Choosing Your Own Path

 In Publishing News This week,

 

James Daunt, CEO of the biggest Bookstore chains in the UK and USA ruffled everyone’s feathers when he stated that Barnes and Noble would sell AI generated books. Then he quickly walked that back. “What he meant to say was much more nuanced”- Publishers Weekly interviewed him to find out how nuanced.

 

Remember Fan Fiction on Amazon? The fan writers got to play in the author worlds and Amazon paid the original author a cut. It got dropped because the trade publishers wouldn’t join in. Music publishers have just done this deal with Spotify. Does it open the way to a whole new world in copyright? Mark Williams examines how it could work for authors.

 

The numbers are out and audiobooks are hot. Spotify are rubbing their hands as revenue is soaring. Publishers Weekly interviewed Spotify to find out all the new goodies that are coming to ears near you. Translation, narration, and curated playlists are in the mix for authors.

 

Eleven labs are introducing seamless audiobook creation inside their Spotify partnership reports Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors. Meanwhile, the voice actors have launched a court case over scraped voice prints. If you are thinking about narration, consider cloning your own voice to avoid this problem.

 

Accessibility issues were the topic this week on Joanna Penns’s podcast.  She chatted with Jeff Adams on how AI tools are helping authors with disability issues.

 

Mark Lefebvre wrote an interesting essay on choosing the harder path this week that got me thinking. How often do we just pick the first idea that comes off the rank? Sure, it’s a shiny new idea, but have we looked deeper? Are we really stretching our writing chops?  This year’s Pulitzer Prize fiction winner is Danial Kraus for Angel Down written in one sentence. Mark’s essay is a timely reminder to push further, reach deeper. It’s a great read!

 

Rachel Thompson continues her series on Author Visibility. This week she talks about creating trust for your readers before they buy. Have you put yourself in your readers shoes? This is another great essay from Rachel. Check out the whole essay series.

 

Nuria Corbi has a great little article on the ten things that she wished someone had told her when she started self-publishing. One of the important lessons is Don’t Rush. Take your time. Do it right. After 18 years watching this business, I can agree. If you rush you burn out. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Why research is important for fiction- Ellen Buikema

Hone your focus sentence- Joshua Dolezal- Bookmark

8 ways to show fear- Amgela Ackerman- Bookmark

How to create stronger scenes- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

When revisions feel flat- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Your audience might not be who you think- Ines Johnson -Bookmark

Typesetting rules every author needs to know- Alliance of independent authors- Bookmark

When to think about publicity-Cassie Manners Murray- Bookmark

Being a cheerleader for others- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Author Bios when you can’t write about yourself- Rebecca Forster

 

To Finish

This is a skinny blog because I’m traveling again, literally, as I type this. 

Back to normal next week. 

In the meantime, there are some juicy articles to contemplate, especially the trade off on disability help and AI and Mark Lefebvre's article on choosing the harder writing path. It's nearly time for the monthly newsletter so if you want to get a roundup of the best bookmarked articles from the last month you are welcome to subscribe here.

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 all virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash

Accessing your Fearless Superpower

 

 

This week in Publishing News

Coming soon are the new European Union laws on accessibility. This matters as digital books, if they are being sold in Europe, will need to comply with the accessibility guidelines. Publishing Perspectives reports that publishers are already asking for more clarification. Meanwhile Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors has written a quick breakdown of what you need to do. First, use the Epub format.

 

Frankfurt Bookfair is ready to start, and Porter Anderson interviewed the fellows in the Special Program. They are all publishers who are near or in war zones. This is an interesting article that shines a light of the problems of publishing in a war zone.

 

Mark Williams looks at how Korea is managing to be nimble as they stay ahead of trends. This is interesting as smaller publishers can quickly pivot into new genre trends. It’s all about Horror right now but Happiness is around the corner.

 

Written Word Media has a comprehensive guide to Tax Deductions for authors. Even though the article is skewed towards the American tax system there are still items that go across all taxed nations. Take a look you might be able to claim back some tax.

 

Kevin Anderson has curated another StoryBundle of Writing Craft books. StoryBundle is a great way to get books – You pay what you think they are worth- The Author gets the money- A charity gets a slice, and everybody is happy. Don’t forget that reference books can be claimed on Tax as professional development.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Ariel Curry on non fiction writing and marketing recently. If you have some non fiction projects that you want to dig your teeth into, check out the podcast transcript.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive guide on the Ethical and Practical use of AI for authors. This is a very useful article to help you understand how to use AI tools. Publishers are already getting on the AI train. You don’t need to use it for creativity but it could speed up those mundane challenging jobs that are part and parcel of the authors world.

 

Colleen Story has a great post on How to identify your writing business relationship type. She uses 5 well known stories to help you pinpoint where your writer business is and how you could help it get better.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have ticked over nine years with their great website One Stop For Writers. Take a look at all their resources and take advantage of the birthday discount. 

 

Greer McAlister has an interesting post in Writer Unboxed about ideas and how you can have many of them but they aren’t necessarily book ideas. Figuring out which ones are book ideas is the hard part.

 

Katie Weiland is up to the climax in her story structure series of posts. This is where the story lives or dies.

In The Craft Section,

All the different words for hard- Kathy Steinemann

Vulnerability in fiction- Angela Ackerman

The book in your head vs the book you write- Kathleen McCleary - Bookmark

Beta reader options- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

7 tips for perfect character names- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Writing good bio’s- Bang 2 Write- Bookmark

How to be a great guest blogger- Sandra Beckwith

Lessons in Business Cards and Bookmarks- Debbie Burke- Bookmark

How Substack is revolutionizing writer careers- Jaime Buckley

How to get your book into libraries- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is admit that you are an author. Aside from the inane comments like – have I read anything that you have written, or I’ve got an idea for a book, you write it and we’ll split the money, writers can feel shame that they have written something that didn’t quite work. Jennie Case writes about these feelings on Jane Friedman’s blog. It is natural to feel hesitant when you put your writing out there. But you do it. This is what Bridey Thelen-Heidel calls Fearless Writing. How to look the world in the eye and write and live fearlessly.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. 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 Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by James Healy on Unsplash