Standing Up For Your Rights

 

In Publishing News This Week

 

The Judge handed down a ruling on the Internet Archive Library copyright case which has annoyed the plaintiffs, (AKA some of the biggest publishers.) The judge is trying to steer a middle course by allowing the Internet Archive to stick with making eBooks of print books that don’t already have an eBook format. This stops the publishers or the authors who have reclaimed their rights doing their own eBook version. Publishing eBooks for in-print books is not fair use. Appeals to the ready. 

 

With the ever louder clamour to ban books… various library organisations have banded together to promote the banned books. Penguin Random House has joined the party by making a whole lot of resources and books available to kids. Let Kids Read. I was nonplussed to read the opening remark in this news article. How can teachers think AI would tell them what books to ban?

 

Last week I reported on Jane Friedman’s woes with AI scraped books that had her name, and by extension reputation, plastered all over them. The story went viral and was reported on many international news sites, including our national radio programme. Jane has published an article on what to do if you are in a similar situation. Based on many writers testimony all over the internet- this is going to become more likely. One pundit stated that keeping a strict eye on your Amazon Author page where these books are likely to show up is essential. Amazon won’t do anything until you tell them to.

 

Wired has a story on the Prosecraft AI backlash- Why the great AI backlash came for a tiny startup you’ve probably never heard of. Are they just the convenient low hanging victim for scared people or is there some deeper motive in the AI backlash against them.

 

Writers in Kindle Unlimited were dismayed when the latest pages reads compensation got down to .0004 cents a page. Many writers publicly stated this was the end for them being in the KU program. Craig Martell of 20 Books fame devoted a 5 minute focus chat on this topic. If you are wondering what you should do check out the wise words of the 20 books captain. 

 

Joanna Penn has an interesting interview with Steph Pajonas on using AI tools to help writers with disabilities. Some of the tools can be very useful.

 

Literary Agent Janet Reid explains why selling YA is so hard now. This is a good exploration of why some books can be the next hot thing until they aren’t.

 

Are you being eco friendly in your publishing? The Alliance of Independent Authors has an interesting article about how you can up your sustainability practice.

 

Chuck Wendig has an interesting post on why he is focussing on standalone books instead of series. It all has to do with rights. There are potentially more exploitable rights in standalones. An interesting perspective when everyone in the Indie world is paddling the other way.

 

Roz Morris has a great article on story telling details she now does on auto pilot. It all goes back to great editing teaching her a few tricks.

 

In The Craft Section,

What are pinch points and where do they go- Sue Coletta

How to determine the age of your target reader- C S Lakin- Bookmark

How to find the narrators voice- Michelle Barker- Bookmark

What are plot devices and why you should be cautious- K M Weiland- Bookmark

The basic formula of fiction- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to write a newsletter people will actually share- Lisa Norman- Bookmark

Best practices for selling books- Elizabeth Craig

Crafting an irresistible book pitch- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

The business of writing- Angela Ackerman

Author websites- Goodstory Company- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

How many times have you come up against the myth of the solitary writer? It has a certain romance to it. Left alone the writer will be most productive and their genius will flower naturally in a series of stunning books. 

Yeah about that. The reality is a lot different. Writers need a community says Elizabeth Craig.

A few decades back there were writers who couldn’t deal with the world so needed the dutiful wife to do everything. This article looks at the wives who put up with a lot from their tortured genius writer spouses. 

I would be reaching for the frying pan and not in a good way if I was shackled to these writers. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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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 Getty Image from Latest WGA strike news

The Book Brand

 

In Publishing News this week,

Recently there have been calls for the publishing industry to start using more sustainable practices. Taylor Francis Publishing have opted to send out their journals with paper wrapping instead of shrink wrapping. Read how they found the experience.

 

If you have been wondering if the subscription model will kill publishing you must be living in the United States. Mark Williams takes a look at the rising figures of subscription and wonders how long it will take for book publishers to change their tune.

 

Another day, another AI lawsuit. Google has been hit with a lawsuit filed by the same firm that filed against Open AI. They are alleging that Google ‘scraped everything ever created and shared on its platform’ to train its AI bot. DUH!

Meanwhile, Shutterstock, having embraced the Open AI model on its website, is now expanding its AI tools. When you can’t beat them, be at the forefront of the new technology.

 

If you are still wondering about copyright and AI check out Kelly Way’s recent article.

 

Publishers Weekly reports that book sales are down in the first half of the year. Backlist is propping up everyone’s bottom lines. 

Goodereader has an article on the massive cost of book piracy. Latest figures have the cost to publishers topping $300 million.

 

Berritt Koehler publishers recently published an article on the 10 awful truths about book publishing. While their 10 awful truths are awful they have at least shown how you can manage and market in this challenging industry with some good strategies.

 

It’s half way through the year and Colleen Story thinks this is a perfect time to stop – and look at your writing and publishing goals, are they on track? Do you need to change things?

 

Kris Rusch has some advice to consider. Think small. In the next interesting instalment of her niche marketing series she examines how small is big in the niche world. 

 

How much attention do you pay to the file formats you write in? Do you have the source files of your published books? What happens when your publisher disappears? David Wogahn writes an interesting article on Jane Friedman’s blog about protecting the files that make your books.

 

How easily are you distracted from your writing? Daphne Gray Grant has an article that helps you figure out how to be distraction free and productive in your writing time. First – halve your goals…

 

In The Craft Section,

9 Common Dialogue problems- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Discover what your character fears- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 common problems with background characters- Mythcreants-Bookmark

How to figure out which writing advice suits you best- Trisha Loehr- Bookmark

How I zero drafted a novel in 6 weeks- Kelsey Allagood- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Best practice for selling more books - Elizabeth Craig- Bookmark

When is the best time to release a book- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

How to get a more successful launch- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to get your book into libraries- Roland Denzel and Mark Lefebvre

How to write a book description- Bookbub

 

To Finish

It has to happen. The world needs another cute digital reading device that will be the next must have item. Introducing immersive reading in virtual reality… with a pair of sunglasses?

 

While authors are wondering if they can get their book published, publishers are embracing the merch opportunities to influence the influencers. The influencers can have their pick of totes, caps, journals, bags, sweaters, mugs, limited edition prints… and on and on. Do they get the book too? Will we see Book Branded Merch shows on TikTok?

Maureen

@craicer

 

 It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band. (Yes, I'm running late I have a good excuse... honest!)

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 Joao Tzanno on Unsplash

Publishers Behaving Badly – Are they really clueless?

 

In Publishing News this week…

 I was contacted today by a writer notifying me of a new scam… on the surface I saw nothing wrong but the writer pointed out that the agent in question should have never used the words 'payment remittance advice' from a financial controller. 

Now you may think that is so under the radar as to be easily overlooked but the author in question went back to the agent. (Note: You should always do this. Ring them and talk in person.) The agent had clicked on a link and inadvertently installed malware on his computer which then gathered up all his email addresses and used them to contact authors… promising money which the authors clicked on spreading the malware. 

Authors are so poorly paid, of course we are going to click on anything that promises us royalties. 

However, this kind of scam targets the financial affairs of agents and publishers. How many of them have tight controls over who can access their financial accounts… and their authors financial accounts? How secure are they? The author who alerted me to this commented that with everyone having to use 2 factor identification all the time elsewhere it seems absurd that publishers and agents aren’t doing the same to limit peoples access to their own accounts. 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has updated the fake agent scam that hit last year… it seems there are many variations around and this year the scam trend continues. Over Summer I had a fascinating conversation with a bank analyst who told me the biggest banking scams were targeting lawyers who thought they were savvy. Always check up- by phone, not return email. 

Meanwhile Publishers Weekly reports that Adelaide Books who got into hot water when they grew too quickly and fell over when Covid hit is trying to make things right. But it is a cautionary tale which has the Authors Guild spluttering with rage on behalf of the 450 authors involved.

 

Publishing Perspectives has named the main stage speakers for London Book Fair. The usual CEO’s are speaking but the subjects reflect the hot topics in Traditional publishing; copyrights, licensing, sustainability of their business, supply chain woes, along with inclusivity and how to get more eyeballs. I wonder if they will come up with any solutions?

 

Sales numbers are a hot topic if you are a publishing CEO – The latest figures from Nielsen and the Association of American Publishers makes interesting reading or if you’re Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard only a pointer to what he has worked out is the true figure, which is many billions more than Nielsen and AAP think.

 

With the news this week that Harper Collins is going into mediation with its striking staff – a muted cheer went up among HC authors and agents. Today Harper Collins announced they are laying off 5% of their workforce- OUCH.

 

AI images and the threat to income dominates the artists water cooler talk. Two of the main image suppliers Getty and Shutterstock have formed opposing camps. Shutterstock is partnering with AI and Getty has released a formal statement taking AI to court.

 

In lighter news…

Kris Rusch has an interesting tale around the theme the problems in your writing are the problems in your life.

Ruth Harris asks if you are guilty of the Writing No No’s which may be ruining your book and Daphne Grey- Grant has an interesting article on how to prepare an annual writing plan.

 

In The Craft Section,

Units of story- StoryGrid- Bookmark

2 great articles from the Dream Team. How to choose the right 

kind of conflict and How does internal conflict fit into the character arc- Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Transition sentences- Grammarly – Bookmark

Developing a scene outline for your novel C S Lakin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Should you hire a book publicist- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

10 tips for author blog traffic- Anne R Allen

7 ways to build direct connections with readers- podcast with Penny Sansevieri

8 author website marketing mistakes- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Selling Books direct- Joanna Penn in conversation with Steve Pieper- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a nifty blog with a great roundup of articles but this week she shone a spotlight onto her  7 favourite resources for writers. Do you use any of them? If you have something to add to the list – feel free to comment below.

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here. 

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

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash

Giving Gifts

 

In Publishing News

Penguin Random House CEO Marcus Dohle is stepping down after ten years at the helm of the biggest publisher on the planet. Publishing Perspectives looks at the impact Marcus has had on the Traditional Book Publishing Industry. Meanwhile, Mark Williams gives a less glowing report on Marcus Dohle’s tenure. Ouch! The fallout from that court case is still ongoing.

 

The USA Today Bestseller list is on hiatus. The news broke leaving writers in consternation. The USA Today list was a fair stab at the real numbers of the bestselling books as opposed to the *curated* numbers from The New York Times. The editor of the list was let go as a cost-cutting measure. This could be an early warning of Christmas layoffs in the publishing business.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports that Amazon is tightening its offerings by cutting magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Also on the block is Textbook print rentals. What will be next?

 

It is looking like an AI wild west out there. The big news has been GPT3’s chatbot which has shifted the game of AI text generation. This morning I saw an article written about a particular indigenous cultural practice in our country written by the GPT3 AI that was lyrical, informed, and accurate. That an AI wrote it was mind-blowing. So where do we go from here? If you are a publisher it could be useful says Nieman labs. If you are an Artist or using AI Art, strap in for Chuck Wendig’s take on it. Techcrunch reports that OpenAI is experimenting with watermarks for AI art. After this morning’s article, I think text might need this too.

 

Kris Rusch continues to look at the publishing year in review. This week, the relevance of Traditional Publishing.

 

Richard Charkin has written an opinion column in Publishing Perspectives about the three gifts he would like to see under Publishing’s tree. I’ve got to agree with all of them! What About You?

 

Judith Briles has an interesting series of 3-minute focus YouTube videos on writing and marketing. Check out this one on organizing writing files.

 

In The Craft Section,

Foreshadowing- Jami Gold – Bookmark

How to write a thriller- Reedsy- Bookmark

Where to start developing a story- Scott Myers

Dealing with multiple drafts during revisions- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Mining Abandoned Projects – James Scott Bell

 

In The Marketing Section,

Video Camera shy tips- Amy Rodgers Nazarov- Bookmark

Creating single author box sets- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Updating Amazon Book and Author pages- Elizabeth S Craig - Bookmark

Holiday promotion tips- Bookbaby

How to create a newsletter- Sendinblue

 

To Finish,

The Dream Team Angela and Becca have a great Christmas gift for writers – A free webinar on secrets to engaging readers. 

This is the last blog for the year. 

It has been a challenging year on the home front and I am ready for some downtime over Christmas and New Year. The blog will be back mid-January.

In the meantime, you can read past blog posts for great craft and marketing tips.

Leave reviews for other authors (Feel free to share the top image around.) 

Check out the First Book (Ebook) in the Circus Quest series for FREE or get any of my children's Ebooks for HALF PRICE. 

 

Wishing you all a peaceful holiday break.

Maureen

@craicer

 

There is a bumper newsletter with goodies coming to all subscribers soon so don’t forget to subscribe.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee or eggnog for Christmas, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Planning For Success

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

Frankfurt. Are we back to normal? That seemed to be the question on everybody’s lips. There was a lot of chat amongst the publishers, sold-out sessions, and positivity everywhere.

Publishing Perspectives interviewed various publishers and agents about the hot new trends they were seeing.

 

Audiobooks got a lot of attention in Frankfurt with many saying that they were now a mainstream format. The ways for the public to acquire them seem to be all over the place though. You would think that Spotify with its streaming model would extend this into audiobooks – not so. Which audience model will win out was a hot topic discussed at Frankfurt.

 

Over the last month, the spotlight has been on AI generated art and its copyright ownership.  If you buy art for book covers or fan merch this seems to be a rising trend, to generate AI art. However, the AI’s are sampling artists' portfolios and styles and so the ownership is murky. After many photo stock dealers saying they wouldn’t deal with AI art, Shutterstock changed its mind and is trying have it both ways by attempting to pay the sampled artists if they can prove it. This has annoyed many in the industry.

 

It always pays to drop into Writer Beware occasionally to keep on top of ways that authors can be parted from their money. Recently Victoria had a long form piece on anthologies and how one anthology publisher collapsed and was exposed as probably running a Ponzi scheme. Anthologies can be great…but you must go in with your eyes wide open.

 

Today I was listening to an interesting conversation between Orna Ross and Joanna Penn on publishing values. It was wide ranging and referred to Orna’s recent article. This is a meaty topic. What do you wish to be known for and are you sure that’s what you are projecting to the readership?

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting article on Thinking Big. Do you note down your success? What about your positive reviews? Kris talks about exposure and when someone goes from chugging along to breakout.

 

Elizabeth Sims has an interesting post on short stories over on Jane Friedman's blog. 20 reasons why everyone should write a short story. I have been trying my hand at these this year and not managing to finish them. This article makes me look at short story writing in a different way. Let it go and have fun.

 

In The Craft Section,

Where do Ideas come from- Randy Ingermanson- Bookmark

4 writing pitfalls to avoid- Laurence McNaughton- Bookmark

Writing beginnings- Interview with Shane Millar- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

4 tips for writing effective backstory- Carolyn Arnold

The perils of not knowing what happens next- Janice Hardy

 

In The Marketing Section,

Update your Amazon book pages- Elizabeth S Craig- Bookmark

Book cover design ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

3 ways to promote poetry- Raegen Pietrucha

Reaching readers for the long term- Becky Robinson- Interview with Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Instagram Book marketing ideas-Bookbub

 

To Finish,

This weekend is The Alliance of Independent Authors 24 hour conference, SelfPubCon. It’s free. Sessions are recorded and you get three days to go over them.

If you intend to attempt NaNoWriMo this November hopefully you will have everything organized. Check back over the last few blog posts for handy prep links. Don’t forget to check out your local library. Quite a few have embraced the NaNoWriMo experience and have spaces for writers to go and pound out their words.

Good Luck with your final days of preparation.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter of the best of the bookmarked links and other handy items Don’t forget to subscribe.

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 krakenimages on Unsplash

2022- Wrestling the year into submission

 

 

Annnnnd we are back for another year of watching the publishing industry shuffle through the interesting times we have been cursed with.

 

In Publishing News…

Authors win a global piracy lawsuit and get awarded damages of over $7million… Everybody is hoping that the judgment serves notice to book pirates that their time is up. The pirates were tried in abstentia and are somewhere in Ukraine. However, I guess it will continue to be a case of pirate whack-a-mole.

 

The growth of library eBook lending far exceeded everyone’s expectations when Overdrive, the biggest library eBook partner, published their annual review. Half a billion library ebook downloads show that eBook lending is here to stay.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard published two interesting articles recently. One on the upcoming Cairo International Bookfair where they are playing with hologram technology and books and another on the split nature of India’s publishing industry-  half of which is embracing digital and surviving, the other half … not so much.

 

The beginning of another year invites predictions of what we should expect from 2022.

Literary Agent, Laurie Mclean kicked off the new year with her predictions. Mergers, Unions and Work From Home will change the publishing marketplace. Streaming will change the reading space.

 

Written Word Media identified eight trends to watch in the coming year. As their business model helps writers advertise their books they focus on the big trends that will affect the writer bottom line- advertising will be going up. 

 

Over January Kristine Rusch continued writing her 2021 year in review. She has written six blogs on this topic as she looks back to how digital reading has been embraced in the pandemic years and how the publishing industry has been completely changed by it. In this week’s article she makes some bold predictions on how indie publishing will be changing the whole publishing industry going forward. It is well worth a read.

 

Penny Sansevieri examined global reading habits in 2021 and produced an interesting infographic that gives writers some markets to keep an eye on. She also has 22 awesome book marketing promotions and predictions for 2022.

 

Jane Friedman took a look at what were the big sellers in the children’s book industry and made some predictions for the upcoming year. She also has a great article on how to plan and host online author events.

 

If you want to start 2022 off with some writing craft books, StoryBundle has a great collection available for a limited time. It’s a pay what you want deal and there are some good books on offer. 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to ace the time skip in your story- DIYMFA

How to decide what story to write- Scott Myers

Best writing resources of 2021 from Now Novel- Bookmark

The role of causation and plot structure in literary fiction- Harrison Demchick

What are the 10 different types of stories- Joe Bunting- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to sell more books in 2022- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Book cover designers- Resource from The Creative Penn- Bookmark

Clever ideas to promote sequels and series-Bookbub

Choosing a book title in the e-age- Anne R Allen

5 social media trends to watch in 2022- Kris Maze

 

To Finish,

If you have been mulling over your goals for the year ahead and getting hopelessly confused or overwhelmed – Drop into the ALLI podcast to listen or read the transcript on how Orna Ross and Joanna Penn plan their upcoming years. Orna has a great phrase, Maker, Manager, Marketer. She splits her work and goals between all three. Or check out Elizabeth Craig’s great article on making mini plans and goals for the year.

This may help when you wrestle 2022 into a workable plan for yourself.

 

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: Flickr Creative Commons – RumpleTeaser

 

Remember When…

 

 

This week in publishing,

When you get to a certain age you notice that nostalgia becomes big entertainment business. *coughMarvelcomicsCough* Sometimes the reason for the reboot of these older entertainment properties is that the new executives are mining their childhood fads. The 90’s generation is getting its turn now. This week Vulture reports that Sweet Valley High is getting a TV show. The SVH books were written by ghostwriters back in the day. A popular choice for publishers who found a formula and pumped books out using a stable of writers to do it. This is why a backlist is so important. What if that small hit spawns a cult phenomenon?

 

Mark Williams at The New Publishing Standard has been looking at the Wattpad Webtoon moves as they partner with ViacomCBS and Paramount. Intellectual Property generated by Indie authors are up for grabs for new video streaming services as all the big entertainment companies try to copy Netflix. Soon everyone will be subscribed to an entertainment streaming service.

 

Meanwhile, Kickstarter sent out a press release this week announcing their move onto the blockchain to decentralise their operation.

 “As a first step, we’re supporting the development of an open-source protocol that will essentially create a decentralized version of Kickstarter’s core functionality. This will live on a public blockchain, and be available for collaborators, independent contributors, and even Kickstarter competitors, from all over the world to build upon, connect to, or use.”

This looks like bringing the blockchain more mainstream. Interesting times ahead for the creative and collaborative community.

 

Last week I mentioned the New York Times article on Publishers and their unrealistic expectations of profits from celebrity books. This week Passive Guy dived into the article and shared all the numbers. There are eye-watering hits that publishers are taking on these celebrities. However, getting the publishing deal could be just part of the merchandise income stream for these celebrities who might not be making much money from their main source of creativity. 

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has published their Year in Review. January seems so long ago. The publishing industry has grown despite Covid and supply issues. 

 

Kris Rusch continues her close look at the implications of various events in the publishing industry. She is now watching the widening of the ways between Traditional and Indie publishing. They are almost two completely different models now.

 

Tara Sparling is back on Anne R Allen’s blog with her annual funny Christmas story which pokes fun at the writer's life. This year visit Mr McGuffin’s Plot Device and Writer Unblocking Emporium where stirring events are taking place as characters complain about their stereotypes.

 

Writer Unboxed has a large group of great writers who contribute excellent articles on the craft of writing. This week Barbara Linn Probst has an excellent article on Trusting The Reader.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make your character choices more difficult- Angela Ackerman – Bookmark

Common mistakes that pull readers out of stories Elizabeth Craig - Bookmark

How to develop a story idea- Now Novel- Bookmark

The future in stories- Jim Dempsey

8 scintillating rules for writing romance- Dana Isaacson-Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

How to build a platform when you have no idea what it means- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

3 ways to learn what your readers want- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Authors – Tiktok promo ideas- Bookbub- Bookmark

How will sharing book recommendations help me sell books- Shepherd for Authors

10 social media design tips – Infographic

 

To Finish,

We are moving into the last week before Christmas. The Writers Advent Calendar, organised by The Dream Team AKA Angela and Becca is on the last few days. If you haven’t checked it out – you can still put your name in the giveaways for some great prizes. 

 

Next week is the last blog post for the year. I’m ready to wave goodbye to 2021.

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out, with the bumper edition of great links from the year. If you want to 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 eggnog for Christmas, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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