In Publishing News this week,
It’s August so naturally our thoughts turn to Spring Bookfairs? Bologna Children’s Book Fair has just finished sweeping up from their last fair and already they starting to plan big things for their next one in 2026. Now they are moving into games... or more content. Publishing Perspectives reports on their new roadshow telling everyone all about it.
Periodically I post articles about moves towards sustainability in publishing. Usually, they take the form of publishers talking about how they are going to do it. Publishing Perspectives Arpita Das explores practical tips that the Indian Publishers are doing to be more sustainable.
Taking sustainability up a notch Publishers Weekly showcases Cardboard House, a bilingual press which publishes poetry in chap books and handmade book cover workshops. This is part of a grass roots mission to create spaces for language justice, and to reform, and reformulate audiences.
Publishers Weekly has a feel good story. Book stores specifically selling stories for the Black community in America have started a national association. They specifically want to use their association to promote literacy and amplify Black voices.
Here in New Zealand our Storylines Author Tours need some love. About four times a year Storylines takes authors on the road to visit schools in rural areas or little towns around New Zealand. With funding drying up they are having a Boosted campaign for the month. They need $5000 dollars and they only have a month to get it. Go on and share the love. Help a kid meet an author.
Now that we are in August a few companies have changed names, or terms or disappeared. In audiobooks Findaway Voices is now Voices by INaudio. You can still use them to distribute audio everywhere. Spotify for Authors is now enabling direct uploads at their site using the INaudio site. As any musician will tell you, check the terms of service before leaping in to Spotify.
Oh, Nigerian Prince, I’ve missed you. Not. Writer Beware has a warning of a new scam using AI to craft the most compelling flattery of your book and offering to review it, market it etc and then comes the catch, their Nigerian assistant. Just after I wrote this paragraph, I checked my inbox… Oh look a flattery email about wanting to market my children’s books….
Have you checked out a picture book lately? An English professor decided to do a deep dive into the data around animal main characters. A few decades ago, this was a talking point in the children’s publishing community. Are all the animal main characters boys? Everyone resolved to do better. But did they? Professor Melanie Walsh writes in Publishers Weekly it depends on whether they are a cat or a dog or a frog or a hen.
Tammy Burke has an interesting article on outlining for discovery writers. If anybody has ever asked you if you are a plotter or a pantser as a writer and you’ve been stuck on the answer, this is the post for you. Tammy shows other ways to outline. You could be a writer who uses trail markers, breadcrumbs, emotional anchors, and other exciting ways to get that story out of your head.
Donald Mass has another great article on the craft of writing over on Writer Unboxed. Are you guilty of throwing everything into your opening paragraph? Maybe you are trying too hard. An opening should be an invitation.
In The Craft Section,
Types of scene endings- K M Weiland- Bookmark
The power of paragraphing- Lori Freeland- Bookmark
Taming The Backstory Beast- P J Parrish
Amp up your story setting- Angela Ackerman
Fluff, Flab, and Fillers- Sue Coletta- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
Pay attention to your bio picture- Rob Bignell
A ready to use bookclub kit- Ingram Spark- Bookmark
Updated Amazon Keyword rules- Kindlepreneur- Bookmark
Do Author Blurbs create sales?- Alessandra Torre- Bookmark
The publicity tip you should ignore- Sandra Beckwith
To Finish
It’s nice to find positive publishing stories to share in the weekly blog. Author, Jen Craven has the ultimate feel good marketing story. What do you do when you receive a bunch of badly printed books from your printer? Jen turned them into a town wide scavenger hunt that got big publicity.
This is out of the box thinking and a fun thing to do when less than perfect books arrive on your doorstep. She writes about her most creative marketing campaign yet over on Jane Friedman’s blog.
Authors- thinking creatively since forever.
Maureen
@craicer
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Pic Photo by Klara Kulikova on Unsplash
