Moving Quickly

In Publishing News This Week,

Audio – the hot growth area for publishing. When the news broke of a potential move by Spotify into the audiobook business, there was a collective gasp. One of the biggest music subscription services taking an interest in audiobooks, how would it change the audio publishing landscape? Today, Storytel one of the fastest movers in this area partnered with Spotify. If you have an exclusive with Audible… you may want to reconsider.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has some great podcasts/ transcripts available. This week they looked at non-disclosure agreements and how these are being used as a weapon against authors' free speech.

 

Hugh Howey has put together a Self Published Science Fiction Competition. It’s all about eyes on books. 300 books to make the cut… and then the competition is on.

 

Anne R Allen has been fielding some plaintive emails from concerned friends on what to do when someone they know looks like they have been sucked into a publishing scam. Anne points out that friends don’t let friends do this but we all know how tricky it is. No one wants to burst their bubble. Read Anne’s excellent blog for tips on how to have these awkward conversations.

 

Roz Morris is a super resource for great writing advice. This month she wrote a great post on why writers have such difficulty ‘killing your darlings.’ If you haven’t come across this phrase it means when you have written a fantastic scene or dialogue and find that you have to cut it and you just can’t. She followed it up with a great post on the 7 steps to a long-haul novel.

 

Jessica Conoley has an excellent post on Jane Friedman’s site on creative stewardship. What do you owe your story when it goes out into the world? This is where many writers feel paralysed. Sometimes all you need is to make a tense change from My story to The story. 

 

Kris Rusch is writing a new series of blog posts on decisions made from fear. What do these decisions look like? This week it’s fear vs growth. How can you navigate through the emotional minefield to make a good publishing decision?

 

Have you ever read fan fiction? That is a story set in a familiar fictional world. These stories are written by fans of popular books. C M McGuire has an interesting blog post about using fan fiction to experiment and try new styles without pressure. It is an interesting idea.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to outline a series – K M Weiland

Character building - Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Editing down your words- Kathy Steinmann- Bookmark

Know your audience- Melissa Donovan

The multi-layer book edit- Michael Gallant- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Two posts from Sandra Beckwith - 9 things you wish you knew before the TV interview and Author branding

Four rules for designing your book cover- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

How to promote your seasonal read- Penny Sansevieri

Two interesting posts from New Shelves- Using a Dear Author letter for marketing  and Market your book in 10 minutes a day – Bookmark Both

 

To Finish,

Michael Lucas has a book in the Storybundle curated by Kris Rusch. He wrote an entertaining roundup of the books in the bundle and why you should buy the collection of writing business books. If you have been meaning to check out one or two of the books on the list grabbing the bundle will get you some bonus exclusives and it pays the authors directly with a cut for charity if you want. The Storybundle is available only for another week so don’t miss out.

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 – Brian

 

If you could see the future.

 

In publishing news this week…

 

The high-powered writing teams pulled together by various author organisations are having an impact on Disney. Finally, there has been some positive movement on behalf of the writers whose books were acquired by Disney in media buyouts. For some reason, Disney thought that meant they didn’t have to pay royalties. 

 

Meanwhile, Mark Williams decided to figure out how many royalties Amazon has paid out over the last few years to indie authors. A 1 with a lot of zero’s after it.

Mark also has an interesting news post on South Korean media giant, Kakao, and their deep chequebook. They are making a real play for eyes in the online reading serial space with China and India in their sights. 

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive write-up on finding followers and true fans. This is a must-read. It goes into the background of the original 1000 true fans and how this has changed.

 

Five years ago I received an award from my peers where I had to give a lecture. I asked what they wanted and they told me ‘talk about the future.’ Since then other award winners have sometimes name-checked me- mostly to say they didn’t understand what I was talking about. I referenced the rise of blockchain and how publishing on the blockchain will change author's futures. Fast forward to now. I have had an eye on NFT’s trying to understand exactly how they work. This article explains how NFT’s have changed artist's lives. As you read through swop the word ‘art’ for ‘books.’ A little glimpse of the future that is coming.

 

This week Jane Friedman has an excerpt, The New Holy Grail of Traditional Publishers – Direct to Reader relationships, from a new book, Book Wars. The excerpt looks at how publishers are trying to get the sort of data that Amazon has and why it is important to them. Interesting reading.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Gail Carriger this week on The Creative Penn blog. Gail talks about the heroine’s journey and how it differs from the hero’s journey. This is a deep dive into craft and fascinating reading /listening.

 

Don’t forget those deals from last week- They are both limited time.

 

In The Craft Section,

Overthinking your writing- K M Weiland - Bookmark

Deep Point of View – Joslyn Chase-Bookmark

What they want- same but different- Scot Myers

Tips for writing fight scenes -Sandy Dragon

Avoid cliché responses- Becca Puglisi

Mystery novels – 5 things you need- Melodie Campbell- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

11 free things you can do to buzz your book- Sandra Beckwith

How to set up an email list – Joanna Penn Bookmark

Book Advertising design elements- Bookbub- Bookmark

5 ways to improve book marketing on Amazon- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

The authors guide to eBook pre-orders- Written Word Media-Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Ten years ago I came across The Book Designer, Joel Friedlander, who had a blog devoted to font, typography and formatting of books. eBooks were just becoming a thing and there were lots of discussions over readable fonts etc. I fell in love with font sites and learned all sorts of odd information from Joel. A few years later Joel decided to help out authors by putting together easy to use templates for print books. I bought some and loved them. Then he went on to curate the Indie Cover design awards. Joel sold The Book Designer site last year but kept Book Design Templates going. This week Joel died from cancer. He leaves behind thousands of fans and a real legacy of service to the Indie Book Community. His products are top-notch and still available. His advice was stellar. He will be sadly missed.

 

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 – Steve Dean