In Publishing News this week…
Spare a thought for the Australian women who, with the best intentions, decided that picture books celebrating famous Rap artists and using their lyrics as examples was a good thing. The Guardian explains that Jay Z is not amused.
This week Keynotes from the Future Book conference have been talked about in Publishing Perspectives. Alex Fane explained how staging spoken word events with famous authors are now becoming big business. He is the guy behind all the advertising for Margaret Atwood’s series of talks here early next year. Is this the way of the future for author events? I’m wondering how the conference organisers feel.
Future Book also had a session on audio books. I found the statistics reported of how many and who listened to audio books startling. I never would have guessed 3 out of 4 young men listened to an audio book. Interesting news for publishers who have never looked at this brand demographic and thought that’s where the readers are…
Earlier this month Writer Beware had an interesting story about one of the richest short story prizes on the planet and the rights grab inside of it. I was shocked when I read it. I guess I thought The Times would have been above all that…
Ruth Harris has a great blog post on the publishing rollercoaster. Are we prepared for failure because it will happen and what about all those good times.
Kris Rusch has been busy speaking at conferences. She talked about the pursuit of perfection and how the road to finding your best work is long and slow. You are in it for the long haul aren’t you? Are you like Beyonce and constantly raising the bar?
Did you know that writers can lose their fingerprints…. The implications for thriller plots abound. Of course it was a thriller writer who discovered this. Sue Coletta talks about it on The Kilzone Blog.
What are the necessary evils to a novelists life? Writer Unboxed guest Jael McHenry came up with two that sparks fear in every heart. Hat tip if you guess them!
In The Craft Section,
Weaving Story Threads together – Rosie- Danan- Bookmark
Crime writing tips- Books by Women
How to Ground and Hook your Readers- Janice Hardy- Bookmark
How to outline a non-fiction book that readers can’t put down- Joshua Lisec- Bookmark
How to tell if you are writing in deep point of view- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark
4 steps for perfecting one page and long form synopsis-Writer Digest
In The Marketing Section,
5 ways to sell more books in 2020- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
Survival Guide to Facebook for authors- Debbie Emmitt- Bookmark
How and Why to Market Yourself- DIYMFA
Book Promotion for the Holidays – Written Word Media - Bookmark
How to make and animated book cover- Positive Writer
To Finish
I think of Terry Pratchett every day and regret the fact that there will be no more great satire from his pen. It’s easy to do when you wander through my house and stumble over a Pratchett book in a pile or put down somewhere odd because the reader was interrupted. They never rest for long collected on a bookshelf. So reading this article on Terry’s writing advice felt like visiting again with a master storyteller.
The Librarian would be pleased. OOOK
Maureen
@craicer
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