Climbing To The Top

 

In Publishing News this week,

Amazon’s acquisition of MGM has been completed. Expect to see all those old classics turning up on Amazon Prime…. But it’s not just about the old classics it’s a consolidation of entertainment into streaming services. Choose your streaming hero. (Bond or Ironman)

 

The Society of Authors (UK) have launched a new campaign. Pay The Creator. They are highlighting the insidious tactic of firms asking for content then telling the creator to be happy with the exposure instead of the money. Try that on with your plumber. 

 

Another week another Brandon Sanderson comment this time from the man himself. He has also been surprised at how well he has done with his Kickstarter ($31 million and another week to go.) He wanted to prove some points to his publisher about bundling. It’s an interesting read and savvy authors will be taking notes for their own marketing ideas.

 

Kris Rusch has been taking an entertainment law class and she is fascinated with copyright. This post is a must read. If you think you know about copyright clauses you should still read this. If you think it is all too hard… just ask yourself, are you happy to be ripped off? 

 

Writer Beware has a new home- They are still run by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America but now have a spiffy new website. Of course the old scams are still happening, this time with fancy new apps looking for content.

 

Joanna Penn has a fascinating interview with Elle Griffin on serial fiction, Substack newsletter being the new Patreon, and NFT’s. Elle has her finger in all of it and it is a glimpse of the future. For instance, take a character you create, licence them as an NFT for fan fiction….

 

Colleen Story has a great article on why writing success remains elusive to many writers, it’s not that you aren’t passionate enough…

 

Richard Thomas has an article on Litreactor about short term goals… Are you setting short term writing goals for your career? 

 

If you haven’t been writing under a rock you will have heard of the Hero’s Journey. Stefan Edmunds, guest posting on Anne R Allen’s blog, talks about The Adversity Cycle. This is a deep dive into adversity, the origins of story, and writing structure and offers a whole ‘nother way of looking at story. 

 

In the Craft Section,

Opening with a characteristic moment- K M Weiland-Bookmark

6 classic story structures- Writerswrite

Weaving flashbacks seamlessly- Tiffany Martin - Bookmark

2 great posts from Becca Puglisi-  Fear; relational commitment and Choosing the right job for your character- Bookmark Both

 

In The Marketing Section,

8 questions to know your audience better- Barb Roose- Bookmark

Manage your expectations- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Revamp your old titles- Penny Sansevieri

10 ways to build your audience- Stephanie Chandler- Bookmark

Writers are not your competition- Angela Ackerman

 

To Finish,

Recently Katie Weiland updated an old article of hers – How to know when you’re a successful author. Katie drilled down into the meanings of success it comes down to who do you write for and why. So how do we answer these questions and not angst over the answers?

What is your definition of success? 

 

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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

Talking Tough

In publishing news this week,

The Booker longlist is out and this is when the judges make some sort of statement about the industry. The chief judge has called for translators to get royalties. This isn’t the first time that translators have been highlighted by the Booker judges. The Booker, one of the most prestigious English language literary prizes has made a point of noticing that their long lists have books that rely upon top-notch translations to get into contention. They argue that translators should get co-billing with the original author, or at least their name on the front of the book. 

 

Publishers Weekly reports on a Caldicot winner setting up a writers retreat for children’s writers. It looks amazing. The retreats are to be themed with 8 or so people at the time across the children’s literature spectrum. 

 

Bologna Children’s Book Fair is on the horizon and Publishing Perspectives details the new events happening online for attendees and free talks you can drop into. 

 

Meanwhile, further over in Europe, publishers are helping out struggling Ukraine publishers by taking books mid-production and finishing them off on behalf of their colleagues. There is a real push to provide small books in their own language to all the displaced Ukrainian children who have ended up in different countries. It is great to see publishers working across borders to help out.

Edit: When I originally posted this blog I edited out a paragraph that I couldn’t back up except with a general Twitter thread that was being talked about and shared, the mass exodus of publishing staff because of burnout. It’s a huge problem. So now I’ve found an article about it. 

This week Amazon apparently opened up advertising on traditionally published books by authors. If you have a traditionally published book you can run Amazon ads to it from your dashboard, not your publishers. (Of course, the sales will be good for your publisher…) I haven’t seen a direct link to a statement from Amazon about it yet but it is being talked about as having been slipped into Ad eligibility.

 

Another week, another Brandon Sanderson comment. Kris Rusch takes to task the thinking behind the sour grape comments about Brandon’s success. It is not down to his publisher's work. Quite the contrary. 

 

Here in NZ, a publisher has announced they are hosting a new prize for a commercial fiction novel. This has caused a lot of comments about why our books aren’t seen as commercial… or read as widely in our own country. Is it cultural cringe? Across the ditch in Australia they have a thriving Read OZ literature scene… why not here? Melinda Szymanik shares her thoughts on the subject. (Mine would get my mouth washed out.)

 

Written Word Media have an interesting article on how to dictate a book and Writer Unboxed has a great article from Sophie Masson on story strands using varied narrative forms- she touches on Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s YA books The Illuminae Files which are a tour de force if you want to see narrative forms used in all sorts of ways. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Writing secondary characters with purpose- Barbara Probst- Bookmark

Trimming tricks- Scott Myers

The role of failure in your character arc- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Being a hybrid plotter panster- Zoe McCarthy

How to know whether your story is a Horror, Mystery or Thriller- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark

The 3W’s of scene orientation- Kathryn Craft

 

In The Marketing Section,

9 uses of Free -David Gaughran- Bookmark

Twitter Spaces for writers- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Author Platform-7 manageable ways to start from scratch- Brooke Warner- Bookmark

6 marketing myths for writers- Lisa Hall Wilson

Strategies to improve your website – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Anne R Allen celebrates 13 years of blogging this week, or as she puts it, survives. What a treasure trove of interesting and thoughtful articles about writing, the craft of writing, scams, attitude, mindfulness, creativity, the whole 9 yards as we used to say. Drop in and have a trawl around. It is a blog well worth the visit. Congratulations Anne (and trusty co-blogger Ruth Harris.)

 

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 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Sam Moqadam on Unsplash