This week has felt like a year. The protest marches in solidarity with the BLM movement have gone around the world. Again, questions are being asked of the publishing industry about how diverse they really are? Author Celeste Ng is sponsoring publishing internships to help address the lack of diversity in publishing and is calling on other authors to speak up.
Meanwhile, Frances Caballo has written a great blog post on using a variety of races in your social media posts. Have you taken a look at your default colour perspective? Can you lead by example?
Here in New Zealand, the news today was the announcing of the shortlist for the New Zealand Children’s and Young Adults Book Awards. It was a great moment when I counted up that our biggest Maori Language publisher had scooped the most finalists. As a former judge, I know how hard it is to get our indigenous language books published at all. I am happy to see so many great stories getting their moment in the sun. It is also neat to see the new breadth of Indie publishing houses popping up. Now we just need to promote them!
Kristine Rusch looks at the background of book promotion and muses about the death of the traditional book promotion. What do we do now?
Dean Wesley Smith, (Kris Rusch’s other half) goes further and takes a critical look at whether Traditional Publishing has moved on at all.
In global publishing news, The New Publishing Standard is taking a critical look at the Frankfurt Bookfair. The big publishers are running away- Can the book fair really carry on?
Publishing Perspectives have got the numbers for what happened in publishing in Europe over the last four months or so. Who knew that reading habits formed during lockdown are still continuing as everybody struggles out the other side? Non-Fiction is a winner in the reading stakes.
Joanna Penn has added another article on the basics of an author presence. This is turning into a nice little series of solid practical advice.
If you are struggling with distractions that get in the way of writing take a look at the fabulous tactics from the Prolifico writing coaches.
Ruth Harris has a must read post on patience and persistence being the key to the writing life. This post is resonating with a lot of writers. Take a look and inhale the goodness.
In The Craft Section,
Protagonist vs Nemesis – the key to conflict- Scott Myers- Bookmark
Story feedback, free and paid options- Angela Ackerman
100 questions to evaluate your manuscript- September Fawkes- Bookmark!
How to transform memories into memoir- C S Lakin
Ask yourself WHY- Terry Odell- Bookmark
How to craft a one-page synopsis using beats- Sue Coletta-Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
To Market To Market to sell a fat book- PeggySue Wells
Grow a more fertile author platform- Eldred Bird- Bookmark
How to use eye dropper for consistent brand colours- Sandra Beckwith
How to make your book marketing more effective- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
Using keywords in your kindle description – Dave Chesson – Bookmark
Who knew there was a national mud day? Unique content ideas for June – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
To Finish,
I was thinking a few days ago about how often authors have to perform for marketing purposes. Children’s authors are particularly saddled with this. They are invited to Book Fairs only to entertain children, not really to talk about their work or process. It is hard to switch on the performer when for most of the year you are in your own head. Scott Myers has a great post on Pitching- which is about finding your in-public persona that can take over and pitch the story. Find the courage to step out of the comfort zone and act the performer to promote your ideas. Be Like Bowie!
A note about the picture above.
This was taken at a Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis over the death of Eric Garner in 2014. Eric’s last words as he was held down by police in an arm lock around the throat- ‘I can’t breathe’. Sadly, six years and many more deaths later the story repeats again. Same actions. Same words. This time George Floyd died in Minneapolis. There are worldwide protests this time. It is past time for a change in the treatment and value of the lives of all people of colour.
Maureen
@craicer
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