Showing posts with label Mark Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Williams. Show all posts

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Defending Literature Around The Globe.


In Publishing News this week,

 

Copyright received another blow in the United Kingdom this week, when the amended law supported by the Upper house was defeated again in the Lower house. That meant that the new bill will not have any transparency compliance from tech companies. Publishing Perspectives covers the implications and what publishing companies can hope for in the near future.

 

Canadian authors alerted the writing community to an AI scam that is happening on Amazon. Take a hot new title… change the cover a little bit with AI. Change the author name a little bit. Scrape the insides… and take advantage of the original books marketing push to make bucks. This kind of dupe gives authors a bad name and it’s not their fault! 

 

International tax and legal services firm, PWC has released a report on the impact of AI in the workforce. It’s surprisingly positive with employees who can use AI being valued more. Mark Williams looks at the report findings for the publishing community.

 

Meanwhile, Jane Friedman has written an article about What AI can’t steal from you which is your unique voice and perspective. 

 

Ingram Content Group has integrated AI tools into its marketing platform, Ingram iD. The tools will write blurbs and run campaigns across social media according to Publishers Weekly.

 

The Toronto Comics festival just wrapped up and the big talking points were how much the cross border attendance had taken a hit because of fear of gender challenges at the border. The festival has been a safe space for people from marginalized communities. Although comics are in good heart the people reading them may not be so confident.

 

The International Publishers Association’s World Expressions Forum (WEXFO) has just finished meeting in Lillehammer. The clarion call from the forum was the threat to Democracy from disinformation and censorship. They have released a report exhorting members to resist this. “World Expression Forum calls for resistance against authoritarian forces that undermine democracy and freedom of expression. Democracy is continuously under threat, and we (the undersigned) promise to strengthen our battle against disinformation, censorship and polarization–and improve literacy in our societies.”


Over in the middle east the Shajah Publishing Sustainability Fund has just helped 12 publishers to scale up their business and use new tools to make their publishing sustainable. They get so many business development goodies they must be the envy of publishers worldwide. Mark Williams dives into what is on offer for the lucky selected publishers. This is possible because of the countries commitment to literacy and education. 

 

Seth Harwood writes on Jane Friedman’s blog about the perils of Diminishing Returns in Revision. Do you know when it is time to let go. This is one of my biggest problems…if only I had another five minutes to put in that comma and take it out again four times before I’m finished… .

 

The fantastic Jami Gold is back with an excellent post on writing stand alones in a series. Yes, you can do it. It takes some creativity but we’re writer’s aren’t we? Jami has some great tips for thinking outside the series box.

  

In The Craft Section,

3 act analysis of Star Wars- Gabriele Pereira


Chekhov’s Gun- Anne R Allen- Bookmark


When the 2nd draft feels like a step back- Janice Hardy- Bookmark


Different character arcs for the same character-K M Weiland- Bookmark


Dual Protagonists- Terry Odell- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

Conquering limiting beliefs- Kimberly Grabas- Bookmark


10 Free Book Promo ideas- Sandra Beckwith


Monitoring your author brand- Dave Chesson – Bookmark


21 marketing tips- Writing Oasis


How to define a strong marketing brand- Jenny Hansen- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s halfway through the year and my thoughts turn to the current novel and if I will ever wrangle it into submission. It didn’t help that I wrote out of sequence. Jenny Hansen has an excellent article on the non linear writing process. Some writers work best when the manuscript looks like a mess. 

How often do you start a writing project knowing who the audience for it is? Liz Alterman has an article on The Dynamic duo’s website about pitching the concept to yourself before you write the book. I can’t help thinking that if we did more of this we wouldn’t have half-finished novels in the bottom drawer.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter of the best of my bookmarked links. You can subscribe here if you want 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 NASA on Unsplash

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Uniquely You

 


Apologies for no blog last week. It was family medical drama week.


In Publishing News this week,

 

In my blog two weeks ago, I wrote about the US government firing the Director of the Copyright office. As with all these government moves there are court cases pending to slow down the speed of these changes. The Copyright Director is suing to get her job back.

 

Across the pond in the UK, Elton John and other big names lambasted the news that the AI transparency act favours tech companies, calling the government decision criminal and irresponsible. Publishing Perspectives has a detailed look at what went wrong with the proposed law.

Giving tech companies an almost free rein to use copyrighted material seriously undermines what copyright stands for. At the moment the EU seems to be the only jurisdiction where artists copyright matters. Keep an eye on what your own government is doing around these laws for creative artists.

 

In an I-can’t-believe-it move, a Texas court has reversed a book banning law, stating that libraries must be the voice of the government. The librarians are warning that this smacks of propaganda for the state. 

 

The invisible first lady of America is bringing out a memoir. Eyebrows are raised as the narration of the memoir is a cloned AI voice, which will also be used in translations. Mark Williams looks at the rise of synthetic voices and the possibilities for publishers.

 

The UK Children’s Laureate has launched a campaign to get families to read in response to the dismal reading statistics that were announced recently. It is well known that if you read to children from birth they start school with a big advantage that only keeps continuing. Congratulations to our own newly appointed Reading Ambassador for New Zealand, Kate De Goldi.

 

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting essay from an Indian publisher on the rise of Print on Demand use by publishing companies and how it is changing the nature of the publishing business. These insights could be applied to other publishing territories as well.

 

Literacy is being challenged. What can publishers do about it? Richard Charkin writes in his monthly column about the clouded nature of publishing stats and how the underlying news means we must worker harder to engage readers. Key to this is amplifying the uniqueness of their authors.

 

Two great podcasts caught my eye this week… The SPA Girls celebrated 500 episodes with a great chat about the past and where they think the future of publishing will go.

Joanna Penn interviewed Comic and Game maker Dave Morris about creative control, world building and AI tools. Dave has some interesting insights on training AI on your own content. 

 

If you are looking for some great craft books check out Storybundle. Kris Rusch has curated an excellent collection of books  –  You pay not much – the authors get the money and so does a great charity. Win Win Win.

 

Writers and discipline. We chase it, revere it, get the apps, try the productivity short cuts. Harper Ross writes on Writer Unboxed about the discipline myth and what sustains us.

 

Lisa Norman has an excellent post on staying true to our unique voice. Over the years all the tools we have used to showcase our writing have changed but our unique voice hasn’t. 

 

September Fawkes has a great post on misaligned characters wants and plot goals. When the character is acting against what they profess they want sets the scene for a weak plot or theme. How can you fix it?

 

In the Craft Section,

Secondary Characters- all the fun and less work- Laurie Schenebly Campbell


Choose a powerful foundation for POV -Lynette Burrows- Bookmark


Plot twists- crafting the unexpected- Tammy Burke-Bookmark


The power of connotation in picture books-Chelsea Tornetto- Bookmark


Enneagram for character development- K M Weiland – Bookmark


Reading like a writer- Michelle Barker

 

In the Marketing Section,

10 little known Substack features- Rachel Thompson


10 things I wish writers knew about marketing- Dan Blank- Bookmark


How to maximise being a podcast guest-Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark


What is book bundling and how does it work- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark


Video marketing tips for authors- PR by the book


Audiobook marketing- Reedsy- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is mid way through the year. Where has the time gone? How are the writing goals? 

If you are feeling down in the dumps, try a creativity date. Monica Cox has an interesting post on Angela and Becca’s website about the benefits of the artist date. You don’t need to date an artist you just need to make time for creativity, with no strings attached. Create for the sheer joy of creating. 

Isn’t that why we started writing in the first place?


Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. You can subscribe here to get the best of my bookmarked links and other extras.

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 Nick Karvounis on Unsplash

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Reading Success

 


London Book Fair is over and in comes Bologna Children’s Book Fair. I like to think it’s the most important because without creating readers the other book fairs wouldn’t exist. 

Publishers Weekly has a deep dive into what the big topics are at Bologna. The crisis in early literacy is worrying and have the covid years caused a reading slump or is it cyclical?

 

Graphic novels are now one of the biggest formats at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. There are many interesting moves in this area reports Publishers Weekly. One thing that caught my eye in this article was audio books scripts generated by graphic novels.

 

The awards for Children’s Publisher of the year at Bologna is always a great event. The world is divided into six continent-ish zones and so there are six winners. Publishing Perspectives has a run down of the winners. Congratulations to Mila’s Books from New Zealand which took out the Oceania prize.

 

In another attack on literacy in the United States-The staff of The Institute of Museum and Library Services – the body that oversees funding for libraries have been placed on administrative leave according to Publishers Weekly. Hopefully their jobs can be saved.

 

Also closing their doors is NaNoWriMo. After a turbulent year and falling memberships the organization has closed. NaNoWriMo was a great idea and many bestsellers got their start in the white hot frenzy of writing a novel in a month.

 

Ingram Spark’s new book to screen database, MediaScout is now live. Publisher’s Weekly reports they already have an impressive number of books in the catalogue.

 

Mark Williams looks at the latest fallout of Meta AI and the proposed tariffs that had a good portion of the world on edge. While Mark see’s the value in some AI tools on the basis of its coming anyway we may as well use it. Dan Holloway looks at the impact AI has had on translators and artists. 

 

Teri Case writing on Jane Friedman’s blog looks at how AI made her want to trademark her name and how she went about it. This came about because Jane Friedman’s name had been stolen and pasted on AI generated books last year. Amazon wouldn’t take the books down because Jane hadn’t trademarked her name. 

 

Kathleen Schmidt has a fascinating article on book publicity. She dives into when and how to connect to your audience and book publicists. This is a must read if you have a book ready to release into the world.

 

Sandra Beckwith has a list of useful apps and tools to help the writer.

 

Donald Maass writing on Writer Unboxed has an excellent craft article on the hidden reason why readers read. Donald has excellent advice on how to craft your plot to hit all the right cues. A must read!

 

In The Craft Section,

The wolf under the table- J Scott Coatsworth


How conflict enhances your story- Ellen Buikema- Bookmark


4 stages of knowing in character arcs- K M Weiland – Bookmark


Using writing prompts to unstick yourself- Savannah Cordova


Dialogue mechanics- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to get accepted by a distributor- Bokbaby- Bookmark


Marketing tips for a new genre- an example - Bookbub


Author swag and merch- IWSG- Bookmark


Amazon central changes – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark


How to sell on Amazon – Dave Chesson – updated- Comprehensive!

 

To Finish

The world can be filled with negativity everywhere you look. It’s hard to stay upbeat when you feel bludgeoned by the daily news. In writing we can so often feel discouraged about our work. Harper Ross had a timely post on Writer Unboxed last week -The importance of defining success for yourself. This is a little reality check to recognize the wins in your creative life and celebrate them.

 

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 Blaz Photo on Unsplash

Thursday, March 27, 2025

When The Writing Business Gets You Down

 


 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Just after I published last week’s blog, The Atlantic* published an article on the books that Meta used to train their AI as well as the shady practices they used. Substack readers of the blog got the breaking news. Use The Atlantic search engine if you want to check whether your books were scraped, then contact your local writer association. Here in NZ the Society of Authors is taking names to join a class action. 

Many authors guilds around the world are preparing court cases. Publishing Perspectives has the US and UK Authors societies responses. 

 

While authors are getting hot under the collar about AI theft, publishers have been quietly doing deals with AI companies to let them have access to their lists. Jane Friedman highlights just what is going on under writer’s noses.

 

Of course, AI as a tool offers so many advantages to the struggling publishers. Although I don’t think Taylor and Francis is exactly struggling, Publishers Weekly reports that they are using AI to translate their books into English. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting article on film companies and how they are using a text to screen AI to generate films. Yes, AI is everywhere. Last week he said that publishing history is active resistance, passive acceptance, and eventual embrace. I think the publishers might be moving out of passive acceptance. So many seem to be saying one thing to authors and another to their staff. 

 

Do you remember Stories for Rebel Girls? The author, Francesca Cavallo has been looking at the dire statistics for boys reading and has a new collection coming out. Publishing Perspectives has an article looking at what Francesca will be doing at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair next week.

 

Diamond Comics Distributors has found a buyer, reports Publishers Weekly. Whether there will be enough left over to pay all the creditors could be touch and go. Many comics publishers who used Diamond have been scrambling to find other distributors in the interim.

 

Written Word Media were at the Future of Publishing/ Writer MBA conference, and they have an in depth article about what they learned there. They also have some great takeaways to get you thinking about your publishing business.

 

Alia Habib has an interesting article where she sat down with five book publicity people are asked questions about the best way of getting their attention with a book project. The package matters.

 

Phil Simon has a guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog about a new writing tool that can streamline your workflow. If you are looking for help in sorting out all your projects this might be useful. It has a free tier.

 

James Scott Bell has a great article on the melted butter of writing or in other words metaphors and similes. He has some great examples. Do you use metaphors in your writing?

 

In The Craft Section,

Relationship Conflicts- prolong the agony- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark


How to use the thesaurus properly- September Fawkes


How to use show don’t tell- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark


Consider your characters age- Tiffany Yates Martin - Bookmark


If the relationship is the primary story- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to thrive without viral marketing- Janee Butterfield- Bookmark


The best author promo ideas- Penny Sansevieri


From Readers to review- Written Word Media- Bookmark


How to market a book- Reedsy


Maximising Backlist Sales- SPA Girls- Bookmark!

 

To Finish,

Sometimes the writing and publishing world can leave you feeling like a used tissue. That is where having a writing buddy to share the highs and lows with is so important.

Every year Katie Weiland has a week where she helps writers find a writing buddy. Hop on over to her blog and scroll down to comments. You never know, you might find your life-long writing buddy who helps you to scale new heights, propels you to new projects and has your back like you have theirs. 


And if you already have a writing buddy- Make time to celebrate them. You don’t need an excuse. Reach out and say you value them, with cake. 

An AI won’t do that.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. 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 virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

N.B.* The Atlantic has been having a sensational week- AI Theft and War Plans. All it takes is a courageous writer to speak truth to power. They give us hope that we can do the same.

 

Photo by Pixel Rich on Unsplash

Thursday, February 27, 2025

The Writing Business- Shaking Hands with AI

 


 

In Publishing News this week


Publisher’s Weekly reports that Readerlink will stop distributing mass market paperbacks this year. With Readerlink responsible for distributing 30% of all the books into big chains in the United States that is a big revenue hit. Will the cheap mass market format disappear? 

 

Bologna Book Fair names their licensing awards shortlist for 2025 and for the first time licensing for video games makes an appearance. It’s all about the merch in the children’s world. And if you aren’t sure, this is Intellectual Property (IP) based on a creators idea. Smurfs are still a big thing. I wonder how many of their original creators are getting a dividend.

 

The UK government has wrapped up ten weeks of submissions on their copyright and AI proposed law. They finished with a big campaign on the covers of Newspapers asking if AI was fair. It wasn’t just UK associations making submissions. Many overseas publishing organisations also submitted on the bill. Publishing Perspectives writes about what is happening next. Many are calling for transparency and licensing deals. Will the law take this into account? 

 

While the UK is grappling with writing a new law, across the pond Meta is in court trying to justify their theft to train their AI. I’m not sure their arguments- everybody is doing it, and apologise later, are good ones to make to the judge.

 

Mark Williams has his own particular take on the use of AI. Consumers love it. Therefore, we need to embrace it. This could be problematic when your contract arrives, and you have to state whether you have ever used AI or not on the project. Publishers are looking at ways to indemnify themselves from accusations of plagiarism.

 

The way forward into the AI forest looks dark and winding and it might be years before we see the sunlight on the other side. Shining a torch is Debbie Burke of the Killzone authors who explains how the Author’s Guild Human Authored campaign of registrations and stickers work.

 

Jenny Hanson has a great article over at the Dynamic Duo’s blog on Book Structure for Disorganized Writers. Remember writing and plotting is unique to each writer. Jenny offers some handy tips to make sense of your process.

 

Russell Nohelty has the mega post/tutorial on Book Marketing. There is absolutely something for everyone in this post. Bookmark it! 365 simple ways to talk about your writing and keep readers engaged all year. 

 

Carol Michel has updated her very popular post on Jane Friedman’s blog about How to market a book without social media. Also on Jane’s blog is a great article by Lisa Cooper Ellison on Memoir Mistakes. When the backstory derails your narrative.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

9 ways to originalise your story idea- Becca Puglisi


Circling conflicts- September Fawkes- Bookmark


Alternatives for Speechless – Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark


The backstory balancing act- Marissa Graff


How to avoid flat characters in your story- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

3 ways to get amazon reviews- Bang 2 Write


Your voice, your narration- Cindy Gunderson - Interesting article!


5 handy tips for book marketing- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark


Article ideas for book publicity- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark


The author media kit- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

James Scott Bell always has wise words about writing craft but he has a good business brain for writing as well. It must be the lawyer training. He has an interesting take on the writing business and what is happening in traditional publishing. Remember that publishing is a business, and you should understand this with every contract you sign. One of the most important clauses now for a writer is the rights reversion clause. The old out of print clause doesn’t cut it now with eBooks, so put a time limit on it. 

It's all IP and that’s what the publishers are buying, as much of your intellectual property as they can get. It is a pot of gold if they can on-sell your merch rights to the video game developer before you get the rights back.

 

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 Lukas on Unsplash

 

 

Friday, January 31, 2025

Snacking On Publishers

 


 

In Publishing News this week


It’s a tough old time if you are a writer down under. You may have had some hope of placing a book with one of the independent presses that still operate, but last week saw another of them gobbled up by Penguin Random House. Our regional voices are disappearing said a Guardian article. While Aussie authors are wincing- Kiwi authors have been there. Most of our publisher’s head offices are in Australia and we are lucky if they publish 1 NZ book a year.

 

In Davos the world economic forum got underway. How does this relate to publishing? Well, one of the key presentations is the future of jobs report. Dan Holloway took a look and found key indicators for publishers and writers. Reading is down…but creative thinking is up. Can we work with this information?

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a new imprint being started by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. It’s all about science. In this world of misinformation, any increase in science publishing is a good thing.

 

When it’s award season the critics choices are always highlighted but if you look at the bestseller lists, they often don’t show up. However, bestsellers have awards too. It is based on number of sales. Spot the children’s books. Julia Donaldson has topped the UK bestseller lists for the 5th straight year. She is a critics’ choice and a bestselling author. Gotta love children’s authors, they keep publishing houses afloat.

 

Bookshop.org is turning 5. This great independent initiative linked independent booksellers together and created another way to order books instead of always heading to Amazon. Now they are about to add eBooks into the platform.

 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was the last word in authoritative knowledge when I was growing up. They are still around and having gone online early they are now embracing AI. This is a fascinating example of a publishing pivot. Mark Williams takes an in depth look at what they are doing. I don’t know about you but if I have to get information from an AI bot, I would prefer it to come from a trusted verified source, not a scraped chat forum.

 

Angela Ackerman has an interesting article on How Authors Thrive In A World Of AI-Generated Books. She has some great points to think about. Being human is your point of difference. As ever, she is a must read.

Meanwhile, Dale Roberts is talking about live video being the key to author visibility in 2025.


In The New Publishing Standard, Mark Williams shines a light on a publishing topic not much talked about, the three words ‘adjusted for inflation.’ Why don’t publishers show the real figures? 

 

Victoria Strauss does great work on Writer Beware and lately she has been looking at ghostwriting scams. She has a list of websites that are fronts for a scam publishing company.

 

Ah procrastination, what is stopping you from writing that novel? Barbara O’Neal has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the three things that cause procrastination. This is a must read if you want to conquer this insidious problem. Read It Now!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make themes work together- Jami Gold- Bookmark


How to write dark fantasy- Stephanie Wytovich


How to stay focused on your central conflict- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark


World building lessons from Myst- Gabriela Pereira-Bookmark


5 wellness hacks to boost your writing- Colleen Story

 

In The Marketing Section,

Planning a book launch party- Tama Hela


 2 great posts from Sandra Beckwith- 3 Author marketing mistakes to avoid in 2025 and

Using AI as your author assistant - Bookmark


Is Facebook still worth it for writers- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark


How to budget for your book- Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s been a rough old week in politics for the USA. For those of us looking on from afar we do feel for the people caught up in the middle. In this age of instant news and opinion it can feel overwhelming. “In war, truth is the first casualty” said Aeschylus in 500BC. When the world is wondering whether Mein Kampf, published in 1925 is being dusted off 100 years later to the detriment of another empire, it is courageous to stand up to your government and demand that they do better. One such person was the Bishop Mariann Budde who asked the new president point blank if he would protect the meek and helpless. Her words resonated around the world and now her book How We Learn To Be Brave, published in 2023 is being rushed into a second printing and is climbing the bestseller ranks. 

 

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 Sander Dalhuisen on Unsplash

Related Posts with Thumbnails