The Unexamined Life

This week there was lots of chat around the writing watercoolers about the surprise of a joint win at The Booker awards and then came a surprising tell-all complaint about the judges and the process from one of the publishers of a shortlisted book. The whole process seems to be murky and not what you would expect from a high-end literature prize.

Meanwhile, Writtenword Media released its author income survey, for everyone who hasn’t won The Booker. Yes, we aren’t making much money but they drill down into who is and how you can change things.

This week Jane Friedman looked at the current trends over 2019 in book publishing. Publishers have finally caught on to Backlist reprints for serious money. Audiobooks and graphic novels for children (reading by other means) and there are problems ahead for the midlist children’s authors. 

Roger Packer explains the backlist experiments that the Traditional Publishers are doing... but have they got it all wrong with the pricing? In an Alliance of Independent Authors piece, Eliza Green comments on a reader rebellion... over the pricing and breaking up of Patricia Cornwall’s latest book. Amazon may have thrown their prize catch under a bus.

It’s been a while since we heard from Chuck who has been facing some pretty hefty life changes recently. This week he looks at Writer Self Care and the delicate balancing act a writer has to do to produce Art while not falling apart. 

Anne R Allen has a very thought-provoking blog this week on unexamined beliefs in writing. Do you know someone who has sabotaged themselves over a belief that is untrue but seems hardwired into their brain? So it is with writing. Are you holding on to beliefs that are sabotaging your writing?

Kris Rusch is also looking at the writing business. How are you examining the choices you make in your business? Are you leaping from one thing to another or are you examining the way carefully? Does that mean you may miss out on opportunities?

Unleash your storytelling superpower! Gabriela Pereira of DIYMFA has a new series looking at how to identify the specific archetype that you are drawn back to again and again. 

In The Craft Section,

The 10 step checklist for writing a better than average novel- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 misunderstandings that keep writers from Plotting- Mary Buckham

How To Develop Your Book Idea- Now Novel – Bookmark for NaNoWriMo

The Ins and Outs of Internal Dialogue- Writersinthestorm- Bookmark

Pre plotting a novel – Martha Aalderson

Tips for NaNoWriMo

In The Marketing Section,

10 best Book Trailer types- Adam Cushman 

The 30 scariest author website mistakes- Pauline Wiles- Bookmark

Building a fan base- Angela Ackerman

How To Write A Book Blurb- Tara Sparling- Bookmark

You can now add audiobook codes to your Universal Book Link – Yay!

To Finish,

With all the stress factors involved in writing why would you do it? Give it all up and leave it to Artificial Intelligence. Yes, AI’s are writing books and designing book covers. You can buy a print book today, untouched by a human hand. ( A quick examination shows they probably aren’t suitable for The Booker, yet.)

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter is due out this weekend. It's a long weekend here so there are no excuses... (kids, garden, market bookstalls... I will prevail...)When you subscribe to the newsletter you also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Thomas Galvez

Taking a Breather

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

Jane Friedman has taken a middle of the year look at how 2018 is shaping up publishing wise. What is trending? Who stays strong... and what really is going on in the back lists. This is well worth reading to get a sense of what is changing in publishing. If you are chasing a Trad deal come prepared with a marketing plan along with your synopsis to editors.

Joanna Penn always has interesting guests on her podcast. I have only just managed to catch up with two of her latest podcasts. David Kadavy on redesigning your writing life and Book editing tips with Natasa Lekic from NY Book editors. Both great podcasts.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article with Sara Sargent of Harper Collins children’s division on how they are sourcing content from Wattpad. They are working with Wattpad to identify strong authors and offering book deals. They call it the reverse engineering traditional publishing and are looking at compressed timelines etc. With Wattpad becoming a content curator for film and TV studios it is worth authors taking a look.

The Book Designer blog run by Joel Friedlander is another source of great content. Joel runs a monthly cover design award along with his wonderful book templates and an active blog on book marketing. Recently Joan Stewart had an interesting article on working with journalists to get good media coverage for your book.

This week Kris Rusch looks at a problem all writers would like to have... what if that unexpected windfall in the bank account is the start of great new things to come. How long should you wait before spending the checks? It’s an interesting dilemma. Are you prepared for success?

Lately it seems that everywhere I go on the podcasts or the internet or Twitter Dave Chesson pops up. I don’t mind as Dave has loads of great information for Indie Authors. This week he was guesting over at Anne R Allens’s blog with a post on achieving Zen mastery in writing efficiency.

In The Craft Section,

Writing descriptions that wow- Linda Clare- Bookmark

Do you know the 5 different plot holes?- Screencraft- Bookmark

Writing by design using colour theory- Gabriela Pereira

Using character motivations in plot chains

Ways to write instantly likeable characters- P S Hoffman- Bookmark

Hero goals- Scribe meets world

The Rainbow editing method- Angela Donofrio- Bookmark

In The Marketing section,

Promo Stacking effective strategies-Writtenword media- Bookmark

Two great posts from the Bookbub blog- free tools to build book buzz and Creative ways to use images- Bookmark

Author Bio’s- Rachelle Gardner

What promo items do authors really need- Careerauthors- Bookmark

13 pre order strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

It's Ingram Sparks birthday... They have a free deal going.

To Finish,

School holidays and procrastination... All I want to do is sleep in and recharge. That’s what I tell my children whom I have to drag out of bed in term time. So I sleep in... and they get out of bed before the alarm to play on computers... hmmm, a role reversal here. I really need this post on 5 ways writers can be productive while procrastinating.

If you are watching a lot of movies this holidays... take notice of the films with the wrong main character.... Did the writer or the director get it wrong? This article has me looking at the films in a whole new way...

Maureen

@craicer

 My monthly newsletter is coming this weekend... after I send the kids away on holiday. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. I appreciate the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thankyou for the blog. Extra caffeine is always welcome.
 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Don Le