Knowing the Why

 

This week in publishing,

Beijing Bookfair has now opened after a delay due to the pandemic. Publishing Perspectives takes a look at what is on offer in the face-to-face fair. Honoured guests to the fair are either zooming in or flying in. Either way, the success of Beijing will probably set the pattern for other book fairs going forward.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has their craft conference soon. It’s a free 24 hour conference with great presentations from excellent writing teachers. Check out who is speaking and what is on offer.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard writes about Audibles' expansion into new markets with their unlimited subscription model. Will the expansion of their territories tempt the big publishers into Audible finally? With supply chains in peril, digital might hold out the lifeline.

 

Kris Rusch has a great post this week on the supply chain and how it is going to impact booksellers, especially the Christmas market. All the rumours are true. Buy your Christmas books now.

If you are not sure how a book gets from acquisitions to the bookstore, Nathan Bransford has a guest post on this very subject. When you put this together with Kris Rusch's post you see what traditional publishers are up against with their supply woes.

 

Publishers Weekly talked with some agents about the Middle-Grade book market. What do they see coming up and how is the genre changing. One thing they talk about which was a talking point at my dinner table last night was the expansion of Middle Grade into lower Young Adult – Big issues stuff without the romance aspect. 

 

Jane Friedman has a guest post from Jennie Nash about the why of writing a book. This is a great post that asks an important question. If you can’t answer it you shouldn’t be writing. Knowing your why means digging deep. This is a must-read. Jennie also has ten tips to write a book worth reading.

 

In The Craft Section,

Going deeper into structure- Jami Gold- Bookmark

2 great posts from Scott Myers- Franklin Leonards advice on screenwriting and Scene Descriptions

How to use archetypical arcs in your stories- K M Weiland – Bookmark

5 ways your story hurts your novel- Janice Hardy - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

17 Book Marketing quotes to inspire- Sandra Beckwith

How to be a great podcast guest- Joanna Penn

Creating a prelaunch strategy for your book- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

All you need to know about Book sizes- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

How Bookbub ads drive sales- Bookbub- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

This month Joanna Penn celebrates 10 years as a full-time author - entrepreneur. This is milestone anniversary. Joanna has documented her journey to being a 6 figure Indie author and sustaining this career for many years. Her podcast backlist is phenomenal as is the depth of the information that she has shared with her guests to the author community every week. She is excited for the future. I’m always interested in where she thinks the tech will go as she is an early adopter. Heres’ to many more years of fabulous learning from The Creative Penn.

She definitely knows her Why!

 

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 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 – Buzz Farmers

The Clock Is Ticking

 

 

This week in publishing news...

Publishing Perspectives has highlighted the call from International Pen calling for protection of writers and journalists in Afghanistan. With the situation changing hourly on the ground over there, writers and journalists are being targeted. The first casualty is always truth and an incoming regime is quick to get control of the message to the people. If you want to help, get in touch with your countries author societies who can direct you to your nearest PEN branch.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard takes a look at Hachette’s purchase of Workman this week. Hachette wasn’t interested in the frontlist but in the gold of the backlist. Publishers are taking note that their digital sales kept them afloat when the bricks and mortar stores were closed. Now they are on the hunt for vaults of backlist to make money from. 

 

Meanwhile, Kris Rusch has been looking at Omnichannel marketing. What does that mean to the author? It is the seamless experience of drawing a reader into your lair  book world and giving them the same experience wherever they encounter you. It is an interesting read and the way of future marketing.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on moves to introduce gamification serial writing apps. Write the serial and unlock a whole lot of enhanced content around it with in-app purchases. Take a look at what may be speeding down the track towards you.

 

Bookfunnel has just announced an exciting new feature- They are getting into author newsletter swaps. They are making it easy to find other authors to swap freebies with. 

 

Time has discovered Goodreads, or really the mess of review bombing that has been escalating over on Goodreads. Amazon owns Goodreads and the experience for authors is not a good one. Time for a clean-up of the review trolls. 

 

New Zealand’s publishers were planning their conference this weekend. Publishing In A Disrupted World. A very prescient conference theme as it happens. Their guests are live streaming in so they may be able to move the whole thing online.

 

Jane Friedman published a guest article from Sangeeta Mehta on two agents' advice on publishing with a small press. Is it was worth it? Some interesting ideas were put forward. Writer, E J Wenstrom published an article this week on what she had learned in 6 years being with a small press.

 

Anne R Allen has a great article on cliche story beginnings and how they have evolved. It is especially good if you aren’t sure if your beginning is a cliché.

 

In The Craft Section,

Story Obstacles- or when you have to take two steps back- Jami Gold- Bookmark

3 things to know about endings- K M Weiland - Bookmark

Describing character emotions, problems, and solutions- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

10 self-editing tips- Maryann Miller- Bookmark

3 useful tips for getting your book written- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

Building an ARC Review team- Dave Chesson- Bookmark

How to use pre-order strategies on Amazon- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to market to local media- Penny Sansevieri

What is a soft book launch?- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Working with Google Docs- TheWriteLife- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Yesterday New Zealand went into a snap Lockdown as we had one case of the Delta variant of Covid 19 in the community. Our countries strategy has been to Go Hard. Go Early. This has enabled us to quickly get on top of the pandemic and then life goes back to the way it was. It has been 16 months since our last tight lockdown so we know the strategy works. As we are a gateway to the Pacific Islands we are protecting them as well until we all can be vaccinated. One case quickly turned into 10 and then into 21, but we have traced everybody with genome sequencing so we know where and how it got here. This kind of fast turnaround science was unheard of a few years ago. So what should we do in a tight lockdown? Some writers might think 'I should write that novel', but not everyone has the ideal writing environment if the house is full. Writer Unboxed recently posted an article on the 6 excuses you can use for not finishing your novel in a pandemic.

Or you could be Catherine Ryan Howard – one of our Indie touchstones, who has gone on to have a big thriller career. Catherine wrote a thriller in lockdown about lockdown called 56 days. She writes a small rant in the Irish Times about how it came about. Take one lockdown…

 

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 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 – David Lofink

 

Selling Your Wares

This week in publishing,

Last week’s hot news of Storytel partnering with Spotify has been rippling through the publishing community. It’s been a rollercoaster lately with publishers buying publishers and audio publishing subscription services getting bigger. This week Amazon laid down $8 Billion and bought MGM. Not everyone in the entertainment business is pleased about this. Mark Williams looks at the IP treasure trove that Amazon has just acquired.

Meanwhile, Amazon inks its first library deal.

 

Jane Friedman wrote a salutary article How Much Do Authors Earn which has us all wincing but agreeing. Many authors earn more from side hustles than from straight writing. But all is not lost says Jane.

 

Being an Author is all about…Networking. Did your soul just shrivel a little when you read that? The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive post on the art of networking for authors. How and why it is important and full of great tips. If you are really struggling as an introverted author for marketing advice check out this week’s 6 figure author podcast especially on marketing for introverts.

 

Today is the last day to pick up the Storybundle of writing business books. Don’t miss out.

 

SEO Sherpa recently contacted me to let me know of a comprehensive post on metadata that they have prepared. Before you scroll past- Stop. Do you have a website? Do you want your website to show up in searches? Do you know that a few simple tweaks of your description metadata will boost your website in a google search? If you know all the tricks scroll past- if not, take a look.

 

Kris Rusch is continuing her interesting blog series on fear based decision making. She is making some strong points in this series about how this affects what projects get greenlit. If you know how to frame a project so it sounds familiar, you have a much better chance of getting it picked up.

 

Jordan at Now Novel has a comprehensive post on how to write critiques and evaluations. This is something that every author should have in their toolbox of tricks- you never know when you will be asked to give critical feedback. (Like today’s request from my nephew…)

 

In The Craft Section,

How to submit to Literary Journals- Meredith Allard

5 ways to write realistic dialogue- Courtney Walsh

Balancing your cast of characters- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Organising research and notes in Scrivener - Gwen Hernandez

Setting as character- Jami Gold - Bookmark

What to include in your first draft- J D Edwin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Planning a Book Launch- Bookbaby- Bookmark!

How to write a query letter- Nathan Bransford

Are you ready for book marketing? -Frances Caballo

Help others, help yourself- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Unique Marketing ideas for June- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Writers Digest has been in the business of writing inspiring articles for writers for many decades. Recently they asked a bunch of authors, what is the one piece of advice you would give to writers. Here is a comprehensive collection of advice with links to interviews. Go forth and be inspired. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, come and subscribe. You will 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. Thanks for the coffee love this week. I really appreciate it. 

Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Chas B

 

Life Vs Fiction

 

Articles that caught my eye this week,

Mark Williams from The New Publishing Standard wrote a personal note to his readers this week. Mark lives in The Gambia and gathers up all the publishing news from the rest of the world. His internet has been down for a month and he shared where he works, a nursery school for the poorest children, and the importance of books. Amazing and inspirational. 

 

Why we need tragic stories now more than ever, an article by Vaughn Roycroft got me thinking about tragedy. I try to run from these stories and films but maybe I am doing myself a disservice. These could be an important release valve.

 

Publishing Perspectives has an article on a new and improved ordering system for booksellers that promises sparkles all around. Meanwhile, they also published an article detailing the ups and downs of The Hay on Wye Literary Festival. I wasn’t aware that the festival had pop-ups in other countries. This might not be so good when your brand gets tainted by bad actors, including the founder.

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on writing deadlines and how having them gives her life focus and energy and measurable productivity. Do you schedule your life around deadlines? How often? Yearly? Quarterly? By the project? 

 

David Gaughran is a fount of information. He has a great YouTube channel as well as great articles on publishing and marketing books. Recently he posted an article on 9 ways to unleash the power of free in 2021. He is well worth reading and keeping an eye on.

 

If you are nibbling away at book marketing trying to make sense of it (and who isn’t these days…) Bookbub published an article showcasing the best ads that came across their platform last year and how the authors used them.

 

Reedsy has a comprehensive article on how to be a better writer- 20 hacks and tips… 

 

In The Craft Section,

Avoiding Change -What’s stopping our characters- Jami Gold - Bookmark

Writing Sprints -  Joan Hall -Bookmark

Keeping it real when writing descriptively- Dave King- Bookmark

2 Great posts from Janice Hardy 5 minute fix to jumpstart your scene and 

4 mistakes that doom your first page Bookmark Both

 

In The Marketing Section.

Two interesting posts on Authors using Twitter- Writing Twitter Bio’s from Belinda Pollard and How I landed a book deal using Twitter- Pam Mandel

5 reasons you should speak for free- Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

Why hiring a freelance publicist is a good idea- Patricia Smiley

Identifying your reader- Christina Delay- Bookmark

Amazon book promotion preorder infographic- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Valentine’s day was celebrated this week with interesting posts from Romance writers everywhere on the subject of… romance. And then there was this hilarious post from Tara Sparling on why you should never live with a fictional romantic hero during a pandemic.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Star Light will be reverting to its usual price soon, so pick up a copy while it's still cheap. A review would be awesome, thank you.

 

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 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 – Lore Sjoberg

 

Writer Care

In Publishing News this week…

Publishing Perspectives published a think piece from Richard Charkin on how Brexit will change the British publishing industry. Richard points out that British publishers will no longer have EU rights – and that now is the time to think and act globally and to support their writers in utilising worldwide English rights. It’s amazing to me that some publishers haven’t figured out they can publish everywhere on the same day. 

 

Joanna Penn had a great interview with David Farland this week. It’s a must-listen/read. David talks about changes he is seeing in publishing with hybrid authors, Kickstarter campaigns, and much more. David mentioned in passing seeing contracts that asked for All formats existing now and to be invented. Deal Breaker Alert.

 

There is a new App on the block- Bookship – Create a virtual book club for friends and readers to stay in touch with your writing and reading. It looks like an app variation of Goodreads but with a book club setting. 

In Indie News: D2D is now offering Payment splitting for collaborators!

 

This week I seemed to be reading lots of articles on writer self-care. This is a reflection of the Northern Hemisphere Winter Blues and Covid lockdown. 

Sofia Koutlaki at The writer recently published an article on how writers can cope a long dark winter indoors.

 

K M Weiland recently wrote an interesting article on overthinking your writing. Are you guilty of perfectionism? Is your ego getting in the way?

 

Meanwhile, Dean Wesley Smith was wrestling with another kind of problem- The Disorganized Writer. Where did you put that story from a few years ago… can you find it in your files?

 

Are you suffering from the Dunning Kruger effect in your writing or is it the well-known Valley Of Despair? Scott McCormick writes on how you can tell that your writing is not as terrible as you think it is.

 

After you have navigated the minefield of writing tripwires, it might be time to recognize the writing habits that work best for you. Gary Smailes has a look at how other writers developed habits and then breaks down the way to become successful in your own writing habits.

 

Angela Ward writes about 10 tools to help you stay more productive in your writing. Fantasy Name generators to description ideas for inspiration. Check it out.

 

In The Craft Section,

Tips for writing rising action- Katherine Grubb

Beginning your story too soon- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How do you know your novel is ready to publish- Anne R Allen - Bookmark

Building a bridge from the beginning to the main conflict- Jami Gold - Bookmark

5 easy ways to get more writing done in less time- Sean Platt

 

In The Marketing Section,

March Madness marketing for Books- Sandra Beckwith

Tips on using Linkedin for authors- Marika Flatt

10 surefire strategies for promotion before publishing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Street teams: How to smoothly run them for success- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Shanna Swendson wrote a guest post over at Fiction University - Keep Your Writing Routine From Becoming A Rut. How often have you felt like you were dragging yourself to your desk? Have you lost the joy of creation? Now might be the time to change up a few habits and get re-inspired again.

 

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 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.

 

 

Book Marketing

 

 

This week in Publishing…

In welcome news this week Amazon has introduced series pages and now you can run ads to them. General jubilation in the author community. 

 

Meanwhile, The London Bookfair dates for next year have been announced. Instead of a Spring fair, it’s in Summer…giving everyone that much more time to be vaccinated and be ready to spring back into the publishing calendar that we used to know. (Prediction – I don’t think we’ll see life as we used to know again.)  

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard reports of Storytel’s Interim report. Storytel is based in Sweden and is digital subscription model. With moves into India and acquisitions all over Europe, the  audiobook subscription market is getting bigger and bigger- But will it overtake print books? We could be watching the tipping point. 

 

Big Bad Wolf is set to unleash 20 million English Language books in a four day flash sale in Malaysia. (If you ever wondered where your ‘pulped’ books go on your royalty statement.)

 

A simple hack for when you want to make your literary criticism essay go viral… Attack the author.  The Nation looks at the ethics of this.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors have a great article up on Leveling up your author business. This is a must read. All authors are keen to learn. If we are learning we are growing our business.

 

Joanna Penn has an interesting interview this week on Networking for Authors. How often do you poke your head outside of the bubble and just chat with other authors. Lot’s of lovely things happen when authors get together. Check out the interview and pick up some tips.

 

Jami Gold has a great guest article on her site this week. What sort of marketing plan suits us? If you want to learn anything about marketing books talk to a Romance writer. Siera London shares lots of tips to be thinking about.

 

in the Craft Section,

5 components of the perfect scene- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Why you should side write your protagonists origin scene- Marissa Graff- Bookmark

6 questions to ask when editing scenes- Go Teen Writer

Use a character’s career to support your theme-Becca Puglisi

Emotional truth and storytelling- Robin Farmer - Bookmark

4 story weaknesses that lead to sagging middles- Tiffany Martin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Maximising books sales with Facebook and Bookbub- Melissa Storm- Bookmark

3 tips for better author blogs- Sandra Beckwith

The fabulous David Gaughran latest book marketing video- MUST WATCH

5 basic rules of Social Media- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

How to announce a book launch to your mailing list- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to launch a book during a pandemic- Samuel Moore Sobel

 

To Finish,

Every now and then I drop into the Killzone blog because I am in awe of this collective of writers. They have a great roster of writers talking about all sorts of things. They were the first author collective to do swag and this is where I found writing craft guru James Scott Bell. This week James was writing about the terrible task faced by writers everywhere. How to weed out books. I confess I fail utterly at this. Do you have a non-negotiable criteria list for keeping books?

 

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 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 – Paul. I can’t decide if this is great or terrible book store marketing…

 

Discoverability

 

This week in Publishing News…

Europe has been hit with another round of business closures as the country shuts down again in an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus. In France, the publishers are pleading with the government not to close the bookstores because it will affect the cultural life of the population. 

The Guardian reports that in the UK – online library lending was up. Apparently, everyone was turning to fiction to cope with isolation.

 

One bookstore has seen the need to give shoppers the bookstore experience while they send them to their online store. You can take a tour of the bookstore to get your virtual fix of bookstore love… It makes me want to visit this bookstore in person… what a great shop!

 

Staying with visibility in the marketplace Vietnamese publisher Ehomebooks has introduced a new global children’s book prize for an unpublished manuscript. They want to share the love with illustrators and authors who are trying to break into the industry.

 

For some publishers who thought the sky was falling six months ago… their balance sheets are not reflecting this. Bloomsbury (saved by Harry Potter in the ’90s) has seen a huge boost to their ebooks sales. Who knew there was money in them thar digital books? But interestingly the profits have spilled over to print as well.

 

Audiobooks continue to look like the next stealth battleground amongst publishers. Podcast sites (and their ability to host audiobook content) are being moved on by the likes of Spotify but this week another player entered the podcast market. IHeartMedia is bringing its considerable heft to publishers with a seismic shakeup according to The New Publishing Standard.

 

Kristine Rusch has part 3 in her series on discoverability in this new weird world we are finding ourselves in. She has a great article about thinking outside your writerly box and writing what you want to write because the publishing landscape will never go back to the way it was before. If you have been stuck in a niche now could be the time to break out. 

 

Over at Jane Freidman’s blog, Susan DeFreitas writes about what publication means. It is a great post on the wisdom of writing for yourself and the discovery that when you started on the publishing journey the core reason to do this hard, challenging, fascinating, drudgery… is the yearning to be seen.

 

Reedsy has an interesting post on Freytag’s Pyramid 5 Act Structure of the story… another way of tackling the first draft. 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to improve a story with action beats- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Developing an idea- Roz Morris- Bookmark

How to raise the stakes in your story- NY Book editors

Multiple points of view- Reedsy- Bookmark

Five writing mistakes- Krystal Craiker

5 ways to make your character hate you – Janice Hardy- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

How to find your books target audience- Miblart

5 most common mistakes in book cover design- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Favourite author marketing tools- Judith Briles- Bookmark

Maximising your author central page and 

November Unique content ideas – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

I came across this interesting post by K M Weiland today- On how your age affects your writing. As I was reading I was reflecting on the issues that I was interested in way back twenty-plus years ago when I started taking my writing seriously (said to myself), and what I am interested in now. Yes, your age and life stage does affect how you think about writing, and also the topics you tend to gnaw on as you write. Always keep learning about this frustrating, challenging, creative, business. 

 

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 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: