Speaking Truth to Fear

 

In Publishing News this week.

I wonder how an organisation becomes so frightened that it gives in to any perceived threat, even by one person. Publishers Weekly highlights the latest book banning nonsense. In Virginia a community book reading event of the Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, was derailed because one person worried about a tree having two reproductive systems.

You know you can thank the complainer for bringing it to your attention and invite them to NOT PARTICIPATE rather than giving in, ruining the community event, and making yourself a laughingstock internationally.

 

A new way of getting your book noticed in this busy world is to record the audiobook in a novel place. In this case 900 feet down a mine. The author thought it would be a good idea as he set the novel in the mine. I don’t think the audio production company and his publishers were that excited by his plan though.

 

Mark Williams reports on the latest numbers released by Amazon on their payout of Kindle Unlimited. There must be money in subscription after all everyone is getting into it. Mark compares numbers and looks for trends in Amazon’s financial reporting.

 

The London Book Fair wrapped up and a good time was had by all Porter Anderson gives a run down on all the news from the fair and looks forward to Bologna – the big Children’s Book Fair in April.

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Claire Taylor on The Enneagram and how it can help you sustain an author career. It is super interesting and well worth listening to or reading the transcript. These two authors give so much to the writing community. 

 

Wired recently had an article on training an AI on out of copyright material to prove it could be done. This might be gold for all the lawyers currently representing authors in court cases.

 

Elizabeth S Craig has a great post on setting yourself up on the path of least resistance to accomplish your goals.

 

Have you read any fan fiction lately? Before you shudder and express horror, consider the freedom in trying out ideas in someone else’s sandbox where you don’t have to do all the leg work to establish the world. Laura Samotin writes on Gizmodo that playing with fan fiction can be a shortcut to finding out what topes resonate with your reading audience. A great read. 

Anne R Allen has a great post on breaking the rules. Sometimes authors can be so scared of breaking the show don’t tell rule that their writing suffers from it. Anne talks about when the rules can go too far.

 

Samantha Cameron has an interesting post on writing underrepresented characters. Do you let fear get in the way of attempting to tell their stories? Samantha has some steps to overcome this so you can write great three dimensional characters.

 

In The Craft Section,

4 mistakes to avoid when writing dialogue- Rose Atkinson-CarterBookmark

Writing fiction based on real life figures- K D Alden

How to write a psychological thriller- Lucy Hay

Writing protagonists without a strong goal- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Beginning your story introducing your characters- K M Weiland-Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

The secret to a compelling bio- Lucy Hay- Bookmark

How I sell at live events- Ben Wolf- Bookmark

How to market a book that doesn’t exist yet- Rachel Thompson

How to go viral on TikTok- Hina Pandya

5 effective strategies to avoid engagement farming- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Heather Webb has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the big truths in fiction. Recently she was on a book tour, wearing her read banned books tee shirt and was asked in a panel discussion ‘if you were to write a banned book, what topic would you choose.’ It opened up some interesting ideas to think about. This is a thought provoking read. Does your writing reflect ‘the big truths?’

 

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 the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

Call Yourself A Writer

 

In Publishing News this week,

This week the London Bookfair started in its new calendar slot as the first of the Western centric Bookfairs. The opening day was busy and Publishing Perspectives editor Porter Anderson reported that interest was high in the publishing business talks that are happening at the fair. Porter reports on the talking points from day one.

 

Publishers Weekly also has a profile on The London Book Fair. They report on the way publishers are dealing with AI and copyright and the problems of innovation.

The big moves by the European Union to regulate AI has everyone looking to see whether this will act as the sheriff in the Wild West world of Large Language Models. One of the interesting moves is to hasten each member countries establishment of compliance authorities. 

 

One of the big issues in the publishing world is sustainability. Not only do we need to keep the business afloat but we must be kinder to the planet while we do it. This year the CFO’s of publishing houses were invited as a group to LBF to talk about good sustainable practice.  Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article on this including links to white papers of research. 

 

Scholastic has shelled out a lot of money to buy an animation company outright. So what do you think they will do with it. Well, they have a lot of intellectual property and animation is pretty big in the kid centric visual world….

 

It looks like the way to get your new Kickstarter style platform really moving is to invite Brandon Sanderson to run a campaign on it. Brandon was only looking for $2,000,000 to create leather bound copies of one book. Along the way he has created another record and he’s up to $18 million and he still has the rest of the month to go.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a very comprehensive post on how to write to trends. First you do your research.

 

Sam Missingham has a great website with loads of advice and resources for authors. Recently she made an archive section where she has gathered a lot of free resources together. She also has a great newsletter full of tips. 

 

Jodie Hurst has a guest post on Anne Allen’s blog about writing in the age of AI. This brings up interesting questions that writers have been wrestling with how much AI is too much.  

Given most writer tools like Grammarly use AI we are probably interacting with it more than we think. 

 

Two great posts from writers at Killzone Authors caught my eye this week. Debbie Burke has tips on finding the right critique group who can help you grow as a writer.

James Scott Bell has the answer to when you can call yourself a writer.

 

Jami Gold has an excellent writing craft post on avoiding déjà vu in your series. How many times can you remind readers about what has gone before. Jami has some brilliant ways to make this work for you. A must read! 

 

In The Craft Section,

Building a writing practice- Rachel Toalson- Bookmark

Optimising word counts – Rachel Thompson

Timelines and plotting your novel-Cindy Sproles

Guide to backstory- K M Weiland- Bookmark!

3 techniques for powerful writing-Janeen Mathisen- Bookmark

Story Planner Success- Now Novel- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Don’t waste the dust jacket- Sharon Woodhouse

Marketing on a budget- Karen Cioffi- Bookmark

After your book wins an award-Book Award Pro

Who reads books – Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

Best promo sites – Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Becca Puglisi has a great article on 8 steps from Amateur Writer to Pro. If you have ever wondered what makes the difference it is not sales, it is attitude. Becca outlines the attitudes you must have. This is a timely reminder for writers – how well are you doing with your writing practice and learning? It’s all part of the pro writer tricks of the trade. 

 

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 the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash