Showing posts with label Jami Gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jami Gold. Show all posts

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Call Yourself A Writer


 

In Publishing News this week,


This week the London Bookfair started in its new calendar slot as the first of the Western centric Bookfairs. The opening day was busy and Publishing Perspectives editor Porter Anderson reported that interest was high in the publishing business talks that are happening at the fair. Porter reports on the talking points from day one.

 

Publishers Weekly also has a profile on The London Book Fair. They report on the way publishers are dealing with AI and copyright and the problems of innovation.

The big moves by the European Union to regulate AI has everyone looking to see whether this will act as the sheriff in the Wild West world of Large Language Models. One of the interesting moves is to hasten each member countries establishment of compliance authorities. 

 

One of the big issues in the publishing world is sustainability. Not only do we need to keep the business afloat but we must be kinder to the planet while we do it. This year the CFO’s of publishing houses were invited as a group to LBF to talk about good sustainable practice.  Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article on this including links to white papers of research. 

 

Scholastic has shelled out a lot of money to buy an animation company outright. So what do you think they will do with it. Well, they have a lot of intellectual property and animation is pretty big in the kid centric visual world….

 

It looks like the way to get your new Kickstarter style platform really moving is to invite Brandon Sanderson to run a campaign on it. Brandon was only looking for $2,000,000 to create leather bound copies of one book. Along the way he has created another record and he’s up to $18 million and he still has the rest of the month to go.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a very comprehensive post on how to write to trends. First you do your research.

 

Sam Missingham has a great website with loads of advice and resources for authors. Recently she made an archive section where she has gathered a lot of free resources together. She also has a great newsletter full of tips. 

 

Jodie Hurst has a guest post on Anne Allen’s blog about writing in the age of AI. This brings up interesting questions that writers have been wrestling with how much AI is too much.  

Given most writer tools like Grammarly use AI we are probably interacting with it more than we think. 

 

Two great posts from writers at Killzone Authors caught my eye this week. Debbie Burke has tips on finding the right critique group who can help you grow as a writer.

James Scott Bell has the answer to when you can call yourself a writer.

 

Jami Gold has an excellent writing craft post on avoiding déjà vu in your series. How many times can you remind readers about what has gone before. Jami has some brilliant ways to make this work for you. A must read! 

 

In The Craft Section,

Building a writing practice- Rachel Toalson- Bookmark


Optimising word counts – Rachel Thompson


Timelines and plotting your novel-Cindy Sproles


Guide to backstory- K M Weiland- Bookmark!


3 techniques for powerful writing-Janeen Mathisen- Bookmark


Story Planner Success- Now Novel- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Don’t waste the dust jacket- Sharon Woodhouse


Marketing on a budget- Karen Cioffi- Bookmark


After your book wins an award-Book Award Pro


Who reads books – Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark


Best promo sites – Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Becca Puglisi has a great article on 8 steps from Amateur Writer to Pro. If you have ever wondered what makes the difference it is not sales, it is attitude. Becca outlines the attitudes you must have. This is a timely reminder for writers – how well are you doing with your writing practice and learning? It’s all part of the pro writer tricks of the trade. 

 

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 Substack version.

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

 

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

 

 

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Sending The Wrong Message



In Publishing News this week,


Frankfurt is often touted as the biggest book fair in the world. This is where countries get invited to showcase their literary works and deals are done in rights trading and translations etc. It is a general book fair covering all genres. It opened yesterday. Everybody had high hopes that it would be a standout year after the pandemic years. The wheels started falling off yesterday with a mass walkout of nations over the withdrawing of a prize ceremony for a Palestinian writer. 

 

Scholastic is in hot water with writers after they put together a diversity box for school bookfairs. (These are a big deal in American schools. Scholastic provides all the books for display and kids buy.) It’s not that they put a box of diversity books together it’s that they made it an opt out option bowing to book banning groups.

 

Staying with Kids books- There is a distinct drop in sales in the mid-grade and teen categories or as some librarians insist a non-existence of books for the 12- 15 age group. Everybody has been waiting for a breakout hit and they are still waiting.

 

The New Publishing Standard has a look at the subscription numbers for audiobooks in Europe and the news that Spotify is rolling out subscription in the UK. Subscription is here to stay says Mark. He has other pithy observations to make on audiobook subscription and how consumers are using it. If 30 % of the listeners are speeding up their playback speeds does this mean they can listen to more books in their subscription hour? And would they notice if it was an AI voice?

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has been shining a spotlight on the shonky payment systems of Cricket and its associated children’s fiction magazines over the last couple of years. She updates the post to tell what one writer did to finally get their money after 3 years which might help others in the same boat. 

 

I sent out my monthly newsletter with the comment that every lead story in September was on AI. Poets and Writers magazine has an article on the AI lawsuits and how suddenly you can’t get excerpts anymore of famous writers work (but they are probably still there.) Joanna Penn has a great transcript on a how to double down on being human. This is your point of difference from an AI

 

If you have been mulling over whether to try yet another social media site Anne R Allen has a timely post on social media etiquette for any social media site.  Great advice.

 

I’m often surprised when I come across writers who don’t really understand what copyright means. There are so many layers to a piece of intellectual property. For an introduction masterclass on the subject read this piece by Dean Wesley Smith.  

 

Barbara Linn Probst has an excellent article on Why We Write. Artistry, Identity, Legacy.  She explores the art and the craft of writing, finding your tribe and bearing witness. It’s a must read.

 

If you are looking for some inspiration for short stories- have you tried mining the lyrics of songs. They are chock full of emotion and little moments that are really stories in disguise. 

 

In The Craft Section,

10 signs your plot is weak and how to fix it- September Fawkes- Bookmark


Navigating inner conflict- C S Lakin- Bookmark


Getting beyond stereotypes- Now Novel


Foreshadowing vs spoiling what’s the difference- Jami Gold- Bookmark


Printables for NaNoWriMo- Payton Hayes

 

In The Marketing Section,

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri - Preorder strategies and 7 genius AI strategies – Bookmark Both


Marketing and promo plan for indie authors - Emma Lombard


3 things your author newsletter should do - Colleen Story


The best free marketing tool is in your head- Lisa Norman – Bookmark


 

To Finish

The Alliance of Independent Authors is running their next 24 hour free conference starting October 21st The sessions will be up for 3 days. Check out the agenda and feast your eyes on all the fabulous speakers. This conference is on Mindset. Do something for your writing mind and sign up.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

 If you want the best of my bookmarked links and some extras you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter here. Come and 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 shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Lee Soo hyun on Unsplash

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Panning For Gold


 

In Publishing News this week,


Last week I updated my post as the news that Amazon was changing its AI policies started filtering out. So this week to expand on this is Mark Williams - exactly what does it say at the surface level on the website. 

For a more in depth discussion go to Joanna Penn’s podcast and listen to the first 15 minutes. Joanna breaks it down and looks at all the sub pages and why they are there for uploading an AI assisted book. (Stay to listen to the super interesting talk about audio drama) 

Remember Grammarly is an AI. Gmail uses AI. All those chat bots are AI. AI is a tool. Amazon wants to know how much the AI tool is being used. If it generates the whole story and has an AI generated cover then it might fall in the scam bucket. Especially if it rips off name author styles. At the beginning of the year there were howls of dismay over AI…now many big author societies are holding workshops on how to use it and Shutterstock and Adobe are adding it to their design services. It’s great that the biggest marketplace for books is doing something proactive about AI books.

 

Meanwhile, another group of authors are suing AI. In the end the courts will decide. So far they haven’t been ruling in the authors favour.

 

While the TV writers are on strike - TV is getting annoyed that it is taking so long to fix, so they are going ahead without the writers. This did not have good consequences for the host of the National Book Awards, who was dumped after her TV show evicted fans who wore strike buttons.

 

A few months ago the court ruling came out against the Internet Archive and its attempt to digitise back list copies of books. Libraries are in a bind when they cannot offer digital copies to patrons of books in print. What To Do. The New York Public Library may have the answer. An interesting twist that could be a win/win for everybody.

 

Where have all those YA books gone laments one YA author in Publishers Weekly. Have the teens stopped buying books or can’t they afford them? What happened to mass market books first? Is it only adults that can afford the glossy big hardbacks with the bevelled edges and spot colour illustrations being marketed today? Today I saw a new YA book series released with different glossy treatments for each country, along with bevelled pages, foil and spot illos. The writer has a good point!

 

How many social media platforms are you on? With the disintegration of Twitter by the owner there is a rush to find the next best thing. But where should you spend your time? Where are the writers hanging out now? Kris Rusch is struggling with whether Social Media is worth it anymore. 

 

Insecure Writers has a timely reminder on those little scams that can become big ones. Things like identity theft and book promotion scams. Colleen Story has a post on 4 reasons a writing business will fail.

 

Daniella Levy has a great post on How to Take Criticism and Turn it into Growth. If you have been critiqued lately and it has left some bruises- this is a good reminder. Sometimes the harshest critic can be yourself- so read this post.

 

The super amazing Katie Weiland has a knock it out of the park post on plotting that got me thinking. Where should you begin to plot your story? Sometimes it is not clear. Stories springboard in different ways. There is no gold star for starting at the beginning. Brilliant post.

 

In The Craft Section,

Use and abuse of lampshading- Jami Gold- Bookmark (and also read the companion piece.)


Mastering foreshadowing- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark


How to write a grump readers will love- Sharon Peterson- Bookmark


10 tips on sexual tension- Lucy Hay- Bookmark


The role of failure and conflict in a character arc- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

 

In The Marketing Section,

Author marketing 3 best practices- Draft2Digital


Maximising your author website with blogging- J Alexander Greenwood- Bookmark


5 unique bookmarketing ideas- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark


How to choose the best kindle ebook categories- updated – Dave Chesson- Bookmark


Email market glossary for authors- Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish,

I often link to Joanna Penn’s podcast because it is informative and interesting. There are other great podcasts that I listen to and recommend. SPA Girls- Great weekly writing craft show. Sacha Black, ALLI podcasts etc. They are great for when you are doing mindless chores.  Recently the dream team Angela and Becca posted their must have writing craft books. If you are looking for that early NaNoWriMo gift for yourself check out the list.

 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you would like the best of my bookmarked links and extras 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 shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash

(Arrowtown in NZ where you can still do this.)

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Getting The Office Ready



 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The US Copyright office has been thinking about AI copyright and has now stuck a stake in the ground. Copyright applicants must disclose when their work contains AI created material. Previously, AI created work could not be copyrighted, however now the office wants to know how much AI was used before allowing you to copyright something. Will other countries follow suit?

 

Ethical AI Publishing has an article on how AI is disrupting white collar jobs, fueling the anti AI debate. Where were they when it was blue collar jobs on the line? AI is a classism debate. 

 

Jane Friedman has an interesting article on how Wattpad kickstarted some older authors careers. Before everyone leaps into Wattpad the news out is that Wattpad is laying off staff due to the changing economic environment.

 

Netflix is changing their streaming model. The lowest tier will be ad supported. First off the block with their ads is Cornerstone Publishing advertising … books!

 

Have you enjoyed any web comics lately? Which way did you read them? If you shook your head and thought aren’t they formatted left to right, then you might be surprised to find that the comic publishers in Europe are looking seriously at vertical formatting for smartphones.

 

Draft2Digital eBook aggregator recently moved into providing print books to a limited range of countries as a trial. This week they announced they were opening up to authors everywhere with free conversions eBook to print, free wraparound covers and lots more goodies. This will shake up the Print On Demand model. 

 

Reedsy has collected together a list of writing communities that authors can join to find like minded writing buddies. You also might be interested in time blocking tips from K M Allen.

 

Anne R Allen has a great guest blog from lawyer Joseph Perry about negotiating a literary agent agreement. Some literary agents are happy with a verbal agreement but you shouldn’t be. This is a great list of tips and things to think about.

 

If you have been getting up from your writing desk in some pain you might want to check out this article from Colleen Story on the 5 types of writing related pain. Colleen offers some solutions.

 

Are you staring at your characters and wondering why they are so flat? Lynette Burrows has the answer. Making flat character genuine in 8 easy steps.

 

In The Craft Section,

Character arcs making a long story short- Jami Gold – Bookmark


Chekov’s gun and the writer- Anne R Allen


How to craft interesting minor characters- J D Harlock- Bookmark


Using the But Therefore method of plotting- Literary Architect- Bookmark


The most common writing mistakes agents see- Mary Kole

 

 

In The Marketing Section,

2 interesting posts from Jane Friedman Author websites and  Authors who launched careers on Tiktok- Bookmark Both


How authors can engage on Instagram- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark


Book advertising- The Alliance of Independent Authors- Bookmark


Category Data- Kindlepreneur- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Writer Unboxed has a great article by Kelsey Allagood on spring cleaning your brain. Of course down under we are heading into Autumn so perhaps we could call it preparing to hunker down for your writing brain.

K M Weiland has a great article on the best places to write. Have you tried different places to write? Changed your office? Changed where you are most creative? Katie offers some tips to keep everything fresh and productive.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Mind How You Go


 

 

In Publishing News this week,


If you are a children’s writer, you may have been asked your opinion of PRH imprint Puffin ‘cleaning up’ the language in the new reprints of Roald Dahl’s work. Everybody seems to have an opinion. Here in NZ, a respected writer and festival organizer, gave her parental take on Roald Dahl and the modern child. It is a thoughtful essay on the problems of updating writing and why we are so sensitive about Dahl and not for instance, David Walliams. The Dahl Literary estate has just been sold for multi millions to Netflix, so maybe it’s all about the money.

 

Meanwhile that other staple for children’s publishing houses Manga and Comics, which showed great publishing sales in the last few years, are looking sadly at a downturn.

But that doesn’t seem to be impacting bookshops. The Bookseller writes that there are a record number of independent bookshops up for awards in the UK this year. I’m just fascinated by the picture of one of them from the article. A bookshop that is a bar. That’s a new one for me.

 

Publishers Weekly reports that the trial is still grinding on between the big publishers and The Internet Archive. It has just passed two years. The court have finally got to oral arguments. The Internet Archive wanted to scan all their books and make them available for $ and the publishers said – That is piracy. 

The courts will decide… maybe in the next year. It’s going to have big implications either way.

 

Reuters reports that there are AI books on Amazon. Who Knew? However, comments around this range from – gosh they are dull, to they will have to compete against other AI books, to let’s have a rule about disclosure. Everyone is waiting to see what Amazon will do about it. Then the other sellers will get into line. Kris Rusch has a super blog post on what is happening in the magazine slushpile with AI submissions. (The same is probably happening with publishers.)

 

Every Now and Then Mike Shatzkin drops what he is doing and writes a post about the Publishing Industry. He is a longtime pundit and looks at the big picture. This month he wrote about publishing being not as much fun as it used to be. Depending on your mindset it could be exciting or depressing.

 

Sue Coletta has a brilliant article on How to adopt a writing mindset. Sometimes we forget that the mindset we have when we tackle something creative can sabotage how we feel about the work. (And how we talk about it to others.) Is writing an escape or a chore?

Over at The Dream Team’s website Sue has a guest article on the unbreakable promise to the reader that a writer makes. It is excellent food for thought.

 

When I need to get into a story in a hurry- I use writing sprints. This stops the tyranny of the blank page. I have something to edit which then gets my brain thinking around the scene which then leads into better words. Becca Puglisi (half of the Dream Team) has a useful article on this.

 

In The Craft Section,

What’s the best choice for Point of View?- Jami Gold- Bookmark


Show don’t tell and breaking writing rules- September Fawkes


Two fantastic posts from C S Lakin-The intersection of premise and protagonist and Developing a scene outline- Bookmark Both


Backstory is essential to a story except when it’s not- Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

5 Amazon ad tips to improve book sales- Written Word Media – Bookmark


Start locally with book marketing- Sandra Beckwith


3 essential editing tips for Beta readers- Beth Barany


Easy Mindset change for marketing books- Colleen Story- Bookmark


Book marketing mindset ideas  Joanna Penn's interview with Honoree Corder- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

While we are sorting out our New Year’s plans, getting into quarter goals, forming those To Do lists. Being busy and productive writers is our goal. But what about those Not To Do Lists?

Colleen Story has 7 important Not To Do things that writers should take note of.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for the bumper first newsletter of the year. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate virtual coffee love.

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Franciele da Silva on Unsplash

 

Title courtesy of Terry Pratchett (GNU)

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Finding our way in the year ahead


 

And we are back into 2023…another year of watching the ups and downs of the publishing industry and trying to navigate its shoals and reefs.

The last post of 2022 had us going into the Christmas season with the news that PRH CEO Marcus Dohle was stepping down. That the USA Today list was on hiatus due to the editor being let go as a cost cutting measure. That some magazine subscriptions were uneconomic for Amazon and the Rise Of The Robots… or GPT3 Artificial Intelligence was about to change life as we know it. 

 

So, what is everybody talking about in January…

 

GPT3 is still the hot topic. 

How are publishers going to navigate books written by an AI?

How will the Amazon lists crash and burn when filled up with books written by an AI?

How will writers use this new tool or are they tools for using AI to generate ideas?

Gizmodo has an interesting article on how CNET has been using AI written article for months and nobody noticed. (You still need editors.)

The Hollywood Reporter has an article on how AI will be writing movies by 2025. (really?)

 

AI tools are here to stay and while it might be tempting to put your fingers in your ears and scream loudly it is probably better to figure out how the new technology can be used or abused and how this will impact on your own author career.

There are a few articles in this week’s roundup to get you thinking of possibilities.

First up Mark Dawson’s interview with Joanna Penn- which is wide ranging but interestingly he discusses using GPT3 for marketing ideas.

Kris Rusch looks at AI audio and discusses how it can help your readers. She links to lots of articles on the topic. 

Anna Featherstone talks about all the other tech writers should be getting a handle on in 2023. What else is out there to help the busy writer?

 

Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary, has her predictions for 2023 for the publishing industry.

Laurie mentions BookTok- The Rollingstone magazine has an article on how BookTok is changing publishing and what might happen when the influencers realise the power they have over publishers.

 

Just before Christmas- Harper Collins employees went out on strike over pay and conditions. They are still on strike and the publishing industry is looking at how long this might last and the impact on Harper Collins going forward.


In the New Year news broke that a writer who had been reported as committing suicide over bullying was alive and had a new book out with the plot sounding like real life. This did not go down well.

 

Fast Company has an article on the turn around of Barnes and Noble and how James Daunt’s experiment of putting books front and center has been instrumental in book sales going up. (Who knew that would work?)

 

I was looking at a list of books expected to come out in 2023 locally and I was struck by the covers all looking text heavy. 99 designs has an article on the latest trends for book covers for 2023. Font and Text are where the designers are playing this year.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a great article on why Authors should publish Gift Books.

Penny Sansevieri has an in-depth article on the changes to A+ content on Amazon pages. There are some great take-aways in here so Bookmark this article.

 

Jenny Hansen of Writers In The Storm has a great article on Why You and Your Characters Deserve Some Ikigai – This is a good article to mull over before getting back into your writing stride for the year.

 

In The Craft Section,

Knowing the difference between all those dash’s


How to revise for deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson


Sexy scenes -open door or closed door? - Jami Gold -Bookmark


5 ways to approach your novel like a trial lawyer- Marissa Graff- BOOKMARK


Writing Insecure Characters- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Why blogging is essential in the era of a fragmenting social media.- Anne R Allen BOOKMARK


Can a Facebook ad really sell books- Randy Minetor- Bookmark


2 great articles from Draft2Digital -What is Content Marketing and building your personal brand from scratch


23 successful marketing strategies in 2023- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

After looking at all the predictions out there for 2023 this post gathered up a useful list to think about. It was written in November but the advice is evergreen.

Reedsy updated their Book Marketing mistakes post which they publish every year beginning. This is a reaffirmation that the same things need your attention year in year out.

 

This year looks like being an interesting one for the publishing industry. As you navigate your writing and author career through the shoals don’t forget to invest in relationships within the writing community. There is nothing so affirming as being able to moan to another writer who perfectly understands the ups and downs of the writer life. 

I’m off to 20Books Auckland- (if you are there too, come and find me. I will be wearing a scarf and behind a mask. That pesky virus isn’t over yet.)

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate virtual coffee love.

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

 

 

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