In Publishing News this week,
I always tell writers that if they want to know what’s coming check out what the romance industry is doing. They are always ahead of the curve. So I was surprised when I read that Harlequin are discontinuing historical romances after forty years. Publishers Weekly looks into the reasons why. Have eBooks replaced mass market paperbacks?
Publishing Perspectives reports on research findings in Italy that suggest that piracy accounts for one third of the book publishing market. This is a shocking statistic, and the publishers have gone in depth to find out where and how it is happening that they have lost so many sales.
If it’s happening in Italy, a sophisticated publishing market, what is happening elsewhere?
Recently the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators held their winter conference in New York. There was an interesting panel discussion from Editors and Agents talking trends in children’s books. Humour is on the wish list.
Writing Australia has some money to play with and they want to invite small Australian publishers to spend it. Be still my heart. If only we had such nice things here. There is a dedicated travel fund to get to the bookfairs and other goodies.
Eleven Labs audiobook company recently held their summit in London at the same time as the Independent Publishers Guild. Publishing Perspectives reports that both conferences talked about AI voices. Eleven Labs is moving beyond just audio books and into voice anywhere.
Publishers Weekly reports that the Minnesota Booksellers are not being nice to the ICE agents in their city. They are actively running campaigns to support the victims and harass the agents. It’s all part of the community service.
Mark Williams has a deep dive article into the merging of audiobook and eBook and how disruptive this technology is. Amazon has just launched their Immersion Reading feature. We are seeing the merging of book formats. Mark examines the rise of audio for populations that are illiterate. He knows first hand the struggles of access to literacy. He teaches in an isolated school in the poorest country in Africa.
Sara Hildreth has been looking at her reading strategy. In the midst of change she has found herself reading differently. She offers four shifts in focus that are helping her enjoy her reading more while navigating through family chaos.
Rachel Thompson has an interesting article on why We Can’t focus Anymore. The Hidden Cost of our Attention Economy. She offers a few strategies to cope. First, just breathe.
Gabriela Pereira has an article on time management. It’s not about time it’s about priorities and setting goals. This is something that I have been trying to do in my own life lately.
Dave King writes about the perfect novel. In his opinion it is Pride and Prejudice. He writes that in his forty years as an editor he finds it hard to read for pleasure, but he was recently reading P&P out loud and thought- this is the perfect novel. He looks at the way Jane Austen got it right.
In The Craft Section,
Are you making these four mistakes?- Anne R Allen- Bookmark
How not to write your novel- James Scott Bell- Bookmark
Which point of view should you use- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark
Let’s be clear- Grammar fix its.- Jim Dempsey- Bookmark
Four act structure- K M Weiland-Comprehensive- Bookmark!
In the Marketing Section,
A 5 star email experience- Ines Johnsen- Bookmark
28 whimsical holidays for March- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
Voice options for do it yourself audio books- Indie Author Mag- Bookmark
Why writers need multiple practical marketing strategies- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
The submission package - Michelle Barker- Bookmark
To Finish
I have been busy writing long nonfiction articles. They are going to be appearing here over the next three weeks while I am traveling. I will try to pop in and check comments.
I hope you will find the articles useful. I started this blog to educate myself in publishing and along the way it has taken on the structure you know and (hopefully) love. I don’t write deep dive articles often, so if you like my wild viewpoints let me know and I might consider doing it more often for you.
Ciao
Maureen
@craicer
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