In Publishing News this week,
Techcrunch reports on Amazon’s AI reviews. They are about to be rolled out on products very soon. Will they hurt the review as an art form? Reviews are social proof and book reviewers take their job seriously. Having AI synthesize reviews could stop reviewers bothering to write an in depth review.
Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard looks at the state of TV streaming and asks if publishers are seriously looking at their backlists. With the increasing share of TV revenue coming from digital subscription – backlist is king. So where are all those publishing deals? In the meantime the screenwriters are still out on strike.
Being a teacher by trade I am always interested in how the educational publishing world is doing.
Publishers Weekly reports on the latest discussions of teaching reading. If you have been in the field for more than a decade you will be aware of different fads coming and going on reading instruction.
A news report out of Brazil about a state abandoning its textbook industry had me concerned. A judge has reinstated it, thank goodness. This was a move to exert control over educational textbooks. There are always two sides to an educational textbook. It could be propaganda or it could be rigorously factual. When a person mandates a textbook change without consultation or notice right before the school year, it doesn’t bode well for truth.
While Brazil is wrestling with truth in textbooks, Pen America reports that there has been a huge surge in educational intimidation bills. The old adage – In war, truth is the first casualty seems to fit here. The war is for hearts and minds… and the victims are often unaware that there is a problem.
Goodereader reports on the wave of fake books compiled by AI and sold on Amazon – the most notorious being a book about the Maui fire two days after it happened. This kind of AI scamming behaviour by people putting these books up for sale is pretty low. It is no wonder that people feel mistrustful of any information.
Anne R Allen has a roundup of the latest writer scams to be aware of. Scammers prey on hopes and dreams. It could be for a publishing deal or agent or film contract. Once they hook you they suggest you pay for all sorts of extras. Money is supposed to flow to the writer- not the other way around. Always check the name and use the word scam in the google search. No one in the publishing industry will solicit you out of the blue for a publishing deal. Please make newbies aware of this fact.
Allison Williams has a writer beware post on editors behaving badly. You’ll never write in this town again. Writers who have been bitten by predatory editors don’t want to name and shame. Allison has useful tips for dealing with editors- This is a must read post.
Kris Rusch finishes up her niche marketing blog series with a look at how Barbie moved from a niche toy into an international brand with social media accounts and a billion dollar earning film. It’s a lesson in niche longevity.
The fabulous Sam Missingham of The Empowered Author is running a book marketing online conference later in the year. This week is the last week for early bird prices and discounts.
The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive post on Non Fiction book marketing and a great post on writing and publishing with a family member.
Have you ever created your own fantasy map? It is often something we get into as kids but I have found that writers have a particular affection for maps. Mirror World has a great post with lots of links on map creation.
Molly Templeton writes about the ritual of rearranging your books periodically. I like to think that I do this yearly but I’m kidding myself. When the bookshelf is so messy it looks like three toddlers have had a playfight I know its time to seriously attack my bookshelves. Unfortunately knowing that I will be have to look inside every second book stops me from doing the job more frequently. Sigh.
Did you know that those little quotes in front of chapters that some writers use in their books are called Malcolms? After the guy who started doing it. It wasn’t that long ago either.
In The Craft Section,
What are plot devices and why you should be cautious- K M Weiland – Bookmark
How to write 5000 words a day- Bamidale Onibalusi
You as the fictional character- Anne Janzer- Bookmark
Writing about pain- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark
What show don’t tell actually means- Mythcreants
In The Marketing Section,
You’ve written your book now what- Carrie Weston
Imaginative September holidays for book promo- Sandra Beckwith – Bookmark
How to build an author platform that attracts readers- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
Ideas for blogging on your author website- Judith Briles- Bookmark
How authors use pre-orders to promote new books- Bookbub- Bookmark
To Finish,
Esquire interviewed Josh Cook, the author of a new book – The Art of Libromancy. Josh has written about bookstores being at the vanguard of the culture wars. He is an independent book seller and believes in the importance of book stores for people to test beliefs, moral standpoints, and get information. This makes their survival all the more important in an age of book banning and AI scraping fakes
I would like to add that libraries, particularly school libraries, are equally important. Having a repository of widely curated books allows the reader to make up their own mind. We must teach curiosity and fact checking and to do that we need access to a wide range of opinions and facts. You fail when you restrict access to books, or news, or dissenting opinions. Even though you might not agree with how some people ‘blindly’ follow the latest theories, it’s the ‘blindly’ that is the problem. Blindly reinforces prejudice without allowing that there might be an opposing fact to refute it. A wide range of voices and books to sample from is necessary and good for society.
Here Endeth The Lesson.
Maureen
@craicer
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