Collaboration and Innovation

This week I was preparing for my first podcast of the year and thinking about the general themes of 2017, Collaboration and Innovation.

This week Amazon announced a new imprint. Yes another one.  But this one is their second in the German language. Translations are becoming a hot property. Amazon is also trying to figure out India with a proposed launch of Audible- the audio publishing arm of Amazon into  India. Nate Hoffelder warns that price is going to be the biggest driver of whether this will work.

John Biggs from TechCrunch asks What’s Next for Books? We all would like to know... Is it mobile reading or mini bookstores?

If it is mobile reading, Wattpad has introduced a new app that delivers stories as a conversation... A very interesting idea and built for your mobile phone. Writers could have some fun with it and grab the teen market on the way.

Elizabeth Craig has been guest posting over at Anne Allen’s blog. Her article -Yes you can make a living from writing fiction, has been shared all over the place. Elizabeth shares ten tips on how to make a living from your fiction. While you are digesting that read Rachel Thompson’s great post on why you might not be achieving your goals... and take note!

Jane Cable talks about how a group of authors can collaborate effectively in a promotional setting. Over the last few weeks I have seen a few articles and blog posts about the power of collaboration. Creatively it can be a lot of fun. The FABO team of children’s writers are starting to think about what we will do this year... only because people keep asking us to start soon.  

Jami Gold has a great post on story arcs over trilogies. If you thought plotting an arc over one book was hard try keeping the details of a trilogy together. She has a stack of useful tips for trilogy story structure.

I’m in edit mode for my ten book junior fiction series... That’s why I can’t quite bring myself to hit 100% on my target widget. I absolutely wouldn’t be without my A3 Visual diary to keep track of story arcs.

In The Craft Section,

What to do with a stalled novel- WriteToDone

8 mistakes beginner writers make- Elizabeth Andre

How to make your settings come alive- GoTeenWriter

Manuscript rejection feedback – What to heed what to ignore-WritersDigest- Bookmark

Using Text to Speech software- WritersHelpingWriters- Bookmark

2 questions to ask for stronger characters- Janice Hardy

Ultimate guide to a structural edit- WritersEdit- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

7 book marketing trends author should expect in 2017- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to make blog images tell a story- Jami Gold- bookmark

Social Sharing Tricks – The Writelife

2 great posts From Joanna Penn Using Pinterest and Help my book isn’t selling

What you should spend your marketing budget on- AllIndieWriters

To Finish,

How to work magic with your writing? Everybody wants to do it and what better inspiration than the Queen of Magic herself, J K Rowling, to show the tips to keep motivated.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic From Flickr/ Creative Commons/ Chris Lott

If you want to get a monthly roundup of my best bookmarked links and other goodies... Subscribe here.

Great Expectations

This week I have been thinking about expectations. This was sparked by Kris Rusch’s excellent blog post on the Indie and the Bestseller. Do you even know what questions to ask for your writing career or are you asking the wrong people? This applies to both Indies and Traditional published people.

Meanwhile Bob Mayer was also thinking along the same lines but looking at being an Introvert writer in an Extrovert world. How do we even cope?

John Scalzi takes a look at what life is like for the writer at the top of the heap. It is not all Champaign and roses.

Kelly Van Sant has an interesting blog post on Pub Crawl about what previously published means to an agent. She explains her reasons on why she doesn’t take on manuscripts from Wattpad. Read the comments for other schools of thought on this.

Do you have a media kit? What is in it? Joel Friedlander has an excellent article from Joan Stewart on what things make your media kit stand out. Dressing up your Media Kit.

Laurence O’Bryan has put together an interesting project called Author Teams. Check out what he thinks authors can do in collaboration with others.

Joanna Penn has been down under recently. While here in NZ she conducted workshops and found time to announce her new press imprint. She writes here about why she decided to go into what looks like being a Traditional publisher. Fascinating Joanna!

The Winter SCBWI conference has just wrapped up in New York and if you are interested in children’s books you need to check out the conference blog. They have a team of writers live blogging the whole event so it is chock full of interesting bits and pieces.

Tahlia Newland has been looking at audio companies. She has a comparison about who is best and why you should choose them for your audio book production.

In The Craft Section,

5 things to think about when hiring an editor

Ten Writing tools

5 things I learned when switching genres- Stephanie Morell

10 tips for choosing the right book title- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Writing Cues- Prolifiko

Joanna Penn interviewed on her writing and research

Top Time Savers for Writing- Elisabeth S Craig-Bookmark

Three types of character arcs- Sarah Letourneau- Bookmark

  

In The Marketing Section,

The top emerging Social Platforms

Book Cover Font Guide- Bookmark

Why email marketing rocks- Frances Caballo - Bookmark

6 Essential Book descriptions

5 reasons authors should blog- Anne R Allen-Bookmark

Book Cover Design- Reedsy-Bookmark!!!! (with amazing infographic)

10 content marketing mistakes- Jeff Bullas

To Finish,

Suzanne Lakin is always a great Go To when looking for inspiration for your writing. In this great post she looks at that old standby of authors... Procrastination. What might be behind it?

If you have always been a careful writer, and therefore are slow to finish writing then this article by Pamela Hodges on vomiting out the first draft and why you should could be a writing life changer.

Vigilant readers will see a new icon on the right hand side... It’s nearly ten years of weekly blogging. It would be nice if the blog bought me a cup of coffee.

Maureen

@craicer

My first newsletter of the year is out. If you want to get a monthly roundup of my best bookmarked links and other goodies... Subscribe here.