The Book Brand

 

In Publishing News this week,

Recently there have been calls for the publishing industry to start using more sustainable practices. Taylor Francis Publishing have opted to send out their journals with paper wrapping instead of shrink wrapping. Read how they found the experience.

 

If you have been wondering if the subscription model will kill publishing you must be living in the United States. Mark Williams takes a look at the rising figures of subscription and wonders how long it will take for book publishers to change their tune.

 

Another day, another AI lawsuit. Google has been hit with a lawsuit filed by the same firm that filed against Open AI. They are alleging that Google ‘scraped everything ever created and shared on its platform’ to train its AI bot. DUH!

Meanwhile, Shutterstock, having embraced the Open AI model on its website, is now expanding its AI tools. When you can’t beat them, be at the forefront of the new technology.

 

If you are still wondering about copyright and AI check out Kelly Way’s recent article.

 

Publishers Weekly reports that book sales are down in the first half of the year. Backlist is propping up everyone’s bottom lines. 

Goodereader has an article on the massive cost of book piracy. Latest figures have the cost to publishers topping $300 million.

 

Berritt Koehler publishers recently published an article on the 10 awful truths about book publishing. While their 10 awful truths are awful they have at least shown how you can manage and market in this challenging industry with some good strategies.

 

It’s half way through the year and Colleen Story thinks this is a perfect time to stop – and look at your writing and publishing goals, are they on track? Do you need to change things?

 

Kris Rusch has some advice to consider. Think small. In the next interesting instalment of her niche marketing series she examines how small is big in the niche world. 

 

How much attention do you pay to the file formats you write in? Do you have the source files of your published books? What happens when your publisher disappears? David Wogahn writes an interesting article on Jane Friedman’s blog about protecting the files that make your books.

 

How easily are you distracted from your writing? Daphne Gray Grant has an article that helps you figure out how to be distraction free and productive in your writing time. First – halve your goals…

 

In The Craft Section,

9 Common Dialogue problems- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Discover what your character fears- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 common problems with background characters- Mythcreants-Bookmark

How to figure out which writing advice suits you best- Trisha Loehr- Bookmark

How I zero drafted a novel in 6 weeks- Kelsey Allagood- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Best practice for selling more books - Elizabeth Craig- Bookmark

When is the best time to release a book- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

How to get a more successful launch- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to get your book into libraries- Roland Denzel and Mark Lefebvre

How to write a book description- Bookbub

 

To Finish

It has to happen. The world needs another cute digital reading device that will be the next must have item. Introducing immersive reading in virtual reality… with a pair of sunglasses?

 

While authors are wondering if they can get their book published, publishers are embracing the merch opportunities to influence the influencers. The influencers can have their pick of totes, caps, journals, bags, sweaters, mugs, limited edition prints… and on and on. Do they get the book too? Will we see Book Branded Merch shows on TikTok?

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Pic Photo by Joao Tzanno on Unsplash

In The Brave New World of Next Week

In Publishing News this week, Sam Missingham, wrote an opinion piece for The Bookseller entitled ‘Now is the time for publishers to show their real value.’ This is a plea to publishers to look at what is happening under the pandemic and change their way of operating for the future. 

Here is one small quote from the article- This approach treats publishing like the long game it is and more importantly puts readers first. And it means all of our books and content, front list and backlist, have the same value. And we showcase our authors beyond their publication window.

This is a great rallying call for a better publishing standard.

Some of the ideas Sam talks about are happening in an experimental way. Today I saw news that Faber was partnering with Glassboxx to develop a direct to consumer portal. Check out what they are doing and think of the implications. Digital content has sustained the traditional publisher's bottom line through the print publishing slow/stop.

Joanna Penn mentioned other similar initiatives in the intro to her latest great interview on writing and selling short fiction. 

In happy news, The UK has also scrapped VAT on books… so that’s something nice to come out of the pandemic.

Publishing Perspectives has taken an in-depth look at China’s publishing world as they are the first to come out of a lockdown situation. Print sales down for obvious reasons. Printers and supply chains have almost ground to a halt, but digital sales are up.

Booktopia – Australia’s online bookseller has joined forces with Kobo to take advantage of a bigger global reach.

Staying in Australia – The Guardian recently published a sad look at what is happening in the Australian publishing community with the cancellation of many writer’s festivals and publishing job losses.

If you need some bracing advice for keeping your writing chin up and plowing forward Chuck has written his Writing Advice In The Age Of The Pandemic. This is a must-read for everyone who has looked at the last months writing goals and despaired. (a nice pickmeupoffthewritingfloor)

Elisabeth Spann Craig has written an interesting article on writing sprints. She joins video sprint writing groups. If you are missing a group sprint writing session check out the video options. 

In The Craft Section,

How to improve story with action beats- Jami Gold-Bookmark

Newbie writing mistakes- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

9 ways to originalise your story idea- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

10 step checklist to writing a better than average novel- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Writing prompts for socially isolated authors- Writers Digest

In The Marketing Section,

The importance of book landing pages- Convertkit

Book Promotion during a pandemic- The Book Designer- Bookmark

Selling books on your author website- Alli blog – Bookmark

8 Social Media scheduling apps- Frances Caballo

Create your own book video step by step guide- Bookmark

Book Merch for authors- Dan Parsons- Bookmark

To Finish,

Today I went down the font rabbit hole. I’m not sorry. I love looking at all the creative ways designers can imagine the alphabet. It all started with IngramSpark’s blog on the best fonts for books.

I also discovered naturalreaders.com. Another tool for editing your book. Choose a voice to read back your writing. I found hearing your work read back can highlight grammar mistakes. I played around with so many voices the kids rebelled. They just don’t understand, I have a cast of thousands in my head.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Hanumann- viet globe

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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.