This Crazy Thing We Do

 

 

In Publishing News this week

 

A tentative agreement has been reached with authors and Anthropic reports Publishers Weekly. This means an out of court settlement is on the cards. If you have a claim against Anthropic scraping your work to teach its AI you need to register before September 1^st. Tech Dirt has an interesting commentary on why Anthropic may have settled- the threat of extreme statutory damages. However, they say this might not be an ongoing trend given what the judge declared about training AI’s.(Fair use- if they bought a copy of the book.)

 

Mark Williams has an interesting article looking at the middle ground of the two extreme positions of AI use in publishing. Four perspectives of AI collaboration in publishing. He lays out the pro’s and cons of a thoughtful use of AI. 

 

Publishing Perspectives has a breakdown on the Book Sales numbers from The Association of American Publishers from 2024.In a $32 Billion industry, print is still up there. However, online sales accounted for over 30%. Audio sales drove much of the revenue.

 

While print last year was booming, lack luster sales this year has Bloomsbury axing some of their children’s division team. The Bloomsbury Boom and Bust rollercoaster of children’s publishing. (They get saved every twenty five years by some big name author.)

 

Mary Kole, specialist children’s editor and agent has written an interesting article on research she has done on the latest sales trends in Midgrade writing. Midgrade is quietly having a moment.

 

Some children’s writers have got together to launch an MFA in writing for young readers. After teaching at other programmes they decided what the world needed was a dedicated MFA just for children’s books. They have a great faculty and only five in person residencies over two years with two intakes a year. They are fundraising to keep the costs low. 

 

Jennifer Probst has a great article on the 7 steps to thriving as an author in a changing publishing world. Every now and then an article comes along and socks you between the eyes. This is a must read.

 

Jane Friedman has made her newsletter free for its 10th anniversary. In this article she looks at how publishing has changed since 2015. Does anybody remember the world before Kickstarter, Audio books, and Direct Sales platforms?

 

James Scott Bell has a great article on the origin of Kill Your Darlings, No it’s not a horror story. It’s being aware when you have overwritten.

 

Katie Weiland has concluded that story is almost dead in this year’s films. What happened to modern storytelling and 6 ways to find its soul. In the film story cycle we may be in for a return to those great film stories from the 80’s. 

 

Erin Halden has an interesting article on Antagonists. – Do you know about antagonist hierarchy. That is the layers of antagonism in your story. Not every antagonist is a mastermind criminal sometimes they can be the burnt toast in a scene.

 

In The Craft Section,

How much research is too much- Ellen Buikema (You can never have too much-MC)

5 ways to engage the senses- Lynette Burrows-Bookmark

Deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

Writing with subtext- Tammy Burke- Bookmark

What bad movies can teach you- Alex Cavanaugh- Excellent! 

 

In The Marketing Section,

Leverage someone else’s network- Sandra Beckwith

Why every author needs a platform- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Holiday marketing – why prep matters- Penny Sansevieri

10 Amazon KDP secrets- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to write a Book Proposal- Reedsy- Bookmark

 

To Finish

To shamelessly rip off Steven Colbert’s monologue, I trawl through the web to harvest those snippets of interest, tossing them into a pot with spices and creating the hot stew of information that is my weekly roundup. This is a niche blog that writers and publishers tell me is required reading. Even if I take you down some rabbit holes. (Hat tip of thanks to those of you who have chucked a dollar or two into the coffee fund.) 

If you have ever had to explain publishing to someone not in the industry you will appreciate the Diana Urban article about the Publishing Sitcom.

 

Yes, we’re mad to do this crazy thing called writing.

 

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.

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If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, It is much appreciated. 

Thank you.

 

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Is There Another Way?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

It’s Summer in the Northern Hemisphere so everyone is on vacation. However, there are a few interesting things to think about.

In Brazil they have just wrapped up a Book Fair which had a publishers and booksellers side event to the main public event. Publishing Perspectives looks at the conversation topics. There was discussion on price fixing which is going through the Brazil senate. Is it a good thing? Also under discussion, the quality of digital productions- Does it matter? 

 

Publishers Weekly takes a look at San Diego Comic Con which is on now. This event usually sees a lot of interest across the publishing community with Franchise tie ins in games, movies, graphic novels. However, this year it is a more muted affair because of visas, and the uncertain nature of entering the United States. 

 

The NZ Booksellers conference just wrapped up with many notable people and publishers receiving awards for excellence. Congratulations to authors Rachel King and author booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward. 

 

Audio Book walking groups. Yes, they are a thing. Publishers Weekly looks at the rise of these groups. You don’t have to listen to the same audio book to join in. This could be the great new friend meet up activity. Walk with a friend while listening to your own book.

 

Russell Nohelty has an interesting article on chronic illness and the writer. When your brain says Write and your body says Nope. He looks at ways to get your body to trust again instead of the stress response of panic and shutdown. 

 

Rachel Thompson has a great article on the Why Alt text is a writers secret. Using Alt text has been promoted as a must for helping the disabled community deal with visuals in a way that fits them better. Rachel points out that the extra few seconds to do alt text is great for other reasons.

 

Agent Richard Curtis has an interesting blog post on some contract terms that are important and overlooked in a standard writing contract. On their own they look ok, in a writing contract they mean warning bells.

 

James Scott Bell often does a close edit page to show different story points. This time he is doing one that Chat GPT supplied. His comments are on point. Competant and Forgettable.

 

Seth Godin is known for pithy comments on a variety of subjects. Recently he looked at Productivity, AI and pushback. Are you working for AI?

 

Mary Kole has a great article for children and teen story writers about marketing. What do you do when you can’t market to your stories intended audience. Who is your real audience?

 

Katie Weiland looks at What makes a bad story. No, it’s not bad editing or plot holes, or even an AI written story. Have you taken a close look at your characters?

 

In The Craft Section,

2 great articles from Angela Ackerman The key to writing authentic characters and How to use hidden experiences- Bookmark Both.

Bring your setting to life- Sue Coletta

Why scene mapping is your secret weapon- Juneta Key- Bookmark

3 ways to add tension- Janice Hardy

 

In The Marketing Section,

Email-the best marketing channel?- Bookbub

New hope for old books- Sandra Beckworth

How to format a book- Bookbaby

2 great articles from Thomas Umstettd- How to create sales optimized book pages-and How to grow email lists with giveaways- Bookmark Both

 

To Finish,

Everywhere I look this week, I have seen something from Johnny B Truant. He is one of the originals from Smarter Artists from over a decade ago. After an extended break he is back with a new book on slow writing, no social media etc. Is this really Johnny I thought. He is embracing the Artisan Author way and he chats with Joanna Penn on why he has done an almost about turn. It has lots to do with the joy of writing and how you can kill this joy by being on a produce treadmill. He has a great video which inspired the book. The low stress, high quality, fan focused way to escape the publishing rat race.

Isn’t that what we all want to do?

 

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 the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash

The All You Can Eat Buffet

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

Mark Coker had an interesting article in Publishers Weekly about the commodification of books and how publishers must fight the dragging down of book prices.

Patreon has changed the way artists get paid. It is crowdsourcing funding directly to the artist, like the art patrons of old. Patreon has increased its fees but not by much. They have some other irons in the fire that will be interesting for artists.

The EU has passed new copyright rules. Essentially you now have to vouch for all the content on your website. Academics have not been happy with the proposed law with many signing open letters of complaint that it will hurt authors.

Apple is getting into subscription-based content starting with the news. They had their big announcement this week. The question is are they going to take on the Zon subscription service and extend it to books...

Writers can suffer from extreme loneliness. Stuck in a room all day crouched over a computer never seeing the sun... The Guardian recently had an article looking at the home office work lifestyle and made some practical suggestions for a healthy balance.

Jane Friedman recently had a guest post with four Kidslit authors who related their experiences of straddling a trad published and indie published life. Go in with your eyes open.

Staying with Kidlit. Mary Kole has an interesting article on how to get literary themes into your writing for children.

Kris Rusch has an excellent post on grammar. Kris explains how your use of punctuation directly feeds into your author voice. This is a fascinating deep dive into just what constitutes author voice.

Middle Grade Ninja has a great post on how to write fantasy quickly and Anne R Allen has a fabulous post on using Mary Sue’s or Gary Stu’s. If you don’t know what either of these terms mean you MUST read the post. Your readers will thank you.

In The Craft Section,
4 pacing tricks- K M Weiland- Bookmark

6 mistakes that can kill a great plot- Mythcreants- Bookmark

British vs American English- dictionary- Bookmark

When should I enter or exit a scene- Seth Myers- 

Creating Compelling Cadence- Writersinthestorm- Bookmark


In The Marketing Section,
Using video marketing- Frances Caballo

Using exclusive content to market- Bookfunnel- Bookmark

Using map artists- Alli blog

13 copywriting tips to help write a better novel- Writers Digest

Self Publishing Formula podcast- The necessity of mailing lists- Excellent show!

To Finish,
Janice Hardy has rounded up all the story archetypes in one big master plot article. This is where you decide if you are writing a quest plot with a revenge motif using a golden fleece style adventure. If you have been wondering about where your story fits read this. 

Maureen 
@craicer

Yes, I’m really late with my monthly newsletter. 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 promise I will get it done soon because I want to share some interesting projects with you. If you want to shout me a coffee hit the button up top. Thanks 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons - A canvas of Light

The Good and The Bad….

In publishing news this week,

Book Funnel has released download codes.
These are one use codes that you can hand out at events for free copies of your books…
This is another great tool in the PR arsenal for writers.

The New York Times has an article about the alternative Nobel Prize for Literature that the
Swedish librarians are promoting. If you haven’t caught up with Nobel news… due to a scandal the
Nobel Prize for Literature was not awarded this year.

Joanna Penn has two really interesting videos up this week on her blog.
Writing a series - the continuation issues to avoid. This is part of her video shorts series.
The other video is a long form interview with Stephen Pressfield. I linked to Stephen’s blog
last month … he has been posting his latest book as a serial on his blog, The Artist’s Journey.
Stephen is a writer’s writer. He looks at deep issues that fuel or stop creativity.
It is a great interview.

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog about reader tastes and blaming the writer.
Many people agree that not everything released on TV or at the movies is to our taste but somehow we
hold writers to a different standard. What happens when our favourite writer tries something different?

Editor/Agent and Kidlit specialist Mary Kole writes interesting writing craft articles.
This week she looked at writing the book that you don’t want to… what can you do about it?

What would you sacrifice to be a successful writer? First born child… health…. Sanity?
Writing and wellness has an article on the five sacrifices every writer must make in order to succeed.

Jeff Goins writes interesting long form articles.
This one touched a chord with a lot of writers commenting. What to do when you feel like a fake?
Why a shadow career is necessary. (Jeff references Stephen Pressfield in the article.)
Jeff talks about the dance we make between art and money...

Blogging isn’t to everyone’s taste.
Many writers struggle to know what to put in a blog.
I did, hence you have been reading writing craft tips and marketing ideas etc for the last ten years on this blog.
Anne R Allen has an interesting post on how blogging jump started her career.
Long term blogging does work for your writing output and has other unexpected benefits.

Sara Letourneau is celebrating her ninth blogoversary with a list of great writing tips.
Sara always has great advice so check these out.

In The Craft Section,

Katie Weiland has been on fire with great craft articles. I discovered I had
bookmarked four of them for this weeks blog.

Write a better antagonist

Point of View Problems

How to write unique themes

The truth your character believes.

Mythcreants has an interesting article on hiding your foreshadowing in plain sight.

Now Novel looks at Person vs Society conflicts- Bookmark

Reedsy has The Book Title Generator… go and have some fun….

In The Marketing Section,

Mailing lists for authors- Chris Fox- Bookmark

10 reasons Book Reviews still matter- Interesting long form article from Litreactor

Book reviews - The primer- The Book Designer

When to start book marketing - The Creative Penn

How to make instagram work for authors- Monica Corwin- Bookmark

12 key ways to make sure your website is helping you sell books-Penny Sansevieri

The lazy authors guide to platform building by the fab David Gaughran.

To Finish,

There are writers who you read everything they write...follow their social media… enjoy hanging out
with talking shop… or worship from afar through time and space.
And then there are the other kind- The ten types of writers we need to throw down a well.

Amy Collins details what you should do to not be a bad writer on social media.

Maureen

@craicer

 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 all the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thank you for the blog. (I needed it... I'm nearly ready to push the publish button on my first two Circus books...)

 

The Greatest Author Fears

Authors on the Pronoun distributor website were left scrambling this week. A notice appeared on the Pronoun website saying Goodbye. There was a flurry of comment around the publishing blogosphere. The sages were out in force.

Macmillan’s eBook distribution model of gave a great deal to authors but they were not making any money. If it looks too good to be true it’s about to go belly up!

Meanwhile Draft2Digital (A rival distributor of eBooks) stepped into the breach announcing a deal with Amazon. 

Sighs of relief all round.

Did/Do you read pulp writers? They were the prolific writers of the early part of the Twentieth Century. Zane Grey, Doc Savage, Leslie Charteris, Louis L’Amour. They were machines for story and they were paid by the word. James Scott Bell takes a look at what made the pulp writers so good.

Chris Syme has a great post on Anne R Allen’s blog TamingThe Social Media Beast. If you are looking at your social media engagement and saying too hard... drop in and read  this excellent article. Don’t forget to read the comments too.

Last week I linked to a post from Maggie Stiefvater on how book piracy was threatening her. This week The Guardian talked to some other authors about their experiences... sobering stuff.

Susan Spann has a post about bad contracts... as she is a publishing lawyer as well as a published author she knows whereof she speaks, Don’t be afraid to walk away from a publishing deal.

I came across this great post today on what you should do if you fail NaNoWriMo. It is one of those sensible posts that put things into perspective and is a nice little island among the treacherous weeds of NaNo uncertainty.

Backlinko has an amazingly in depth post on SEO. Now before you immediately dismiss this article as being in the too hard basket... Take a look. They explain how Google are using new search algorithms and what that means for content... key words... Titles... etc etc.

LitHub talked to 150 writers and asked their advice. And then they compiled that advice into one comprehensive article of 8 important pieces of author knowhow.

In The Craft Section,

Character turning points- Mary Kole- Bookmark

Hinting at emotional wounds- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

What is a high concept- Danielle Burby

Movie Scene by Scene breakdown- Go In To The Story- Scriptwriter Bookmark

The most important rule of backstory- Andrea Lungren- Bookmark

How to use track changes

Masterful Character description- CS Lakin- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Where to start with Social Media

Facebook ads in 2018- CK Syme- Bookmark

Book marketing content ideas for November and Know your fans- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to write a Query Letter- Reedsy- Bookmark

Using Twitter to grow your email list- Jesper Schmidt

To Finish,

The 7 greatest fears of Horror Writers explores not just fears of Horror writers but the fears of all writers who have faced these situations.

Are you guilty of writing purple prose? Is there a place for purple prose in your writing? Do you need a purple prose self help group? K MWeiland has all the answers.

My monthly newsletter is due soon. *Hi new subscribers* 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. NaNo is killing me- not to mention my presentation-If you want to feed my caffeine habit feel free to hit the coffee tab. I’m living on fumes this month!
 

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Newtown Grafitti- Purple prose

Indie Cool

I am sitting outside listening to the cicadas and thinking hopeful thoughts that the two weeks of summer we have just had isn’t all we are going to get. The weather suddenly turned cool and now the north of the country is getting record rainfall and floods. It’s a worry.

In the publishing world Hachette just bought a boutique ebook publisher. Why? Is it because they were niche and top of their game in the Indie publishing world? Is it because now it is cool to be seen as Indie... (In last weeks roundup Waterstones disguises their chain bookstores as Indies in the high street.)

What is in the future for the publishing industry now that colouring books are no longer the break out hit?

This week Joanna Penn interviewed a music industry veteran Dave Kusek about the changes that happened in the music business and what might be around the corner for publishers. This is an interesting article. (Merch anyone?) Along with that great article she also has a standout post on Using Amazon Ads.

And where is eCommerce going in the future? Writers need to keep an eye on the real paying world here too. After all a sale could be only as far as your smart phone.

Do you have an Epic Author One Sheet? It can make a sales difference- Judith Briles. And a Stand Out Author Bio- Epic post from Anne R Allen.

Make the reader care! Mary Kole said in her excellent article on writing feelings, so the fact that Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are about to celebrate their 200,000th book in the Emotion Thesaurus series is a big tick from writers. I was first linking to their Emotion Thesaurus for Writers (Bookshelf Muse) site about six years ago. I have the first book in the series and it’s a nifty resource. I’m waiting for the next one on Emotional Wounds.

Productivity is the name and writers are always looking for ways to amp it up... so treadmills... yes? Abbi Perets says Walking and Writing= productivity.

The London Book Fair is coming up... and Alli are running their awesome Indie fringe online event around it. Check out the speakers they’ve got lined up... and it’s free.

In The Craft Section,

5 new ideas for outlining stories

Story structure and Hollywood- Karen Woodward

Story setting- Real vs Fiction-Zoe McCarthy

Co Authoring a book

Making a scene

Conflict and suspense in every novel- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

Cultivate reader interest- Donald Maass

What counts as a substantial revision- Janet Reid- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The epic guide to book launch teams- Bookthority- Bookmark!

How to print dyslexia friendly books

Why your about page matters?- Joel Friedlander- Bookmark

3 free book marketing tools- Writelife

How to sell 100x more books – Bookbub Insight

10 ways to get noticed on Social Media

10 step book launch plan- Derek Murphy- Bookmark!!

 Publishing your first book- Frances Caballo

What writers should do right after publication- Writers Digest

To Finish,

Among the more interesting bookshops I have wandered into is The Comic Bookshop. It is a haven for the geek and nerd with collectable merch but also amazing comic books.

They are Indie in every way. Litreactor has an interesting article about 8 things a Comic book store can teach booksellers. As I was reading this I was thinking of all the bookstores I know that fit the bill. They are all Indie... funny that. Indie must be where the cool kids hang out.

Maureen

@craicer

My next newsletter is coming soon so if you want to get my best of the month roundup and other goodies make sure you subscribe and join the other cool kids. 

Thank you to the wonderful people who have bought me a coffee using the Kofi button.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ Pat  Ashley- Ice sculpture

Gazing Into The Crystal Ball

Over the last week I have been watching agents trying to figure out on Twitter what kinds of books might be popular in the upcoming few years based on the political upheavals in the U.S.

If you type in #MSWL in the Twitter search bar you can get a snapshot of what they are looking for. It got me thinking about what people read in times of political upheaval. Do they read safe stories or stories about how to cope when a society is disintegrating?

Kris Rusch has a great blog post on writing in difficult times. I think it’s a must read for every author.

Tara Sparling takes a different tack and screams for Book Heroin from Publishers who are playing it safe.

Slate has an interesting post on using sensitivity readers. These are readers representing the various communities you may be writing about to give your MS a beta read. But can their wishes change the story too much.

Litreactor has decided that we all need to take a deep breath and not post on Social Media about certain things. The list is not long but it is very pointed.

Getting a book distributed is a tricky thing if you are a self publisher. Jane Friedman has written a quick guide to get you started. New distributor on the block, Pronoun, has one upped Createspace. Looks like interesting times ahead.

Jeff Goins has a few words to say about book launches and he should know... He is one of the fastest selling non fiction authors around.

Simon Owens talks about using Patreon to support various writing projects. This is an interesting alternative to crowdfunding. Build your own paying tribe... which may be what's needed as The Guardian reports that Award winning writers are forced out of full time writing.

In The Craft Section,

Effective ways to make memorable characters- Dean Elphick

How to use schedules to write- Scott Myers- Bookmark

Formatting interiority- Mary Kole

What does an agent look for- Chip McGregor

Does your character description work?- Michael Hauge- Bookmark

Conflict between protagonists- Chris Winkle - Bookmark

Story hooks- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How long should your series be- Rachel Aaron- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

7 essentials for your book launch-Keely Keith- Bookmark

Content marketing and Selling Non Fiction Books Two great posts from Joanna Penn Bookmark

DIY Marketing tools – IngramSpark

But I don’t want to blog- Indies Unlimited

Online education as book marketing- Publishers Weekly

What’s new on your marketing list – Molly Greene

Are indie authors following the music script- Interesting article from Bookbaby

Going from launch to 1000 sales in 3 weeks- Kboards- Bookmark

Social Media Marketing myths- Bookmark

To Finish

A few years ago Anne R Allen published this great blog post which is still relevant. 12 signs your novel isn’t ready to publish. This checklist is always a good wakeup call. If you can tick all the boxes you might have the next book answer to that difficult question, what to read to escape from real life.

Maureen

@craicer

I’m nearly ready to send out my first newsletter of the year. If you want to get a monthly roundup of my best bookmarked links and other goodies... Subscribe.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons Mr Muggles