Where Will You Find Your Next Read?

This Week In Publishing News,

 

Authors behaving badly can be a career killer. This week an author called out a reviewer for only giving her 4 stars. The backlash over the author's vitriolic comments to a hapless newbie reviewer had a slew of 1 stars being attached to the book. Then the publisher dropped her.

Note to all authors- Never comment on reviews. It’s the safer way. Read Anne R Allen’s excellent article from a few years back for a refresher on not taking reviews personally.

Anne’s latest post is on readers pet peeves- They are not the same as writers pet peeves. You shouldn’t ignore them.

 

Publishing Perspectives had an exclusive article this week. Elsevier’s director of sustainability, Rachel Martin, recently spoke at an international congress on sustainability and announced that within a few years all mainstream printed books would be displaying labels specifying their environmental credentials. 

 

The Audio Publishers Association in America reported that their annual earnings were up by 10% to $1.8 Billion. More than half of the population had listened to an audiobook. 

This fits in well with the report from Publishers Weekly over the latest trends in children’s publishing. Audio is the hot trend across all age groups. Paper is driving midgrade and everyone is looking for graphic novels and Webtoon stories.

 

Business Insider reports that tropes are where its at if you want to go viral on TikTok. This speaks to the importance of knowing and using tropes in your books. (It’s how you use or twist the tropes that make you stand out.)

 

Grace Bialecki has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s site about when an author needs a website. These days a website can be many different things and on many different platforms.

 

Two big AI articles came out this week.

Publishers Weekly had a widely read post on how AI is about to turn the publishing world upside down. This huge post from Thad McIlroy talks about whose jobs are under threat.  Thad also takes a positive view that being human will be the biggest advantage. 

“You can only understand the perils surrounding a new technology after you fully appreciate the opportunities that it affords.”

 

The other big AI article comes from Peter Houston and the way AI search is set to upend online publishers who rely on ad sales on their websites to generate income. AI is just going to scrape the content and not refer the user to a website. This could be problematic if you rely on your website to sell books.

 

Katie Weiland is always a must read for me. She usually puts her finger on what might be troubling me writing craft wise. This week however she took a different tack and looked at Imposter Syndrome. This is a stand out post on how writers can deal with that inner critic. A must read.

 

Joanna Penn recently Interviewed John Fox on crafting the linchpin moments of your novel. This is a deep dive into why we need these plot points to work and how to strengthen scenes.

 

In the Craft Section,

2 Great posts from Sue Coletta- How critical distance improves writing and Why readers love anti-heroes. Bookmark Both

The nemesis as the protagonists shadow- Scott Myers – Bookmark

Connection Love Loss Hope- Donald Maass- Bookmark

7 ways to ensure you reach your writing goals- Jordan Kantey

 

In The Marketing Section,

Choosing a title that hooks your reader- Draft2Digital- Bookmark

8 ways to market your book- Brian Feinblum

Using drip marketing- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

Working effectively with your book designer- Andrea Reider- Bookmark

5 things I tell authors that really annoy them- Sandra Beckwith

Successful self promotion- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish,

This week Kris Rusch talks about curation and how over the years the places and people you used to be able to rely upon to tell you what to read or listen to have changed. Combined with this recent article from the UK Booktrust on how many parents feel they lack the skill to help their children to read, I asked my teen how she discovers books and music. Spotify was her answer to the music one but she surprised me when she said the School Library. With all the published angst about book influencers on TikTok – the humble school library is still in there. This makes the survival of the school library so important. They are shaping readers of today and tomorrow- if we don’t support them we won’t have a publishing industry.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

If you want the best of my bookmarked links in a monthly newsletter you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

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 Shunya Koide on Unsplash

Challenging Pages

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

The Guardian published two interesting articles based on sessions at the Literature festivals.

Author Rebecca Kuang spoke about authors writing about other races. She rejects the idea that authors must stay in their own racial lane. 

Meanwhile, French author Annie Ernaux awarded the Nobel prize for Literature last year declared it was an unwelcome surprise.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on how Pen America is tracking educational gag orders which have risen very sharply in the last few years. This is of particular concern to universities who have mandates to allow free speech. I saw one statistic lately that showed out of 1000 book challenges the bulk of them were filed by just 11 people. 

 

The Association of American Publishers released their stat shot of all the numbers for the last publishing year. Paperbacks outsold hardbacks… online selling outsold physical. If you like deep dives into interesting stats on the health of American publishing, check out all the graphs.

 

NFT”s are quietly bubbling away in the background. Goodereader takes a dive into Literary Non Fungible Tokens and why they have some merit for authors. When you buy an ebook you actually buy the license to read it. NFT’s are a permanent buy of a digital product. If that is slightly hurting your head- The company behind Webtoon digital comics and Anime is investing in NFT avatars that will speak and move… tell your stories etc. (Ready Player One is almost here.)

 

The world is catching on to AI and calls to curb its influence are growing among tech founders. Many countries are only just starting to grapple with the impacts on copyright. Laws are being examined to see if they cover AI generated work. Because the publishing world is moving slowly on its response to AI, Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld Science Fiction magazine has put together a series of belief statements that publishing industry people can sign on to. It is still in draft mode but is getting quite a bit of attention.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has eviscerated Markus Dohle ex CEO of PRH over his speech at Sharjah last month. Mark pulls out all the facts and figures and shows up Dohle’s errors to devastating effect. OUCH.

 

Ruth Harris writes about writer wannabes and authors who have literary cooties. Every writer has experienced one or the other or unfortunately both. How do you deal with these people who want to rain on your parade or you personally? Ruth has some sweet revenge.

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on facing the future. She states that the writers who face the future will be the ones to survive it. She has some pretty compelling arguments based on recent publishing history. 

 

Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur has some great free resources for writers so take the time to trawl around the site. If you are looking for writing inspiration check out the book ideas post.

 

In The Craft Section,

5 ways to use your character shadows- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How AI can help strengthen your writing- Keri Kruspe

The virtues of non linear writing- Scott Myers

Character tropes- The innocent- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

How to manage a difficult book- Rachel Toalson- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Tips to improve newsletter design – Sue Coletta- Bookmark

5 things I wish I knew before publishing- Jenna Podjasek

Book marketing rundown (updated) Make sure you scroll down.-Rachel Thompson – Bookmark

Book Marketing truths- Angela Ackerman- Useful information 

How to create a Book Trailer- Elaine Dodge

 

To Finish,

Today the finalists of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults  were announced. Congratulations to all. As a previous judge of these awards I know just how hard it is to judge and many who missed out would have come achingly close.

Writer Unboxed has an article from Julianna Baggot about how hard this writing game is. 

If you finish writing a book you have already achieved what most aspire to but never do. 

As Julianna says, we have outer critics and we have inner critics, she offers ways to handle both.

"We need to protect our relationship with the page. Doing what we love is challenging but worth it."

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

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 Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash