Are you part of the resistance?

Hands up if you have listened to a podcast lately.

Hands up if you have read a book or a long-form essay on your phone.

The rise and rise of audiobooks and podcasts are making traditional publishers sit up and take notice. Publishing trends reports on the voice first generation. With the rise in voice AI assistants such as Alexa and Siri able to take on audiobook narration, publishers need to be thinking about audio books first not last.

I was interested in an article this week from Publishing Perspectives about the rise in children’s publishing in China. This was an almost non-existent market fifteen years ago. In the usual China fashion when the behemoth makes a decision the market can change almost overnight and so it is with children’s publishing. Stop and think what an opportunity awaits the savvy entrepreneur who markets into their school system.

Mailchimp is a popular email newsletter provider. If you have ever subscribed to an email list chance are high that you have received it from Mailchimp. Many authors use their platform to send out newsletters. (myself included) Mailchimp has recently teamed up with Square to offer a point of sale shop on a landing page. For any author who has wondered about direct sales, this is an interesting development.

Staying with tech tools for writers- Dave Chesson has pulled together his favourites. There might be something in there for you.

Joanna Penn has an interesting article on 7 mistakes that Non-Fiction writers make. How do you know if your idea is a good one, is one of them? 

Kris Rusch has a great article on resistance. Are you getting in your own way when it comes to making a decision about projects? If you have ever second-guessed yourself or put writing projects away because someone else told you it wouldn’t fly... READ THIS ARTICLE! 

Anne R Allen has two great pieces of writing advice. Confessions of a slow writer... and  Stupid writing rules. They are both timely for NaNo and important just for the freedom to write without a nagging sense of doubt. Share them around with your writing groups.

In The Craft Section,

Can you put lyrics in your book- Bookbaby - Bookmark

Showing vs Telling, how do you choose- Jami Gold - Bookmark

What makes a good story - Now Novel- Bookmark

Finding your unique planning style – Megan Barnhard on Joanna Penn’s site-Bookmark

Writing the small town setting - Elizabeth Craig

Classic Story Structure- Jess Loury on Jane Friedman’s site

Resources for NaNoWriMo

Deliver critical backstory using setting

How to focus on writing right now.

How to power through the 30k slump

Don’t forget to check out the Storybundle Nano collection. There are some great books on offer here going very cheap!

In The Marketing Section,

How to throw a book launch party that’s not a waste of time- Bookbaby

8 tips to give a book talk like a pro- Bookbuzzr

Creating promo copy that works – Marcy Kennedy Bookmark

5 questions on book production and marketing- Joel Friedlander

Easy template for writing query letters- Debutanteball- Bookmark

KDP vs Ingram Spark Paperbacks- Bookmark

To Finish,

The first of the holiday gift lists for writers have appeared with Write Life first off the mark this year. As it’s Thanksgiving in the US there are lots of specials on hand for writers in the tech scene Nate Hoffelder has the list. 

If you relaxing after stuffing yourself... Take a look at this iconic Thanksgiving song by the master storyteller Arlo Guthrie. 

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 like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top.
Apologies for being late this week...

Pic Flickr Creative Commons – Paul VanDerWerf

Publishing News with Camels

Around the publishing blogosphere this week...

It’s been a busy old week in publishing. Authors outside the U.S woke up to find their books had vanished into a desert. They were not on the Amazon platform. Frantic calls from around the world perplexed the call centre. ‘We can see them fine here, stop worrying little author, it’s a glitch. It will sort itself.’ 
Authors talk to each other. (Odd, I know.) When the author community found out the problem wasn’t being fixed and wasn’t isolated geographically the screams were heard around the world. The heavy hitters in the Indie community called their Amazon Reps. Amazon is on it... so they say....

While Amazon was feeling the wrath of the authors...on the other side of the business, the booksellers were spitting like camels over changes to the Used and Rare book section. Suddenly booksellers were pulling their catalogues from ABE Books (rare and out of print booksellers owned by Amazon.) The issue was one of justice to the small bookshops in Africa. And Amazon caved.

Meanwhile, the publishing community is looking sideways at new conventions proposed by the EU and South Africa. Plan S has many worried about I.P. and how much it will count when changes are made to the ‘Fair Use’ guidelines. The accepted practice is restricted to Research, News, Teaching, Parody and only a limited amount at that. Publishers are already warning South Africa that their changes could contravene the Berne Convention.

While the publishers get set to fight for their IP rights there is another crisis looming. The shortage of paper is driving up the price of print. This could be another straw on the printed book camel. 

The Atlantic has an in-depth article on a rags to riches writer story that is a bit different. It was kick-started on Wattpad, written on a mobile phone at the supermarket, uploaded for free and then... 

Public Service Announcement: If you have published on Createspace you may want to check your accounts. Hackers have got in. 

Smashwords have been quietly working at things in the background while being a large distributor of Ebooks in the foreground. This week Founder and CEO Mark Coker unveiled the new Smashwords storefront. It has some nifty bells and whistles and Mark stresses that they will never game the recommendations. (Which makes a nice change from other store fronts.)

Last week I was a virtual fly on the wall at a huge conference in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Joanna Penn was attending the Independent Author conference. She shares her takeaways and lessons learned from this dynamic conference.  Even if you are traditionally published, have an agent... etc. etc... it pays to keep an eye on the indie author world. Often they are responding to changes much faster than traditional publishers. Forewarned is always a good thing.

In The Craft Section,

4 fool proof ways to be a prolific and successful writer- Writers in the Storm

Using tips from poetry to strengthen prose- Pamela Donison- guest post on Jami Gold's blog- Bookmark

10 books to read before writing your novel

How to write funny novels and why you shouldn’t.- Melodie Campbell

Writing a series from a standalone.- Alli Blog

Michael Hauge's Six stages of structure - Bookmark

Resources for NaNoWriMo

Overcoming emotional wounds showing your character is healing- Becca Puglisi

Character types- Go Into The story

The powerball of first page resources- Angela Ackerman

Plotting a novel when you haven’t figured out the details-Janice Hardy !!

70 plot twists and examples – Reedsy

In The Marketing Section,

5 tips for marketing books with a free excerpt- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

7 reasons Facebook ads don’t convert- Marie Page

How to get great book reviews- Alli Blog

New Book marketing- The bad girls guide to a book launch- Melodie Campbell-Bookmark

Meet the super fan that you want- Judith Briles- Bookmark

5 Author productivity tools- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

How to request a rights reversion- Writer Beware

To Finish,

The weird things people say to authors and what you can say in reply. This post strikes a chord with every writer I know. As we come up to the holiday season and the Christmas party round is about to begin. Store up some of these comebacks for the inevitable clueless questions from family and acquaintances.

I am guest posting over at Jami Gold's blog this week if you want to drop in and read an article on leveling up your writing. 

Maureen

@craicer

It’s time for my monthly newsletter, where I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. (This weekend, promise!) When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee hit the Kofi button up top. Congratulations for making it halfway through NANO!

Pic The Library Camel of the Gobi Desert./imgur pic  I couldn’t resist… you can check out Green Eggs and Ham in the Gobi. Theodore would be tickled pink over that!