What The Reader Wants

In Publishing News this week,

Two reports released in the UK, the UK governments response to AI and The Society of Authors survey on AI show the creators and the government are a long way apart over the value and use of AI. Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors breaks down the key sticking points for each report. Governments are watching each other and trying to get tips on how to tackle this disruptive technology.

 

Pen America is sounding the alarm over the rise and rise of book bans in schools. This is a number which everyone would like to see going the other way. They also call out the worst states for this practice.

 

Publishers Weekly is pivoting to embrace all sorts of events for publishers. They have appointed a director of content studio to run custom content and events. With the demise of Digital Book World which took over Book Expo America leaving America without a bookfair I’m wondering if they are making moves in this empty space.

 

Kelley Way has an interesting post on copyright and how to gift it. This is primarily for a US audience but there are useful tips. Always make sure you know what the copyright laws are in your own country if you Indie publish. Passive Guy has a post on 10 copyright myths for a good reminder.

 

If you Indie Publish you will be familiar with Print On Demand. Book Vault in the UK has been quietly upping the printing game. This week they announced Book Vault Bespoke with foiling, ribbons, sprayed edges, and other goodies available to on demand publishers. Check out what else they have coming. Super exciting if you are a writer.

 

When is a book club not a book club? Most people understand a book club to be a group that meets to read and discuss one book at a time. How about a club that meets to silent read for an hour. A bookstore has an interesting twist on the book club starting with swap your phone for a glass of wine and comfy chair.

 

Leah Paulos writes on Anne R Allen’s blog about book promotion. If you struggle with this aspect of writing and publishing, you need to read Why There’s Nothing Icky About Promoting A Book.

Mirella Stoyanova has an interesting post on Jane Friedman’s blog about carving out boundaries. How often do you find your writing time frittered away by demands of others or life expectations or your own inability to commit. Mirella says boundaries are important in the relationship we have with ourselves.

Julie Duffy has one of those posts on Writer Unboxed that writers need to read at least once a year when they feel overwhelmed about the world outside their desk. How To Write When The World Is In A Mess. 

 

Katie Weiland always has amazing posts on the craft of writing. I was particularly struck with this one on the subplots. Are you paying attention to the structure of subplots? They have a rhythm all their own which can enhance the main story or wreck it. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Minding your pinch points in writing- Sue Coletta Bookmark!

Foreshadowing- Michelle Barker

How Goal, Motivation, and Conflict add tension- Helena Fairfax- Bookmark

10 Great Writing Tips- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Checklist for beginning your story- K M Weiland- MUST READ

 

In The Marketing Section,

What MVP means for authors- Kevin Tumlinson

9 author newsletter examples- Mailerlite

How To Create Fun Freebies- Colleen Story – Bookmark

A Q and A with Katie Sadler on Book Marketing – Fiona Erskine- Bookmark

Get your books found on Amazon- Karen Cioffi- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Elizabeth Craig has a great guest post from Hugh Cook on making your characters leap off the page. Hugh talks about the four fiction techniques regardless of genre that make memorable characters. After all it’s the characters you remember from that book you stayed up all night reading. This is the Writer Holy Grail. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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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.

 

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Crazy Writers

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The internet archive is back in the news with their appeal over their lost lawsuit. They want to scan ebooks and make them available for sale. Why don’t they just link to the print book?  Which is why they were taken to court in the first place.

Meanwhile, in other Internet Archive news, Cory Doctorow looks at the good stuff they have done in music and visual art. His latest deep dive is all about copyright and when things come into the public domain like Micky Mouse next year. (How will Disney tie this one up.)

 

In a case of I-can’t-believe-he-did-that… A fan fiction writer is being sued by The Tolkien Estate. This all started because the writer tried to sue Amazon for ‘stealing’ his ideas in his published reworked version, Return Of The King. This is head shakingly stupid. You don’t publish fiction using characters, settings, and plot belonging to other people. It is copyrighted. (See above article by Cory)

 

I really didn’t want to write about the Goodreads book review scandal but there are some new blog readers who haven’t seen this recurring drama over at Goodreads. This mess lost the writer her book deal and writing career. Every few years something like this happens because of clueless writers. The other writers are not your competition. Reviews are wonderful but don’t fake profiles to leave one stars. If you have nothing nice to say about a book don’t say anything, especially on Social Media. 

 

Joanna Penn has written about her fifteen years in the author business and how she is pivoting for the next fifteen years.

 

Jane Friedman has a great guest article from Christopher Hoffmann on Researching Literary Agents. Don’t take the first one off the block. Be discerning. 

 

Julie Hedlund has the 12 days of Christmas writing exercises/planning starting December 26^th. available. She calls it a great way to get bite size surprises to help your creativity and your business.

Lucy Hay has an excellent guest post over at Angela and Becca’s blog on how to smash your writing goals for 2024.

 

December is known as NaNoEdMo… or editing that novel you wrote in November. However, this is the month you really should put it away. Anne R Allen explains why.

 

In The Craft Section,

Adding cinematic sizzle to your fiction- C S Lakin- Bookmark

How to keep in touch with your writing when your routine is disrupted- Roz Morris

Redeeming your villain- Becca Puglisi

The wonderful spice of minor characters – James Scott Bell- Bookmark

What’s your book about - It depends- Barbara Linn Probst- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section.

Your Substack isn’t for everyone- Elizabeth Held- Bookmark

Newsletter tips- Linda Dunn

10 sneaky hacks for Draft2Digital- Kevin Tumlinson

Marketing your book without Social Media- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

The year’s top book marketing articles from Bookbub- Comprehensive

 

To Finish,

It’s been a turbulent year with AI, lawsuits, and book banning. Hopefully, I have kept you up to date with publishing news, and creatively inspired with Craft tips and Book Marketing links. 

If the blog has made you think or sparked ideas or given you information throughout the year feel free to buy me a coffee as a thank you. 

Reedsy have a comprehensive gift list for writers and Angela and Becca have some downloadable goodies for you.

The best gift you can give a writer is a book review. Go out there and make their day. It doesn’t have to be an essay, just a small paragraph. 

I have children’s books on sale in the Smashwords End of Year Sale. I also have my teen novel Starlight free at the moment in a teen book sale. 

It’s Summer holidays down under, so I’m taking a break from the blog.

I will be back in January 2024 with blog post number 762.

 

Wishing you Peace, in your homes, in your countries, in the world.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

The last monthly newsletter is about to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, you can subscribe here to join our happy band in 2024

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 over Christmas, I appreciate all virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic:Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Getting The Office Ready

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The US Copyright office has been thinking about AI copyright and has now stuck a stake in the ground. Copyright applicants must disclose when their work contains AI created material. Previously, AI created work could not be copyrighted, however now the office wants to know how much AI was used before allowing you to copyright something. Will other countries follow suit?

 

Ethical AI Publishing has an article on how AI is disrupting white collar jobs, fueling the anti AI debate. Where were they when it was blue collar jobs on the line? AI is a classism debate. 

 

Jane Friedman has an interesting article on how Wattpad kickstarted some older authors careers. Before everyone leaps into Wattpad the news out is that Wattpad is laying off staff due to the changing economic environment.

 

Netflix is changing their streaming model. The lowest tier will be ad supported. First off the block with their ads is Cornerstone Publishing advertising … books!

 

Have you enjoyed any web comics lately? Which way did you read them? If you shook your head and thought aren’t they formatted left to right, then you might be surprised to find that the comic publishers in Europe are looking seriously at vertical formatting for smartphones.

 

Draft2Digital eBook aggregator recently moved into providing print books to a limited range of countries as a trial. This week they announced they were opening up to authors everywhere with free conversions eBook to print, free wraparound covers and lots more goodies. This will shake up the Print On Demand model. 

 

Reedsy has collected together a list of writing communities that authors can join to find like minded writing buddies. You also might be interested in time blocking tips from K M Allen.

 

Anne R Allen has a great guest blog from lawyer Joseph Perry about negotiating a literary agent agreement. Some literary agents are happy with a verbal agreement but you shouldn’t be. This is a great list of tips and things to think about.

 

If you have been getting up from your writing desk in some pain you might want to check out this article from Colleen Story on the 5 types of writing related pain. Colleen offers some solutions.

 

Are you staring at your characters and wondering why they are so flat? Lynette Burrows has the answer. Making flat character genuine in 8 easy steps.

 

In The Craft Section,

Character arcs making a long story short- Jami Gold – Bookmark

Chekov’s gun and the writer- Anne R Allen

How to craft interesting minor characters- J D Harlock- Bookmark

Using the But Therefore method of plotting- Literary Architect- Bookmark

The most common writing mistakes agents see- Mary Kole

 

 

In The Marketing Section,

2 interesting posts from Jane Friedman Author websites and  Authors who launched careers on Tiktok- Bookmark Both

How authors can engage on Instagram- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Book advertising- The Alliance of Independent Authors- Bookmark

Category Data- Kindlepreneur- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Writer Unboxed has a great article by Kelsey Allagood on spring cleaning your brain. Of course down under we are heading into Autumn so perhaps we could call it preparing to hunker down for your writing brain.

K M Weiland has a great article on the best places to write. Have you tried different places to write? Changed your office? Changed where you are most creative? Katie offers some tips to keep everything fresh and productive.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed with marketing notes as a thank you. 

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 Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

The Grapes Of Wrath

Another week in publishing… another meltdown in publishing. Hopefully this is not a sign of a new normal for 2020.

So what is it this time? 

The novel American Dirt got rave reviews pre-publication. The book was compared to a modern Grapes Of Wrath and so it has come to pass that wrath has been visited upon the author for writing a story of Latin immigration - without being Latin.

The furore has been public and vitriolic. The author has disappeared. The publisher has tried to calm the waters, not sure if he just poured petrol on the fire with this press release.

Publishers Weekly is reporting the cancellation of the book tour in favour of Town Hall style meetings about the book. Is all publicity really good? (Can’t help thinking this would be the classic author nightmare.)

* Just edited to add in this great post from Jami Gold -What Do the Calls For Diversity Mean For Our Writing

Meanwhile in other publishing threats, The White House is trying to pull a book because of revealed national secrets that may be in it. Anybody who is close to National government has to have their manuscripts approved for release. Apparently this one was… weeks ago…

Also in a banning frame of mind is Digital Book World. They have banned Macmillan from attending the Digital Book World conference because of the way they are treating libraries. Is this a publicity stunt, a highlighting of the Macmillan/ Library issue or the building of barricades for the revolution…

This week Lee and Low published their annual baseline survey on diversity in publishing. Is the publishing world hiring a more representative band of people?

Writer Beware has a new collection of scams hitting the newbies and its Pay To Play or in this case pay to get profiles on magazines… sadly Publishers Weekly may also be in this camp.

Jane Friedman has updated her guide to Writers Conferences so if you are thinking about attending one this year – take a look.

I came across two great posts on plotting this week. An oldie but a goodie from Chuck Wendig and Story Arcs from Write Practice.

In The Craft Section,

Creating believable characters

Story Structure – Heroes Journey- Karen Woodward- Bookmark

15 keys to writing dialogue – Ruth Harris – Bookmark 

7 rules to cliffhangers- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

How to write a mystery novel- Huge collection of links- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Unique content ideas for February- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Nates big list of promotion websites- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark lots!!

Jacketed case printing – Ingram Spark’s new shiny 2020 goodie!!

To Finish,

As I come across interesting publishing links during the week I pass them on to people who are working at the coalface of any issue currently of concern. Our NZ Society of Authors is having a battle over what copyright means with government advisors. This week Joanna Penn had an interview with Rebecca Giblin on the importance of contracts and what to watch out for in publishing clauses. The interview is well worth a listen for the breaking news that an AI has been granted copyright. 

2020 is going to be an interesting year.

Maureen

@craicer

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter?

When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Henry Fonda