E Reader Revolutions

I ADMIT IT...I pop into Facebook every day. There is always an interesting conversation going on. 

Today the hot news is the launch of Kindle Fire from Amazon. They enter into the tablet market, with an ‘ereader on steroids,’ and it is one quarter the price...at $199 US. Along with this fancy new piece of tech, Amazon launched three new versions of Kindle starting with the basic Kindle going out the door at $79. As I commented this morning on Facebook, I looked at a Kindle yesterday thinking I could afford it as my Dad wants one for Christmas then discovered I was looking at the fancy cover you can buy for it. Kindle are $289 NZ. (Maybe next year Dad!)

However the launch of the colour whizzy Kindle Fire in time for the Christmas market shows how ereaders will be the tech gift of choice this Christmas as the mainstream buyers start to pick up on this technology. Now is the time to upload content for them to buy.

Joanna Penn wrote a great little piece on what the Kindle Firemeans to Authors...It is time to get off the fence!

Melinda Szymanik must have known something was up as her first ebook The Half Life Of Ryan Davis will be available this weekend on Amazon. I think this maybe a NZ first. First Young Adult Title to go straight to ebook before print. Melinda has a competition on her website for a copy and she also has the opening chapter up to give you a taste of her teen thriller.

This week Jane Friedman was also looking at ebooks on Writer Unboxed. Jane has written a great article with a handy checklist on marketing ebooks looking from the viewpoint of the marketing 4 P’s.

Bob Mayer has an interesting article on The Perfect Storm In Publishing that is looming. As more and more agencies look at adding epublishing imprints to their business...Are they looking at the author as a brand? and How is Pottermore and Amazon Publishing changing the game?

Roni Loren takes a hard look at Author Branding and Social Media. She has listed five ways to guard your brand...Something we all must keep in mind as we log on to the internet.

James Scott Bell has written an open letter to Traditional Publishers wishing them well in their recovery.

Dean Wesley Smith has a timely warning about Agents and Money...Do they know what they are doing? and Do you know what they are doing, with your money?

If you want a sneak preview on what will be talked about at the Children’s Publishing Goes Digital conference being held at the Frankfurt Book Fair next month Publishing Perspectives has an excerpt from the program guide on Building Online Communities For Teen Readers

Over on the Craft Side

Mary Kole has an in depth article on beginning your stories with a balance of information and action and how to achieve this.

Mary Anne Scheuer of Great Kids Books has begun reviewing Children’s Book Apps...have a look at her criteria and check out what she has to say.  

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

Ebook Covers -Getting It Right!

Porter Anderson’s Interview on Journalism Today...The rise of dramatic storytelling in news stories...

To finish,

I read this true story this week with amusement then alarm. It reads just like a MG/ YA plot.  Last week a boy dressed in a banana costume and ran onto a high school football field at half time to rally the crowd...the school principal took exception and recommended suspension for the rest of the school year...(school has just started.) Read what happens next...

This kind of plot will soon be in a popular ebook coming to a Kindle near you...

enjoy,

maureen

Gate Keepers And Their Shiny New Keys...

The Gate Keepers jobs are changing.

The big news in the writing blogosphere this week is Agents Becoming Publishers. From a few testing out the brave new world of ebook publishing (see a previous blog post of mine) a couple of months ago, this week more agents are jumping into the publishing water. 

What does this mean for writers? 

Unscrupulous agents can take their 15% as agent and pass you on to their publishing arm which may take 50% as the publisher.  A few agents are renting their services out for flat fees. A writer must weigh up very carefully the pros and cons of traditional agent services and ‘new’ agent services....

Anne R Allen has written an excellent blog post looking at the new moves from the agents and weighing up the advantages for the writer. Writer Beware has a blog post examining the ethical issues surrounding the ‘new agency’ model. Elisabeth S Craig has a good post on why she is still keeping her agent under the traditional model. 

If you are in the market for an agent or thinking it may be a good idea in the future, read these and be aware of how agencies are changing in this brave new world.

Another big move this week was the launch of Pottermore, JK Rowling’s new website, ebook publisher, storefront and fan club all rolled into one site. Phyllis Miller comments upon the changes that the launch of Pottermore might have on the ebook marketplace...especially the ditching of DRM (Digital Rights Management) on the Potter ebooks. Publishers Weekly is taking a ho hum approach while commenting on how rare it is that a writer still has ebook rights...

If you have a successful brand, and J K Rowling does, why not look at what merchandising opportunities you can get out of it. You are a business after all. You have created the characters and the world etc etc...a range of clothing, mugs and stationary can be sold exclusively from your website. One of my favourite authors Jasper Fforde (NYT describes him as Harry Potter for grown ups) is doing it and if it is Ok for an Adult Writer to do it...surely a Children’s Writer can do it.

Joe Konrath has a great post on how to make your ebooks another storefront for your work. Put the blurb on the front cover...such simple advice.... Anne Allen has a post on the new trend of using ebooks as queries, and the reverse, Agents looking to rep successful ebook writers...sticky sticky.

In the craft corner,

The League Of Extraordinary Writers has a great post on Dystopian Rites of Passage.

Bob Mayer has taken a good look at great plot. You must get Primal!

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

5 Things More Important Than Talent- this is a great post...lots of comment on this.

Ten Terrifying Questions For Authors...how do the great and the good do it?

The Art Of Being Different-Justine Musk. Justine writes a wonderful blog and this article is a great self affirming read...because all of us writers are quirky and interesting, aren’t we?  

To finish,

I was having an email chat with Dylan Owen of The National Library of New Zealand (Children’s Collection) about being on a panel addressing the topic of whether storytelling was dead.(upcoming AGM of WCBA) 

In the conversation I referred to a problem I have been mulling over lately, the fact that traditional gate keepers seem to be reluctant to get involved in children’s ebook reviewing. Dylan was able to give me some hot off the press news. School Library Journal has started a new review blog looking at apps for children and Dylan was about to extend the School Library Service, Create Readers blog that reviews books to include ebooks...

So the Gate Keepers have some new hats to try on and some new shiny keys to play with...

maureen

pic The gates of Graceland.

Scrambling For The Books

It’s been nine days since the Christchurch earthquake. 

We are still in a state of emergency but now the NZ media are including in their bulletins other news from around the country and the world. 

Daily life in the rest of the country is getting back to normal but the pain is still there under the surface. The people you meet on the street this week don’t look as if someone has kicked out their stomach.

The whole country has rallied around various fund raising efforts as the death toll rises higher and the tally of buildings that are, or need to be, demolished grows. We are all more aware of the ground beneath us, the power and randomness of Nature and the need to acknowledge that, there by the grace of God, you have been spared the worst.

Wellington, where I am based, sits on two fault lines and we get rumblings beneath our feet all the time. We had a nice little (4.5) jolt on Tuesday night to get the heart racing. We would like to think we are prepared at all times for a disaster but in truth we are probably not. Around Wellington the conversations this week are on where to put the disaster kit and what to have in it. The supermarkets have been running low on batteries and torches as everyone pulls out and updates their kits.

I have been mulling over this question, If you had only ten minutes to rescue your possessions from your house, what would you take? In my mad scurry...it would be antique books, photographs, documents and the computer.

I have lots of pottery...I never thought about saving that...the books came first on the list... What does that say about me.....hehehehehe (finding the antique books would be a challenge tho...) 

Books....they divert, educate, elucidate, console, challenge, terrify and come in handy as tables and deportment aids.

Hmm can’t see ebooks helping out as a deportment aid however they are increasing their presence in our lives. Bookbee has collected quotes and stats about the uptake of ebooks (women between the ages of 35-55 are the biggest users....I would never have guessed that.)

Piotr Kowalczyk has compiled an interesting look at 40 years of ebooks...no that wasn’t a typo!

If you are struggling with what to put in your book, you might want to check out these links.

Lynette Labelle has an awesome post on creating tension in single character scenes.

Advanced Fiction Writing looks at juggling multiple storylines

James Killick has a great post on the confusion of Plot and Story and how to fix the problem.

Two weeks ago I posted a link to the Writers Knowledge Base...here it is in action... everything you wanted to know about Transitions

Irene Watson of Selling Books has an interesting article on working with a Co Author...she is looking at only one co author tho....The FaBo team have nine...hmmm nine times the fun....

Jody Hedlund has taken a look at first books...Are they usually garbage? and Heather McCorkle is looking at the pitch...in 25 words or less (this could be a good resource for all those going to Spinning Tales in April.)

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

Ten Tips To Effective Book Covers (a must read)

Grief (making sense of it)

Changing Times, Changing Book Design,

A fun look at Deadlines and what they do to us.

Productivity for Creatives...this is an excellent guest post by Charlie Gilkey on Jonathan Fields Blog.

This week the children’s writing community here in New Zealand were in awe of American YA writer Maureen Johnson who organised a fundraising effort for Christchurch Earthquake victims that quickly went viral. Our eyes get a little misty when we think of the generous spirits all around the world who write for children.

To finish, here is a little pick me up from Slushpile Hell....and Some Dancing Books.

enjoy,

maureen

Down The Rabbit Hole...

The Chinese Year Of The Rabbit is supposed to herald a period of tranquillity and calm. After the changes in the publishing world over the last two years we could all do with a bit of calm but I don’t think we are going to get it as the shaking up of the publishing industry continues.

It hasn’t been a year since the launch of the ipad and the explosion in the sales of ebooks. Publishers are very cagey about telling authors what their ebook sales are but just for your information, In the month of November 2010, the ebook sales, reported by the Association of American Publishers, were 14.5% higher than for the month of October and growth in ebook sales over the year (Nov09-Nov10) was 165% . This is a conservative estimate.

The implications of  readers moving to digital books have not been lost on Authors in the blogosphere. Getting an agent and getting a book deal is hard work, not for the faint hearted and with publishers insisting that authors must promote their books the Author is left looking hard at ebooks and self publishing. The books are cheaper to produce, there are no warehousing issues with POD and they are already promoting their work aren’t they?

The biggest hurdle to leap over is marketing. Who wants to spend all that precious writing time marketing? How can the reader find good books to read in the digital age, when a quick look on itunes shows more than 50,000 book apps available?( I’m probably missing a few zeros.)

Who will be the digital ebook reviewers we trust?

Who will help the new authors negotiate the quicksand of publishing in the now?

One person who has been doing a bit of thinking around this is Kristen Lamb. She has brainstormed a possible new publishing model that looks like a win/win from everyone’s perspective. Have a read and see what you think!

From the publishing marketing trenches to the how-do-I-just-get-on-the-ladder reality...Jody Hedlund posted an article on her blog last month about her agent receiving 10,000 queries in a year and accepting 0. Jody looks at what an author can do to change the numbers around.

If you are contemplating having a sales page on your website Victoria Mixon has got a great guest  post for you from Joanna Penn. These two blogging diva’s have swopped over and are guesting on each others blog.

For those looking for a bit of help before the hard grind of submitting your manuscript, here are three sites worth a good look.

Adventures in Children’s Publishing has a detailed presubmission checklist.

Writetodone with manuscript productivity tips

Bookendslitagency with an Agents perspective on revisions.

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

Extreme Book Design...blowtorches knives and spiders...

Is Speculative Fiction Poised To Break Into Literary Canon? (Guardian Article on the Man Booker.)

Rick Riorden’s experience with the effects of Ritalin on his family.

List of Most Commonly Used Cliches in YA (everyone’s checking their MS now)

6 Personality Types Who Will Fail As Writers. (laughing while you say ouch)

To finish, 

Alice Pope has a great list of SCBWI Winter conference roundups on her blog. Over 1100 people attended the winter conference in New York...that’s almost as many who attend the summer conference.

Justus Stone has written a detailed post about writing software and how they have changed his life.

Zoe Winters has the last word...(One of these characters could be a NZ Politician...)


enjoy,
maureen

Thoughts Over Coffee....

I’m back home. 

The holiday is over. 

The kids are still on holiday tho. This means that large cleaning projects get tackled piecemeal...because just as you think you have finished, you turn around to see the kids have been quietly trashing another part of the house. The lawn is overgrown, the indoor plants are dead and you promised that before the new bed gets delivered you will redecorate the room....um yeah...Its 30 hours since we came home...I need a holiday!

So what is hot and happening in the blogosphere.

Yesterday I managed to catch a little bit of Kidlitchat on Twitter. This real time twitter chat session happens every Wednesday at 3pm for me which is a rotten time as I’m usually on the school run and I only catch the last five minutes of it...But there was, as usual, some meaty thoughts.

The teachers on the chat session were commenting that they show their kids Book Trailers...post them on class websites etc etc . There was some talk about the trailers inspiring kids to read the book. This was welcome news to the writers on the chat as there was a lot of discussion on whether it was worth it to produce a book trailer. 

Greg Pincus who organises KidLit Chat had asked this question in his blog post a couple of weeks ago. Writers are still thinking this is in the too hard basket...but those that are getting into it think it’s a great idea. If you are thinking along these lines...check out the post and read the comments.

In the chat session, I asked the question would you have a book trailer for an ebook? This was seen as a good idea by some and others had never connected the two before...time will tell whether we see book trailers for ebooks. I remember thinking how weird when I saw the back of a bus advertising a book...and now this kind of advertising is everywhere. There is no hard and fast rule on marketing your book only in book stores.

Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers has written about what he sees happening in ebooks this year in his six trends article. This article is being heavily commented upon and there are lots of conversations happening around it. As one commenter writes If Starbucks can sell music CDs can McDonalds sell downloadable ebooks as part of their advertising?(An enhanced happy meal experience anyone?)

There has been some discussion about where the new gate keepers for ebooks will come from? Who will become the ebook reviewers? The filters of what is a good or worthwhile ebook to read, will it be print reviewers? Or will some 'body' jump into the void and become the guru ebook reviewer? These and other interesting questions have been percolating in my holiday mind...I will be interested in who picks up the baton.

Outside of ebooks...

Joanna Paterson has written a good list of steps to get into a good writing practice head space. The key word is practice.

The awesome Victoria Mixon has written a guest blog on Write to Done about the seven secrets of being an independent editor. This is a great post to read before you get hung up on how bad your writing is....

Janet Reid is preparing to go to the huge Writers Digest conference and she gives a great run down on the difference between queries and pitches...so if you always wanted to know go on over and take a look.

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

Making Books Do Things Ebooks Cant and Vice Versa. (this is an amazing article on hand made artefact 

books and enhanced books and ebooks...and the blurring of the lines between them...something for everyone here) Go here for the latest comment on authors enhanced content and contracts....)

How Authors Move Their Own Merchandise...(get some innovative ideas...)

I leave you with an inspiring story of an author blogger who started like we all did not really sure of what she should be doing and ended up with an agent and a book deal because of it...

There is hope for us all.

enjoy,

maureen

Check out this GREAT page of mugs for authors. I want them all! (the pic is one of the mugs featured. Yay Elspeth Antonelli !)

Ah...Predictions....

With the beginning of a New Year many writers take the time to reflect on the year just passed and vow to do better.
Over the last two weeks it has been interesting to read the future plans of others and admire their confidence about letting the world know their future plans too.
Some of this confidence springs from verbalising and internalising goals. If you can say the goals out loud (or write them in a blog post) they are achievable. You will be held to account. Someone could say in September ‘I thought you were going to....’ There is nothing like having to think of an excuse, about why you didn’t follow through, to apply the whip of persistence to your back.

So... I’m still plugging away on Mars...and I want to finish it and get going on another cool idea.
I’m still intrigued and interested in podcasting.
I am excited about the opportunity to participate in FaBo again.
I would love it...(fall down in a faint...) if my current MS, doing the rounds, was picked up.

Now that I have that out of the way, onto some great round ups from others for you to get inspiration from.

The Kidslit team produced a good round up of writer’s tools to start the New Year off well. I have covered a few of them previously but it never hurts to have a reminder about what is out there to help writers. I notice that a few of my friends are now using Write or Die which is in this comprehensive list. (Write or Die has a new tool Edit Minion...yes you can have it edit your MS and highlight stuff to work on.)

Publishing Perspectives has gathered together a great list of book marketing articles. This list covers author entrepreneurship to case studies on translations woes.

Bob Mayer of Write It Forward has put up his list of predictions for authors and publishers for 2011.
This is an interesting list and gives the author a few things to think about. Bob got into trouble when he announced his predictions for 2010. Events then proved him right...so you should check out his 2011 predictions.

On predictions...this will be the year that New Zealand discovers ebooks. I predict that not only will we see sales figures for ebooks in New Zealand but that more New Zealand authors will publish ebooks, and that New Zealand publishing houses will begin to experiment with marketing an ebook list. After all they are seriously changing contracts to reflect the growing importance of this market. If you doubt me just think about this...how many people do you know with an iPad or ebook reader? I know two people who got them for Christmas....

For the authors contemplating the new novel, I have a couple of links that remind us of the business of plot and structure. First a timely revisit of the Hero’s Journey and second (thanks Helen) a link to Storyboard plotting...a feast of movable post-it notes.

If you are looking at your web page and scratching your head, check out this article on the importance of a Bio Page.

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

Microsoft’s Predictions For ebooks In The Year 2010 - Made In The Year 2000

Gail Carson Levine - On Writing Serials...(learn from the master)

An Agent On Giving Feedback...(understandable but sad)

Future of Reading –article by the LA Times about publishers shrinking role...

Dean Wesley Smith on Scams and Why You Should Be Your Own Publisher...(thought provoking stuff.)

10 Creative’s to Watch in 2011...This is a look at some amazing illustrators

13 Writing Cliches That Will Kick Your Ass (read read read)

Daily Newspapers for Kids In France....(How do they make It work?)

Finally Dark Angel has come up the most comprehensive list of resources to find Baby Names on the web...including Pirate Names and Name Generators...I predict you will find a great name for your MC....

enjoy,
maureen....still on holiday in the sweltering sub tropics...

RIP Dick King Smith...Celebrated Children’s Author Died Yesterday aged 88...