Something To Talk About

  

In Publishing News this week

 

The news dominating the last two weeks in publishing is the fall out over the cancelled $2M book deal for Call Me I’ll Hide The Body. When the news broke, the publishing community went into a spin. First there was the bidding war among 14 editors- then there was the advance deal of $2Million! Then the agents walked away from a huge payday for them. The recriminations started. The author is maintaining innocence. 

Publishers Weekly looks at what the industry can change going forward. 

 

There has been some excellent commentary around the whole problem of publishers demanding transparency from authors while using AI in their own offices. Kathleen Scmidt wrote an excellent article on how publishers need to figure out some guidelines fast. She writes "Publishers must slow down and better assess projects they receive with hype surrounding them. It’s too easy to get blinded by dollar signs. They must also take a beat before being too reactive if a manuscript seems to have the hallmarks of AI-written material.”

There seems to be a feeding frenzy on people accused of using AI. Yes there are AI generated books but if you use any grammar program you are using AI. How much is too much? Kathleen and three other writers debated this issue recently. 

 

Parker Peevyhouse has an interesting article How Will You Prove You Didn’t Use AI to Write Your Novel. This is the new normal as we try and navigate our way through this swamp. Parker advocates talking about your work as you are writing it. (I can already see writers curling up into balls over the thought of this.) 

 

Diamond Comics are back in the news. Aside from the bankruptcy, the liquidation of assets in the warehouse that hadn’t been paid for and then the court cases about this. It has been a quiet few months. Now the small publishers in the middle of the mess have been told if they want their inventory back, they have to go to the warehouse in Mississippi, where it’s been sitting for a year, and get it or see it destroyed. Ouch.

 

Publishing Perspectives celebrated the news that 6 indigenous books from one publisher in New Zealand were selected by the International Board on Books for Young People, in their inaugural partnership with UNESCO, to highlight endangered languages. 

We are all super proud of Huia here and Oratia who had two of their books selected. (Of course I’m not going to say anything about the fact that this acknowledgement is what we were trying to highlight to our Minister for Arts and Culture. CoughBolognaCough. And it will be interesting if he shows up at next week’s National Book Awards Ceremony and mentions it. CoughnotlikelyCough. *I’mnotbitter*)

 

Overdrive wants to be the world’s digital library. Publishing Perspectives reports that they have just bought a German Digital library to add to their portfolio of library services.

 

Mark Williams looks at China’s book festival linking to the APEC leader’s economic forum. They are highlighting an APEC cultural pavilion showcasing member countries literary works. 

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors is highlighting a new scam- when your books are being sold under another authors name. They detail what you can do about it.

 

Agent Richard Curtis writes about Mortality and what happens when an agent gets the call that a writer has died. The agent is often dealing with family members who know nothing about the book industry. I recently wrote an article on this from the point of view of my family about to deal with a significant literary estate. Be Prepared is the motto.

 

Boo Walker writes about Finding Balance as a Creator, he starts by blaming Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art. (I have this excellent book) If you have set up rigid routines for yourself can you cut some slack? Or have you gone too far.

 

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is looking at websites and how important they are for marketing. Are you missing important information?

 

Donald Maass writes about the emotional state. How many emotions do you have in a day? Does your character react from an emotional state? 

 

Noah Charney writes about Surviving The Second Draft This is a great article about editing. I’ve recently watched a great author wrestle with her opening chapter in the second draft stage. In despair she threw it to her newsletter readers for help. And we pretty much followed Noah Charney’s recommendations. The opening chapter is now cracking. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Why a sagging middle needs a strong mirror moment- Diana Stout- Bookmark!

What your character notices is important- Susan Watts- Bookmark

How to make your readers forget your story isn’t real-Janice Hardy -Bookmark

Your premise is not your plot- Peter Gelfan- Bookmark

The lie the character believes- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How to developmentally edit your book- Suzy Vadori- Bookmark!

The best plot twists surprise the author first- Rick Eve- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

When should you write the next book?- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Deep dive into Draft2Digital- Dale Roberts- Bookmark

5 ways to publicise your book without spending a fortune- Stephanie Weaver -Bookmark

Why your book description feels flat and how to fix it- Morgan Lee Clasper- Bookmark

Expand your reach- Harshini Fernado- Bookmark

The invisible art of formatting- Susan Odev-Bookmark

 

To Finish

You know the dreaded words- “Tell me about your book.” You freeze and your mind goes blank. You wrote the blessed thing and now you can’t talk about it. Dan Blank has a great article Help Readers Know How to Talk About Your Writing where he does a deep dive into an author illustrators work and figures out what the core messages are. If you can figure out your emotional theme, then you have something to talk about.

 

Apologies for no blog last week. We lost the internet and that meant no blog research. It was a good wakeup call on how we have come to depend on this form of communication. You have extra links to make up for it. 

 

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.

 

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Creating A Reading Community

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

Publishers Weekly highlighted the changes that the Association of American Literary Agents have been making to their charter- namely allowing agents to start charging for editorial and publicity services. The association is calling it modernization to reflect all the hats agents are now wearing. There is a caveat from the association, they should not charge the author for representation. However, this could be a slippery slope warns Jane Friedman. She lays out her objections to this latest move.

 

Mark Williams highlights the court response in India to the Ani Media vs Open AI case that has been winding its way through the courts there. The judge has ruled that training AI on copyrighted works is fair use. However, Open AI’s argument that overseas laws don’t affect it because its business is on American servers was thrown out. 

Mark examines the implications to publishers now that another court case has not backed up their claim.

 

Staying with court cases for a moment, Hachette have published their half yearly earnings reports Publishing Perspectives. They are predicting solid earnings based on the expected money from the Anthropic court case which is in the multi millions. They are the first of the big publishers to publish what they hope to get out of the settlement.

 

Simon and Schuster have opened a new imprint. Digital first, 50% royalties. Open to everyone to submit. Commercial fiction only. They are hoping to grab all those bestselling eBooks from independent publishers. If they get a winner, they will sign them up to print.

 

Having a family member in the research science community, I try to keep an eye on academic publishing. The academic publishers rake in money hand over fist. Researchers pay to get their article reviewed then pay for publication. Along the way they have to peer review for free. The academic journals are locked behind expensive paywalls that their own universities have to pay to access so they can see what their researchers have done. Cambridge University Press is changing all that. They are making their journals open source, Publishing Perspectives reports. This might be the first shot in the academic publishing revolution. 

 

Karin Gillepie examines what the bestselling books of all time have in common and what authors can learn from them. No surprise that dystopia had the most bestsellers on the list. How can you bring a new twist to this genre?

 

Can you revise or retire a published book? Roz Morris answers this question with a great article on The Alliance of Independent Authors blog. When do you need to use a new ISBN? Roz links to other articles that explain what to do in more depth. 

 

Edie Melson has a great list of guidelines that help her stay grounded as a writer. I was particularly struck by number 16. Refuse to write from fear. Edie lists the ways fear can derail us even when we don’t think we are afraid. Bookmark this article. Discuss it in your writing groups. 

 

Terah Shelton Harris wrote an article on Writer Unboxed that resonates with every author. How To Write A Good Book. This is the core question every writer faces, along with How will I know when the story is good enough? We all have doubt when it comes to our writing. Terah has some interesting advice to help you. Lean into the ambitious idea- you might just be on to something. 

 

When was the last time you read a book that gave you an emotional gut punch? Did you feel manipulated by the author? Kim Bullock writes about emotional turning points on Writer Unboxed. Ditch The Melodrama to Pack More Punch. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Story landmarks to keep the reader engaged – Lisa Miller

Your first sentence makes the promise- Ines Johnson- Bookmark

Where to end chapters – September Fawkes- Bookmark

Writing flawed characters- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Manuscript surgery – Terry Odell- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

10 Unorthodox marketing ideas- Dale Roberts - Bookmark

How inaccurate genre labels affect a books visibility- Ellen Buikema- Bookmark

9 signs it’s time to hire a publicist- Penny Sansevieri

How to be a successful children’s book author- Kim Norman

How to grow your newsletter without losing your creative soul- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

 

To Finish

The Guardian has an article on Celebrity Book Clubs. Is it now cool to read? It seems to be cool to sell the merch with the book club branding. The celebrities are tapping into the book community. Finding your community and making space for them. Tasmina Perry writes about this in her article I Went to the Harrogate Crime Festival and Saw the Future of Publishing. Your greatest support are other writers and the fans of your writing. The most successful writers have created communities for their fans. 

Last week I mentioned the explosive rise in Romantasy bookstores. Today reported in our national news was the opening of a Muslim bookstore. The first one of its kind in the country. The customers reported that it was a place of community where the children could see books that featured them. The importance of reader communities helps to keep book sales up, which fuels the writer to create, and inspires more readers. A beautiful loop of positivity.

I was sad to miss Trish Harris’s book launch, Out of The Box- 25 Deaf and Disabled Artists, Activists, and Adventurers from Aotearoa New Zealand. It is the first of its kind in New Zealand and the launch brought together so many people who had never seen themselves reflected in a book. The power of representation is immense and writers who build this community and make a positive difference are superheroes. 

 

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 free Substack version.

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

 

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash