It Used To Be So Simple…

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

In the continuing saga of the disestablishment of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Publishers Weekly reports that there are only 12 people left doing the work of 75. Questions have been raised as to the ability of some of these people who seem to have been picked because of who they know and not what they know. And where is all the money going? 

 

In the Meta Lawsuit, many organisations aren’t waiting to be called but are submitting briefs to the court in support of the lawsuit, Publishing Perspectives reports. At issue is Meta claiming fair use. An argument that is supposed to be for the purposes of review in journals, not wholesale scraping.

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has a chilling article on how Meta employees came to think that scraping a pirate site was a good idea. There was horrible little paragraph where they thought it was ok because the works themselves were valueless. Tell that to authors who have had their entire life’s work stolen.

 

Malaysia has been having a super book giveaway in an effort to promote reading. Mark Williams looks at the parent company of Big Bad Wolf and how they can lay their hands on all remaindered English language books to be able to do these big events.

 

Spotify is extending their reach in audio books and is opening up to French and Dutch language translations. They are throwing some money at it too. In their latest stats the audio listeners are primarily from the younger age bracket. Spotify is keen to promote human voices, but they are open to digital voices as well.

 

If you are still trying to make sense of tariffs in the book industry – do you pay them- do you not, The Alliance of Independent Authors has a good article to help you figure out what to do. Make sure you diversify where you get your books printed, so you can manage production costs.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a panel discussion with creative industry people on how to manage AI technologies. This was interesting as there were music industry people who have been dealing with AI for longer than book people. Their advice- get involved in policing it.

 

Rachel Thompson has an article on PR scams that are targeting writers. It’s like playing whack-a-mole with scammers. All you can do is stay abreast of the ones doing the rounds and make sure newbies know about them.

 

Jane Friedman has a guest article from Anne Carley about how difficult it is to help publish other people in the self publishing space. This is because of the hoops you have to go through to establish who you are. When publishing companies are trying to weed out the scammers and pirates it can be hard to be a genuine helper for other people.

 

Joanna Penn has a super interview with Tara Cremin from Kobo. Tara gives an overview of all the great things Kobo offers and then gets into detail on subscriptions and marketing. If you already publish on Kobo are you taking advantage of all that they offer now?

 

Jennifer Dorsey writes about how to lay the groundwork for a successful nonfiction book launch. Have you mined who you know as well as what you know?

 

James Scott Bell has a post dedicated to the thesaurus and how useful it is. When was the last time you opened one specifically to find the right word.

 

Barbara Linn Probst has a great article on person and tense. Whoever tells the story is not the same as the protagonist unless you are very careful. Does the protagonist really know the inner life of all the other characters? This is a must read article.

 

In The Craft Section,

A peek inside the mind of a developmental editor- Jenn Windrow- Bookmark

Conflict is not tension- Sally Hamer

Understanding genre conventions- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Cinematic technique for authors- C S Lakin

How to prepare eBooks in Word.- Diane Wolfe

 

In the Marketing Section,

How long does publicity take- Kathleen Schmidt

How to make time to market your book- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How you should price your book- Matthew Holmes- Bookmark

Best Email services for authors- Dave Chesson

Getting more value from the backlist- Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is the 17^th anniversary of the blog today. That’s 17 years of watching the publishing industry change in front of me. The eBook, the Kindle, Amazon, Print on Demand, the rise and fall of publishing houses, the amalgamations, the rise of niche indie brands, the rise and fall of booksellers, graphic novels, audio books, translations, the rise and fall of distributors, selling direct, authorpreneurs, and now AI. The publishing world looks very different from when I started learning about it 17 years ago. I continue to learn every day. For everyone who is still reading and learning along with me, sharing little notes, the occasional coffee, the meet in person times, Thank you for still being here. It has been a wild ride. 

 

Happy Easter.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the Substack version.

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

 

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Looking For A Life Ring.

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Just after I published last week’s blog news broke about Meta forcing a book take down. I published a note about it in my Substack blog version. The Streisand Effect is in full flight as many are picking up the book to see what the fuss is about. A tell all about the Meta company by an ex -employee. The author is barred from talking about the book. Kathleen Schmidt has the details. The Kiwi author was due to be interviewed on our state radio last Friday but the take down went into effect forcing the termination of the interview.

 

The London Bookfair is over for another year and Publishing Perspectives talks about their impressions of the fair. It looks like the new venue isn’t wonderful, but the deal hall is getting bigger. What happens when you sacrifice comfort for turnout at a bookfair? 

 

While the UK had a seven week consulting period on AI and copyright, the US has just had a three week consultation period on the same issue. Publishing Perspectives looks at publishers viewpoints on this and their warning over the fair use defense. US publishers were scrambling to put in a submission. This is a comprehensive article, and they draw on responses from the Associations of American Publishers. They quote from the American government AI action plan.

The American “AI Action Plan” is not as detailed and structured an approach as the British proposal is. Instead, the US plan—described in the current administration’s fondness for comparative bravura—”will define priority policy actions to enhance America’s position as an AI powerhouse and prevent unnecessarily burdensome requirements from hindering private sector innovation. With the right governmental policies, continued US artificial intelligence leadership will promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

 

Publishers Weekly has an interesting article on a survey of Spanish language publishing professionals 75% of whom believe that the adoption of AI is unavoidable. Diving into the article there is a sort of cost benefit analysis. It is a great tool, but it could threaten jobs. Is there an upside?

 

Mark Williams points out that the robot rebellion is underway with an AI refusing to do the work of a coder. Mark also looks at lessons for book publishers learned from watching television morph into streaming. He says that publishing history is active resistance, passive acceptance, and eventual embrace. 

 

Bloomsbury is expanding its imprints. Harry Potter may have saved them, but Sarah J Mass is keeping them going and now they are acknowledging this by having a dedicated imprint for Science Fiction and Fantasy. It only took them 25 years.

 

Spotify is expanding its audiobook platform to include short form audiobooks from Indie publishers. Dan Holloway writes about this latest move and who will benefit from it.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an interview with Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy on Marketing and what he sees as important for 2025.

 

Darcy Pattison has in interesting article on using AI to do preliminary copy editing. This is how she saves herself time but while she uses these and other tools she does go through a human editor as well.

 

P J Parrish has a great article on giving your secondary characters some love. Do they even have a growth arc in your story? 

 

Oliver Fox has a guest article on Katie Weilands blog which explores an alternative narrative structure. This is thought provoking stuff. We all have a favourite book that seems to break the rules of classic storytelling structure. This approach maybe the structure that resonates with you.

 

In The Craft Section,

2 fantastic articles from September Fawkes on Structuring scenes and Alternative views of basic story structure- Bookmark Both!

How to master the passage of time- C S Lakin

How to write a likable character- Lucy Hay- Bookmark

The 5 leaf clover structure of story genre- Storygrid- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

How to create email press releases to journalists- Sandra Beckwith

SEO for authors in 2025- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Pricing strategies to sell more books- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

10 tips for public appearances- Kathryn Craft- Bookmark

What do you do when the book reviewer says yes- Karen Cioffi

 

To Finish,

Who are you online? Michelle Cutler writing on Jane Friedman’s blog has a warning. If you don’t define and present yourself online, others will. How do you define yourself? Has it changed from the first time you put up a website?

 

With all the future talk of AI now becoming present talk, and in your face AI, it is worth dropping into Joanna Penn’s website to checking out all the articles and interviews she has done on the future of publishing. She offers ways to approach the changes that are now here and how to use them. Joanna advocates for using AI as a tool and doubling down on human experiences for your readers. 

We are in another publishing revolution. It might be time to hunt down a life ring for comfort and safety. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

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

 

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Publishing: An International Conundrum

  

In Publishing News this week,

 

The London Book Fair is on and as usual the trade publishing world stops to reassess where everything is and what might befall them in the coming year. They kicked off LBF with a discussion on books and what’s selling with James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones and Barnes and Noble, and David Shelley CEO of Hachette. Thank goodness Booktok is still a thing. 

 

NeilsenIQ presented data at The London Book Fair on how the international book markets were doing based on sales figures from last year. There was a little bump up from pretty much everyone except New Zealand where it went down by 3%. This is worrying if you publish and sell books in New Zealand. Come on Kiwi’s we’ve taken hit after hit in publishing lately- give us some love!

 

While everyone seems to be focused on tariffs, spare a thought for Mexican publishers. Publishing Perspectives looks at how they are responding to the tariff trade war with their neighbor to the north.

 

Princeton University Press is partnering with other North American publishers outside of academia to bring a wider selection of books to their branch in China. Publishing Perspectives gives the low down. 

 

Dan Holloway talks about the rise of memberships in Libro.fm. Libro.fm is the audiobook partner of Bookshop.org which is the independent response to Amazon. It wouldn’t have anything to do with tariffs, would it? Maybe its anti-oligarch sentiment?

 

Kathleen Schmidt has an interesting article on the business decision of cancelling a book contract. This follows the news that a book was canceled by its publisher as the author was not prepared to make the changes they requested. As always there are two sides to the story. 

 

Anne R Allen has revived her excellent writing blog after her hiatus. She has an interesting article on how an all-out effort to write a novel resulted in a form of depression and how this is actually common. She also writes about how blogging is not dead, in fact it is very much alive and an interesting alternative to newsletters. I’m only a month off 17 years blogging. There are very few of us around from the good old days. *waves madly at Anne*

 

Anne Janzer writes on Jane Friedman’s blog about Dodging the Scarcity Trap. Is your book idea really unique? Should you be worried that others might steal the concept?

 

Lisa Norman writes on Writers In The Storm about the No Burnout Plan For Writers. If you are feeling overwhelmed, this is the post for you . 

 

The excellent Roz Morris talks about the hero’s journey and archetypes. Have you ever thought about yourself and your writing journey as the hero? Who are your archetype mentors and villains? This is a great post!

 

In The Craft Section,

Deepen character development- Selene Silver- Bookmark

Story Non Negotiables- Storygrid- Bookmark!

6 tips for constructing a heroic sacrifice- Mythcreants

Choosing themes for stories- Isabella Peralta- Bookmark

How to revise and save your novel- Matthew Norman

 

In The Marketing Section,

Elevate your social media presence- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

27 Fun April holidays for book promo- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Marketing using your Amazon author page- Rob Bignall

5 valuable writing tools- Colleen Story- Bookmark

How to record your own audiobooks- Draft2Digital

Podcasting as an author -Tyrean Martinson

 

To Finish,

Recently Joanna Penn interviewed Jacob Nordby about creativity and overcoming fear. It is an interesting interview about creativity and change and failure and all sorts of thought provoking stuff. The publishing world has been changing so rapidly in the last decade and now our geopolitical world is being shaken up. We are all feeling uncertain and worried, embracing our creativity might be just what we need.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

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

 

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Working Together

In Publishing News this week

 

If you have been reading my publishing roundup for a few years you will know that every now and then I state that co-operatives are the way to go in publishing. Writer co-operatives or marketing co-operatives once started, seem to be the bee’s knees in terms of collegial support for all the writers concerned. So it was with interest that I saw this news article on a publishing co-operative from Publishers Weekly. (What took them so long?) A group of small publishers banding together to share resources and help each other out. It’s a no brainer and totally good news in today’s world.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports that youth masculinity seem to be the flavour of the year with the Carnegie long list being announced. Is the pendulum swinging back?

 

How many small press founders do you know? What gender are they? Publishers Weekly have a great article on how women keep reinventing publishing with independent presses.

 

Booksellers in the UK are having an awareness day, Bookselling Is Not A Crime, in support of educational booksellers that have been arrested for the crime of selling books that might challenge the prevailing propaganda. When speech is not free in so called free speech countries. 

 

GoodEReader reports that The Braille Institute has introduced a new font for e Readers. This is good news if you want to be supportive of the disability community.

 

Two great podcasters got together to talk about second editions. Joanna Penn appeared on The Indy Author podcast with Matty Dalrymple. The podcast was wide ranging and including author evolving business models along with updated editions of best selling books. Check out the transcript or listen to these great women talk about the business.

 

This week Katie Weiland talked about self doubt and the way you can work with it. Doubt is not a stop sign but a challenge to grow. She has five proven ways to conquer self doubt.

 

Gabriela Pereira has an interesting article on DIYMFA about Goal Setting.  When you come to set those goals are you choosing the right mountains to climb. This could make the difference between achieving the summit or falling off the cliff.

 

Staying with goal setting, Emma Billington has a great article on Jane Friedman’s blog on a tomato a day… or the pomodoro method. If you haven’t come across this for writing – it is brilliant!

 

A space of ones own. This is the dream of all writers. A room that they can escape to and have everything sorted the way they want it. But is it the room? Is it the state of mind? Sue Coletta writes about the challenges of finding the space to write.

 

In The Craft Section,

Point of view and head hopping- Anne R Allen

A complete guide to revising your novel- Lynette Burrows- BOOKMARK

The bane and pain of transitional scenes-John Gilstrap

Naming and renaming your book-Barbara Linn Probst- Bookmark and Watch this short YouTube video on a novel naming game- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Was the Bookbub featured deal worth it?- Colleen Story – Bookmark

Boost author website traffic- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

2 great posts from the Alliance of Independent Authors- Distribute your Audiobook globally and Setting the right price for your book- Bookmark

How strategic marketing turned a debut into a success- Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish

Over the years I have been involved in organizing conferences, writing retreats, workshops, evening events etc. The reason for doing this is because I can’t afford to go on any of these myself. So, I organize them and then I can hopefully learn while rushing around making sure that the event goes well. Amy Goldmacher has an article on Jane Friedman’s blog asking if you are too intimidated to organize a writing retreat. Frankly, Tuscany would be a tall order. A wise bookseller told me when I floated the idea of holding a national children’s writer conference that looking around at who I knew and using their strengths would sort out my programming fears. He was right. You know the people already. All you have to do is reach out and offer to do the leg work. Your time is as valuable as the entry fee.

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

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

 

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

 

Snacking On Publishers

 

 

In Publishing News this week

It’s a tough old time if you are a writer down under. You may have had some hope of placing a book with one of the independent presses that still operate, but last week saw another of them gobbled up by Penguin Random House. Our regional voices are disappearing said a Guardian article. While Aussie authors are wincing- Kiwi authors have been there. Most of our publisher’s head offices are in Australia and we are lucky if they publish 1 NZ book a year.

 

In Davos the world economic forum got underway. How does this relate to publishing? Well, one of the key presentations is the future of jobs report. Dan Holloway took a look and found key indicators for publishers and writers. Reading is down…but creative thinking is up. Can we work with this information?

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a new imprint being started by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. It’s all about science. In this world of misinformation, any increase in science publishing is a good thing.

 

When it’s award season the critics choices are always highlighted but if you look at the bestseller lists, they often don’t show up. However, bestsellers have awards too. It is based on number of sales. Spot the children’s books. Julia Donaldson has topped the UK bestseller lists for the 5^th straight year. She is a critics’ choice and a bestselling author. Gotta love children’s authors, they keep publishing houses afloat.

 

Bookshop.org is turning 5. This great independent initiative linked independent booksellers together and created another way to order books instead of always heading to Amazon. Now they are about to add eBooks into the platform.

 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was the last word in authoritative knowledge when I was growing up. They are still around and having gone online early they are now embracing AI. This is a fascinating example of a publishing pivot. Mark Williams takes an in depth look at what they are doing. I don’t know about you but if I have to get information from an AI bot, I would prefer it to come from a trusted verified source, not a scraped chat forum.

 

Angela Ackerman has an interesting article on How Authors Thrive In A World Of AI-Generated Books. She has some great points to think about. Being human is your point of difference. As ever, she is a must read.

Meanwhile, Dale Roberts is talking about live video being the key to author visibility in 2025.

In The New Publishing Standard, Mark Williams shines a light on a publishing topic not much talked about, the three words ‘adjusted for inflation.’ Why don’t publishers show the real figures? 

 

Victoria Strauss does great work on Writer Beware and lately she has been looking at ghostwriting scams. She has a list of websites that are fronts for a scam publishing company.

 

Ah procrastination, what is stopping you from writing that novel? Barbara O’Neal has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the three things that cause procrastination. This is a must read if you want to conquer this insidious problem. Read It Now!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make themes work together- Jami Gold- Bookmark

How to write dark fantasy- Stephanie Wytovich

How to stay focused on your central conflict- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

World building lessons from Myst- Gabriela Pereira-Bookmark

5 wellness hacks to boost your writing- Colleen Story

 

In The Marketing Section,

Planning a book launch party- Tama Hela

 2 great posts from Sandra Beckwith- 3 Author marketing mistakes to avoid in 2025 and

Using AI as your author assistant - Bookmark

Is Facebook still worth it for writers- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to budget for your book- Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s been a rough old week in politics for the USA. For those of us looking on from afar we do feel for the people caught up in the middle. In this age of instant news and opinion it can feel overwhelming. “In war, truth is the first casualty” said Aeschylus in 500BC. When the world is wondering whether Mein Kampf, published in 1925 is being dusted off 100 years later to the detriment of another empire, it is courageous to stand up to your government and demand that they do better. One such person was the Bishop Mariann Budde who asked the new president point blank if he would protect the meek and helpless. Her words resonated around the world and now her book How We Learn To Be Brave, published in 2023 is being rushed into a second printing and is climbing the bestseller ranks. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

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

 

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Viability and Curiosity

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

January seems to be the month where the accountants have come back to work and said… Your business is not viable. 

The latest to crash is Unbound, a crowdfunding venture that I covered when they launched in 2011. It was a brave new world then and upvoting books to get published was a new exciting thing.

Also in the red is The Good Literary Agency which began in 2018 with a huge 500,000 pound grant. They were focused mainly on discovering marginalized authors in the hopes of uncovering potential runaway bestsellers to keep them viable. They discovered some but not enough. They close their doors in March.

 

Ahh TikTok, you came, you went, you came back. For everyone who has a business that is based on TikTok they recently had quite a scare. Publishing commentator Kathleen Schmidt has a great article on how you should be managing your social media content. First make it shareable. 

 

While this business is hard there is always room for hope with exciting new ventures just around the corner. Ingram Content Group (Ingram printers etc etc) have just launched a new business Film and TV rights marketplace, MediaScout. Publishing Perspectives has the low down.

 

Mark Williams has an article on The Alpine Collective, a new group that aims to help publishers across the globe use each other’s strengths to navigate new formats and territories. This is one of those groups that people often speculate would be amazing if only someone would do it… someone did. 

 

BookFunnel is a great company who got started when an author decided to take the pain out of download assistance for book buyers along the way he happened to solve other pain problems. Now they are venturing into helping with Direct Sales and have partnered with a company to manage the tax headache.

 

I was alerted to the coming closure of the Mobi format in the last week. Ho hum you say it’s been closed for a while. Yes. But after March the Mobi format will no longer be supported on Amazon. You might need to check if your mobi files will still be viable. You can use Kindle Create to construct picture books or image heavy books for EReaders in the Epub format. 

 

Bologna Children’s Book Fair is coming up fast at the end of March. They will be hosting an inaugural AI Summit at the fair specifically looking at how to leverage AI to enhance profitability in publishing. Publisher’s Weekly reports on their summit plans.

 

While you are coming to grips with AI – there is new technology right around the corner using it to develop other nifty tools like taking a 2D image and turn it into a 3D image and then animating it or generating a printer plan etc. Why is this important? Merchandise.  Mark Williams looks at the advantages for publishers.

 

James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones and Barnes and Noble has had an interesting five years at the helm of B&N and he has no plans to leave. In fact, he is just getting started. If you live in a town with a Barnes and Noble store, check it out. James wants a more local focus in each of the stores.  

 

Eleanor Hecks has a great article on how you can stay hopeful in a tough publishing climate. Sally Hamer has an excellent article on Why we don’t believe in our own writing. If you have ever looked at your work and reached for the bin… Stop. Maybe your judgement is flawed.

 

In The Craft Section

Use hidden experiences for empathy-Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

8 steps for getting better at editing- Ali Luke- Bookmark

5 phases to writing a fantasy novel- BookBaby

Dissecting Voice- Dave King

Therese Walsh writes about the LA wildfires leading to character understanding. What would you save in a fire? - Excellent!

 

In the Marketing Section,

13 bookmarketing tips- Victoria Jayne- Bookmark

Book promotion ideas- BookBaby

Unleash your Social Media potential- Rachel Thompson has an excellent article on Social Media now and how to navigate it. Bookmark

 

Sam Missingham has a fabulous video up on her YouTube channel that she did for a recent conference on how to create reader communities. Five creative ways authors can harness fans to sell books. Must Watch

 

To Finish,

In November last year, the Author Nation (the successor to 20booksto50K) conference happened. It’s the largest Indie Writers conference in the world. They have all the big industry players there and the conference is a bucket list item for many writers who live far from Las Vegas. The Indie Author magazine scored a coup by being allowed to show one of the keynote presentations. Be entertained and also learn about the curiosity gap and how you can put it in your writing with Drew Davis. 

Writers have bags of curiosity…make it work for you!

 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

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

 

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