In Publishing News this week,
Those pesky kids books. How dare they have dubious morals.
Writer organisations are watching the lawsuit in Virginia, filed by Republican lawyers on behalf of a Republican Congressional Candidate who claims obscenity, against two authors and their publishers. The two books in question, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, published in 2019 by Oni Press, and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maass, published by Bloomsbury in 2016. It doesn’t matter how old the books are…. Will other states follow suit? First they came for….
Mark Williams notes that the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair has been postponed again. While everywhere people think the shocks of Covid 19 lockdowns are over. They are not. Is the publishing world ready for another China lockdown?
The Guardian looks back on how The Costa Book Awards changed reading in the UK. With the shock withdrawal of the awards what is left to fill the gap?
Spotify finally closed the deal over Findaway’s acquisition and took the moment to announce what they have in store for the future. It’s going to be very big!
Cory Doctorow always has interesting things to say about Tech and Big Business and shonky companies and he is generally out there trying to educate people on their rights. This week he pointed the finger at magazine writers contracts. Oh boy do they not make good reading. So if you are a writer just what are you having to sign in the fine print and how much are you liable for? Once you read this, you will be more educated than most.
Rolling right after Cory was Kris Rusch who detailed just what is happening her in her town about Elvis and Intellectual Property. And then there is the Top Gun potential lawsuit where the heirs of the writer, whose original article the movies are based on, did everything right. Will Big Business blink?
Joanna Penn had a great podcast this week with guest Katie Cross on selling books direct from your website. What are all the things to be aware of? Tax? Currency? Getting paid immediately?
Dean Wesley Smith has a huge library of teaching videos and courses on his website for writers. Recently he was looking at gaps and came up with a whole new list of potential courses which are now in the pipeline. If you are looking to upskill in any area check out the new courses.
In The Craft Section,
2 Great articles from Becca Puglisi-Subterfuge in dialogue
and Character talent skills- Bookmark Both
Character Arcs in the Karpman Drama Triangle- K M Weiland – Bookmark
What does authenticity mean anyway- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark
Creating conflict and resolution in your novel- Now Novel - Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
Should authors use video to promote their books - Transcript Alli Twitter chat
Get more author and book publicity-Sandra Beckwith
Top 5 social media strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
Sell Sheets- Carolyn Howard Johnson- Bookmark
Free ways to build an author platform- ALLI podcast transcript.
To Finish,
It’s Matariki weekend. It’s a big deal here in NZ as it is the first indigenous holiday weekend for our country. The first time in law that the whole country will celebrate the New Year according to Maori tradition. Everybody is talking about how to celebrate it- what traditions should we have - what does it mean for us as family or communities. Matariki celebrates the rising of the Pleiades- which happens around Winter Solstice which makes much more sense for big family dinners and planning New Year’s resolutions. In the Northern Hemisphere around Winter Solstice you celebrate with big family dinners and New Years resolutions while Down Under it’s Summer, it’s hot and we just want to go to the beach. We’re in the middle of Summer holiday’s trying to figure out New Year’s Resolutions at late night BBQ’s which means they will all be broken by January 3rd.
So here’s to a New Year in Winter. May it be fruitful, blessed, and full of Joy for your family and your writing community.
The rays of its stars are thought to carry messages for the people. Matariki is a time to share stories, reflect on the past, and plan for the future.
Maureen
@craicer
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Pic Matariki- or The Pleiades – Fraser Gunn
How to Find Matariki
Look on the Dawn horizon. Find Orion’s Belt.
Look left to Aldebaran (red star) and left again to Matariki/Pleiades cluster of stars.
