This Crazy Thing We Do

 

 

In Publishing News this week

 

A tentative agreement has been reached with authors and Anthropic reports Publishers Weekly. This means an out of court settlement is on the cards. If you have a claim against Anthropic scraping your work to teach its AI you need to register before September 1^st. Tech Dirt has an interesting commentary on why Anthropic may have settled- the threat of extreme statutory damages. However, they say this might not be an ongoing trend given what the judge declared about training AI’s.(Fair use- if they bought a copy of the book.)

 

Mark Williams has an interesting article looking at the middle ground of the two extreme positions of AI use in publishing. Four perspectives of AI collaboration in publishing. He lays out the pro’s and cons of a thoughtful use of AI. 

 

Publishing Perspectives has a breakdown on the Book Sales numbers from The Association of American Publishers from 2024.In a $32 Billion industry, print is still up there. However, online sales accounted for over 30%. Audio sales drove much of the revenue.

 

While print last year was booming, lack luster sales this year has Bloomsbury axing some of their children’s division team. The Bloomsbury Boom and Bust rollercoaster of children’s publishing. (They get saved every twenty five years by some big name author.)

 

Mary Kole, specialist children’s editor and agent has written an interesting article on research she has done on the latest sales trends in Midgrade writing. Midgrade is quietly having a moment.

 

Some children’s writers have got together to launch an MFA in writing for young readers. After teaching at other programmes they decided what the world needed was a dedicated MFA just for children’s books. They have a great faculty and only five in person residencies over two years with two intakes a year. They are fundraising to keep the costs low. 

 

Jennifer Probst has a great article on the 7 steps to thriving as an author in a changing publishing world. Every now and then an article comes along and socks you between the eyes. This is a must read.

 

Jane Friedman has made her newsletter free for its 10th anniversary. In this article she looks at how publishing has changed since 2015. Does anybody remember the world before Kickstarter, Audio books, and Direct Sales platforms?

 

James Scott Bell has a great article on the origin of Kill Your Darlings, No it’s not a horror story. It’s being aware when you have overwritten.

 

Katie Weiland has concluded that story is almost dead in this year’s films. What happened to modern storytelling and 6 ways to find its soul. In the film story cycle we may be in for a return to those great film stories from the 80’s. 

 

Erin Halden has an interesting article on Antagonists. – Do you know about antagonist hierarchy. That is the layers of antagonism in your story. Not every antagonist is a mastermind criminal sometimes they can be the burnt toast in a scene.

 

In The Craft Section,

How much research is too much- Ellen Buikema (You can never have too much-MC)

5 ways to engage the senses- Lynette Burrows-Bookmark

Deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

Writing with subtext- Tammy Burke- Bookmark

What bad movies can teach you- Alex Cavanaugh- Excellent! 

 

In The Marketing Section,

Leverage someone else’s network- Sandra Beckwith

Why every author needs a platform- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Holiday marketing – why prep matters- Penny Sansevieri

10 Amazon KDP secrets- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to write a Book Proposal- Reedsy- Bookmark

 

To Finish

To shamelessly rip off Steven Colbert’s monologue, I trawl through the web to harvest those snippets of interest, tossing them into a pot with spices and creating the hot stew of information that is my weekly roundup. This is a niche blog that writers and publishers tell me is required reading. Even if I take you down some rabbit holes. (Hat tip of thanks to those of you who have chucked a dollar or two into the coffee fund.) 

If you have ever had to explain publishing to someone not in the industry you will appreciate the Diana Urban article about the Publishing Sitcom.

 

Yes, we’re mad to do this crazy thing called writing.

 

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.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the free Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, It is much appreciated. 

Thank you.

 

Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

Who Owns Your ideas?

 

 

In Publishing News this week.

 

Calling all writers who have been caught up in the Anthropic AI mess. The lawyers in the legal case against Anthropic want your name for a class action. If you have had books pirated, this is your must read article from Publishers Weekly. Act quickly you don’t have much time.

 

Mark Williams is also highlighting the case against Open AI in India. They are in the Indian courts trying to prove fair use. These big court cases are being watched by countries around the world. Copyright and AI use, every country has to make a decision over their meaning.

 

I try to have balanced viewpoints on AI in the blog. This is an interesting post from Mythcreants about not falling for AI. There are some good points here. Be very sure why you might use AI. It can be a useful tool but it shouldn’t do the creative work.

 

Publishers and educators advocating for freedom to read are cheering. They have received a positive judgement on the book banning that has been happening in Florida schools. The judge agrees with them. Hopefully this will start the ball rolling the right way in other states. Meanwhile Book Riot have some resources for people trying to navigate the supreme court decision on allowing parents to opt out of school programmes. 

 

The Diamond Comic Distributors case is taking another twist. At issue, the assets. Liquidators want a fire sale of the comics, but Diamond doesn’t own them and a Judge made that ruling. Bankruptcy law, if the item is sitting in your warehouse, then it’s an asset regardless of who actually owns it.

 

The Nordic countries are often held up as the model everyone should follow for happiness and lifestyle. Denmark is suffering a literacy crisis just like everyone else. They have a great way to promote book reading. Make it cheaper!

 

Agent Richard Curtis has an interesting article on Clout. When agents have it and what it actually means. 

 

James Scott Bell responds to an email saying that his book deserves to reach a larger audience. I got one just like it last week. The AI scams are alive and well. He discusses the difference between the terms writer and author. Apparently, they mean different things.

 

Barbara Linn Probst has an interesting post on Writer Unboxed. Are you a planned writer or a summoned writer? Just where do your ideas come from? 

 

Lesley Krueger has an interesting article on her response to a viral post of hers. Why I won’t chase the post that went viral. This is about authentic writing and figuring how to engage with readers without selling your soul.

 

How do you manage your Zone of Proximal Development? Jenny Hansen has a great post on the magic zone where all your learning takes place. This is where seeking the right kind of help in your writing can accelerate your craft learning.

 

In The Craft Section,

Character healing from an emotional wound- Angela Ackerman

5 conflict management styles- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 tips to enhance your story atmosphere- Nick Bailey- Bookmark

The power of dialogue- C S Lakin

How to use iteration in your writing- Gabriela Pereira-Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section 

How to maximize the return on your newsletter- Linda Dunn

Book Marketing tips- Mindset Joanna Penn – Podcast excerpt- Bookmark

How net galley makes your book more visible- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to get more of the right readers- Sandra Beckwith

How to build a reader funnel- Written Word Media – Bookmark

 

To Finish

Roger Hyttinen has a great post on the 16 things that writers love. I laughed when I read number seven as I had just done it. One of the things he didn’t have on his list was the new video game Tiny Bookstore. Instead of heading to a remote island to manage one you can stay at home and play bookstores from your couch. You can even recommend real books.

A writer must have thought of the game idea, while procrastinating.

 

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.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the free Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, It is much appreciated. 

Thank you.

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

Is There Another Way?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

It’s Summer in the Northern Hemisphere so everyone is on vacation. However, there are a few interesting things to think about.

In Brazil they have just wrapped up a Book Fair which had a publishers and booksellers side event to the main public event. Publishing Perspectives looks at the conversation topics. There was discussion on price fixing which is going through the Brazil senate. Is it a good thing? Also under discussion, the quality of digital productions- Does it matter? 

 

Publishers Weekly takes a look at San Diego Comic Con which is on now. This event usually sees a lot of interest across the publishing community with Franchise tie ins in games, movies, graphic novels. However, this year it is a more muted affair because of visas, and the uncertain nature of entering the United States. 

 

The NZ Booksellers conference just wrapped up with many notable people and publishers receiving awards for excellence. Congratulations to authors Rachel King and author booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward. 

 

Audio Book walking groups. Yes, they are a thing. Publishers Weekly looks at the rise of these groups. You don’t have to listen to the same audio book to join in. This could be the great new friend meet up activity. Walk with a friend while listening to your own book.

 

Russell Nohelty has an interesting article on chronic illness and the writer. When your brain says Write and your body says Nope. He looks at ways to get your body to trust again instead of the stress response of panic and shutdown. 

 

Rachel Thompson has a great article on the Why Alt text is a writers secret. Using Alt text has been promoted as a must for helping the disabled community deal with visuals in a way that fits them better. Rachel points out that the extra few seconds to do alt text is great for other reasons.

 

Agent Richard Curtis has an interesting blog post on some contract terms that are important and overlooked in a standard writing contract. On their own they look ok, in a writing contract they mean warning bells.

 

James Scott Bell often does a close edit page to show different story points. This time he is doing one that Chat GPT supplied. His comments are on point. Competant and Forgettable.

 

Seth Godin is known for pithy comments on a variety of subjects. Recently he looked at Productivity, AI and pushback. Are you working for AI?

 

Mary Kole has a great article for children and teen story writers about marketing. What do you do when you can’t market to your stories intended audience. Who is your real audience?

 

Katie Weiland looks at What makes a bad story. No, it’s not bad editing or plot holes, or even an AI written story. Have you taken a close look at your characters?

 

In The Craft Section,

2 great articles from Angela Ackerman The key to writing authentic characters and How to use hidden experiences- Bookmark Both.

Bring your setting to life- Sue Coletta

Why scene mapping is your secret weapon- Juneta Key- Bookmark

3 ways to add tension- Janice Hardy

 

In The Marketing Section,

Email-the best marketing channel?- Bookbub

New hope for old books- Sandra Beckworth

How to format a book- Bookbaby

2 great articles from Thomas Umstettd- How to create sales optimized book pages-and How to grow email lists with giveaways- Bookmark Both

 

To Finish,

Everywhere I look this week, I have seen something from Johnny B Truant. He is one of the originals from Smarter Artists from over a decade ago. After an extended break he is back with a new book on slow writing, no social media etc. Is this really Johnny I thought. He is embracing the Artisan Author way and he chats with Joanna Penn on why he has done an almost about turn. It has lots to do with the joy of writing and how you can kill this joy by being on a produce treadmill. He has a great video which inspired the book. The low stress, high quality, fan focused way to escape the publishing rat race.

Isn’t that what we all want to do?

 

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.

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 Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash

Can You Trust The Source?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

I’m a day late this week in publishing the blog. As I was putting it together, I heard that Stephen Colbert’s show is being axed. Many in the media are dismayed with the defunding of public journalism PBS and NPR this week. The Colbert show axing coming on the heels of an out of court legal settlement by the parent company CBS with Trump has alarm bells ringing. Kathleen Schmidt looks at these recent news events and how book publicity will be impacted.

 

Publishers Weekly is still shining a light on the Diamond Bankruptcy and the fall out for over 100 publishers. Distribution is being picked up by Simon and Schuster at present but with no settlement happening soon Graphic Novel publishers caught up in this mess face a very uncertain future.

 

Meanwhile over in Europe, Manga is the hot new acquisition. Publishing Perspectives reports that Harper Collins is buying up French and German Manga with its acquisition of Crunchyroll. Manga is responsible for over 50% of sales in the young adult market in these countries.

 

Translators are annoyed with the launch of Globescribe, an AI translation company reports The Guardian. At issue is the warning that AI cannot translate nuance which a human translator can do. 

 

TechCrunch reports that Google has made their NotebookLM app more of a destination with by adding a public facing collection of notebooks. I had heard of writers using NotebookLM to have a place to put all their research, but on investigation I discovered it does so much more. After watching the video- I understand why authors are uploading their manuscripts and using all the features for research and marketing ideas.

 

Lisa Norman has an interesting article on Generative Engine Optimisation. How are readers finding your books. With the rise of AI assistants how will they find you’re your book? Kathleen Schmidt also has an insightful article on how Google and AI is changing search. The search world is rapidly changing. Reading these two articles will help you understand how to work with the new search changes and get your book seen.

 

Joanna Penn has an interesting interview with Ines Johnson on crafting stories and marketing. Ines has a screen writing background and she talks about planning, episodic writing and marketing incrementally. 

 

Chad Grayson has an article on establishing a regular writing routine. My regular routine of non-fiction article reading and writing is a Thursday. This has helped me produce this weekly blog consistently for over 17 years. Chad has some good tips to help with the routine.

 

Katie Weiland has a big article on the Writing Glossary. This is a collection of articles she has written on different topics such as flat arcs or story structure. This is a bookmark reference guide!

 

In The Craft Section

Making the most of Writing resources- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Four levels of book editing- Bookbaby

Taking criticism- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

Avoiding Purple Prose- Becca Puglisi

Writing across cultures-Dave King- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to get more book reviews- Joanna Penn interviewing Joe Walters Podcast – Bookmark

Why every author needs a brand- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Smart ideas for promoting- Penny Sansevieri

Ten Shortcuts- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

The best author swag- Elizabeth Cole- Bookmark

 

To Finish

R J Reddon has an interesting post on Writers in the Storm about all those little extra details that you find out in the course of writing your story. Do you ever do anything with them? I never thought about it until I read their article Don’t Delete That. Combining these ideas and NotebookLM (which is included free in your Google account.) and my brain was riffing on all things spacy. Is the world ready for all the weird stuff in my brain? With AI technology taking off like a rocket, the explosion of content across all our media channels is only just beginning. The trick will be to find out who you can trust to deliver quality information.

 

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.

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.

 

Pic Photo by Fabian Gieske on Unsplash

It Used To Be So Simple…

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

In the continuing saga of the disestablishment of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Publishers Weekly reports that there are only 12 people left doing the work of 75. Questions have been raised as to the ability of some of these people who seem to have been picked because of who they know and not what they know. And where is all the money going? 

 

In the Meta Lawsuit, many organisations aren’t waiting to be called but are submitting briefs to the court in support of the lawsuit, Publishing Perspectives reports. At issue is Meta claiming fair use. An argument that is supposed to be for the purposes of review in journals, not wholesale scraping.

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has a chilling article on how Meta employees came to think that scraping a pirate site was a good idea. There was horrible little paragraph where they thought it was ok because the works themselves were valueless. Tell that to authors who have had their entire life’s work stolen.

 

Malaysia has been having a super book giveaway in an effort to promote reading. Mark Williams looks at the parent company of Big Bad Wolf and how they can lay their hands on all remaindered English language books to be able to do these big events.

 

Spotify is extending their reach in audio books and is opening up to French and Dutch language translations. They are throwing some money at it too. In their latest stats the audio listeners are primarily from the younger age bracket. Spotify is keen to promote human voices, but they are open to digital voices as well.

 

If you are still trying to make sense of tariffs in the book industry – do you pay them- do you not, The Alliance of Independent Authors has a good article to help you figure out what to do. Make sure you diversify where you get your books printed, so you can manage production costs.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a panel discussion with creative industry people on how to manage AI technologies. This was interesting as there were music industry people who have been dealing with AI for longer than book people. Their advice- get involved in policing it.

 

Rachel Thompson has an article on PR scams that are targeting writers. It’s like playing whack-a-mole with scammers. All you can do is stay abreast of the ones doing the rounds and make sure newbies know about them.

 

Jane Friedman has a guest article from Anne Carley about how difficult it is to help publish other people in the self publishing space. This is because of the hoops you have to go through to establish who you are. When publishing companies are trying to weed out the scammers and pirates it can be hard to be a genuine helper for other people.

 

Joanna Penn has a super interview with Tara Cremin from Kobo. Tara gives an overview of all the great things Kobo offers and then gets into detail on subscriptions and marketing. If you already publish on Kobo are you taking advantage of all that they offer now?

 

Jennifer Dorsey writes about how to lay the groundwork for a successful nonfiction book launch. Have you mined who you know as well as what you know?

 

James Scott Bell has a post dedicated to the thesaurus and how useful it is. When was the last time you opened one specifically to find the right word.

 

Barbara Linn Probst has a great article on person and tense. Whoever tells the story is not the same as the protagonist unless you are very careful. Does the protagonist really know the inner life of all the other characters? This is a must read article.

 

In The Craft Section,

A peek inside the mind of a developmental editor- Jenn Windrow- Bookmark

Conflict is not tension- Sally Hamer

Understanding genre conventions- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Cinematic technique for authors- C S Lakin

How to prepare eBooks in Word.- Diane Wolfe

 

In the Marketing Section,

How long does publicity take- Kathleen Schmidt

How to make time to market your book- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How you should price your book- Matthew Holmes- Bookmark

Best Email services for authors- Dave Chesson

Getting more value from the backlist- Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is the 17^th anniversary of the blog today. That’s 17 years of watching the publishing industry change in front of me. The eBook, the Kindle, Amazon, Print on Demand, the rise and fall of publishing houses, the amalgamations, the rise of niche indie brands, the rise and fall of booksellers, graphic novels, audio books, translations, the rise and fall of distributors, selling direct, authorpreneurs, and now AI. The publishing world looks very different from when I started learning about it 17 years ago. I continue to learn every day. For everyone who is still reading and learning along with me, sharing little notes, the occasional coffee, the meet in person times, Thank you for still being here. It has been a wild ride. 

 

Happy Easter.

 

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.

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 Simon Harmer on Unsplash

When The Writing Business Gets You Down

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Just after I published last week’s blog, The Atlantic* published an article on the books that Meta used to train their AI as well as the shady practices they used. Substack readers of the blog got the breaking news. Use The Atlantic search engine if you want to check whether your books were scraped, then contact your local writer association. Here in NZ the Society of Authors is taking names to join a class action. 

Many authors guilds around the world are preparing court cases. Publishing Perspectives has the US and UK Authors societies responses. 

 

While authors are getting hot under the collar about AI theft, publishers have been quietly doing deals with AI companies to let them have access to their lists. Jane Friedman highlights just what is going on under writer’s noses.

 

Of course, AI as a tool offers so many advantages to the struggling publishers. Although I don’t think Taylor and Francis is exactly struggling, Publishers Weekly reports that they are using AI to translate their books into English. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting article on film companies and how they are using a text to screen AI to generate films. Yes, AI is everywhere. Last week he said that publishing history is active resistance, passive acceptance, and eventual embrace. I think the publishers might be moving out of passive acceptance. So many seem to be saying one thing to authors and another to their staff. 

 

Do you remember Stories for Rebel Girls? The author, Francesca Cavallo has been looking at the dire statistics for boys reading and has a new collection coming out. Publishing Perspectives has an article looking at what Francesca will be doing at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair next week.

 

Diamond Comics Distributors has found a buyer, reports Publishers Weekly. Whether there will be enough left over to pay all the creditors could be touch and go. Many comics publishers who used Diamond have been scrambling to find other distributors in the interim.

 

Written Word Media were at the Future of Publishing/ Writer MBA conference, and they have an in depth article about what they learned there. They also have some great takeaways to get you thinking about your publishing business.

 

Alia Habib has an interesting article where she sat down with five book publicity people are asked questions about the best way of getting their attention with a book project. The package matters.

 

Phil Simon has a guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog about a new writing tool that can streamline your workflow. If you are looking for help in sorting out all your projects this might be useful. It has a free tier.

 

James Scott Bell has a great article on the melted butter of writing or in other words metaphors and similes. He has some great examples. Do you use metaphors in your writing?

 

In The Craft Section,

Relationship Conflicts- prolong the agony- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark

How to use the thesaurus properly- September Fawkes

How to use show don’t tell- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Consider your characters age- Tiffany Yates Martin - Bookmark

If the relationship is the primary story- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to thrive without viral marketing- Janee Butterfield- Bookmark

The best author promo ideas- Penny Sansevieri

From Readers to review- Written Word Media- Bookmark

How to market a book- Reedsy

Maximising Backlist Sales- SPA Girls- Bookmark!

 

To Finish,

Sometimes the writing and publishing world can leave you feeling like a used tissue. That is where having a writing buddy to share the highs and lows with is so important.

Every year Katie Weiland has a week where she helps writers find a writing buddy. Hop on over to her blog and scroll down to comments. You never know, you might find your life-long writing buddy who helps you to scale new heights, propels you to new projects and has your back like you have theirs. 

And if you already have a writing buddy- Make time to celebrate them. You don’t need an excuse. Reach out and say you value them, with cake. 

An AI won’t do that.

 

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.

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 virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

N.B.* The Atlantic has been having a sensational week- AI Theft and War Plans. All it takes is a courageous writer to speak truth to power. They give us hope that we can do the same.

 

Photo by Pixel Rich on Unsplash