Publishing - Not A Sprint

 

This week in publishing news

Canadian authors have been dealt a blow with their Supreme Court ruling that collecting royalties from educational institutions cannot be enforced. This is a long-running dispute going into its 10^th year of wrangling after an amendment to the law saw educational institutions copying an estimated $150 Million worth of material with no compensation to the copyright holders.

 

If you receive a notice asking you to prove your right to publish your own work, what can you do? The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive article of advice for you. This is something to keep an eye on with some scammers claiming books and putting them on Audible without the creators knowledge. You might not have decided to make an audiobook but a scammer can see the opportunity. With the rise of AI voices getting better they don’t have to work very hard to do it either.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard takes a look at Academic publishers, Pearson. Academic publishers don’t make a cent from the second-hand market which is where most students shop for books. But now they have a plan. Enter subscription. Now you don’t have to choose between rent and an academic textbook.

 

Have you been struggling to get back into a writing rhythm? Kristine Rusch has a great post on getting into the writing groove. Easy does it. Don’t go for broke.

 

Reedsy have a comprehensive article stuffed full of tips for anyone looking to find out about audiobook production and publishing.

 

If you are looking for critique partners check out Critique Circle

 

Dave Chesson has examined the A+ content blocks that Amazon are now offering and has written a comprehensive article on how to get the best out of the new bells and whistles.

 

Suzanne Lakin has a masterful breakdown of how to infuse micro tension in your story. She calls it the secret ingredient to the commercially successful novel.

 

In The Craft Section,

How do I include diverse people in fantasy worlds- Mythcreants

What do your characters falsely believe- Jami Gold

Revising your plot after your first draft- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

The steadfast character arc- September Fawkes  Bookmark

Curiosity and tension in storytelling- Stefan Emunds- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Unique content marketing ideas for August- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Writing Author blogs – Anne R Allen- Bookmark

The best day to discount books- Bookbub

All about email lists- Reedsy- Bookmark

Do Ads work and How can you tell -SPF James Blatch- Interesting article

3 tips for a great cover reveal- Greer Macallister

 

To Finish,

It’s Olympic time and in amongst the spectacular achievements are the human interest stories that have all the elements of a riveting novel. You can always check Nownovel’s great post on 10 ways to write better plots and see if they match up.

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 – Peppe702

To Market To Market

 

 

In Publishing News this week…

Some changes over at Amazon caught writers by surprise this week. Amazon introduced A+ which is a spiffy new makeover for your Amazon detail pages. They have a new section on the book page from the publisher- Where you can add video, banners, images, bells  and whistles. Take a look and then dive into amping up your book pages.

 

Mark Williams over at The New Publishing Standard published two items this week that caught my eye. Indian publisher Byju has just shelled out $500M to buy children’s books subscription platform, Epic. Epic provides books to North American schools for free in return for data insights for publishers. Byju is promising $1Billion expansion for the programme. 

So, get kids invested in subscription reading platforms and you get lifetime customers. Lots of implications here for children’s publishers.

The other news item that caught my eye from Mark was Storytel’s new audiobook app for the Tamil language. 

“For the literacy-challenged emerging markets the USP Tellander has latched on to which western publishers appear oblivious to, is the game-changing reach audiobooks bring to internet-savvy people around the world who have never learned to read but come from rich oral-storytelling traditions.”

With 5 billion people online – many from an educationally poor background, providing audiobooks in their own languages would be a huge marketing advantage to any savvy publisher. 

 

Ruth Harris has turned her laser eye onto how Amazon and Bookbub can help you get noticed for free. Have you ever really checked out your author page on Amazon? What about on Bookbub? Dive into this article and start making notes.

 

Jessica Conoley has a guest post over on Jane Friedman’s blog on the most important choice you will make in your writing career. How you talk to yourself. This information is so important I have two items in this week’s roundup on the topic.

Jennifer Alsever has a roundup of the 7 hot serialization platforms for indie authors. 

The Killzone blog has lots of great content, along with a great publishing model. John Gilstrap recently published an interesting article on writing to be heard. How knowing his writing will be recorded as an audiobook is changing the way he is writing.

 

In The Craft Section,

Knowing who your invisible narrator is- Milo Todd- Bookmark

How to build your own MFA experience- Tasha Seegmiller

Building POV and stakes in short stories- Rachell Shaw- Bookmark

Archetypes- The Crone- K M Weiland

Dialogue as a source of conflict- Mia Botha- Bookmark

Serialisation storytelling- John Peregine

 

In The Marketing Section,

The ultimate guide to comparison authors and genres- Alliance of Independent Authors- Bookmark

Bookbub deals on permafree books- Bookbub

Tools and resources – The Creative Penn- Bookmark

5 simple ways to optimize reviews-Blue Ink Review

In-depth article on marketing to Kindle Unlimited subscribers – Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

How often do you psyche yourself out of doing something? Is it fear of success or fear of rejection? Or do you tell yourself you just aren’t good enough?

The self-rejection voices in our heads can be insidious and loud. Royaline Sing has some ways to combat their mantras and get you back on the write path.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s the end of the month so time for my monthly newsletter full of the best of the bookmarked tips and other bits and pieces. 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: