Thursday, September 13, 2018

Are the barricades being breached yet?



In Publishing News this week...
The UK publishing scene is feeling a little nervous. The Waterstones chain of Bookshops has bought the Foyles chain of independent bookshops from the Foyle family. It could be a good thing... or ... time will tell. (Already commentators are saying the goodwill of all parties may last only as long as the Waterstones CEO stays in his job.)

The EU parliament has voted to progress a controversial Internet copyright law. Free Speech may now not be so free. Publishers are cautiously optimistic. Internet watchdogs are not.

This of course has no bearing on Brexit at the moment. However Tara Sparling has raised some interesting questions about what happens to authors and publishers who publish into the UK after Brexit? Royalties... Contracts... Agents... Markets... At the moment she notes there is a big silence from the publishing community and there shouldn’t be. How will Brexit affect anyone publishing into the UK?

In wider news Audible has tweaked their offerings and are now giving two audio books away each month as well as selections from Bestsellers... Do they finally see some competition on the horizon?

I keep one eye on the academic publishing sector which has been very resistant to change in the digital publishing space. The Guardian’s top journalist George Monbiot shines the spotlight on the rip off that is the academic journal. I have heard rumblings about this for a few years now but things are about to change. (I hear the cheering from the students and the screams from the publishers...)

Kris Rusch has another interesting post on negotiations. She examines the perils of the Hollywood verbal contract. As she explains Johnny Depp’s lawsuits are going to be setting precidents in contract law that are long overdue. Hollywood is not above the law despite what they might tell you. This is a must read about contract negotiation.

Joanna Penn has reached her 7th anniversay milestone of freedom from the day job and she takes stock of all that she has learned. It’s a nice roundup and offer pointers for other creative authorpreneurs.

Jane Friedman has updated her evergreen post on 10 ways to build traffic to your website... How many are you doing?

In The Craft Section,

Start me up- Janice Hardy






4 tips for stronger writing- Kathy Stinemann- Bookmark



In The Marketing Section,


12 effortless marketing tips- Bookbuzzr- Bookmark

Big Book Marketing blunders- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Marketing uncovered- David Gaughran- Bookmark




Print On Demand books- a nice little comparison from Reedsy- Bookmark

To Finish,

Have you ever fallen out of love with your book?
Sarah Letourneau has written a great post When the fire goes out, what to do when this happens. Sometimes that book you were dying to write just remains dead no matter what you try to do to resusitate it. Sarah has some helpful strategies. Chuck Wendig has also been musing on this topic and as usual he has talked about trusting the process in his own special style.

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you want to say thanks for all the blog posts you can hit the coffee button and help fuel my week. 


It’s nearly Circus Quest book launch time and there is soo much to do. If you know a quirky confident beginning reader then check out my Circus Quest series. Custard Pies at your own risk….
 

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Opportunity Knocks


In Publishing News...
Anybody want to buy a bookstore? How about a chain of bookstores? The continuing saga of the struggling Barnes and Noble bookselling chain has many in the publishing industry worried. 

How open are you to opportunities? Will you say yes to everything? Or do you lock yourself away in your writing garret? Wendy Jones talks about the power of saying yes to everything and what that has done for her writing career.

Nick Stephenson has an article on whether authors should still blog. Blogging goes in and out of favour all the time. If you are a fiction writer it can be problematical thinking up what to blog about. Nick has some great ideas on this.  Check out the top 50 writing craft blogs .

Tara Sparling asks an interesting question this week.Is your book good looking enough for  the internet? Is viewing books in thumbnail sizes changing the way cover designers approach the book cover?

Jane Friedman has an interesting guest post from Betsy Fasbinder about public speaking for authors. For many writers this is a side of the business that is the least liked. Betsy has some great tips.
Staying with the business side of writing, Joe Solari has an interesting article on managing cash flow in your writer business.
How to legally use quotations in your book. This question comes up again and again. Helen Sedwick gives you the legal lowdown.

I came across this article- Microtargeting with Facebook ads- and had to think carefully about the Brave New World we are living in. On one hand, as authors, wouldn’t it be great to have our dream reader profiled and targeted so that they always saw our books. On the other hand...  

In The Craft Section,


Protagonist vs Nemesis Key to conflict- Go into the story-Bookmark

Should you outline backwards- K M Weiland- Bookmark



2 fantastic posts from Jami Gold Showing vs telling in context and

In The Marketing Section,

(In NZ you can get free ISBN’s from National Library)

Self publishing 101- Nick Stephenson

Amazon Author Central – book discovery- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark



Updating your author bio- Alli blog- Bookmark


3 Book Promotion myths- Build Book Buzz

The easy opt in gift- Writetodone- Bookmark

To Finish,

Being a writer is so much more than just being the typer of words. It is to be a marketer, a cheer leader, a critic, a business owner, an editor, a muse wrangler...
Greer Macallister has put togther 25 truths about writing over on Writer Unboxed. You will smile and agree with most of them.

Maureen
@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. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. Thanks everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.


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