Promoting Books? Get Reading!

In Publishing News this week...

Publishers Weekly reports that Amazon is reducing it’s buy in from publishers to make space in its warehouses. Should publishers be concerned? It’s only going into the busiest weeks of the year for sales...

Staying with Amazon, they have launched a new marketplace for teachers resources. Now all those nifty resources that you make for your classroom can be sold online to other teachers.

The Macmillan CEO came out to defend their library embargo to librarians. Publishers Weekly reports librarians wern’t impressed. Read the article and think about how someone in the publishing industry could get it so wrong.

On the other side of the world Sharjah International Book Fair has just wrapped up. TNPS reports that they broke their record and had over 2 million people attend. Meanwhile down the road The Algiers Bookfair, on at the same time, reported declining numbers. They only had just over 1 million. TNPS are doing a fantastic job of showing how many potential readers are out there.  

It’s been a busy week around here as another child prepares to spread her wings and fly to the other side of the world. More of my family will be overseas than at home for the next few months. I have swapped writer duties for mother/lifecoach/cheerleader/travel organiser mode. Juggling life has shot my November writing goals out of the water. Oh for a bit of silence I thought so I was interested to read this article about writers and silence that might not be golden. Do you crave silence to write or is it a trek down to the local coffee shop?

Should writers be perfectionists? Kelsey Engen has 10 ways perfectionism kills the writer and 10 ways it doesn’t (Which side of the fence are you on?)

Recently the Guardian had an opinion piece from a crime writer who was taken to task by a concerned citizen about the content of his novels. Writing crime meant he condoned it.  Hmmm. Where does the line stop between the writing and the author?

What makes readers give an unknown author a chance? Barbara Probst posed this question to a whole range of reader groups and reported her findings in an interesting article on Jane Friedman’s site. Yes, the book is judged by the cover but that wasn’t all.

Are you setting goals for 2020? (I’m ducking for cover as I can hear the screams that we’ve only just got into November...) Stephen Spatz makes a case for planning your reading goals early. You do read don’t you?

In The Craft Section,

Character descriptions- Avoid the boring stuff- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Surprise your reader in every scene- September Fawkes - Bookmark

Identifying your characters fatal flaw- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

5 Misunderstandings that keep writers from Plotting- Mary Buckham

What really drives your characters- Jim Dempsey

In The Marketing Section,

Cover reveal checklist-Bookbub- Bookmark

Finding competing book titles- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

The amazon super url and how it can kill your reviews

Copywriting formulas- Blogging wizard- Bookmark

Free tools for podcasting

To Finish

Penny Sansevieri has a great post on using video for book promotion ideas. It doesn’t have to be hard she says. There are some nifty sites out there who can help put together something fun. Bookmark this article and play with Book Promo for 2020.

Maureen

@craicer

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter?When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Kimba Howard

Don't Blink

This week has been quiet as everybody hunkers down to write 50,000 words. 
Amazon quietly closed its brick and mortar stores for a week and made changes. Instead of the books being face out as they were displayed before many are now spine out... and they now sport nifty e-ink price signs showing price and star rating. What are they doing with all the space they’ve freed up? Book tech.

In the showdown between libraries and McMillan publishing Who will blink first?
McMillan’s first salvo was to limit E-book copies, ramp up the price, and delay availability.
Libraries see it as an attack on the vulnerable who can’t afford the huge prices to buy print or can’t read them. (E-books have an audio capability for those with sight problems.)
Libraries are now refusing to stock McMillan titles...

How many authors have thought to themselves about changing their name to Anonymous... Imagine all the books you could say you wrote.  Publishers Weekly reports that Hachette have been warned by the American Department of Justice about the publishing of A Warning by Anonymous.
They want copies of non disclosure agreements and work histories of the Anonymous author who is an official in the White House. But will Hachette give them up? Great publicity for the book due out soon.

Also in Publishers Weekly an opinion piece hads been shared around the virtual water cooler. We need diverse editors. This shines a spotlight on the problem of diverse books being ignored because the editors lack the understanding to champion the stories effectively. 

Tara Sparling has been writing a hilarious series on book blurb writing... Here she is with part three. Short fiction and self help.

As a writer for children I keep an eye on what is news in the wider children’s publishing world. 
An interesting article caught my eye about the lack of teen books. What do you give the good readers who are 11-14 and have read everything in their school library? They don’t want romance issues, love triangles or very bad language...They don’t identify with upper YA who are 16 plus. A gap in the market apparently. (I was this teen- I discovered Sci Fi and now I write it for this gap...)

Eric Carle at 90 has just signed away his whole lifes work to Penguin Random House. This article from Publishers Weekly was interesting as it talked about the IP (Intellectual Property) of the Carle estate. Why do you think PRH wanted it...think of the merchandising. Coming on the heels of another in depth post by Kristine Rusch on how writers have been conditioned not to expect a fair deal on IP and I just wonder who got the better of the deal, 90 year old Eric or PRH.

Jami Gold has another top notch post for writers looking for good resources to help them during the November salt mine tour of duty. 

In The Craft Section,

Mindmapping for the novelist- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Enhance your writing by layering- Jordan Dane - Bookmark

Introducing tastes in story- Zoe McCarthy

Writing the first chapter- Anne R Allen – Bookmark

Creating a mood scene using light and shadow- Angela Ackerman

Should you have exposition scenes- Go Into The Story

In The Marketing Section,

When you need a blog post idea fast- Edie Melson

Basics of an author platform- Rachel Thompson

7 vital website ingredients- Small Blue Dog- Bookmark

How to spot cover design issues- Amy Collins

How to use mailerlite for authors- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

Top twitter tips for authors- Bookworks- Bookmark

To Finish,

Craft Books Galore! Prolific works have put together 51 craft book resources for the NaNo WriMo author, and they are all free... but you need to hand over your email address and then find the time to study the books.
Have you thought of collecting your must have desk items into an exclusive store for your fans? Check out what one writer is doing with the Kit website. 

Maureen
@craicer

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter?
When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic; Gary Cooper in High Noon