmark.

Building Empathy- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark.

Sara Letourneau – Character evolution- Bookmark.

Self Editing for Dummies- Bookmark.

Five steps to writing faster.

In the Marketing Section,

Authors often struggle with Book Marketing. It is out of the comfort zone of the introverted garret dweller who talks to imaginary people. 

This week there were helpful posts on author blogs from Joanna Penn - Author blog mistakes, Molly Greene – What authors can blog about, Veronica Sicoe – building relationships with readers and Angela Ackerman- Social Media - why I don’t follow the rules.

Penny Sansevieri has a good post on Amazon reviews.

Lindsay Buroker has one on tips for getting a Bookbub advert.

Rachel Thompson- 4 ways to improve your sales.

Silas Payton has a guest post on Joe Konrath’s blog on collaborative marketing.

To Finish,

Digital Book World has an interesting post today from Jason Illian on the real future of digital publishing. Jason looks at a few company results which journalists didn’t cover and then started asking questions. This is a must read! In the comments SCBWI blogger Lee Wind referred to Enthrill (a company I have been watching for a few years.) They are about to ramp up their eBook gift cards after a long time developing and testing. I have a feeling that 2016 will be an interesting year in the digital book world.

Maureen Crisp

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ DLG Images www.directline.com

Taking Good Advice

This week in the publishing blogosphere writers were cheering when Philip Pullman took a stand on writers having to do festival appearances for free, when everybody else was paid.

Phillip is the current head of UK Society of Authors. They are campaigning on this issue, so he saw it as only logical. Others didn’t see it quite that way and a lively debate happened over Twitter. However there has been a change in attitude from the festival in question and a nice wake up call to all to the wider Lit community.

As Penguin and Random House draw ever closer lots of change has been happening recently. My first post of the year looked at Author Solutions being sold off... but while authors may be cheering that move, the closing of some imprints is not so good.

Mike Shatzkin (publishing futurist) has been sounding a wake up call to publishers for a few years now and recently he had two long posts that make interesting reading if you are a publisher- (Self publishers should scan these.) The importance of Author SEO to a publisher and playing on a theme coming through on what 2016 trends might be, Global, Mobile and Author Backlist and how publishers ignore these at the peril of the bottom line.

Kris Rusch has taken issue with the Author Guilds letter on Contracts. She questions the letters bone fides as the AG membership is not only authors... so their call for better contracts is suspicious. Great Rant!

January is the month where many make plans and goals for the coming year. Roz Morris has a great blog post on this with advice to the 2016 writer.

Hugh Howey also offers his opinions on writing now... (great new website- I wasted time looking at his new boat video.)

Joanna Penn interviewed Jane Friedman on trends to watch in 2016 – this is a podcast with a transcript. Grab a drink and find some quiet space to absorb this.

The Smashwords 2015 survey is out. It makes interesting reading... what worked last year and what you should keep in mind for this year.

Joel Friedlander talks about the new edition of the Self Publishers Resource Guide.

If you suffer from sore wrists and hands after writing, here are the best hand and wrist exercises.

In the Craft Section,

Two great posts from James Scott Bell - Lifting the middle of the Thriller plot and how to avoid writing paralysis due to over analysis (guilty) Bookmark!

Three current trends in screenwriting

How to write chapter structure- Bookmark

8 online writing tools

10 things that flag newbie writers- Anne R Allen. Bookmark

Make your hero suffer – Stephen Pressfield- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

7 Book Marketing trends you can’t ignore- Joel Friedlander

Build Book Buzz has their roundup of last year’s popular posts.

5 Book Marketing models- Jane Friedman. Bookmark

5 lies that authors tell themselves

7 Instagram tips for Self published writers

6 tips for author newsletters – Jami Gold. Bookmark

7 tips for platform building – Anne R Allen. Bookmark

5 guidelines for approaching Book Bloggers – Janice Hardy

Book Marketing tips you need to know- Rachel Thompson. Bookmark

Website Of The Week

I have linked to Katie Weiland’s posts in my craft section so often I should have her on a shortcut link button. I have her great book on structure. Her website is a great resource on craft questions that come up but she also offers some free downloadable resources that are just special!

To Finish

In the writing business it pays to keep an eye on what the Romance writers are doing – they are so savvy. Today I came across an article on a new Romance App that had my eyebrows lifting right off my head. I never even suspected this was a thing. I’m still not sure what to think about it... it could be a virtual reality step too far... OTOH if you love your book heroes enough to have a text relationship...

Chuck Wendig decided to do some thinking about mid career writers. This is his ramble on what you should be doing. It echoes others that I have linked to in today’s post but with the Wendig spin on the Good Advice.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons / GotCredit