Showing posts with label 20booksto 50k. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 20booksto 50k. Show all posts

Thursday, November 11, 2021

In The Writing Trenches



This week in Publishing,

Last week as I was posting the blog the news broke about the US Department of Justice taking the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster to court. LitHub has an interesting take on the news- The department is coming out on the side of the authors.

I was in my favourite bookstore yesterday and mentioned the merger. The bookseller commented that PRH produced or distributed half the books in their store. If they fell over so would bookstores. It was a sobering remark. When you are reliant on the success of your biggest supplier to stay in business….

 

Agent Jennifer Laughran explains how the book industry got into the supply chain problem. Her take – expect it to continue all next year as well.

 

The Authors Guild has joined forces with some other writer associations to support Starz taking MGM to court. The heart of the court case, collecting damages for copyright infringement. MGM is arguing you can only collect damages from the most recent three years not all the other years the copyright was infringed and you didn’t know about it. Passive Guy writes why it matters to the copyright holders.

 

The New Publishing Standard reports that next year is going to be busy on the conference front. Bologna and Shanghai Children’s Book Fairs are happening at the same time and they are going to be sharing ideas in an East meets West series of events. This is quite ambitious and will be an amazing statement if they can pull it off.

 

The Australian Books and Publishing newsletter is warning Australian writers to contact The New Zealand National Library to pull their titles from the' donation' the NZ National Library is giving to the dodgy Internet Archive. They have been roundly castigated over the deal internationally but they still want to go ahead. (I wrote about it a few weeks ago) If you know anyone this might apply to send them the link which has all the contact details.

 

Recently, The New Yorker wrote an article on Mark McGurl’s book, Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon. How has the Amazon store changed the way readers read a novel? It has some interesting points and points the finger at genre readers who are now microniched and sold content by writers who have also fallen into the commodity trap. 

Plenty to think about in this article.

 

Last week Kris Rusch posted the 3rd in her ‘IP Is The New Frontlist series. This is an interesting article on how marketers are struggling with trying to promote movies that keep getting delayed by Covid problems. Eventually the audience gives up. Do writers have an advantage here?

 

Dan Blank, marketer and writer was brought up short by his young son recently. Who looks after you, he was asked. This led Dan on an exploration of collaborators and mentors and into an interesting interview on connecting with other writers.

 

Juliet Marillier, fantasy author, wrote a fantastic post on Writer Unboxed today on older woman writers writing older women. As we age are we ignoring writing for our own age group? Do book characters have to be in a narrow age band? What does this do to our own psyche? The comments are heart-warming.  

 

In The Craft Section,

Pacing and momentum- April Bradley


Manuscript evaluations- Now Novel


3 tricks to immerse your reader in your story- Marissa Graff- Bookmark


Learn how to show the fun way- C S Lakin- Bookmark


The two halves of the inciting event – K M Weiland - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Twitter spaces for authors- Rachel Thompson


Make money with first in series free- and Cross-promotion with other authors- Bookbub


5 simple book marketing tips- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark


How to write a Book Release- Dave Chesson – Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Anne R Allen has written a superb post on creativity wounds. These are the wounds you might not know you have. They have been given to you when you were learning how to be creative. First reviews, ridicule from family or respected teachers, wounds from other writers who think that savage critiques are character forming. You get the idea. These wounds become your subconscious and can be quite destructive if not reined in.

The 20Books to 50K conference is on at the moment. It is the biggest author conference in the world. I watched an excellent presentation by Sarah Noffke on productivity, goal setting, etc. Just an all-around shot in the arm. While you are on the YouTube channel check out some of the other presentations that have been made available. The conference is on all week. There is something for everyone.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Heather Cowper http://www.heatheronhertravels.com

Vimy Ridge Arras WW1 trenches. 

We will remember them!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Sustaining The Words





This week was 'the after week' of one of Indie Publishings biggest conferences, 20 Books Vegas. Nearly 1000 indie authors and publishers  got together to look at best practice and share thoughts about publishing. Already the plan is to significantly ramp up the conference for  November 2020 with news today that it will expand to 1500 attendees. After 20 Books, attendees go home heads stuffed with learning and plans, they share their thoughts and takeaways on social media. To give you a little sample- here is a link to Dean Wesley Smith's keynote on having a sustainable writing career. Absolutely must watch!

The Returns system is often called flawed because it can encourage waste of epic proportions. Publishers are locked into big publishing runs and then Booksellers get locked into taking huge amounts of books, which they can’t sell so they get returned for a credit at the publishers. Often those books are in such a poor state they need to be dumped or pulped... a scheme ripe for graft as one enterprising bookseller, now in court, found out.

If by lucky chance the books are returned in good condition they can be on sold quietly to Big Bad Wolf- A book retailer in Asia known for the huge discount booksales fairs. BBW have just celebrated 10 years in the business with the startling prediction that in the next 5 years they WILL be selling 1 billion books.

The New Publishing Standard have been trying to find out just how big the book market is in China. All indications are that the market is seriously underrated. If you take Amazon and their bookselling dominance and then look at Alibaba- the eastern equivalent- they must sell books as well. The fact that Alibaba recently clocked up 1 billion dollars in sales in 68 seconds-( yes, that is not a typo,) indicates that if the book market was proportionally as big as Amazon’s then it must be huge!

It’s the middle of November and NaNo WriMo is getting serious. If you have the mid month writing blues check out these prompts. 
Or gamify your sprints with 4thewords- and slay some monsters while adding more words to your daily total.
Or read this inspiring article on the secret of writing success by Diana Wink.

The secret life of an audiobook narrator was an interesting read. Nobody prepares you for the fact that you can’t read the words you have written. It’s harder than you think-says Bill Bryson.

Are you a push writer or a pull writer? This is a thoughtful read about motivation and getting the words down.

In The Craft Section,

How to add dimension to your story- September Fawkes Bookmark




Writing a series, 7 Do’s and Don’ts-  Kassandra Lamb- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,


How to write a blog post people read- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to DIY an audiobook- Renee Conoulty and Sacha Black- Bookmark


Email sign up forms- Blogging wizard

To Finish,

A Reedsy rep emailed me, this week, to tell me about a new plot generator that they had developed. 
So much fun!  When you are in the middle of NaNo WriMo and you need some inspiration to crack on with the final 20,000 words...check it out for inspiration or even just your next project!
Don’t Forget the Storybundle NaNo collection of Writing craft books- only available until the end of November.

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links every month, you can subscribe and you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 
If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.
Related Posts with Thumbnails