Craic-er

Thursday, February 2, 2017

The Digital Book World conference is still being talked about. Ron Vitale has a great round up of important points to think about going into 2017 and DBW has a great article on the changing role of agents in 2017.

Kris Rusch has a Must Read post on the breakdowns of the Author Earnings presentation at DBW. Click through to the slide show presentation that Data Guy from Author Earnings shared at the conference- Mind Blowing.

Mike Shatzkin takes a look at Amazon’s dominance in the bookmarket and concludes that Traditional Publishers should be working with, not against, the Zon. But how should they...

(see Data Guy’s slideshow for the facts!)

Waterstones are in the black. (Booksellers cry hurrah!) Is this the beginning of Good Times Ahead for bookshops? Waterstones put in cafes but really it was children’s books that saved them...

Book Promotion- Do This Not That- This is a standout post on The Book Designer by Amy Collins. And while we’re on Book Promotion ideas check out Jane Friedman’s best of 2016 articles. WOW!

Joanna Penn interviewed John Lee Dumas and it was a jawdropper. Have you ever looked at those premium journals and thought ‘I wonder who thinks these up?’ Wonder no more! And if you ever had a hankering to make one... It’s a must watch!

Bookworks take a look at academic publishing and wonders if 2017 will be the year academics go Indie. There are some really interesting new players in this field.

In The Craft Section,

The most important question in storytelling- Jami Gold-Bookmark

What I learned from James Patterson

Whose head is it anyway – Omniscient P.O.V.- Janice Hardy

How do you write a book- Catherine Ryan Howard (on trying to write Bk2)

British American Speak-Joanna Penn- Bookmark

What might be behind your procrastination- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Powerful scenes- setting counts- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

How to do Goodreads giveaways and why you should- Catherine Ryan Howard- Bookmark

How to publish hardbacks cost effectively-

5 author networking tips- Molly Greene

4 effective book marketing strategies- Rachel Thompson

Worldwide book sales- Bookbaby

How to use a Facebook ad- Mark Dawson - Bookmark

To Finish,

Jane Friedman posted a link to a Book Marketing case study using Goodreads and Netgalley. This is an interesting and informative case study done last month.

Ruth Harris has a great post on Author Resilience- The key to reaching your writing goals. This is a thought provoking read... especially if procrastination has been your friend lately!

Maureen

@craicer

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Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ Les Sachs

Thursday, January 26, 2017

The Merry Go Round

As I write this, news is filtering out from agents and publishers on Twitter about changes to the New York Times Bestsellers List. In 2015 The NY Times added a lot of categories that were seen as good news for publishers and authors in the diverse and children’s markets. Not any more. It seems that most of the children’s books categories have been pulled leaving only MG and YA Hardcover and Picture Books and Series. Mass Market Paperback and Graphic Novel bestseller lists have been pulled. Print and Ebooks have been combined.

I haven’t been able to find an official report on this but I expect it will come soon. (Edit Update, Now out from Publishers Weekly)
Publishers and Agents are already flagging that unless you have a lot of marketing dollars to go hardcover, chances will be slim to get on the list in future.

In other news George Orwell’s 1984 is topping the Bestseller lists... I wonder why?

In the decline and fall category, but in a good way... Writer Beware points to the latest Bowker statistics. The drop in ISBNS issued to Author Solutions companies...

Now that the Digital Book World Conference is finished, people are reporting on all the great ideas to take forward into 2017. Jane Friedman and Porter Anderson have a comprehensive roundup of ideas, themes and tips discussed. And Goodreads gets specific with their 7 Savvy Insights for Book Marketing from DBW17.

Take some time to look at what everyone was talking about.

Publishing Perspectives took a look at New Zealand’s Storylines Festival changes. If you haven’t caught up with the news... coming to a small town somewhere in the provinces this year...

Joanna Penn has a guest post from Rachel Amphlett on her popular site about getting into libraries. However if you are in Auckland on February 11^th you can see Joanna Penn in person and learn lots of tips about Self Publishing and Marketing books in person. Joanna also talks about 5 ways to make money from your books in 2017.

Elizabeth Craig has a great post on preorders. She has been trialing them and she writes about what impacts they have on her writing and sales.

Larry Brooks has an interesting post on the bottom line explanation of why authors fail. This is a must read and a soul search.

Roni Loren has an inspirational post on choosing a word that will encapsulate your writing year.

The 12 by 12 Picturebook challenge is on. Every year I say this year will be the year to do it... and then I get sidetracked. Go and have a look. It is awesome!

Reminder also Write On Con is coming soon...