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.

Observing the Battlefield

This week the publishing blogosphere has been full of Hachette vs Amazon...and the fall out on authors which doesn't look like ending very soon. 

Everyone has an opinion. 

In the last two days Amazon released a statement, encouraging readers who wanted a Hachette book to buy from other suppliers and (in a cunning move) offering to partner with Hachette in an author’s fund to compensate the authors on lost earnings.  This morning Hachette released a statement in reply...It’s not our fault that Amazon sees the book as just another commodity and when we solve this we’ll think about that author fund.

In the mean time... Opinions are flying thick and fast around the blogosphere helped along with a new Author Earnings report and this week the analysis on Traditional Authors income vs Debut Authors Income from Hugh Howey.

Passive Guy puts his lawyers hat on and gives a succinct overview of the impact of Hugh’s report on Authors, especially Hachette Authors, who may well be contemplating making some changes in their future...

Dave Gaughran observes that the whole thing may just be a PR exercise for hearts and minds.

Mark Coker urges all authors to pay attention because after the Hachette negotiations with Amazon are over, the rest of the big 5 will be going through the same negotiations. Indie authors had better be spreading the risk.

Bob Mayer reminds Authors that this whole mess is about Rights and who has them and how they use them and what they should be doing about it.

Careers are on the line here. This dispute could be the tipping point for a lot of authors to start the move towards a more hybrid career with a mix of Traditional and Indie publishing.

If you aren’t a publishing accountants dream 6 figure deal... then you may as well band together with some like minded author friends and set up your own publishing house. You will have just the same opportunities as any of the big 5... according to Hugh.

In the Craft Section,

The 12 Stages of Physical Intimacy to build tension. (pretty comprehensive post!)

Staying in the Writing Groove

How to write Dialect – Ava Jae

Important notes about Dialogue

How to save on Editing (Killzone blog.)

When the author and the editor disagree...Rachel Gardner

A writers enemy- feeling like a fraud.

What readers really want to see in a series - Elisabeth S Craig.

In the Marketing Section,

All about Author Platform

Self Publishing vs Traditional (podcast)

Kickstarter lessons...with Sean Platt (honest assessment)

15 things you should know about Book Events

Joanna Penn on Evaluating the Market

CreateSpace vs Ingram comparison. (Handy info for outside US authors.)

10 truths about Self Publishing

To Finish,

Jane Friedman, all round publishing blogosphere goddess, has an in depth look at 3 Insights that lead to a Successful Writing Career.  (Stephen Pressfield book, The War of Art is a must read!)

maureen

After The End, What’s Next?

Comic: Death and the Writer. pic.twitter.com/aPDK8joGWm
— Debbie Ridpath Ohi (@inkyelbows) May 14, 2014

Sorry for the day delay in posting... There are some big articles in my round up this week, so grab a large drink and settle down for a brain expanding session.

‘Which leads me to, as my final point, the only real prediction I have made today. It’s one I made earlier: I think most existing publishers will disappear over the next decade or two.’

The quote is from Baldur Bjarnason who had a keynote address at Publishers Forum last week in London. As you can imagine the above comment coming towards the end of his address would be pretty novel given his audience. However as you read through his speech published on Publishing Perspectives, you find yourself nodding. For Authors, it is life as we know it. For Publishers it may be too late.

In the wider publishing world...News Corp buys Harlequin for not much over Harlequins annual revenue. How could it be so low? (another tick from Baldur’s speech)

Amazon and Hachette are having a fight... and low and behold Hachette’s books are delayed in shipping. We have seen it all before. Who gets hurt? The author.

After these three hit my brain I was on a mission to find some good news.

Alas,

Blogger Middle Grade Ninja who has a nice blog interviewing Agents (mostly for children’s books) revealed his disquiet over some agents practices which have been disturbing him and that he hoped were one off’s until they became too frequent to be ignored. (part two)

Scarlett Johansson is suing a French author claiming he stole her image when the novel is about a look-alike getting into a mess. Implications for authors who reference pop culture in their books could be alarming.

Dave Gaughran, on how to increase piracy... which explains why it is happening and what we can do about it.

Author Solutions which was supposed to be cleaned up after Penguin bought it...ummm This is a read and share...

Bridgid Kemmerer on why author expectations never live up to reality...

By now you may be feeling punch drunk. (time for a refill.)

Where is the good news!?

Agent Jonny Geller on his top 10 tips for being a literary agent. (yes, there are some good ones out there.)

The amazing interview with Jane Friedman on Money, Writing and Life by Joanna Penn. Take your time. Transcript under the podcast. This one just fills your heart with zing. (possibilities are endless.)

Hugh Howey once a month talks about how he is running his mythical publishing house NewHarperCollins. Prepare to have your mind blown. Here he looks at IP and worldbuilding. I watched Cassandra Clare do this with her YA author buddies in the last year.  She grabbed a few friends, went on a writing boot camp holiday where they all wrote short back stories featuring one character from her Mortal Instruments series. Then they released these stories, one a month, digitally. By the fourth month they were hitting best seller lists. (so it is being done...by authors!)

In the Craft section,

Building Catchy Titles,

Boost your creativity with an idea log.

Elisabeth S Craig on keeping things fresh in a series.

5 tips for running a writers circle

Ava Jae on Twitter chats. I tune into a couple every week #kidlitchat and #indiechat

Excellent article from Jami Gold on Character Internal Journey.

K M Weiland on The message in your story.

In the Marketing section,

53 Freelancing mistakes...

Self promo and marketing that works.

How to create a self paced email course...this is really interesting!

Crowdfunding a children’s board book.

Do you have an editor repelling email address?

Website of the week.

Gigaom. This tech/ publishing/ catch-all magazine website always has interesting articles and is run by very savvy people. Laura Hazard Owen looks at publishing startups and how they go head to head with Amazon and Apple. These startups change the face of publishing... until they get bought and incorporated. Check out what’s next on the block.

To Finish,

Last week I referenced a project that Mark Coker was involved with e-publishing kids stories with teachers and librarians.

This week I see that High School teachers are making up their own text books using iBooksAuthor to directly support their students.

Everyone has the potential to be a publisher... Baldur just pointed out current reality to the publishers.

maureen

Pic is from the cartoonist/illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi (AKA Inkyelbows) whose cartoons on the writing life are so funny.  Love seeing them pop up in my Twitter feed.  

Discovery

This week the rumours were confirmed that the sponsors of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards, our national book awards are finishing after 18 years. 

It is a long time to have such dedicated sponsors for Children’s Books and although we in the New Zealand children’s writing community are very sad that the sponsorship has come to an end we are also very mindful that we have been so lucky to have such a wonderful sponsor promoting and encouraging children’s books. Thank you New Zealand Post for being our champion!

Book Awards and their publicity are an easy way for the general public to find out what is being published every year. NZ Post also sponsored the traveling road show of finalists visiting schools in far flung areas of the country in the lead up to the awards. Schools enjoyed the visits...authors enjoyed the schools... positive publicity all round for literacy. Book discovery did not have to rest on a chance encounter with a book on a back shelf in a small chain store, the harassed book rep at school or book club flyers. We may have to get more creative in our visibility in future.

Barnes and Noble (very big chain store in the US) is having some problems and Agent Rachel Gardner looks at what might happen if they follow Borders into liquidation.... It is not all doom and gloom.

Mark Coker, of Smashwords, shares an interesting publishing project that librarians, teachers and students have been working on with him. The poetry book the students wrote designed and uploaded with Smashwords has become a best seller. Mark would like to encourage other schools to try out this form of publishing with their students.

Jane Friedman was the Keynote Speaker at the Boston Muse and the Marketplace writers event which was held last week. A lot of erudite people came together to look at the changing nature of the marketplace for writers. Jane shares the reactions and expands on her very good keynote address -Be Optimistic About Publishing. Take some time to read this.

Last month I linked to an article about writers and game developers meeting at the London Book Fair. Publishing Perspectives talks to a UK publisher who is exploring this new path of collaboration.

Agent Janet Reid shares a cautionary tale on beta copies... be careful of your friends...

Porter Anderson takes a look at the cost of ISBN’s (they’ve gone up in the US) and why you need them (it’s all about metadata visibility.) Just a reminder if you are a Kiwi author you can get them free from National Library... but you have to lodge copies with them for reference.

In the Craft Section,

5 things Indiana Jones taught me about writing

Getting your manuscript over the finish line

Janice Hardy – on fixing episodic mistakes

Story-a-day – creative writing prompts

Character profile questionnaire and Four Types of Character Flaws 

from the fab team of Ackerman and Puglisi

Agent Donald Mass on Plot vs Heart

Jami Gold - Raising the stakes

  

In Between...

The green eyed conference monster

Virtual writing groups

Attitude is the author secret sauce

Getting the best from your writers retreat

  

In the Marketing Section,

Anatomy of a copyright page

Audiobooks and marketing

Joel has added some more children’s book templates...ahhh

Writing a fiction series...tips for spin offs

Important tips for self publishing success

How to brand yourself without a red hot iron

Marketing - an Author Primer

When the agent rejects a MS (which was subbed for their MSWL) Why?

To Finish,

Interviews with two writers which may be of interest Jo Nesbo who talks about his children’s books...the ones he writes when he is not writing hard boiled detective stories... and Scott Nicholson whom KOBO recently profiled as one of their self publishing success stories.

I have been thinking about Keynote Speakers for our conference next year and the criteria I need to evaluate who would be of most value to the average attendee. (KSWL) On my Wish List. Children’s author... who is doing new and exciting stuff... is available... can inspire and teach across the newbie and professional spectrum... is cheap... (factor in flights to NZ etcetcetc) Or can get up in the middle of the night for Skype.... Susan Kaye Quinn ticks a lot of these boxes. Check out this little webinar… drop me a line and tell me what you think (and she is a rocket scientist... of course that wasn’t a deciding factor…:)

maureen

Pic: Discovery Shuttle

Photo Credit: NASA/GSFC/ Rebecca Roth

Cracking the Predictions for 2014

Happy New Year

2014 on Craicer was about to start with a round up of all the predictions for the publishing world for the year... until I fell and badly sprained my hand at a popular tourist spot in the North...so you got an extra weeks break and I narrowly escaped one.

This week is Digital Book Week Expo in the US (#DBW14) It kicked off with this one day conference on all things digital with children’s books. No surprises that the day was immediately sold out. Look what was on offer.

Publishing Trends has the quick round up...but really if you are involved at all in kids books you should take a look at what was discussed.

However the organisers have made some of the presentations available on slideshare...and for an extra insight you can scroll down the twitter feed. 

In Publishing Predictions for 2014

Ebook pricing was a big discussion point along with new publishing models... agent publishers, big publishers getting into concierge services, which publisher will be next on the block, subscription and library models.

Bob Mayer highlights audio as continuing to drive growth in sales.

Porter Anderson takes a close look at pricing in his latest Ether post, following on from discussions generated by predictions 2014.

Mike Shatzkin, publishing futurist, rounds up his important points and shrinking retail space for books is one of his top concerns...there is an obvious flow on effect everywhere and do we really need celebrity imprints? Johnny Depp gets his own imprint...

Mark Coker of Smashwords predicts big things for subscription models and the squeeze on libraries. He also puts in a plug for author collectives and the way authors are beginning to collaborate on branding and publish themselves collectively. (This has great potential in NZ as I keep saying...)

Author Media predicts writers focus on craft more, while publishers focus on platform... 

For those of you who use the New Year to Redefine Your Writing Goals…

Have a look at these articles.

Jane Friedman on What you want from Writing

Elisabeth S Craig on Meeting your Writing Goals

Dean Wesley Smith on How to Keep your Writing going as a Business.

K M Weiland on Easy Writing Resolutions.

Dave Gaughran on Enjoying Marketing...otherwise you aren’t doing it right.

On the flip side.

Hugh Howey raised the point that traditional publishers are about to try to market themselves as hip and independent publishers... this also became a talking point at #DBW14

Laura Kaye (Romance author) took issue with the Kensington Publishers comments on self publishing. She examined the myth and the reality points that they made...and then the comments opened up. What was really interesting in this conversation was the willingness of self published authors to talk about their incomes...and how they got them... which challenged all the original points made in the article. 

If you ever want to figure out where this publishing business is going just follow the romance writers. They are a very savvy bunch. (NB I heard over the grapevine that NorthTec may be including a Self Publishing course...tutor; a 6 figure income erotica writer based in Kaitaia...)

In an impassioned open letter to Indie Authors ... J M Gregoire asks everyone to lift their game! This letter has had many writers agreeing with her comments...

Go Forth into 2014 Armed With Knowledge... To Do It Write!

Next week I will be back home into my regular groove...well maybe when school gets back at the end of January.

maureen

Pic: Broken Christmas cracker...Flickr Creative Commons/Kurafire

Trick Or Treat

Happy All Hallows Eve,

A couple of years ago Young Adult writers decided to hand out scary books to trick or treaters...and it has gained a following amongst the writing community in the countries that celebrate Halloween as a cultural festival. All Hallows Read...go to your local second hand bookstore...buy up ghostly children’s books and R L Stines...and hand them out.

This week in the publishing blogosphere there was a flutter as Larry Kirshbaum announced he was going back to agenting after heading up Amazon’s print publishing operation. Larry was up against it, when he was hired two years ago as all the bookstores holding onto deals with publishers decided they wouldn’t stock Amazon printed books. Traditional Publishing pundits have taken a ‘We Won Against The Mighty ‘Zon’ attitude but others aren’t so sure... Anyway you look at it, the authors are the ones suffering with poor print sales and no exposure to the bookstore browser. If the Mighty ‘Zon ever works out distribution into the bookstores for print books... the game will be changed.

In the blogosphere it is NaNoWriMo time and tips abound for how to tackle the month where everyone tries to write their 50,000 word opus. Editors and agents are shuddering because December heralds all these manuscripts hitting their floors. Many of them are saying they won’t look at a book that arrives in December because it won’t have moved beyond a first draft.

If you are not heading into the bunker to write you may be interested in the changing ownership hop of Figment, the teen writing community that keeps getting bought by very big publishers.... If I was very cynical I’d wonder whether they were keen to get their hands on the next big young thing who knows nothing about the cut throat business of publishing.... Lucky I’m not.... Dave Gaughren has a good blog post on this subject.

A Publishers Weekly article this week is definitely scaring quite a few people. The article has anonymous agents and editors saying publishers are beginning to carefully change contract wording so it doesn’t say what format they will publish the book in. If publishers don’t commit to a print edition or they go to a POD print edition so that rights will never revert back...or the Print edition will be under their new imprint where the writer pays costs (read Author Solutions here) then writer’s dreams may rapidly turn to nightmares.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a comparison piece on the indie music scene and the indie publishing scene and couldn’t find one and then into my Twitter feed pops this opinion piece from a musician writer.... Interesting reading.

Mark Coker looks at the economics of Ebook lending library style.

Joanna Penn has an interview with an expert on selling books into Germany. They have the biggest population of readers in Europe.

Now for all those great Craft Treats

These are the best blog posts I’ve seen on plotting this week.

Structure in HarryPotter and how JK Rowling followed the rules.

Plotting made easy.

Other inspirational writing tips worthy of bookmarking

How to figure out a great Concept

How to fix the sagging middle,

Why Voice is so important.

What do you do with a semi colon and other useful grammar stuff

Can you include song lyrics?

Telling vs Showing and how to figure it out.

NaNoWriMo a collection of tips and resources.

To Finish,

Two stellar opinion pieces.

On writing Y A from a literary writer... and what he learned, which was a heck of a lot!

Hugh Howey on the challenge of connecting with readers directly. You need to do it.

Here is my All Hallows treat for you...Writing tips fromGreat Authors. 

Print out a couple of these and hang them over your desk!

maureen

This great pic was from http://www.flickr.com/photos/rattler97/

Raise A Glass to 2013

Predictions for 2013 have been circulating the publishing blogosphere over the last week.

Will we be down to 3 mega publishers by years end?

Will Amazon drop free?

Tablets over e-readers over print?

What kind of gatekeepers will be around for the new new new publishing order?

With the publishing business going through a revolution every other week...most predictors have thrown up their hands saying we can’t predict anything!

One person who has stuck his neck out is Mark Coker of Smashwords. Mark has a unique position to comment from. As an author and Bright Guy behind Smashwords he straddles not only the publishing distribution side but also the trenches of the content providers bearing the flag for small publishers and indie authors. He has 21 predictions and an in depth analysis of why he thinks each one will happen. (grab a big coffee)

Kristen Lamb has also stuck her sword into the ground and put together some interesting comments on what is coming in 2013. She has some great ideas on how you can use different ratings on different editions too. Great food for thought in 2013. Kristen had a huge 2012 establishing the international WANA Tribe community along with a busy writing and speaking schedule...(Raise a glass to her)

What will happen to literary agents in 2013...their role is changing as rapidly as publishing.

For other writers...the emphasis is not on what they think will happen outside the walls of their study but what they should be focusing on inside.

Dean Wesley Smith is always a quality read...he has his list of what writers should be thinking about going into 2013. This is GOOD ADVICE. (take with a nice boutique beer)

For those that want Chucks take on 2013 and writing....take a deep breath and plunge in. (warning it’s Chuck! You could need a stiff drink!)

The NY Times has even started their year with a look at publishing...but of a different sort. A book designer fed up crappy covers on classic books has taken books he loves but can’t find new editions of and is redesigning them and publishing them himself under the Whisky Priest label. (cool label!)

e Singles burst onto the publishing scene last year. PaidContent looks at why and what this year may hold for eSingle writers.

Passive Guy has an IP lawyer talk about legal issues in publishing...how much can you quote? (share out the rest of the Christmas cake)

Rachelle Gardner looks at working in 90 minute increments...break for a drink.

Catherine Ryan Howard has written a great article on ebook pricing and why she is moving all over the place with it...(too much espresso? LOL)

Catherine uses Gumroad on her website to sell her books and this intrigued me so I investigated. Pretty nifty outfit similar to PayPal but it means buyers don’t need to belong to PayPal to use it and sellers can get shortened links to embed directly into websites.

In Craft,

The brilliant K M Weiland has been continuing her examination of scene structure. Take a look at story scene structure part three and four and it will be completely obvious why a major publisher has asked her to take some classics and apply her magnifying glass to their construction this year.

Editor Lyn Price has a close look at the multifunctional life of dialog tags used right.

Three ultra fast ways to self edit your work.

Should you slam on your story’s brakes..?

In Marketing,

It’s time to look at author websites...Have you cleaned up your website?

Do you give a good reader first impression?

How about your audio book platform?

Have you got a good book marketing plan?

To finish,

Joanna Penn also had a huge 2012...She looks back at her achievements and how she is working on a refined plan for this year. Plan A: indie career, working with her agent, continuing her series, starting another one, audio books, podcasts, her online courses, speaking schedule...

(Pass out in envy overload.)

maureen

photo from Flicker/ Dinner series. (Mojitos...yum!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinnerseries/6005326941/sizes/m/in/photostream/