The UK Society of Authors have been asking questions,
pointed questions, about where the profits are going in the big publishing
houses and why the royalty rate is so low. Porter examines the arguments and
chats to those in the middle about what they can do about it.
I have been thinking about serialised novels lately. Dickens
made a killing with them and they have gained popularity amongst time poor
people. The serial podcast along with the episodic audio book are transforming
people’s commutes. The Guardian opinion piece looks at the rise and rise of this form of writing.
Jane Friedman is publishing a new book On The Business of
Being A Writer. She gathered some writers together and sent them to the
Association of Writers and Writing programmes – the biggest literary conference
of the year. They reported back on a variety of interesting keynotes on tips and advice for the writing business.
The Alliance of Independent Authors have been shining a
spotlight on various members and this week it was Elizabeth S Craig’s turn. I
often refer to her great blog. If you have ever wondered who she is and why she
is so successful check out this interview.
Successful publishing depends on writing the best book you
can and getting the word out about it. Digital Pub has 7 strategies and 94 tools that writers can use to get the word out and Michelle from Random Writing
Rants has the ten key ingredients for writing an effective blurb. These are
both BOOKMARK posts.
Debbie Ridpath Ohi is a great illustrator. She is also a
stellar human being who creates and shares many resources with the writing and
illustrating community. She has been working on PB templates which are available Free from her website.
Do you consciously write to a reading level? Randy
Ingermanson (the Snowflake Guy) recently blogged about the ideal reading level
of novels. Did you know that bestsellers are written with a 10 year olds
reading level? Randy shares other interesting facts about novel readability.
What actually matters to your reading audience? Are you
missing the point completely when you write those indulgent scenes? Cathy
Yardly of Writer Unboxed examines what are the most important things that readers look for in a novel.
In The Craft Section,
3 tips to hook your readers emotions- Writer Unboxed
Foreshadowing sentence examples- Now Novel – Bookmark
How to create characters worth reading- Jami Gold - Bookmark
Garlic breath for writers AKA bad first pages- James Scott
Bell- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
5 website mistakes- Anne R Allen- Bookmark
15 reasons your book is not selling- The Book Designer
Free tools that build Book Buzz- Bookbub- Bookmark
How to create pre launch buzz- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
To Finish,
How do you know what kind of writer you are? Gretchen Rubin
developed a test that divided people into four tendencies. Upholders,
Questioners, Obligers and Rebels. Where your greatest tendency is, there you will find your biggest challenge as a writer.
The world lost a towering figure today. Stephen Hawking
opened up new ways of seeing the cosmos and the future of technology and space.
He defied the odds and a crippling disease and showed that nothing should get
in the way of ideas. His mind and sense of humour were sharp right up to the
last day. This quote was on the front of Cambridge’s Daily Paper. ‘ However
difficult life may seem there is always something you can do and succeed at.
Where there’s life, there’s hope.’
Stephen Hawking 1942-2018 RIP
Maureen
@craicer
My monthly newsletter is 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 enjoy this blog share it to your writing friends or you can shout me a coffee by hitting the coffee button up top. Thanks
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