Playing both sides of the AI coin.

In Publishing News this week,  

The money will be coming soon, said the judge in the Anthropic AI case. The news was reported earlier this week by Publishers Weekly. If you are a claimant however, don’t bank on the money for Christmas presents. Soon means under a year, probably, maybe, in lawyer speak. 

 

How fast can you get a book out? Publisher’s Weekly reports that Holt has really pushed the boat out with Mahmoud Khalil’s memoir on life in an ICE detention center. PW interviewed the team behind the fast turn around on how they did it.

 

Hands up who uses Libby? It’s a great service. So good, they are worried about how many AI bot books they are getting and are taking steps according to Techbuzz. 

 

I was chatting to a young publishing professional today about the rise of publishing opportunities in Sharjah. We are so focused on the troubled publishing world in the West, that we forget about the rest of the world. Sharjah has been making some big connections lately, says Mark Williams and we should be factoring them into our publishing calendars, from jobs, to printing, to mammoth book festivals and book sales. There are publishing opportunities and partnerships waiting.

 

Last week I talked about Amy Chan’s publicist nightmare of big spending for no return. Publicists have all been discussing her article and explaining how to use a publicist effectively. Leigh Stein has 3 lessons from Amy Chan’s experience and publicist Kathleen Schmidt breaks down what independent publicists do.

 

If I winced and said a few naughty words when I read the Publishing Perspectives article on Wiley partnering with the Genesis mission consortium to support the US governments AI goals. I can just bet that was mild compared to Wiley’s scientific authors who have been struggling with AI scraping their work without compensation. However, this move might mean they get some extra money from Wiley. *

Mark Williams has been looking at similar deal with Bloomsbury who are riding high on another generation of kids getting into Harry Potter while also making AI deals on the side. If the publishers are making AI deals, how can they demand authors shouldn’t use it as well? Mark also comments on China banning chat bot companions.

 

Mark Lefebvre has an article on scams and their scammy behaviour towards authors. He has screen shots of the types of scams sent to him in a typical day. Mark is a horror writer. If you hate the scammers as much as he does- he has probably dreamed up some fate scenarios for the scam perpetrators.

 

Has a Romantasy Bookstore opened near you? In my city two are opening this month on the same street and further down the street a very prominent independent bookstore is expanding to create a new Romantasy section. 

This phenomenon is happening everywhere says Publisher’s Weekly. It’s not just about the books but the community space. Is Romantasy going to save the publishing industry?

 

Search is changing rapidly because of AI. Many people are using ChatGPT as a search engine. This changes the nature of book publicity. Metadata is more important than ever as AI needs to find your book. Darcy Pattison has a great article on how to get AI search engines to find your kid’s book.

 

In The Craft Section,

Using real life in fiction- Richard Jordan - Bookmark

How to Write Authentic Fear – Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

The idea method – Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Story Bibles- Joe Lallo - Bookmark

The psychology of endings and how to do them well- K M Weiland - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Turning your blurb into a sales pitch- Susan Odev- Bookmark

Why your backlist is your most valuable asset- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

The ultimate guide to the successful book giveaway- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Personalizing your author brand- podcast interview with Damon Courtney from Bookfunnel- Interesting chat with the Wish I’d Known, team.

The power of the many in anthology promo- Great ideas.- Patrice Gopo

 

To Finish

The head shot. It looks great and authors will use their head shot for years scared about showing an aging profile. AI magically comes to the rescue and produces the ultra-polished look. Dan Blank talks about the head shot and AI. With the rise of AI everywhere readers are looking for authentic connections with authors. What do you do if for professional reasons you can’t show your face? You still have to prove you are not an AI bot writing your books. 

Proving you are a human, the authors dilemma this decade.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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*not holding my breath as Scientific publishing is an everyone pays the academic publisher model, including the authors.

 

Photo by pina messina on Unsplash

It’s All In The Algorithm

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Over the years when Summer hits the Northern Hemisphere and the publishing world goes on holiday, I have noticed that’s when publishing companies start buying each other. First up this month, Wiley have bought UK based Emerald Publishing group. Ho Hum you might say but close reading of the Publishing Perspectives article points out why they did this deal. Content, and Archive. What would need access to trusted scholarly information across the world?

 

Dan Holloway reports on the recent post from Writer Beware about Indie authors being cut out of AI copyright class actions. The new META case specifically excludes ASIN’s. It’s worth reading the full post from Writer Beware as well as Dan’s commentary.

 

After recently celebrating a win for the US Institute of Museum and Library Services, the beleaguered Institute responsible for funding libraries and museums across the nation is still battling to stay alive. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the ongoing saga to keep information services free.

 

Staying with libraries, Publishers Weekly reports on five public library organisations who are pleading with the big five publishers and digital publishing platforms to overhaul their library prices for books. Publishers have long charged an exorbitant price for a book to be in a library, and they continue that practice with eBooks. The costs have ramped up so much that libraries can’t afford the licensing fees.

 

Publishing Perspectives recently interviewed the editor of Clark’s Publishing Agreements about their latest edition. This is the bible of publisher’s legal departments, as it contains publishing contracts and legal advice as well as information on international agreements. This edition includes AI information for contracts for the first time. An edition comes out every 5 years. With the speed of change at the moment. they may want to speed up their editions.

 

I have heard of duo’s writing books, but when six young adult authors get together to collectively write a book that’s news. Publishers Weekly interviewed one of the authors to find out why and how they did it. 

 

App Sumo has its Deposit Photo deal on at the moment. This does not happen very often so if you need photos for any marketing or book covers etc, jump on this. It’s a lifetime deal for very cheap!

 

Dale Roberts pointed me in the direction of this interesting company. Spoken have just released a turnkey model to do full cast audio recordings. If you are thinking about audio books, check out their press release and pricing. They pay their voice actors and charge by project, so you don’t have to have a subscription. $20 per 5000 finished words is amazing!

 

James Blatch has an in depth essay on metadata and how this is becoming the most important way you can get your book noticed. This is an essay every author should read. Metadata doesn’t have to be put in the too hard basket. Understanding how to use it with the new search algorithms can give every author an advantage.

 

Many moons ago I had fun writing a serial novel with a group of writer friends. They pushed me to write well and ever since I’ve thought about serial novels as a fun flashback to the good old days. However, serial novels are very much alive on various sites. Matty Dalrymple has written a great essay on why she’s about to dip a toe into serial publishing. She also has great tips on how to go about it.

 

Do you remember what it was like to write your first story? How in touch are you with the writer you were then? Mark Leslie Lefebvre has a great essay on The Slow Pilgrimage To Author Success. Don’t forget why you started to write in the first place. 

 

Donald Mass has a great essay on Writer Unboxed about what makes human written fiction human?  In the age of the machines “being able to write” how do you cut across the noise and show human qualities in your fiction? He has a series of qualities to look for with prompts to help you explore your own writing.

 

In The Craft Section,

Sex scenes and curse words- James Scott Bell -Bookmark

Omniscient POV- Anne R Allen

How to write Mythic fiction – KM Weiland- Bookmark

Dealing with backstory- Janice Hardy

How to generate better story Ideas- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Facebook ads- Ines Johnson-Bookmark- (Great series on this subject)

29 whimsical Book promo ideas for July- Sandra Beckwith

Publishing online- Gale Leach- Bookmark 

The tiny detail that ruins a book- Nuria Corbi-(Important info)

Marketing, algorithms, and tropes- Terry Odell- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

There are some meaty topics in this week’s roundup. As I came to summing up the weeks theme, the word algorithm, defined as “a finite sequence of step-by-step instructions or rules designed to perform a specific task, solve a problem, or complete a computation,” got the blog title prize.

Writers need readers. Finding those readers, nurturing them, and hopefully inspiring them to become true fans of your work is the bedrock of your writing career. You can write for one person- yourself, and it’s a bonus if others follow along.  Search is changing, AI has seen to that. Understanding algorithms is now important for writers. How will your readers find you? What do you want from a Book Launch by Alexa Bigwharfe is a great reminder of when to think about your launch plan. Written Word Media’s essay on Building Local Buzz is a timely reminder that you can control the algorithm in your favour.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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Book Battles

In publishing news this week …
Oh, the excitement… Dean Koontz has taken a deal with Amazon Publishing. Industry pundits are interested in Mr Koontz comments about the new and exciting times ahead for him. They are also interested to see whether the bookseller chains who would not stock any books from Amazon are now going to change their tune.

Also in bookseller news is the Green Manifesto created by the UK Booksellers Association which seems to be getting traction in other countries. The booksellers are to commit to recycled paper and less wasteful packaging and returns. The big word in that sentence is RETURNS. Booksellers have always sent back stock to the publishers. Is this the end of the Return system?

While Booksellers are wrestling with these questions, Macmillan has fired a shot at libraries with a change in their ebook lending terms. They join other big publishers who are upping the ebook price, delaying the availability and limiting how many borrows before the library has to buy another copy. I can’t help thinking that we are supposed to nurture our readers in this multimedia entertainment marketplace. I‘m not sure if the publishers have thought this through.

Kris Rusch continues her look into licensing options for authors. This week she realises that art that is commissioned for books can also be licensed. This opens up another potential marketing stream. Interior art branded products… cover pictures… posters.

Ruth Harris has a great blog post on the art and craft of the elevator pitch. That moment when you have to say what your book is about. Give them the old razzle-dazzle… Ruth points out how to construct a good pitch. This is a must-read.

How is your self-care as a writer? Could it be better? Are you looking after yourself? Elizabeth Spann Craig has a good post on keeping on top of your writer health.

Jami Gold has the quintessential master publishing plan. This was published on Janice Hardy’s blog two years ago and is still relevant so take a look.
While you are thinking about master publishing plans take a look at this excellent post on the Alli blog on Book Metadata. All the things you should know about your book. Grab this useful template to help you understand it. Great Resource!

David Gaughran has a great post on understanding how to craft a Bookbub ad. David has written a book on the subject but here he shares some great tips. (His book is great too.)

In The Craft Section,

Story Tropes- make them resonate – Jami Gold- Bookmark

So-called screenwriting rules – Scott Myers – Bookmark

7 tips to write funnier fiction- The Creative Penn blog

Writing captivating characters- Shaunta Grimes- Bookmark

Three lesser-known archetypes- Angela Ackerman

In The Marketing Section,

How authors use Instagram- Bookbub- Bookmark

Convert readers to subscribers- Bookworks- Bookmark

Book launch- party if you want to- 

3 ways to use language to sell more books-Rob Eagar- Bookmark

How to reach influencers- Jane Friedman

To Finish,

The Guardian books page recently had an article on the top ten fictional libraries… and I was shocked that Unseen University library did not make the list. Hmmm. The librarian must be jumping up and down with rage. The omission is as bad as calling him a monkey. Check out which libraries did make the list…

If you want to travel the literary tube in London check out this version of the famous London Underground Map

And finally, feast your eyes on the top 5000 bestselling book covers…. You can filter the search by genre, gender, mood…. Go down that rabbit hole… into L space.

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: Ook by Paul Kidby – Discworld Librarian.

The Visibility Fog

As I write this I am sitting in a car looking out on Cook Strait. On a good day you can see the South Island. Today I just see an empty expanse of white coming down on the rolling sea about 500 meters away. Visibility limited.

Somewhere out in the white are big inter–island ferries coming through the strait, along with smaller fishing boats and huge cargo ships. Modern boats have radar so there won’t be collisions.

Book visibility seems to be a theme running through my roundup today. Somewhere in the white noise of Amazon your book is floundering around. How can you make the book visible so it has less chance of sinking without a trace.

Book Radar

Your Cover. 

The Book Designer (AKA Joel Friedlander) has a good post on what a cover should have. Alan Rinzler also has talked to one of the best cover artists in the business about what is iconic and important.

Metadata. 

This is how your book is described on any digital platform. Penny Sansevieri describes in detail how to do this for Amazon. You will learn things about search that will blow your mind.

Getting Endorsements and Reviews.

All book marketing comes down to word of mouth in the end. Either the book is being hand sold in the bookstore, Indie bookstores do this amazingly well, or you found a great book because someone told you about it.

Writer platform goes into fine detail about how to target and get reviews. Training Authors has an interesting post on getting endorsements. These are cover pull quotes.

Joanna Penn talks about little tweaks that increase your email subscriber list which increases your reader reach and your visibility.

Small publishers are just as keen on visibility. BAP books is shaking things up with a pay what you want publishing model for a poetry book. They have had great success. It is daring... innovative... would it work for any book? Not sure... but I’m talking about it on my blog at the bottom of the Southern Hemisphere so it’s definitely visible.

In The Craft Section,

Writing with all five senses.

Writing to gaming music. (This is really interesting.)

Deepen your conflict by forcing your hero to embrace the grey of morality - Angela Ackerman

How do you know if your concept is right? Larry Brooks with two video tutorials on nailing your concept. (Bookmark)

How to use lyrics without paying a fortune.

In The Marketing Section,

10 questions to ask when researching your competition.

Plan your marketing with the power of story.

How to get your readers to do the marketing for you.

The evolution of the author website.

Book Marketing truths few experts will admit.

Marketing your series- Lindsay Buroker (bookmark)

Website of the Week

Actually it is a roundup of websites… on self publishing some of which will be familiar. But you may find a new one to try out.

To Finish,

Ryan Holiday has an interesting article on Growth Hacking for Creatives... This is thinking outside the box for visibility.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Cook Strait... what you see on a good day.

What goes in...

This week I sat down with a bunch of committed writing friends to start to pull together four months of creative ideas of what to include in our National Conference of Children’s Writers and Illustrators 2015. Planning a good conference takes time and much thought. My guiding principal is IT IS A WORKING CONFERENCE. Attendees must get knowledge out of it for their money. It is a big chunk of cash and writing time that poorly paid writers and illustrators have to give up so every dollar needs to really be worth it.

Kameron Hurley has a guest post on Terribleminds which is the must read post of the week. (year) Kameron outlines the need for writers to think business. These are some of the issues I would like to explore at the conference.

Hugh Howey takes a hard look at Barnes and Nobel booksellers. What they are doing wrong and will it destroy them. This was echoed yesterday in a comment from one of my writing friends about New Zealand’s biggest book seller chain.

Passive Guy takes a look at agency clauses in contracts. This is an interesting post about tricky legalese in contracts.

The Futurebook team have a twitter chat every week and this last week they were looking at Metadata. How can you find out what you need to find out... and why is it so important. 

Jon Bard takes a look at the KDP Kids Books app that Amazon released last week.

Lauren Sapala has the two most important things writersneed.

  

In the Craft Section,

How to plot a character driven story or why Harry Potter didn’t end up a nutcase.

How to make sure readers don’t close the book

How to draw fantasy maps

How to write for the 21^st century (pet peeves from an agent)

How to use a developmental editor

How to edit first drafts (great post)

How to set the stage (great post)

In the Marketing Section,

How to use the Manuscript Wish List site effectively.

How to boost book sales passively

How to use Noisetrade book marketing effectively

To Finish,

Six years on from the first conference we organized and issues we never thought of then are now on the table. Storytelling has different wrappers now.

Gaming companies need story content too. This week one of my writing friends was asking for some help with a project her company was working on. They had the idea, they had the graphics, they just needed the story to go with them. Kevin Spacey looks at how storytelling has changed in the shows he has been in.

maureen

Sorry late again… Recovery one step forward two steps back...

Pic: Flickr/Creative Commons Inger Maaike

Wouldn’t this be a cool conference bag?

Her Majesty's Voice

If you have a pitch-perfect awesome VOICE to your manuscript, you could have other weaknesses. But if you have a weak voice, you're screwed.
— jennifer laughran (@literaticat) July 17, 2013

I’ve been thinking about Voice lately. 

Voice is that ‘something’ that informs the reader about the style and motivations of the characters without actually being visible on the page.

Meg Rosoff, in her Writer Unboxed article on voice this week, says

There is nothing superficial, however, about voice when used in the context of writing. Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.

This is the ‘something’ that writers struggle with. 

Do they have the same voice for every protagonist? Is every book they write in some way autobiographical from their deepest being?  

Ah the big questions. 

If somehow this is true...how come nobody picked the distinctive voice of J K Rowling...after all we have been told by literary critics that she is not much of a writer, using all those adjectives and not writing tightly enough...or did the fact that she had a male pseudonym fudge the fact that it was quite a good story...moved along ok... did everything a detective novel should. The cynics are out saying great PR by her team and now you can only buy the hardcover on eBay at hugely inflated prices. The Passive Guy has a look at the Robert Galbraith (aka JKR)saga.

Porter Anderson has been looking at agent relationships this week. In two articles for Publishing Perspectives he examines the agent/writer relationship now in this Hybrid/Indie revolution. How close can it be? The Agents who have cannily enrolled best selling Indies to manage print deals and the Agents who-have-become -Publishers...He takes a close look at Rogue Reader...and very interesting it is too. 

David Gaughran has sharply criticized PenguinRandom...in particular the RandomPenguin washing of Author Solutions. Author Solutions began as a vanity press that did everything for you at a huge cost. They are facing a class action lawsuit because of some of their questionable practices and you would think that maybe they would pull back...but no. This is a Writer Beware story that will make your writer heart shrivel a little.

The New Yorker has an opinion piece on the decline and fall of the book cover...and Bibliocrunch checks out virtual writing group hangouts using Google and Skype

Chuck Wendig has a distinctive voice...and a distinctive turn of phrase that occasionally makes your hair curl up and spontaneously combust. His latest 25 things post looks at Story Stakes...very good. And a superb little post on ten stupid writer tricks that might actually work.

In Craft,

The character therapist examines an archetype on the therapists couch. These are always interesting.

Two most underrated things writers do to build trust

7 cardinal virtues of successful writers

What we should expect from Freelance Editors

In Marketing,

From The Book Designer, two great articles, 7 strategies of Blog Marketing and

Amazon Algorithms (this is all the latest on metadata Amazon style - a must read.)

Another Must Read is what this author is doing right across the tech spectrum...his character has taken over...is this the future?

Website to check out,

This list has a solid helpful link for every creative you know...There is literally something for everyone working in the publishing industry here.

To Finish,

One of my favourite adult fiction authors Jenny Crusie (who has a fantastic voice) has written a great post on Sharknado. This film, shown on US cable this week, had my twitter feed fill up with writer reactions. The premise is so off the wall that there are very jealous writers out there wishing they had thought of a tornado that sucks up sharks and dumps them on a town in a hungry and vengeful mood. Jenny writes about high concept, going with your gut, ideas that are so off the wall and the courage a writer has to have to grab something like this and make it work.

I’m out and about around the country next week...so there won’t be a blog post...but by then Twitter will be filled with Royal Baby news and the cynics who don’t care...so just as well I’m taking a break...heheheheh.

maureen

Tweet from Agent Jennifer Laughran...talking about MG this week on Twitter. 

Rabble Rousers

Last week I referred to the media frenzy surrounding Into The River, which won Senior Fiction and Book of The Year at the New Zealand Post Children (and Young Adults) Book Awards. The media frenzy revolved around concerned groups of people calling for the book to be banned and stripped of its award, because in their view there is explicit content in it not suitable for children. As I stated last week the book is for Young Adults and is aimed at 15+ and reporting knee-jerk reactionary comments from people who have not read the book is sloppy journalism.

The media has moved on to cover other things...however the vitriol surrounding this book has not. This last week many Children and Young Adult Authors have been concerned about the level of personal attacks being made on Ted and the Award sponsors, New Zealand Post, on social media sites. The authors who have stepped in to defend Ted have also become targets with hate filled comments being left on their own websites and on public social media platforms.

The hurt being done, by a small number of vitriolic people with a deeply conservative viewpoint to the New Zealand Children’s Literature community is very palpable. These libelous slurs live on in social media, forever searchable. 

There are many things wrong that we should be taking the time to debate like the high suicide rate amongst our young people, the high youth unemployment and teen pregnancy figures, the ease of access to harmful drug substitutes at our local corner stores. These are very real threats to our young people in New Zealand. Why is there such a negative focus on a book that may help teenagers understand these issues and find solutions safely? 

This is why the children’s writers have been defending this book. With bile all over the award sponsors social media sites, will the children’s literature community lose its pre-eminent awards because of the actions of a small group of uninformed people who have not read the book? 

I Hope Not.

Overseas the news that the judge found Apple guilty of collusion in price fixing is starting to make waves.

Earthshaking is how Mike Shatzkin describes the latest figures coming out from Hachette in the UK. More than 50% of all sales, print and digital are being made online. This article is a must read for authors on the future implications to the publishing industry. With B&N pulling out of Nook it seems that the publishing world that we are getting used to may be going south very rapidly.

And what will RandomPenguin do? It seems that killing the Literary genre advance may be their first act.

Last week Sci Fi author and out going president of SFFW, John Scalzi, posted his manifesto for attending Sci Fi Con’s (something often built into Sci Fi genre authors contracts.) He won’t be going to a Sci Fi Con(vention) unless they have a published anti-harassment policy. Over 1000 authors have signed his manifesto, however it has also raised questions about limiting income for authors. One author writes why she won’t be signing the manifesto...with John’s support.

Jane Friedman’s article on Optimizing Metadata and its importance in marketing is being widely shared around.

Media Bistro have an infographic detailing where books were most abandoned in the reading.

The Guardian has a great article where they asked the editors of the finalist children’s books in the Branford Boase Awards to write their top 5 tips to authors.

In Craft,

Two fabulous links from Janice Hardy, 10 Questions To AskWhen Choosing A Setting and You Need More Scoundrels In Your Life. (My epiphany - all my favourite reading heroes are Han Solo’s)

7 Things Dungeons and Dragons Taught Me About Storytelling.

How To Use Dialogue Correctly...with examples.

Jody Hedlund has a great article on The Most Important Edit You 
Can Give Your Book.

Elissa Field On Novel Revision Strategies.

In Marketing,

ISBN’s Do You Need them? (NB: NZ authors can get free ISBN’sfrom National Library of New Zealand.)

Joanna Penn has a new marketing book out and she is doing excerpts of it as guest posts on different blogs...Check out Dave Gaughren’s blog for her take on Marketing Myths.

Goodreads shares a slideshow about Using Goodreads for publicity and marketing.

Nicola Morgan has started her own author shop. If you think about the ramifications of merchandising it seems a logical extension of the Author Brand. Check out what she has planned...

The Indelibles are also looking at Branding and Books and Such 

Lit Agency is looking at Author Blogging and whether it reflects your brand.

Cool Website link to visit.

AtlasObscura....click on Random Place and it will take you to a wonderful setting...where you can imagine writing a story...or just long for a lotto win so you can go there.

To Finish,

One of my wonderful author buddies found this great video comment by Young Adult author John Green when he found his debut book was being challenged as inappropriate for children...The reasons sound very similar to what is happening here in New Zealand and John’s answer to the critics is beautifully put.

FYI: NZ Children's Authors are sending letters of support to Ted and NZ Post.

maureen

pic from Flickr/JvL 

Passionate about Data...

Today I popped into The Children’s Bookshop and noticed a new series being promoted...what was so interesting to me was this contemporary thriller Y A series had photos of all the books in the series on the inside cover and when they were coming out... 2 months apart! The whole 6 book series in a year. This year Indie Authors have been talking about publishing two or more books in a series in a year to capture readers...and feeling quite happy that they weren’t being restricted to one book contracts from traditional publishing houses. This is the first time I have seen a traditional publishing house run with this idea.

There are so many risks to writing a full series when you don’t know if there will be an audience for it. A respected Editor looked at my Book One of a series and said...make it bigger...The first book has to sell the whole series. For a publisher to commit to a full year publishing schedule of six books is taking a punt on the reader when they don’t know if the book will take off. So how do you find these readers...how do you know what they want and what they will buy? It is all in the DATA.

Cory Doctorow has been stirring the pot this week with his article on the importance of metadata andhow publishers don’t actually know who their readers are...and they definitely aren’t telling the writers. So who does know? Cory has the answer and he has a warning that this is going to be a very important issue for publishing in the future.

But what metadata are Readers concerned with? Front matter and End matter and Authors had better have a handle on all of this.

Of all the data coming out, authors do like to keep an eye on trends and what editors might be looking for. Publishers Weekly report of a panel discussion with children’s editorstalking about exactly this is required reading.

James Patterson (mega author) is passionate about children reading and wants America to wake up to the demise of the publishing industry and libraries...So this week he took out front page ads in The New York Times to tell everyone of his concerns. He wanted to plant the issue right in front of Readers...reaction to his ads have been mixed from the literary community.

Kickstarter looks likeit could be replacing the publishing community...an interesting article for mid career writers to chew over.

Rachelle Gardner had the horrible experience of nursing a writer through a complete computer meltdown just before the MS was due at the publishers. She talks about all the different ways you should be ensuring this does not happen to you.

Author Solutions is off to court. http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/57046-authors-sue-self-publishing-service-author-solutions.html

A class action is being taken against them. When you read Dave Gaughren’s article about how many publishers are involved in some way or other with Author Solutions, this court case looks very serious for everyone. Reputations...and profits...all on the line.http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/penguins-solution-for-authors-one-racket-to-rule-them-all/

Today a twitter discussion between agents about New Adult became a blog post on how agents should treat each other and what to be aware of in their public pronouncements. Do you really want an agent who doesn’t know anything about your genre?

In Craft,

For those writers wrestling with screenplays...Tell the story in visual beats.

How much detail is enough in your story.

15 ways to breakWriters Block.

Critique Partners...and how to maintain passion for your story.

In Marketing,

Twitter tips forauthors.

5 Reasons Relationships are the Core of your Author Platform.

To Finish,

Concert Pianist James Rhodes has written in the Guardian a thought provoking post on creative passion. Find what you love and let it kill you.... Read it and see whether you agree with him...How passionate are you to get that novel written? What are you doing about it?

Sorry about the huge URL's that appear this week. Bloggers highlight link broke in the middle of preparing this post.

maureen
PIC from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tensafefrogs/3649985674/