Between The Covers

 

This week in the publishing world,

Simon and Schuster are back in the news again- for all the wrong reasons. In a case of not knowing what their left hand is doing- their distribution arm picked up a controversial book – this week of all weeks. This also begs the question, What was the publisher thinking when offering a book deal to someone involved in a heinous crime that hasn’t gone to court? Is it news? Is it privilege? Is it balanced? It’s not justice for the victim!

 

While everyone is talking about Amazon moving into serial publishing… Wattpad, the first serial publisher is heading to the movies. Publish the story – find the best – make a movie.

Is this what Amazon wants to copy with Vella? Crowdsourcing movie ideas?

 

This week, Mark Williams commented on Mike Shatzkin’s article about half the NY Times list being Print on Demand Books. Have the publishers turned a corner because of Covid 19?

 

Jane Friedman has two excellent posts on her blog. Everything you want to know about Hybrid publishing, a comprehensive rundown of this style of publisher. And how the pandemic has affected book publishing. Will 2021 be better? 

 

Kris Rusch celebrates 12 years of her business musings blog this week. She started it to make sense of the publishing world and we have all benefitted from it. She is an inspiration, mentor, and teacher to so many people in the business.

 

Kevin Tumlinson of Draft2Digital has an interesting blog post today on imposter syndrome. How do you know you are a real author? What are your benchmarks for this? Kevin offers some ways to think about what you are really asking yourself. 

 

Have you got a writing routine? Kristen Kieffer has an interesting post on the strong foundations you need to build a good writing routine. First, start with self-trust. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How David Lynch writes a script- take 70 cards.- Scott Myers

How to nail the first 3 pages- Lisa Cron- Bookmark

Writing prompt ideas- Now Novel

Write a story backward for climactic results- Save The Cat- Bookmark

Naming fictional characters- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

The negative Queen archetype- K M Weiland - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Do you need to copyright your manuscript- Anne R Allen

Book promotion ideas for May- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Marketing a children’s book- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

DIY graphics and fonts Pam Hillman- Bookmark

How to make an editorial calendar- templates- Norm Brekke- Bookmark

Should you start a podcast? Liz Barret Foster

 

To Finish

This writing game can take a lot out of you. Recently I had the day to myself. Right, I thought, I’ll get some writing done. That little comment to myself seemed to sabotage the whole process. I had an attack of the Writer Shiny Object Syndrome.

In the end I listened to MY music up loud and folded washing. Wonderfully energizing and I got some good ideas out of it too!

Scott Myers has a great article on writing and playlists for creative inspiration.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter full of the best of my bookmarked links. 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 blog birthday coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: The assassins cabinet inside a hollowed book 1682- Article by Open Culture

 

Another Year – Another Publishing Model

 

 

In Publishing News this week… It is all about Vella. 

Amazon has developed a new publishing arm to publish serials- Amazon Vella.

But why, and how will it work? has been all the gossip in the last 48 hours since the news dropped.

Mark Williams takes a look at why Amazon might have jumped and jumped quickly as they seem to be making this up on the fly. 

Meanwhile, commentators are examining Amazon’s announcements and trying to pull together how it will work. Exclusive- America first. 50% revenue of ‘tokens’ to writers. Subscription model, sort of. Only new work allowed.

Time will tell whether it will take off. It could go the way of Worlds and Singles… but you never know. It could be the next big thing.

 

The subscription model of acquiring entertainment is becoming the norm. Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors and Joanna Penn have a monthly salon where they talk about big picture stuff in publishing. Recently they looked at Subscription models and how publishing might change because of it.

 

In Book Fair news – BookExpo is no more and in its place will be a digital fair called The U.S. Book Show. Publishing Perspectives has a look at what’s on offer. 

Just announced- London Book Fair will be digital this year. After last year’s debacle of will-it- go-ahead-or-won’t-it. They may have learned some lessons.

 

Kristine Rusch has Part 4 of her interesting Hollywood and The Writer series and this one is all about money- You would think that money would be the most important thing in the contract but Kris says No. There is more at stake than that. (N.B. Hollywood is a catch-all term for all film and TV work, regardless of country. They all operate in much the same way.) 

 

Randy Ingermanson (AKA – The Snowflake Guy) has an interesting article on action plans. He has developed templates for action plans for writing, for book projects, and other tricky tools for writers. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to cut the cost of a professional editor- Jim Dempsey- Bookmark

How to build tension successfully- Angela Ackerman

The basic scene checklist- K M Allen- Bookmark

When you talk about your Work In Progress- Robert Brewer

3 ways to increase reader belief- Roz Morris- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Know what you want to say and how to say it – Sandra Beckwith

Marketing questions – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

A beginners guide to Author Branding and 11 Book Marketing myths- Penny Sansevieri- 

Bookmark

Creating an author newsletter- Kirsten Oliphant- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Today is the Blog Birthday! 13 years of weekly posts. 

It has morphed a bit from the beginning. I started the blog to learn about publishing and I must say I have had an education over the last 13 years. Publishing has changed significantly in that time. Publishing Houses have contracted. Gone Digital. Print On Demand. Kindle. Kobo. Subscription. Wattpad. Audio. Serial. 

There have been scandals, lawsuits, scammers, #publishingpaidme and dodgy deals done. But still, authors hang in there, sometimes by our fingernails. 

Around this time of the year, I start thinking about the next financial year- tax time etc. Writer Mag has a collection of products for writers to stay organized and The Plot Whisperer, Martha Aalderson, has a post on creating a universal story planner. 

 

Onto Year 14… I might finally get organized.

 

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 – Andreas Cappell