Keeping On Going…

In the publishing world this week…

While everyone in publishing is looking at their bottom line and wondering if they will still be in business at Christmas… Ingram is expanding its Print On Demand centers around the world. Is this a bold move of confidence in the future or the canny move of a print distributor? Their rivals fall by the wayside and now they might have a monopoly… 

Publishing Perspectives has an article on how audiobooks for children have been credited with great results for children’s literacy over lockdown. (All teachers would agree with this.) So children’s writers are you thinking about audio?

The Guardian reports that the genre saving the publishing world's bacon in lockdown is Crime, with record numbers of books being consumed.

Subscription, or the all you can eat model of entertainment consumption, is proving a hit around the lockdown-ed world. Movies are now being first released on subscription services along with music and books. Subscription content companies are expanding across the world. Next up the Arab world gets a subscription model and Storytel makes its move into the Arab language market.

The Authors Guild have grabbed their heavy hitters, Grisham, Child, Stine et al to front a lawsuit with Penguin Random and Amazon against the KISS Library for piracy. 

I can’t help thinking the lawyers will always win and the Whac-A-Mole game of book piracy will never end.

Kris Rusch, being stuck in the U S, has been striving to keep upbeat. This week she looks at the hit the creative industries will be taking as creative companies hit the wall. Musicians whose income relies on touring will be hit hard. Writers struggling with self-doubt about their career choice need to take heart. 

Jami Gold has a great post on organization. How do you organize your thoughts and your creativity and do you do the same for your career? Are you a throw it all at the wall and hope some of it sticks type or is everything planned out carefully? Jami has some great tips.

In The Craft Section,

2 great posts from Scott Myers- Where to start when developing a story and Inside and Outside the story universe.- Bookmark

Writing smooth transitions – Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Adding a time delay to heighten conflict – Angela Ackerman

The biggest writing craft issue writers face- Anne R Allen – Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Create a virtual book launch- Carol Cronin – Bookmark

3 basic rules of social media and 5 tips – Frances Caballo- Bookmark

Why quality counts – Sandra Beckwith

8 common book marketing mistakes- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to set up a sponsored product ad- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

Do you kill your widows and orphans? - Joel Friedlander – (If you don’t know what this means you need to read this article.)

To Finish,

About a decade ago a fabulous writer told me that my best work would happen when my children had left home. ‘You will be in a different mental headspace.’ I agonized over this idea. Today I read an interesting article from K M Weiland about the three stages of writing or how your age affects your writing and gained a new perspective on this. 

Take the wins where you can and keep on going. 

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- Dimitry Baranovskii

Learning To Get Better…

It’s July… when did that happen?

Earlier in the year, there was some hope that the pandemic would be done and dusted by the Northern hemisphere summer and that things might be back to normal.

Ah well, it looks like this might be the new normal for a while.

The Frankfurt Bookfair has finally decided that it will have to be online this year and now they are asking everyone what they would like to have in a virtual book fair. If you have a bright idea for a seminar or webinar with a worldwide audience check out their call for proposals.

I was reading Publishers Weekly and came across this headline- Upcoming YA novel pulled by Author. Naturally, I clicked over to see who had pulled their novel and why and I found an interesting letter from Publishers Weekly saying why they weren’t going to tell us who it was and why. This is very responsible of them. Sadly, I wish they had thought of the implications sooner. 

While I was looking at the news on Publisher Weekly, I was interested to see this publishing company expanding its list. I wondered how their first book would go as there had to be buy in from all the rights holders to the hit music. Take a hit song… now pair it up with a great illustrator and launch it as a picture book for children. (Kiwi’s, imagine Welcome Home as a PB… sigh)

Has the world got you down? Are you struggling with your self-worth as a writer? Yes, it’s Imposter Syndrome time again but with a Covid spin. Elizabeth Hartl has a guest post over at Writers Helping Writers on how to beat this lurgy.

And for another bracing talk check out Ruth Harris and her latest post on 5 ways Authors stand between themselves and success. These are both great posts to shake you up and get you ready for the next 6 months.

This week Kris Rusch was musing about the writers who have come to her for advice about missing money. In this publishing environment, everyone is chasing down money to keep the lights on and the wolf from the door. Sometimes this means that money promised to the author doesn’t make it into the bank account. Check out what Kris has to say about how to track down missing payments.

Kris and Dean are also making their workshops half price for writers who are stuck inside. Check out all the great courses they have. 

Jami Gold has a great post on how to learn and improve writing skills. If you do a deep dive into self-editing then you can figure out what you need to learn. Read this outstanding post first to get some pointers on what to look for. You might want to check out Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s collection of writer tools as well.

In The Craft Section,

Identifying your characters fatal flaw- Becca Puglisi - Bookmark

Free Picture book templates from Inkygirl- Debbie RidpathOhi- Bookmark

10 ways to reach the end-Elspeth Futcher

Self-edit your novel- Kris Spisak- Bookmark

100’s of screenwriter interviews – Scott Myers

We Are Unsafe- Donald Maass- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

9 Tips on Writing Query letters- Robert Lee Brewer

Books to Film- Options vs Shopping agreements- Matt Knight- Bookmark

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri-Timing your book launch and Promoting before the book is published- Bookmark

20 tips to rock social media- Frances Caballo

5 powerful principles on human behavior- Book marketing Bestsellers- Bookmark

To Finish,

In a little fishing village in Portugal lives a wild Irish Rover who lives online as a guru for writers. David Gaughran has been updating his great Writer Help books over the last 6 months or so. He has just made one of his best book marketing craft books FREE. Let’s get Digital was one of the first books I ever read on ebooks. David revised it three times always updating it. Now he has virtually rewritten it and made it available for Free. (and available from all the major ebook stores.) This is not just the primer on how to create an ebook but the whole encyclopedia- Let’s Get Digital 4^th Edition is a Must Get.

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: