Hard Learned Lessons

In Publishing News This Week

 

If you have been anywhere on publishing social media this week you will have seen the news that Hachette employees are attempting to unionise. Publishers Weekly writes why they have taken this step.

 

Book manufacturing is in for a shake up according to a report from The Book Manufacturers Institute. The increasing uncertainty of getting books printed in China into the Northern Hemisphere market in time for release dates have publishers looking at alternatives. Is this the end of offset printing? 

 

Has anyone ever looked at small press sales and wondered if they are sitting on quiet goldmines? One HarperCollins exec did, left HC and set up a website dashboard to track sales. Publishers Weekly interviewed Jim Hanas and asked why? The answers are interesting if you are thinking of setting up a small press.

 

Publishing Perspectives dives into the Book Industry Study Groups Survey on AI in Publishing. The survey highlighted significant areas of concern – the list makes grim reading. Now that the publishing industry has been exposed as the Authors Guild pointed out, (covered in last weeks blog) will anything change?

 

Penguin Random House are pushing the boat out with books from three different imprints to take advantage of a new tv series. This is what authors dream of when they sign their rights away. The Publishing House has all these rights and never uses them. PRH is doing some significant world building and expecting a cash cow from Baldur’s Gate.

 

Michael Cairns has written an interesting essay on Publishing Perspectives about the changing power dynamic that AI is forcing on publishers. I was looking for a quote to explain the essay but there are so many I think you should read it instead. It should be required reading for publishers.

 

Reedsy have discovered an elaborate scam where the scammers went to the trouble to copy their website. Being Reedsy they show exactly what happened in a 10 minute video from their founder who attempted to contact the scammers. 

 

Literary Agent, Erin Niumata, has also been dealing with scammers impersonating her and other Lit Agents. Among other warning signs she reiterates that reputable agents will never charge reading fees. Always check the website emails. Always ring and talk to the company is my advice. Although if you check the Reedsy video- you could be talking with a scammer so don’t use the phone number from their website. Find another way.

 

Richard Curtis writes about the role Literary agents play in the emotional support of the writer on his latest Inside Agenting blog. He recounts a twenty five year old story (that has echoes to a story last month) with tragic consequences to the writer involved.

 

Rachel Thompson has an essay on the ten lessons her cat taught her about writing. They are really lessons about life as well as the craft of writing.

 

Katie Weiland is running her annual matchup with a writing buddy over on Helping Writers Become Authors. 

Don’t forget about Storybundle if you want exclusive writing craft books for a low price. (In last weeks blog.)

 

Have you thought about writing your story for a different audience? Yasmin Agoe thought writing monsters for Young Adults would be just like her writing for adults. How wrong she was. It taught her to write better, she says on Writing Unboxed.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Why stories need both the hero and the heroine’s journey- Susan Watts- Bookmark

Writing Good Prose- The Alliance of independent authors – Updated.

Guide to keeping conflict on the page-Jeanne Kisacky- Bookmark

Write authentic emotion- Angela Ackermnan- Bookmark

Writing slice of life with the Kishotenketsu method- September Fawkes

 

In The Marketing Section,

Where should I sell my book?- Sandra Beckwith

Kindlepreneur adds a Kindle page count royalty calculator on their Tools page. Bookmark this for all the free tools!

Preparing to leave Social Media- Interesting essay from Claire Taylor

Kevin Tumlinson on building a direct sales shop - video

The 3 frameworks of successful bookmarketing-Author Gold- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Mark Lefebvre has written an essay in praise of Indie bookstores. As an ex-bookseller he knows the importance of repeat customers. How are you supporting your local bookstore? Do they know you? Are you only there to talk about your books. Do you support them in other ways? This is a thoughtful post to celebrate Indie Bookstore day… which should be every day.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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

 

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

The More Things Change…

18 years...  

In Publishing News this week,

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on The Authors Guild statement condemning publishers indiscriminate use of AI. Editors have been loading manuscripts and author personal information into AI with no security guardrails and compromising authors. Hopefully they will address the concerns. (I won’t hold my breath.) This issue highlights something I have been thinking about. Writers and Illustrators work has been scraped to train AI so when a publisher checks whether AI has been used and the answer comes back yes how can you trust the answer? Kathleen Schmidt has written about this - Can We Trust Book Publishing To Tell Us The Truth?

 

Meanwhile, there is an update on the Anthropic Court Case for people following this. The payout numbers are fluctuating, and everyone is waiting on the hearing in May.

 

Penguin Random House likes to get spot new talent and every year they have a competition for cover designers to reimagine a couple of their classic titles. They have just announced their 2026 winners. An interesting view of changing styles in cover design.

 

Mark Williams has an eye on publishing news across the world. He reports on the first Indigenous Literary Congress and Book Fair. It is about to get underway in May run by the Dayak People of Indonesia. 

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on the findings from the 150 page report, Books in Translation: Trends and Transformations in the European Publishing Market. With the rise in adoption of AI translation what does it mean for translators today? This is an interesting article and a guide on what will separate out the best from the rest.

 

The case of the new fees at Draft2Digital continues to rage and now Barnes and Noble have instituted a minimum low price on print books being sold on their platform. These are all ways to combat an onslaught of AI written sludge from scammers. Rachel Morton offers another perspective of why you should be happy with the new fees. Food for thought here.

 

Richard Curtis explains the role of Royalty Managers in Publishing and how this role developed. This is also the area where the biggest frauds against authors happen and once you read how royalties work you will understand why. It all has to do with Book Returns. (This is a contentious subject. Publishers created this system in the depression to keep bookstores open. So do we need a 100 year old model which encourages unsustainable printing practices in 2026?)

 

Jane Friedman has an interesting essay on Librarians and how they may be seen as ‘arbiters of reality’ in the future. Already they are the most trusted humans. In this age of fake and AI, we need these important people. Share this essay around!

 

Joanna Penn has been mining her vast collection of author interviews and has another deep dive information article, this time on Kickstarters. If you have been wondering how to go about planning a Kickstarter campaign, check out this comprehensive article.

 

Tasmina Perry has an interesting blog on creativity. This week she was looking at lessons from the past and how we can reframe them to boost our creativity now.

Emilie Noelle Provost has an essay on Writer Unboxed on four ways you can recharge your creativity. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Why your story is important- Jenny Hansen- Bookmark

Fear or the fatal flaw- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Give your characters serious challenges- Jonelle Patrick- Bookmark

How to write when it feels hard- Jill Boehme- Bookmark

Turning point vs Plot Point- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

The sales conundrum- Kathleen Schmidt- Great Essay

The introverts guide to quiet marketing- Kristina God

Substack vs Blogs- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

2 great articles from Penny Sansevieri- Updated Goodreads for Authors and Book Promotion ideas–- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Today is World Book Day and if you want a quick history of the book check out Kay DiBianca from the Killzone blog who has a great list article on the evolution of the book.

 

Kristine Rusch has curated a new Writing Craft Book Bundle. She contacted all the authors and asked if they wanted to produce updated versions of their writing craft books based on the challenges facing writers today. An excellent collection and exclusive to Storybundle so grab the bargains and feel good about paying the authors directly and supporting a great charity as well.

 

This week The Craicer Blog turns 18. That's 18 years of watching this crazy industry and trying to understand it. The view from my desk is that the more you can show that you are human and worth listening to, or reading, the more you will appear authentic in this age of AI. 

I would like to thank all the people who have been reading the weekly blog from the beginning- yes that’s my Kidlit people in New Zealand, who know me in person, but also readers from around the world who have only met me through the blog or by email. In the beginning publishing news and ideas took 18 months to filter down as change in the New Zealand publishing scene. Now it’s less than a month and change is felt everywhere. But my corner remains unchanged over here in the publishing blogosphere. 

Thank you for continuing to drop into the blog and sharing it with your friends. I’ll continue to shine a light into the jungle of publishing, older and greyer but still interested in this crazy industry.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

If you want to celebrate with me on 18 years you can donate to my coffee fund here. I appreciate all coffee blog love. Thank you.

 

It will soon be newsletter time so if so 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 free Substack version.

Thanks.