Thursday, September 7, 2023

Will The Real Author Stand Up?

 


 

In Publishing News this week,


This week the courts were hearing counter arguments in ongoing court cases that the publishing world is keeping an eye on.

Arstechnica reported that Open AI is disputing author claims that they used derivative work to make Chat GPT.

Publishers Weekly reports that a Texas Judge has blocked the roll out of the new law that demands books have ratings on them – but no one knows what the ratings are. Disputes are ongoing.

Reuters reports that the US Appeals court has ruled that the mandatory book deposit policy of the copyright office is unconstitutional. This could save authors and publishers a lot of money.

 

In another corner of the publishing internet, Lincoln Michel took issue with the viral reporting of the 12 book sales fallacy which is going around the internet. If most books only sell 12 copies how does publishing survive. Lincoln has the numbers.

Meanwhile, Publishers Weekly takes a look at the costs of doing business as a big publisher and how the profit margins are getting squeezed at the moment. They have the numbers too.

 

That venerable institution, NYU has pulled together a superstar line up of speakers for their inaugural Advanced Publishing Institute programme in January. Oh to be a fly on the wall at this very expensive conference. This is aimed at the midlevel to senior executives in publishing. (With publishing salaries as they are, can they afford this conference in New York? Early bird sales are on now.)

 

In AI news, Kickstarter has drawn a line and announced their new AI policy. They want everyone to be transparent over how much AI is being used in each project on their site.

Reuters is trialling a new tool that will embed verifying data into all their photographs so that they can control the spread of fake images. The data will be linked into a blockchain. This technology has been talked about for a few years. In this era of AI and fakes, being authentic is the new information currency.

Publishing Perspectives reports on the Frankfurt Rights Meeting seminar on The Impact of AI on the Rights Business: An Outlook. The word mediocrity was used several times.

 

Update: Amazon is addressing the proliferation of AI Books by asking authors to make a statement at uploading whether they used AI in any way to write or generate covers. Maybe it will work. 


Anne R Allen has a great post on terrible advice that author should ignore. This advice pops up again and again. There is a reason to ignore it. It stops you growing as an author.

 

Vulture has an interesting article on the fanfic trend of romance fiction. Do you know how many books got their start as popular fanfictions? Now editors are starting to trawl the sites and pick up stories. Just change the setting and you could be the next hot author.

 

John Sundman has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about 23 years as a self publishing novelist and the lessons he has learned along the way. This is a great post to get you thinking about being an author now.

 

Caitlin Shetterly has an interesting take on the author photograph. She has been struggling with the problem of the getting a new author photograph and wondering whether she should be truthful and acknowledge her age. 

 

Phillip Kinsher has an interesting article on Bookbaby’s website about choosing round characters instead of flat ones. But how do you know your characters are round? He explores the differences.  

 

In The Craft Section,

Conflict – prolonging the agony- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark


9 ways to reclaim your groove- Now Novel


Making multiple storylines work in your novel- Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark


How to get the most out of hiring an editor- Linnea Gradin


Tim Grahl on top 19 mistakes writers make and how to fix them-Bookmark/Watch

 

In The Marketing Section,

Why one star reviews aren’t bad- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark


7 tips to boost your homepage- Camilla Monk- Bookmark


Successful book marketing- Emily Enger


How to publish a short story- Bookbaby


Book Launch tips- Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Last week there was a lot of chat around Social Media on the acquisition of a short story by a respected SFF magazine, from a writer with a problematic back history. The resulting dumpster fire of opinion took over the publishing social media channels. The owner of the magazine was conspicuously absent in defence of the beleaguered editor. Kris Rusch explores the backstory of the people involved and how magazines are run. She speaks from wide and personal experience of the issues, the people, and as a former editor of the magazine. A Must Read. 


If you want to hide your past - choose a good pseudonym. That’s why they were invented. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Pic: Photo by John Noonan on Unsplash

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Reading The Blurb



 

In Publishing News this week,

 

We’ve all seen the puff quotes on the jackets of books. The name dropping- famous author loved it… but what happens when the book gets negative reviews and the publisher picks out words and throws them on the cover as praise. You get the backlash. Could puff quotes be over?

 

Penguin Random House (PRH) has had a jolly good half year. They have nearly made double digits in revenue. Even though they did not get Simon and Schuster that hasn’t stopped them snapping up smaller fruit.

 

Ingram is expanding its Print On Demand capabilities. With some big POD hubs in different parts of the globe they are challenging the sustainability of those big print runs out of China. 

 

Mark Williams shines a spotlight on the Music industry and how their revenue has grown over the last decade. It is broken down by genre. The music industry is always ahead of the publishing industry…what lessons can publishers take from all the numbers. Is children’s publishing the rock music buying equivalent?

 

Publishers Weekly is heralding the return of author tours with delight. Booksellers are gearing up for sell out author tours. Are we getting back to normal again? Or will Hybrid events be the new way to go? After the covid years is there even any money for author tours?

 

You’ve finished the book. You’ve scaled Mount Strunk and White. You’re ready for the big reward and yet you feel…flat. Ruth Harris has a great post on the 3 R’s of a successful writing career.

 

Are you struggling with the whole social media problem? The common complaint what should I post I’m a fiction writer… and which social media? Read this great post from Jessica Thompson. You can apply it to all sorts of social media.

 

Chat GPT or AI assisted writing has been in the news pretty much all year. If you are unsure about what sort of a tool it is to help you check out this posts on the 6 useful prompts for fiction writers.

 

You should be reading in your genre but how do you choose the books that you will get the most out of? Book Coach Robin Henry has a comprehensive post on How to read to elevate your writing practice. 

 

Sometimes the book of your heart… or the story that won’t let you go takes an awfully long gestational time. Stephanie Cowell writes about a story that has taken 39 years to pin down. When your favourite novel takes a long long time to write.

 

In The Craft Section,

Raise the stakes by making it personal- Angela Ackerman


8 different types of scenes- K M Weiland- Bookmark


4 tips for memorable characters- Lisa Hall Wilson


Setting- the versatile tool - C S Lakin- Bookmark


Hide exposition inside confrontation- James Scott Bell- Bookmark


13 tips for powerful pacing- Lynette Burrows- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Step by step marketing- Penny Sansevieri


Compelling descriptions- Sandra Beckwith


Marketing vs publicity- Kelly Rendina- Bookmark


27 things to promote your book- Brian Feinblum- Bookmark


Direct sales strategies- Bookbub- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Stephen King is often quoted as saying You can’t be a Writer if you are not a Reader, or words to that effect. This week Kris Rusch shines a spotlight on reading practice. Have you got out of the habit of reading? It happens. I have a friend who works with words all day and struggles to read anything for pleasure. Do you still love reading? 

You must fill the well of words if you want to keep drinking from the well. 

Ask yourself these questions. What books do you escape into? Challenge yourself with? Comfort reads? Keeping up with the genre reads? If you are struggling to name a book you’ve read for pleasure in the last month, make a date with a comfort book and rediscover your joy. Your writing will thank you for it.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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

 

If you want this blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

 

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 Blaz Photo on Unsplash

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