In Publishing News this week,
The internet archive is back in the news with their appeal over their lost lawsuit. They want to scan ebooks and make them available for sale. Why don’t they just link to the print book? Which is why they were taken to court in the first place.
Meanwhile, in other Internet Archive news, Cory Doctorow looks at the good stuff they have done in music and visual art. His latest deep dive is all about copyright and when things come into the public domain like Micky Mouse next year. (How will Disney tie this one up.)
In a case of I-can’t-believe-he-did-that… A fan fiction writer is being sued by The Tolkien Estate. This all started because the writer tried to sue Amazon for ‘stealing’ his ideas in his published reworked version, Return Of The King. This is head shakingly stupid. You don’t publish fiction using characters, settings, and plot belonging to other people. It is copyrighted. (See above article by Cory)
I really didn’t want to write about the Goodreads book review scandal but there are some new blog readers who haven’t seen this recurring drama over at Goodreads. This mess lost the writer her book deal and writing career. Every few years something like this happens because of clueless writers. The other writers are not your competition. Reviews are wonderful but don’t fake profiles to leave one stars. If you have nothing nice to say about a book don’t say anything, especially on Social Media.
Joanna Penn has written about her fifteen years in the author business and how she is pivoting for the next fifteen years.
Jane Friedman has a great guest article from Christopher Hoffmann on Researching Literary Agents. Don’t take the first one off the block. Be discerning.
Julie Hedlund has the 12 days of Christmas writing exercises/planning starting December 26th. available. She calls it a great way to get bite size surprises to help your creativity and your business.
Lucy Hay has an excellent guest post over at Angela and Becca’s blog on how to smash your writing goals for 2024.
December is known as NaNoEdMo… or editing that novel you wrote in November. However, this is the month you really should put it away. Anne R Allen explains why.
In The Craft Section,
Adding cinematic sizzle to your fiction- C S Lakin- Bookmark
How to keep in touch with your writing when your routine is disrupted- Roz Morris
Redeeming your villain- Becca Puglisi
The wonderful spice of minor characters – James Scott Bell- Bookmark
What’s your book about - It depends- Barbara Linn Probst- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section.
Your Substack isn’t for everyone- Elizabeth Held- Bookmark
Newsletter tips- Linda Dunn
10 sneaky hacks for Draft2Digital- Kevin Tumlinson
Marketing your book without Social Media- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
The year’s top book marketing articles from Bookbub- Comprehensive
To Finish,
It’s been a turbulent year with AI, lawsuits, and book banning. Hopefully, I have kept you up to date with publishing news, and creatively inspired with Craft tips and Book Marketing links.
If the blog has made you think or sparked ideas or given you information throughout the year feel free to buy me a coffee as a thank you.
Reedsy have a comprehensive gift list for writers and Angela and Becca have some downloadable goodies for you.
The best gift you can give a writer is a book review. Go out there and make their day. It doesn’t have to be an essay, just a small paragraph.
I have children’s books on sale in the Smashwords End of Year Sale. I also have my teen novel Starlight free at the moment in a teen book sale.
It’s Summer holidays down under, so I’m taking a break from the blog.
I will be back in January 2024 with blog post number 762.
Wishing you Peace, in your homes, in your countries, in the world.
Maureen
@craicer
The last monthly newsletter is about to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, you can subscribe here to join our happy band in 2024
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If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee over Christmas, I appreciate all virtual coffee love. Thanks.
Pic:Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
