Publishing Diagnosis

It’s that time of the year again when the quarterly Author Earnings report comes out. After 27 months of the data arrows for indie publishing going only up... this quarter they didn’t. 

Is this the beginning of the end? Are there earthquakes in publishing on the horizon?

Publishing Perspectives has a measured examination of the data. There are some interesting takeaways, especially if you are a traditionally published print based author.

James Scott Bell has been thinking about the publishing industry recently too. He wrote a great article on what authors need to know about the publishing industry today.

Porter Anderson talks to UK publisher Rebecca Smart about the need for flexibility in publishing. She was being interviewed ahead of the Frankfurt Book fair on the health of pre Brexit UK publishing.

This week Alli founder Orna Ross published an article telling Indies not to pay for Book Marketing services until they knew what the reality was. Orna was highlighting a real problem in the new author world, that of knowledge. You don’t know what you don’t know. Along with this there are some predatory firms out there targeting new authors helping to part them from their money. Alli have some good news on that front.

Beth Hill talks about getting ready for NaNoWriMo. October is prep month and Beth has some ideas for you to try to get ready. A successful month depends on planning well first.

Angela Ackerman has a great roundup of resources for writers looking to elevate their craft. Long time readers of this blog will recognise quite a few names as they have featured in my weekly roundups from time to time. There are some great writing craft books in there as well.

In The Craft Section,

5 tips if you are editing for the first time- GoTeenWriter

3 enemies of writer productivity

Start your outlines with 4 questions- K M Weiland

Using Meyers Briggs to craft compelling characters – Bibliocrunch

Series beginnings- Mary Kole- Bookmark

Working backwards to define the plot- Janice Hardy Bookmark

23 Book Writing tools- Apoyocorp

Nine ways to make readers care about an amoral character

In The Marketing Section,

How to boost interest in your book

Image editing tools

How to make the most out of Goodreads giveaways

7 things an author should do before publishing- Jane Friedman

How to self publish a print book-Joanna Penn Bookmark

Writing career business plan- Janalyn Voigt - Bookmark

5 pillars to boost email list growth- Adam Connell

Jane Friedman has a guest post on Facebook ads- Bookmark!

To Finish,

Joanna Penn has a great article on creativity. How to find and capture ideas for a novel. The best thing for a writer is to be curious. You have to exercise the idea muscle often. Start small and then one day you will discover ideas hitting you from all over the place. Capturing them is the best medicine.

Maureen Crisp

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ The Italian Voice

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Self Examination

This week there have been some interesting posts by writers looking critically at their success or lack of it. A thread runs through all these articles of perseverance or maybe it’s  just mule like stupidity (paraphrasing Terry Gilliam here.)

Lisa Cohen has written an entertaining article on Writer Unboxed about the lessons learned over five years and six books. There are some great takeaways in here.

Taking the theme of challenging yourself... Paul Searles writes on the Save The Cat website about how he won the midnight challenge in screenwriting. The whole competition is about challenging yourself as a writer...

Fear of success is just as debilitating as fear of failure. Anne R Allen has written a blog post that is resonating across the publishing blogosphere. This is a follow on from articles I have highlighted in the last couple of weeks. An excellent read!

Roz Morris writes about moving from being a ghost writer to a writer with her own name on the cover of the book. Reviews hit harder... Accolades make you cry. This is a great article about the unexpected experiences of having your name on the book.

Joanna Penn has a great interview with David Wood on how to have bestselling series and running a small press. He publishes other Indie authors and has an interesting idea on the publishing future landscape.

Joanna Penn is coming to Auckland in February 2017. She is offering a one day seminar on self publishing. If you are dipping your toe in... or thinking about it, you probably need to go to this.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting interview with Jason Cooper of Unbound, a crowd-funding publishing house. This model is becoming quite attractive to authors who have projects that are unusual. This comprehensive interviews talks about the crowd funding model and the future of this style of publishing.

In The Craft Section,

How to write a book with NaNoWriMo- NowNovel

Ten steps to plotting your practice novel- Writer Unboxed

Roz Morris- How to write emotions and feelings- Bookmark

Four tips for preventing flat descriptions- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Kaizen Writing- Bookmark

The Master List of Romance plots- Bryn Donovan

The two minute writing workshop already at your fingertips- Larry Brooks- Bookmark

7 steps to writing the first novel- Joanna Penn

Trimming words from a too long manuscript- Janice Hardy

In The Marketing Section,

Tips for making yourself more promotable- Writers in the Storm Bookmark

How to create a box set bundle- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Perfect Instagram marketing

DIY Print On Demand- The Who Is Doing What List and How Much It Costs.

Publicity for authors- Joel Friedlander interviews Dana Kaye

A case study in covers- Interesting read!

In the Print It Out and Post It On A Wall Section,

April Brown and Becca Puglisi have compiled the most exhaustive checklist of actions for publishing a novel. I think everything is covered here! (Of course you have to write it first!)

To Finish,

What Kind Of A Writer Are You? Stephen Pressfield asks the question of himself but this self examination throws up some truths about your own motivations for writing. An excellent and thought provoking read.

Maureen

@craicer

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Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ Kaex0r