Navigating the Author Life

In Publishing News this week,

The annual writing income surveys from the UK, the US, and Australia all hit the news, leaving authors hot and bothered. For many, it was proof that their unsettled feelings that icebergs were ahead was completely right. Writer incomes have dropped all around the world.

The Guardian published the UK findings and then Joanne Harris explained how this drop would impact the books being published in the future.

Australia had a more rigorous approach with Macquarie University publishing breakdowns over 8 key findings from their survey. The impact of the PLR and the ELR income saving the children’s writers particularly.

Written Word Media took a different approach and looked at the backlist and its impact on writer income. There it was a different story. The bigger the backlist you control the better for your income.

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has been looking at scam publishers who contact writers telling them that their backlist can be reissued with only a few changes … just sign here. Beware fishhooks. Victoria details how you can get out of these traps if you find yourself in one.

Kris Rusch has been looking at the judges’ comments on the PRH and Simon and Schuster court case and making some pithy comments of her own on bestsellers. This is an informative read, in light of the author income survey results which came out after Kris had written her article. 

 

Over in Europe, audiobook companies are scrambling to get a bigger share of the market and another audiobook company abandons the unlimited subscription model. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard also casts a weather eye on Nextory’s venture into adding News and Magazines to its subscriptions.

With all the stress of the writers' income reports Beth Barany of Writing and Wellness suggests 7 different types of rest that writers need to restore their creativity. 

 

In The Craft Section,

The best places to write- K M Weiland

The importance of writing your thoughts down- Rachel Thompson

The ingredients for a successful story climax

The eighth element the author needs- Donald Maass- READ and BOOKMARK!

The 4 stages of writing a novel- Beth Barany

When to use a scene or a summary- Savannah Gilbo - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The 2023 literary calendar for marketing ideas- Sandra Beckwith- BOOKMARK

6 things to know before publishing a book in 2023- Penny Sansevieri

The ultimate guide to Book Distribution tools – Bookbub- Bookmark

Pivoting Genres and Mindsets for Success- Joanna Penn Interview with Dan Padavona

 

To Finish,

Terry Odell has a great article on writer priorities… it’s all about finding out what are the big important things to you. 

Another week, another great list of writers’ gifts. This time Katie Weiland lists the best gifts she has received over the years. 

Meanwhile, a winning lottery ticket will be on every writers wish list.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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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 Annie Spratt on Unsplash

 

Reading The Future

 

 

This week in publishing news,

 

The outgoing UK Children’s Laureate, Cressida Cowell called for the government to fund school libraries. The Guardian reported that Cressida's experiment where 6 primary schools received a curated collection and dedicated training to school librarians and teachers has been a huge success, now it needs to be replicated. Speaking as a teacher, the last thing you should do is get rid of the library…and it’s always the first to go when you need an extra classroom. If you want engaged, reading-for-life, children - fund the school library!

 

Publishers Weekly examined a law that has just passed in New York State – Freelance doesn’t mean Free. The onus is on the contractor to pay up in 30 days or the freelancer can double the bill. I know so many freelancers that would greet this kind of law with cheers.

 

Wordsrated released an examination of the length of best sellers in the last year. Results… the books are getting shorter. Is this because paper and ink cost more? Attention spans… reading is not trendy? Dive in for the number breakdowns.

 

Writer Beware examines a bad contract from one of the top serial writing companies. This is a must read.  Everyone in publishing needs to be aware of contract speak for taking everything and leaving you no rights at all. However, there is a sneaky way around this contract if you want to write serial fiction.

 

WhiteFox Publishing celebrated their 10^th anniversary by canvassing opinions from publishing people about how they see publishing changing in the next 10 years. Some interesting ideas were mentioned that writers should be aware of.

 

The Readmagine conference on publishing futures wrapped up in Madrid. Publishing Perspectives interviewed Luis Gonzales on the biggest challenge for the publishing industry that he sees going forward- Renewing the narrative that publishing is good for society.

 

Every week I get unsolicited offers from marketers wanting me to feature their content on my blog. Rarely do they have anything to do with publishing or writing and so I immediately junk them. This week I received a tip from Timothy Moonlight who wrote a comparison article on audiobook royalties and how he is having success with a new distributor Soundwise. Why can’t content marketers be like Tim and send relevant information that fits this blog.

 

Last week I mentioned that Kris Rusch had attended the Licensing Expo. In my inbox popped an email from Darcy Pattison on her experiences at the expo where she took her children’s books. It is a fascinating read.

 

John Wilker has written an interesting article on how he wishes Indie bookshops would support Indie authors. He makes some good points. Marketing your books is always going to be challenging and we must celebrate the Indie bookstores that walk alongside us.

 

Can you market books without social media? Penny Sansevieri has an article by Carol Michel who did just that. If you have been wondering about the value or time suck of social media for bookmarketing this is a fascinating read.

 

Beth Havey wrote an interesting article on the lure of stuffing your book full of literary symbolism. Are you tempted to throw everything and the kitchen sink in your book or do you go back once you have written it and find the symbolism naturally occurring?

 

In The Craft Section,

The Fear Thesaurus – Being watched-Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

6 ways to find the best ideas before writing- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Writing un-putdownable characters- A C Williams

Tension and micro tension to keep your readers hooked – Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

The ultimate guide to writing for audio- Jules Horne- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

July social media dates for book marketing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Write emails that sell books- Nick Stephenson- Bookmark

How to write an author bio- Beth Barany

Street teams- Angela Ackerman

Another take on book trailers- Terry Odell- Bookmark

Book promo in July – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

This week Kris Rusch returned to her current series of articles about why writers fail. This week she looked at the problem of aging. How often has a writer started a great series, realized it was going to be a life’s work, and given up halfway through or died on the job? Should we be holding back? Is the fear of big projects causing us to fail before we start? 

Can we future-proof our writing?

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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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 Ameer Basheer on Unsplash