Game Changing and Piracy

On the side of my blog I have a list of must read blogs. One of those is Jane Friedman’s There Are No Rules. 

Jane is one of the touchstones in the blogosphere on publishing and change. She has been a keynote speaker at many big conferences on publishing and will be speaking at SXSW soon. Jane has a round up every week of what she thinks are among the best articles of the week (often I have already filed some of them for you) but I always pay attention to her list.  This week Jane highlighted a critical must read article by Kristine Rusch and yes I think that it deserves that status.

Kristine Rusch is a bestselling, award winning, romance, mystery and science fiction writer. She has been writing a series of articles on change in the publishing world. This week she has seen such a significant game change in self publishing that against all her previous advice she now believes that beginning writers should look seriously at self publishing...and not only them.

Bob Mayer was one of the first to comment (no surprise he agreed with what she said.) This week, on his own blog, Bob has an article about what he has learned in his writing life.  And it is a good read too. Bob breaks down the lessons he has learned since writing his first book...as he says... the more you consciously know about writing-the harder it gets!

However, to help you in this difficult creative endeavour is Mike Fleming and Elisabeth S Craig. Together they have sorted out a solution for storing all those links on writing... The Writers Knowledge Base.

This week Agent Mary Kole answered the tricky question...Would you turn down a book you loved but you knew you couldn’t sell? This is a good look at what agents are faced with...

Last week I asked the question, Who will be the digital ebook reviewers we trust?

I pointed you to Kristen Lambs blog post...this week also answering this question is Morris Rosenthal of Foner Books. Morris reckons that groups of writers will band together and become the new gate keepers...and then turn into writers guilds with too much power etcetcetc (check out the comments)

The Huffington Post has an interview with Annik LaFarge on effective author websites this is so full of information that you will probably need to set aside a long coffee break to take it in.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on

Writer Envy...The Rejectionist- Dear Superior Person

The Rules of Sci Fi...(don’t spare the red shirt guy)

The Best Writing Mistakes and How To Make Them

The Espresso Book Machine...This is a book printing robot in a NY book store which prints books 

immediately....Go and take a look at the video!...opens up a whole new world....

To Finish

Upstart Crow have a great archived article on Mid Grade and Y A differences and where you draw the line and 

The best article on story structure I have seen from the formidable Larry Brooks over on Storyfix, How to Learn Story Structure in Two Minutes or Less.

I leave you with Neil Gaimen talking on how Piracy helped him...

enjoy,

maureen

P.S The Jane Friedman that Kristine Rusch refers to is not the Jane Friedman of There Are No Rules. There are two Jane Friedman's in the publishing world.

P on the Brain...Promotion, Platforms, Pitching, Publishing and Phew...

This week has been ‘my can’t quite settle to anything’ week. 

It is probably due to changes in the family routine...Theoretically I should have more time...I wonder where it goes. 

I need to wrestle my house into submission and also my brain, which has been jumping around all over the place. I have a new story idea that I have been doing a little bit of research on, and thinking about on how to tackle the story...You know me, sucker for anything that needs research, also I don’t know why but I have to challenge myself in structure and style as well... Why can’t I just write a simple story? As my good Fabo Friend commented on Facebook recently  ‘Just write Maureen write!!!’

So in this week’s blog there is a mix of different ideas that caught my eye.

If you read last weeks post and went aaaarhgh. Social Media and Promotion and...It’s all doing my head in... then have a look at this guest post on Sia McKye’s blog. Janice Hardy takes a look at using your time wisely on promotion.

If you looked at last weeks post and thought Twitter aaaargh. Nicola Morgan has a good series of posts on using hashtags for searching within twitter. (good for research)

If you thought 'I can’t do facebook...'Take a look at this article on Fan Pages from Publetariat.

Nathan Bransford has a post looking at platform...which I have touched on before...If you wanted to know what an authors platform is, in terms of agents and publishers, read Nathans post.

This morning I had the good fortune to be able to chew the fat with some writer buddies (Hi Melinda) and we discussed last years conference. It has been a year since Spinning Gold...(I can’t quite believe it myself.) We discussed the success stories and the challenges of putting on the conference. The next conference, Spinning Tales, will be in Auckland at the beginning of April. Planning is underway with the Auckland team.

One of the topics in our wide ranging discussion was the changing face of publishing and also the speed of change. Jason Pinter looks at this in his Huffington Post article The 12 Game Changers In Publishing (and he doesn’t mention the tech companies....)

There will be pitching at Spinning Tales...so it could be timely to have a look at what happens to your manuscript when it gets requested. An agent tells....

Ingrid Sundberg has a good post on her blog recapping the agents panel at SCBWI LA last month. Great information about what some American agents want.....

Darcy Pattison has guest blogged about book trailers on The Creative Penn. If you have been thinking about book trailers and wondering if it is for you, have a look at what Darcy has to say.

Over on Craicerplus  (My Amplify page) There are articles on

Reinventing Book Marketing.

What Do The Most Highly Paid Authors Have In Common.

New Print Books Jump Off The Page With Digital Enhancements.

Speaking Loudly...(how Social Media got the word out for Laurie Halse Anderson when her book was banned in schools....)

5 Ways To Make Your Novel Unforgettable...(for those of us stuck in mid novel blues...)

MG vs YA...(brilliant post and nailed for me why I love writing MG)

I want to leave you with a great video that Rachelle Gardner posted on her blog.

The The Impotance of Proofreading.

And if you know a teacher... send them this....Absolutely Brilliant!


enjoy,
maureen

and the pic is not my kitchen sink.

Future Creativity...

This week I have been thinking about creativity and the future. 

This came about because I was at the Storylines committee wind-up dinner (being an email member qualified me...yippee) and Adele Jackson fab co-ordinator and all round creative ideas professional started talking to me about Creativity and the impact on the classroom of the news that creativity is falling away as we focus on assessment.

Of course the teacher in me takes notice. Adele is in touch with some very classy educationalists whom we invited to The Spinning Gold conference to give us a perspective of writing and illustrating for the classroom in the future. Derek Wenmouth of CORE had posted an article on his blog about creativity which featured an excellent video address by John Cleese on the subject. If we don’t block out sustained quiet time we will not have any creative ideas. We must work at it...carve out time!!!

So of course after those stirring words I looked at my to do list and carved out time. Yes I got some big projects done but unfortunately some more got added to the list...Oh well I know what I need to do. Unplug the internet! (yep I hear you all laughing) I am resisting all efforts by the family to make this a wireless household...too easy I think to get sucked in into checking facebook when I am supposed to be writing. Fleur Beale has a good system, every morning she goes to an office in town without internet and writes...which is why we are all going to the launch of her new book Fierce September tonight....(a great launch and Fleur is going all techy with added content on linked blogs to the book. Check out the Fierce September website.) 

 Looking into the future is what the sci fi pop culture site i09 is all about. It has some great articles abut what is current, analysis, reviews etc...geek stuff including ask a physicist... I was interested in an article this week about the rise of Science Fiction lit. novels and how writers who previously were known for ‘literature’ were now moving into Science Fiction....(making it legit? Guess my reaction...)

E books are on their way to Australia and  New Zealand with news this week that major publishers are about to sign deals that will enable their lists to be published as e-books. As the readers start to make their way into this part of the world it would be good to have local content available to read on them.

Sydney Salter, one of the 30 mid grade authors running the midgrade site From The Mixed Up Files has a great blog post looking at her reaction to her child who saved up and bought herself an e-reader. So is this what kids of the future want to spend their money on? Sydney was sceptical but her non reader is now reading...

So how to get that content picked up so you can be part of the publishing lists of the future....

Mary Kole of Kidlit.com has been interviewed on several blogs about being a young agent and she has written a thought provoking post on how she acquires authors. Here in NZ we don’t have many agents...so we do more ourselves but overseas getting the agent can be the hardest part of the whole publishing process.

Sunny Frazier has written a no nonsense straight talking guest post on being an acquisitions editor...she doesn’t bother with the query letter but goes straight to google search to find out how web savvy the author is...go read it...it is eye opening!

 If you are now in a state of shock about your publishing and the future you might want to check out this collection of tips from authors who are using social media for marketing... and Chris Brogan has a good post on blogging and websites if you need to do something concrete...(Thanks to Justin, for the link.)

Over on Craicerplus (my Amplify page...which is getting a following of its own)

I have links to articles on

Finally Someone Admits To What The Print On Demand Business Model Really Is

Genreality- Self Publishing Realities

Ten Ways To Improve Your Writing

13 Wonderful Truths About Publishing

Dear Dan Brown...(you will laugh)

Ten Tropes you Will Find In Science Fiction Over and Over Again...(geeking over the video clips)

How To Effectively Manage Your On Line Reputation

How To Read A Publishing Contract

In the good news corner Debbie Redpath Ohi,  whose cartoons I have enjoyed over the last few years, got some well deserved recognition purely by accident and through a rejection picked up a publishing contract and a new career...nice one! She carved out time in her hotel room in a frantic rush but the payoff was oh so sweet.

So how do YOU carve out time for writing? All tips appreciated...

enjoy

maureen

pic is a bike for the future...

writing is a business...

Writing is a business....

It’s amazing how many people don’t know that.

Lately I have heard...

‘but writing is your passion’(tone meaning... it’s not proper work.)

‘Are you rich yet? You were on the best seller list!’

So you explain how the industry works...writers get 10% of the RRP and children’s writers get less than that... and you watch their faces fall and their look of disbelief.

‘So why do you do it? ‘

I have been asked so often I now have figured out a stock answer.

I do it because I love to tell stories. With teaching you have a captive audience. They have to listen to the stories you weave around your maths problems...having a book published and in shops means you are legit! I have always said that being a writer is the best job I know because you can ask anybody anything and say it’s for research!

Unfortunately the money is laughable.

In the weekend the New Zealand Society of Authors organised a lunch speaker in conjunction with New Zealand Book Month. The speaker was an Australian agent. New Zealand doesn’t have many agents... but they are standard on other parts of the world. In the UK and the US publishers only deal with agents...(that’s why the pitch slam was so amazing...a chance to pitch directly to an editor.)

The agent, Sophie, looked like she was on a steep learning curve.... In the room only two writers had agents and they were children’s writers. As Don Long (Chair Wellington NZSA) pointed out to her that 48% of the writers here in NZ were Children’s Writers.

Writers must have a web presence!(just like a business...)Also they are increasingly having to Brand themselves.(just like a business...marketing... promo etc)

Sophie did comment that children’s publishing was a whole different ball game. Children’s writers now were being asked to provide additional content to support websites and ongoing character blog sites.... It’s a brave new world out there and the grown up writers had better watch out....

Sophie also commented that writers have to do their own publicity....I have been hearing this so often...and I believe it now. I wish I had a box of my books... I could hawk them myself....as it is I refer to the children’s book shops.... If you look at some of the children author blogs, you will see giveaways...competitions... guest interviews...(when do they find time to write again?)

Fifi and I were nodding to each other, we understood to the fullest extent what Sophie was talking about.

So thanks Fi for propelling me into the brave new world!(i'm not sure if i was ready but too late now...)

maureen

Added content on the Bones blog.

Contact me if you want to buy a book! (or check out your local children’s bookshop.)

Competition ongoing....

Come up with a nice short pithy slogan for the National Conference of Children's Writers and Illustrators.