Shaking The Publishing Tree

It is Book Expo America time in the US and Golden Yarns time in NZ.

BEA is the biggest trade fair conference expo for the American publishing industry. This year in a bold move a group of Indie Authors are representing themselves and have a stand at BEA. 
The comments and takeaways have been coming thick and fast all over Twitter today from BEA so the wonderful Jane Friedman has helpfully collated her day’s tweets.

There is definitely movement in digital publishing, distribution and sales. Publishers are finally getting to grips with what they should be doing...

Mobile is really shaking up publishing and here is a slideshow showing this, which was presented at BEA earlier today. Food For Thought!

Here in NZ the mergers of the big publishers are beginning to bite.

Harper Collins announced yesterday that they were moving a lot of their operations out of NZ. This coming on top of the news that Pearson Education was also downsizing meant that it has been a bad week for New Zealand authors. As we are still waiting on news of what the Random Penguin merger will mean to NZ, which will be announced in July, it just adds to the depression about lean times for writers here in NZ.

Hybrid... Indie... Self Publishing the words are on everyone’s lips now.

Martin Taylor of Digital Publishing has a look at what it may mean to NZ.

The rise of the small Indie Press movement with a niche focus happening in the northern hemisphere is beginning to gain momentum here in NZ.

Dean Wesley Smith has a great take on Indie Print Runs...yes Indies are getting into Print!

However the key to all of this is distribution. Kristine Rusch has an excellent post on how the distribution models have shifted without anyone noticing and the change is really profound!

In general discussion Tobias Buckell and his post on survivorship bias and why 90% of the writing advice out there is bullshit...struck a chord everywhere. Chuck takes a look at what Tobias said and put his own views...(usual warnings apply)

Last week I posted a link to John Green's Radio NZ interview. John has posted a nice article on writing YA for those of you interested in his work...and why he thinks he got so much success. Maureen Johnson is the next to be interviewed by Radio NZ sometime this week. I had to laugh when she tweeted that she had to record the whole interview under a blanket to muffle noise....

*UPDATE Maureen Johnson’s interview on the coverflip project, which I covered in an earlier post, will be on National Radio after 11am, Queen’s Birthday Monday.

Jane Friedman has 2 excellent posts to mull over. 2 Strategic Reasons To Keep Blogging and Why Google+ is Better Than Facebook for Authors. Kristen Lamb takes it a step further looking at Facebook for Authors and what many are doing wrong.

In Craft,

5 Ways To Turn Up Suspense

K M Weiland on WhyYour Protagonist May Not Be Your Main Character

Ava Jae on When Not ToSubmit

Chuck Wendig on Killing Your Darlings...(warning it’s Chuck...it will be witty and profane)

In Marketing,

How To Get Reviews

The Best Way To Use Goodreads

Pubslush...the Kickstarter site for Books

Why Pick Up a DebutWriters Book?- nice article by Jody Hedlund on how to make readers care.

How To Get That Interview

To Finish,

Short fiction...there is gold in them thar stories...

Two articles to get you thinking. Short Is The New Long- The superb Anne R Allen

and How To Sell Your Short Fiction.

Lots of NZ children’s writers will be heading to Christchurch for the Golden Yarns conference this weekend. It will be a great time to look at our industry, what is moving and shaking it and where the opportunities may lie for the nimble writer in the fast changing publishing future.

maureen


Pic from Flickr/sammydavisdog

Standing to Talk

This week people in the publishing blogosphere have been taking a stand.

Ann Patchett took a stand in her opinion piece for the Bookseller.

Ann wanted authors to look after publishers and independent booksellers. ( she is one of those.) In her words... Authors have been protected for a long time, we are very well cared for, but we need to think about our other partners, from bookshops to publishing and self-publishing.”  Unfortunately her tone, in the words of one twitter commenter, was that of a favoured child who has no idea of the resentment felt by neglected siblings...

Futurebook writer Suw Charman-Anderson discussed where Ann went wrong and what she could have warned publishers about...it is all about communication... both ways.

Over in Amazon land the drums are beating. A new publishing venture Kindle Worlds was launched today. This new publishing imprint is specifically for...fan fiction. And yes fan ficcers you can make money off it.

As authors collective screens were wiped free of coffee and the screams of what the....faded into the distance this morning wise heads in the industry shouted hold up, this surely can’t be right and investigated.

John Scalzi (Pres SSFWA) gives his very considered opinion...BEWARE copyright terms are for the life of copyright...uh...that’s 70 years in US.

This week the erudite Kameron Hurley wrote a stunning piece on how many writers rely on cliché characters. She then blows accepted history apart when she talks about how women were warriors in different cultures right to this present day...and how they disappear in narrative to become victims...or passive tropes to move the story along. Chuck Wendig is so taken with her exhortation for writers to become better that he adds his own rant backing her up and urging writers to write for the underserved readers out there. Read both pieces. (usual warnings on Chucks writing apply...)

Susan Kaye Quin always an interesting commentator on things indie...has written a great article on TheAge Of The Empowered Writer...that’s now.

Jane Friedman has an infographic on whether you should self publish...

Passive Guy has discovered that Chic Lit is dead...but Farm Fic is the next biggest thing.

This week Huffington Post had a great article about Amanda Palmer appearing at The Grub St writer’s convention and giving one of the most talked about keynotes of a writing conference this year. They have a link to the video of it...and it is stunning! Take some time out to listen to this speech and reconnect with why you write.

Here in New Zealand we were treated to a rare interview with John Green...YA wunderkind and half of the Vlog brothers. Here is the link to the podcast if you missed it on Wednesday.

In Craft,

Bookshelfmuse on 7 Deadly Sins of Novel Writing

Jami Gold on The Thin Line Between Character Strengths and Flaws

3 Tips for Hooking Readers

K M Weiland On 5 Reasons You Should Stop Writing...(not what you think)

In Marketing,

Karen Woodward on How To Get Honest Book Reviews

Heidi Cohen On 25 Tactics to Promote Your Blog

6 Rules of Thumb Froman Editor On Submissions

A must read post from ChocolateandVodka about Front Matter and End Matter and what readers want...you will be surprised!

To Finish,

Have you ever wondered whether your book will last for the length of a long haul flight? Wonder no longer...Qantas has taken a stand on behalf of the neglected long haul passenger who has run out of reading material half way across the Pacific...

Qantas are publishing books specifically for those flights.

maureen

Pic from Flickr/abulic monkey