Thursday, July 3, 2025

Who Owns Your Rights?

 


 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The EU accessibility act came into force this week. This is aimed at publishers who are selling into the European Union. All books need to be accessible. This doesn’t mean that they have to be widely available although that might help. They have to be accessible to the disabled community. Dan Holloway has a quick rundown on what that means for authors and publishers.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on the recent court decision over book banning in favour of the parents and how this might impact the freedom to read going forward in the United States of America.

 

Publishers Weekly reports on the American Library Association conference and what the main topics of conversation were. AI and its biases. There was a lot of chat about the impact of new tech trends on libraries and on hand were child sized robots that helped children with finding and checking out books. (It is almost the age of the Jetsons- where is my flying car?)

 

This week Mark Williams looked at two news items that expose the current publishing models shortcomings. First was the news that the Bond franchise had been bought by Amazon who are bringing out modern James Bond books to tie in with their new game. So where does that leave the original publisher? Following right on the heels of this is the Romantasy juggernaut Sarah J Maass who has licensed her brand into a global marketplace and left her traditional publishers out of the mix. 

When I am asked what is the most important subject to learn in publishing, I always answer intellectual property and contracts. These two articles highlight the importance of intellectual property and who owns it. For decades publishers have been asking for sweeping contract rights and then not doing anything with them. Savvy agents and authors keeping these rights back have discovered other entertainment companies value these licenses. Will Publishers double down on rights demands? Remember authors, you can put time limits on rights in the contract and always put a rights reversal time clause in. 

 

Victoria Strauss has a great article for Writer Unboxed on bankruptcies and why the bankruptcy clause in your contract might not protect you. This is a timely article after recent publisher bankruptcies.

 

Richard Charkin muses on globalization and the publishing trade. Printers are now global, as are Newspapers. I wonder when rights by country will fall by the wayside. 

 

John Green has a nifty little video which breaks down What the #1 New York Times Bestseller List Actually Means. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for a book to make the list.

 

Gabriela Pereira has a great article on How to deal with Failure and Rejection. You need a writer angst jar. This is a great tool to get you over the hump.

 

Joanna Penn has an interesting interview with Betsy Lerner this week. Betsy has decades of experience in the publishing world doing pretty much every job in it. She talks about finding your voice across the medium and loving book marketing.

 

Writer Unboxed has a new contributor (Gen Z ) Kit Aldridge who has an article on AI – The Big Bad Wolf or Quiet Assistant for Writers. All the comments are interesting, especially from the big names in the community. The article is generally not in favour.

If you are on the fence about this technology. You are not alone. However, the changes are so rapid that you may find that some knowledge is better than none at all. Joanna Penn’s recent Interview with Thomas Umstattd on Book Discoverability in the age of AI shows another side of this technology.  

 

It’s July and you may be looking at your goals for the year and wondering what happened. Robin Blakely has a great article on redirecting yourself and your goals.

If it is all too much check out the Frustrated Writers Colouring In Book

 

In the Craft Section,

Building believable alternate histories- Daniel Ottalini


When your draft is a mess- Stuart Wakefield- Bookmark


The playbook for antagonists- Becca Puglisi


The secret to writing witty characters- K M Weiland- Bookmark


Ending apostrophe abuse- Debbie Burke- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

TikTok marketing demographics for authors- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark


Writing an author bio (with AI)- Kindlepreneur


How to publish a children’s book- Reedsy and Karen Inglis- Bookmark


Creative hooks drive more ad clicks- Bookbub- Bookmark


Joanna Penn interviewed Simon Patrick about Eleven labs and Producing AI narrated audiobooks. This is an interesting insight into how Eleven labs works, and how authors can use them. 

 

To Finish,

Do you remember the Readers Digest books? Condensed versions of four novels bound in hardback and available mail order on a monthly subscription. Loads of homes had them. Folio Editions borrowed a similar concept but went the opposite way into high end productions. Publishers Weekly looks at how they have reinvented themselves starting with Public Domain books and are now into licensing Folio editions of in print books. It is all about Intellectual Property and what you do with it.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Who Has The Power?

 


 

In Publishing News this week,


The first of the AI lawsuits has been decided with a Californian Federal Judge handing down a pre-trial ruling that the Anthropic company was using fair use to train its AI using copyrighted material. However, the fact that they used pirated material was a problem. Read the article from Publishers Weekly and find out what the AI companies are doing now to get around licensing the work for training purposes. I wonder if the judge will address the trampling of the moral rights of the authors.

 

Publishing Perspectives looks at the latest statistics from the American Publishers Association and sales are down across the formats. These numbers are just snapshots they hasten to add. Hopefully it is not a downward trend.

 

On the African continent Mark Williams based in The Gambia looks at how AI is making an impact in publishing. If you can’t get any print books and only sporadic internet what are you to do? Mark talks about how publishing in Africa is quietly breaking records as they figure out ways to get books into the hands and ears of people across the continent.

Mark also looks at a little Romanian startup with big plans to grow across Europe and Latin America. It’s not about competing with everybody else but looking at who everybody else is overlooking and filling the gap.

 

Because writing and journalism go hand in hand, I try to keep an eye out for what is trending in journalism writing. Reuters, one of the world’s biggest news agencies, has released their digital news report for 2025, a snapshot on where people get their news from and who they trust to give them news. Ouch. Social Media wins out. 

Adam Tinworth drills into the data and points out how journalists have to change to cope with the emerging media tsunami.

 

In fun uplifting news, London has its first dedicated romance book store, The BBC reports. Finally, some positive reporting about this genre. Could it be because the Romance genre was behind $1billion worth of sales last year in the UK? The bookstore is loud and proud with a Smut Hut inside it. Interesting how the BBC just couldn’t bring themselves to name the bookstore.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an interesting article on the audiobook book boom and how indie authors and publishers are looking closely at KDP’s AI Virtual Voice. Is it worth doing and how do you price it for the consumer?

 

Anne R Allen has an excellent article on building inventory. This is a positive spin on not being published. I am reminded of one of our most beloved children’s authors who when an American Big Publisher saw her work at an exhibition came calling. Do you have anything else besides that story, she was asked. Margaret Mahy pulled a suitcase out from under the bed. It was stuffed with stories. 

 

Johnny B Truant has been writing lately about the Artisan Author. He has an interesting article on taking back the power over your author career. Have you really looked at who has the power? It is often not the author. So what can you do about it?

 

Savannah Cordova has an interesting article on Angela and Becca’s blog about writing what you know. She turns this familiar writing adage on its head. Know What You Write. 

 

In the Craft Section,

Different character arcs for the same character- K M Weiland Bookmark!


Do you have to use the 3 act structure?- C S Lakin


Semi colons and other punctuation- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark


The importance of conveying character- September Fawkes- Bookmark


6 cheats to tell well- September Fawkes.

 

In The Marketing Section,

5 tips for stella cover design in 2025- Savannah Cordova


10 Amazon KDP secrets- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark


Pinterest -best kept author marketing secret- Melisa Bourbon- 

Bookmark


2 Great posts from Written Word Media- Pen to camera don’t ignore YouTube and Marketing on a shoestring- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Being a kiwi… a New Zealander, I am used to seeing the Haka – often described as a Maori War chant by overseas commentators, at important events. To the outside world it is mostly seen on television at international sports matches to honour the opposition by bringing your best game. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is also performed to honour someone who has achieved great mana or made a community impact by their life and actions. School prizegivings and graduations are often punctuated by Haka from the families of students. It stops us all in our tracks. The recipient is usually in tears for the honour bestowed. The Haka is never taken for granted. Recently Elizabeth Heurgo wrote in Writer Unboxed about the passion of the Haka and how she is using it to tackle the blank page. It’s a fascinating essay linking the Haka to Literature and Booker Prize winners. Your blank page may generate the honour of a haka for your work. You just have to write. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

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

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

 

Photo by Mateusz WacĹ‚awek on Unsplash

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