In Publishing News This Week,
This week publishers were celebrating a win with a court ruling in their favor over a pirate site. It’s a tiny win of $19M compared to the Anthropic payout but we take the wins when we can get them in 2026.
The Sharjah Publishers Conference brought together nearly 2000 publishers from 128 countries in early November. Publishing Perspectives has a deep dive into the importance of the fair and how this tiny Emirate has become a world force in publishing.
In the last decade, Shajah's innovation and networking, along with Publishing City has made the publishing world take notice. When publishers ask me what my recommendations are I tell them to look at Sharjah and India for inspiration and networking.
It seems like once a decade I am reporting on publishing experiments that tease a whole media world of interactivity. Publishers Weekly reports on Stone Kites experiment of building a universe and adding installments across media to create reader experiences. This is based firmly in Lit RPG territory with the success of Dungeon Crawler Carl books. Think games, anime, books….
Meanwhile, Mark Williams is reporting on the huge growth in Japanese Anime and the boon it has been for Japanese publishers and the Japanese economy. They are ramping up to exploit all the IP they can with merch and tie in’s.
The recent changes and rebranding of Kindle Unlimited to Kindle + have taken authors by surprise. The Kindle Unlimited model now has audio books vying for that page read money. The Weekend Publisher has a deep dive into what it means for authors publishing on Amazon and what you need to do now.
Publishing Perspectives reports on the recent Neilsen report on Metadata and sales.
I know that you are going to skip this paragraph…because the topic sounds boring but metadata is becoming very important for discoverability, especially now. Read the article to understand why. Check out Dan Holloways post on the report and if you have time, jump into the widget to read it.
Rachel Thompson has an article on love bombing scams that are getting even more sneaky. These scams are increasing and many authors are getting caught out. They start by specifically praising aspects of your book like a fan and then… they ask for money. Engaging with them can become terrifying.
Darcy Pattison has an interesting article on the power of paperbacks for children. She breaks down the implications and costs of hardcover and paperback printing.
Meanwhile, J.J. Johnson writes about the death of the long middle grade book. Just what is the word count sweet spot these days for children’s books?
Craig Martelle is also writing about the importance of paperbacks in your publishing business. The size matters. Different sizes convey different expectations. Ask any collector who discovers that the publisher has changed the size in the middle of a series.
Writers in the Storm have two great articles this week. Lisa Norman writes about Writer Self Doubt and Pattie Hulstrand writes on the Decline of Creativity. We need to play as if we were five.
Rachel Toalson has an interesting article on Masking While Writing. Do you give your characters quirks that you have? How much of yourself is revealed in the characters you write?
In The Craft Section,
Preparing yourself for draft feedback- Suzy Vadori
Believable Character Arcs- K M Weiland- Bookmark
12 quiet writing lessons- Kristina God- Bookmark
7 questions to ask before you start the next novel- Jillian Forsberg
When writing discipline becomes self punishment- Marni Freedman-Bookmark
In The Marketing Section
How to avoid the early launch trap- Jeff Toka
Is Substack good for authors- Dale Roberts- Bookmark
Tracking Expenses- Craig Martelle- Bookmark
The introverted authors guide to marketing- Abigail Monti- Bookmark
What professional marketers should be doing – Penny Sansevieri
To Finish
Black Friday deals are starting. Pro Writing Aid has a roundup of all the deals for writers on offer. InfoStack has a masters vault of courses and books and don’t forget Storybundle – their bundle of writing craft books finishes at the end of November.
As I write this Author Nation (the world’s biggest author conference) is happening in Las Vegas. All the vendors are there and there will be author business overwhelm happening for some writers. Mark Lefevbre has a great article on how to cope with the fire hose of information at a writer’s conference.
Information can be overwhelming. You don’t have to do everything. Treat it like a box of chocolates. Ration your attention, money, and appetite. Don’t forget to enjoy the creativity taste along the way.
Maureen
@craicer
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Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash
