In Publishing News this week,
Richard Charkin, commentator on the publishing industry, is walking the talk by having his press go to Print on Demand with Ingram Spark. With calls over the last three years or so for publishing companies to be more sustainable this is a move that will hopefully herald a lot of other publishing companies following suit. Along with POD, Richard is using the new kid on the block Shimmr to handle the book promotion. Shimmr uses AI to scan the book pull out the tropes and selling points and then crafts media ads to target ideal readers. Changes might be happening.
Publishing Perspectives reports that Germany has taken the falling stats in reading skills among German youth to heart and they are going to embark on new strategies to help keep young people reading.
It’s time to wheel out the big lawyers. In litigation news, Democrat members of Congress (US) introduced a bill to stop the surge of book banning in schools. Their bill is for federal funding to fight the book bans.
Dan Holloway has an interesting news roundup for the Alliance of Independent Authors. This week he looks at all the news surrounding the various court cases being brought by authors against AI. There seems to be one law firm spearing the charge. Dan has some interesting things to say about whether these court cases are useful or not.
Meanwhile, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) is sending strongly worded statements to the copyright office about the Tech companies use and abuse of Fair Use which is what the Tech companies are pinning their defense on.
Jane Friedman has a very telling post on how publishing professionals can sometimes screw up a writer’s career. She has an interesting case study, that a lot of writers can probably empathise with. I have heard variations on this problem for years. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut.
Anne R Allen has a great post on query letters. If your manuscript hasn’t had any bites, it could be that you are screwing up your query letter. She has a run down on best practice.
Katie Weiland has compiled a lovely list of writer gifts that you can share around to your loved ones if you want something particular and they need ideas.
December is commonly referred to as NaNoEdMo or the time when writers who managed to write a novel in November take a step back and look at the editing of that novel. Michel Leah has a great article on what to do now.
In The Craft Section,
Story Tropes to avoid or not to avoid- Jami Gold
The 10 most common editing mistakes- Natalie Hanemann- Bookmark
Brainstorming words of wisdom -Dale Ivan Smith- Bookmark
Why the protagonist must be a problem solver- September Fawkes- Bookmark
FBOBA The fragile beauty of being alive- Donald Maass- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
Marketing Outside The Box- Terry Odell- Bookmark
20 ways to promote during holiday season- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark
Publish as an audiobook with Scott Sigler- Thomas Umstattd-Bookmark
Parts of a book- Reedsy- Useful Info
It’s not about You- Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark
How to find time for book promo- Sandra Beckwith
To Finish,
As we head into December, many writers start thinking about their goals for the year. Have they been achieved? Are you thinking about next year? Are you setting goals?
Kay DiBianca has a great post on acknowledging your accomplishments and planning for the next year.
In personal news – I have ebooks on sale all over the place. If you are looking for kids books You can check out my maureencrispbooks website or hit this link for a group sale promo.
Maureen
@craicer
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Pic: Photo by Mark König on Unsplash
