Reading Between The Lines

 

In publishing news this week,

Last year when the pandemic began to bite there was worry that bricks and mortar bookshops would fail and fold. Enter a smart organization that created Bookshop.Org which gave bookshops a digital storefront. A year on- the pandemic is still with us, but shops are beginning to open up. Publisher’s Weekly reports that Bookshop.org is still going strong and growing and how the digital storefront is essential.

 

Meanwhile The New Publishing Standard reports on a savvy move by a Danish publisher that has been buying up world language rights for audiobooks. This is a fascinating story from Mark which resonated with me here in New Zealand. We have a similar visionary who bought up English rights to award-winning European children’s books and founded an international award-winning publishing company on the strength of it. Digital format is open to the world and a small publisher from a tiny country can become a major player. Audiobooks are growing really fast- to the nimble go the spoils.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on the European and International Booksellers federation report of 2020. This is a numbers report showing how bookselling fared in different countries. Booksellers in countries without a strong government response had a hard time. If bookshops had a digital presence they managed to stay afloat. The publishers who think everything will go back to the way it once was, before the pandemic, have badly misread the tea leaves. The digital change is here to stay.

 

Recently Maggie Lynch wrote about why she created an NFT book collection to sell. If you have been wondering about Non Fungible Tokens and why there is so much interest in them in the creative community- Maggie’s article is a great place to start. It is an interesting and informative read on provenance certificates and anti-piracy methods to protect your work.

 

Every month Orna Ross, the CEO of Alliance for Independent Authors (Alli) chats with Joanna Penn on what’s happening in the global world of indie publishing. They often talk big picture stuff and have opinions on the speeding trains coming down the track towards authors. This month they have a fascinating chat on how nimble authors are, and need to be. One comment caught my eye in the transcript- With Richard Branson going into Space this week – has anyone thought to license their work for onboard entertainment for off world transport?

 

Amazon Kindle Vella launched to the public yesterday. In the last three months authors based in the US have been uploading episodes to the serialized fiction platform. Engaget looks at the new shiny platform.

 

Jane Friedman hosted Intellectual Property lawyer, Kathryn Goldman on her blog this week. Are fictional characters protected under copyright law? Kathryn writes about the legal case being argued over Jack Ryan and how writers have got into trouble using character names from movies and TV. When is a name a character, and not a name?

 

For a while now authors have been encouraged to write newsletters and to grow a fan base that they can tap into for author book promo, sales etc etc. Many authors have a love hate relationship with their newsletters- not knowing how to use them effectively. Fiction authors particularly struggle. The Passive Guy has an interesting piece on his blog about newsletters being their own genre.

 

In the Craft Section,

Action beats for authors-Krystal Craiker

The inherent nature of story structure- Jim Dempsey- Bookmark

Plot you way back from an unruly idea- Kristin Durfee- Bookmark

How to end a story- Reedsy- Excellent 

How to tell if your story has too much plot and not enough character- K M Weiland - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

10 Amazon changes authors need to know about - Rob Eager- Bookmark 

Using your back cover well-Bookbaby- Bookmark

5 tips for fitting book marketing into your schedule- Penny Sansevieri

SEO for indie authors- ALLI- BOOKMARK

How Authors are using Social Media platforms- Diana Urban

 

To Finish,

Today I struggled with my computer, searching to find a missing file. Every time I think I have cleaned up my file labeling structure something always slips up. There I was getting frustrated and thinking this is not a good use of my time- low and behold up pops an article on 10 tools to make you a more productive writer.

I just want a computer that knows what file I’m looking for and gets it for me regardless of where I stuffed it in the system. 

 

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 – Jon Evans (Guess Who Won)

 

Another Year – Another Publishing Model

 

 

In Publishing News this week… It is all about Vella. 

Amazon has developed a new publishing arm to publish serials- Amazon Vella.

But why, and how will it work? has been all the gossip in the last 48 hours since the news dropped.

Mark Williams takes a look at why Amazon might have jumped and jumped quickly as they seem to be making this up on the fly. 

Meanwhile, commentators are examining Amazon’s announcements and trying to pull together how it will work. Exclusive- America first. 50% revenue of ‘tokens’ to writers. Subscription model, sort of. Only new work allowed.

Time will tell whether it will take off. It could go the way of Worlds and Singles… but you never know. It could be the next big thing.

 

The subscription model of acquiring entertainment is becoming the norm. Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors and Joanna Penn have a monthly salon where they talk about big picture stuff in publishing. Recently they looked at Subscription models and how publishing might change because of it.

 

In Book Fair news – BookExpo is no more and in its place will be a digital fair called The U.S. Book Show. Publishing Perspectives has a look at what’s on offer. 

Just announced- London Book Fair will be digital this year. After last year’s debacle of will-it- go-ahead-or-won’t-it. They may have learned some lessons.

 

Kristine Rusch has Part 4 of her interesting Hollywood and The Writer series and this one is all about money- You would think that money would be the most important thing in the contract but Kris says No. There is more at stake than that. (N.B. Hollywood is a catch-all term for all film and TV work, regardless of country. They all operate in much the same way.) 

 

Randy Ingermanson (AKA – The Snowflake Guy) has an interesting article on action plans. He has developed templates for action plans for writing, for book projects, and other tricky tools for writers. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to cut the cost of a professional editor- Jim Dempsey- Bookmark

How to build tension successfully- Angela Ackerman

The basic scene checklist- K M Allen- Bookmark

When you talk about your Work In Progress- Robert Brewer

3 ways to increase reader belief- Roz Morris- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Know what you want to say and how to say it – Sandra Beckwith

Marketing questions – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

A beginners guide to Author Branding and 11 Book Marketing myths- Penny Sansevieri- 

Bookmark

Creating an author newsletter- Kirsten Oliphant- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Today is the Blog Birthday! 13 years of weekly posts. 

It has morphed a bit from the beginning. I started the blog to learn about publishing and I must say I have had an education over the last 13 years. Publishing has changed significantly in that time. Publishing Houses have contracted. Gone Digital. Print On Demand. Kindle. Kobo. Subscription. Wattpad. Audio. Serial. 

There have been scandals, lawsuits, scammers, #publishingpaidme and dodgy deals done. But still, authors hang in there, sometimes by our fingernails. 

Around this time of the year, I start thinking about the next financial year- tax time etc. Writer Mag has a collection of products for writers to stay organized and The Plot Whisperer, Martha Aalderson, has a post on creating a universal story planner. 

 

Onto Year 14… I might finally get organized.

 

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 – Andreas Cappell

 

The Art of the Dare…

 

 

In The Publishing Blogosphere this week,

 

In rare book news today… The BBC reports on the find of year- The lost rare books that were stolen from an auction house. The heist was the stuff of spy movies.

 

How much do you know of the Romance Book Industry? If you asked the average reader, they might say not much. But do you know how big it is? Why don’t we hear about it? If it was on the stock exchange it would be as big as Apple…

 

Publishing Perspectives reported on an alliance between three nations, and opening up to anyone else, for a new green book consortium dedicated to the publishing industry supply chain. They intend to promote and publish books and events in the publishing industry to do with Climate Change. (Remember Climate Change?) This looks like an important stake in the ground for amplifying ethical practice and collaboration.

 

Mike Shatzkin took a deep dive into the interview BISG did with James Daunt on the plans he has for Barnes and Noble. Mike looks at what he did say but also what he didn’t and that should be more worrying. Has James missed a few important facts?

 

Recently Joanna Penn interviewed David Gaughran on her podcast. Any time these two get together is full of golden tips and ideas. Do yourself a favour and check out the interview. You can read the transcript here or listen to Dave’s Irish voice in the podcast.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard (Happy 3^rd Birthday) has been writing a nifty series on global publishing for the Alliance of Independent Authors. Recently he wrote about the big global book distributors, Apple, Google Play, and Nook and their reach across the world. This week he turns his attention to the biggest global book player… Kobo. If you want to learn about publishing around the world, start with these articles.

 

Recently the talk was Amazon wanting to start a bookclub. It seems that these are becoming a virtual rage. A startup has launched a Bookclub which they are basing around the popular Masterclass model. Techcrunch took a look. 

 

Rachel Thompson has 5 strategies to help you squeeze more out of your writing time. 

 

In The Craft Section,

A hack for getting to the heart of your story- Sharon Bially

Writing the fight scene- David Farland

Inciting incidents and climactic moments – K M Weiland – Bookmark

Image tips- Angela Ackerman – Bookmark

Climax and tension- H R D'Costa

Writing Flash fiction with a twist- Charles Stross- Bookmark

How to write a plot twist- Reedsy video - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Create content in less time- Sabrina Ricci

Updating your cover 101- Melinda Van Lone

Author branding Secrets and October content ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark both

Plan for publishing success- Orna Ross- Bookmark

How to get reader reviews – Anne Meick

How to do honest and legal giveaways- Chrys Fey- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Dean Wesley Smith has been writing for years. He has done everything you can think of in publishing, so he has a wealth of experience. He is most known amongst writers for his writing in the dark, style of writing, which many find useful. Here he shares his secret to why he is so prolific- Dare To Be Bad.

 

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 – M01229

 

What Lies On The Other Side?

I’m sorry this blog is late… One of those times when the computer wouldn’t play nicely. Hopefully, it’s all fixed now.

This week I have been listening to commentators talking about how the world of work might change post Covid 19

A lot of people have discovered working from home has some benefits. Many report being more productive. With no commute time to the office, the day has a smoother start and finish. Of course, there have been people feeling the opposite. This morning I heard that central city businesses were desperate to have the office workers back as their cafes and shops had hardly any customers. How will publishing change in the post Covid 19 world?  

The New Publishing Standard reported a Canadian publishers lament that they were facing a deluge of returned books. This highlighted how broken the returns system in publishing is. Would it really be bad if there was no returns system? I can think of a benefit straight away. Less wastage in the system. The ability for Indie Bookstores to source books instead of waiting and waiting until big chains return the books so they can get access to them. We’ve got the ability to Print on Demand with many printers doing short runs. You can even use a Book Expresso machine in a book store to print single copies. I first linked to this technology back in 2012. If you aren’t sure what a Book Espresso machine is check out this video.

Publishing Perspectives have taken a good hard look at Publishing in the U.S. going forward. Will publishers need those fancy New York offices now that everybody can work from home? Will the rents fall for bookstores now that so many businesses have gone to the wall? How has having a supply chain of printers in Asia impacted the book industry? What will be the next best thing to publish? It all gets a look in this big article.

White Fox Publishing gathered five experts together to talk about how they see the publishing world post Covid. This is a great post and has some important things to think about. They cover publishers, agents, editors, bloggers, and marketing for their thoughts.

Meanwhile, the Romance Writers of America have done away with their flagship romance awards. They are introducing another set of awards. ( hopefully without the baggage from the causes of RWA meltdown) Time will tell if they can reinvent themselves successfully.

Nate Hoffelder has a nifty little project for anyone who is interested. He is designing an author website in a box. It’s free if you want to take a look.

It is the last day for grabbing the Story writing bundle of craft books. Check out what’s on offer but move fast we are in the last day to get this great collection.

In The Craft Section,

Creating characters who are fully alive- Barbara Probst

What do readers want from a POV- Jami Gold Bookmark

2 great posts from Anne R Allen’s blog- Improve the action in your story and 15 keys to writing dialogue- Bookmark.

10 ways to hook a reader- Ann Garven

What being an editor taught me about writing- Anna Pitoniak

In the Marketing Section,

Using Goodreads giveaways in your marketing- Penny Sansevieri

Turn your book marketing around- Sandra Beckwith

5 easy ways to increase your book sales – Dave Chesson- 
Bookmark and check out Dave’s Amazon book description 
generator- Bookmark it too

Setting up amazon author pages- Tony Riches- Bookmark

To Finish,

Recently Joanna Penn and Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors got together to talk productivity tools.

They referenced a wide range of tools that they are using or have used- Check out the list and while you are at it listen to the podcast. 

Maureen

@craicer

If you want the best of my bookmarked links in a monthly newsletter go on and subscribe. You will 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 virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- David Meurin  

Getting Creative

Last week I was urging people to look for the silver lining. A lot can happen in a week. 

Sadly, I am seeing many people in the arts industry who have had their jobs disappear, launches canceled, speaking gigs (that pay the rent) postponed or stopped. Then I saw booksellers struggling and the layoffs of staff have begun.

Some great booksellers are keeping their staff on full pay and giving them vacation time. Others are coming up with innovative ways to stay relevant in the community. A friend who does a regular storytime in a children’s bookshop is now doing an online version for the store. (They also have a mobile EFTPOS machine so they can go out to cars with your phone in order.) Other bookshops have started a delivery service. 

Now is the time to get creative to weather the Covid 19 storm. 

With the canceling of so many festivals, some kid’s authors got together to hold an online book festival for kids. Check out how they are doing it and share the idea around.

Penguin Random House, Scholastic, and others are relaxing their licenses so teachers can use their books and crafts in videos for children who are unable to go to school. Authors who have their own licenses for this may be able to offer something similar. 

Librarians overseas, are arguing that now is the time to relax the fair use rules on copyright. This is tricky as authors should still be paid for their work. It is their livelihood.

Amazon is priority shipping- anything not a priority for Covid 19 is getting delayed. Unfortunately, books are not seen as a priority. However, that doesn’t apply to KDP print and ebooks. (silver lining)

In the middle of all this Macmillan ended its library embargo. Everyone told them you don’t mess with librarians, but they had to find out the hard way.

Kristine Rusch talks about Black Swan events and how the world and business change forever at these times. This is an interesting read and something to ponder on as we look at our author business. Dean and Kris are also offering big discounts on all their courses for authors who are stuck inside. 

Nate Hoffelder is noting that most of the Book Fairs are talking postponement. He has a blog post on what to take if you are planning to go to a fair as soon as everything gets back to the new normal.

Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors has a very useful article on how Indie Publishing might be able to weather the Covid 19 storm.

In The Craft Section,

4 tips for creating Villains- Sacha Black - Bookmark

5 tips for writing therapy scenes- Jennifer Lane

4 reasons why sprinting is the new writing- Sacha Black

Ways to add depth to settings- Jordan Dane- Bookmark

Taking the first step towards writing- Shanna Swendson- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

How to make your book marketing more effective- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Packaging your book- Keywords, metadata, and selling points- Nicolas Erik- Bookmark!

New free epub creation tool- Yay.

Increasing discoverability- Facebook Goodreads Twitter- Ingram blog

Change your author blog into a website- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

To Finish

In this time of uncertainty with the news constantly changing around us it can be tempting to lock ourselves away and go back to comfort food, books, etc etc. If you know anyone contemplating plans to write that picture book, ‘because it’s easy to write a kids book’ send them over to read Melinda Szymanik’s blog- The picture book gospel. 

Now is the time to be kind and to think outside of the box, to get the word out about books and reading. Write reviews, talk on social media about favourite books, share your process, invent words games, social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation. Writers are already ahead of the rest of the world in these skills. It’s time to show them off.

Maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter of the best of the months' bookmarked links.

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 – Bill Smith- Girl Scout cookies 

Storytellers – The Future You

At one point this week I thought that my weekly blog would just be full of Book Marketing advice. I kept seeing great articles that I thought you might be interested in. And then I wondered if I was seeing them because it is nearly the end of Summer (on the calendar, not in temperature) in the Northern Hemisphere. The Autumn push of new titles ready for the new school year and the Christmas market is about to begin. The (Northern Hemisphere focussed) twice-yearly push of new titles in Spring and Autumn dominates the International publishing calendar.
So check out 
31 ways to promote your Facebook page
5 ways to maximise audience engagement
And a great post on Book Promotion from The Book Designer blog.

Then all the craft articles started appearing in my Inbox. A great infographic on story ideas from Chloe Twist. Roz Morris had a great article on back story description and point of view hacks and Elizabeth Craig had a great tip on saving your outlines.

This week’s news in publishing- Google Play is now renting books from Open Road Media… like a library. I’m not sure where this is going and nobody else seems to know either.

David Gaughran has an informative post on the changes coming to Facebook Ads.

Lit Hub finally caught up with moves that Artificial Intelligence is making into the publishing world and wondered about Author Avatars. Your author avatar can now read your book in your voice to the reader.
If you want to know where all this technology is heading check out the AI and the author interview with Orna Ross and Joanna Penn from The Alliance of Independent Authors podcast. I have been fascinated with where this might lead in the next five years. 
(If you are shaking your head in disbelief just think about the take up of voice-related search with Alexia, Siri, and Google Assistant predicted to top 50% next year.)
Parents are limiting screen time but have no problem getting Alexia to read stories to their kids.

What can an author do but get ready to face the future with some ideas of what may be important for their careers? That is where you should be keeping an eye on what Kris Rusch is talking about with Licensing. Her latest post looks at all the different types of licenses authors can take advantage of. 

Jami Gold has an interesting guest post from Augustina Van Hoven on dealing with Author overwhelm… It’s all in how you plan. (Try not to be overwhelmed with all the planning tips…)

Anne R Allen has a great post on kicking the whole lot to the curb and focussing on what your reader wants. Do they really need an intimate view of your life or just the news that a new book is coming…

In The Craft Section,

2 great posts from Now Novel 5 uses for minor roles and How to start a chapter- Bookmark

Story fundamentals- Bookbaby

Evoke reader emotions- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Dialogue tips to captivate readers- Roz Morris Bookmark

How to avoid melodrama- Mythcreants-Bookmark

Understanding conflict- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

2 great posts on book marketing planning- Book marketing timelines  and planning book marketing for holidays - Bookmark

Book promotion as a public service- Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

Email marketing secret weapon- David Gaughran- Bookmark

Using Lyrics in your book- Everybody always asks about this.

What is Book metadata-(If you don’t know, you MUST read this.)

Tales from the book promotion road trip… (what not to do)

To Finish,

Scott Myers has a useful poster on character types to help you with spicing up your stories, or just printing out and decorating your office and Squibler has the 17 best websites to check out for advice on writing and lifting your writing game. 
In the end, all we can do, as writers, is tell our stories as best we can in the right format for the most impact and entertainment. We are the storytellers.

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter is due out this weekend. I round up the best of the best links.When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. I’m living on coffee at the moment as I juggle a few projects. If you want to shout me a coffee as thanks for the blog feel free to hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Mr Bean as Avatar

New Lamps for Old

This week as the news of Barnes and Nobles purchase dribbled out, there was a taking stock over whether their saving was a good thing. On the whole, it was seen as positive but pundits are still taking a wait and see approach. The news that Waterstones staff felt their wages were too low even in the face of their CEO saying they got a ‘stimulating job’ to make up for it went over as well as you could expect.

News of another screw-over arrived from the Digital Reader. Libraries are smarting. Publishers have been changing the terms of access to ebooks by libraries. In the past six months, three publishers have changed access from perpetual access (at way over hardback prices) to access for two years (at way over hardback prices.) One way to kill ebook lending.

Remember when Audible annoyed the romance writers over the horrible terms of their subscription offering and writers left the service in droves. After all, getting pennies when it had cost you thousands to record an audiobook wasn’t very fair. We’ll do better said Audible. They relaunched their audio subscription with a new name... but it could be the same old... 

The New Publishing Standard is expanding its offering. They are backed by Streetlib who operate out of Italy. Streetlib are keen to open up the rest of the world to digital publishing.  They have committed to Africa where they see the next big market for books. (Just remember all the Commonwealth countries in there...) So a dedicated newsletter for the African publishing market is about to be launched.

Marketing is always a tricky subject for authors. It is hard to put on your marketing hat when you’ve just spent ages with the creative hat on. Two interesting blog posts caught my eye this week for authors wrestling with email marketing. How to improve your email marketing and 14 content ideas for emails. Go forth and improve.

I try to get up and move around every half hour or so when I’m writing. But when you are in the flow sometimes you can forget to do this. Here is a timely reminder from one writer about what could happen if you don’t pay attention. Read it, it could save your life!

How often do you think outside the book? Are you thinking print, ebook, hardback, audio, gaming, movie, voice search, streaming, podcast... If your eyebrows lifted, check out Kris Rusch’s blog post on the licensing expo she has just attended. Joanna Penn’s guest, Makoto Takudome, shows how easy it is to get Amazon Polly to make your book into a podcast. 
Voice search and audio content are here to stay. How can authors use them to tell stories? There’s a new outfit making bite-sized stories for Alexa to read out. They need writers. 

In The Craft Section,

10 writing blogs to check out

Writing the anti-villain- Reedsy- Bookmark

Conflicts and goals in romance- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Goal orientated storytelling tension- Chris Winkle

5 ways to keep readers glued-  H R D’Costa- Bookmark

Two punctuation blunders – Anne R Allen- Upskill Here!

In The Marketing Section

How to get easy author publicity-Rachel Thompson

Getting paid to talk- Events after publication -Emma Darwin

Ten business models for Indie authors- Orna Ross

5 Book marketing strategies- Barbara Freethy- Bookmark!

7 ways to Make more money from your books- Leslie Millar- Bookmark

To Finish,

Jillyanne Hamilton has put together 20 super writing and publishing resources to help you make your book shine. Some of the resources will be familiar to you as I mention some people frequently but there are some new ones in the mix you might like to check out. 
Collaboration is the way of the future. Think artists collectives, Indie publishing houses, or just getting some like-minded friends together to take on the world. 

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be going out soon. If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links why don’t you subscribe? You will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
If you like the blog, you can shout me a coffee by hitting the coffee button up top.
This blog runs on coffee and love so I really appreciate all the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Write Your Own Empire

Recently Danielle Steele was interviewed about her writing day and her answer shocked a lot of writers. No 9-5 for Ms. Steele often 22 hour working days. Aerogramme Studio decided to ask four fiction writers about Danielle's typical working day and what they thought of it. 
Is this what it takes to build an empire?

Anne R Allen is always a voice of sanity around the publishing blogosphere. This week she looked at the psychology of how book scammers work. This is a must share article. There are so many book scammers that prey on the book vulnerable. They are building huge scammy money making empires from the clueless.

Book Expo America ... or the PR room for Book Publishing empires. Bookbub gathered together the hottest trends in promotion at BEA 2019 to share.

Joanna Penn is working on making her name as well known as Jon Snow’s but with a better outcome. She details the steps she went through on her Arc of the Indie Author. Empire awaits.

Celedon Publishing is a new kid on the Trad publishing block in America. However, this didn’t stop them from running a savvy campaign to generate word of mouth for their first book. The Silent Patient launched at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Bookbub took a look at how Celedon achieved this. 

Orna Ross recently wrote on the Alli blog an interesting article on the psychology of success for authors. Do you think self-publishing is second best? It is a fascinating article on growth mindset versus a fixed mindset and got some interesting comments.

Kristine Rusch is at the big licensing fair this week and in her prep for it, she came across an interesting article on the Led Zepplin empire. What does that have to do with writers you wonder? Changes in the music industry hit before changes in the book industry. In many ways, we are following behind the music industry. So when a music publisher suddenly pivots and exploits the backlist of a band... what does that say about where there will be future changes in the book industry? Read this article, especially if you have Trad contracts.

Jami Gold has an interesting post this week on story planning. How tightly do we hold onto our plot details? Is there room for spontaneity? How do TV scriptwriters do it? This is a great craft article to get you thinking.

In The Craft Section,

Stay Thirsty- secret to storytelling- James Scott Bell

Gameify your writing life- Rochelle Melander- Bookmark

When should you stop revising- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Giving writing feedback- Now Novel

Extended metaphors- Reedsy

In The Marketing Section,

How to get free book reviews- Penny Sansevieri

How to use Google Data Studio to analyse Facebook ads- Karley Ice Bookmark

Identify your reader – Chris Well

The most nonsensical terms used in book blurbs- Be Aware- Litreactor- Bookmark

Should you crowdsource your cover design?- Publishers Weekly

To Finish,

Who would be a bookseller? The Guardian recently went in search of booksellers and found quite a few who wouldn’t do anything else. The Indie booksellers had great tales to tell of community building but the fringe bar takes bookselling to another level. Buy a book and receive a complimentary alcoholic drink... My vision instantly leaps to a chain of book bars... An empire in the making.

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.

If you know any bright six-year-olds... my Circus Quest books are available. Book 3 has just arrived so there is a sale to celebrate. Click my books page link.

Pic: Iron Throne from Bytesdaily