November Madness

Hello November,

It’s NaNoWriMo! The twitter feed fills up with great posts on craft and motivation and freaked out writers. This year, I told myself, will be the year I finally manage to complete the challenge. Day One – Tick, Day Two- gulp. My husband thinks I’m crazy because I’ve got to write a 40 minute presentation for an award ceremony at the end of the month.* I thought about using NaNo for the presentation but writing non fiction is HARD! So I’m cracking into Book 3 of my Space series... yeah.... um...

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a great post on being a NaNoWriMo Rebel. This is when you use the tools and do some other writing... (hmmm maybe I can add up all the words I write each day....)

Now Novel has an excellent breakdown on planning your NaNo project. It’s so good it should be put away to use for every book project.

This week Stealing From The Author was the topic of the week. Maggie Stiefvater wrote a candid look at how piracy has affected her booksales and the implications for the writer. This is a must read so you can use the arguments to educate young people who don’t see anything wrong with book piracy.

Passive Guy, who is a lawyer in his day job, wrote about a young Internet entrepreneur’s reaction when a photographer sued him forcopyright breach. If it’s on the Internet it must be free to use....

(shakes head sadly...)

Kris Rusch has detailed some very shady dealings practiced by TV and film companies when negotiating rights to film your work. This was eye opening to me. If you hope to be in the position to sell these rights for your own work you MUST read this. (Stops to think grand thoughts about NaNoWriMo project.)

This week I got an email from a content provider. This isn’t unusual, most weeks I get these fishing emails that tell me they read something on my blog... and they want to guest post. I usually delete them... because they haven’t read my blog but this one was different. First they said they had come across an article I had linked to...(ho hum I thought) but then they went on to say it had given them the idea to do a new and expanded version. I took a look and WOW. This is a comprehensive collection of tools to write, research, automate, produce... anything creative!

Publishing perspectives has an interview with Maks Giordano who was speaking at the Frankfurt Book fair on hyperinnovation. He talks about the changes that publishing companies will have to make in the very near future... that agile indie publishers are already doing.

Jane Friedman has an interview with Jay Swanson, a writer that has been V-logging his daily life. He uses this as his promotion for his books. It is an interesting marketing idea. (If you think my life is awesome then check out my books...) He also uses Patreon. If you live in exotic locales this could be an interesting marketing tactic for you...

Ruth Harris has a great post on using authentic historical detail to enrich your writing. She details some of the things you should be adding into your writing... this can apply to all genres. A must read!

In The Craft Section,

4 ways to launch a scene- Jordan Rosenfeld- Bookmark

Villainous struggles-writing villains- Y A topia

Mastering deep POV.- Writer Unboxed Bookmark

Character Archetypes- Now Novel – Bookmark

NaNoWriMo success- Chuck Wendig (usual warnings) – Must Read- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Are you a social media cynic? and Sell more books with less marketing- Frances Caballo

How professional cover design boosts sales- Ricardo Fayet

Checklist on book listing- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

Advice on query letters- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

Promo sites- Nicolas Erik- Bookmark

How to get book reviews- Joel Friedlander- Bookmark

To Finish,

WriteOnCon is having a kickstarter. This is a virtual online writing conference for Children’s and YA writers. They have some amazing perks up for grabs... Take a scroll down the list. WriteOnCon is next year and costs $5. (not a typo... ) If you want to treat yourself for achieving the first day of NaNoWriMo...

* I was humbled/gobsmacked to receive the Betty Gilderdale Award announced this week. (Am still in a state of shock...)

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you want to feed my caffeine habit feel free to hit the coffee tab. I’ll need it this month!

Pic: Flickr  CreativeCommons – J E Theriot- Who remembers this happening in typing class?

Motivational Carrots

Five days to go... until November and NaNoWriMo.

October is planning for the writing onslaught. If you are thinking about writing 50,000 words in a month check out the latest Spa Girls podcast where the girls have decided to have NaNo writing party. This could be your big inspiration/whip/ carrot.... (fill in motivator here.)

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have just launched their latest thesaurus and it’s been hotly anticipated. The Emotional Wound Thesaurus is out. As usual they have are great launch giveaway promotion.

Amazon has been trying to nail trolls this week. Think of a giant sledgehammer... Anne R Allen has a great post on the latest machinations in the world of Zon. This is a read it and be warned post... if you read the comments... have tissues.

Meanwhile David Gaughran tireless and fearless defender of the writer has been closely following what is happening to writers who have been rank stripped by Amazon in their crack down. It looks like the trolls are fighting back and Amazon is stumbling around looking for them in all the wrong places.

This week all over Social Media there was a campaign to show how many people had been affected by sexual harassment. The #metoo campaign even touched publishing... that bastion of good manners and correct behaviour. Hair curling stuff!

As the holiday season approaches many authors will find themselves manning stands at book fairs. Here is a little post full of tips for the hand selling authors out there.

Hallmark loves the holiday season. Christmas cards... holiday movies on its television channel... book publishing.... Book Publishing? Yes. If you have a clean holiday themed romance or mystery Hallmark wants to talk to you!

In The Craft Section,

Opening scenes

Character profile questionnaire- Angela Ackerman

How I cut 33k from my MS- Bookmark

Idea to novel workshop- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Illuminating dark contemporary fiction- Writer Unboxed

Formulaic story structure- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Fast draft writing for NaNoWriMo

In The Marketing Section,

How to build a media kit- Molly Greene

Fantastic ways to sell books in the holidays- Bookbub- Bookmark

How to make Perennial Bestsellers- Ryan Holiday- Joanna Penn podcast- Bookmark

Email marketing in 2018

David Gaughran looks at the two marketing systems of Amazon- Bookmark

Draft 2digital templates- Elizabeth S Craig

To Finish,

Resources and deals are always around at NaNoWriMo time.

If you haven’t checked out the NaNo Storybundle of writing craft books you should.

Jane Friedman has a chapter in a new book on Editing that looks interesting.

Judy Blume has joined the Master Class teaching website. If you write for kids this Master Class series could be just the motivator present you are looking for! I’m tempted... Are you?

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. Thanks for hitting the coffee button this week.

Pic: Flicker Creative Commons/ Jeremy Keith