Re-inventing The Publishing Wheel

 

 

In Publishing News this week.

Another week another lawsuit. This time it’s the textbook authors who are heading into court over the wholesale copying of their books to feed the AI machine. Meanwhile, second hand book sellers are getting unusual requests for large orders of old books and lo and behold they are ending up in scanning facilities. AI tells me it’s because books written before 2022 haven’t been written with AI so aren’t contaminated with false information. But that was an AI précis. So it could be wrong.

 

Harper Collins is the latest publisher to launch a manga imprint. Publishers Weekly reports they made the announcement in the week of the American Manga Awards. 

They will be developing stories specifically for girls as well as boys.

 

I had a moment of staring into the future and swearing when I read this news article from Publishers Weekly. Source Books has a new imprint to bring out middle grade books with shorter word counts but new formats so that they look like regular length middle grade fiction books. It’s because of attention spans, they say. Putting on my teacher hat for a moment. Children need to be encouraged to read longer form stories. It helps with attention span, learning new words and concepts, brain connectivity, mental creativity… I could go on and on. Yes, reading is under threat, but watering down the experience is not the answer.

 

Mark Williams reports on Indie Bookstore Day plans in Singapore. This will be their first year and they want to celebrate the community building nature of the Indie Bookstore. They have plans to collectively publicise their events and then make it into a treasure hunt. A great initiative. 

 

Dan Holloway reports on the collapse of the Self Publishing Partnership company which helped authors to distribute their books through Gardners. Obviously, authors are left in the dark and wondering where their money is. I agree with Dan that transparency is always the first casualty in a company collapse.

 

Publishing Perspectives has an interview with Jenny Kuehne the rights manager of the new Frankfurt Rights platform for the Frankfurt Book Fair. This is a platform set up to support rights trading year round with a new initiative called Instant Permissions. 

 

Finding your people is the key to book marketing says Emilie Noelle Provost. When selling books is the make or break for writers to get a second book deal it can be an uphill struggle. Instead of a scatter gun approach, a narrow focus might work wonders.

 

I was reading this article by Sarah Sally Hamer on writers and creativity and nodding away. How many of us start a project and have our brain supply unwanted advice as we get to grips with the story. Writing : A Room of Mischievous Interns

 

Have you backed up your manuscript lately? Derek Haines writes about the fool proof method of saving your manuscript in different formats and in different places. If you rely on one format what if it gets corrupted?

 

Tracey Cooper Posey has an excellent article on dusting off those short stories and doing something with them. She talks about rights, and collections, and translations. Just because you published the story doesn’t mean its life is over. 

 

In the Craft Section,

The Quest-Laurie Schnebly Campbell

Sharpening your dialogue- K M Weiland _ Bookmark

Common writing mistakes- Angela Ackerman

Fast drafting- Podcast Interview with Jessica Brody of Save the Cat Writes a Novel.- Bookmark

Choosing Your Opening Scene- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

Changes to Facebook ads - James Blatch- Bookmark

Using local publicity- Sandra Beckwith

Newsletter tips- Ines Johnson - Bookmark

2 great posts from Indie Author Magazine -The secrets of custom printing and Solid pre-launch 

strategies - Bookmark

 

To Finish

What does your writing eco system look like? Are you trapped in a one book dream? Laura Mitchell has an excellent article on writing careers that are not straight lines. These writing eco systems can open up other side projects that make you even more creative than plowing your way through book after book. You never know where your writing eco system could take you.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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The Writer Roller Coaster

In Publishing News This Week

 

Oh Meta, we know what you have done and now the courts know it too. 

The next AI scraping court case gets underway. Rumours are swirling that Mark Zuckerberg knew that they were using stolen files to train their AI. This court case is wider in scope than the Anthropic case. Publishing Perspectives has an overview of this case. There are now over 100 court cases pending on AI training irregularities.

 

This week children’s publisher Chronicle opens their submission box for un-agented submissions. One week only. You only have a few days, so check it out fast if you have something good. 

Publishing Perspectives reports that The Children’s Booker Award is open for submissions. This is the first time that the Children’s Booker prize will be awarded. And it has the same amount of prize money. We are finally legit, said every children’s writer. 

 

Staying with children’s writing, Recent news has highlighted the downturn in reading for pleasure amongst children. This could be because of screens, or it could be the undermining of reading by spending too much time on literacy achievements in school. Speaking as a teacher- My favourite times were reading to classes. When I speak with young teachers now, they say they are under so much pressure that they have stopped reading to their class. Mark Williams weighs in with his latest essay, Harper Collins and the Reading Crisis. 

 

Children’s writers have to maintain a squeaky clean persona so it was with real dismay that we learned down under of a children’s writer who has pled guilty to child exploitation. The violated trust is sending shock waves through the community. In the midst of all this are the books that have been enjoyed by countless children. How do you explain to children that their favourite author has been so nasty?  It’s enough to turn them off reading.

 

Publishers Weekly has an essay on How Chic Lit lost its footing. This looks at how ‘Chic Lit’ inspired films and has morphed into contemporary women’s fiction. 

Every time I see the patronising term ‘Chic Lit’ I remember a pithy comment from a writer friend that all those male gaze thrillers were just ‘Dick Lit.’ But of course, they would never be marketed as such would they?

 

Rise -The International Bookselling Conference was recently held in Verona and under discussion was the role Booksellers are playing in an increasingly dangerous world of attacks on free speech. Some of these booksellers were putting their lives on the line to stay open and create safe places for readers and writers.

 

Kathleen Schmidt has an interesting essay, Is Substack The New Book Tour. Kathleen is a book publicist, and she comments on the new trends that she sees in Book Promotion. Lately Substack has been talked about because of Lena Dunham’s memoir being featured quite heavily on book review pages.

 

After the roller coaster of emotions from this publishing news roundup you can be forgiven for feeling a little fragile. Katie Weiland has written about The Emotional Toll On Writers In The Modern Landscape. She has five ways to cope with the oversaturation of being constantly available.

 

Liz Adams has a fun essay on Anne R Allen’s blog about Writing Page Turners. It all has to do with secrets and who knows what secret each character is keeping. 

Sssh Don’t Tell Anyone but this is a really good advice! 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Restarting old projects- Joe Lallo

Seeing your work clearly when editing- Susan Odev- Bookmark

Fear, phobias, and your characters- Angela Ackerman

Transitions- how often are you asking your readers to jump- Seth Harwood- Bookmark

Crafting deep scenes- Donald Maass- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

Author fairs – The hidden benefits- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Fiction Lead magnet ideas- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Nicholas Erik on Facebook ads- Video. (Sign up for his excellent newsletter.) Bookmark

How Indie authors can build anthologies- Wendy Van Camp

Publishing in German- Joanna Penn interview with Skye Mackinnon- Excellent

 

To Finish

This is the last week that you can get the Storybundle of writing books. Kris Rusch asked the contributors in January if they had updated their popular books on craft and marketing in light of recent developments in publishing. The whole collection are updated exclusives to this Storybundle collection. I bought my first writing Storybundle about seven years ago and I remember devouring some of these books on a road trip. The beauty of Storybundle is that you get the digital files immediately and you can read them on any device- They are yours to keep. The authors get paid immediately and a percentage of your donation goes to charity. You can choose just to get 3 books for a modest charge or donate more money to get the whole lot. Check it out and share it among your writer friends. You don’t want to miss out.

 

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.

 

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Who Owns Your ideas?

 

 

In Publishing News this week.

 

Calling all writers who have been caught up in the Anthropic AI mess. The lawyers in the legal case against Anthropic want your name for a class action. If you have had books pirated, this is your must read article from Publishers Weekly. Act quickly you don’t have much time.

 

Mark Williams is also highlighting the case against Open AI in India. They are in the Indian courts trying to prove fair use. These big court cases are being watched by countries around the world. Copyright and AI use, every country has to make a decision over their meaning.

 

I try to have balanced viewpoints on AI in the blog. This is an interesting post from Mythcreants about not falling for AI. There are some good points here. Be very sure why you might use AI. It can be a useful tool but it shouldn’t do the creative work.

 

Publishers and educators advocating for freedom to read are cheering. They have received a positive judgement on the book banning that has been happening in Florida schools. The judge agrees with them. Hopefully this will start the ball rolling the right way in other states. Meanwhile Book Riot have some resources for people trying to navigate the supreme court decision on allowing parents to opt out of school programmes. 

 

The Diamond Comic Distributors case is taking another twist. At issue, the assets. Liquidators want a fire sale of the comics, but Diamond doesn’t own them and a Judge made that ruling. Bankruptcy law, if the item is sitting in your warehouse, then it’s an asset regardless of who actually owns it.

 

The Nordic countries are often held up as the model everyone should follow for happiness and lifestyle. Denmark is suffering a literacy crisis just like everyone else. They have a great way to promote book reading. Make it cheaper!

 

Agent Richard Curtis has an interesting article on Clout. When agents have it and what it actually means. 

 

James Scott Bell responds to an email saying that his book deserves to reach a larger audience. I got one just like it last week. The AI scams are alive and well. He discusses the difference between the terms writer and author. Apparently, they mean different things.

 

Barbara Linn Probst has an interesting post on Writer Unboxed. Are you a planned writer or a summoned writer? Just where do your ideas come from? 

 

Lesley Krueger has an interesting article on her response to a viral post of hers. Why I won’t chase the post that went viral. This is about authentic writing and figuring how to engage with readers without selling your soul.

 

How do you manage your Zone of Proximal Development? Jenny Hansen has a great post on the magic zone where all your learning takes place. This is where seeking the right kind of help in your writing can accelerate your craft learning.

 

In The Craft Section,

Character healing from an emotional wound- Angela Ackerman

5 conflict management styles- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 tips to enhance your story atmosphere- Nick Bailey- Bookmark

The power of dialogue- C S Lakin

How to use iteration in your writing- Gabriela Pereira-Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section 

How to maximize the return on your newsletter- Linda Dunn

Book Marketing tips- Mindset Joanna Penn – Podcast excerpt- Bookmark

How net galley makes your book more visible- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to get more of the right readers- Sandra Beckwith

How to build a reader funnel- Written Word Media – Bookmark

 

To Finish

Roger Hyttinen has a great post on the 16 things that writers love. I laughed when I read number seven as I had just done it. One of the things he didn’t have on his list was the new video game Tiny Bookstore. Instead of heading to a remote island to manage one you can stay at home and play bookstores from your couch. You can even recommend real books.

A writer must have thought of the game idea, while procrastinating.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links 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, It is much appreciated. 

Thank you.

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