The Opinions of Writers

 

In Publishing News this week

 

This week has seen rumbles of discontent through the publishing communities. At issue is the freedom to express your opinions and or the truth without being labelled with racist slurs. Finding and keeping the middle ground in the rhetoric over the Gaza crisis is becoming increasingly problematic. This week Pen America cancelled its award ceremony as many finalists pulled out citing a lack of support from Pen America. This is the American branch of the organization which supports writers in prison and the freedom of ideas and speech. 

 

In Italy, the publisher’s association has come out swinging over perceived censorship when a prominent writer was refused a broadcast appearance on the way to the studio, for criticizing the government. Their statement “A country that is strong in its democracy should never fear the opinions of writers, whatever they may be.”

 

On the Bookfair front, Publishing Perspectives has a breakdown on the deals that were done at Bologna. The comics group can’t have been eating or sleeping with so many deals done in their genre.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports that Entangled Press is flying high with a blockbuster on their hands but they insist nothing will change at their little Indie press.

 

London Bookfair has another change of director. This revolving door or ‘poisoned chalice’ as Mark Williams calls it, is not helping the industry in any way. He makes good points in his acerbic take down of London Book Fair’s governing body.

 

Meanwhile, Elle Griffin, writing at The Elysian has spurred discussion with her provocative article No One Buys Books. She read the book based on the big Department of Justice trial over Penguin Random House wanting to buy Simon and Schuster. She pulls out charts and statements made by publishing executives to illustrate her article and opinion that publishing is broken but no one has told the writers.

Taking the opposing point of view, Kathleen Schmidt with her article Please Stop Bashing Book Publishing. Here she shows who is buying books and why they aren’t being noticed in book sales lists.

 

After all this you might like to drop in to Kris Maze and read the excellent article 7 Super Mental Health Hacks for Writers To De-Stress.

 

Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur has another deep dive article full of information over the changes to Audible's categories. With Spotify grabbing increasing market share- The Amazon owned audio publishing company is tweaking the metadata.

 

Sandra Beckwith has a roundup of the interesting book promotion days in May. Check it out if you want inspiration for your Social Media posts.

 

Caroline Leavett has an interesting guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog on writing fact as fiction. This can get very tricky and could involve lawsuits. Caroline talks about the ways you can disguise the Fact in your Fiction so nobody ever knows it’s a true story.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Writing character appearance- Michelle Miller

Motivating emotionally challenging characters-Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

How to use symbolic settings in your story- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Tropes to the left of me- Terry Odell

Adding a listening pass to your edit- Suzy Vadori-Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

7 Social Media Best Practices- Draft2digital

Book Marketing strategies- Dale Roberts- Bookmark

Analyzing your book marketing niche- Colleen Story

Chirp- free marketing tools-Bookbub- Bookmark

Facebook ads – Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s that time of the year when I look back over sixteen years of weekly blogging on the publishing and writing industry where change is constant. Ebooks to Kindle to Subscription publishing services to Print on Demand to Audio Books to Direct Sales to AI. In the next year the Publishers will be coping with the avalanche of AI generated novels and the disruptive impact on the industry. For the Writers it will be the insistence that they are human and human interaction with fans will be the most important strand in their writer business.

This human is about to look for a big drink and cake!

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 buy me a coffee or cake for 16 years of blogging, I appreciate and value virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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Call Yourself A Writer

 

In Publishing News this week,

This week the London Bookfair started in its new calendar slot as the first of the Western centric Bookfairs. The opening day was busy and Publishing Perspectives editor Porter Anderson reported that interest was high in the publishing business talks that are happening at the fair. Porter reports on the talking points from day one.

 

Publishers Weekly also has a profile on The London Book Fair. They report on the way publishers are dealing with AI and copyright and the problems of innovation.

The big moves by the European Union to regulate AI has everyone looking to see whether this will act as the sheriff in the Wild West world of Large Language Models. One of the interesting moves is to hasten each member countries establishment of compliance authorities. 

 

One of the big issues in the publishing world is sustainability. Not only do we need to keep the business afloat but we must be kinder to the planet while we do it. This year the CFO’s of publishing houses were invited as a group to LBF to talk about good sustainable practice.  Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article on this including links to white papers of research. 

 

Scholastic has shelled out a lot of money to buy an animation company outright. So what do you think they will do with it. Well, they have a lot of intellectual property and animation is pretty big in the kid centric visual world….

 

It looks like the way to get your new Kickstarter style platform really moving is to invite Brandon Sanderson to run a campaign on it. Brandon was only looking for $2,000,000 to create leather bound copies of one book. Along the way he has created another record and he’s up to $18 million and he still has the rest of the month to go.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a very comprehensive post on how to write to trends. First you do your research.

 

Sam Missingham has a great website with loads of advice and resources for authors. Recently she made an archive section where she has gathered a lot of free resources together. She also has a great newsletter full of tips. 

 

Jodie Hurst has a guest post on Anne Allen’s blog about writing in the age of AI. This brings up interesting questions that writers have been wrestling with how much AI is too much.  

Given most writer tools like Grammarly use AI we are probably interacting with it more than we think. 

 

Two great posts from writers at Killzone Authors caught my eye this week. Debbie Burke has tips on finding the right critique group who can help you grow as a writer.

James Scott Bell has the answer to when you can call yourself a writer.

 

Jami Gold has an excellent writing craft post on avoiding déjà vu in your series. How many times can you remind readers about what has gone before. Jami has some brilliant ways to make this work for you. A must read! 

 

In The Craft Section,

Building a writing practice- Rachel Toalson- Bookmark

Optimising word counts – Rachel Thompson

Timelines and plotting your novel-Cindy Sproles

Guide to backstory- K M Weiland- Bookmark!

3 techniques for powerful writing-Janeen Mathisen- Bookmark

Story Planner Success- Now Novel- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Don’t waste the dust jacket- Sharon Woodhouse

Marketing on a budget- Karen Cioffi- Bookmark

After your book wins an award-Book Award Pro

Who reads books – Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

Best promo sites – Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Becca Puglisi has a great article on 8 steps from Amateur Writer to Pro. If you have ever wondered what makes the difference it is not sales, it is attitude. Becca outlines the attitudes you must have. This is a timely reminder for writers – how well are you doing with your writing practice and learning? It’s all part of the pro writer tricks of the trade. 

 

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 buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

 

 

Writing Mindset Problems

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Lee and Lowe published their latest survey on the diversity in publishing. Has anything changed since the covid years… only a little. It is a bit disheartening to see that a survey done every four years doesn’t show the bar shifting that much across the data points. 

 

Italy is preparing for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and their guest of honor status at Frankfurt. Publishing Perspectives looks at their industry figures and what is on offer for Bologna. In a nice touch one third of books sold in Italy are children’s books.

 

Staying with kids books- Oxford University Press has launched an app called Little Oxford for parents to give to their children. It is full of educational content and subscription based. Now if one press can do it will others follow suit? (If you are a press, I know an App maker in this field looking for content.)

 

If you are trying to keep tabs on all the moving lawsuits to do with AI, drop into the Passive Voice blog. Passive Guy who runs it is a lawyer and he has been watching with interest the counter suing going on with Open AI- Someone hacked their AI for a lawsuit? Or did they?

In further Open AI news, they have just released an AI that can make a video based on text. This is next level and in Beta but already its worrying commentators. 

 

Writer Unboxed has an interesting article from a children’s publisher about the rise in AI manuscripts that they are seeing. They are begging for an assurance that your work is written by a person. This is what Joanna Penn was talking about when she said to double down on being human. Joanna has a whole section of her website on how to navigate a fast changing AI world for authors.

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has a post on Writer Scams and how to manage your mindset when you feel overwhelmed with all the scummy behaviour out there. All Is Not Lost!

If you are a fan of the Emotion Thesaurus group of books by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi- There is another one on the way and it looks like a great addition to the bookshelf.

Are you looking for a comparison list on what is the best book formatting software out there? Check out this list.

 

Trisha Jenn Loehr has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about tropes. This is a great overview on when using them is good, when having too many is bad and what the downright ugly looks like.

 

Ruth Harris has an excellent post on getting past writer’s block. She has 7 hacks that will get the writing muse working again.

 

In the Craft Section,

Important Do’s and Don’ts for writing novellas- Kobo team

How to write conflict without bad guys- Angela Ackerman

What makes a good action scene- Terry Odell- Bookmark

How to use dynamic and static characters- C S Lakin- Bookmark

How to use antagonists in your story- K M Weiland- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

A guide to welcome emails for authors

Fictional characters on Social Media- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Advertising book tips- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Improve author website SEO- Debbie Emmitt- Bookmark

How to make a short animated ad for your book.

 

To Finish,

Recently James Scott Bell (Writing craft teacher with excellent writing craft books) wrote about timeless writing advice. He was commenting on advice for writers written by Louise Parr in 1894 that could have been written today. Writers have struggled with the same challenges through the decades, how to tell a good story. We are hardwired for story - we love the ads that tell a little story rather than BUY BUY BUY. We crave the payoff at the end of a great novel/film/song. Writing is a solitary activity but you share it with writers through the ages who struggled with the same things you do. Seek out your tribe of online writer friends or a group of offline writer friends who understand the ups and downs of crafting stories. 

We will all be cheering you on.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links  and other assorted stuff 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, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. It feeds my caffeine addiction. Thanks.

 

 

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Trends, Predictions, and More of the Same

 

And we are back… sweltering in the sun and through hot nights wondering if we can avoid the plague of jellyfish at the beach to go for a swim.

 

2024 – Where the predictions for writers and publishing are more of the same with bells on.

Lucy Hay has a THE post on what your writing resolutions for 2024 should be.

Anne R Allen has her regular publishing predictions post from Agent Laurie McLean. She talks about the trends she is seeing and the AI specter that looms over the industry. Let’s be Human out there.

Orna Ross backs this up with her predictions for the Indie Publishing community for this year. A great read from the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Written Word Media takes a look at the marketing predictions for authors in 2024. This is a comprehensive post looking at the 10 trends that they predict will be ones to watch this year.

 

In Publishing News this week

Ex Children’s Laureate and all round good bloke, Michael Morpurgo has gathered his fellow laureates together to demand a greater investment in early childhood reading. Every writer should be saying the same. If we don’t create readers we won’t have book buyers.

 

Publishers Weekly reports the creation of a nonprofit aimed at giving certificates to AI Copyright friendly entities. So far a lot of associations have signed up in support. I’m not sure whether they will eventually manage payments for licensing content to AI which some industry commentators think is where the AI trainers need to go.

 

Mark Williams reports on the landmark ruling of AI copyright law in China. If a human gave the AI a prompt then the human has copyright. This law only applies to China but as countries start to grapple with making laws everybody is watching to see how other countries are handling AI. New Zealand has a similar understanding according to a recent copyright workshop that I attended.

 

However, if you prompt your AI tool using known copyright and trademarked examples be prepared for the lawsuits. Spectrum has an eye-opening post on Midjourney and the Marvel movies it has scraped using very easy prompts. 

 

Jane Friedman has an excellent excerpt from Stephanie Chandler’s book, The Nonfiction Book Marketing and Launch Plan. Avoid random acts of content.

 

Dave Chesson has updated his comprehensive keyword strategy article again - ready for 2024. (Dave seems to be doing this every 6 months.)

 

This is the month for fresh beginnings so check out this article on productivity with a writing space make over.

Sharon Woodhouse has an interesting article on making every activity you do in your author business fall into the 3:1 ratio. It must do a minimum of three jobs for you.

Katie Weiland has an interesting post on 2023 and how it mirrored the flat arc for her.

 

Kathryn Craft has a great article on Writer Unboxed about fresh perspectives that sell. If your idea for the next novel seems far out that might be just what they are looking for.

 

In The Craft Section,

Smooth scene openings- Lisa Poisso

Words of wisdom on Short Story writing- Dale Smith-Bookmark

The moment of truth- K M Weiland

7 steps to writing a smart mystery- John Fox- Bookmark

Turn your readers into detectives- Marissa Graff- Bookmark

8 ways to hook readers at the end of chapters- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Two great posts from Rachel Thompson- How to market a book that doesn’t exist yet and Boost your marketing success-Bookmark

15 smart author marketing strategies for 2024- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Does your newsletter live up to expectations?- Collen Story - Bookmark

Where should I sell my book – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

As we start another year in the publishing trenches the old noggin stares at the proliferation of Social Media sites that sprang up after the dumpster fire of Twitter/X and wonders if it is all worth it. I waited to see where the publishing people I follow went and they scattered like pigeons surprised by a cat. So, I picked two new alternatives and stuck with them. I didn’t close down my Twitter account because I wanted to keep control of my (hopefully,) trusted name in that boiling pot. Roland Denzel has a great post about not quitting Social Media but quit using it. And he’s right. You don’t have to spread yourself thin, just use it strategically. 

 

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, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic:Photo by Lanju Fotografie on Unsplash

What Is Your Time Worth?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

In a boost for writers living and working in New York State, the governor has just signed into law that freelancers must get paid. This is an important law for freelancers, who too often are the last to be paid or not at all. Writers and Illustrators are often asked to do work for free. Our creativity is our livelihood, and it is wearying to keep saying No, I haven’t any free books or I can’t give you free art. A good rule of thumb if you do something for free is to write an invoice for the client with the dollar value highlighted as a donation for ‘tax purposes.’ This quietly reinforces the point that your work and time has value. You can probably claim it on your tax as a donation, and they can too. Then if you need to you can have the luxury of saying – My accountant has capped my donation budget this year, Sorry. (Accountants like to have donation budgets… even if you don’t have an accountant.) 

 

Publishing Perspectives reports that over the last five years audio book sales have been increasing year on year to now being up in the double digits of all book sales.

 

The UK Publishers Association is campaigning for people to come and work in publishing. They are using some interesting ideas to get people thinking about who controlls the narrative, or what publishing ideas get taken up. They want diversity, they want clarity of vision, however they aren’t talking about salaries. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard turns the spotlight on the little guys. How do the little countries market their books at their own bookfairs.

 

It’s the beginning of the holiday season of selling books and buying gifts for writers. Check out this list from Sandra Beckwith of great writer gifts and deals. (Don’t forget to check last week’s blog post for writer deals as well.) 

If you are just getting into your marketing- Check out Penny Sansevieri’s great post on holiday marketing ideas.

 

Are you over workshopping your novel? Anne R Allen has a great blog on this topic. She has written a checklist of phrases that can flag when you have gone too far down the workshop rabbit hole.

 

Sacha Black delivered the keynote at 20 Books to 50K Vegas (The world’s biggest author convention,) early this month. It was an amazing talk that will be up on YouTube in a few months time. She writes about the conference and things she learned for the Alliance of Independent writers blog

 

Suzanne Lakin has a great post on writing universal themes in fiction and writing craft guru, James Scott Bell, has a must read post on making your sentences sing. This is a printout and stick on your wall post. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to do your own structural edit- Sarah Kuiken- Bookmark

How to catch 10 most common editing mistakes- Natalie Hanemann- Bookmark

Creating and resolving conflict in your novel- Clare Langley Hawthorne

Tips for writing a successful story climax- Becca Puglisi-Bookmark

Writing short book descriptions- Amy Bernstein- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Social Media Marketing for Authors – Penny Sansevieri

F.A.R. Marketing – Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

How to create fun freebies – Colleen Story- Bookmark

10 strategies to boost your book- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Author blogs – Pros and Cons- Fussy Librarian

 

To Finish,

It is no secret that I am an admirer of Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I must reference her in the blog at least 3 times a month. Kristine’s long career in all facets of Traditional and Indie publishing has been invaluable over the last decade in understanding how publishing has changed, is changing, will change and the importance of owning your IP, and your relationship to readers. She has been a clear sighted guide to what is important and how to manage change in publishing. I will miss her. If you haven’t got one of her nonfiction books on the business of writing you are missing out. Get one for the holidays.

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, 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, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Joyce Wan on Bluesky

It Is All In The Mind

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

As I write this the American Book Awards is on. This award ceremony has been in the news over the last month with presenter problems and now Publishers Weekly report that media sponsorship is being pulled over the potential for authors to make hate speech comments. So, check your favourite book news website to find out if they were right.

 

Publishers Weekly also have a deep dive article on How TikTok Changed Romance Publishing. (You can put your genre of choice into that sentence.)

 

In AI news -The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association have published an open letter to the Copyright Office of America detailing their concerns over ascertaining copyright and the future of these works.

Meanwhile, Mark Williams adds his own acerbic take on the sky is falling rhetoric coming out of the publishing industry.

 

John Gilstrap writing over on the Killzone Authors blog has a great article on Traditional Publishing. It’s not dead, it’s evolving. It is all about mindset. Authors are small business owners. Now take that mindset into your interactions with agents and publishers.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have gathered together a list of Black Friday deals for Authors, or you can be overwhelmed with choice with Kindlepreneur’s huge list of deals.

 

Kris Rusch has been musing on out of print stories. She was wanting to use work in a teaching course but couldn’t find who owned the rights and whether there was a recent edition. This is one of those moments of wishing the internet had been around thirty years ago for research. 

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors have a super detailed article on keywords and Amazon category changes.

 

Suzette Mullen has an interesting article on mining your memoir and how sometimes you can fail badly in remembering and reflecting that others might have a completely different view of the memoir event. 

 

Roz Morris is back from a stint judging the Kindle Storyteller award- which is a big deal. Roz has written an article on what makes a great story – A must read.

  

In The Craft Section,

Unlocking cause and effect- Bang2Write

2 great posts from Becca Puglisi-Redeeming your villain and 9 tension builders for dialogue

- Bookmark Both

How to write one juicy description- April Davila- Bookmark

Identifying Flat Scenes- Janice Hardy

Writing Violence Archetypes  - Usvaldo De Leon on K M Weilands blog - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The best advertisement investments- Draft2Digital

Media Training for Authors – Paula Rizzo

How to make a personal brand- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

5 unique book marketing ideas- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Fantastic ways to sell books for the holidays- Bookbub- Bookmark

Book signing tips- Judith Briles

 

To Finish,

As we move from Print publishing to eBook to Audiobook to All Formats … what’s next? The big news over the last six months in the writing blogosphere is Selling Direct and the rise of the Shopify store. Joanna Penn interviews Russell Nohelty on the mindset you must cultivate to sell direct.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, 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 Ian Stauffer on Unsplash