I have been thinking about all the predictions made last
year as to what the big changes will be in publishing. Remember how Audio was
predicted to be the next big mover. Last month Draft2Digital introduced a
partnership with Findaway voices and today Kobo launched their audio selling arm. This is competition for Audible, an Amazon company, because Kobo audio
monthly subscriptions are very cheap.
While you are looking at Kobo check out their writing life
podcast. This is a podcast specifically for authors by authors on what’s
working or not, like this one- Five strategies for free.
Publishing Perspectives are always interesting to dip into.
There are interesting articles that look at publishing as a whole. One article
recently caught my eye- Richard Charkin on how the publishing industry has become overcomplicated. Richard makes some good points on region copyright and
then he raises the idea that publishing doesn’t need Barnes and Noble.
Another article from Publishing Perspectives has Porter Anderson interviewing Gabriella Page-Fort, recently named a Publishers Weekly
‘Superstar.’ Gabriella heads up Amazon Crossing, which has become the biggest
producer of translated material in the US. So what’s happening in the
translation market? Gabriella sees lots of opportunities.
This week a plaintive post from a creative about his bank struck a chord with a lot of people. If you run your business online have you
thought what would happen if the bank pulled your account over an error. Banks
can be over zealous with online business’ and one creative got caught. I’m
highlighting this as many writers have an online business. If you think it
won’t affect you... I hope you don’t have monthly subscriptions for websites or
get paid directly into your bank account...
Do you call yourself a writer? When did you finally admit to
yourself that YES you are a writer. One writer made the leap and noticed five things happened that she wasn’t expecting.
David Gaughran is a crusader for writers. He’s like the
squeaky wheel that points out the scammers and the less than great service form
the big publishing companies. After all they are competing with each other, you
want great service. (Honestly Amazon, put the guy on retainer to clean up your
click farm scammers.**) Here he takes a cool look at the new hot author tool-Amazon ads. Can they be done differently?
Dean Wesley Smith had an interesting blog post today on the value of the paper-back. I bet you are all nodding and saying yes. But Dean is
talking about the second hand book market. (Bet you didn’t see that coming!)
Anne R Allen has a great post on 7 new writer mistakes and
it’s not just new writers that make them. Check out the list and be warned.
In The Craft Section,
Boba Fetts guide to writing cool characters- Dave Chesson
6 tips for taking inspiration from history- Mythcreants-
Bookmark
When you hate to outline- try doing a date line- Barbara
Petoskey
The reason why you aren’t happy with your novel – Daniel
Nathan
Using a novel journal- James Scott Bell - Bookmark
Story conflict- Janice Hardy -Bookmark
Writing secondary characters- Jane Friedman – Bookmark
13 writing lessons from 13 reasons why- Jennie Nash
In The Marketing Section,
How authors can use Instagram- Joanna Penn - Bookmark
Book marketingbasics- Molly Greene- Bookmark
How to set up anauthor exhibition stand- Bookmark
10 low budget ways to market- Draft2Digital
Opt in gifts and lead magnets- Bookmark
Book Cover templates- Canva
How to title your non fiction book- Jody Rein & Michael Larson
Quick guide to launching your next release- Penny Sansevieri
To Finish,
As
you can see the blog has had a few tweaks. I have also been playing around with
another test site to try things out on. Chic Geek put together 25 great Branding and Design tools you must really check out. It’s spring... time to
spring clean your websites.
** And in news just to hand: Amazon are taking some people to court! YAY
Maureen
@craicer
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