Surviving Career Custard Pies

In the publishing blogosphere this week....

K-boards is a well known chat forum for authors who publish on Amazon. This week the news that K -boards was sold from the deceased estate of its founder to a tech company caused hardly a ripple in the smooth working of the forum until participants noticed changes in the terms of service that were unusual and upsetting. It could get very messy. The Passive Guy brought his lawyer eye to figure out what was what.

Apple has quietly changed its bookstore. No more iBooks... Apple books are here to stay. Apple have some nifty new revamps to the bookstore.

The rising cost of Amazon ads has caught authors on the hop. The suggested price to start bidding has risen by 25%. The Alliance of Independent Authors great blog highlights and examines this situation. This has been a big topic of conversation around the indie publishing blogosphere.

It’s Book Launch week for me. Do you know any quirky confident beginning readers? I have a great book series launching now based in a traveling circus... add in some codes... and you get custard pies thrown... Um No. Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy has a list of unconventional book launch ideas...

Agent Janet Reid has an interesting answer to a reader question on what happens when you have fired your agent but they still have an interest in the books that they submitted on your behalf. How long do they have their claws in me?

Kris Rusch comments of the hits an authors career takes when a publisher makes a stupid decision... The latest stupid decision - Tor stopping libraries from accessing their new releases. 

Chuck Wendig has an interesting post on his blog today about writing careers being a series of cliff mitigation exercises. This is a super read. It is thought provoking especially when joined with Kris Rusch’s blog. 

I flicked this link on Book Covers to my fabulous Cover Designer Adele Jackson. This is a fascinating roundup of the cover designers on Instagram. If Typography and pretty colours are your thing - take a look!

3 writing techniques adapted from the visual arts- This is a great post by Tess Callahan on Writers Digest. 

In The Craft Section,

Mythcreants have two great posts that you should Bookmark- 5 Reasons not to write a persecution flip story and How do I avoid endorsing my protagonists actions

How to write exceptional endings- September Fawkes- Bookmark

How to find and capture your novel ideas- Joanna Penn

How to deal with rejection as a writer- Meg Latorre

What’s at stake- Michael Hauge- Bookmark

Sweeter than tea- Writing tips

In The Marketing Section,

Biggest Bookbub ad mistakes- Bookbub- Bookmark!!

Misconceptions about literary agents- Writers Digest

The Ins and Outs of Contests- Writers on the move

Embed video in your Amazon book listing. - The Digital Reader

Using excerpts from your book on Social Media- Bookbuzzr

Creating an Author Persona for live events- Joanna Penn

How to set up and run an author exhibition stand- Alli -Bookmark

David Gaughran has a fascinating guest post from Nicholas Erik. This is a MUST READ if you are advertising on FB or Amazon.

To Finish,

Anne R Allen has put together a handy list of books to help writers when they feel discouraged, blocked or feeling like they are not a real writer. This is EVERYONE. We all feel like this at times. Her list has been extensively added to in the comments so make sure you read them.

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for 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 say thanks for all the blog posts you can hit the coffee button and help fuel my week. It’s Circus Quest book launch time! I’m up to my eyes in custard pies…If you know a quirky confident beginning reader then check out my Circus Quest series. 

Pic; Atlas Obscura- The Perils 1947 Custard Pies

Are the barricades being breached yet?

In Publishing News this week...

The UK publishing scene is feeling a little nervous. The Waterstones chain of Bookshops has bought the Foyles chain of independent bookshops from the Foyle family. It could be a good thing... or ... time will tell. (Already commentators are saying the goodwill of all parties may last only as long as the Waterstones CEO stays in his job.)

The EU parliament has voted to progress a controversial Internet copyright law. Free Speech may now not be so free. Publishers are cautiously optimistic. Internet watchdogs are not.

This of course has no bearing on Brexit at the moment. However Tara Sparling has raised some interesting questions about what happens to authors and publishers who publish into the UK after Brexit? Royalties... Contracts... Agents... Markets... At the moment she notes there is a big silence from the publishing community and there shouldn’t be. How will Brexit affect anyone publishing into the UK?

In wider news Audible has tweaked their offerings and are now giving two audio books away each month as well as selections from Bestsellers... Do they finally see some competition on the horizon?

I keep one eye on the academic publishing sector which has been very resistant to change in the digital publishing space. The Guardian’s top journalist George Monbiot shines the spotlight on the rip off that is the academic journal. I have heard rumblings about this for a few years now but things are about to change. (I hear the cheering from the students and the screams from the publishers...)

Kris Rusch has another interesting post on negotiations. She examines the perils of the Hollywood verbal contract. As she explains Johnny Depp’s lawsuits are going to be setting precidents in contract law that are long overdue. Hollywood is not above the law despite what they might tell you. This is a must read about contract negotiation.

Joanna Penn has reached her 7th anniversay milestone of freedom from the day job and she takes stock of all that she has learned. It’s a nice roundup and offer pointers for other creative authorpreneurs.

Jane Friedman has updated her evergreen post on 10 ways to build traffic to your website... How many are you doing?

In The Craft Section,

Start me up- Janice Hardy

Writing emotions effectively- Litreactor

11 things every writer should know about copyrights- Helen Sedwick Bookmark

Applying tv lessons to chapter hooks- Jami Gold - Bookmark

7 strategies for creating clever coincidences- Writers Digest

4 ways to limit character options- K M Weiland

4 tips for stronger writing- Kathy Stinemann- Bookmark

6 types of turning points for climaxes- Mythcreants- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Should authors be on Instagram- Frances Caballo

12 effortless marketing tips- Bookbuzzr- Bookmark

Big Book Marketing blunders- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Marketing uncovered- David Gaughran- Bookmark

How to keep your book marketing alive for years- Anjali MitterDuva

Going wide with Kobo- ALLI Blog

What self publishers can learn from 2018 bestsellers – Ingram Spark Blog

Print On Demand books- a nice little comparison from Reedsy- Bookmark

To Finish,

Have you ever fallen out of love with your book?

Sarah Letourneau has written a great post When the fire goes out, what to do when this happens. Sometimes that book you were dying to write just remains dead no matter what you try to do to resusitate it. Sarah has some helpful strategies. Chuck Wendig has also been musing on this topic and as usual he has talked about trusting the process in his own special style.

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for 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 say thanks for all the blog posts you can hit the coffee button and help fuel my week. 

It’s nearly Circus Quest book launch time and there is soo much to do. If you know a quirky confident beginning reader then check out my Circus Quest series. Custard Pies at your own risk….
 

Pic; Flickr Creative Commons Ken Bosma