Keeping Warm

The weather has turned cold down here in the Southern Hemisphere and all the writers I know are scrambling for heaters, blankets, fingerless gloves and other warming devices that can be plugged in and set to run under their desks.

In the blogosphere some writers are keeping warm with rants on the duplicity and underhandedness of other ‘writers.’

Take a well known writer’s name. Add a middle initial. Put that on your same genre self pubbed book. Market...
Galley Cat alerted everyone to the digital duplicity.

You could see it as a blatent marketing ploy...but it is probably lower than that as Sarah from SmartBitchesTrashyBooks explains. Why did the writer target the Romance community?

For those who follow Jane Friedman you will know that she is moving into the literary community combining her social media knowledge, publishing and Uni teaching while working for the Virginia Quarterly Review. Jane was recently interviewed by one of the founders of the Alliance of Independent Authors and it is a great interview. Jane’s tips for author websites as being their hot hub for all things is especially good...chock full of good advice.

Joel Friedlander revisits the best fonts for your P O D book this week. Joel is a great resource and he has a website stuffed with hot tips.

Chuck Sambuchino has a great guest post by Emmy Laybourne on his 7 things I have learned so far series. (7 ways to keep warm, doing some of these.)

Madison Woods gives the floor to Kath Meis, the founder of Bublish which had a lot of word of mouth at last weeks Book Expo America Convention.  Writers, it’s a free tool...and an interesting marketing idea...

Alan Rinzler, erudite observer of the business has spent an entire post looking at Barry Eisler and what writers can learn from what Barry is doing.... Alan has been a solid note of warning for the last few years about digital publishing but this year the speed of change in publishing community has got him almost spinning...and if Alan, with his long view, is spinning where are the rest of us in the centrifuge.... ( I could stuff another hot word in here but I won’t.)

The Guardian tells us all about the new release of dot suffixes in the internet domain world and what it will mean for us...dot book anyone?

 PaidContent has an overview on a ground breaking move by Google into epublishing in Europe...this may have flow on effects for us down here and is a smack for Amazon.

In the craft section,

What are your characters thinking while waiting for the story to get going. This is a good post on the importance of fleshing out your characters.

K M Weiland has a nice little post on antagonist P.O.V. Should they even have one?

Larry Brooks’ Storyfix series on the Hunger Games has been compeling reading over the last couple of months but this post nails the novel and how you can nail your own work down to nine sentences. Just Brilliant.

My fingers are seizing up with cold...every sentence is finishing with me rubbing warmth into my hands...Ah winter...I so missed you...NOT.

What's The Name Of That Song?

Today we have a typical New Zealand weather day...that’s the one with four seasons in one day...subject of popular songs by Kiwi bands.

When you live on a large island the one thing you know for sure is that the weather will change quickly...bit like the publishing landscape at the moment.

In the blogosphere over the last few days...another shift has taken place with Amazon acquiring the print and ebook rights to the Fleming Estate for the next ten years. Amazon has Bond...there must be a collective shiver going around the big six.

Rachelle Gardner has been wondering about the publishing landscape too. She took time out from her busy agent career to speculate on the changes and what everyone is doing now to better position themselves in the sun.

Publishing Perspectives has taken a look at who is buying print publishers...and it makes for interesting reading...the numbers are staggering and the implications for more change on the horizon very clear...at the moment Apple with cash in hand can buy the whole publishing industry and not worry about the change...

In a rare interview Larry Kirshbaum, ex CEO of Time Warner and the guy now running Amazon publishing talks about what they are doing, what they plan to do and what excites him now...Children’s Writers take note!

In the craft section...there are some goodies for you.

K M Weiland talks about talking...specifically if your characters are talking too much...

Darcy Pattison has a great post on 11 questions to ask yourself when revising.

The Editors Blog has a great post on Backstory and how and when to dribble it in...This is one of those read it and bookmark posts!

A few weeks back I posted a link to a part one of a discussion on midgrade writing between an agent and an editor...part three wraps up the discussion and it has been really insightful for those of us who love writing for this age group. If you didn’t get a chance to read parts one and two, go to it. I really recommend it!

Mary Kole of Kidlit.com has a great post on the reality check of a critique and how many writers looking for golden prize of being discovered don’t realise the hard work that has already been put in by those who are....

Check out 25 things to sell your book and not be spamming from badredhead media...actually just check out this site!

Joanna Penn has an uplifting post on intellectual assets...of course you have them.

The wonderful Storyfix site has a great guest post on mash ups...I love mash ups...Go and get some inspiration...and creative writing prompts.

Watership Down meets Star Wars anyone?

The builders are still in...that's three blog posts written to the sound of hammers, drills and crowbars...Next week all will be quiet...the kids will be back at school...the builders will be somewhere else and the house will be mine... all mine...mwaahhaaaaahhahhhh Crazed writer takes a trip to the big smoke.....

Doing What We Do

The news around the blogosphere this week has been one of disbelief. 

No it wasn’t delayed reaction to Steve’s death. 

Several prominent bloggers and agents have come out to say the blogosphere is getting crowded and unless you are getting around 15k visitors a month it is not worth it.

So why do it?

The reaction has been swift and many bloggers are sitting down and examining whether they want to go on a blogging holiday like Joe Konrath, who has one of the most heavy trafficked blogs around, or to keep going in the hope they get to the magic number....

And then there are prominent bloggers who say the argument is seriously flawed, because your blog is where you as a writer can interact with your readers, or your community, by either writing a great blog that shows off your writing voice or writing a blog that adds value to the sum of knowledge out there. 

Roni Loren has written a great breakdown about blogging addressing the issues raised this week and putting all the rants into perspective.

Bob Mayer has taken a hard look at indie publishing with his post, The Sustainability Of The Indie Author. He doesn’t sugar coat and some of the points he makes could choke you....As always, read the comments to get a sense of the discussion this post has started...and breathe deeply.

Mike Shatzkin has been looking at the other side of this with his interesting post on whether traditional publishers can maintain their primacy as eBookpublishers.... Magazines and other media are beginning to publish their own eBooks...but will they stop there?

This week Jane Friedman posted two excellent interviews on her blog. The first was with Scott Sigler and looked at how Scott is using new technology and a new service to get his self published books into as many hands as his bestseller trad books do. Read and be inspired...I’ve told you before there’s merch and audio and limited edition and.....

The second interviewis with Sean Platt who started out as an entrepreneur and then moved into writing. Sean talks about the mistakes he made but also what he has found works in marketing your book.... Both these interviews can give you some concrete goals if you are feeling a little bit battered by the first links.

Angela Ackerman of the wonderful BookselfMuse also has a guest post with Donna Gephart. Donna is a great mid grade writer and she talks about how children’s writers are promoting their books and that you don’t have to go crazy over marketing.

Socialmediaexplorer has written a warning post on social media contests...There have been law changes and bloggers could find themselves in legal hot water if their contests break the new rules...and if you think it doesn’t apply to you because you are in different country think about where your website is hosted...Yes, it may apply.

The popular blog YA Highway has taken a good hard look at writing mid grade. In particular they have looked at nailing the mid grade voice.

Over in the Craft Section

Storyfix has a popular series of posts looking at ten important tips to nail your NaNoWriMo. This weeks post is on the first 12-15 scenes...the set up (NaNoWriMo is next month).

I09 has a great list of ten types of writers block and how to overcome them...

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on

Future Proof Your Digital Publishing...This is an important article about the changing formats of epublishing.

Suffragette Steampunk...a match made in heaven?

Digital Rights...Do you really know how many you have?

To finish,

The Frankfurt Book Fair is happening right now and if you want to get a feel for the topics under discussion drop into this German blog which has roundups on every topic...It is in English!

There are posts on gamers needing storytellers, eLearning futures where Taiwan is leading the way, Books meeting games...

It is where we are heading...Are you going to be still there? 

maureen

pic is from here

Game Changing and Piracy

On the side of my blog I have a list of must read blogs. One of those is Jane Friedman’s There Are No Rules. 

Jane is one of the touchstones in the blogosphere on publishing and change. She has been a keynote speaker at many big conferences on publishing and will be speaking at SXSW soon. Jane has a round up every week of what she thinks are among the best articles of the week (often I have already filed some of them for you) but I always pay attention to her list.  This week Jane highlighted a critical must read article by Kristine Rusch and yes I think that it deserves that status.

Kristine Rusch is a bestselling, award winning, romance, mystery and science fiction writer. She has been writing a series of articles on change in the publishing world. This week she has seen such a significant game change in self publishing that against all her previous advice she now believes that beginning writers should look seriously at self publishing...and not only them.

Bob Mayer was one of the first to comment (no surprise he agreed with what she said.) This week, on his own blog, Bob has an article about what he has learned in his writing life.  And it is a good read too. Bob breaks down the lessons he has learned since writing his first book...as he says... the more you consciously know about writing-the harder it gets!

However, to help you in this difficult creative endeavour is Mike Fleming and Elisabeth S Craig. Together they have sorted out a solution for storing all those links on writing... The Writers Knowledge Base.

This week Agent Mary Kole answered the tricky question...Would you turn down a book you loved but you knew you couldn’t sell? This is a good look at what agents are faced with...

Last week I asked the question, Who will be the digital ebook reviewers we trust?

I pointed you to Kristen Lambs blog post...this week also answering this question is Morris Rosenthal of Foner Books. Morris reckons that groups of writers will band together and become the new gate keepers...and then turn into writers guilds with too much power etcetcetc (check out the comments)

The Huffington Post has an interview with Annik LaFarge on effective author websites this is so full of information that you will probably need to set aside a long coffee break to take it in.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on

Writer Envy...The Rejectionist- Dear Superior Person

The Rules of Sci Fi...(don’t spare the red shirt guy)

The Best Writing Mistakes and How To Make Them

The Espresso Book Machine...This is a book printing robot in a NY book store which prints books 

immediately....Go and take a look at the video!...opens up a whole new world....

To Finish

Upstart Crow have a great archived article on Mid Grade and Y A differences and where you draw the line and 

The best article on story structure I have seen from the formidable Larry Brooks over on Storyfix, How to Learn Story Structure in Two Minutes or Less.

I leave you with Neil Gaimen talking on how Piracy helped him...

enjoy,

maureen

P.S The Jane Friedman that Kristine Rusch refers to is not the Jane Friedman of There Are No Rules. There are two Jane Friedman's in the publishing world.

The 12 Links of Christmas...

School is out today and I’m eating juicy summer strawberries trying not to look at my very very long 'To Do' list that has to be done before we head away for the Christmas holidays on Sunday. 

No rest for the wicked...so they say...I think ‘they’ have got it wrong coz I’ve been good all year...honestly!

Looking back over the year online...I expanded my online presence....

I joined Facebook on a Tuesday and two days later got swept up into the amazing  FaBo Story Project. I had a blast with my fellow writers as we developed a children’s online story. I was in awe of the kids who chose to get involved and am looking forward to FaBo 2...which has started, and will ramp up into another way out story next year. The first chapter being written by our winning child author. (Can’t really call him a child author he writes absolutely wonderfully-check out the final winning chapter.)

Twitter has taken over as my first Go To Research Tool. I am constantly amazed at how much people use twitter in real time emergency situations. I was following some of the up to the minute requests on twitter from the rescuers at the Pike River Mine. I knew that it was a powerful resource when my husband came back from the office saying that one of his colleagues had started a twitter English Spanish translation service for the worldwide aid community to deal with the huge aid requests coming out of Haiti last year. It would be interesting to know how quickly Kiwis have taken up tweeting.

On my blog, the search box has got a work out and Craicerplus (my Amplify page) has got its own followers. 

I was surprised and touched to find so many of you take the time to read my weekly blog post when I discovered that I was closing in on my 2000th reader this year. That is quite staggering when you think about it....Thank you everyone!  And a big THANK YOU to all those who took the time to comment on the blog or started Facebook discussions about what interested you.

So onwards to this weeks interesting links.

Seth Godin is about to turn publishing on its head, again, with the launch of The Domino Project. As one of the biggest influencers on the web, where Seth goes today, will be the norm by this time next year....

Scholastic issued their top ten trends in Children’s writing this year and many commentators are lining their own lists up and comparing them. Things we know...paranormal is still huge...things we should be aware of, Humour is coming back....was it ever away???

Larry Brooks (yes he is that Larry Brooks) has a great post on his Storyfix website. 8 moments you absolutely need to deliver to your readers and 1 that you should hope for.

Joanna Penn has reposted her article on 22 websites every author must use.

Justine Musk has a great article on the secret ingredient to a strong author platform.

For all the small business owners who read the blog...(writers, that’s you too) Marketing Experiments Blog has a great article on Facebook marketing...when you read it, substitute the word facebook for website and the same things apply. Great Advice!

If you are looking for a great Christmas present, Don Miller has listed the 7 best books to read, to make you a better writer. I have read (or own) most of the list. I would add two more... Story by Robert McKee and How To Tell A Story, by Gary Provost and Peter Rubie.

The amazing Kidlit.com has a great post for all the author/illustrators out there...How agents rep author/illustrators.

Over on Craicerplus ( my Amplify page.) I have links to articles on

Get Your Opinions Off My Stuff -Why Not All Critique Is Equal...(excellent rant!)

The Worst Mistake A Writer Can Make....(good advice)

Facebook Tips For Writers...(read with pinch of salt)

10 Tasty iPad Apps For Writers

6 Questions NOT to Ask A Writer

The Pie In The Face Writing Method.

And now we come to the link presents...

The Twelve Days Of Christmas For Writers and Famous Inboxes. (my geek self loved Captain Kirks inbox but Elizabeth Bennets is the best!!)

and the Christmas video...

enjoy,
maureen

P.S. I will be back in the New Year...You can catch up with me on facebook and twitter and Craicerplus....as I will drop in from time to time with interesting links.
pic is Pukeko In A Ponga Tree by Kingi Ihaka. Illustrated by the great Dick Frizzell