Writing Heroes

It has been a turgid time in the house recently. (Now you have to check I used turgid correctly... clue British dictionary.) ¾’s of the household have been hit with an awful viral cold. The only trips out for about a week have been to restock on tissues, cough syrup, tissues, honey, tissues and chicken (for soup.)

When you are sick, your thoughts can go spiraling down into the pit of despair. You can suffer from comparison-itis,  FOMO disorder and subjectio. Amanda Palmer shared her thoughts on this insidious type of thinking for creative people. It is well worth a read and reality check.

This week my Twitter feed started to fill up with comments about a Byte-The-Book debate in London between Joanna Penn and Euan Thorneycroft on The Author as Publisher -Opportunity or Vanity. By all accounts it was a wonderful debate. Some very interesting points were raised over the future of reading.

This week, writing hero, Jami Gold had an interesting post on the Heroes journey... how are we applying the lessons we make our characters go through to our own lives. Are we real life heroes? 
Jami raises interesting points about personal growth.

Recently Debbie Ridpath Ohi was interviewed on how she manages her online life and her work as an illustrator of children’s books. One of her secrets... it helps to be an introvert. (whaaa???)

Katie Weiland shared her 5 stages of writing process from conception of idea to revision. It is a standout post from a writing craft legend and a MUST READ.

In The Craft Section,

The 3 tiers point of view technique-Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

How to boost your self editing super powers- Jennie Nash-Bookmark

Getting your novel to the finish line- Janice Hardy

Put science in your science fiction

Emotion amplifiers- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Character driven plot- Rachel Geisel- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The difference between a press release and a pitch- Jane Friedman-Bookmark

Hiring a cartoonist- Reedsy

Creating an author business plan- Marcy Kennedy

3 steps to know your audience-Digital Book World- Bookmark

A plan for finding new readers- Book Marketing Tools

Best practice on keywords- Mia Fox

To Finish,

Jane Friedman published an article today on a writer’s guide to fair use and permissions and got 123 comments in very short order. This is a hot topic with accepted practice, internet freedoms and legal requirements all rolled up into one confusing mess which Jane does her best to straighten out. This is definitely a bookmark post from one of the online heroes in the publishing world.

Maureen

@craicer

My monthly newsletter is finally out. (helped along with plenty of tissues...)  If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links and other goodies you can subscribe here. (No germs will be shared... )

Pic: How many of you can name the show, episode, character.... (shiny)

Story; Ears, Eyes, Heart.

Have you ever felt like your head had been taken over, hollowed out and then filled with cotton wool? I have been going around in a foggy daze for about a week. When life throws lots of big events your way it’s hard to find time to write or even generate much energy to create anything. (My cooking suffered as well.) This week we celebrated a family wedding and then got the news that a revered book colleague had died. For several days I drifted around the house never being able to settle. Life is a series of stories told through heart beats.

Many writers will beat themselves up for not creating something every day so it was with relief that I read Janice Hardy’s brilliant post why you shouldn’t write every day. Not only did it give me permission to rest my mind but it made me feel more positive about getting back into the writing grind.

Dan Blank took a close look at how Traditional Publishers marketed their books at Book Expo and drew some interesting conclusions for Indie Publishers. You don’t really need a fifty foot banner to draw attention to yourself.

How many of you listen to audio books? If you listen to podcasts you are more likely to listen to audio books. Can you guess the demographic that most listens to audio books? Publishing Perspectives has a great breakdown of the latest figures from this fast growing book market.

In a game changer for the audio book market which has been dominated by ACX, (*coughAmazoncough*) Draft2Digital has rolled out an exciting new service and it’s worldwide and non exclusive!

Book Marketing Tools has a great interview with Mark Dawson on Facebook ads. (He is often referenced as the Facebook ad guru.)

Editor, Sue Copsey has a fabulous post on what she sees when she gets a manuscript. Voice and heart makes a Manuscript stand out.

Frances Caballo has an interesting article on The Book Designer about the 5 necessary skills a writer must develop. While you are over on Joel’s site check out the new book design templates he has recently added.

Kris Rusch continues her Branding series. She has such interesting articles. This week she looks at brand image. You are what you write, aren’t you?

5 ways to write a perfect first draft by Katie Weiland examines the mental work your subconscious is doing. You may be writing a near perfect first draft and not recognising it

In The Craft Section,

5 ways to hook your readers-Janice Hardy

Filter words and phrases to avoid- Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark

Indicating the passage of time – Jami Gold Bookmark

Story Genius- Joanna Penn and Lisa Cron- Bookmark

Tips for historical novelists- Lucienne Boyce

Develop your writing intuition- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Timing for book launches

How to choose kindle keywords- Bookmark

How to create and market your platform for free- Melissa Flicks- Bookmark

A tool to create Facebook viral videos - Bookmark

Grow your fan base with a bookclub- Digital Book World

Improve your query letter- Jane Friedman - Bookmark

To Finish,

Last week I gave you a link to the Alliance of Independent Authors website where there is a load of great content from their Indie fringe conference. There are heaps of videos to sample. Alli have their own YouTube channel so hop on over to see all the  short Publishing 101 videos Paul Teague has been putting up. Here is one to get you started. 

R.I.P. John McIntyre: Book Ambassador and Hero

My monthly newsletter is a bit late this month. It will be going out soon. If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links and other goodies you can subscribe here. Come and join our happy band.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic Flickr Creative Commons /David Locke (Totally cute dog.)