Opportunity Knocks

In Publishing News...

Anybody want to buy a bookstore? How about a chain of bookstores? The continuing saga of the struggling Barnes and Noble bookselling chain has many in the publishing industry worried. 

How open are you to opportunities? Will you say yes to everything? Or do you lock yourself away in your writing garret? Wendy Jones talks about the power of saying yes to everything and what that has done for her writing career.

Nick Stephenson has an article on whether authors should still blog. Blogging goes in and out of favour all the time. If you are a fiction writer it can be problematical thinking up what to blog about. Nick has some great ideas on this.  Check out the top 50 writing craft blogs .

Tara Sparling asks an interesting question this week.Is your book good looking enough for  the internet? Is viewing books in thumbnail sizes changing the way cover designers approach the book cover?

Jane Friedman has an interesting guest post from Betsy Fasbinder about public speaking for authors. For many writers this is a side of the business that is the least liked. Betsy has some great tips.

Staying with the business side of writing, Joe Solari has an interesting article on managing cash flow in your writer business.

How to legally use quotations in your book. This question comes up again and again. Helen Sedwick gives you the legal lowdown.

I came across this article- Microtargeting with Facebook ads- and had to think carefully about the Brave New World we are living in. On one hand, as authors, wouldn’t it be great to have our dream reader profiled and targeted so that they always saw our books. On the other hand...  

In The Craft Section,

Advice that saved my novel- Therese Walshe

Protagonist vs Nemesis Key to conflict- Go into the story-Bookmark

Should you outline backwards- K M Weiland- Bookmark

The characters controlling belief- Mary Atkinson

6 steps to consider before writing a novel- Rebecca Monterusso

2 fantastic posts from Jami Gold Showing vs telling in context and

Creating Layered characters- Bookmark Both

In The Marketing Section,

Everything to know about ISBN’s 

(In NZ you can get free ISBN’s from National Library)

Self publishing 101- Nick Stephenson

Amazon Author Central – book discovery- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

What’s new in Pinterest for writers- Frances Caballo

Grow your email list through Pinterest

Updating your author bio- Alli blog- Bookmark

How to create Merchandise for books 

3 Book Promotion myths- Build Book Buzz

The easy opt in gift- Writetodone- Bookmark

To Finish,

Being a writer is so much more than just being the typer of words. It is to be a marketer, a cheer leader, a critic, a business owner, an editor, a muse wrangler...

Greer Macallister has put togther 25 truths about writing over on Writer Unboxed. You will smile and agree with most of them.

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 everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Rebecca Siegel

Taking Care Of Business

This week in publishing...

The publishing world is watching carefully to see how the Walmart Kobo ebook store will change things. Kobo, a Canadian company, is making a strategic move against Amazon in the US by partnering with the largest bricks and mortar chain. Forbes business magazine asked the CEO of Scribd what he thought of the move. His answer surprised them.

It has happened... CreateSpace is now officially closing. Moving all your titles over is now mandatory unless you publish in Chinese. For some reason Kindle Print does not support this which is a blow for translators.

Beijing Book Fair is on the hunt for children’s books. Publishing Perspectives takes a look at the biggest Asian bookfair and why they want educational materials. 

The Guardian recently shone a spotlight on the evolution of writers festivals and the way authors are treated at them. Take your average insecure introvert writer and stand them up in front of a festival crowd and say Entertain Us... Hmmm. Are they asking too much from writers? How about appearing nude? Yes, this is happening...

TechCrunch reports that Amazon is ramping up a book subscription model for children’s books, Prime members only. Can this work? Other subscription models have fallen by the wayside. Will children’s books be any different?

I saw a reference late last week to a courtcase in Australia between an agent and a writer with the nub of the dispute- What is in a verbal contract? Kris Rusch takes a look and has some recommendations to authors. This is a must read! .

Anne R Allen has an interesting article about Ian Fleming. The Bond author was completely involved in the production of his books. This is a fascinating insight into what made these novels successful. 

I’m in the middle of writing a series... well two actually. I was interested to see Chuck Wendig recently posted an article on his blog about how hard it is to write a series. I found my self nodding along and stifling laughter. (Warning it is Chuck.)

In The Craft Section,

How to use the thesaurus properly- Useful guide fro authors-September Fawkes

How to make plot captivating- 7 strategies- Now Novel- Bookmark

Reedsy have two great posts 20 + writing strategies and a video on First Person Point of View- Bookmark

The three act structure, formulaic or foundational- Bookbaby – Bookmark

How important is talent- Lizzie Shane

In The Marketing Section,

How to write a publishable first novel- Anne R Allen

How to market poetry- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to target readers with Bookbub ads- Bookmark

Distribution- Should you go wide or narrow? - Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

5 ways authors can save money- Chris Kridler

How to win at the game of Book marketing – Charli Mills- Bookmark

To Finish,

Roz Morris stepped back and looked at her desk and then her office and mused about the importance of having the right things around you to write. This is a kind of a love letter to the writers desk. Stop and take a moment to look at your writers desk. Is it inspirational?

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 everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Seattle Municipal Archives- Mayor John Dore 1936