Book Bans – The Non Gift for Writers

 

In Publishing News this week

 

In another blow for libraries in the United States, the supreme court has denied an appeal to re consider a book banning case in Texas. The decision affects three states and affects the freedom to access information. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the impacts that are likely to freedom of speech. 

 

The judgments being handed down on the United States courts have a bearing on publishing worldwide according to a symposium on Future Proofing Equality in Children’s Publishing held recently in the United Kingdom. Most of these book banning judgements center around children’s books. With diversity, equity, and inclusion hot topics in children’s publishing, the flow on effects from the US are impacting children’s books worldwide. Publishing Perspectives report on the symposium highlighted the increase in books being dropped before publication just in case they might violate some US ban.

 

The School Library Journal published an open letter from the owner of Lee And Low Publishing about the danger of soft censorship. Jason Low exhorts publishers to keep publishing inclusive titles. Soft censorship is a slippery slope to restriction of information. Everybody needs to get behind challenges to book banning including publishers. 

 

PEN International is an organization supported by author groups worldwide to shine a light on writers who have been imprisoned for speaking truth to power. They are fund raising for various legal campaigns for imprisoned writers. Many well known authors have supported by donating amazing collectables to the literary auction.

 

New Zealand is one of the few countries to have a Public Lending Right. This means that writers are compensated for having books in public libraries. Recently all the PLR countries got together to have an international body reports Publishing Perspectives. They are looking to exchange ideas and international cooperation.

 

Lit Hub is reporting on the possible Netflix Warner Brothers merger and why author societies are up in arms about it. Can you see any danger in a large corporation controlling all the entertainment media? Yes, Publishing books is in entertainment media.

 

Dan Holloway reports the European Union has not exempted books from the deforestation regulations. This is going to impact publishing supply chains as paper is crucial in publishing books.  James Daunt, CEO of the largest book chains in the world told the BBC that he would sell AI produced books if someone wanted to buy them. Watch for new dartboard pictures in publishing offices.

 

Mark Leslie Lefavbre is a well respected commentator on publishing. He has done pretty much every job in it. He has an essay on how the traditional slush pile has moved out of the publishing in-box and into the digital publishing sphere. He makes some great points and is a must read.

 

Agent Richard Curtis looks at collaborations and how they can be richly rewarding or a nightmare of unrealistic expectations. He talks about the best projects that lend themselves to collaborations.

 

Rachel Thompon has an outstanding post on relationship based book marketing. This is the post you need when you are figuring out how to show that you are not an AI. She offers lots of tips, and reasons to stop saying buy my book everywhere.

 

Jane Friedman has been highlighting memoir this week. She has two guest posts on the process of writing memoir. It’s Not About You. Your Memoir is Someone Elses Story by Allison Williams and Why Your Memoir Feel Like its Rambling and How To Fix It by Wendy Dale.

 

 

In the Craft Section

2 excellent posts from Janice Hardy- Freshen up tired tropes and How to edit without feeling overwhelmed- Bookmark

4 ways to protect yourself when writing trauma- Rachel Warmath- Bookmark

Anticipation – writing thesaurus- Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Trying out dictation- Gabriele Pereira

 

In the Marketing Section

2026 literary calendar- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark!

Running successful events- Jillian Forsberg- Bookmark

12 proven book marketing campaigns- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

2 different approaches to direct selling- Sacha Black and Joanna Penn (podcast)

How does a good book get discovered – Brian Feinblum

 

To Finish

It’s December which means…  Lists of gifts for writers. Lit Hub has 50 interesting gifts for writers  If you are looking for a really good resource, The Dream Team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have a Buy One Get One Free Thesaurus sale. If you haven’t checked out these amazing books… run to their store.

 

If you have any mid grade Sci Fi and Fantasy fans, there is a book giveaway happening over December. You can even get my book Star Light for free.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

My last post for the year is next week, and Newsletter subscribers will be getting the bumper Christmas edition. You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

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Counting The Cost

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

The publishing world was rocked by the death of Porter Anderson. Porter was a long time commentator and publishing news journalist. I shared many of his articles on the blog over the last decade. He was a kind and generous man who will be missed. I still grin when I see the words The Industry. Porter coined this tongue in cheek phrase, “the industry, the industry,” when reporting on the impact of another merger of publishers or publishing shaking event. RIP Porter.

 

Publishers Weekly reports the deep dissatisfaction with the new owners of Edelweiss, the ARC copy review site and sales database. Prices have gone up sharply. Being in this catalogue was essential for small publishers but now they are being priced out.

Metadata. It’s important. And many people in publishing do not understand it. It is the difference between finding your book in an online catalogue where it is supposed to be or the book disappearing completely. Darcy Pattison has an informative post on metadata.

 

Bloomsbury has partnered with AI reports Publishers Weekly. If you sucked in your breath at that headline, you are not alone. However, they are using AI technology for discovery and engagement. Not for writing. Only for learning outcomes in their academic division. Really. 

 

Anne Trubek has an interesting article on Will AI Written Books Destroy Publishing. She lays out where AI and the publishing contract language of indemnity diverge. This is a soothing post for most writers worried that AI written books will replace them.  

 

Mark Williams has an interesting post on the music industry and how the music publishers are using leverage with the AI companies to get favourable terms. This is something that the publishing companies are trying to do. With the recent court case judgement of training AI’s coming under fair use if you buy a copy, publishers might have missed a trick with licensing.  

 

Written Word Media have published the results of their annual survey of writers. One of the interesting ways they present this data it what each finding means for the author reading the survey.

 

Richard Charkin has an interesting column on the measurement trap and how what you measure in publishing gets in the way of why you are measuring. Is the industry failing to understand the basics of good publishing judgement? 

 

Agent Richard Curtis has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about the Importance of Print and why it never died. Print might still be alive but some formats of it are shrinking fast. 

 

Jenn Windrow has an excellent post on making your writing sparkle. She see’s developmental editing like a Christmas Tree. Has it got a good structure? What about the sparkle?

 

 

In The Craft Section,

The case for shrinking your novel- Amy Bernstein- Bookmark

Keeping score- Donald Maass- Bookmark

Four moments you should hold the conflict- Becca Puglisi

The most powerful writing tip- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

Naming your book- Penny Sansevieri

 

In The Marketing Section

Can Facebook ads sell books- Randi Minetor- Bookmark

Understanding IngramSparks title processing

Amazon royalties explained- Dale Roberts - Bookmark

Long term author career- Podcast with Joanna Penn and Jennifer Probst – Interesting

The Taylor Swift Newsletter strategy- Katrina God- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The last month of the calendar year and everyone is thinking I haven’t met my goals.

If that is you, cut yourself some slack. Are you further ahead on your writing journey than the start of the year? If you need some concrete help in goal setting check out this article from the SPA Girls. They are fantastic and one of my go to podcasts.

As it’s December, there will be lists of writer gifts out there. Katie Weiland has 12 days of writing gifts to get for yourself or a friend. Treat Yourself.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the free Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

 Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash