Will The Real Author Stand Up?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

This week the courts were hearing counter arguments in ongoing court cases that the publishing world is keeping an eye on.

Arstechnica reported that Open AI is disputing author claims that they used derivative work to make Chat GPT.

Publishers Weekly reports that a Texas Judge has blocked the roll out of the new law that demands books have ratings on them – but no one knows what the ratings are. Disputes are ongoing.

Reuters reports that the US Appeals court has ruled that the mandatory book deposit policy of the copyright office is unconstitutional. This could save authors and publishers a lot of money.

 

In another corner of the publishing internet, Lincoln Michel took issue with the viral reporting of the 12 book sales fallacy which is going around the internet. If most books only sell 12 copies how does publishing survive. Lincoln has the numbers.

Meanwhile, Publishers Weekly takes a look at the costs of doing business as a big publisher and how the profit margins are getting squeezed at the moment. They have the numbers too.

 

That venerable institution, NYU has pulled together a superstar line up of speakers for their inaugural Advanced Publishing Institute programme in January. Oh to be a fly on the wall at this very expensive conference. This is aimed at the midlevel to senior executives in publishing. (With publishing salaries as they are, can they afford this conference in New York? Early bird sales are on now.)

 

In AI news, Kickstarter has drawn a line and announced their new AI policy. They want everyone to be transparent over how much AI is being used in each project on their site.

Reuters is trialling a new tool that will embed verifying data into all their photographs so that they can control the spread of fake images. The data will be linked into a blockchain. This technology has been talked about for a few years. In this era of AI and fakes, being authentic is the new information currency.

Publishing Perspectives reports on the Frankfurt Rights Meeting seminar on The Impact of AI on the Rights Business: An Outlook. The word mediocrity was used several times.

 

Update: Amazon is addressing the proliferation of AI Books by asking authors to make a statement at uploading whether they used AI in any way to write or generate covers. Maybe it will work. 

Anne R Allen has a great post on terrible advice that author should ignore. This advice pops up again and again. There is a reason to ignore it. It stops you growing as an author.

 

Vulture has an interesting article on the fanfic trend of romance fiction. Do you know how many books got their start as popular fanfictions? Now editors are starting to trawl the sites and pick up stories. Just change the setting and you could be the next hot author.

 

John Sundman has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about 23 years as a self publishing novelist and the lessons he has learned along the way. This is a great post to get you thinking about being an author now.

 

Caitlin Shetterly has an interesting take on the author photograph. She has been struggling with the problem of the getting a new author photograph and wondering whether she should be truthful and acknowledge her age. 

 

Phillip Kinsher has an interesting article on Bookbaby’s website about choosing round characters instead of flat ones. But how do you know your characters are round? He explores the differences.  

 

In The Craft Section,

Conflict – prolonging the agony- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

9 ways to reclaim your groove- Now Novel

Making multiple storylines work in your novel- Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

How to get the most out of hiring an editor- Linnea Gradin

Tim Grahl on top 19 mistakes writers make and how to fix them-Bookmark/Watch

 

In The Marketing Section,

Why one star reviews aren’t bad- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

7 tips to boost your homepage- Camilla Monk- Bookmark

Successful book marketing- Emily Enger

How to publish a short story- Bookbaby

Book Launch tips- Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Last week there was a lot of chat around Social Media on the acquisition of a short story by a respected SFF magazine, from a writer with a problematic back history. The resulting dumpster fire of opinion took over the publishing social media channels. The owner of the magazine was conspicuously absent in defence of the beleaguered editor. Kris Rusch explores the backstory of the people involved and how magazines are run. She speaks from wide and personal experience of the issues, the people, and as a former editor of the magazine. A Must Read. 

If you want to hide your past - choose a good pseudonym. That’s why they were invented. 

 

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 shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Photo by John Noonan on Unsplash

Won’t Somebody Think Of The Children

 

In Publishing News this week,

Techcrunch reports on Amazon’s AI reviews. They are about to be rolled out on products very soon. Will they hurt the review as an art form? Reviews are social proof and book reviewers take their job seriously. Having AI synthesize reviews could stop reviewers bothering to write an in depth review. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard looks at the state of TV streaming and asks if publishers are seriously looking at their backlists. With the increasing share of TV revenue coming from digital subscription – backlist is king. So where are all those publishing deals? In the meantime the screenwriters are still out on strike.

 

Being a teacher by trade I am always interested in how the educational publishing world is doing. 

Publishers Weekly reports on the latest discussions of teaching reading. If you have been in the field for more than a decade you will be aware of different fads coming and going on reading instruction. 

 

A news report out of Brazil about a state abandoning its textbook industry had me concerned. A judge has reinstated it, thank goodness. This was a move to exert control over educational textbooks. There are always two sides to an educational textbook. It could be propaganda or it could be rigorously factual. When a person mandates a textbook change without consultation or notice right before the school year, it doesn’t bode well for truth. 

 

While Brazil is wrestling with truth in textbooks, Pen America reports that there has been a huge surge in educational intimidation bills. The old adage – In war, truth is the first casualty seems to fit here. The war is for hearts and minds… and the victims are often unaware that there is a problem. 

 

Goodereader reports on the wave of fake books compiled by AI and sold on Amazon – the most notorious being a book about the Maui fire two days after it happened. This kind of AI scamming behaviour by people putting these books up for sale is pretty low. It is no wonder that people feel mistrustful of any information.

 

Anne R Allen has a roundup of the latest writer scams to be aware of. Scammers prey on hopes and dreams. It could be for a publishing deal or agent or film contract. Once they hook you they suggest you pay for all sorts of extras. Money is supposed to flow to the writer- not the other way around. Always check the name and use the word scam in the google search. No one in the publishing industry will solicit you out of the blue for a publishing deal. Please make newbies aware of this fact.

 

Allison Williams has a writer beware post on editors behaving badly. You’ll never write in this town again. Writers who have been bitten by predatory editors don’t want to name and shame. Allison has useful tips for dealing with editors- This is a must read post.

 

Kris Rusch finishes up her niche marketing blog series with a look at how Barbie moved from a niche toy into an international brand with social media accounts and a billion dollar earning film. It’s a lesson in niche longevity.

 

The fabulous Sam Missingham of The Empowered Author is running a book marketing online conference later in the year. This week is the last week for early bird prices and discounts. 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive post on Non Fiction book marketing and a great post on writing and publishing with a family member.

 

Have you ever created your own fantasy map? It is often something we get into as kids but I have found that writers have a particular affection for maps. Mirror World has a great post with lots of links on map creation.

 

Molly Templeton writes about the ritual of rearranging your books periodically. I like to think that I do this yearly but I’m kidding myself. When the bookshelf is so messy it looks like three toddlers have had a playfight I know its time to seriously attack my bookshelves. Unfortunately knowing that I will be have to look inside every second book stops me from doing the job more frequently. Sigh.

 

Did you know that those little quotes in front of chapters that some writers use in their books are called Malcolms? After the guy who started doing it. It wasn’t that long ago either.

 

In The Craft Section,

What are plot devices and why you should be cautious- K M Weiland – Bookmark

How to write 5000 words a day- Bamidale Onibalusi

You as the fictional character- Anne Janzer- Bookmark

Writing about pain- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

What show don’t tell actually means- Mythcreants

 

In The Marketing Section,

You’ve written your book now what- Carrie Weston

Imaginative September holidays for book promo- Sandra Beckwith – Bookmark

How to build an author platform that attracts readers- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Ideas for blogging on your author website- Judith Briles- Bookmark

How authors use pre-orders to promote new books- Bookbub- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Esquire interviewed Josh Cook, the author of a new book – The Art of Libromancy. Josh has written about bookstores being at the vanguard of the culture wars. He is an independent book seller and believes in the importance of book stores for people to test beliefs, moral standpoints, and get information. This makes their survival all the more important in an age of book banning and AI scraping fakes 

I would like to add that libraries, particularly school libraries, are equally important. Having a repository of widely curated books allows the reader to make up their own mind. We must teach curiosity and fact checking and to do that we need access to a wide range of opinions and facts. You fail when you restrict access to books, or news, or dissenting opinions. Even though you might not agree with how some people ‘blindly’ follow the latest theories, it’s the ‘blindly’ that is the problem. Blindly reinforces prejudice without allowing that there might be an opposing fact to refute it. A wide range of voices and books to sample from is necessary and good for society. 

Here Endeth The Lesson.

 

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 this blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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As The World Turns

In Publishing News this week,

 

Last week I wrote that Storytel is partnering with Eleven Labs, an AI audio specialist for audiobook dubbing in different languages. This week Goodereader has an interesting article on Eleven labs and just what they are capable of- including voice cloning. You give them a sample of your voice, they clone it and then your voice clone reads the audiobook. I had a play with their regular AI voices and it’s amazing.

So if you clone your voice is it still really you or an AI? The benefits are no more voice strain when you are recording your books- also no more studio fees or production costs.

 

For the first time since 2019, Beijing has held their International Bookfair. Attendance was good and there were over 2500 exhibitors.

 

Pundits are still talking about Elizabeth Gilbert’s decision to pull her book because of Ukrainian backlash. Is it a publicity stunt or a genuine reason. Is it all politics?

 

Publishing Perspectives has an article by Richard Charkin on the megatrends in international marketing. He asked Chatgpt for help and then he corrected the resulting article.

 

Publishers Weekly takes a deep dive into the shifting Middle Grade market. Once it held up the book sales stats but lately it’s been falling. How can writers stay relevant in this important market.

 

Darcy Pattison has a great article on getting photo permissions. There are different levels of copyrights with photos so do your homework if you are using them in your work.

 

Draft2Digital has an interesting article on how to stay productive and using time management skills to keep your writing on track.

 

Do you need an author assistant? What do they do? If you have wondered whether you need to get help in your author business, this article is for you.

 

Colleen Story has a great article on the 5 things a writer can’t control- This is a good pointer for what to let go of for your mental health.

 

Sue Coletta has written about how she parted ways with her Traditional publisher and why. This is a story I have heard from other authors. It starts off well and then production values drop, editors stop editing and then the relationship fails.

 

Kris Rusch has a new series looking at niche marketing. Do you know your niche market? (Do you know how to pronounce the word niche properly?*) Many writers are still following old publishing ways of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Sometimes a smaller focussed approach is better. 

 

Tiffany Yates Martin explores whether writing in deep 3^rd person is actually a point of view or just really layered writing. Do you even know when you are writing in it?

 

In The Craft Section,

Using crisis to reveal character- September Fawkes- Bookmark

How good is your writing-Allison Williams- Bookmark

How to hurt your characters- Liz Generally

Coming up with the perfect character name- Emmanuel Natif

How you can be a better author with the snowflake method- Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to talk publicly about writing- James Preston- Bookmark

Do pre orders affect release day sales?- Jackie Karneth

Using blogger book reviews- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Creative ideas for book events- Penny Sansevieri

How authors can use Bookfunnel- Joanna Penn Interview with Damon Courtney- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The Winter/Summer Solstice is this week and many traditions use this time to reflect and plan or celebrate the turning of the seasons. If you want to give yourself a gift over Solstice check out these two amazing bundles of writing craft goodies.

The Info Stack of writing resources has a super abundance of high quality courses with lifetime access’, books, K-lytics reports etc for a one time fee of $49-Limited time only.

 

The Storybundle of writing craft books, available for two weeks with a great selection of books on writing, productivity, short stories… curated by Kris Rusch. These bundles are always great value.

 

Happy Solstice.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

If you want the best of my bookmarked links in a monthly newsletter you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Selvan B on Unsplash

 

(* There are two different ways to say it depending on where you come from.)

Breaking The Rules

 

If you have been anywhere on Social Media today, you might have caught a trending topic called Bigolas Dickolas. The owner of the name decided to tweet their appreciation for a four year old book. The tweet went viral and all formats of the book rocketed up the charts. You never know when a book review will change an author’s life!

 

In the academic world, news that the entire editorial board of major academic publisher Elsevier resigned over the fees the journal was charging academics to publish, hit like a thunderclap. The eyewatering prices are detailed in the Guardian along with the complaints of greed from academic institutions. Everyone will be watching the boards of other academic journals – will they follow suit? Meanwhile, the editors are taking their reputations and starting an online journal which will be much cheaper.

 

Many writers are keeping one eye on the current strike happening with Film and TV writers. If you haven’t been seeing your favourite shows lately or found out their seasons have been cut short, the strike by the writers of these shows is the reason. Kris Rusch breaks down why it is so important that writers know the reasons for the strike and how it might affect you in the future.

 

The children’s writing community was shocked this week when a recent book on grief got unexpected publicity. The author wrote the book for her children dealing with the shock death of their father. Unfortunately, the author was arrested for the death of her husband.

 

Our household has an affection for Mo Willams and his Don’t let the Pigeon Drive The Bus and its various spinoffs. Mo has launched a production company to control his IP. If you have an iconic character this might be something to look into.

 

Scribd has altered its Terms of Service (contract) to take into account AI. Publishing Perspectives writes on how EU lawmakers are using these new terms to inform copyright law.

 

Anne R Allen has a good run down on scammers and the methods they are using at the moment. Please be aware of the pitfalls and tell others about them too. Book scammers prey on dreams and Newbies are their favourite targets. However, seasoned hands have been caught so keep your eyes open. 

 

Recently Publishers Weekly held a webinar on best practice for publishers in a changing marketplace. The main points have been summarised in an article on Publishers Weekly. The sky is not falling you will be pleased to know.

 

Recently Orna Ross and Joanna Penn from The Alliance of Independent Authors sat down for an in depth chat on crowdfunding books. If you have been thinking about this- drop in for the podcast or read the transcript. The Alliance (Alli) have a wealth of great resources, they recently did a deep dive on selling books from your own website.

 

Beta Readers are an important step in the publishing process. As first readers they can flag plot holes or scenes that just aren’t working. Check out this article on How Beta readers might save your book from disaster.

In The Craft Section,

How to edit your novel- Alli Blog- Bookmark

What is the big deal about ‘was’- Terry Odell

Top 5 mistakes with sex scenes- Bang2Write

How to build a flesh and blood character- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Human moments- Donald Mass- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How writers can be successful in media interviews- Anne Alenskis

Tips for working with a cover designer- K M Weiland

5 book marketing tasks that can be done in 5 minutes- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

4 cornerstones to success for book marketing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Branding tips for authors- Shayla Raquel- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Rules- you need to know the reason for the rules before you break them is a popular saying. In writing, there are many lists of rules floating around. Some are common-sense and some are more obscure but can be the difference between a readable sentence and not. (*wink*) 

Check out this article on writing rules to make you shine not whine.

Many writers want to finish the story before they tell anyone about it. Jane Friedman has a guest post from Catherine Baaab-Muguira  on why you should start promoting your writing before you are ready.

 

Breaking Rules can be empowering.

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 like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Photo by Alex Lvrs on Unsplash

Under The Skin

 

In Publishing News this week,

Many writers muttered Hallelujah when Ingram Spark announced they were making print file uploads of Print On Demand books free along with free revisions for the first 60 days. There was general joy all around the publishing socials. They wouldn’t have changed their policy because every other print POD service is free would it?

 

Business Insider reports that Tiktok has registered a publishing press trademark. I wonder how they are going to advertise their books to readers or reviewers or even how they will go about getting books to publish? Now all they need is a buy button…

 

The Writers Guild of America called their TV writer members out on strike. This last happened about 16 years ago… and suddenly there was lots of Reality TV popping up. The writers have been screwed by streaming. The New Yorker lays out the case.

 

The arrest of a Taiwan publisher visiting relatives in China is making the Asian book industry nervous. The disappearance of the writer and publisher is being highlighted by news agencies around the world, reports The Guardian.

 

The UK Publishing Association reports that they had a bumper year last year with physical book sales up. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard points out that their reported numbers have huge million dollar holes. What happened to their digital book industry?

Mark also points out the double standard over Storytel Norway being accused of favouring their own brand on their own platform. Who knew that was unethical? *coughAmazoncough*

 

Kris Rusch writes this week on the gradual breakdown of favourable terms for writers from Amazon. She has been an advocate of going wide for years. This is her last heads up blog post on the danger of putting all your sales eggs into one basket. All the signs are warning of an iceberg ahead.

 

Ruth Harris has an interesting post on Outlines, AI, and Stormy Daniels. Ruth tries her hand at using AI to write a blog post and concludes that the prose is very boring. Then she thought about a biography of Stormy Daniels….

 

Lit Reactor has a great article on books with a lack of character development and concludes it is not a problem. Do we really need to see the characters grow and change? Sometimes the fact that they don’t is comforting. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Assuaging the pain of punctuation- Tiffany Yates Martin - Bookmark

5 things to know about writing for teens- Jennifer De Leon

The difference between character archetypes and tropes- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

What is a psycological thriller- Cailean Steed- Bookmark

What we can learn from reading bad fiction- Richard Thomas

 

In The Marketing Section,

7 tips for strategic pricing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Critique sites- Kathy Steinemann

Should you pay an influencer- Sandra Beckwith

What goes on the copyright page- Darcy Pattison- Bookmark

Readerscout- new free tech from Kindlepreneur- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The 122 page book, Death Of An Author has been making small waves after it was recently published by Seth Godin’s press Pushkin Industries. 95% of this murder mystery is written by AI. The New York Times reviews it fairly. Some will like it. Some will hate it. 

Creativity is not under threat- yet. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

 It’s time for my monthly newsletter? If you want the best of my bookmarked links and other extras why not subscribe and join our merry band.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

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https://claudeai.uk/ai-blog/

In The Trenches

 

In Publishing News this week…

In the continuing war against books… a Texas county has lost their court case to ban books from their library, in consequence they are considering closing the library. (Fill in appropriate words here $#@#$@&*)

The value of books and open access to knowledge is under threat. Don’t be complacent because it is happening over there… It might happen on your doorstep next week. 

 

Mark Williams has two related stories in The New Publishing Standard  on subscription models for readers this week. Kobo plus is expanding into more countries including the UK and the US and Bookbeat had a bumper quarter after getting rid of the all you can eat subscription model, which other digital reading services use. There will a lot of eyes on this result. Is this the new model for the future of digital subscription?

 

This week an article on Medium by Ash Roberts caught my eye. Why web3should be part of the publishing strategy for authors. It is a meaty article on the evolution of technological advances. When these advances impact on publishing, authors should be embracing them rather than running the other way. What do you think?

 

Around the publishing water cooler Children’s Authors are commenting on this story of a double standard. Maggie Tokuda Hall has a lovely picture book about her grandparents who met in an internment camp published by Candlewick – Scholastic wanted it for its educational division which would apply rocket fuel to sales- however they wanted the author to make changes that in all conscience she couldn’t make. Maggie explains the Faustian bargain on offer.

 

Publishers Weekly spoke to a panel of children’s book editors about the longevity of the Rick Riorden effect on mid-grade books.

 

Kris Rusch has a post on how writers fail… they get too successful. This is an interesting look at the way success can screw up your writing goals. Are you prepared?

 

Kathleen McCleary posting on Writer Unboxed asks how long does it really take to write a novel? Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in six weeks… why can’t the rest of us do that?

 

Anne R Allen has a great guest post from Becca Puglisi on Theme and Symbolism and

Kay Di Bianca explains how to plot with post it notes. Find a handy wall…

 

In The Craft Section,

Understanding 3^rd person point of view- Tim Grahl- Bookmark

How do you move beyond the 3 act structure- Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

Have you chosen the right POV for your story- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Does your story need conflict- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

The benefits of writing longhand- Elizabeth Craig

 

In The Marketing Section,

BookDesign Templates are having a sale until 17th April (midnight) Use coupon code summer23 for 30% off – (I use these interior design templates and they are great.)

Booklinker have a comprehensive post on marketing- Bookmark

Mastering amazon ads one tweak at a time- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

2 interesting posts for Di Ann Mills -What is a one sheet and why do you need it? and

Enlisting your readers for blog ideas.

 

To Finish,

Sometimes writing and publishing can feel like a slog uphill while dodging falling boulders. Writing should be fun or at least energy giving. Heather Wood has five writing habits that you should incorporate into your writing routine to shake yourself up and Colleen Story has a fun alphabet of helpful tips for writers. 

Go forth and conquer that story.

 

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 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 or here. 

I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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Photo by British Library on Unsplash