Reality Bites

January is full of predictions and goal setting for the coming year. Writers enjoy marking off their new wall planners with book goals and organising their writing desks. Then reality sinks in as they note the first deadline is coming up fast. Productivity tool posts start filling up the internet. Writers In The Storm have a good blog post for the writer’s greatest challenge- Time Management. You may need to select from one of these useful collections of tools and tricks.

Time Management Apps.

No Cost tools for writers- Publication Coach

Five Writing Apps from DIYMFA

Every year The Write Life blog collects their 100 best websites for writers. Regular readers of my blog will see familiar names in the list. However their are some nifty new names in the different categories. (They also have a great post on writing residencies – in case you were thinking if it is worth it.)

Victoria Strauss has collected a list of Writer Beware posts from 2015. Writers should be regularly dropping into this site and getting familiar with the scams and dodgy contract language that is directed at them. Writer Beware has direct support from many writer associations.

Susan Spann is doing guest posts on what to watch out for in Contract Clauses- This month is the Out Of Print Clause.

Passive Guy takes a look at Kameron Hurley’s post on Non Compete and Rights Grab Clauses (PG is a lawyer so he has an eye for this.)

Today Kris Rusch warned about Anthology Contracts by new independent publishers. They have the best intentions and their contracts are the worst! Kris has seen some absolute nightmares in the last few weeks. Last week she wrote a great post - Whining is not a business model! Writers you must carefully look at your contracts. This is your work, your future earnings... you need to read the small print and walk away if it is not fair.

In the Craft Section,

The joy of nuances and shades of feelings- Celtic Frog-Bookmark.

Building Empathy- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark.

Sara Letourneau – Character evolution- Bookmark.

Self Editing for Dummies- Bookmark.

Five steps to writing faster.

In the Marketing Section,

Authors often struggle with Book Marketing. It is out of the comfort zone of the introverted garret dweller who talks to imaginary people. 

This week there were helpful posts on author blogs from Joanna Penn - Author blog mistakes, Molly Greene – What authors can blog about, Veronica Sicoe – building relationships with readers and Angela Ackerman- Social Media - why I don’t follow the rules.

Penny Sansevieri has a good post on Amazon reviews.

Lindsay Buroker has one on tips for getting a Bookbub advert.

Rachel Thompson- 4 ways to improve your sales.

Silas Payton has a guest post on Joe Konrath’s blog on collaborative marketing.

To Finish,

Digital Book World has an interesting post today from Jason Illian on the real future of digital publishing. Jason looks at a few company results which journalists didn’t cover and then started asking questions. This is a must read! In the comments SCBWI blogger Lee Wind referred to Enthrill (a company I have been watching for a few years.) They are about to ramp up their eBook gift cards after a long time developing and testing. I have a feeling that 2016 will be an interesting year in the digital book world.

Maureen Crisp

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ DLG Images www.directline.com

Either … Or

This week the theme of my weekly roundup seems to be which ever path you choose... choose wisely. 

Jane’s Friedman has a great post on whether self publishing will get you a traditional deal. This has become a bit of a Cinderella story in the last year and a lot of people seem to be racing to self publish because they can... but whether they should is another story.  Porter Anderson takes a close look at the overselling of self publishing.

Kris Rusch has a great blog and is well worth reading frequently. This week she comments on writing by committee. It is a great read and I found myself nodding, having experienced it in the educational publishing world. Some times the ‘team’ can kill the storytelling aspect of the story. Kris then lists what you need to do to succeed as a writer. First get a reader, not a writer, to read the finished draft.

Joanna Penn has been at a crime writer’s conference and she was asked about the pro’s and con’s of self publishing. Joanna outlines honestly what she is thinks is the good and the bad and has advice for those people trying to make up their minds.

Jane Friedman has a post up on her blog about literary self publishing. Can you even do this? It seems to be accepted that the literary genre is steeped in the traditional publishing model. But really literary is just a genre and you can self publish it if you are careful about it.

James Scott Bell continues his series - Is our writing culture in mortal danger? This week he looks at whether it is a good time to be a writer. He says yes and then tells you why. Long live storytelling.

A great storyteller, Susan Kaye Quinn has a nifty post on the 5 tips for success as a self publisher. Susan has straight forward advice which can also apply to traditional publishing. Susan will be a Keynote speaker at Tinderbox 2015 and I’m looking forward to talking with her on her publishing career. Check out the webinar at the end of her post. (hint: It’s another keynote theme.)

This week Google pulled books out of Google Play because of the pirating issues. But how come it took a huge Dutch collective to make them do something about it.

The Passive Guy has an interesting discussion this week on whether you should respond to negative reviews. Should you even respond to the good reviews? The comments are always where the discussion is.

In the Craft Section,

6 writing techniques learned at Storymasters

Story descriptions and depth in stories from the incomparable K M Weiland

Ten ways to tighten your writing - Kristen Lamb

How to develop your theme – Janice Hardy

Staying in character – the convergence of POV and voice – C S Lakin

Fun writing exercise – Joe Bunting- Bookmark

How to justify your writing time – Julie Duffy (Bookmark)

In the Marketing Section,

How to turn your novel into an audiobook

10 tips for choosing the right book title –Anne R Allen This is a Bookmark post!

Email marketing for authors- Tim Grahl (Bookmark)

Writing front and back matter for your self published book.

If you are really serious about writing for the market, check out this piece of software.

5 mistakes authors make with book bloggers – Molly Greene

Website of the Week

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi started a little website (The Bookshelf Muse) exploring words that described emotion. Then the Emotion Thesaurus was born followed by The Positive Trait Thesaurus and then The Negative Trait Thesaurus. These books are fast becoming the go to indispensible books on the writer’s desk, right next to the dictionary. Angela and Becca have just launched their fourth book The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus... and it looks just as great as their other books.

To Finish,

A few weeks ago I had a link to standing desks... these are designed to help the writer be less sedentary and healthier. Writer Bruce Brady asks whether writers really know what a good back support system is. He gives examples. Today on Twitter this exercise regime was being passed around. Either you take care of yourself OR you face the consequences.

Maureen

@craicer 

Pic: Flickr /Creative Commons – Dave Lenker

Standing Up for Conferences

This week I’m still digesting the mega online Indie publishing conference Indie ReCon. I still haven’t caught up with all of the online content, but I’m happy it will stay there for a while. There is so much juicy information there. A big cheer to the behind the scenes team for putting it all together. More than 25,000 people dropped into Indie ReCon last year. I would say that was surpassed this year, hugely!

Porter Anderson, spent some time at the London Book Fair and dropped into The Indie ReCon meet-up at Foyles in London.

Two interesting developments have caught the eye of The Passive Guy this week. The rise of digital reading in China, over 50% of adults are reading online.

And a new bookselling venture in Florida. This one caught my attention as it seems to be taking the showroom bookstore model and tweaking it for Indie Authors. There are lots of comments about how successful this model might be.

I am seeing more Indie authors grouping together to share resources and publish collectively. I’ve been saying this is the way to go for years - this  bookstore selling model seems to take it all a step further.

Authors rarely talk about the hazards of their profession but with J K Rowling tweeting this morning about writers back... (too long sitting in one position,) attention is back on stand-up writing desks. Michael Hyatt blogged about his desk this week and then Nicola Morgan decided to share how she improved her health dramatically in the last month. I’m eyeing up my desk... if I can get to it. It seems to be the repository of the families clutter.

Author websites have been the focus of Joanna Penn’s blog this week. This is an ultra comprehensive post on the subject. You will find yourself coming back again to it. Don’t get overwhelmed as she says... small tweaks.

Joanna has also interviewed Tim Grahl about book titles, productivity, marketing and other stuff.  It’s a wide ranging interview and full of tips.

Last week I linked to Delilah Dawson’s plea about Self Promotion and Social Media. This week staying with this topic Rachel Thompson gives some tips to deal with this stress and not become a spam monster.

In the Craft Section,

Tips for developing Story Ideas

Roz Morris on tips for writing when time is scarce (which also has a link to her indie Recon video)

All about Pacing. This is a great post on that tricky craft subject.

Improving your character action beats- great post from K M Weiland

Editing – craft tips

Picking the right editor for each stage of writing.

Real rules for writing magic

The ultimate guide to what to do about the boring bitsbetween scenes. Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

Using Pinterest to connect with your cover designer

Book design tip- include reviews

Author Newsletters- Bookmark this

7 reasons people unsubscribe from email lists...(Great read)

How to cross promote your books in back matter

Website of the Week

Dropping back into The Book Designer for a guest post on time saving tools for writers

To Finish,

This is one writer’s experience of attending Indie ReCon. I would agree with her. It is always good to meet up with other authors somewhere just to reassure yourself that you are not alone in this writing gig. Although Indie ReCon was amazing, checking in face to face at an author event is also important. We can spend too much time sitting in front of a screen. Tinderbox 2015 is gathering steam... the timetable is becoming a juggernaut with lots more cool stuff being added. (We’ve got to stop tweaking it!)

I’m off to re-jig the Tinderbox2015 timetable, again, and play around with my writing desk.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic is from a review of Standing Desks… this one goes up and down at the push of a button.

It’s All Subjective

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the Craft section,

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

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

Jeff Goins on overcoming writers block.

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

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

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

How to make the most of a writing retreat

In the Marketing section,

55 digital branding tips for Authors

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

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

7 things you learn when your book is published.

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

Writelife interviews four authors about the real cost of self publishing

Website of the Week

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

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

Tshirts with memorable book quotes on them...

To Finish,

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

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

maureen

John Green's confession below.

Tweet from a conversation thread with J K Rowling.

Ranting On

This week I have been working hard on a funding application for our national conference to our national arts funder, Creative New Zealand.

When you work on a funding application, it gets you thinking about what you really really wish for and how limited the funds actually are out there in the arts world.

While I was finalising the last bit of number crunching our Man Booker winner Eleanor Catton was being interviewed live on Indian TV. She was voicing some of my thoughts about arts funding... we could do with more of it here. Unfortunately her comments annoyed a talkback radio host here and suddenly he was off on a rant calling her a traitor... to New Zealand. 

I found this very hard to swallow coming less than two weeks after the Paris attacks on free speech. Yes I disagreed with a lot of the religious attacks in the Charlie Hebdo comics but we live in a free speech democracy. The radio host has his right to free speech too. But can’t we be grown up and debate the issue of whether our arts funding is adequate. Of course, we in the arts community will say it isn’t. It would be nice to have the forum where we could show the rest of New Zealand exactly why we think it isn’t adequate and not be penalised for speaking our minds. We need to have a healthy forum for debate instead of having the whole thing reduced to competing soundbytes, as our NZ Society of Authors president Kyle Mewburn so ably said this morning on Breakfast TV.

The cartoonists have had a great time this morning illustrating the backlash.

Due to my week being spent crunching numbers... I haven’t got my usual 30ish links or so.

This morning Author Earnings released another report... and it makes interesting reading. Passive Guy highlights main points but a stunning revelation is the high percentage of books that don’t have ISBNs. These ‘shadow’ books aren’t counted in any official book statistics.

Jane Friedman comments on stats from DBW conference (which may be in doubt now that the new Author Earnings report is out) and she lists the best bits of Seth Godin’s session. This makes interesting reading for authors about where you should be aiming for in marketing.

The wonderful Kris Rusch was interviewed on her new book –Discoverability, This is all about passive marketing which authors need to understand. Worth taking the time to listen!

In the Craft Section,

Ava Jae on finding critique partners

What kinds of basic story plots are there

Janice Hardy on avoiding unnecessary internal question in 3rd person.

In the Marketing section,

Making free 3D book covers

Daily Dahlia has a post on Agent red flags... with examples... must read if you are looking for one.

Jane Friedman on platform building for authors. This one is a must read/listen. I am always saying that groups of authors getting together to market themselves, and talk about writing, is the way forward. And here Jane is saying the same. Can’t argue with that!

To Finish,

One of my illustrator friends commented that she was sick of ignorant writers thinking that illustrators would illustrate their manuscripts for royalty splits when they hadn’t even got a publishing contract. Illustrators have to pay mortgages too. Picture Book illustrations can take up to a years full time work. Publishers pick the illustrators and most are paid flat fee and/or royalty. Please share this information around with your writing friends or you might encounter illustrators going off in Wendig inspired rants.

and on another note...

Terri Ponce has a nice little article on success and failure... worth printing and sticking above your writing desk  (especially this week...)

Maureen

P.S. When I have more details to share with you about the National Conference of Children’s Writers and Illustrators (A.K.A Tinderbox 2015 - Wellington October 2-5) I will share them.

(hugs self and chuckles gleefully)

pic from Todays New Zealand Herald

Flying Past The Trolls

This week in the publishing blogosphere, there was lots of discussion around the article published in The Guardian about author Kathleen Hale (gleefully) stalking a reader/book reviewer because her book didn’t rate a 5* review. The ethics around this and the fact that The Guardian published this and effectively implied that book reviewers/bloggers could be called out for giving a less than brilliant review has riled a lot of people. The Dear Author site and The Passive Guy have got very strong opinions on this. Yes, book reviews are subjective. Yes, you might get a lukewarm review... but you don’t engage in troll behaviour. You suck it up and move on.

Published to Death has a list of online reviewers who will look at your book. Obviously they won’t want any troll behaviour.

We want book reviewers. They benefit the whole industry. Do we want to have a reading public who won’t read anything new because they can’t be sure the review was paid for?(sock puppetry)

Hugh Howey is on a roll with some more examination of publishers and book stores.... should we really feel sorry for them? Possibly not when you see what earnings the big 5 (4) racked up in the last few years.

At a recent conference in the US... a comment was made about authors having all their eggs in the Amazon basket.  Porter looks at the use and abuse Amazon may be wielding with Kindle Unlimited.

Audible (the audio book publishing outlet) is owned by Amazon. Recently Jane Friedman had a guest post on her site comparing what CD Baby has to offer... and it’s all good! (starting with 90% royalties vs 30%)

Julie Musil has a great post on how to find your book narrator.

The Plot Whisperer takes a look at NaNoWriMo. What is your goal and how are you going to achieve it. November is always quiet in the publishing blogosphere. Authors are writing and editors are quaking awaiting the December onslaught.

Publishing Hub reckons they have found the secret to writingfor children... hiking up the emotional intensity.

Brain Pickings has the article that explains that Einstein quote that reading Fairy Tales is the best way to improve children’s intelligence.

The 50th Anniversary of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has arrived this week... The only children’s book written by Ian Fleming.  It is being re-released with new covers etc and the original illustrations by a much loved illustrator now. (Chitty was his second book.)

Also in the news this week a Slovakian company has made the flying car a reality. This is a seriously up market Chitty!

In the Craft Section,

Using layers to pre write your scenes – Janice Hardy

20 Common Fiction issues

How to pick a killer opening for your science fiction

Whose point of view should you use? – Jami Gold

Writing tips from 5 Aussie authors

Is worrying about genre holding you back

Do you have sympathy for your villain? –James Scott Bell

Effective story description – K M Weiland

Finding your writing voice

In the Marketing Section,

10 point website check

Social Media for authors

Finding your books ideal audience – Angela Ackerman

Writing for money and love

5 Tips for writing your author bio

Blogging ideas for writers

To Finish,

Joanna Penn has joined together with Dave Gaughran, Sean Platt and Johnny B Truant to bring you a deal that I urge you to get. They have combined their 3 magnificent writing and marketing craft books into an Indie Ebook bundle for 99c (no that is not a typo) I already have one of these books (eye poppingly good) and had put the other two on my Christmas list... but I snapped up this deal and you should too. Fly Fly Fly to Joanna’s site and learn more (and get your preorder in on your favourite reading platform.)

The deal is for a limited time. Release date is 3^rd November.

(secret news: Joanna will be in Auckland over summer... )

maureen

Food for Thought

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. However there are some chewy big ideas for you to chow down on.

(The Main Menu)

The phenomenal success of the movie The Fault In Our Stars (adapted from #1 bestselling Y A novel) in its opening weekend seems to have spurred the critics to write new opinion pieces about Young Adult literature and the poor sad fools who read it and write it. The Slate article caused much rolling of eyes within the children’s writing community and a very funny rebuttal from YA author Kathleen Hale.

While this was being shared around...the notion that ‘worthy’ YA was written by men also got an airing and a well articulated smackdown. Read the articles (P.S.A. make sure you aren’t drinking in front of the keyboard.)

Three YA writers talk about how demeaning it is to have your book consistently compared to Twilight because A) They are female. B) They write YA and C) They write for girls.

Why don’t the Male writers get the abuse and the comparisons...Good points backed up with facts.

Publishers Weekly has a great article on How Reality Became The Hot New Thing In YA...and I may just have to check out Scotts latest book judging by the last comment in this article.

The Amazon/ Hachette discussion goes on and on. Is Amazon really the devil? A measured (lets look at this problem) opinion piece also from Publishers Weekly.

Jane Friedman has been looking at the future of magazines... Do they have a print future? What was the last magazine you bought and why? I confess that all the articles I’m interested in I read online. So Jane may have some very good advice for magazine publishers.

Every writer wants to get a contract...but recently one writer got a contract that had her lawyer gasping in disbelief. Please Read This! (sadly I have heard of this before...)

While on that subject Agent Kristin Nelson is also cautioning about contracts... with anyone!

Agent Janet Reid answers some very interesting questions from a reader on whether you need an 

agent...and No you don’t... Great advice tho.

Agents are always interesting to follow on Twitter. Every now and again Agents do a #tenqueries which is where they write a twitter comment for the next 10 Manuscripts they pick up out of the slush pile. These can be very insightful for what not to do. Just put #tenqueries in the search box.  Also check out Agent advice on The Worst Ways To Begin Your Novel.

Passive Guy looks at Amazon and PayPal buy buttons and the changes happening in payments, which outfit is best for you.

How the Indie Authors fared at BEA last week…A good overview of the impact and importance of Indie Authors at the biggest trade book fair.

(Choice of Desserts)

In the Craft Section,

5 reasons my cat should be the writer instead- Victoria Mixon.

How to use Word Document maps to navigate through your MS.

Writing bittersweet endings.

The importance of good sidekicks.

Stop worrying about plot originality.

3 cautions for adding research.

Writers Doubt- Advice from Seth Godin.

In the Marketing Section,

Do Authors need two Facebook pages.

A Book Crowd Funding Platform that pays readers and writers.

How to upload and sell books on Google Play.

10 Book Marketing mistakes.

If you are terrified of Book Marketing...

One page business plans. And Do you really need one – Joel Friedlander

Why is my book not selling.

The Bruno Mars guide to getting raving fans for your book.

Joanna Penn on Translation and Self publishing in Germany. Very comprehensive How To post. Also If you missed her amazing post on knowing your rights....here it is again!

5 mistakes you will make on your way to publishing success- excellent article!

(After Dinner Mint)

To Finish,

One Non Fiction writer had an idea that wouldn’t fit into the conventional publishing box. They carefully researched what they could do...with such a specialised book and then hit on an interesting idea...serialise it and aim it at different communities. This is a fascinating journey of a publishing success story.

maureen

Pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons/ Stephen Oung.

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