Data Differences

This week, around the blogosphere, the comments were on the awesomeness of IndieReCon and the news that Amazon has dropped the royalty payments for ACX, their audio publishing arm. 

ACX is not available to writers outside the US but it is helpful to keep an eye on these developments with one of the biggest publishers. 
Chuck has a few pithy comments to say on the general argggh coming from authors around ACX. (Wise up people.)

 One of the great things about Online Conferences is that information stays online so you can refer to it...or in the case of writers in another hemisphere, get to it at a time that suits you. IndieReCon stuff is still available. I dropped back in to read Angela Ackerman’s post on collaboration that was really informative. Of course I then scrolled down... So much good stuff in there. Take some time to delve into the chats and posts. 

Joe Konrath has been a vocal member of the writing community for a long time. He recently took issue with comments from literary agent David Gernert. He raises some good points about gate keepers...the changing nature of the agent and who they are working for and contracts… 

If you are interested in contracts check out this post – Don’t Get Screwed- Contract Provisions Every Creative Should Know. 

Porter Anderson gave Hugh Howey the floor (his space in Writer Unboxed) to answer a comment from a reader about what Hugh considers the ideal print publishing deal he would go with. It is very interesting as Hugh describes the deal he has with Random House UK over the US part of the operation...and why he went with UK... (he tangata, he tangata, he tangata! people, people, people!) 

Hugh also has his 3rd report up... a look at Barnes and Nobel, a bricks and mortar chain bookstore and a snapshot of sales...surprise surprise or perhaps not as the figures are still hitting the same marks. 

Data and the need for it, exercises the Harvard Book Review this week. This is a call out to the publishers to maybe start providing some. 

Forbes takes a look at Brands... and finds out some very interesting information. Would you rather be a Grisham or a Jack Reacher. Which earns you more? 

In the Craft Section 
Jami Gold has an excellent post on How To Be A Good Editor. 

6 Ways To Survive Rewrite Hell. 

The Write Practice- How To Finish Projects 

Create Inspirational Workspaces 

Jody Hedlund on Developing Characters 

In the Marketing Section 
A big article on Discoverability and Marketing- they are essentially the same thing. 

Tim Ferris On How to make a viral book trailer 

10 Book Marketing Mistakes Self Publishers Make 

Website of the Week: K M Weiland. 
I know I reference her a lot but have you actually trawled around her website... check out this post. How Not To Be A Writer -15 Signs You Are Doing It Wrong 

To Finish, 
Neil Gaiman has a different take on piracy.... data food for thought…

maureen

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons/Mezdeathhead
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mezdeathhead

Burning Up The Charts

Nothing happens quickly in publishing.... This used to be the mantra. Today the Department of Justice released some of their documents from the Agency Pricing lawsuit against Trad Publishers. An economics  professor did some helpful charts. My Goodness the publishers involved moved at the speed of light!

Across the blogosphere and looking at another lawsuit...Porter Anderson takes a close look at the reporting around the Author Solutions lawsuit...or lack of it. In a case where the number of authors who may have been burnt by the various imprints of this *helpful* publishing company run up past 150,000 how is it that this case is not being widely reported in mainstream media or even in some specialist publishing journals.

Interestingly the same judge is presiding over both cases...wonder if she’ll write a book about her experiences.

What saddens me is how little research is done by potential authors to find out the state of play in publishing right now. 

1. It’s hard to get a traditional deal. 

2. Agents are becoming de facto publishers. 

3. Authors are having some success in self publishing. 

4. Self publishing is a lot of work and you need to know what you are doing. 

5. You will not get rich as a writer.

This is reality. 

In all of the above a publishing firm that tells you that they can dissolve all those barriers... just hand over your credit card...is one to run away from! So many people go into this with their eyes shut...following the dream...which can turn into an ugly nightmare.

Elisabeth Naughton has written about her publishing journey from Trad to Indie and it makes interesting reading. It is a very honest and reflective piece, which mirrors the journey that publishing itself has taken in the last five years.

In April, just before the London Book Fair, the Guardian published an opinion piece on how the rise of self publishing has changed the book world and the implications for traditional publishers.

Russel Blake (suspense writer) has written the definitive post on How To Sell Loads Of Books.

In one post he sets out a career plan and an implementation schedule. (must read post)

Aussie writer Scott Gardner talks about finding an international voice if you live in far flung countries. Interesting comments on this guest piece for Publishing Perspectives.

In Craft,

Elisabeth Spann Craig on the What If method of generating ideas...(this is my preferred method)

Ava Jae on writing inmultiple POVs (Very good advice!)

Darcy Pattison on 7 reasons your manuscript might be rejected.

Angela Ackerman talks about Donald Maass (uber agent) and his ideas on cultivating the reader...its all about emotional layering....

Layering information in your story...Info with Attitude from the Killzone team.

In Marketing,

Livehacked has got The Marketing Plan...This is long, so set aside some time for this one. It is the guide to marketing self published books.

17 Steps To A Reader Grabbing Title.

13 Timeless Lessons On Marketing from the father of advertising, David Ogilvy. You will never look at an ad the same way again.

To Finish,

Neil Gaimen’s Make Great Art, book of the sensational speech from last year, is out and I have held one in my hands. It is a thing of beauty. Brainpickings has Neil's 8 Rules for Writing, which you can follow and have chart topping success like Neil.

To write...

you 

have

to

put

one

word

after

another.

maureen 

Pic fromFlickr/Jorel....so geeky.  (hehehehe... a pie chart)

Finding The Plot

Paulo Coelho is credited with saying,

'There are only 4 stories...a love story between 2 people, a love story between 3 people, the struggle for power and the voyage.'

I am reflecting on this statement, which really pares back plot, and thinking about where the story swirling around in my head fits.

Several of my friends have finished big creative projects and they are in that flat space between ideas. (hey guys, how about combining all of those...)

Recently I heard a well established fiction writer say that he gets all his ideas from non fiction and that is all he reads between his novels.

On Facebook we are joking with Brian Falkner, a friend of ours who writes excellent YA Science Fiction thrillers, about new discoveries last year in Science, Brian had already invented them as plot devices in his books. If he dreams it up suddenly it becomes reality.

Ideas, plots, conspiracy theories and character motivation all swirling around in the blogosphere this week.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction.

Susan Kaye Quinn is interviewed on her new series...which began when she had one of those high concept ideas while traveling and she had to interview her own muse to find out what happens next.

K M Weiland talks about why you should steal from other writers.

Hugh Howey is being referenced all over the blogosphere again...this week it’s his three rules for writing...

Orna Ross looks at the Vanity Publishing vs Self Publishing. Are they the same? It is all about value.

The brilliant Joel Friedlander has added three new non fiction style templates to his fiction book design templates. If you are looking at POD check out what Joel is doing...very brilliant stuff.

M J Rose is looking at the book launch that happens when your books are not in the book store because of a dispute....Perfect is the Enemy of Good. Great post.

  

In the Craft section,

7 types of Narrative conflict

How to plot wrong in 3 easy steps

7 steps to writing a story readers won’t be able to put down

POV –whose head should I be in

Great fiction goes for the guts- Kristen Lamb with a straight to the point  blog post.

In Marketing,

Pinterest for authors...Jane Friedman takes a look at how you can use this social media site.

Getting it up and keeping it up-The conundrum for Indie authors

Bibliocrunch has a how to submit your book to various ebook sites post.

To Finish,

Neil Gaiman has addressed publishers directly at the London Book Fair to tell them what he thinks they should be doing...making mistakes.

The publishers will probably think he has lost the plot.

maureen

Pic from DH Wright

Go Forth And Seek

It has been a busy week in the publishing blogosphere. Following on from the emphatic statement (in last weeks blog post) by the Science Fiction and Fantasy writers association over the shonky nature of the new eBook imprints from Random House. Random House protested, got laughed at and backed down.

Writer Beware broke the news with the new changes to the imprint contracts and John Scalzi of SFWA details how those changes should work in practice...and what he personally thinks about them.

*Late addition. Dave Gaughran has put the new contracts under the microscope...and it still is not pretty. If the ebook is selected for print...the author will bear all the costs. Check out his very comprehensive post on this and other Big 4 vanity press ideas being slid past unsuspecting authors.

Futurebook blogger Phil Jones looks at the wider issues for publishers over what Random House attempted to do.

In other news here in NZ the registrations are open for Golden Yarns- The Children’s Writers and Illustrators hui to be held in Christchurch on Queens Birthday Weekend.

Melinda Szymanik had an interesting blog post this week on how we as writers have changed. Along with our interest in publishing digitally we have become adept at finding our writing friendships online. 

How far we have come from the writer in the garret struggling over a typewriter. Today information on writing and publishing is at the end of the modem cable. The writer needs to go out and hunt it down like a stray comma. I do my bit by providing a weekly roundup of good things I’ve come across but sometimes attending a writing conference fills in the gaps and reminds you that you are not alone.

Hugh Howey has written a tell all article that has been bouncing around the blogosphere all week on how he got that publishing deal for Wool. In a surprise move his print publishers are releasing AT THE SAME TIME hardcover and softcover editions of Wool.

Paidcontent reports that there is some disquiet over rumors that Amazon are tying up the new domain suffixes like .author and .book.

Joel Friedlander has an excellent article on 5 top legal issues for writers.

Dean Wesley Smith has made an excerpt of his book free entitled thinking like a publisher... and yes it is a must read.

The issue of writing for free got a workout in the blogosphere last week after a journalist had his material for a publisher repurposed and wasn't paid for it...here is Ernie Smith from the Future of Publishing blog on owning your work.

Agent Rachelle Gardner has a post on writer’s rights and responsibilities.

If you are mulling over translation of your work.... read this post so you understand all that it entails.

Larry Brooks from Storyfix has a great post on how to move your concept from good to great.

In Craft,

Writersinthestorm have a must read post on how to use your logline tag and pitch before you start writing! (I’m just in the process of figuring this out for my next book.)

James Scott Bell on how to work on more than one project at a time.

Jami Gold on 5 tips to writing that sexy scene.

YA Hiway on tips for researching your next project.

Clarity in Writing and the Curse of the Reader.

In Marketing,

Five Shades of Book Discovery.

How to handsell your own books.

Mathew Turner (AKA Turndog Millionaire) on five things he learned in 2012 about self publishing.

Bookriot on how to sell like Charles Dickens...this is an interesting article on serials.

To Finish,

Last year I linked to the video of Neil Gaimens commencement speech on freelancing which became a viral hit. Media Bistro have announced that HarperCollins is about to launch the book of the speech. Check out the details here along with a link to the speech if you missed it. The secret knowledge is out there...

maureen

pic from flickr/digitalrob

Tripping Around The World

Today the Twitter feed is full of what people are talking about at Storyworld, the big conference in Hollywood (happening as I write this) which is a mix of writers, gamers and publishers...directly taking aim at the transmedia market. If you want to follow the conversation...everything from Disney’s new grant program for storytellers to whether transmedia is a Noun or a Verb...(It’s a verb!) Follow along using #SWC12 in the Twitter search box.

Also just appearing in blogs is the roundup of Frankfurt Book Fair and what came out of it. Laura Hazard Owen of Paid Content rolls over the new startups that got the buzz as well as the HUGE market in books on mobile phones...and the publishers cashing in on self pubbed authors.

Mike Shatzkin commented that Frankfurt opened his eyes...to the use of ‘Platform’ in children’s publishing by Gatekeepers and the immense power this has for sales and the future in publishing. There is so much to ponder in this post... take some time to absorb it.

New Zealand was guest of Honour at Frankfurt this year and our contribution was to send NZ’s *literary* platform of Chefs, Winemakers, Film Producers along with Poets and some great Kiwi authors. The Fair Special Focus of Children and Young Adult literature featured a *small* stellar group of NZ Children’s Authors. Authors had to compete on the other side of a curtain with the multimedia experience in the guest pavilion hall, where the unwary could fall into the pools of water while staring at the reflected stars. We have great writers here...wish they all could have been there....

Coming up in the next few weeks... Halloween and NaNoWriMo....

Last year there was discussion among YA authors about handing out scary books to kids who come trick or treating...and a lot of authors went to the second hand bookshops and stocked up on Goosebumps. This year the campaign is more organised and Neil Gaiman is fronting it. Check out this great video on the All Hallows Read website. (Neil Gaiman thinks the fact that I sing in graveyards is pretty cool...however no one is getting murdered while I do it...not like this video...heheheh)

Scrivener is coming to the halloween party in time for NaNoWriMo with a free trial of their writing software. There are authors who swear by this programme so if you are interested or gearing up for NaNoWriMo this year check it out.

The Amazing team behind Emotional Thesaurus have written a breakdown of how they took a blog idea into a non fiction book for writers and then out to the world to sell over 10,000 copies in few short months. This is a great meaty read with what they learned this year. Angela and Becky have always impressed me (they live in two different countries) and after reading this breakdown...they are now up there with GODDESSES!

Copyblogger has a great post on negotiations and how to do them for freelance writers...this is one of those print it out and stick it on the wall by the telephone posts.

Joanna Penn, in London, offers the definitive breakdown to why your books aren’t selling and what to do about it. This is great information...and a handy checklist.

Jane Friedman (now in Virginia) has been busy this week with two great posts on Author website checklists and a very detailed Q and A with a copyright attorney...do you need to register your MS in the US if you live outside it?

VQR has a thought provoking post on Small Press and Self Publishers...are they enemies or half siblings...among the ideas in here is whether it is legit for small presses to ask authors for money to publish...Sean says yes.

In the craft list of great links...

The use of cliff hangers by unscrupulous writers.

How to get through reading your work out loud.

Dialogue spacing and why you need to pay attention to it! (Agent Mary Kole hot on the warpath)

7 tricks to add variety to your dialogue.

Kristen Lamb on getting primal with structure, part of her new writing series.

Writing to music? thewritepractice says you should and why...(nifty article to have your characters singing into the hairbrush...)

In the interesting tech ideas...

Inkygirl has been trying out a $4.99 App for the iPad that makes animated book trailers...easily.

Joel Friedman (The Book Designer) has 3 ways to use google search more effectively...you will never look at the search box the same way...brilliant.

If you love to get into typefaces...Joel also has a look at a new typeface  for dyslexics.

To Finish,

Derek Haines has published a blog post on why he is going back to Smashwords from being a KDP Select programme for the last year. He weighs up the benefits and the costs of both distributors. This is a good snapshot of the indie industry today.

In Breaking News the latest stats on publishing first half of 2012...Children's pub stats up 41%...and it's digital...

I’ll be out and about over the next few weeks in a different hemisphere so I’m cooking up some special focus posts for you...they will be chock full of links as per usual...

maureen....off to pack bags...

Inspiration and Fiction

Some intriguing posts have got me thinking this week about writing and inspiration and the mixture of the two.

First up Fan Fiction. I remember explaining to an award winning Young Adult writer here what fan fiction was and how big it was. 
I started reading Harry Potter fan fiction with my daughter when we were desperately waiting for book five...and of course book six... book seven. Sometimes we would look at each other and say 'whoa that reads like J K Rowling wrote it.' 
Yes the writers were that good and some went on to have big writing careers of their own.

Jami Gold has a nice post on fan fiction and what it means to Authors. Do you want fans playing with your characters? Do you want restrictions? What can you do? Jami tells you the pro’s and con’s.

Publishing Perspectives takes a look at information gained from their one day mini conference on children’s publishing. Some interesting insights on what makes great children’s books.

You have to feel for the Russian Children’s writers. They have the same number of bookshops in Russia as in 1913. No awards for their work and no advertising of children’s books. Book Expo America has a Russian focus this year and Denis Abrams spotlights the struggles of their children’s publishing community. (and you thought you had it bad...)

Invent a Digital Reader then invent software for writers to create exclusive content. Apple did it with iBooks now Barnes and Nobel are doing it for the KOBO but with a difference...they want authors to play the KoboWriting Game.

Earn points and badges if you sell overseas...It is still being trialled at the moment...get the scoop here.

Kristen Lamb takes a look at Facebook and now that it is public what is happening to fan pages.. Facebook could potentially hold your page to ransom as they have to earn money for shareholders. How do you get around it. This applies to you if you have an author fan page.

Writers Digest have posted a list of seven things that will doom your novel...hopefully you are not guilty of any of these.

A standout post this week for me was this one. How I went from writing 2000 words a day to 10000. This is quite mind blowing in its simplicity and you will smack your forehead...

The WANA group/tribe, (We Are Not Alone) was started by Kristen Lamb a few years ago as an online twitter hangout for writers to share success etcetc. Kirsten is taking it up a notch and has created an online community social network site with classes... forums...resources and she has tapped into some great people to help her do this. Go and take a look.

Talli Rowland has a great post on dreams and the shifting goalposts of publishing. Have your publishing dreams changed in the last few years...are you having trouble just finding the goalposts.... Tali will help you make sense of it all.

Today the news came through of Ray Bradbury’s death. All those in the Sci Fi community mourn the loss of one of the giants of the genre. Neil Gaimen wrote a piece of what Ray Bradbury meant to him and it sums up what the sci fi community are feeling. One of the great legacies of Ray Bradbury is that tech he dreamed up became inspirations for the science community to build...so if you are reading this on a flat touch screen...Ray thought it up first!

R.I.P. Ray Bradbury.

Choosing To Be Creative

This week on the writing blogosphere RAOK has been the catch phrase. 

Random Acts Of Kindness. This has been started because Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have finally made a print version of their wonderful Emotion Thesaurus and they celebrated with a RAOK blitz week which lots of writers got behind.

The Indie vs Trad argument has been heating up with many diatribes on both sides hitting the blogosphere this week.

Just for the record...You don’t have to be one or the other. You can choose the publishing medium with each project. You can be small press, Indie press, mainstream, give stuff away for free to build readers. It is up to you. Don’t get sucked into the Trad is bad or Indie is to die camps which diss each other and lose sight of the whole picture.

Anne R Allen has a nice piece about the bullies of both sides and what a new writer should be doing...take your time!

I post weekly and weekly it seems is the nature of change in the publishing landscape. This week Waterstones, a large bookselling chain in the UK has announced a partnership deal with Amazon. Some commentators have likened this to the hens asking the Fox to move into the henhouse. Here is Futurebooks take on this breaking news and the gamble and possible benefits for the booksellers.

Chuck has his 25 reasons to quit writing...of course you can turn it on its ear and choose to write. Either way Chuck is always thought provoking...(warning it is Chuck!)

Sometimes tho the act of writing is painful. Roz Morris looks at coping with RSI and what she has had to do to get through these times. I know this from bitter experience and am writing these words with tingling feelings in my left hand. (off to find my brace...)

In the craft corner, Here are some great posts on

Converting back story into character from Romance University

Margie Lawson looks at humour and the use of it to hook readers

20 craft rules from Stephen King

Mary Kole straight talks about Sounds great, No substance.

K M Weiland looks at not sabotaging your main character.

How to write from the Male point of view.

Great tips

Jane Friedman has some tips on getting the best online advertising for your dollar.

Joanna Penn talks multi media and why different media can complement your brand. 

Janice Hardy has ways that you can be more productive. 

Writers Digest has the definitive info on word counts for each genre.

Melinda Szymanik has a great post on the importance of being at the Frankfurt book fair with this year’s fair focussing on Kidlit.

And I will leave you with the video that is making waves through the creative community. This week Neil Gaiman gave the commencement speech at the University of Arts...These are words to live by no matter what stage of creative endeavour you are.

maureen

Once More Into The Fray

Every now and then I wonder about what a quiet life might entail...especially when the builders are sawing away, the plumber is banging pipes loudly and the kids are helping Dad paint at the other end of the house....

Before I can drift into fantasy dream mode involving solitude and unlimited drinks I’m interrupted five times...

This week’s blog roundup falls heavily on the craft side...as that was top of my eye when starting to research this week, inspired by all the crafting around here as the builders and plumbers attempt to straighten out some of the kinks in this old cottage.

First the inspiration...you can do this... write like Neil Gaimen.

You can get a professional mindset.

You can increase your daily word count.

You can plan for the long haul like Lee Child.

All your story needs is some attention to...

Emotional structure in your novel.

Crafting subplots that make sense.

Characters who have goals...does this mean all of them?

How to dialogue an argument between characters...

So that later you will be able to step back and take the long view of the business

with and an understanding of ...

Cover design tips.

The US Department of Justice ruling on whether the big six were acting illegally explained (wittily by Maureen Johnson) and what it means to us (writers and readers) in the long term.

Staying safe in the digital age.

Building hype on Goodreads about your book.

and if all else fails you can always try these writing prompts.

I would like to thank Janice Hardy, Bob Mayer, Joel Friedlander, Romance University, KM Weiland, Maureen Johnson, Darcy Pattison, Stephen Pressfield, Neil Gaimen, Scribblers Cove and Chip Macgregor for all inspiration found today as I attempted to escape the racket.

Better Than Gold...

This last week has made me stop and think about friend relationships and how precious they are. 

When one of your friends is fighting for their life in hospital, you do stop and reflect on how much that friendship means to you and why. You do want to know that you have done everything in your power to help and support them because frankly you are not ready to deal with the hole in your life should they not be there.

This thinking leads on to an examination of your own life, (nothing like ICU with all the waiting around with other families facing similar or worse scenarios to get you thinking.) Am I doing what I should be doing with my life?

I have to say Yes. I love researching for this blog. I love all my writer friends. (Online/offline) I love the weird questions we ask each other, the laughter, tears, and shared wine, coffee and agony of waiting on the manuscript outcome.

I want to say Thanks Fifi, for getting me into this blogging game... Thanks all of you for reading and sharing writery thoughts with me via facebook, twitter or commenting or blogging or emailing or ringing me up or seeing me at book events...The value of friends outstrips the value of gold.

So what do I have for my friends today....

For those of you who are looking at independent publishing, How not to publish your print on demand book and How to get your ebook noticed, are great articles to read and get ideas from. Bob Mayer also has a great article on what it takes to succeed...

For those looking at the craft of writing, staring at your latest Manuscript and thinking there must be a better way to tell this...

Larry Brooks has a great article on 3 edgy tips to make your writing more compelling and Jane Friedman has a great article on adding structure to your writing life.

For those friends who have to get their head around self promotion and marketing, Kristen Lamb has a great post on helping you to understand that You are the brand, not the book...and why some marketers get author branding so wrong.

If you are interested, and I am, in what other children’s writers are doing to collectively share the self promotion load have a look at Kidslitauthorsclub. (NB.The FaBo team is about to get underway again soon...)

If you are feeling like a possum caught gazing into the headlights of the publishing change train...mesmerised by the possibilities...Take a look at a new phone app that has you writing and publishing online...from your phone. And there is a great audio interview with Seth Godin on the new face of publishing up on Litopia.

Over on Craicerplus (my Amplify page) I have links to articles on

Publishers Obsessions with IPads Elitist?

Bookstore Events- Hints for Success.

Adverts in Books- Watch This Space...(Ads in ebooks are being discussed...who will get the income? Can the author control the ads?....because it will happen, the publishers are trying to stay afloat by any means.)

Where Are The Male Writers?

E publishing Success - How Do They Do It?

To Finish,

Children’s writer, Neil Gaiman, was called “a pencil necked weasel thief”, this week, by a Republican Senator in the House of Representatives (USA) for accepting a cheque for a speaking engagement of $45,000 last year in Minnesota. 

Anybody who knows about Gaiman’s huge charity work and this event in particular knows the Senator made a very bad call...It is all over the internet...Neil blogged about it this morning in an effort to deflect the press from constantly interrupting him asking for comment.

All the money was donated to charity as Neil always does. The huge speaking fee is an attempt by Neil to stem the massive flood of requests to speak at events...so when an organisation fronts up with the cash...Neil donates it. The Library System in Minnesota had to use the remaining cash in their budget for writers to rural libraries or lose it back to the government and get their budget cut for next year. Neil lives in the area...perfect sense really.

The senators server has crashed...

Moral of the story;

Check your facts and don’t try to bully someone with 1,556,000 followers on Twitter.  

Happy things on the horizon...

Cassandra Clare is visiting Wellington on her Mortal Instruments tour. (Auckland is in for a great treat at the festival.)

My friend may go into a ward soon.

maureen

pic Neil Gaiman's poster for a Parkinson's awareness charity project.

Game Changing and Piracy

On the side of my blog I have a list of must read blogs. One of those is Jane Friedman’s There Are No Rules. 

Jane is one of the touchstones in the blogosphere on publishing and change. She has been a keynote speaker at many big conferences on publishing and will be speaking at SXSW soon. Jane has a round up every week of what she thinks are among the best articles of the week (often I have already filed some of them for you) but I always pay attention to her list.  This week Jane highlighted a critical must read article by Kristine Rusch and yes I think that it deserves that status.

Kristine Rusch is a bestselling, award winning, romance, mystery and science fiction writer. She has been writing a series of articles on change in the publishing world. This week she has seen such a significant game change in self publishing that against all her previous advice she now believes that beginning writers should look seriously at self publishing...and not only them.

Bob Mayer was one of the first to comment (no surprise he agreed with what she said.) This week, on his own blog, Bob has an article about what he has learned in his writing life.  And it is a good read too. Bob breaks down the lessons he has learned since writing his first book...as he says... the more you consciously know about writing-the harder it gets!

However, to help you in this difficult creative endeavour is Mike Fleming and Elisabeth S Craig. Together they have sorted out a solution for storing all those links on writing... The Writers Knowledge Base.

This week Agent Mary Kole answered the tricky question...Would you turn down a book you loved but you knew you couldn’t sell? This is a good look at what agents are faced with...

Last week I asked the question, Who will be the digital ebook reviewers we trust?

I pointed you to Kristen Lambs blog post...this week also answering this question is Morris Rosenthal of Foner Books. Morris reckons that groups of writers will band together and become the new gate keepers...and then turn into writers guilds with too much power etcetcetc (check out the comments)

The Huffington Post has an interview with Annik LaFarge on effective author websites this is so full of information that you will probably need to set aside a long coffee break to take it in.

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to articles on

Writer Envy...The Rejectionist- Dear Superior Person

The Rules of Sci Fi...(don’t spare the red shirt guy)

The Best Writing Mistakes and How To Make Them

The Espresso Book Machine...This is a book printing robot in a NY book store which prints books 

immediately....Go and take a look at the video!...opens up a whole new world....

To Finish

Upstart Crow have a great archived article on Mid Grade and Y A differences and where you draw the line and 

The best article on story structure I have seen from the formidable Larry Brooks over on Storyfix, How to Learn Story Structure in Two Minutes or Less.

I leave you with Neil Gaimen talking on how Piracy helped him...

enjoy,

maureen

P.S The Jane Friedman that Kristine Rusch refers to is not the Jane Friedman of There Are No Rules. There are two Jane Friedman's in the publishing world.