Go Global - Resistance Is Futile

It’s March and that means the publishing industry wakes up and announces new things…

Streetlib the Italian based digital book provider has expanded again
and is now in every country in Africa and enabling authors to publish in their own languages.
They have also expanded down under, this month opening up in Samoa. (last month it was NZ and Fiji)
They are on a super roll to enable authors to publish globally in their own languages. This is a big thing
in terms of readers.
Did you know there are more people online in Nigeria than in the UK? Think of the new readers…

Bookbub decided that as Audio is the big thing they better get involved and so they have launched
a new service called Chirp with Findaway voices. Where they showcase featured audio… for very CHEEP.

Recently the Guardian wrote about the world of academic publishing. That is where the author
of the article has to pay a huge sum of money to the journal to publish their academic findings.
Then the journal goes on to charge huge sums to the university libraries for subscription fees
to read the article… after the university paid for the research in the first place.
Someone is making heaps of money.
However Cengage an academic subscription service for students have quietly been circumventing
huge textbook fees and have just enrolled their 1,000,000 subscriber.

StoryTel, an online everything entertainment subscription service, have also been expanding.
They have opened up in Poland and they write about how subscription to an all in one service works…
Instead of spreading your love between Netflix, Itunes, Amazon, Spotify…. Get it all in one handy package.
This is the future… and books, newspapers, journals, etc are write in amongst it...    

The world is available to you in 24 time zones… which is a good thing because it doesn’t matter where you are
in the world you can attend the London Book Fair Alliance of Independent Authors conference
which is 24 hours of amazing goodies for authors and all FREE.
Conference organiser Sacha Black was just interviewed on The Creative Penn on Villains and Heroes
and it is a craft must listen.

Meanwhile another week another predator… Mark Coker, CEO and founder of Smashwords, found it
an interesting experience when he was contacted out of the blue by a publishing company that wanted
to make him a household name…. Hmmm.

Last year I reported the author disquiet around the handling of Harper Lee’s estate.
Now there are problems with all the theatre productions of To Kill A Mockingbird.
How to kill a golden mockingbird….

Roz Morris has been writing her blog for ten years. That’s a lot of content. She reflects on how she got
started and what she has learned along the way.  Anne R Allen has a great post this week on
how to write web content. Something I struggle with…

In The Craft Section,

12 signs it’s time to say goodbye to your writing project- Meg Dowell

How to write humour- WritePractice-

Effortless writing- Copyblogger

Should you give non humans marginalized traits- Mythcreants- Bookmark

Unsnagging your plot- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

How to avoid repetitive sentences- Janice Hardy - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

10 mistakes authors make in their online presence- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Email newsletter examples- Hubspot- Bookmark

2019 Literary Calendar- Build Book Buzz- Bookmark

8 marketing tips- Writer Unboxed

5 reasons author tribes will make you a better writer- Dr J

To Finish,

Creative resistance is a thing. It is the nagging little voice that tells you all the words you’ve just written are awful
and you may as well give up. There are some great books out there to help.
The War of Art- Steven Pressfield is a great book or you can read Chuck Wendig’s latest blog on Self Rejection

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 coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic Flickr Creative Commons- Kevin Gill. What the world would look like if the polar ice sheets melted.

Need Chocolate- STAT

This week around the publishing blogosphere seemed to be filled with stories about how to manage
creativity during stressful times. If you have been following social media I guess you
would be feeling overwhelmed at the relentless negativity on display.

So here are a few posts designed to help you put everything into perspective.

Joanna Penn has a great post on Imposter syndrome…. We all suffer from it…

Ruth Harris has an outstanding post on decision fatigue. You might not even know you are suffering
from this in your writing life until you run down Ruth’s list.

September Fawkes has a great post on taking risks as part of the creative process.
No this doesn’t mean dodging traffic… but how often are you talked out of doing something by the
voices in your head telling you not to take the risk…

Kris Rusch puts the writing life into perspective as she examines priorities.
What is your number one priority… hint it shouldn’t be your writing.

Last week I mentioned the big scandal that has the hashtag #copypastecris  
Mixed up in that mess were Ghostwriters. There are legitimate Ghostwriters out there and it is a writing job.
Shiloh Walker talks about how writers choose to be ghostwriters.

Have you thought about the emotional journey that you take when you are writing your book?
I didn’t until I read this interesting post on the emotional journey of writing fantasy by Rachel Hartman.  

Every year/book project I challenge myself to do a deep dive into an aspect of the writing craft.
This year it is scene construction. I was fascinated to read this great post (several times)
on crafting a scene by Suzanne Lakin (C S Lakin)
This is a BOOKMARK post and I’ve ordered Martha’s book as well.

In The Craft Section,

Beginning from the middle- Writer’s Digest- Bookmark

Test your story concept- Scott Myers

Writing Action- Mythic Scribes - Bookmark

Don’t let those ideas get away

Story midpoint- using the heroes emotions to transform- Angela Ackerman - Bookmark

Does your novel have too many characters- Janice Hardy

What Things are your characters hiding- K M Weiland- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Smashwords introduces Global Coupons!- Bookmark

Author Super Powers with Street Teams - Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Three things to consider designing book covers

9 tips to help you build a great website

How to win at Book Marketing- Charli Mills

To Finish,

Sometimes all you want to do is get away from the world and retreat to a happy place
where it is just you and your writing project. A writing retreat…
If you find yourself day- dreaming about writing cruises or holidays… and you know it will never happen…
STOP.
This post is for you! How to plan the DIY Writing Retreat.   (Don’t forget to take chocolate.)

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, 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 like the blog and want to shout me a coffee- hit the coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Andrew Writer