The Writers Gift

 

In Publishing News this week,

If you have books on the Amazon store you may have received a message about an important change coming in January. Amazon will allow book downloads of ePubs and PDF’s. This is a potential hazard as one author put it. What’s to stop someone taking that PDF uploading it with another name and selling it… or using it to train an AI? Will the T’s and C’s change allowing Amazon to train Ai’s because you didn’t put a DRM on the book? A nice conundrum present for Christmas.

 

Writer Beware also flags a problematic Amazon gift. The one that introduces a chat bot into your book to help you find where you got up to in the story. This could be a breach of copyright. Publishers are reaching for contracts and lawyers. Amazon’s gifts are double edged and always in favour of the gift giver.

 

If you are an author in France, you will be celebrating as the French Publishers Association have negotiated a way to compensate authors for used book sales. Money for writers, what a present.

 

Also in the money for writer’s present mode, a new literary prize for Deaf and Disabled Writers. This is welcome news and a nice boost of sharing the love to emerging writers. Publishing Perspectives talks to the first recipient. 

 

Hachette is funding a Raising Readers campaign to encourage reading by funding class libraries and other great things to reach the younger readers. After all if we don’t encourage reading early, we won’t have adult readers. It would be nice if other publishers joined in this gift giving.

 

The American Book Fair died a lingering death over a few years ago and pretty much disappeared but now something new is coming. BookCon 2026 which has sold out already, according to Publishers Weekly. A potential gift to the publishing industry in America- their very own Bookfair.

 

The Diamond Comics fallout, or the gift that keeps on giving. It was the first news story of the year and now it’s in my last roundup for 2025. After all the court cases, the shady deals, the legal wrangling, finally they are moving to liquidate stock. Probably, says Publishers Weekly.

 

PEN America has the list of most banned books for 2025. Sigh. Not the gift you were looking for, John Green and Jodi Picoult. On the other hand, having a banned book might result in lots of sales as a backlash. 

 

Hoopla library app has been tracking the 2025 most borrowed trends. Audiobooks are up nearly 20 percent with Thrillers and Romantasy the top audio borrows. Banned books were also amongst the top borrowed books. With physical libraries suffering under book bans- there is still a way to read that ‘controversial’ book.

 

Richard Curtis has part 2 of his article on collaborations. This is where the copyright and back detail gets a close look. If you are thinking about collaborations with other authors next year – check out these articles.

 

Mark Leslie Lefebvre has an entertaining article on the author photo. I didn’t realise the lengths he would go to get the right author photo. Hilarious. A completely different way to look at author branding.

 

Sarah Brinley has an interesting article on the stress response and how you can use the Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn responses to strengthen your scenes. 

 

In The Craft Section,

What to write next- Julie Glover- Bookmark

Tech tips for organizing your novel- Kris Maze- Bookmark

Allow your characters a moment of happiness- Lesley Krueger- 

Bookmark

Using character themes to fix a scene- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Why character motivation matters- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section.

The art of the ask- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How authors can elevate their brand- Kimberley Grabas- 

Bookmark

The years best book marketing articles – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

The complete guide to Amazon optimization- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

 

This is the last roundup for the year. I feel a bit battered by the years events. Jane Friedman has written a comprehensive review article on the standout moments. You may be reaching for the eggnog after reading it.

 

Gift giving for writers always generates lists of journals and pens etc. The best gift you can give a writer is a review or a library request. Go out and talk about your favourite writers. Share the love. (My book Star Light is free in an epic mid-grade book giveaway.)

 

I will be back halfway through January 2026. I’m off to finish the bumper newsletter and find some sunscreen because its Summer down under. 

Have a fantastic festive season.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

If you have enjoyed my weekly blog this year and want to buy me a coffee or an eggnog, you will have my grateful thanks.

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Thanks.