Finding The Sweet Spot

In Publishing News this week,

 

What happens when a TikTok influencer tries to find a book that impacted them as a child? Publisher’s Weekly talks to the publisher of a 40 year old vocab book having another outing in the sunshine of book sales.

 

What is the biggest event this summer in the northern Hemisphere… Could be FIFA world cup… or a Swift wedding. Publisher’s Weekly reports that publisher GP Putnam have created an anthology of YA love stories based on 13 Taylor Swift songs. Swoon all the way to the bank.

 

Publishers Weekly took a walk through last week’s Beijing’s International Book Fair and noted down some of the trends that are top of mind in one of the world’s biggest countries. It’s worth noting that the government has pivoted towards a reading oriented society. An interesting article.

 

With the demise of library distributors, publishers have been trying to figure out how to help libraries get their books. Penguin Random House is working with Ingram to mine their backlist and produce Print On Demand Hard Covers of 200 PRH authors. This is interesting because back before eBooks and POD, a publishing contract could revert back to the author if the copies were out of print. Now with eBooks and POD hardbacks this means the book is never ‘out of print.’ (Authors who have large print and hardback are very library friendly. Don’t forget every format needs its own ISBN.)

 

One of the side effects of war is the destruction of a nations culture and literature. Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article on a literary movement that is trying to save the Palestinian culture. 

 

Chelle Honniker has an interesting article on where AI and copyright now stands. With various law suits underway or finished, copyright on works using AI is still fluid. It has been established that AI cannot be an author. But what about using it as a tool? 

 

Meanwhile the Book Industry Study Group is surveying the book industry in North America to see how much they are using AI. The survey is anonymous so people should be honest. This is the second year they have run this survey. I will be surprised if the the numbers haven’t increased.

 

Earlier this month I highlighted an article from James Blatch on how AI was affecting search and what it means for authors. Edie Melson has an article on how GEO and AEO affect how our websites get found by AI search engines. If you are closing your eyes and covering your ears, relax. Edie’s article is very easy to understand. (It is an important topic so don’t leave it too long before coming to grips with the subject.)

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a great essay asking what type of author you are? This is an article on author values and the way you can structure your author business. Great Reading.

 

Tawny Lara has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog on Finding your voice as a writer in the age of AI. Voice is the one thing that distinguishes you from every other writer out there and is the one thing that AI can’t really do as the algorithm smooths out writing until it is bland. Mine your own experience.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to write Found Family tropes- Rhea Dionne

Differences between anti-hero and anti-villain- Joe Yamulla- Bookmark

Tell don’t show- P J Parrish- Bookmark

Mastering microtension- CS Lakin

11 chapter endings to keep readers turning pages- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

AI prompts for Book Marketing – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Generating Buzz for your Book- Bookbaby

Simple Sample Strategy- Bookfunnel- Bookmark

The Access Marketing Funnel- Video - Alliance of Independent Authors - Bookmark

 

To Finish

I was reading Lisa Cohen’s article on Existential Dread – The Kickstarter edition and nodding away at some of the fears she expressed. The thought of telling anyone I have a book out and they might like it or God forbid asking people to back a Kickstarter, sparks a queasy feeling. Lisa talks about the need to market if you want your books read and how she survived doing a Kickstarter project even though she was way out of her comfort zone.

Marketing a book is where the hard work really is. However, there are a few lifelines out there. Check out Cassie Mannes Murray on 40 alternatives to the book event that is not a reading or conversation.

You never know you might sell a book as well.

 

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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Trying New Things

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The biggest indie author conference in Europe wrapped up this week in London.

For a roundup of topics discussed and great little ideas check out the YouTube video of one of founders of the Self Publishing Show and its podcast talking about the show…at the show.

 

Publishing Perspectives highlights a new tool for publishers created by the Green Book Alliance, a group dedicated to advancing sustainability in the publishing industry. The new tool helps publishers to calculate their carbon footprint. This could be a marketing win if used the right way.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an in-depth article about Draft2Digitals new fees and what it means for authors. If you have been on the fence this might help. (I’ve just paid my fee, as a wide author I appreciate their global reach.)

 

What do you do when you have a big backlist? You make a portion of it available for film and television people to find new projects. Simon and Schuster have just put over 6000 projects onto the Blacklist search engine for screenplays according to Publishers Weekly. Placing books on this list is only a recent development.

 

A new court case hit the news this week. This time it's academic publishers going after a sketchy outfit which ‘publishes’ access to literary and scientific journals. Of course you can draw a direct line to skull and crossbones flag. The publishers are on a roll as they have already won a court victory against other pirates.

 

Javier Celaya has an opinion piece in Publishing Perspectives about going back to school to learn about AI. He is adamant that publishing professionals need to understand at a structural level what AI can and cannot do. It should be a requirement at management level he says.

 

Jak Bazino went down the rabbit hole into a Nigerian run Book Club Scam. It starts off very slowly and what looks legit then starts to unravel. This is play by play story of how these scams operate.

Meanwhile, over on Killzone blog Debbie Burke has the ABC’s of avoiding scammers. Required reading.

 

Lucy V Hay has a great article on Angela and Becca’s writing blog about overwhelm. Sometimes this writing business can get you down and when that happens your headspace can get screwed up. She has some helpful advice for getting you out of your own head. Overwhelm can also hit your inbox so check out Lisa Normans essay on managing the inbox deluge.

 

Agent Richard Curtis has some hard advice for writers who are dreaming about writing full time. Be very careful about what you are giving up and what you expect the life to be like. This is a dose of straight talking about the writing life.

  

The Publishing Industry’s Habit of Selling and Packaging Youth, and Its Wider Impact.

If you blinked when you read that line, you need to read the essay from Faridah Àbíke Íyímídé. She writes from personal experience.

Ines Johnson has written a great marketing essay in praise of libraries. But what is even better she writes it to her book fans and tells them that she loves it if they take her book out of the library. This is marketing by acknowledging that times are tough and books are expensive. There is another way!

 

In The Craft Section,

When your characters begin to breathe- Sarah Hamer- Bookmark

How to write mythic fiction- K M Weiland

Write stronger characters for a plot driven story- September Fawkes -Bookmark

Rediscovering Creative Joy- Podcast Joanna Penn and Austin Kleon

Writing the opening scene- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

If you are uncomfortable with book marketing- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Building Local Reader Engagement- Written Word Media-Bookmark

How to check on KDP account health- Written Word Media- Bookmark

The scrapbook of publicity- Cassie Mannes Murray- Interesting essay

Learning about Book trailers- Linda Sienkiewicz

 

To Finish,

It was great to get out of the house this week and celebrate a local author at a book launch. It was a chance to catch up with my writing friends and find out what everyone is doing. 

Getting together with other writers can inspire collaborative projects that you wouldn’t do on your own. Dale Ivan Smith has a great article on Anthologies and contests. I’ve heard about fundraising anthologies and genre anthologies. Submissions to a poetry anthology are being asked for in my writing circle. I can’t write poetry for toffee but a project like this can be a low-risk way of stretching your writing or trying out a new genre. 

Dip your toe in.

 

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 Krists Luhaers on Unsplash

Searching For A Market

This week in Publishing News,

 

This week Techcrunch published an article on how publishers will be able to opt out of AI searches due to new laws in the UK. The law states that AI search engines must offer a way to opt out, but with everyone using Chat GPT for search now, is that a good thing?

 

The recent US Book show examined the big movers in publishing, AI and Audio. Publishing Perspectives reports on some of the discussions and the importance of data when making decisions.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on an Author Guild survey on why author incomes are in decline. It’s all subscriptions fault, and libraries. People are still reading. So how do we get people to pay us for our stories?

 

Reading is a social activity. That’s the latest trend. (I can hear introverts screaming right now.) Publisher’s Weekly reports on a Frankfurt Bookfair virtual event discussing the global trend of reader social engagement that is bypassing publishers.

 

Kobo’s CEO Michael Tamblyn has a feature article on Publishing Perspectives about the office discussions on whether they would publish AI books. As he writes “This AI moment… is revealing a lot about what we believe to be important.” This is an inside look at what publishing companies are wrestling with.

 

If you want to lure a kid into the library, give them Manga. That’s the popular opinion of librarians according to Publishers Weekly who went out and surveyed them. From being very niche, it is now mainstream. It’s all down to librarians who nurtured those weird kids, giving them space to read, and now Manga is for the cool kids. 

 

Mark Williams calls out the hypocrisy from publishers as they publicly bemoan the use of AI while using it in their offices. I have some sympathy for the argument. He rightly calls out the double standard and how people are losing their jobs because of AI. It’s not, our office is more efficient as our staff are using AI tools. It’s our office replacement for staff are AI tools. 

 

Which type of Social Media is best? If you have been struggling with this question the latest article from the Alliance of Independent Authors is for you. Some social media brands work better for different genres. 

 

Alexa Bigwarfe has an interesting article on writing for AI search engines. How Is Your Next Reader Finding You? The Economist is already writing articles just for search engines. She explains about new marketing search and how authors can make their book findable in all the search noise.

 

Rachel Thompson has a great article on marketing. The Absolute Best Time To Market A Book Is Before It Exists. If you are scratching your head over that, you need to read the article. Do you want your readers to remember you?

 

The Indie Author magazine has an interesting interview with Deborah Wilde about the transition from screenwriter to books, navigating the publishing world, and reinventing yourself. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Meeting reader expectations- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Do you know Why?- Kathleen McCleary- Bookmark

How to choose the right character arc- K M Weiland -Bookmark

Writing the best twist- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Interiority vs Visceral reactions-Susan Watts- Indepth article

 

In the Marketing Section,

Sending merch with ARC’s- Sandra Beckwith

A pitch is not a strategy- Kathleen Schmidt

Three leaks that are costing you- Alexa Bigwarfe- Bookmark

10 tips for setting up Direct Sales- Indie Author Mag- Bookmark

Give readers a clear way into your writing- Dan Blank- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The shortlist for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children’s and Young Adults is out. I’ve judged these awards and it’s always a thrill to see what my peers have been up to and how creative our industry is. I’m especially noting how many great books are in the Te Reo section. Ka pai. It’s going to be another tough call picking the winners!

 

I’ve been thinking about the many hats that Writers wear. We can be cheerleaders for others, marketing apprentices with our own products, researchers of obscure things, and the biggest imposter syndrome badge holders. And we write as if we are separate from all those other identities. Recently I read Mark Leslie Lefebvres essay on trying to reconnect the different sides of his author life at Stoker Con. He writes so well about our dual lives and how sometimes one life takes over and crushes the other life. Food for thought. 

May you crush all your writing demons this week!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links and other tidbits, 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.

 

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It’s All In The Algorithm

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Over the years when Summer hits the Northern Hemisphere and the publishing world goes on holiday, I have noticed that’s when publishing companies start buying each other. First up this month, Wiley have bought UK based Emerald Publishing group. Ho Hum you might say but close reading of the Publishing Perspectives article points out why they did this deal. Content, and Archive. What would need access to trusted scholarly information across the world?

 

Dan Holloway reports on the recent post from Writer Beware about Indie authors being cut out of AI copyright class actions. The new META case specifically excludes ASIN’s. It’s worth reading the full post from Writer Beware as well as Dan’s commentary.

 

After recently celebrating a win for the US Institute of Museum and Library Services, the beleaguered Institute responsible for funding libraries and museums across the nation is still battling to stay alive. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the ongoing saga to keep information services free.

 

Staying with libraries, Publishers Weekly reports on five public library organisations who are pleading with the big five publishers and digital publishing platforms to overhaul their library prices for books. Publishers have long charged an exorbitant price for a book to be in a library, and they continue that practice with eBooks. The costs have ramped up so much that libraries can’t afford the licensing fees.

 

Publishing Perspectives recently interviewed the editor of Clark’s Publishing Agreements about their latest edition. This is the bible of publisher’s legal departments, as it contains publishing contracts and legal advice as well as information on international agreements. This edition includes AI information for contracts for the first time. An edition comes out every 5 years. With the speed of change at the moment. they may want to speed up their editions.

 

I have heard of duo’s writing books, but when six young adult authors get together to collectively write a book that’s news. Publishers Weekly interviewed one of the authors to find out why and how they did it. 

 

App Sumo has its Deposit Photo deal on at the moment. This does not happen very often so if you need photos for any marketing or book covers etc, jump on this. It’s a lifetime deal for very cheap!

 

Dale Roberts pointed me in the direction of this interesting company. Spoken have just released a turnkey model to do full cast audio recordings. If you are thinking about audio books, check out their press release and pricing. They pay their voice actors and charge by project, so you don’t have to have a subscription. $20 per 5000 finished words is amazing!

 

James Blatch has an in depth essay on metadata and how this is becoming the most important way you can get your book noticed. This is an essay every author should read. Metadata doesn’t have to be put in the too hard basket. Understanding how to use it with the new search algorithms can give every author an advantage.

 

Many moons ago I had fun writing a serial novel with a group of writer friends. They pushed me to write well and ever since I’ve thought about serial novels as a fun flashback to the good old days. However, serial novels are very much alive on various sites. Matty Dalrymple has written a great essay on why she’s about to dip a toe into serial publishing. She also has great tips on how to go about it.

 

Do you remember what it was like to write your first story? How in touch are you with the writer you were then? Mark Leslie Lefebvre has a great essay on The Slow Pilgrimage To Author Success. Don’t forget why you started to write in the first place. 

 

Donald Mass has a great essay on Writer Unboxed about what makes human written fiction human?  In the age of the machines “being able to write” how do you cut across the noise and show human qualities in your fiction? He has a series of qualities to look for with prompts to help you explore your own writing.

 

In The Craft Section,

Sex scenes and curse words- James Scott Bell -Bookmark

Omniscient POV- Anne R Allen

How to write Mythic fiction – KM Weiland- Bookmark

Dealing with backstory- Janice Hardy

How to generate better story Ideas- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Facebook ads- Ines Johnson-Bookmark- (Great series on this subject)

29 whimsical Book promo ideas for July- Sandra Beckwith

Publishing online- Gale Leach- Bookmark 

The tiny detail that ruins a book- Nuria Corbi-(Important info)

Marketing, algorithms, and tropes- Terry Odell- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

There are some meaty topics in this week’s roundup. As I came to summing up the weeks theme, the word algorithm, defined as “a finite sequence of step-by-step instructions or rules designed to perform a specific task, solve a problem, or complete a computation,” got the blog title prize.

Writers need readers. Finding those readers, nurturing them, and hopefully inspiring them to become true fans of your work is the bedrock of your writing career. You can write for one person- yourself, and it’s a bonus if others follow along.  Search is changing, AI has seen to that. Understanding algorithms is now important for writers. How will your readers find you? What do you want from a Book Launch by Alexa Bigwharfe is a great reminder of when to think about your launch plan. Written Word Media’s essay on Building Local Buzz is a timely reminder that you can control the algorithm in your favour.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. Ifyou want the best of my bookmarked links and other tidbits 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.

 

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