Tripping Around The World

Today the Twitter feed is full of what people are talking about at Storyworld, the big conference in Hollywood (happening as I write this) which is a mix of writers, gamers and publishers...directly taking aim at the transmedia market. If you want to follow the conversation...everything from Disney’s new grant program for storytellers to whether transmedia is a Noun or a Verb...(It’s a verb!) Follow along using #SWC12 in the Twitter search box.

Also just appearing in blogs is the roundup of Frankfurt Book Fair and what came out of it. Laura Hazard Owen of Paid Content rolls over the new startups that got the buzz as well as the HUGE market in books on mobile phones...and the publishers cashing in on self pubbed authors.

Mike Shatzkin commented that Frankfurt opened his eyes...to the use of ‘Platform’ in children’s publishing by Gatekeepers and the immense power this has for sales and the future in publishing. There is so much to ponder in this post... take some time to absorb it.

New Zealand was guest of Honour at Frankfurt this year and our contribution was to send NZ’s *literary* platform of Chefs, Winemakers, Film Producers along with Poets and some great Kiwi authors. The Fair Special Focus of Children and Young Adult literature featured a *small* stellar group of NZ Children’s Authors. Authors had to compete on the other side of a curtain with the multimedia experience in the guest pavilion hall, where the unwary could fall into the pools of water while staring at the reflected stars. We have great writers here...wish they all could have been there....

Coming up in the next few weeks... Halloween and NaNoWriMo....

Last year there was discussion among YA authors about handing out scary books to kids who come trick or treating...and a lot of authors went to the second hand bookshops and stocked up on Goosebumps. This year the campaign is more organised and Neil Gaiman is fronting it. Check out this great video on the All Hallows Read website. (Neil Gaiman thinks the fact that I sing in graveyards is pretty cool...however no one is getting murdered while I do it...not like this video...heheheh)

Scrivener is coming to the halloween party in time for NaNoWriMo with a free trial of their writing software. There are authors who swear by this programme so if you are interested or gearing up for NaNoWriMo this year check it out.

The Amazing team behind Emotional Thesaurus have written a breakdown of how they took a blog idea into a non fiction book for writers and then out to the world to sell over 10,000 copies in few short months. This is a great meaty read with what they learned this year. Angela and Becky have always impressed me (they live in two different countries) and after reading this breakdown...they are now up there with GODDESSES!

Copyblogger has a great post on negotiations and how to do them for freelance writers...this is one of those print it out and stick it on the wall by the telephone posts.

Joanna Penn, in London, offers the definitive breakdown to why your books aren’t selling and what to do about it. This is great information...and a handy checklist.

Jane Friedman (now in Virginia) has been busy this week with two great posts on Author website checklists and a very detailed Q and A with a copyright attorney...do you need to register your MS in the US if you live outside it?

VQR has a thought provoking post on Small Press and Self Publishers...are they enemies or half siblings...among the ideas in here is whether it is legit for small presses to ask authors for money to publish...Sean says yes.

In the craft list of great links...

The use of cliff hangers by unscrupulous writers.

How to get through reading your work out loud.

Dialogue spacing and why you need to pay attention to it! (Agent Mary Kole hot on the warpath)

7 tricks to add variety to your dialogue.

Kristen Lamb on getting primal with structure, part of her new writing series.

Writing to music? thewritepractice says you should and why...(nifty article to have your characters singing into the hairbrush...)

In the interesting tech ideas...

Inkygirl has been trying out a $4.99 App for the iPad that makes animated book trailers...easily.

Joel Friedman (The Book Designer) has 3 ways to use google search more effectively...you will never look at the search box the same way...brilliant.

If you love to get into typefaces...Joel also has a look at a new typeface  for dyslexics.

To Finish,

Derek Haines has published a blog post on why he is going back to Smashwords from being a KDP Select programme for the last year. He weighs up the benefits and the costs of both distributors. This is a good snapshot of the indie industry today.

In Breaking News the latest stats on publishing first half of 2012...Children's pub stats up 41%...and it's digital...

I’ll be out and about over the next few weeks in a different hemisphere so I’m cooking up some special focus posts for you...they will be chock full of links as per usual...

maureen....off to pack bags...

Knowing Your Business

Knowing what business you are in has been theme of the publishing blogosphere over the last couple of days.

In an ideas convergence, sparked by Kodak going bankrupt, many commentators are looking at what happened to Kodak and drawing some parallels to the publishing industry.

Knowing what business you are in is the most important pointer to your future as Rachel Gardiner points out with this comment.

Publishers, agents and authors need to start from this very important truth: We are not in the “book” business. We are in the business of storytelling. This encompasses entertainment, information, ideas, creativity, inspiration, and intellectual exploration. It also comprises a social element—the relationship between reader and writer. We are in the business of fostering this relationship.

Mike Shatzkin, publishing futurist, puts it another way using statistics to highlight that in a conservative estimate publishers are looking at over 30% of their revenues coming from online...either through ebooks or Amazon bookstore.

But being halfway through the change in consumer buying habits in our decade of change has profound implications for all the big players in the publishing value chain.

Both these commentators are calling for a wakeup in the publishing industry and this is echoed in the comments section of each of these posts with big hitters weighing in to comment.

Kristin has advice for the big six to take now. Her post, bracing for impact, has a list of important points the traditional publishers should be doing now so they don’t go the Kodak way. (here is just one point she makes...)

New York, if you guys had an e-division, you could take on new untested writers that agents deliver with very little risk. If a new writer sells so many e-books, she earns a print deal and can earn a spot in a…bookstore. Publishers don’t waste paper printing books that don’t sell and bookstores don’t waste shelf space on…books that don’t sell.

 (Since this morning, when the post went up, she has over 109 comments endorsing her call and it is being retweeted everywhere.)

In the spirit of knowing what business you are in, a few writers have been looking at tips to improve the storefront of the author.

Authorculture looks at the author photo and the common mistakes authors make with this vital tool.

The wonderful team at Bookshelf Muse has a pithy post on creating a good Author platform.

Joanna Penn has a guest post on writetodone with the 7 truths of being a writer. This has struck a chord with nearly 100 comments on the subject.

In the add-this-to-the-craft files....

Joel has rounded up the best grammar sites...

Jami looks at using the Save The Cat Beat Sheet...(Save The Cat is one of the foremost books on screenwriting...)

Alison has an interview with Holly Cupala about marketing...check out Holly’s trailer...

Do you have a book manifesto? If so, does it reduce you to tears? If not, something is wrong...or why you are writing in the first place....

This morning I heard about the pinterest site on radio that is taking the social media world by storm. I know a few writers who use mood boards or inspiration boards to gather pictures of their characters houses maps etc...Check out this post about how pinterest works and how authors can use them to huge advantage...

As you contemplate the changes in the publishing business, spare a thought for those who are up against the wall holding on to the need for a printed book... a list of the downsides of an ebook.

1.You can’t hide a gun in an ebook...check out the rest of the list.

Of course if you can figure out a way to hide a gun in an ereader...a life as a crime writer could be beckoning or you could be taking care of business in a new way....

maureen

pic is a star wars bounty hunter...

Doing The Right Thing...

Over the last few days one of my friends has been having an interesting time with a National television programme. 

My friend is a Wild Foods blogger. She writes about and is interviewed for her expertise in harvesting and preparing wild food. The television programme in question was using her recipe in a cooking demonstration on the show and attributing them to their guest celebrities on the programmes website. Unfortunately they weren’t acknowledging her in any way or the other chefs whose recipes were taken and appropriated by the show.

If you post things on the internet you take the risk of having someone like it so much they use it and claim it as their own. This is plagiarism. For some scummy people it is fair game and the amount of website content that is stolen and repackaged as eBooks is frightening.  Be careful about the eBooks you buy. The best thing you can do on your websites is to say copyright on your content somewhere on the front page or to use a creative commons licence. A Creative Commons license means people can use your work (but not make money off it) so long as they attribute it to you. There are various licenses that you can use. Check out this cool video that tells you all about it.

My friend received a sort of an apology this morning from the TV show. What her friends were wondering on Face Book was How come the TV Network can have teams of lawyers looking out for any breach of copyright on their own behalf but can allow their programmes to not offer the same courtesy back. 

Acknowledgement takes only a moment and shows that you are a fair person and a responsible internet user.

Cory Doctorow has a great post on donations to creative people as a direct interface between reader and writer. He is documenting his self pubbed ebook, ‘With A Little Help,’ experiment through his blog and Publishers Weekly column. ‘Pay The Creator You Love’ is the catch phrase and Cory is all for it.

Bubblecow have a great post on Seven Publishing Companies who have embraced ebook and ebook marketing in creative ways. They are respecting their authors and the creative content.

Google have been rolling out their Google plus site. This is direct competition to Facebook. Greg Pincus checks out what Google has to offer for authors with Google plus. Lets be careful out there.

In the Craft Corner

I read a lot. It is called research. (hehehe) At tax time I get to count up all the books I have bought for research purposes and wince a little. I try to be careful in what I buy, after all I might be called upon to explain to the taxman why I claimed it on my tax return. Yesterday a package of books arrived for me from the wonderful Book Depository (they have free delivery and to NZ that is a Godsend.) In the pack was a book (which I can’t get here easily) by my favourite midgrade author Gordon Korman. Last night I devoured it and started it all over again today. Why am I telling you this? Gordon has a great handle on voice and first lines and I just happen to have links to great posts on these.

I was thirteen the first time I saw a police officer up close. He was arresting me for driving without a license. At the time, I didn't even know what a license was. I wasn't too clear on what being arrested meant either. Schooled by Gordon Korman

Check out First lines by The Writers Alley and Tips on Discovering Your Characters Voice from the wonderful Bookshelf Muse Team.

Cheryl Reif has a good post on Ten Ways To Craft A Sense Of Place

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

The Art Of Being Different- Justine Musk is an inspiration.

6 Ways To Improve Face Book Fan Pages

The 7 Ways To Improve Viral Videos

To Finish,

Tony Eldridge has posted a few gems on his blog this week. First he talks about the impact Dean Wesley Smiths Brilliant idea (which I have blogged about and if you haven’t read it Do So Now) has been on the marketing of his book and second he has a link to great freebies for authors to check out...

enjoy,

maureen

pic from here