Friday, March 25, 2016

Genre Journeys



This week seemed to be genre week with interesting  articles from across the genre spectrum.
Children’s Publishing day at Digital Book World had some interesting takeaways. A few years ago it was widely speculated that with all these smart phones the early adopters would be teenagers. But they aren’t. They still want a physical book with printed pages.
But the genre could be slowly changing.

Over in the Romance field the HEA (happily ever after) ending is being questioned... do modern romances need this? It isn’t reflected in real life... is it? Some interesting thoughts in this blog post and comments.

James Patterson, who is his own genre, has been making waves this week with the revelation that there is a whole publishing arm devoted to just him... and he is employing them through his publishers, which would make him a Self Publisher with a traditional publishing house or a traditional publishing house with a self publishing imprint devoted to one person. No one can decide but it makes fascinating reading especially as he is publishing across age groups.

Leo Hartas, an illustrator, makes a plea for writers to understand how to commission an illustrator. If you are in the market for having illustrations for your project... read this first. I know illustrators who say these words often.

One of the most heart felt posts on Social Media came from Anne R Allen this week. This follows on from Jami Gold’s post last week. Anne talks about the increasing pressure on writers to be everywhere... You don’t need to be. She makes absolute sense and this is a must read for every author out there.

Catherine Ryan Howard who is a Go To Guru on how to self publish has an agent and a traditional publishing deal. This is an interesting journey... and one a lot of writers are taking as Hybrid is seen as a good career move.

This week publishing futurist Mike Shatzkin has been thinking about the need for publishers to use critical data research in the acquisitions process. These days research and data profiles are becoming easier to find and use so why aren’t publishers using them? As always read the comments for the robust discussion points.

Today while traveling on an errand a character, whom I had put on hold for a few years, popped into my mind demanding that now was the time to tell his story... never mind I’m in the middle of something big... somewhere else. Some characters are so rude! This got me thinking about Story Structure and this led me to one of Larry Brooks latest posts on structure versus pantsing. There is no opposition. There is subliminal understanding that every story should have a beginning and an end. This is a one of those A-HA posts that you will print out!

In The Craft Section,


How to write a love scene- Jane Friedman Bookmark


2 Bookmark posts from  K M Weiland 5 ways to trim your word count and 11 killer chapter breaks.


Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have compiled a popular posts list.



In The Marketing Section,


How authors can find readers- Jane Friedman- Bookmark





To Finish,

Y A Highway is an interesting site where YA authors hang out. They have an interesting infographic (very Jasper Ffordish) with lots of clickable links on all sorts of interesting posts. This is well worth a trawl. Children’s writers cover all genres the good and the bad...

Maureen
@craicer

4 comments:

TK Roxborogh said...

My students and I thank you once again for this delicious basket of goodies. Well, they may not be so happy - currently at that stage of HATING their drafts. Some of these might make them despair even more but then, they can cling onto the advice and trudge forward (as we all have to do)

Maureen Crisp said...

Thanks Tania,
When you've got time check out that infographic... a wealth of info for your teen students in there.

Anne R. Allen said...

Great links as usual, Maureen. And thanks for the shout-out. All this marketing stuff sure is taking its toll on authors. We need to stop pushing it so far we ruin our health!

Maureen Crisp said...

I've been mulling over your post for a few days Anne. I decided to use it as a theme in my podacast interview this month. Absolutely needs to be said. You are doing yourself a disservice if you try to do it all. Focus on what gives you energy and support - Your tribe. and your audience (if they are both... excellent) and write the next book. Sending get well hugs from afar!!!

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