Warming Up…

 

It is summer break time in the Northern Hemisphere. Everyone in publishing is looking for a sign that publishing is going back to how it used to be before the pandemic. And a sign has appeared. Frankfurt Book Fair has just announced that they will be having an in person fair this year in October. 60 exhibitors have signed up so far. Publishing Perspectives has the details. 

The big question is how safe is world travel going to be in October? Digital conferences have filled a gap but I am seeing a lot of wait-and-see discussions on Twitter amongst publishing professionals. Planning something on the scale of Frankfurt Book Fair could be a big bust if the audience doesn’t show.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an article on the rise and rise of digital book subscriptions. There are still sections of the publishing world that don’t think digital book subscription programmes should be a thing while they load up on Netflix and Spotify.

 

This week Anne R Allen has an interesting blog post on unsupportive friends and family. Yes, it is a thing. There are writers out there who can’t talk about their success or writing with their family because they just don’t understand what is involved. Anne looks at the reasons why family and friends tend to rain on your parade and how to cope with it.

 

Penny Sansevieri has an interesting post this week on small changes that can really make a difference to your marketing. Penny talks about using short videos and intriguing bios to add interest to your Amazon author central pages.

 

Every year Joanna Penn breaks down her publishing income and where she has earned it. In the last year she has been trialing selling direct from her website. She talks about the challenges and the rewards of doing this. 

Another high-profile publishing professional, Jane Friedman, has also broken down her income streams and what has worked over the covid years. 

As some commentators have said, it is becoming more apparent that having a portfolio of paying jobs in publishing is the way to go. 

 

Brandon Sanderson has a host of best-selling titles, a thriving community of fans that tipped his modest Kickstarter project into millions of dollars, and is a writing teacher who puts his university courses on YouTube for free. September Fawkes recently looked at his advice on making characters interesting to readers. Brandon has three very important scales for creating characters. A fascinating read.

 

In The Craft Section,

Ideas for writing prompts- Now Novel

5 steps to creating a unique character voice- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

The essentials about supporting characters- Stavros Halvatzis- Bookmark

The one question you must ask about scenes- Marissa Graff - Bookmark

The importance of a strong story concept- Scott Myers 

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to create an easy blog calendar- Rachel Thompson

What to tweet- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

Publishing timeline for holiday sales i.e. plan for Christmas now- Steven Spatz- Bookmark

Amazon book reviews- Tucker Max

Book marketing and Integrity- Sandra Beckwith- Interesting article.

 

To Finish,

I have a bookcase filled with books that were termed pulp novels back in the 50’s and 60’s. They were called pulp because the standard of paper used to print the books was low-grade newsprint, the covers were soft and often had a graphic picture on the front usually picturing a woman in peril (while wearing impossibly tight clothes.) The strategy of pulp writers was to get straight to the action, take the reader on an entertaining ride and tell the story. They were popular with readers and many writers made a good living often with a pseudonym to separate themselves from what was considered low-brow entertainment. Dean Wesley Smith takes a look at how the pulp writers worked and what we can learn from them today.

 

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 – Blondinrikard Froberg Euro cup 2013

The Next Big Thing

 

We are halfway into 2021 and I feel that I have been writing every week on the rise of entertainment subscription companies. 

This week Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard, reported on yet another new kid on the block BookBeat which is quietly gathering steam in the Nordic countries and will probably try to break out soon. Another subscription reading/ listening service, are we going to see subscription wars soon for our reading dollars? 

Mark also reported on Wattpad’s new merged Webtoon entity- which is making bold claims to knock down every border in entertainment. 

 

Publishers Weekly reported in-depth on a webinar from NPD, a data and trend company. They have been analysing publishing over the last couple of years and have made some startling conclusions. Manga has gone from niche to mainstream in record time. They report that licensing is huge in children’s books- And it is all about backlist. This is driven by Booktok influencers in children’s books. It’s a fascinating read. 

 

Mike Shatzkin, a long time publishing commentator writes about the third disruption to hit publishing since the 1990’s – The growth of Print On Demand and the rise of Ingram in this space. When Traditional Publishing takes notice after Indies have been in this space for years, is that mainstream?

 

Ebooks are mainstream technology but did you know they are 50 years old? Yes I was surprised too. Here is a handy infographic showing their history.

 

Meanwhile staying right in the present, Brad Frazer writes on Jane Friedman’s blog about the copyright headaches being caused by NFT’s. (I wrote about them two weeks ago.) I think this technology is still in its infancy and we will be seeing teething problems for a while.

 

Kindle Vella is still in the news around author groups. They have been tweaking their requirements before the big rollout. You can now publish your serial as a book. There are some strings and you have to be in the US.

 

Kristine Rusch has another great post in her Fear Based decision making series for authors. How much is your writing being affected by your fear? Are you afraid to push the envelope in your story?

 

My First Writing Craft book was How To Tell A Story by Gary Provost and Peter Rubie. Gary’s descriptive sentence for explaining the dramatic arc in the story is a classic. Recently Sue Coletta examined the sentence again and Gary’s Buts- How you can test a story idea. This has Must Read written all over it. 

 

In The Craft Section,

8 tips to writing unreliable narrators- Deb Caletti

Character types – orphan- Scott Myers

Understanding the mirror moment- September Fawkes- 

Bookmark

How to show your protagonist is stressed- Kathrine Grubb- Bookmark

3 mistakes writers make in act 1- Jeanne Bowerman- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

5 Twitter tips for marketing books- Newsbreak

What happens when you find a typo- Sandra Beckwith

Unique marketing ideas for July- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Social media tips for book marketing- Penny Sansevieri

Reader magnets for Indie Authors – Alliance of Independent Authors- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Ruth Harris writes about writing superstars and how we are just like them. They started from nothing, just like us. So, what was their secret? They were everyday stars like us.

They showed up, they wrote in the teeth of rejection. It is that simple and that hard. 

Another great post from Ruth.

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 – Shyn Darkly