Are you giving books this Christmas?

If you want the industry to survive and thrive say Brazilian Publishers, you had better step up and buy some books. This plea from the publishers struck a chord with Booksellers everywhere reports the Guardian. Unfortunately Barnes and Noble seem to have missed that memo.

The FutureBook conference was held last week in London. Among the topics discussed were the rise and rise of Audiobooks, voice technology, and podcasts. Can we make publishing rival Netflix was the cry… With Google entering the audio market we could be seeing interesting times soon.

While you are contemplating the news from FutureBook, Richard Charkin was issuing a list of Don’ts to traditional publishers about 2019 in Publisher’s Weekly. If you read the two articles together you will have a fair idea of the state of play in the publishing world going into the new year.

While Joanna is down under, (Hope the weather in Auckland is nice Joanna!) she is continuing to put interesting articles on her blog. Here are the two latest that I found interesting. Money management for authors and Tips for keeping in a Creative Routine while on holiday.

WriterHQ also has an interesting article on how to stay motivated in the Summer holidays… Tip one- ignore kids and don’t do housework… Roz Morris also has a great blog post on staying in touch with your writing project while navigating your way through Christmas madness.

Jami Gold has a great post on writing rules- what rules? - We don’t need those stinkin’ rules and don't forget to check out the writing gift Advent calendar from Becca and Angela! 

Reedsy has started a podcast for writers. The focus is on writing craft. Bang2Write reinforces this focus on writing craft by taking issue with the words aspiring writer. (Remember to expunge the word aspiring from your vocabulary at your next Christmas party.)

This week was my last week running away to my creative happy space for the year. I love it because I’m not faced with laundry, dishes, phone calls, etc. (Everybody needs a creative happy space.) My writing buddy and I spent our last day for 2018 studying Suzanne Lakin’s posts on vision and strategy for 2019. These are well worth doing. Check out all the posts in the series and grab your planner. 

In The Craft Section,

Plotting on Notecards- AR Beckert

Lessons from a lost novel- K M Weiland

The pitfalls of writing a series- Gordon Long

Inciting incidents- Reedsy- Bookmark

The hero’s journey- Joseph Campbell- Bookmark

Writing technique- Euphonics- Bookmark

Taking character relationships to the next level- Mythcreants- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Visibility- Nicholas Erik- Bookmark

Nate’s big list of free and paid book promo sites- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

Twitter advertising infographic- Barb Drozdowich 

Bookbub ads- David Gaughran- Bookmark

Best Book Covers of 2018

14 Twitter apps/tools for writers- Frances Caballo

Indie Authors – empowered

To Finish,

The Christmas decorations are up everywhere you look. The sun is beating down!  It’s a struggle to get the kids out of bed in the last week of school. Let alone make sure all your present buying is done by then. Writer’s gift lists get updated
so you can buy for yourself... always a good idea. But Tara Sparling has the definitive article on what 
a writer really wants for Christmas.

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be hitting inboxes in the next few days. 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 Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or (Look Right) buy a book for your favourite 6+-year-old. My books are available in print and ebook- and you can feel good about buying books for Christmas.   Next week will be the last blog post for the year... 

All I want for Christmas is....

This week around the blogosphere articles about what to get the writer for Christmas were jostling with trends to watch in 2019. I just wish I was still in November. Every year December comes faster. Things I thought I would have finished by now still linger in the To Do pile. 

December is Na No Edit Mo. The time where you take stock of your NaNo project and give it some editing love. Anne R Allen has a list of Do’s and Don’ts to consider as you embark on editing your novel.   

Ingram must have an interesting To Do List for Christmas... Rumour has it that they are looking to buy Baker and Taylor- their competitor in the Book Distributor business. This could mean a jolly shake-up in the print book world for 2019.

Also making plans for 2019 Frankfurt Bookfair are introducing a new section – Rights trading for Book Tech  

Barnes and Noble are still hanging in there so the winds of change must be blowing snow down the back of their necks. Speculation that this Christmas book buying season could be the one that seals their fate.

It’s been ten years of The Creative Penn blog. I can’t imagine a blogosphere without her. We got started at the same time blogging. She has become a huge influence and a force in the indie world for her lay it all out approach. This week’s post on what ten years has taught her... a must read. I’m also keen to try dictation over the summer. Joanna has a great post on that too.

The fearless duo of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi always have great ideas of paying it forward in the author community. They are running an advent calendar style giveaway for authors. Check out their great prize draws.

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on generations this week. Do the older generation of writers fear or embrace the newer writers in their genre. Do the newer writers learn from or imitate the elders. When are you an elder...? 

Dutton are experimenting with book sizes. They are bringing out limited edition phone sized flip books... starting with John Green’s books – all aimed at the YA market. Just like a phone but in print...

Now Novel has two excellent articles on scenes and character. Every year or big project I choose an area of craft to focus on. 2019 is the year of the Scene for me and this article on Scene is just the perfect one to launch into a year of craft study. And the one on character is pretty good too. Over Summer I hope to play with dictation so this article from Joanna Penn on the best way to do it is a good start.

In The Craft Section,

How to cope with large casts of characters?- KM Weiland- Bookmark

Publishing trends/tropes

Beginnings and Backstory- James Scott Bell - Bookmark

The sample permissions letter- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

The pitfalls of self-editing- Writer Unboxed.

Do’s and Don’ts when creating villains Pt2- Kassandra Lamb- Bookmark

2 great posts from Go Into The Story- Learning the craft in 2019 and how to write one hour TV drama. Bookmark!

In The Marketing Section,

Two great posts from Penny Sansevieri- Marketing a book on Social Media 2019 and  Boost your pre-order strategies - Bookmark

What can authors get out of video content- Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

Top book blogs to build author brand – Dave Chesson

5 social media marketing trends to watch in 2019

How to process feedback

To Finish,

It’s the time of year when all the gift lists come out. For writers, there is always some new gadget or programme that might make writing the novel easier. Wearing Jane Austen socks and noise-canceling headphones while writing with a new rollerball pen on pristine paper in a beautifully embossed journal and sipping Writers Tear’s whiskey...Hmmmm Just needs chocolate and it would be perfect! Check out what other gifts you can ask for from these two writer’s gifts lists.

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 like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top.  I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ Marita