Becoming A Phenomenon

Today I am one day late in posting this roundup. 

The end of January creeps up and suddenly the family realises that the summer holiday is over and school is nearly upon them. Cue plaintive cries for new stationery... uniforms... and other essential items that earlier in the year they denied they needed. How did they grow so fast over the last week? Why has one child lost their school pens before they even got to school? And whoever invented book covering plastic adhedsive should have a special hell reserved for them with a stack of schoolbooks, a tearful child and book coverings that never go on smoothly!

This week in the publishing blogosphere, Chuck and Mike ruffled feathers over their different takes of the self publishing phenomenon and the future of bookstores and publishing.

Mike Shatzkin started the week with a blog post on the future of bookstores and the decreasing shelf space for print books. Bookstores are increasingly going into non-book ‘things’, how will this impact on publishers and writers in the future. This is interesting reading and there was a lot of discussion about ebooks and whether selfpublishing print was sustainable...cue impassioned posts. Mike continued his examination of bookstores and the loss leader of selling cheap books to get consumers into the store...can this be sustained?

Chuck Wendig was in the gun for daring to state that selfpublishers should do the best writing they can as a service to the readers. He sees the increasing avalanche of badly published books as bringing down the status of the industry. He has had an avalanche of comments but some interesting ideas have come out of it. There was a mini thread looking at author collectives and the buying power of a group employing editing, cover and marketing services.

Andrea Phillips wrote a great follow up blog looking at different models of author collectives. Have a read then take a trawl around her website...WOW

I think an author collective model is where we may be heading in the future. (I’ve been saying it for years.) It maybe time for the best parts of the Bloomsbury model to be ressurected...

Porter Anderson has expanded the Ether to a live Twitter chat called #EtherIssue and this weeks topic was on self publishing where everyone has a % stake in the book. A lively chat ensued with all sorts of ideas and facts springing out. This was springboarded from the winning essay in December on the future of Bookselling. It is a brilliant read and was anonymously done by a publisher from Faber and Faber... a must read.

Another writer springboarding off Chucks blog posts this week is Ian Rodgers, a music critic, who looked at all the comments comparing the music industry and the publishing industry and decided to set the record straight. This is also a pointer to the way things also might be heading. A thought provoking read.

The phenomenon, Joanna Penn, was interviewed on her writing life balance and what she would do now if she were just starting out. It makes interesting reading.

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are a phenomenal twosome. Angela is interviewed on how to co write with another author, across countries...

In the Craft Section,

Revision is on everyones mind...

Elisabeth S Craig on how to tackle big revisions...great reading.

K M Weiland on when your character is out of character and crafting great opening lines

Kate Walker from Romance University on cutting for pace...this is a bookmark post.

What matters when writing for a global audience?

Writing a series...the things you need to remember.

Ten lessons in Non Fiction writing

In the Marketing Section,

The Book Designer.... checking your epub files before publishing, tips and tricks.

Social Media for writers.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting discussion on Book trailers. Do you need them?

Website of the week.

Life Hacker and Google tips for the student...Some great tips in here for the writer!

To Finish,

Leaving a literacy legacy... This is an important issue and one that is not really talked about but what happens to your literary work after you are dead. Do you have a literary Power of Attorney? This is a timely read because your work hopefully will last longer than you will. How do you want your writing to be treated... and that means your good name as well.

My publishing advice - Do your homework in all facets of the game. Weigh up which path is right for you and your energy levels. Work on your writing to make it the best you can. Get it edited by a professional editor. Whichever publishing path you choose make sure your work is as good as it can be. Your name is on it and it is your legacy.

Writing is a Craft. Storytelling is an Art. Publishing is a Business. –Chuck Wendig

maureen

Pic from Flickr /Creative Commons/ Schristia

Not A Bear Market

This week the news in the publishing blogosphere is... FRANKFURT.

This German Book Fair is amongst the biggest in the world and it was a big deal when New Zealand went as Guest Of Honour last year. This is where foreign rights deals are made so it is big business and fueling this big business is ebooks.

Every year the continuing growth of self publishing gets talked about at the big book fairs...which are required attendance for agents and publishers. This year, in a Frankfurt debut, CONTEC an industry forum to specifically discuss Digital Publishing was launched and started making waves. The news right off the bat... 60% of Self Published authors would not take a Trad deal if it was offered to them. Publishing professionals were asked how this would impact the industry...

Jane Friedman takes a close look at all that was said and unsaid on this panel that has everyone talking.

In an off the wall moment a respected agent demanded that all publishers pull their books from Amazon...annoying Penguin Random House in the process. The Passive Guy looks at the fall out.

Discussions about Author Collectives are everywhere I look as more writers find this is a model that makes sense to help them cope with the fast changing world of Publishing Now. From small press collectives to nationwide collectives for small countries... Catherine Stine looks at starting an Indie Collective.

The wonderful Anne R Allen has a brilliant blog and this week she lays out the rules of the Amazon Jungle...This is all about the changing nature of reviewing...a must read.

In the Craft Section,

Online tools to boost your creativity

How to nail NaNoWriMo

Editing long sentences

Paying attention to the characters life journey with Kristen Lamb

Janice Hardy doing a diagnostic on opening sentences with back story.

In Marketing,

Formatting tips.

Jane’s Friedman’s best business advice wrap up

Book Trailers...Do’s and Don’ts

The Jungle Red Writers collective look at what makes them stop reading.

Ebooks - Think Globally... another must read.

Writers and Artists interview with Karen Inglis a children’sbook author self publishing with POD illustrated books...

Website to check out,

K M Weiland has a new website and it is beautiful...check it out and her latest post on when characters lack solid story goals.

To Finish,

Over the last few years there have been rumblings of discontent in the text book world. First from the students...the high prices...then from the professors who have to pay for their work to be published in journals...as the text book publishers have a cash cow... but check out this latest from Harvard Business School....and read the comments!

Enough to make me reach for a ....

Maureen

* High Five to anyone who gets the reference in the title...

pic from Flickr /Creative Commons/Tim Pearce

Trolls and Turtles

Reviews...fake...nasty...and contained has been the topic around the Blogosphere this week.

Goodreads moved to ‘set the appropriate tone’ of reviews on their site this week.  But some cried foul as they saw it as censorship.

As I have said before, if you don’t like the book don’t review it...or say why you don’t like the book and back it up....

Goodreads new policy is to try to stop the bullying reviews and personal attacks of authors on the site. The freedom of anonymity, while you are sitting at home, to write on the internet a corrosive review of a book or author because you can...and no one will call you out to your face for your behaviour...brings out the troll in some people. And trolls seem to seek affirmation of their troll behaviour from other trolls.  Any writer putting their head above the parapet to call out troll behaviour gets targeted. Hugh Howey talks about this and how he was guilty of ducking it until this week...A great article from Hugh.

Being the geek I am, I read PopSci and this week PopSci looked at a scientific study of negative reviews on science stories and found that constant negative reviews which are emotive, skewed the perceptions of the readers to put aside the facts of the science article.

PopSci pulled the plug on comments on their articles on their website...there are still ways to comment...FB, Twitter.... but not on their website. 

If you carry out those results to their logical end--commenters shape public opinion; public opinion shapes public policy; public policy shapes how and whether and what research gets funded--you start to see why we feel compelled to hit the "off" switch.

Self-publishing advice has an article which tells you about the subculture of Amazon Reviewers...yes they talk to each other...

Porter Anderson spends a lot of his Ether just looking at the articles flying about reviewersthis week and there are many... So take a long break and maybe reach for alcohol.

The Frankfurt Bookfair is about to kick off and as usual there are lots of side events looking at the state of publishing. Publishing Perspectives takes a look at one aspect that will be big news at the fair... Self Publishing : the industry implications and impact.

Another must read is Kris Rusch. This week’s stand out article is the stages of an Indie writer. This is being tweeted around the blogosphere...

Elisabeth S Craig also has a nice little post on being a Hybrid Writer.

Chuck has always been Mr Nice when talking about traditional publishers, after all he may cuss but he is not a hypocrite.  (Unlike a certain author who is getting roundly dissed for his hypocrisy all over the web.) Chuck traditionally publishes but doesn’t diss Indies or Amazon or anyone that plays fair... until today when he came out in Chuck mode in an open letter... Dear Publishers.

In Craft,

Star Wars...and the 8 things it can teach us about writing.

Simple Writing  has one of the best explanations ofVoice I have read in a while.

In Marketing,

Julie Muesil looks at the brilliant way that Hugh Howey markets.

MediaBistro takes a look at how to do book covers with public domain pictures.

DigitalBookWorld looks at 5 ways that authors can handle bad reviews.

Website to go look at,

This is an author run co-op with some illustrious members...making waves in the indie publishing world. Check out how they got together and how they publish their work. I keep saying this is the way of the future...

To Finish,

SCBWI has introduced a new award for non traditionally published books...and Katherine Applegate (Animorphs) has been signed by HarperCollins for a new series on the strength of 3 sentences...

The green trolls of jealousy should be gathering to pull her down about now. 

More Power to Katherine’s Arm. 

I saw in my Twitter feed today a nice reminder....

If you think your idea is too weird to fly... just remember these four words. 

Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles.

Feel free to comment....

maureen

Pic courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons/ Frankensteinnn

New Moves

The weather scientists this week said that Winter has been so warm that Spring has come a month early. And this is a symptom of climate change. At the moment we have a late blast of winter going through and it is bleak and wet out there. (So breaking Elmore’s sacred rule never start with the weather....)

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

KOBO KOBO KOBO KOBO...

Kobo launched three new e-reading devices this week in NewYork...and got the publishing blogosphere talking...because along with the hardware...Kobo has new content to go on the hardware. Kobo Kids a dedicated e-bookstore for children...Beyond The Book for all stuff beyond the book including a special Font for dyslexics... and other nifty things. So another shift in the publishing world has happened.

Also in a quietly heralded move...The Alliance of Independent Authors has done a deal with PubMatch. If you are a member of Alli you can get a 90% discount on getting all your overseas rights sold...Read all about it...It is an interesting move.

Dave Gaughren has been comparing distributors...Smashwords and new kids on the block Draft2Digital.

Long Time readers of this blog will know that I have a bit of a geek thing with space etc etc and that this year the prominent writers in the SFF Geek community have been calling out misogynist and threatening behaviour towards women in the community. John Scalzi (just stepped down as Pres. SFF) has been targeted for his very vocal support by troll lowlifes. This week around Social Media a picture of John in a dress went viral calling John a feminist. John’s beautiful reply will have you chuckling. Way To Go John...also if you haven’t read any of his work...you are really missing something, he is a great writer!

Bob Mayer has 53 books under his belt and has decided to write a quick article about ten things he has learned as a writer...This is a good checklist for yourself.

The fabulous Debbie Ridpath Ohi and her comics on rejections...This will put it all in perspective.

Roz Morris runs a few blogs which I have referred to over the years in this blog...however I haven’t ever profiled her Undercover Soundtrack blog. Writers who write with soundtracks in their ears, talk about why they write to music and what sort of soundtracks they use.

In Craft,

Eleven Tips On Editing

Five Places To Find Critique Partners

Ten Things Emerging Writers need.

In Marketing, There are some very fine articles this week.

From Writer Unboxed –A key book principal that authors mustnot forget.

From Killzone – The best way to market your book.

From Marketing tips for Authors – tips for authors onAmazon.

From Bookshelfmuse...marketing for introverts.

Website to check out.

If you write Midgrade...Check out Emblazoners. This is another example of an author collective that niche market themselves. Roam around and get a feel for what they are doing and read the excellent article on writing midgrade series.

To Finish,

Rachel Gardner writes about Happy Authors and the things they don’t do.

Be Surprised.

maureen

pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/

An Unexpected Journey...

At the beginning of the year no one was thinking about the merger of any of the big six...

or the move by any more of the big 5 to acquire ‘boutique author publishing services’ after the debacle that was Harlequins acquiring of a ‘boutique author publishing service’ where they thoughtfully (after their authors screamed at them) changed the name and the aims of the service...imprint...press...tho they carefully kept the fees to publish with them.

So why, after seeing the map of the last few years, is Simon and Schuster partnering with Author Solutions to have an ‘imprint,’ Archway, where you can access their services at truly eyewatering prices to publish your book? (Children’s writers you will be slightly better off... only up to $8K.)

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware...lays out the numbers and asks WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS??? (Share this around people and let newbies know...)

Victoria also highlights a disturbing little sentence found in Publishers Weekly coverage of the launch of Archway.

"S&S will refer authors who submit unsolicited manuscripts to the Archway program."

Laura Hazard Owen of PaidContent also takes a magnifying glass to this latest move. As authors and commentators scratch their heads over this latest move by a big 5-er (or soon to be 4)... think about this little side journey...Penguin own Author Solutions...

Mike Shatzkin makes some compelling arguments for the benefits of merging Random Penguin style...think 50% of the bestsellers out there...now think of your local big box store...now put the two together...

The great blogger Passive Guy has taken a look at new moves in the journey to get their case heard by Harlequin authors bringing a class action against the publisher. He outlines the stops on the way and how the destination will change the landscape for all authors out there.

While Amazon (behemoth and outside the big 6,5,4...) has been squabbling about paying tax in Europe...coz their office is in tax haven Luxembourg, they have also been expanding their publishing company. They are moving into Europe and will be expanding publishing operations in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK... however their head office will be in...(go on, pick the country.) PaidContent has the low down on what it all means.

Rachelle Gardner asks if you have imposter syndrome...and I must say I often do...I’m also guilty of going back to the beginning syndrome in my writing journey.

Krissy looks at traits of highly sucessful writers...they could have a map!

Tali Rowland looks at ways to break through and write when you really don’t want to....

L M Preston has the must read unique paths to publication plan of attack.

If you hate writing a character what do you do... Roz Morris gives advice

Writer Unboxed has an interview with two new children’s lit agents.

Long time readers of this blog will know I am interested in the power of author collectives as a force for good...and so it was with great interest that I read, While Publishers Play Safe Authors Create The Brands Of The Future from Roz Morris. Go on, shout Hurrah!

Imagine going on a road trip with your best buddies...this is what an author collective could be.

In the craft section, this week plenty to interest you...

Skill lists for character motivation

6 types of courageous characters

When Muse and Plan collaborate. This is a great post from a guest on Larry Brooks Storyfix website.

Adapting story structure for any project...this looks at using Save The Cat in all sorts of ways.

Writing Tense Action Scenes...from a Thriller Editor.

Ava Jae on writing REAL characters

6 non writing things that may improve your writing.

In the marketing section,

13 ways to find new readers for your books

Genre Zines

Improving international ebook sales.

To finish,

Today Publishing Perspectives and Scholastic joined together to have a one day conference looking at YA. Check out #PPteen on Twitter to get comments from the YA Lit community on New Adult lit..sales...and quotes that should be on tee shirts!

maureen

pic from yesterday’s little event, down the road from me.

Socially Speaking....

Around the country Children’s Writers and Illustrators are getting together to celebrate Margaret Mahy’s life by going to their local library and reading Margaret Mahy stories at 11am on the 11th of August.

This is happening at public libraries up and down the land and overseas....If you want to find out more check out this great website especially put together for the event.

This whole event has snowballed from comments, made on social media among a bunch of children's writers, to become a National Event, getting press coverage around the country, in under 10 days.

In the blogosphere this week a lot of comment was devoted to Ewan Morrison’s piece in the Guardian about the (non) value of Social Media for authors.

Morrison often stirs the pot of controversy just before a speaking engagement and he is in fine form...however he took some flak for his blanket statements and figure analysis of the 80/20 rule of social media.

(You know it’s important if Shatzkin comments.)

Part of Morrison’s piece was to focus on Joanna Penn, who this week made a stir with her blog post on why she, a successful self published author, has just signed with an agent. It is all about putting the right team together. It is a good read and very timely as agents are re-examing their role in the changing marketplace...along with legacy publishers who seem to be chasing after the indie authors. 

SelfPublishingAdvice has a timely post on how Indie authors can work with traditional publishers.

Books and Such Literary agents have an interesting blog this week on Why Agents Blog.

Staying on the Social Networking topic, Writers Funzone looks at adding value in your social networking....and no, its not the 80/20 rule.

Publishers Weekly looked at the supposed Long Tail of publishing and wondered where it was...Their commenters put them straight! (you wonder if some publishing execs have been buried in sand for the last three years...)

It is conference season....and last weekend was the SCBWI summer conference.

I try to drop in, during the conference, to their live blog and get a feel for what people are talking about, hot trends, changes in the industry, things that will filter down here.

The running conference blog is a wonderful idea for those of us who can’t make the Los Angeles Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference...(tho over 1300 people did.)

Drop into the blog and scroll down the links to keynotes, panels etc. There is heaps of information just a click away.

However if you do feel like a conference experience...Check out WRITEONCON.

This is a free online children’s writers and illustrators conference which is getting bigger by the year. There are over 4000 members. I ‘attended’ last year...squashing in some online panels during the afternoon (NZ time). The big bonus tho for attendees is that everything is recorded online so those of us living in different time zones or having to work can drop in anytime and get up to date or post questions before panels and it is FREE. If you want to register go to forums. (if you registered at a previous writeoncon just log in) WRITEONCON goes live for forum and agent questions on Monday and conference live 14^th and 15^th August.

Dee, from I Write For Apples, has ten tips that will make WRITEONCON sooo much better for you.

In the Craft section,

The fabulous K M Weiland strikes again with her great common mistakes series This week Tension....

Joanna Penn has a great post on How To Create An Audio Book and why you should consider it.

Chuck Sambuchino has made public his Pitch Sheet Template...fill this in and you have your pitch sorted.

20 tips for writing strong heroines

Jodie Renner is guest posting on Elisabeth Spann Craig’s popular blog looking at how to name characters...and where to find their names....

Passive Guy takes a good look at which Creative Commons License is best.

Two links I just had to include for you... (the everything you want to know group of links.)

Mashables collection of digital tools to create ebooks

Inspired to Writes 25 helpful websites for writers

I am a fan of author collectives and their power to do good out there in the marketing world. Joanna Penn has a post on the 7 Benefits Of An Author Collective and how one such collective works specifically.  If you don’t know much about them, Read It... it will open your eyes!

I’m off to practice my Margaret Mahy story and work out which WRITEONCON sessions I can make...after all the power of Social Media to connect with others is what it is all about.

maureen

pic from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ Stuart Miles