Challenging Contracts

This week my Twitter feed is still full of the Kindle Unlimited pay per page write ups from media... So much angst out there.

What does it mean? Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service- like a library. Authors who have their book in KU (which is exclusive) used to be paid per borrow. Now they will be paid per page read. If you write short stories- great. If you write page turning epic fantasies of encyclopedia proportions- great. If you write boring rip offs of turgid junk - not so great. This comment seems to sum it up - They are paying us to write well.

 The Authors Guild fair contract campaign is gathering momentum. Take a look at what the Authors Guild are asking for... Are you shocked that authors don’t get these rights in their contracts? After years of reading Writer Beware posts... I think its about time Publishers were being called on this.

This week Taylor Swift called out Apple for not paying artists on free trials of their music streaming service... and Apple backed down. Phillip Jones from The Bookseller notes what Taylor has done for the music industry and asks do we need Taylor to come over to publishing because there are a few things...

Molly Greene has an interesting post on estate planning forthe self published writer. Even if you are traditionally published you need to think about your literary estate. Have you got any ideas on what might happen to your work? If you have a shonky contract your publisher may be able to do anything....

 Anne R Allen writes some good solid advice. Here she outlines the six bad reasons to write a novel and also the six good reasons.

James Scott Bell has the ten things you need to know about the writing life. This is a print it out and stick it on your wall kind of post!

Janice Hardy has an Indie Author business series happening on her blog. This week Marcy Kennedy is looking at competitive analysis in the business plan. This is a fascinating dig deep look at your genre and what works…. (Bookmark)

Recently Susan Kaye Quinn was interviewed by Lindsay Buroker for the SFF Marketing podcast. This was a wide ranging interview just stuffed with great questions and answers about what works and what doesn’t for marketing online. This is well worth a watch! It is long so set some time aside. I’m really looking forward to chatting with Susan at our conference in October.

In the Craft Section,

Are you scared of plot?

What type of secret does your character keep?- Angela Ackerman

Writers rituals and why they work

Using Back Story effectively- Kristen Lamb

Seven sneaky ways to bring your dialogue alive- (I do this all the time)

Will readers find your protagonist worthy?- Angela Ackerman

Getting what’s in your head down on the page- Janice Hardy (Bookmark)

In the Marketing Section,

5 book promotions that really work- Molly Greene

Public speaking tips

The top 10 resources for self published authors

Building a literary community- Joanna Penn

Indie authors offline marketing strategies

Seven reasons why authors fail to publish-Michael Neff (Bookmark)

To Finish,

All writers go through the feeling like a fraud syndrome, sometimes every day. Bob Mayer has some questions for you to ponder about how far into The Imposter Syndrome you are and tips for getting over it.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr/Creative Commons -Nobmouse

It’s All Subjective

.@ardit_haliti You think I should write something where nobody dies? Hmm... it wouldn't be easy. I'm all about the death.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 18, 2015

This week I have been mulling over the perfect conference program. This is highly subjective. Why do you go to conferences? Some people say networking. Some say up-skilling in your craft. Some say to learn new approaches to old ideas. That’s my ideal, learning. I’m not into great big crowded rooms where everybody is glad handing and I know no one. So planning the perfect writers conference for me has to have plenty of learning opportunities and meet and greet without being overpowering. We are in the middle of refining our program for Tinderbox2015 and I have a big problem. I want to go to everything!

As I look through this week’s links for you it is amazing how many of them link into something in our conference program.

Passive Guy has linked to two posts this week that have people talking. Do publishers really understand SEO (do you?) and Authorpreneurs. from The Economist which has weighed in saying what authors should be doing regarding their business which is finding influencers and publishers should be publishing celebrity authors to stay afloat. Reading the comments on both those articles is entertaining. And in breaking news Pharrell is writing a series of children’s books... about being HAPPY.

Porter Anderson takes a good long look at publishing terms everyone gets wrong and the implications for planning your writing business. Do you really get royalties if you self publish? And why you need to know the differences.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting opinion piece about whether agents and publishers want authors that know about the publishing business. Do MFA programs want clued up authors?

Darcy Pattison talks about her last 18 months. This is chock full of information about the decision to Indie Publish and what she has learned. (this is a bookmark post!)

Today was a #MSWL day on Twitter. Agents and Editors write on Twitter what Manuscripts they wish would come across their desks. Type #MSWL in the search bar. If you do query an agent or editor from this, mention the tweet. Another cool search on Twitter is #tenqueries. Agents and Editors going through their slush pile will comment on ten queries live on Twitter and their immediate response. This is a great heads up about what grabs and what doesn’t.

In the Craft section,

The great James Scott Bell has a new post on story and structure and how they must love each other.

Author Biz has a great interview with Editor Shawn Coyne who is working on a story grid book for editors. This is a bookmark post! (and a print out the Storygrid and stick it on your wall post.)

Jeff Goins on overcoming writers block.

Jody Hedlund on the 5 point character checklist (great revamp of her website)

When do you rewrite an old manuscript and when do you let it die...

Ava Jae on what she’s learning as a publishing intern

How to make the most of a writing retreat

In the Marketing section,

55 digital branding tips for Authors

Lindsay Buroker has been sourcing covers from fiverr for short stories - she explains how to do this.

7 must do tactics for promotional tweets. (please don’t spam... the 90/10 rule should apply- thats 90 pieces of interesting stuff for every 10 promotional tweets)

7 things you learn when your book is published.

Moderating panels – How to be rude in the nicest possible way

Writelife interviews four authors about the real cost of self publishing

Website of the Week

Bibliocrunch is an interesting hangout. Not only do they host chats on Twitter but they have lots of resources for the Indie Authors.

Here are two of their recent articles- Using Skype to organize a virtual writing groups and

Tshirts with memorable book quotes on them...

To Finish,

John Green is known for a lot of things that he does well. However today he found out something he doesn’t know well - The quotes from his books. This made for a great confessional post to his brother about how he always assumed that the quote memes were from his books...oops 

If you are interested in finding out more about Tinderbox 2015 - The National Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference in Wellington, NZ, October 2-5^th  send us an Email to 2015tinderbox AT gmail DOT com and we’ll put you on our dedicated mailing list for updates and news.

maureen

John Green's confession below.

Tweet from a conversation thread with J K Rowling.

After The Break

 My predictions for what the blogosphere would be talking about while I was taking a medical break were very nearly right. 

The Self vs Trad debate became an examination of the take home pay of the author. The Guardian got stuck in on Author Earnings... Even the NY Times weighed in on Author income. 

Bob told everyone to grow up, again. It is all about fairness.

The Amazon /Hachette argument is still going on with Hugh Howey commenting yesterday on various open letters circulating and whether we should be holding out for higher prices. 

But the big news that has everyone hopping around the publishing blogosphere is the launch of Kindle Unlimited. This is a subscription service launched by Amazon. Authors who have their books enrolled get a share of the monthly pot of gold set aside if their book is lent through the service and at least 10% of it is read. (just think about this level of attention to your personal reading habits that the mighty ZON knows about you from your Kindle.) Is it worthwhile to the author?

Dave Gaughran examines the fors and againsts… and Mark Coker thinks they could do better... Many authors agree that exclusivity can be a problem.

Outside of this...

Dean Wesley Smith has started a new series of thoughtful teaching posts for authors on thinking like publishers.

Kirkus has even elevated Indie publishing to legit with a great opinion piece on getting a publishing team together.

The big Thriller conference has happened and Joanna Penn had her mind blown... as it included a visit to the FBI who are anxious that writers get it right, the conference delivered on many levels. Great Post!

The Killzone guys are having fun with a co operative marketing venture if Thrillers are your reading drug of choice.

Publishers Weekly has been looking at the issue of piracy especially that of YA authors books.

In the Craft Section,

Making your hero complex

K M Weiland on Story Voice

The Blood Red Pencil has one on Narrative Voice

Blogging do’s and Don’ts from Anne R Allen

Porter Anderson on use of one star and five star reviews to boost or punish a writer.

Porter also has a thoughtful post on standing up writing desks and how they should be seriously considered by writers for their health. (this is something I have been interested in for a while...)

In the Marketing Section,

Everything you ever wanted to know about Twitter. I use Twitter for research and I learned some good tips from this post.

Branding tips for authors

Book cover clichés and why they help you sell more books.

How to grow your personal mailing list. (comprehensive post)

Lindsay Buroker - what I would do if I was starting today... (must read post)

Steve Scott has been looking at his author income in detail over the last year...as he tried various things. This is an interesting post with honest breakdowns...from a non fiction writer. (I wish I could find something similar for children’s writers)

To Finish,

Writer Unboxed has a letter to my aspiring writer self... which has struck a chord with writers who have added a few post scripts...

I’m on the slow recovery road...this means I get to read more. I have just devoured James Scott Bell’s latest craft book. Write Your Novel From The Middle...seriously good.

The Quick and Dirty...

This is a busy time of the year so this is a quick post of things that caught my eye in the publishing blogosphere this week.

At this time of year ‘Best Of’ lists are pulled out of the drawer and dusted off. Publishers Weekly asked publishers to list their best children’s books... or the ones they wished they had published... interesting reading with a few familiar names... Go NZ.

Indiereaders also published their best of indie books for this year and that also makes interesting reading.

For all those who have e Readers a lot of these books are on sale for Christmas so your Christmas reading is sorted.   I note that in the letterbox mailers the tech stores are busily promoting mini e Readers for kids Christmas stockings... however  widespread take up of ebooks for kids are not a happening thing... yet.

Bob Mayer always takes this time of year to look at the current state of publishing and he kicks off his week with this blog post onBook sales over 2013 and the implications for publishers.

Again and again there are articles written about the state of Traditional Publishing against Self Publishing... and the perceived differences in quality and second class nature of those who self publish. Some people are still seeing it as a competition. This week Laura Kaye pointed out the bits that the Huffington Post got wrong when they tried to write about the current state of publishing.

Jacqueline Simonds talks about self publishing and distribution...this is the nut everyone hopes to crack.

Joanna Penn has written a great little post on working together to learn from and promote others in the same genre as you, along with a useful post on audio book tips from the pros.

In Craft this week,

Neil Gaimen on where great ideas come from

Ava Jae on stong supporting characters

10 tools to help writers write.

10 reasons to use the proposal process before you write the book

In Marketing this week,

How to format your book sales page on KDP

Lindsay Buroker- The art of selling on Amazon

The Book Designer on Genre vs Platform...very interesting post by C S Lakin

Jane Friedman on Reader Engagement

To Finish, 

In the weird files Writer Beware has noticed a new kind of weird. ‘The Literary Agent’ who is crowd sourcing which manuscripts she should ‘take on’ in her new venture. You've got to read it. How can people be sooo gullible that they think this is legit?

It is Christmas next week...I am taking a break for a couple of weeks and then I will be back with all those wonderful predictions for 2014.

maureen

Pic is Santa arriving in 1929 at Canberra airport. From the Flickr Commons Institutions pages. What wonderful collections of images are available here.

Counting The Cost

I am writing this as builders work on our character cottage. Unfortunately the character of our cottage is that of a Saturday night drunk, happy but lurching and having difficulty standing straight. This is fine for a person who will wake up sober the next day but not for a house. Pulling off outside walls to find crooked framing which explains the crooked walls, which means the windows don’t fit properly which means there is rot...these are the hidden costs. We were prepared for some hidden cost but now I am dreading the call of my name from the builders at the other end of the house.

In the blogosphere Writer Beware has a guest post on why small publishers fail with a few scenarios of real situations that have you wincing for all those who are involved. This post responds to comments that asking publishers hard questions about their business  seems mean and intrusive. Given what each scenario details...as an author you’d better know the costs up front.

Sometimes this writing life costs us too much and you feel like throwing in the towel....

Miss Snarks First Victim has a great post on where the quitting decision may be coming from.

L M Preston solicits good advice for beating the blues and Ava Jae of Writability talks about writing through resistance...which echoes Stephen Pressfield's great book, The War of Art, which I bought last week...I recommend this book if you are struggling with the whole ‘what am I doing this for’ scenario.

Agent Mary Kole talks about the decisions of choosing a book to represent for love...or for the potential money...

Fiction is our way of creating a tribe for ourselves- Victoria Mixon This beautiful phrase comes from a very thought provoking post on writing that is challenging and inspirational and shows the costs to yourself as you follow this path.

Lindsay Buroker always has some interesting things to say and this post is no exception. How to improve your sales at Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and iTunes. Check out Lindsay’s previous posts on advertising while you are visiting.

Alan Rinzler has been looking at Book Publicity and he has interviewed three publicists about their work and tips that you can learn from them.

Joel Friedlander has a great rundown on blog widgets and how to get the most out of them design wise.

Jami Gold has a great tip for MS Word and Beta readers...and how to get all their comments all together in one place...tricky and the payment is a saving of your sanity.

This week the Scholastic Media president was interviewed on where Scholastic is going with eBooks enhanced apps etc etc. The interesting numbers from January 2011-January 2012 saw a 474% uptake in children’s eBooks. Scholastic predicts that 30% of all their revenue will be digital by 2015. It is a very interesting article and those of us who write for children need to be flexible in our thinking of where our audience is going.

Jody Hedlund is also concerned about audience and asks whether you really know the demographic that you are writing for. She raises some interesting points in her post eBooks vs Paper...are you taking your audience with you?

Next week hopefully the building work will be nearly finished and we will be counting the cost...and probably reaching for a bottle of solace.