Life Vs Fiction

 

Articles that caught my eye this week,

Mark Williams from The New Publishing Standard wrote a personal note to his readers this week. Mark lives in The Gambia and gathers up all the publishing news from the rest of the world. His internet has been down for a month and he shared where he works, a nursery school for the poorest children, and the importance of books. Amazing and inspirational. 

 

Why we need tragic stories now more than ever, an article by Vaughn Roycroft got me thinking about tragedy. I try to run from these stories and films but maybe I am doing myself a disservice. These could be an important release valve.

 

Publishing Perspectives has an article on a new and improved ordering system for booksellers that promises sparkles all around. Meanwhile, they also published an article detailing the ups and downs of The Hay on Wye Literary Festival. I wasn’t aware that the festival had pop-ups in other countries. This might not be so good when your brand gets tainted by bad actors, including the founder.

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on writing deadlines and how having them gives her life focus and energy and measurable productivity. Do you schedule your life around deadlines? How often? Yearly? Quarterly? By the project? 

 

David Gaughran is a fount of information. He has a great YouTube channel as well as great articles on publishing and marketing books. Recently he posted an article on 9 ways to unleash the power of free in 2021. He is well worth reading and keeping an eye on.

 

If you are nibbling away at book marketing trying to make sense of it (and who isn’t these days…) Bookbub published an article showcasing the best ads that came across their platform last year and how the authors used them.

 

Reedsy has a comprehensive article on how to be a better writer- 20 hacks and tips… 

 

In The Craft Section,

Avoiding Change -What’s stopping our characters- Jami Gold - Bookmark

Writing Sprints -  Joan Hall -Bookmark

Keeping it real when writing descriptively- Dave King- Bookmark

2 Great posts from Janice Hardy 5 minute fix to jumpstart your scene and 

4 mistakes that doom your first page Bookmark Both

 

In The Marketing Section.

Two interesting posts on Authors using Twitter- Writing Twitter Bio’s from Belinda Pollard and How I landed a book deal using Twitter- Pam Mandel

5 reasons you should speak for free- Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

Why hiring a freelance publicist is a good idea- Patricia Smiley

Identifying your reader- Christina Delay- Bookmark

Amazon book promotion preorder infographic- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Valentine’s day was celebrated this week with interesting posts from Romance writers everywhere on the subject of… romance. And then there was this hilarious post from Tara Sparling on why you should never live with a fictional romantic hero during a pandemic.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Star Light will be reverting to its usual price soon, so pick up a copy while it's still cheap. A review would be awesome, thank you.

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Lore Sjoberg

 

New Lamps For Old

 

In Publishing News this week…

 

Remember this time last year when Audible wanted to create transcripts of audiobooks and they got slammed by publishers because that was effectively making ebooks. Another year rolls around and Android are making changes, one of which is captions for audiobooks and this time the publishers are on board?

 

Last week I mentioned Overdrive’s huge jump in lending figures. Overdrive supplies libraries around the world with eBooks. A lot of publishers distribute their eBooks to libraries through Overdrive. Amazon was never interested in libraries until someone in their office must have made a connection somewhere. Publishers Weekly report changes are afoot. 

 

I try to keep one eye on the educational publishers, think of the captive market of students and their textbooks needs. Academic publishers went to digital subscription early for journals. Textbooks however are still a holdout. What are the differences between Trade and Academic publishers? Prestige or Money? Richard Charkin explains how the mindsets of each are changing and even swapping.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi always find innovative ways to give back to the writing community. They are hosting a writing advent calendar and you can go back in time and join all the giveaways. Check it Out!

 

Nick Stephenson has been working with a website designer recently looking at author websites and coming to grips with what should be in a comprehensive one. He has 7 essential elements for an author website for you to think about. 

 

Reedsy decided to round up the best book covers, in their opinion this year. I was looking through them trying to figure out what sort of unifying trend there was that made them all similar. 2020 - was it the year of blue or the year of rough font- or a symbolic representation of the existential despair suffered by cover designers and publishers as they grapple with life in 2020.

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog this week on the signs of hope that the coming year may be getting back on the right track. But there will be big changes. For instance, all the big movies are being released online instead of in cinemas. Movie producers are still going to rake in the cash from a captive home audience. Will this spell the end of the big cinema chains? (There is a huge movie theatre construction site happening not far from me. They might have to repurpose the building.)

 

Recently K M Weiland had a blog post on overthinking your writing. This is a horrible little trap when the perfection demons come out to play and you lose any joy in your work. Katie has some strategies for you.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make the most from our story tropes- Jami Gold Bookmark

13 pieces of advice for aspiring authors- Shelly Munro

4 ways to fix a boring story- Gilbert Bassey

Writing schedule hacks – Now Novel- Bookmark

Your characters why- Beth Barany- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Lessons learned from producing podcasts- Simon Owens

The 2021 Literary Calendar for Social Media- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to sell romance books- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

What to include in an advanced information sheet- Dan Parsons- Bookmark

 

To Finish

As we head into the end of the year thoughts turn to writing gifts… What would you like to give yourself? If you are struggling to put your finger on the right gift check out Reedsy’s collection of gifts. For the creative among you - you can always make your own version of The Writer’s Block.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Next week will be the last blog post for the year and also time for the last newsletter of the year. So if you want to get the bumper roundup of links for Christmas- Go on and subscribe

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Gisela Francisco

 

Being Kind

This week I sent out my monthly newsletter just before New Zealand began to prepare for a four-week lockdown. We are entering an uncertain time. I get to share my working space with my family for four weeks solid. This could be challenging. Here are some of the ideas I shared in my newsletter for writers coping in this brave new world.

Clean up all your computer files.

Back up all your documents.

Shelve your books alphabetically, or by colour… or practice book structure sculpture.

Write a book review and post it online every day for Book Karma.

Study a good film for plot points and emotional payoffs- Do it as a group activity (family time?)

Check-in with your loved ones and your colleagues. This is about physical distancing not social distancing. 

Be Kind To Yourself

The calm good sense of K M Weiland on the power of hopeful stories when the world seems a bit mad is a nice reminder that the world needs storytellers. 

Joanna Penn has a great article on productivity from guest writer, Tiffany Joy. If your productivity has gone out the window it is alright to regroup and try again.

Nate Hoffelder has a great post on how to look at your author business and move forward with a new plan for when we come out on the other side. Very sensible, also his 6 stages of grief are right on target.

Anne R Allen has been looking at Amazon’s review policy and yes, they have changed it again. Now you have to be careful of ARC team reviews. But as Anne says there are other places you can leave reviews.

New Zealand was going to be hosting the WorldCon this year and now the whole country is in lockdown. As a nice pivot Worldcon will be virtual. 

Meanwhile, BEA is still attempting to go ahead despite the withdrawals of 3 big publishers.

Kris Rusch has dug out an old post on setting priorities if you are new to working from home. This is absolutely the best advice as we figure out how to work in this brave new world of coronavirus lockdown. She then continued her current thinking about black swan events and what might be coming down the track for author business.

In The Craft Section,

5 ingredients for story subtext- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Peer critique versus Professional editing- Jane Friedman

Creative Writing Prompts and Writing Exercises from Reedsy- Bookmark Both

How to format dialogue – Jami Gold - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Social Media Marketing

5 reasons to consider translating your work- Angela Ackerman

How to get publicity- Tom Corson Knowles- Bookmark

April - unique content ideas- Penny Sansevieri – Bookmark

Publish Drive expands its business to include print and audio- News!

To Finish,

Last week was I was writing about creativity. The Oatmeal blog came up with an awesome comic on creativity. 

Here in New Zealand we are lucky to have a brilliant microbiologist and a cartoonist join forces to write creative, entertaining and factual daily articles that are now being shared globally.

Be Kind. Stay strong.

Maureen

@craicer

Day One of New Zealand Lockdown

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter?

When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

The Plot Thickens

Digital Book World is on and straight after it is the 24-hour free online conference put on by ALLI – The Alliance of Independent Authors. Register NOW so you can have 3 days perusing all the info before it is gone! 

In Publishing Business News…
Canada Independent Booksellers report a rise in print revenue according to Publishing Perspectives. This is good news if you have just launched a bookshop. (see last week’s post)

Meanwhile, Publish Drive have changed their author fees. They had introduced a flat fee for handling all the distribution in exchange for 100% royalties. Now they have a four-tier model. It still might be worth considering if you have quite a few books.

The French Military, taking a leaf out of the US military playbook, has put out a call to Science Fiction writers to write scenarios for them. Who better than a bunch of authors to come up with plots that might actually happen. (Debt of Honour by Tom Clancy published in 1997, 4 years before 9/11)

This year the Frankfurt Bookfair has a pavilion dedicated to Romani Gypsy literature. I first read of ethnic minorities becoming nation-states without borders in a Science Fiction novel. This pavilion recognises an ethnic minority, without a nation-state, and their literature. Literature is above borders.

Kris Rusch has published the next installment in her rethinking the writing business series. It’s all about money and licensing. How do you know how much to charge for each license?
(BTW Dean, her husband, is speaking on this topic in the free Alli conference if you needed another reason to register.)

Dean Wesley Smith is annoyed with the misinformation out there about how much it costs to Indie Publish. In his dumbest new myth blog post he points out it is relatively cheap… so anyone charging you $2000 plus you need to give the side-eye to. As ever, read the comments!! Some of the commenters added new resources to Dean's list that make it even cheaper!

Agent Janet Reid sends out a warning of a scam that she recently came into contact with. People who offer to represent you to agents… her thoughts… BURN.

The Alliance of Independent Authors has updated their publishing business reviews. If you are thinking of working with anyone in the publishing world it worth checking out whether they have a good review from ALLI.

Kathy Steinemann has a nifty list of ways to record the fabulous plot ideas that arrive in the middle of the night.

Amanda Rawson Hill gets a rave review from September Fawkes and just reading this guest post on How Theme and False Theme affect your protagonist, you can see why. 
This is a knockout… print this out and pin it on the wall post!

In The Craft Section,

Setting the scene- NowNovel Bookmark

Emotional mastery for fiction writers – C S Lakin- Bookmark

How to approach writing a villain protagonist - Scott Myers- Bookmark

The inner struggle- Janice Hardy

How to tell if you have too much plot and not enough character- K M Weiland - Bookmark

How can we make our conflict stronger- Jami Gold- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Behind the scenes of an author newsletter- DIYMFA -Bookmark

Forget what you learned in Kindergarten, copy Madonna- Janet Reid

Promote your book hacks-Reedsy- BOOKMARK

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri, Easy SEO for author marketing and 5 quick ways to ramp up 
your author central page-Bookmark Both.

On producing my own audiobook- James Scott Bell

To Finish

Do you call yourself a Bookworm or a Bookshark? Lit Reactor can tell you the difference. I was nodding my way down the list… so I know what I am.

Today is a day that haunts many people. Inevitably it has filled the internet with sad stories. So maybe we need to turn to Roald Dahl for the perfect quote (collection)
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like,
So long as somebody loves you.
Roald Dahl- The Witches

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time for the monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, why don’t you subscribe? Then you can also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
I appreciate the virtual coffee love so if you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top.
Thanks.

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons- Rab Driver-  Cat Plotting Revenge

Decluttering Ownership

This week Microsoft readers woke up to discover that Microsoft was shutting its e-library down. Unfortunately, that meant that all their books disappeared. After nearly twenty years of ebooks, there are still people out there who think that once they have bought an ebook it is theirs. No, it isn’t. You have bought a license to read the book on a proprietary software. That is what DRM (Digital Rights Management) means. If you have a DRM free copy you can put it on other devices and so keep the copy. 
This is why Kris Rusch is so interested in potentials available for authors in the licensing business. Do you really know what you have created and what it is worth?

While Microsoft was decluttering their library... Anne R Allen was looking at decluttering novels. This is a great post on how to streamline your work.

Streamlining. Become an author. What every teen overachiever has on their bucket list of things to do before they turn 20.  Jane Friedman has an interesting post on the rise of Teen Authors hiring ghostwriters. 

Reedsy has a post on free book cover makers which is chock full of tools. BUT YOU MUST OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE IMAGES YOU USE. I put that important sentence in caps because Book Riot reported this week on the plagiarism of the image that was used to make the iconic book cover for Elizabeth Acevedo’s multi-award-winning book, The Poet X. So is this a case of Steal Like An Artist?

Reedsy also has a great post on Bookbub ads for anyone who wants to get a grip on these. 

Passive Guy reports on a court case where Amazon was found to be liable for third party sales. This might not seem big just yet but... if your book is pirated then sold on Amazon... then Amazon could be liable. ( cue pirate cleanup)

Every year around this time Joanna Penn writes her version of Author Earnings when she does a deep dive into her business and looks at how it is doing. She even makes pretty graphs and does data analysis. Have a look at this years report. This is what we can all aspire to. 

In The Craft Section,

The importance of character names- Scott Myers

Trim the fat from your fiction- Utopian Editing

8 quick tips on Show not Tell- K M Weiland

Writing your novels blurb- Staci Troilo- Bookmark

How to see the holes in your stories ending-Roz Morris - Bookmark

Planning your opening passages- Mythcreants- Bookmark

How to slash your word count by 20%- Jodi Renner

In The Marketing Section,

How to test Bookbub ads- Bookbub- Bookmark

20 Quick book marketing ideas- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

10 things to update every time you release a book- Deborah Jay

Reader Targeting influences everything- David Gaughran- Bookmark

Production calendars- DIYMFA

How to use book content to reach more readers

25 newsletter incentives for fiction authors- Mixtusmedia- Bookmark

To Finish,

It’s been a book cover week. I’ve relaxed looking at Bookcoverzone. ( No I haven’t bought any more covers for nonexistent books this year...Yet.) Design Wizard sent me a link to their selection of the most creative book covers. Go and be inspired.

Maureen
@craicer

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter?
When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Phil Hearing

Publishing By Numbers

The Big Big News in the publishing world was the sale of Barnes and Noble this week to Elliot Advisors hedge fund.
After five CEO’s in four years the lifeboat may have arrived in the nick of time for the troubled bookseller. Publishers have been holding their breath as the demise of the largest bookshop chain in the United States would decimate their bottom lines. 
Last year Elliot Hedge Fund bought Waterstones, a large UK chain of bookstores. James Daunt, who had his own branded chain of bookstores, continued as CEO. Waterstones went through a massive rebranding to make each of their bookstores act and feel like an Indie bookstore, thanks to James leading from the front, since 2011. 
So now that they are on the up, Elliot Hedge Fund must be betting that James Daunt can pull it off again as he has been named as the new CEO. (No pressure James.) Barnes and Noble came cheap. Only two years of Waterstones profits to buy one of the largest bookstore chains in the world. 
So how did Barnes and Noble get it so wrong? Author Kristen Lamb shines the spotlight on how the publishing companies could have done something and didn’t. After all, this was their biggest showroom and they effectively gave it to Amazon.

Staying with our global focus on bookselling, Sharjah Emirate has been making waves in the International Book World. They have built Publishing City, a purpose-built complex of over 400 offices for the worlds publishing community. ALL TAX-FREE. This week Ingram signed a large contract to bring Print on Demand services into Publishing City. Porter Anderson takes a look at how this might challenge and change publishing globally.

Amazon has been running a large literary prize for a few years now. This year entries are open to any book published in the English language. The prize is a wad of cash and a translation deal because translations may be the next big thing.

Anne R Allen has an interesting blog post on the lure of the writing template. Are all novels beginning to feel like more of the same? Are writers playing it safe with form and format and copying down the same format time after time or is this just the essence of storytelling.

Jami Gold has a great folder of templates to help writers on her website. She recently came up with another good one to add to her resources for Authors. A truthful to the Author priority list. If you flail around looking for all your to-do lists and get overwhelmed at setting goals and priorities for your writing, this is the template for you. A step by step breakdown of how to prioritize.

While you are thinking of goal setting  Katelyn Knox has figured out a way to track your daily writing and focus goals on a google form. This is really interesting. I never thought of using a google form in this way.

Another tool in the Indie Arsenal is this great website. Creative Law centre. This is a lawyer specialising in authors and their contract needs. Check out this great template for audiobook narrators and then fossick around and find other useful stuff.

Writer’s Digest has a roundup of twenty new agents and what they are looking for... If you want to get a feel for what may be coming in the next few years, go into Twitter (Agents love Twitter) and type #MSWL (manuscript wishlist) for a comprehensive list of agent wants.

Reedsy has put together a collection of solutions for Writer’s Block. Just in case you still need help to figure out what to write next, who to send it to, what your contract could mean. after you’ve used the right template, set your goals and tracked them before heading to Sharjah and appearing in a huge book tour through Waterstones and Barnes and Noble.
It’s all in the little details that add up to the big numbers of dollars... (WriterDreams)

In The Craft Section,

Writing scene endings – Now Novel

How to hint at emotional wounds- Angela Ackerman

Writing tone and voice- Dana Sitar-Bookmark

Internal conflict types- Lonerwolf

2 basic rules of editing- Allegra Huston

Overwriting- How to reduce your word count- Tara East- Bookmark

Story goals are they slowing your pace- Jami Gold - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Guide to getting more readers reviews- Bookbub- Bookmark

8 query letter don’ts- K M Allen

11 steps to stellar Instagram- The Digital Reader

The new look KDP reports- Elizabeth S Craig- Bookmark

How to build an author platform- David Gaughran- Bookmark

To Finish,

Suzanne Lakin has a handy blog that I have linked to for quite a few years. Today she posted that she was involved in a huge story bundle. Over $5000 worth of courses, books, and templates for only $49. I was intrigued. It looks pretty impressive. It’s only available for a week so check it out. ( Tip: Go to the learn more page and scroll down the list of goodies.)

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time to for my monthly newsletter. If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links why don’t you subscribe? You will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.
If you’re feeling generous and you like the blog, shout me a coffee by hitting the coffee button up top. This blog runs on coffee so I appreciate all the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Rafael Matsunaga- That was supposed to be going up, wasn’t it?

The Content Warehouse

In publishing news this week....

Google has often flirted with opening up the Google Play store to ebooks. It opens for a few months then closes then opens, getting everyone's hopes up again, then closes. Many authors go through a third party like Draft2Digital or PublishDrive trying to get their foot into the Google Books door. But in publishing news this week Google is kicking the aggregators to the curb, cutting out the middle man and going direct to authors and publishers. But with nothing special on offer Nate Hoffelder has to ask why?

Remember when Patreon decided to stop the small micropayments to creatives? When the bulk of your Patreon income comes from those $1 a month supporters the outcry across the creative sector was loud and strong. Pateron backtracked in 24 hours. Now they have been doing some thinking and consulting with creatives and they have a new tier structure. 

Reedsy has launched a new epub to mobi converter. This is a big deal if you struggle to get your mobi files small enough not to incur a transaction charge. If you are a children’s book author with internal illustrations this is a huge cost that cuts into your royalty. 

Storytel has been making waves again. This time Publishers Weekly has noticed them quietly offering Harry Potter in Arabic and beginning to make inroads into audio publishing. But they are not offering royalties by the listen, as other audiobook publishers do. They are offering royalties by the minute.

Many authors who use Mailchimp as their email provider were dismayed when Mailchimp changed the rules on them this week. David Gaughran, fearless knight defending the little author, asked them to explain. They did. David eviscerated them. This is a must read for any author with a mailing list.

Back Matter... I never thought about how varied it could be. Anybody used a colophon? This is an interesting post on how to use back matter properly. And how even the smallest things in the back matter can enhance or destroy your reputation. 

In the Craft Section,

Style that doesn’t go out of fashion- Anne R Allen

Showing scene through character senses- C S Lakin- Bookmark

500 writing prompts- Bookmark

Creating unforgettable settings- Becca Puglisi

What makes an epic story- Vaughn Roycroft

Avoiding the cliched emotional response- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

How to set up your website foundation- Tyler Doornbos- Bookmark

The equation for marketing success- Ingram Spark Interesting!

Defining our brand- Jami Gold- Bookmark

10 book cover design trends in 2019

I’m boring- the author bio – Janet Reid- Bookmark

10 critical book marketing strategies- Penny Sansevieri

To Finish,

Inventory. Have you got one? Kris Rusch is preparing to go to a licensing fair with her husband Dean Wesley Smith. Between them, they have more than 1000 pieces of inventory that could be licensed. If you are wondering what this is, it’s Intellectual Property. Read Kris Rusch’s post on how they are selecting and preparing IP rights for sale. 

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter is due this weekend. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic; AllAmericanContainers.net

Positive Learning

Today as I was researching good articles for you I kept feeling like I was witnessing a slow-motion car wreck. I like Twitter but there are days when the good people of the Twitter world that I follow are in meltdown fatigue over the incessant bad news coming out of the US. But it is important to still keep an eye on what’s happening over there. If you start opting out because the news is not good, big changes that you should be vocal about will be slipped in when you are not looking. This is democracy. You participate in it or lose it.

Anne R Allen had an interesting post on Author persona. Who are you really? This is a good post if you are struggling with the whole online identity thing. This goes together nicely with DIYMFA’s article on building a good author brand. How far do you go being authentic online?  Bill Nye decided to break his whole nice scientist guy brand this week by swearing about how bad Climate Change is and demanding the world take it seriously. And yes the media ignored the message to talk about Bill using the F word. Was there any other way it was going to go?

When is your image not your image? When a photographer takes a picture. If you think this is messed up, author lawyer Passive Guy explores the problem of celebrities getting sued for using pictures of themselves on Instagram. It’s a copyright violation. Image use and consent are important. However in good news... Creative Commons has made a search engine to help everyone find the right picture in the public domain. 

Kris Rusch has an interesting post on Kickstarter stress.  First, you have the stress of putting a Kickstarter together then you have the stress of the outcome. Kickstarter success can be just as stressful as a failure. If you are looking for ways to make some money for your writing project check out these 9 inexpensive revenue streams for broke writers.

Publishers Weekly had an article this week on the rise of chapbooks. These are little giveaway books that publishers make available to retailers and reviewers to stimulate word of mouth. It’s an interesting marketing tool. Penny Sansevieri has a great post on the importance of having a marketing plan which ties in nicely with Createifwritings one on how to get reviews.

Emmanuel Nataf, a founder of Reedsy, has an interesting post on why speculative fiction is needed now more than ever. The ability to tell a story for people and show them what bad choices can cause to the world may be the only way we get through to humanity. The Handmaids Tale is a case in point.

In The Craft Section,
Emotional writing- Joslyn Chase

How to write effective action scenes- Writepractice-Bookmark

Sensory detail and emotional depth- Lisa Hall Wilson

Story Structure in a flash- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Fight, Flight or Freeze- Psyche 101 for writers – Becca Puglisi- Bookmark 


In The Marketing Section,
Growing newsletters from zero- Christina McDonald- Bookmark

9 reasons authors need newsletters- Nate Hoffelder -new series on The Book Designer- Bookmark

3d photo’s for Book cover ads- John Doppler

Small business marketing best practice

4 effective book marketing strategies- Badredhead media

Make your book marketing plan a success- MJ Connolly- Bookmark

To Finish,
I’m a sucker for learning. I love learning and new ideas and ways of doing things. So Reedsy publishing a list of podcasts about books and writing was especially welcome. I already listen to a few podcasts on the list regularly. TCK Publishing put together this super list of TED talks for writers. That’s my viewing sorted for the week.

Maureen
@craicer

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic; Flickr Creative Commons –  Alan Levine

Running To A Standstill

This week around the blogosphere there was consternation as
a plagiarism scandal erupted and grew bigger by the hour.

As events unfolded the writer in question blamed the ghost writers that she hired to write books
with her name on it… and therein lies the problem. If you have your name on it then it must have
come from you and been approved by you. As the plagiarised writer,  an ex-supreme court lawyer,
said on Twitter… you picked the wrong person here.
Unfortunately she was not the only writer targeted... at last count 27 writers had been picked up.

Kris Rusch outlines the very reasons why this mess happened and why you should be very
clear in writing cooperatively, however you do it.  

If you have been on social media lately you will have seen all the hype around the new Masterclass
with Neil Gaiman. Actually Neil is everywhere… Good Omens is coming out, American Gods is in
a second season...  Masterclass must be rubbing hands all the way to the bank. So if you have been
on the fence about shelling out for this…you might like this article about
whether it is worth doing a class with Mr Gaiman...or Ms Attwood.

Are you a company of one?
Joanna Penn interviewed Paul Jarvis on how to approach your writer business if it’s just you.

It’s Book Fair season around the world.  The New Publishing Standard keeps an eye on
the international book fairs with India having record attendances lately but they aren’t the only ones.
Belgium has just racked up record attendances too Is print back?
Meanwhile London is expanding their offering and opening up to podcasts.
(It’s all about audio you know….)

Nate Hoffelder pointed out in his blog this week that there is a new wordpress plugin that gets
Alexa to read your blog for you as a podcast and if that isn’t enough to be going on with...
in Joanna Penn’s latest podcast interview with Will Dages of Findaway voices the discussion touched on
a future copyright IP- for your author voice.

Are you worried about finding your ideal reader- The Superfan who will
buy all your books, shout your name to the heavens, and leap to do your every bidding?  
Anne R Allen has the blog post for you... Should writers despair if they don’t have superfans?
It must have struck a chord… there are a pile of comments.

Penny Sansevieri has an interesting post on 4 common book marketing complaints.
Check them out just in case you are doing something wrong and don’t know it.

Reedsy is getting into the book review business… which surprised me.
They have trusted book reviewers for a price… but then you are just marketing to other authors…
Maybe I’m missing something.

Scott Meyers has a great post on his screenwriting blog about writing sprints…
Yes you can achieve much when you write against the clock especially with others…
but don’t forget that a writing walk is just as good… you’ll need your running shoes tho.

In The Craft Section,

2 great posts from Angela Ackerman- When character flaws go too far and Exploring the dark side of your hero - Bookmark Both.

Creating an easy habit of writing- Write to Done

Kill your darlings - editing- Write for Kids

How to write authentic injuries- Scriptmedic

What the 'Friends' pilot can teach writers- Bang2Write- Bookmark

Should you join a writing group?- Leigh Shulman

10 steps guide to the likable hero - Captain America -K M Weiland- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

5 tips to spice up your Amazon Profile- Chrys Fey- Bookmark

5 powerful ways to market your book using Pinterest- Bookbuzzr

How your reader profiles informs your book marketing- Bookworks- Bookmark

Is distribution of your print worth it- LM Preston

How to cut down on your business expenses- Creatifwriting

What’s in your signature- Judith Briles

Using Twitter for your author platform- No wasted ink- Bookmark

To Finish,

If you are really in a hurry for that book… check out the Book Espresso machine.
They are becoming more common in book stores in the U.S. Walk in… order the book…
it gets printed while you wait…
Print can be almost as fast as buying an ebook.

Maureen
@craicer

It's nearly time for my monthly newsletter. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee- hit the coffee button up top. Thanks.

Pic; Flickr Creative Commons - Victor Navarro