Book Love

Where were you twenty years ago?

I was teaching and scribbling stories at night. We had just got internet and I found a great group of UK writers on a listserv. One night the discussion turned to word of mouth promotion.

‘There’s a great debut story just published, everyone is talking about,’ said one UK author. I went to my local specialist bookseller (who passed away recently,) While he was stacking on the counter the pile of books he thought I should read to my class, I asked him about this book, Harry and the stone... He put Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on the pile saying- ‘my last book, it’s a good read.’ I finished it at 2am and started reading it to my class that day. 

It became the most talked about book in the playground. I was seeing in real time the power of good storytelling transporting children to another world. Teachers and parents would stop me and ask about the book that even the non readers were talking about.... 

That’s the holy grail of writing when the reader can’t bear to close the book. It has nothing to do with clever phrases or perfectly executed grammar. It grabs you by the throat and demands your attention. You can’t sit down to intentionally write a story like this. The magic can't be forced.

This week is the 20 year anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Di Dickenson looks at the criticism leveled at the book series and asks is it justified.

Kris Rusch has her next post on discoverability. This weekshe looks at brand loyalty. This series is cracking along. Kris always gives you plenty to think about.

Brain Pickings has a great post on different styles of great writing. Are you an explainer, an elucidator or an enchanter? Which should you aim to be?

Orna Ross has been thinking about the underlying prejudice towards self publishers in the wake of the recent Byte The Book debate. Why is self publishing still seen as vanity publishing when the reality is very different. Is traditional publishing the new vanity?

R L Stedman has an interesting post on rights. Do you know all the different rights that you have in one piece of work? This is a great reference and eye opening for the new writer.

If you are an illustrator or know one, point them in the direction of this global award for illustration. Entries close in a few weeks and the prize is quite nice...

Jami Gold has been struggling with burnout. She writes an important article on writer self care.

A group of grad students have got together to pool their talents and set up a research group for writers to use. Check out their new weekly blog. If you need a grad student to do some research for you this could be a valuable resource.

Litreactor has an interesting blog on book reviews, specifically why they don’t look at 5 star reviews. This is a really interesting read about how important the 3 and 4 star reviews are to people looking for the next book to invest time in.

In The Craft Section,

4 reasons to outline your settings K M Weiland - Bookmark

Write better fiction- Killzone blog

Better book titles- April Davila- Bookmark

World building in sci fi and fantasy

Check out Writing excuses podcast. This weeks episode –outlining

Book disclaimers don’t have to be boring- Helen Sedwick- Bookmark

6 fantasies that stop writing success- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Getting book reviews- Book marketing tools

Audiobooks should be part of your strategy

Book launch marketing  questions and a print it out checklist – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Boost eBook sales with box sets

Reasons your bookbub got rejected- Bookmark

Do this not that book promotion- The Book Designer

3 best practices for marketing- Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

To Finish,

I met a composer friend yesterday and I was lamenting that I couldn’t make up my mind on whether to take up the offer of a piano to replace our keyboard. It means moving some bookcases to make room. He laughed and noted that I could always put the books on top of the piano... win/win.

It’s not that I hoard books... um they are just good friends... all of them... (over 2000.) But I’m not a true hoarder. These famous people had much more extensive collections....

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: The first cover. Ours is a patchwork of spellotape holding it together... but nobody in the family wants a new edition. The magic is still in the old one.

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Barmy Weather

There are two words that describe the weather at the moment in my home town. Balmy and Barmy. You never know what you are going to get when you step outside the door.

The news around the publishing world is similar.

Are the screenwriters going on strike? (You would think the studios learned from the last time.)

Are there less eBooks being published? (Is everybody copying fake news?)

What’s happening with the bestseller lists? Penny Sansevieri has some hard truths about them.

Who had the bright idea of adding eBooks into the PLR in Britain... (I can hear the cheers from down here –yippee.)

Who knew that everyone would be listening to podcasts on their phones... which has fueled the podcast market and now audio books are going gangbusters. Joanna talks to J Daniel Sawyer about all the changes in audio. (balmy)

Written Word surveyed 1000 Kindle readers and found out some startling facts that authors need to be aware of. This is a must read!

Some things stay the same. You need author friends. Joanna Penn talks about how to find these valuable guides on the writing path. (balmy)

You need to keep learning the craft. Michael Hauge has a fantastic post on how to change your critique group so everyone is learning and growing in the craft.

The Rocking Self Publishing podcast had an exceptional episode with Kevin Tumlinson who talked about the ways to use a UBL – Unique Book Link available from Draft2Digital- free

Robin Bennis has a great post on productivity and exploding dogs.- (barmy)

Darcy Pattison has a must read post on Amazon ads... (go on... dip your toe in...)

Ruth Harris has a stand out post on rejection and failure and how to put them into perspective. (We must be barmy to do this writing thing...)

In The Craft Section,

How to format a book. Bookmark

When good characters go bad- Writer Unboxed

The character inventory

Why novellas are making a comeback- Ali Luke- Bookmark

Two great posts from K M Weiland Don’t write expository dialogue and

Overly complex plots -Bookmark Both!

5 unrealistic character traits- Mythcreants

Making your characters jump off the page- Angela Ackerman and James Scott Bell. (I have this book and it is awesome!)

How not to start a novel!- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

7 tips to deal with back story-Pat Verducci

In The Marketing Section,

Get better at pitching- Write Life

Writing a series as a marketing strategy- Peter Mulraney

4 steps to generate sales with keywords- Beth Bacon- Bookmark!

Creating author business plans- Marcy Kennedy

3 ways you are wasting social media time- Jonathan Chan

8 ways to grow your Facebook author page- Frances Caballo

Promoting series books- Daniel Arenson- Bookmark

Self publishing mistakes

To Finish,

Sometimes you just can’t find the right title no matter how hard you try. Tara Sparling has the answer. She has a collection of nifty title generators for the struggling author. You would have to be barmy not to check it out....

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time to write my monthly newsletter. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. If you want to want to check it out and join our merry band of virtual coffee drinkers, make sure you subscribe. Coffee is the fuel for the blog so I’m thanking all the people who hit the coffee button this week.

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ Chenelle J- When the weather can’t make up its mind...