In Publishing News this week,
The paper crisis in publishing is beginning to bite with Italian publishers reporting that costs for paper are beginning to make publishing some books uneconomic. Production costs have risen almost 90% compared to last year. Publishing Perspectives reports on the types of books most affected. Italian publishers are concerned for educational materials which they are guaranteed to supply, the costs of which are swallowing all their publishing budget.
Meanwhile, in Spain, they are tackling Book Piracy using sports technology. With an estimated 3 pirated copies for every book published something has to be done. Artificial Intelligence may just be the referee we all need on our side.
Penguin Random House in an altruistic move last year made books available to Libraries with easier terms than usual because everyone was in lockdown and we all needed to read more. Usually, publishers allow Libraries to buy books at very marked up prices to make up for the sales they potentially lose to library patrons. PRH announced that they are keeping their easier terms going this year.
It can’t have anything to do with more States taking publishers to court to make them provide ebooks to libraries.
Another Social Media company is offering creators a revenue pool to earn from. Snapchat is introducing ads and top Snapchat creators will be able to share in the ad revenue from their stories. Streaming income for creators falls into either revenue sharing or getting a fixed price from a fixed sum of money-e.g. Kindle Unlimited monthly pool of money. The downside of this model is the more creators the less money you can earn.
Kris Rusch has been mulling over exclusivity and what it means to creators. Do the tradeoffs make it worthwhile. What about when the contracts change? An interesting beginning to a new series from Kris on the business of writing.
If you get the chance to watch the Beatles documentary by Peter Jackson, it is a fascinating insight into the creative process of the four members of the band. Dan Blank pulls out 23 lessons on creativity from the documentary.
Reedsy has a comprehensive list of all the novel writing software out there that you might like to try out.
Victoria Thompson has published over fifty novels and she breaks down the two most asked questions that authors get. Points if you guess what they are. (Children’s authors may have a different set of questions… How old are you being one of the most asked by children.)
Barbara Probst puts on her reader's hat and analyses 5 recent books to see if they follow the ‘rules’ that writers are supposed to follow.ie hook and compelling stakes in the first few pages. She found that they didn’t follow that at all but explored character development instead. An interesting article.
In The Craft Section,
5 tips for writing memoir-Rachel Thompson
How to turn your short story into a novel- Roz Morris
3 tips for describing characters- Bang 2 Write
How writers can mine emotions with music- C S Lakin- Bookmark
Author voice vs Narrator voice -September Fawkes- Bookmark
Tips for creating a bestselling title- Margie Lawson - Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
6 benefits of good website design- Barb Drozdowich
Booktok for book marketing-Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
Clever ideas for promoting sequels- Bookbub- Bookmark
How to market an eBook- Reedsy (comprehensive)
Not all book marketing services are created equal- Penny Sansevieri
To Finish,
I recently read a Writer Unboxed article on the importance of writing truth for yourself. John J Kelley- Writing Truth in the era of falsehood. This article particularly resonated with me as our city is partially gridlocked by a large protest around our parliament. The protestors are demanding freedom but are denying the rights of others around them while they protest. They want the freedom to not be vaccinated, to not wear masks and to go back to life the way it was. Their rhetoric is filled with conspiracy and hate and is quite worrying. How did so many people lose sight of the science and truth of the pandemic? While they chant for individual freedom- the rest of us are taking our responsibilities seriously towards others more vulnerable than ourselves. We are getting vaccinated and wearing masks and living a careful life in a pandemic. Sometimes the negativity can drown us. Writing a truth can be a life ring in uncertain times.
Maureen
@craicer
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