Craic-er

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Predicting 2018

Down Under the turn of the numbers to a New Year is clouded by the fact that we are all on our Summer holidays and we don’t want to think about work... let alone make goals for the year. However Back To School sales in stationery stores get the writer brain ticking. How can I justify getting that shiny new journal? 2018 Goals... that’s how!

So now you have the shiny journal, the cool pen and you’ve eaten all your Christmas chocolate. Time to make some goals. Jo Eberhardt over at Writer Unboxed has a great article on making SMART goals. This is the advice you need for making goals that are achievable. A must read.

My Twitter feed has been filling up with crystal ball gazing for the coming publishing year. Along with pleas for submissions to stop as Agents and Editors get the NaNoWriMo onslaught of manuscripts that January always brings.

To start planning for 2018 it is wise to look back at 2017 and see what worked and make plans for more of the same. Kris Rusch has a great wrap up article on what the big five publishers did last year and how this will impact publishing going forward. This is well worth a read and a think about especially if you are or have been Traditionally published.

Mark Coker has compiled his list of what he thinks will happen in 2018... more of 2017. However he does make a few points that seem to be echoed everywhere. Audio still hasn’t hit its limit.... It is the fastest growing format and now there are some real competitors in this market. Audible, who did a lot to grow the market by hooking listeners into hearing free audio books, may need to change their T.O.S to remain top of the heap. (If you think that last sentence sounded familiar think Kindle and free eBooks and that Amazon owns Audible.) Mark has plenty of other nuggets to get you thinking.I’ve finally checked out his new podcast- Smart Author- and its chock full of great information.

Written Word Media have written a very full article on what they see coming in 2018 and how writers should be positioning themselves to take advantage of it.

Orna Ross from the Alliance of Independent Authors has been crystal ball gazing as well. Orna has turned her focus on how technically savvy authors are going to have to be to take advantage of new technologies and trends if they want a career that sustains them in the long haul.

These are the best of the roundups that I have seen in the last two weeks so grab a cool drink and think about new things to learn or new goals to make.

Joanna Penn has a great blog on productivity tips that can give you a few new tools to try in 2018. These are all common sense goals but maybe they can help you stop procrastinating and get those words down.

Anne R Allen has started the new year with a great post on 8 things more important than writing talent. This started a great conversation in her blog comments. It is not enough to want to be a writer... you have to do the work!

In The Craft Section,

4 reasons readers stop caring about your story- Janice Hardy

Best free resources roundup for writing-Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Why we shouldn’t shield children from darkness in our writing- Time

100 best websites for writers- Writelife

How to present literary themes in book series- Sara Letourneau- Bookmark

Creating interesting subplots to move the story forward.

Secrets of good storytelling- K M Weiland- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Why Facebook is still important for authors in 2018

Publishing wide and how to do it from your website- Joanna Penn

Selling truckloads of books - Penny Sansevieri-Bookmark

The best book marketing advice from 2017- Jane Friedman

Embedding social media in your posts- The Book Designer- Bookmark

Street teams and how to use them- Draft2Digital-Bookmark

Shameless Book Promotion- Writelife

To Finish,

Setting goals can sometimes create stress. There is the immediate self doubt stress... along with the-big-obstacle-course-that- life-likes-to-throw-at-you-when-you-thought-it-was-going-to-be-a-smooth-path stress.

Sacha Black has some tips for making goals that don’t stress you out trying to keep to them.

As you start into the New Year you need some inspiration along with all the goal setting. Orna Ross talks about creativity with Joanna Penn. Are you filling yourself up on creative projects that don’t feel like work?

Here’s to a fabulous start to the writing year...

Maureen

@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 shout me a coffee just hit the hit the coffee button. Thanks.

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Thursday, December 21, 2017

Gifts and Predictions

This will be my last post for 2017.

As the politics of the USA played out throughout the year... everyone in the publishing blogosphere became effectively punch drunk. Predictions went out the window and future planning in the industry had an undercurrent message of unless-we-haven’t-all-perished-in- an-apocalyptic-event.

Jane Friedman has a good roundup of 2017 and the trends and events that happened in publishing.

Predictions for 2018 are already starting.

Publishing Perspectives looks at 5 trends Scholastic editors think will be popular in 2018 for children’s books.

Neil Hughes looks at the how digital storytelling is shaping what stock images are going to popular in 2018. This is an interesting look at what is being requested across the visual platforms.

Goodereader has an in depth look at where audiobooks is heading in 2018 based on statistics. There a quite a few interesting trends being highlighted including a global library card.

Alice Lutyens of the Curtis Brown Agency warns about a trend she is seeing from Traditional Publishers. Contracts are arriving with the assumption that audio rights will be included in the print/ebook deal. It seems that Audio books are a thing now... (who knew?) and publishers want a piece of this rapidly growing market.

If you have spent 2017 trying to make sense of Amazon’s constantly changing rules you are not alone. John Doppler from Alli has a good round up of what myths or misunderstandings you might have about publishing with them.

Facebook has been changing the way it is dealing with authors. Alex Newton has a look at what they are cracking down on and what might be changing in the near future.

If you are an Indie publisher and are thinking about translations... Porter Anderson has an interview with an agent that specialises in matching up indie stories to translation publishing houses.

Kris Rusch looks at quitting.... No, not her career... just the reasons that authors quit the publishing business. This is a follow up to her burnout post. Food for thought over Christmas and for 2018 planning.

Anne R Allen talks about the secret rules of writing... you know... the really secret ones... and when to break them. A stellar writing craft post to end the year with.