Thursday, May 11, 2017

Your Writing Dream World


Just before I wrote this I was watching a YouTube clip about a teen who was on Britain’s Got Talent with an amazing voice. Simon Cowell hit the golden button and she was showered with golden tickets... It was her dream come true.
Here in writing land we all secretly wish for The Phonecall or The Surprise Party from the Movie Studio... or even that someone else makes dinner so you can stay in your imaginary world.
Living in your writing dream world can be a great escape from the real world at the moment. But it is always wise to keep one eye on what is happening in publishing outside your study door.

So did you hear about Amazon changing the Buy Button links on their book pages? Any 3rd party vendor can bid for that link. The publisher doesn’t necessarily get the sale. The Independent Book Publishers Association is not happy. Does this open the door to pirates?

The Outline talked with a few publishing exec’s about what effects cutting some of the best seller lists from The New York Times would have on publishing overall. It was a bit grim for debut authors. Consolidated and Conservative is not what you want to hear.

Kobo has a nifty new feature starting up called Kobo Plus. And it looks just like... Kindle Unlimited except without the exclusivity.... Is it a dream come true for authors?

Molly Greene had a reader contact her about her books. After a conversation Molly asked the reader to write a blog post for her about what readers want. This is a fascinating glimpse into the power reader mindset.

David Gaughran is a sharp cookie and he has a standout post on data. How does the ‘also boughts’ on your book page affect your sales. Who is Amazon pointing to your book? Sometimes it’s not your dream audience.

Anne R Allen has a great post on career mistakes. She’s made them so you don’t have to. It’s always wise to find out what not to do before you jump in to what looks like the dream pool.

Jane Friedman has a great post on how a book can become a bestseller and a post on Author Collectives... I keep saying this is the way to go... Get your writing friends together, you might be the next Bloomsbury!

Kristen Lamb touches on a topic that has been worrying some authors. There are many predators out there wanting to sell you a course promising great things for your writing career. How do you tell the good ones from the bad ones? Before you flick out your wallet check out what she has to say.

Alli – The Alliance of Independent Authors, has another excellent Indie Fringe online conference event coming up.  Check out Orna’s talk with Porter Anderson on why Book Expo America has changed its name and dumped its successful Indie hub.

You have found the most amazing song that fits your book so well... BUT what is the thinking around using song lyrics. Check out this post before you unleash a nightmare with your book.

Angela Ackerman, besides researching her great Emotion Thesaurus line of books, often finds other cool reference sites for authors. Here she lists her favourites and they are awesome. 


In The Craft Section,

5 steps to building a plot outline- Casey Griffin-Bookmark

Character Archtypes and How to introduce Characters- Now Novel- Bookmark Both




Who owns the scene- Storydoctor- Bookmark


Writing Blurbs- Rayne Hall-Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,


5 tips for using swag- Jesikah Sundin- Bookmark




Two Great posts from Penny Sansevieri- Common pitfalls for Indies and

  Hot New Amazon keywords – Bookmark Both!




To Finish,
Darcy Pattison an Indie Children’s Book author recently had a guest post on The Highlights Foundation Blog. In her article she listed the 50 things Indie Publishers had to do for each book. You will need a lie down... but like all dreams they can come true with hard work, perseverance, knowledge, whiskey...

Maureen Crisp
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. To say Thank You for subscribing you get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes.  Make sure you subscribe to check out the book.Thanks everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.




Thursday, May 4, 2017

Barmy Weather


There are two words that describe the weather at the moment in my home town. Balmy and Barmy. You never know what you are going to get when you step outside the door.

The news around the publishing world is similar.

Are the screenwriters going on strike? (You would think the studios learned from the last time.)

Are there less eBooks being published? (Is everybody copying fake news?)

What’s happening with the bestseller lists? Penny Sansevieri has some hard truths about them.

Who had the bright idea of adding eBooks into the PLR in Britain... (I can hear the cheers from down here –yippee.)

Who knew that everyone would be listening to podcasts on their phones... which has fueled the podcast market and now audio books are going gangbusters. Joanna talks to J Daniel Sawyer about all the changes in audio. (balmy)

Written Word surveyed 1000 Kindle readers and found out some startling facts that authors need to be aware of. This is a must read!

Some things stay the same. You need author friends. Joanna Penn talks about how to find these valuable guides on the writing path. (balmy)

You need to keep learning the craft. Michael Hauge has a fantastic post on how to change your critique group so everyone is learning and growing in the craft.

The Rocking Self Publishing podcast had an exceptional episode with Kevin Tumlinson who talked about the ways to use a UBL – Unique Book Link available from Draft2Digital- free


Darcy Pattison has a must read post on Amazon ads... (go on... dip your toe in...)

Ruth Harris has a stand out post on rejection and failure and how to put them into perspective. (We must be barmy to do this writing thing...)

In The Craft Section,





Two great posts from K M Weiland Don’t write expository dialogue and
Overly complex plots -Bookmark Both!


Making your characters jump off the page- Angela Ackerman and James Scott Bell. (I have this book and it is awesome!)

How not to start a novel!- Anne R Allen- Bookmark


In The Marketing Section,







Promoting series books- Daniel Arenson- Bookmark



To Finish,

Sometimes you just can’t find the right title no matter how hard you try. Tara Sparling has the answer. She has a collection of nifty title generators for the struggling author. You would have to be barmy not to check it out....

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time to write my monthly newsletter. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. If you want to want to check it out and join our merry band of virtual coffee drinkers, make sure you subscribe. Coffee is the fuel for the blog so I’m thanking all the people who hit the coffee button this week.



Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ Chenelle J- When the weather can’t make up its mind...
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