The Writer Roller Coaster

In Publishing News This Week

 

Oh Meta, we know what you have done and now the courts know it too. 

The next AI scraping court case gets underway. Rumours are swirling that Mark Zuckerberg knew that they were using stolen files to train their AI. This court case is wider in scope than the Anthropic case. Publishing Perspectives has an overview of this case. There are now over 100 court cases pending on AI training irregularities.

 

This week children’s publisher Chronicle opens their submission box for un-agented submissions. One week only. You only have a few days, so check it out fast if you have something good. 

Publishing Perspectives reports that The Children’s Booker Award is open for submissions. This is the first time that the Children’s Booker prize will be awarded. And it has the same amount of prize money. We are finally legit, said every children’s writer. 

 

Staying with children’s writing, Recent news has highlighted the downturn in reading for pleasure amongst children. This could be because of screens, or it could be the undermining of reading by spending too much time on literacy achievements in school. Speaking as a teacher- My favourite times were reading to classes. When I speak with young teachers now, they say they are under so much pressure that they have stopped reading to their class. Mark Williams weighs in with his latest essay, Harper Collins and the Reading Crisis. 

 

Children’s writers have to maintain a squeaky clean persona so it was with real dismay that we learned down under of a children’s writer who has pled guilty to child exploitation. The violated trust is sending shock waves through the community. In the midst of all this are the books that have been enjoyed by countless children. How do you explain to children that their favourite author has been so nasty?  It’s enough to turn them off reading.

 

Publishers Weekly has an essay on How Chic Lit lost its footing. This looks at how ‘Chic Lit’ inspired films and has morphed into contemporary women’s fiction. 

Every time I see the patronising term ‘Chic Lit’ I remember a pithy comment from a writer friend that all those male gaze thrillers were just ‘Dick Lit.’ But of course, they would never be marketed as such would they?

 

Rise -The International Bookselling Conference was recently held in Verona and under discussion was the role Booksellers are playing in an increasingly dangerous world of attacks on free speech. Some of these booksellers were putting their lives on the line to stay open and create safe places for readers and writers.

 

Kathleen Schmidt has an interesting essay, Is Substack The New Book Tour. Kathleen is a book publicist, and she comments on the new trends that she sees in Book Promotion. Lately Substack has been talked about because of Lena Dunham’s memoir being featured quite heavily on book review pages.

 

After the roller coaster of emotions from this publishing news roundup you can be forgiven for feeling a little fragile. Katie Weiland has written about The Emotional Toll On Writers In The Modern Landscape. She has five ways to cope with the oversaturation of being constantly available.

 

Liz Adams has a fun essay on Anne R Allen’s blog about Writing Page Turners. It all has to do with secrets and who knows what secret each character is keeping. 

Sssh Don’t Tell Anyone but this is a really good advice! 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Restarting old projects- Joe Lallo

Seeing your work clearly when editing- Susan Odev- Bookmark

Fear, phobias, and your characters- Angela Ackerman

Transitions- how often are you asking your readers to jump- Seth Harwood- Bookmark

Crafting deep scenes- Donald Maass- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

Author fairs – The hidden benefits- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Fiction Lead magnet ideas- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Nicholas Erik on Facebook ads- Video. (Sign up for his excellent newsletter.) Bookmark

How Indie authors can build anthologies- Wendy Van Camp

Publishing in German- Joanna Penn interview with Skye Mackinnon- Excellent

 

To Finish

This is the last week that you can get the Storybundle of writing books. Kris Rusch asked the contributors in January if they had updated their popular books on craft and marketing in light of recent developments in publishing. The whole collection are updated exclusives to this Storybundle collection. I bought my first writing Storybundle about seven years ago and I remember devouring some of these books on a road trip. The beauty of Storybundle is that you get the digital files immediately and you can read them on any device- They are yours to keep. The authors get paid immediately and a percentage of your donation goes to charity. You can choose just to get 3 books for a modest charge or donate more money to get the whole lot. Check it out and share it among your writer friends. You don’t want to miss out.

 

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 free 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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Shopping for Knowledge

 

In Publishing News this week.

In a surprise move, as everyone thought the Baker and Taylor Distributors had a buyer, B and T shut the door and fired everyone. Publishers Weekly reports that this leaves B and T workers, small publishers and libraries completely in the cold with no sign of redress.

 

Fox Entertainment and HarperCollins have decided to work together. They have signed a first look deal. Fox gets to develop Avon romances and HarperCollins gets to write books on Fox studio properties. If you can’t beat Netflix – Do what Netflix does… all the way to the bank.

 

If you are a subscriber to the Substack version of the blog you will have already seen the breaking news about the new searchable database for the Anthropic settlement last week. Darcy Pattison has a great article on what all the important dates around filing for the $3000 per book payout means. This is a must read. You can be sure that the other AI companies are looking at this judgement and will be taking notes. Anthropic saved themselves a $75 Billion fine by settling out of court and if you look at the numbers they come out of it pretty well. The kick in the teeth for some writers is discovering their publishers in America didn’t file a copyright claim within 5 years of publication which leaves them out in the cold.

 

On Writer Beware Victoria Strauss writes about the return of the Nigerian Prince scam and includes the new book club feature scam. With AI doing all the research work the email scams can be pretty convincing.  

 

Penguin Random House has sent its banned books wagon to Washington DC for Banned Books Week. Insert your own pithy comment on the juxtaposition of these two entities meeting in the seat of American government. The banned books on this year’s list, that they are handing out, will make you weep. 

 

Last week I mentioned an article - Publishing has a Gambling Problem and the responses from many people in publishing to its truths.

This week to add to the discourse, Karen Gillespie writes about The Case of the Disappearing Author and Why You Don’t Want a 6 or 7 Figure Deal.

 

 Agent Richard Curtis turns the spotlight onto Moral Clauses this week. He argues that the moral clause is immoral. Publishers are seeing the moral clause as a potential weapon to disassociate themselves from a high risk client. High risk? That could be a writer who disagrees with the latest edict from a political leader. Have you read your contracts morals clause?

 

Next month you can join Novel November. This is the replacement for NaNoWriMo. The list of sponsors for this free event is gathering momentum. If you want to test yourself and write a novel in November check out the site and sign up for free. There are lots of goodies on offer, including a charity donation from Pro Writing aid for every writer who succeeds in writing 50,000 words in November. This could be the month to try dictation and smash those words out.

 

Dan Blank has an interesting article on cycles of learning. What stops you from doing or learning about book marketing and connecting with readers. It can be as easy as committing to a short daily challenge. 

 

Susan Watts has one of those articles that you file away and think I must do that. It’s all about body position and health. If you have felt the strain of sitting at your keyboard Susan has some ideas for you to fix your workspace. (Stretch your body now!)

 

The Dream Team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are celebrating 10 years of their website One Stop for Authors. This is their comprehensive website with articles and planners and all good things. They have some great deals to say thank you.

 

The Art Of Keeping Your Readers Hooked is what every writer wants. Elizabeth Craig has boiled it down to five important things to nail to keep your readers nailed to the page.

 

In The Craft Section,

Writer Igniter Story prompts- DIYMFA- Bookmark

How long should a series go- James Scott Bell

First draft words of wisdom- Dale Ivan Smith-Bookmark

10 dialogue tips – C S Lakin- Bookmark

What is a compelling voice-Tiffany Yates Martin

 

In The Marketing Section,

Booktok for Book Marketing- Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

Social media strategies for authors- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Creating Buzz- Terry Odell- Bookmark

When your imaginary world becomes real- R J Redden

10 proven strategies to own the Amazon Algorithm- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

October was usually called NaNoWriMo prep month. Now with Novel November prep month continues, with lots of resources around for writers to access. Kevin Anderson has put together a collection of writing craft eBooks for Storybundle with great bonus books if you buy the whole set. It’s a win win win, writers get money, you get great books for not much, and a charity gets a dollop of cash. 

To make the most of writing resources you should read Gabriela Pereira’s article on Double Take learning. It is especially interesting if you are thinking about stretching yourself into new writing directions in November.

Don’t forget to sign up for The Alliance of Independent Authors free online 24 hour conference. This year’s theme is New Trends and the agenda is up. 

Go out there and soak up the knowledge.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter of 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 free Substack version.

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

 

 

pic Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

 

Fishhooks and Bouquets

 

In Publishing News this week.

In headlines around the world, Taylor Swift bought back her original master recordings of her first six albums. Why have I put this news in my weekly blog? It all has to do with copyright and the value of that copyright. If you read the saga which starts when 14 year old Taylor signed her first 6 albums away to the record company in perpetuity, there is a moment where the writer winces with recognition of a contract that takes all rights. A trail blazing young icon like Taylor is letting the music industry know that copyright matters. In return I hear that music contracts are now being tweaked to include percentages of ticket sales and merchandise which was the only way artists could make a living if they were owned by a record company.

 

Contracts are very much on the mind of the writers caught up in the Unbound Bankruptcy scandal. Many writers discovered that even though they were owed royalties,(thousands of $$) they were unsecured creditors in the case of a bankruptcy, while their books were seen as assets to be sold on under bankruptcy legislation. This is exactly what happened to the assets of Unbound. What stings is that some of the original principals of Unbound rebranded themselves as Boundless and bought the assets. You can imagine how this has been seen. Most of their staff has walked out the door in protest. Bankruptcy law trumps contracts unless you have a clause saying that if the publisher goes bankrupt you get your rights back immediately. This clause needs to be inserted in the contract by the writer. A publisher will never put that clause in by themselves.

 

Booktok has been questioning inequality in publishing. This week an Australian rugby star and new social media user suddenly got a book publishing deal on basically nothing but looks and potential. Whether they can write is another question altogether.

 

Recently Publishers Weekly hosted a day long US Book Show. Big topics for attending publishers were how to navigate the political landscape to keep publishing books.

Also in the news was the rise of dark romance sales in the US and another survey about how the world seems to be embracing audiobooks. The sales are now almost neck and neck with print. 

 

Kathleen Schmidt has a post about how toxic Threads has become for the book community. It seems that pile on behaviour and bad mouthing each other is still with us, even though the book community left Twitter because of it. Rule: Don’t engage the trolls.

 

If you read the above paragraph and thought ‘it was probably AI bots’ you might need a lie down after reading Dan Holloways post on how AI was taught to interact with Reddit users, and also to recreate Agatha Christie into a writing teacher. Dan also looks at the Bookbub survey on how many writers are using AI in their work. The answers may surprise you.

 

Sean Kernan has an excellent article on how you can tell when ChatGPT is used to write something. This may be of use to writing competitions to weed out the bad apples.

Or as one kindle reviewer put it in a 1 star review, ‘I thought it was bad and then I found the pasted in prompt from Chat GPT in the middle of the paragraph asking for the novel to be written in the style of another writer.’

 

Mark Williams offers his own acerbic take on how publishers should be using AI licensing deals. The genie is out of the bottle- figure out a way to use it for the benefit of the writers.

Anne R Allen writes that Book Scammers are out there still with a quick roundup of some new twists on old scams. Yes of course, it’s easy to buy a slot on the New York Times Billboard in Times square. Just put your money into a Nigerian prince’s bank account.

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults shortlist is out. This year the list embraces our place in the Pacific with a record number of pacific themed books in the shortlist. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators. It is super hard to judge these awards, I know because I have judged them. There will have been many books that will have nearly made it. If they published a long list like the adult book awards we wouldn’t be asking every year why some brilliant book hasn’t made the list. The number of entries must be nearly the same by now.

 

If you are wondering how to get started with your latest novel idea why don’t you try a Dear Reader letter to yourself. Tara Alemany writes the questions you should be asking the reader about what they want to read. Doing this exercise has a two fold benefit, it focuses your mind on the story you want to tell and it gives you some ideas for marketing it after you’ve written it. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Plan like a pro Write like a rebel- Tammy Burke

The 3 act structure- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Creating escalating complications- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

Overexplaining in dialogue- K M Weiland- Bookmark

When the good guys must die-P J Parrish- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Author Automations Start small layer with purpose - Chelle Honniker- Bookmark

10 ways to boost sales with Google Play-Indie author magazine- Bookmark

How to market your audiobook- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to get more media- Penny Sansevieri

Launching your book successfully with preorders- Draft2Digital- Bookmark

Book Marketing with 10 AI prompts- Fazia Burke

 

To Finish

If you haven’t checked out Storybundle yet, you should. It is a collection of writing craft books by great authors. You get a great collection, the writers get the money, and you get to support a great charity. It’s a total win win win! It is only available for another week and then it’s gone. 

Give it to yourself for making it half way through the year. 

 

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 Kasia Derenda on Unsplash

Photo by Slava on Unsplash

Uniquely You

 

Apologies for no blog last week. It was family medical drama week.

In Publishing News this week,

 

In my blog two weeks ago, I wrote about the US government firing the Director of the Copyright office. As with all these government moves there are court cases pending to slow down the speed of these changes. The Copyright Director is suing to get her job back.

 

Across the pond in the UK, Elton John and other big names lambasted the news that the AI transparency act favours tech companies, calling the government decision criminal and irresponsible. Publishing Perspectives has a detailed look at what went wrong with the proposed law.

Giving tech companies an almost free rein to use copyrighted material seriously undermines what copyright stands for. At the moment the EU seems to be the only jurisdiction where artists copyright matters. Keep an eye on what your own government is doing around these laws for creative artists.

 

In an I-can’t-believe-it move, a Texas court has reversed a book banning law, stating that libraries must be the voice of the government. The librarians are warning that this smacks of propaganda for the state. 

 

The invisible first lady of America is bringing out a memoir. Eyebrows are raised as the narration of the memoir is a cloned AI voice, which will also be used in translations. Mark Williams looks at the rise of synthetic voices and the possibilities for publishers.

 

The UK Children’s Laureate has launched a campaign to get families to read in response to the dismal reading statistics that were announced recently. It is well known that if you read to children from birth they start school with a big advantage that only keeps continuing. Congratulations to our own newly appointed Reading Ambassador for New Zealand, Kate De Goldi.

 

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting essay from an Indian publisher on the rise of Print on Demand use by publishing companies and how it is changing the nature of the publishing business. These insights could be applied to other publishing territories as well.

 

Literacy is being challenged. What can publishers do about it? Richard Charkin writes in his monthly column about the clouded nature of publishing stats and how the underlying news means we must worker harder to engage readers. Key to this is amplifying the uniqueness of their authors.

 

Two great podcasts caught my eye this week… The SPA Girls celebrated 500 episodes with a great chat about the past and where they think the future of publishing will go.

Joanna Penn interviewed Comic and Game maker Dave Morris about creative control, world building and AI tools. Dave has some interesting insights on training AI on your own content. 

 

If you are looking for some great craft books check out Storybundle. Kris Rusch has curated an excellent collection of books  –  You pay not much – the authors get the money and so does a great charity. Win Win Win.

 

Writers and discipline. We chase it, revere it, get the apps, try the productivity short cuts. Harper Ross writes on Writer Unboxed about the discipline myth and what sustains us.

 

Lisa Norman has an excellent post on staying true to our unique voice. Over the years all the tools we have used to showcase our writing have changed but our unique voice hasn’t. 

 

September Fawkes has a great post on misaligned characters wants and plot goals. When the character is acting against what they profess they want sets the scene for a weak plot or theme. How can you fix it?

 

In the Craft Section,

Secondary Characters- all the fun and less work- Laurie Schenebly Campbell

Choose a powerful foundation for POV -Lynette Burrows- Bookmark

Plot twists- crafting the unexpected- Tammy Burke-Bookmark

The power of connotation in picture books-Chelsea Tornetto- Bookmark

Enneagram for character development- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Reading like a writer- Michelle Barker

 

In the Marketing Section,

10 little known Substack features- Rachel Thompson

10 things I wish writers knew about marketing- Dan Blank- Bookmark

How to maximise being a podcast guest-Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

What is book bundling and how does it work- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Video marketing tips for authors- PR by the book

Audiobook marketing- Reedsy- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is mid way through the year. Where has the time gone? How are the writing goals? 

If you are feeling down in the dumps, try a creativity date. Monica Cox has an interesting post on Angela and Becca’s website about the benefits of the artist date. You don’t need to date an artist you just need to make time for creativity, with no strings attached. Create for the sheer joy of creating. 

Isn’t that why we started writing in the first place?

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. You can subscribe here to get the best of my bookmarked links and other extras.

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 Nick Karvounis on Unsplash

Looking for Rainbows!

 

In Publishing News this week,

Microsoft launched a non-fiction publishing arm publishing original research, ideas and insights from the intersection of science, technology, and business. Publisher’s Weekly reports on this venture that looks like a mashup of a research journal and a vanity imprint.

 

Sharjah International Book Fair clocks up nearly 2 million visitors. Publishing Perspectives looks at the huge impact of the fair.

Bologna is starting to ramp up its planning and guests five months out from the big children’s book fair scheduled for the end of March. With the roaring success of the Chinese Children’s Book Fair will they be implementing any new ideas?

 

There is a lot of comment around the news of the HarperCollins AI deal that has publishers and writers talking. Publishers Weekly looks in depth at the implications for agents and writers. Under the terms HC want to split 50/50 the pot of cash for allowing AI to scrape the book. Everybody has an opinion. Authors Guild has come out with their recommendation. Don’t take the money. Publishers have a different view, it looks so sweet and backlists are just sitting there.

 

Joanna Penn commented on her podcast that in the space of a year the mood of authors has changed around using AI tools. She is just back from Author Nation – the rebranded 20books Vegas conference (also known as the biggest writers conference in the world.) AI can offer shortcuts and great tools to help with mundane tasks but it shouldn’t be used to create the content. 

Josh Bernoff writes about how his developmental editing business is being impacted by AI writing. It’s harder to edit AI generated content because it is inconsistent, repetitive, and a grammar mess. AI shouldn’t replace your own writing voice.

 

Meanwhile, after the election, the publishing industry is trying to make plans or sense of what might be coming down the track in the brave new world after January. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard details the lawsuits that face publishing from the president elect already and how this might be a sign of things to come. It looks like a lucrative time to be a lawyer.

Kathleen Schmidt from Publishing Confidential points out where publishing can learn from the election.

 

Jennie Liu writes about the authors note… that’s the page in your novel where you write about your influences. Readers love them… authors struggle.

 

Michelle Baker has a post on the five fears of writers and how to defeat them. (Don’t reach for the alcohol just yet.)

James Scott Bell reassures a young writer that writing can be good again in his excellent piece on writing past discouragement. 

Ellen Buikema has a great post on Writers In The Storm about Writing Anxiety and how to overcome it. 

Look after your mental health- give yourself healthy writing challenges, check in with your writing friends. Remember, you write so your readers can escape from stressful lives. You are vital to each other and the general population. Be the rainbow after the storm!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to trust yourself as a writer- K M Weiland- Bookmark

What are the stakes- how to find out- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Nailing teen dialogue in YA Fiction- Kris Maze

Humorous scenes  – Dale Smith- Bookmark

Balancing showing with telling- C S Lakin

 

In the Marketing Section,

18 book marketing tips from the trenches- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Harnessing the power of AI for author branding- Kimberley Grabas- Bookmark

Identify your most successful marketing paths- Emily Enger- Bookmark

Colleen Story on Selling at Craft Fairs- YouTube video

The best concepts of Write to Market-Karen Whiting

 

To Finish

Look Rainbows!

 

It’s Black Friday sales time so here are some writer focused deals. Some of these are time sensitive so don’t wait around. 

 

The Dream Team – Angela And Becca have a roundup of some great writer deals for software and craft books.

 

Don’t forget Storybundle still has their collection of writing craft books up until the end of November if you are looking for good cheap craft books. 

 

Katie Weiland has 25% off all her courses and books. (I snapped up her new revised expanded edition on structure. I loved her first edition!)

 

David Gaughran has links to the EXCELLENT AppSumo deal from Deposit Photos. This is a total no brainer if you do your own book covers or ad images. $49 lifetime deal on 100 stock photos or videos- limited time! Dave also has a video showing how to use two stock images to generate a whole ad campaign. 

 

Amid the depressing news there are little gems to make you smile. And these deals might just help with that.

 

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.

 

Pic Photo by Agustin Gunawan on Unsplash

Accessing your Fearless Superpower

 

 

This week in Publishing News

Coming soon are the new European Union laws on accessibility. This matters as digital books, if they are being sold in Europe, will need to comply with the accessibility guidelines. Publishing Perspectives reports that publishers are already asking for more clarification. Meanwhile Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors has written a quick breakdown of what you need to do. First, use the Epub format.

 

Frankfurt Bookfair is ready to start, and Porter Anderson interviewed the fellows in the Special Program. They are all publishers who are near or in war zones. This is an interesting article that shines a light of the problems of publishing in a war zone.

 

Mark Williams looks at how Korea is managing to be nimble as they stay ahead of trends. This is interesting as smaller publishers can quickly pivot into new genre trends. It’s all about Horror right now but Happiness is around the corner.

 

Written Word Media has a comprehensive guide to Tax Deductions for authors. Even though the article is skewed towards the American tax system there are still items that go across all taxed nations. Take a look you might be able to claim back some tax.

 

Kevin Anderson has curated another StoryBundle of Writing Craft books. StoryBundle is a great way to get books – You pay what you think they are worth- The Author gets the money- A charity gets a slice, and everybody is happy. Don’t forget that reference books can be claimed on Tax as professional development.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Ariel Curry on non fiction writing and marketing recently. If you have some non fiction projects that you want to dig your teeth into, check out the podcast transcript.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive guide on the Ethical and Practical use of AI for authors. This is a very useful article to help you understand how to use AI tools. Publishers are already getting on the AI train. You don’t need to use it for creativity but it could speed up those mundane challenging jobs that are part and parcel of the authors world.

 

Colleen Story has a great post on How to identify your writing business relationship type. She uses 5 well known stories to help you pinpoint where your writer business is and how you could help it get better.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have ticked over nine years with their great website One Stop For Writers. Take a look at all their resources and take advantage of the birthday discount. 

 

Greer McAlister has an interesting post in Writer Unboxed about ideas and how you can have many of them but they aren’t necessarily book ideas. Figuring out which ones are book ideas is the hard part.

 

Katie Weiland is up to the climax in her story structure series of posts. This is where the story lives or dies.

In The Craft Section,

All the different words for hard- Kathy Steinemann

Vulnerability in fiction- Angela Ackerman

The book in your head vs the book you write- Kathleen McCleary - Bookmark

Beta reader options- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

7 tips for perfect character names- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Writing good bio’s- Bang 2 Write- Bookmark

How to be a great guest blogger- Sandra Beckwith

Lessons in Business Cards and Bookmarks- Debbie Burke- Bookmark

How Substack is revolutionizing writer careers- Jaime Buckley

How to get your book into libraries- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is admit that you are an author. Aside from the inane comments like – have I read anything that you have written, or I’ve got an idea for a book, you write it and we’ll split the money, writers can feel shame that they have written something that didn’t quite work. Jennie Case writes about these feelings on Jane Friedman’s blog. It is natural to feel hesitant when you put your writing out there. But you do it. This is what Bridey Thelen-Heidel calls Fearless Writing. How to look the world in the eye and write and live fearlessly.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. 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.

 

Pic Photo by James Healy on Unsplash