Thursday, August 1, 2019

Book Battles


In publishing news this week …
Oh, the excitement… Dean Koontz has taken a deal with Amazon Publishing. Industry pundits are interested in Mr Koontz comments about the new and exciting times ahead for him. They are also interested to see whether the bookseller chains who would not stock any books from Amazon are now going to change their tune.

Also in bookseller news is the Green Manifesto created by the UK Booksellers Association which seems to be getting traction in other countries. The booksellers are to commit to recycled paper and less wasteful packaging and returns. The big word in that sentence is RETURNS. Booksellers have always sent back stock to the publishers. Is this the end of the Return system?

While Booksellers are wrestling with these questions, Macmillan has fired a shot at libraries with a change in their ebook lending terms. They join other big publishers who are upping the ebook price, delaying the availability and limiting how many borrows before the library has to buy another copy. I can’t help thinking that we are supposed to nurture our readers in this multimedia entertainment marketplace. I‘m not sure if the publishers have thought this through.

Kris Rusch continues her look into licensing options for authors. This week she realises that art that is commissioned for books can also be licensed. This opens up another potential marketing stream. Interior art branded products… cover pictures… posters.

Ruth Harris has a great blog post on the art and craft of the elevator pitch. That moment when you have to say what your book is about. Give them the old razzle-dazzle… Ruth points out how to construct a good pitch. This is a must-read.

How is your self-care as a writer? Could it be better? Are you looking after yourself? Elizabeth Spann Craig has a good post on keeping on top of your writer health.

Jami Gold has the quintessential master publishing plan. This was published on Janice Hardy’s blog two years ago and is still relevant so take a look.
While you are thinking about master publishing plans take a look at this excellent post on the Alli blog on Book Metadata. All the things you should know about your book. Grab this useful template to help you understand it. Great Resource!

David Gaughran has a great post on understanding how to craft a Bookbub ad. David has written a book on the subject but here he shares some great tips. (His book is great too.)


In The Craft Section,

Story Tropes- make them resonate – Jami Gold- Bookmark

So-called screenwriting rules – Scott Myers – Bookmark

7 tips to write funnier fiction- The Creative Penn blog

Writing captivating characters- Shaunta Grimes- Bookmark

Three lesser-known archetypes- Angela Ackerman


In The Marketing Section,

How authors use Instagram- Bookbub- Bookmark

Convert readers to subscribers- Bookworks- Bookmark

Book launch- party if you want to- 

3 ways to use language to sell more books-Rob Eagar- Bookmark

How to reach influencers- Jane Friedman


To Finish,

The Guardian books page recently had an article on the top ten fictional libraries… and I was shocked that Unseen University library did not make the list. Hmmm. The librarian must be jumping up and down with rage. The omission is as bad as calling him a monkey. Check out which libraries did make the list…

If you want to travel the literary tube in London check out this version of the famous London Underground Map

And finally, feast your eyes on the top 5000 bestselling book covers…. You can filter the search by genre, gender, mood…. Go down that rabbit hole… into L space.

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: Ook by Paul Kidby – Discworld Librarian.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Conquering The Mountain


A couple of news items caught my eye this week in publishing. 
First, a shot across the Audible bows from the big four publishers over Audibles new speech to text captions on its audiobooks. Audible is claiming it's an AI message service. The publishers are saying it is equivalent to ebook publishing. So how does Amazon, who owns Audible see this? They tried something similar in 2009 and backed down from the publisher's wrath back then... but ten years on and who is the biggest player in town?

Last weekend I hosted a day-long mini-conference on publishing and one of the sessions I programmed was collaboration. This is becoming more of a thing in the Indie world and anything that encourages groups of people to work together must be a good thing... Publish Drive has just launched a new service that helps collaborators. Abacus. It splits the money at source and so one person doesn’t get lumbered with all the tricky maths on royalty payments to a group. 

Mike Shatzkin took a look at the last ten years of the book publishing industry and notes the major turning points on the way. Ipads... Borders... and the growth of Amazon from 5th in book sales to over 50% of the book sales.

While the publishing eyes focussed on the West it is wise to keep an eye out on the East. This is where The New Publishing Standard is so valuable. Who knew there was such a book hungry market out there... not the regular publishers. The latest figures out say that Nigeria has eclipsed Japan to be the 6th largest online nation. Paper books have always been the standard in Nigeria, I wonder what will happen when they find out they can read on their phones. TNPS is launching a new newsletter just looking at the rise of African readers. While they are doing that they are also examining the subscription model. They only see good things ahead for subscription. It’s all about discovery.

Jane Friedman has a guest post from David Woghan on why self-publishers should consider their own imprint. I like to use the term Indie publishers. If you are contracting editors, cover designers, proofreaders, etc then you are acting like a traditional publisher. You are managing the production process. Traditional Publishers outsource much of their editing and design work so you can find the exact same people that traditional publishers use.  Maybe you should be thinking about imprints a lot earlier on. David talks a lot about Bowker rules. 
(If you are in NZ you can get free ISBN’s and you should.)

Anne R Allen has a great post this week on the 8 reasons why your manuscripts are getting rejected. It is not personal. You may be guilty of presenting a manuscript with a few of these errors. 


In The Craft Section,

Why editing matters- WriterUnboxed

Letting your antagonist drive the plot- Writers Digest- Bookmark

Layering characters for believable fiction- Victoria Mixon- Bookmark

On Core Story- Donna Macmeans- Bookmark

3 reasons to use timestamps in your novel

5 popular tropes writers struggle with – Mythcreants- Bookmark


In The Marketing Section,

3 secrets to effective landing pages- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri 10 Bookcover rules- and Securing Amazon Reviews- Bookmark

Custom books cards- Bookbrush- Bookmark

Booklaunch for maximum sales- Bookbub- Bookmark


To Finish

Elizabeth Spann Craig always brings a note of sanity to the publishing process. It must be because she is a cozy mystery writer. This week she has a great post on author overwhelm. What can you do when your To-Do List looks and feels like a mountain. How do you tackle the writing life then? Break it down. A mountain is only climbed one step at a time. 

Maureen
@craicer


Hmm, I thought I would get the newsletter out this week… This weekend for sure! So if you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter Go on and 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 virtual coffee love. 

Or you can head over to Smashwords and pick up my books which are on sale at the moment. Just go to my books website. Thanks.


Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Paxson Woelber

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