In Publishing News this week,
Lee and Lowe published their latest survey on the diversity in publishing. Has anything changed since the covid years… only a little. It is a bit disheartening to see that a survey done every four years doesn’t show the bar shifting that much across the data points.
Italy is preparing for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and their guest of honor status at Frankfurt. Publishing Perspectives looks at their industry figures and what is on offer for Bologna. In a nice touch one third of books sold in Italy are children’s books.
Staying with kids books- Oxford University Press has launched an app called Little Oxford for parents to give to their children. It is full of educational content and subscription based. Now if one press can do it will others follow suit? (If you are a press, I know an App maker in this field looking for content.)
If you are trying to keep tabs on all the moving lawsuits to do with AI, drop into the Passive Voice blog. Passive Guy who runs it is a lawyer and he has been watching with interest the counter suing going on with Open AI- Someone hacked their AI for a lawsuit? Or did they?
In further Open AI news, they have just released an AI that can make a video based on text. This is next level and in Beta but already its worrying commentators.
Writer Unboxed has an interesting article from a children’s publisher about the rise in AI manuscripts that they are seeing. They are begging for an assurance that your work is written by a person. This is what Joanna Penn was talking about when she said to double down on being human. Joanna has a whole section of her website on how to navigate a fast changing AI world for authors.
Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has a post on Writer Scams and how to manage your mindset when you feel overwhelmed with all the scummy behaviour out there. All Is Not Lost!
If you are a fan of the Emotion Thesaurus group of books by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi- There is another one on the way and it looks like a great addition to the bookshelf.
Are you looking for a comparison list on what is the best book formatting software out there? Check out this list.
Trisha Jenn Loehr has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about tropes. This is a great overview on when using them is good, when having too many is bad and what the downright ugly looks like.
Ruth Harris has an excellent post on getting past writer’s block. She has 7 hacks that will get the writing muse working again.
In the Craft Section,
Important Do’s and Don’ts for writing novellas- Kobo team
How to write conflict without bad guys- Angela Ackerman
What makes a good action scene- Terry Odell- Bookmark
How to use dynamic and static characters- C S Lakin- Bookmark
How to use antagonists in your story- K M Weiland- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
A guide to welcome emails for authors
Fictional characters on Social Media- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
Advertising book tips- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
Improve author website SEO- Debbie Emmitt- Bookmark
How to make a short animated ad for your book.
To Finish,
Recently James Scott Bell (Writing craft teacher with excellent writing craft books) wrote about timeless writing advice. He was commenting on advice for writers written by Louise Parr in 1894 that could have been written today. Writers have struggled with the same challenges through the decades, how to tell a good story. We are hardwired for story - we love the ads that tell a little story rather than BUY BUY BUY. We crave the payoff at the end of a great novel/film/song. Writing is a solitary activity but you share it with writers through the ages who struggled with the same things you do. Seek out your tribe of online writer friends or a group of offline writer friends who understand the ups and downs of crafting stories.
We will all be cheering you on.
Maureen
@craicer
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