Whose attitude is right?

Around the publishing blogosphere...

This week was unsettling on Social Media. First there was the big Twitter pile on

about a forthcoming book from Young Adult writer, Amelie Wen Zhao.

Amelie was about to publish her debut novel. As authors do, she drew on her upbringing

and culture from her own country. She has a 3 book deal with a traditional publisher in the USA.

She was forced to ask for a delay in publication due to the backlash on social media

about content in her book.

From what I could see as the Twitter rage grew… many commenting had not read advance copies so did not know the context but raged about it anyway. Many immediately took the author to task for seeming to use American historical events badly in her fantasy.

For writers from other countries watching this rage fest unfold on Twitter it was deeply unsettling. The rest of the world has stories to tell of slavery, human trafficking happening now or in the past. Other cultures experiences of this is just as valid to use as a basis for a fantasy book. Do we always have to use and be mindful of the same western viewpoints in an age where stories are shared globally with the click of a button?

While writers and commentators were getting steamed up over a fantasy book,

publishers and agents were getting spooked by the story broken in

The New Yorker of a prominent writer and editor who seemed to have based

all his credentials on a fantasy life. As the events in his fantasy life were exposed

it read like the famous novel The Talented Mr Ripley. The writer/editor had relationships

everywhere and there will be many people in publishing feeling they have been

the townspeople in The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Another big story this week was the subscription service

Scribd passing 1 million subscribers. Publishers have been flirting with subscription

services for a while. Amazon has what could be the world’s biggest with Kindle Unlimited

based mainly in the USA but that leaves Scribd with the rest of the world…

and they have lots of plans for growth.

Another publisher with global ambitions has just opened publishing portals in another

21 countries over 6 continents.

Italian based Streetlib seeks to publish everywhere that has an internet connection,

in any language, in any format.

If you are a writer in Lesotho or Nandi, writing in your own language…

Streetlib is for you. Among the new countries just enrolled in their publishing

portal are Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.    

Amazon is looking at the rest of the world and thinking hmm great kids books in

other languages- they need us. They are opening up their Amazon kids publishing

arm to translations.

Meanwhile Google is contracting- with Google Plus set to disappear by April.

And so we come to Kris Rusch’s last blog post looking at the changes for publishing this year.

It has been an fascinating series. If you haven’t been reading her posts you are missing out
on learning about this industry. Last week’s post is a must read!

This week Kris talks about the attitude change in publishing.

In The Craft Section,

Writing a single POV story - K M Weiland

5 ways to turn off your inner editor - Janice Hardy- Bookmark

6 ways to show emotion for non POV characters- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

What is your protagonist object of desire- Bookmark

Writing skill you should cultivate- Jerry Jenkins

In The Marketing Section,

3 principles of selling rights- Orna Ross- Bookmark

Discoverability and Going Wide- The Book Designer

Social Media tips for the introverted writer- Ella Barnard-Bookmark

How can I get more subscribers- Indies Unlimited

Distribution for the indie author- Alli Blog

Smart author advertising strategies - Penny Sansevieri - Bookmark

To Finish,

We are living through major changes in our climate and our perceptions

and understandings of our place in a global village.

The internet has opened up the democratisation of information across the world.

For the author having an online presence is essential. Careful curation

of your digital presence is important.

Anne R Allen takes a good look at mistakes that authors have made in

their online presence and how to fix them.

Remember that gossip is not restricted to your own village now,

it can spread throughout the world with a click of a button.

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 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 Guilhem Vellut

Are There Icebergs Ahead?

I sent out my newsletter yesterday, where I complained about the heat.
Sorry Northern Hemisphere writers. But while you are getting polar blasts we are getting
record breaking heat waves.- A sign of things to come.

Kris Rusch has been musing on signs of things to come and they make unhappy reading.
Based on Simon and Schuster’s end of year report from their happy CEO,
writers had better be understanding all the contracts that they sign.
THIS IS A MUST READ. (cue sirens, hooters and bells… if you don’t understand IP
then you really really need to read this.)

In news around the publishing blogosphere....
The Man group are pulling out of the MAN Booker Prize.
Hints and rumours are already suggesting they have a replacement sponsor.

Events on the near horizon… WriteOnCon!
Next weekend be prepared for the 3 day online Kidlit writers conference.
Every year I wonder how I can get away from the house and dive into all the goodies on offer
in an exclusive writing cave where I can binge watch presentations. Check out the schedule…
and the price is sooooooo  Cheeap!

Meanwhile in happier author news- Draft2Digital has rolled out a schedules promotion tool for authors.
If you drop the price on all outlets and then have to race round manually requesting a price drop this is for you.
You can check out the link here on The SPA Girls podcast page.
(This is a cracking good podcast for Indie authors.) Dan Wood of Draft2Digital was their guest this week.

Reedsy has a nifty blog with interesting articles.  If you are thinking about your 2019 goals take a look
at How To Start A Publishing Company then read Joanna Penn’s guest Bonnie Baguley on
Why authors should throw out their timeline to success. 

Shaunta Grimes has 25 habits that you must acquire if you want to be a writer.

Harper Glenn has an interesting post on Writer Unboxed- Are you tethered to the wrong story?
This is one of those posts that make sense of that niggly feeling when you open your word doc and frown.

Bang 2 Write has a great website on all things script for authors. This week they had a great article
on why lack of structure is killing your characters and a recent nifty one on Productivity.

Jami Gold has a great article on How Pantsers Develop Characters. If this is you- it’s a must read…

In The Craft Section,

Writing for an audiobook- Writer Unboxed- Juliet Marillier

Tension building elements for characters- Becca Puglisi and

Check out the Character motivations as well.

5 essentials for opening scenes- Mythcrants- Bookmark

All the fantasy character tropes- Reedsy Bookmark

Story Planning - which way is best -Jane Friedman- Bookmark

Writing a novel top editing tips - Joanna Penn

In The Marketing Section

How to setup and edit your Amazon author profile- Nate Hoffelder

How to create eye catching Bookbub ads- Insights- Bookmark

How to get Book Reviews- The Ultimate Manifesto- Archangelink-Bookmark

Using Microsoft Sway - WordDreams

How to check that your books fits accepted industry norms- IBPA- Bookmark

12 Book marketing tips- Marketing for Writers- Bookmark

How to reduce marketing anxiety and confusion- Publishers Weekly

To Finish

If you are looking at your Manuscript and wondering if it is an iceberg on which your writer boat might hit.
A few words of wisdom from Stephen King via Ruth Harris on Anne R Allen’s excellent blog
might be your life saver. The 10% rule and the secret power of …..

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 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 Christopher Michel

Crimes or Opportunities

Down Under it is Summer and everyone is hunting shade or staring at unusual weather phenomena. This week in the publishing blogosphere many authors in the Northern Hemisphere were getting hot and bothered for a different reason.

Author Sherilyn Kenyon was in the news for all the wrong reasons this week. Reading like a plot from a novel, poor Sherilyn was in court as the victim of poisoning... in a crime of passion. Many writers wouldn’t have used this plot device because of the cliche nature... but in real life...

What do you call it when someone scans your book, creates a PDF, and shares it around?
What if that someone was a library?  Do the same rules apply? The library says no. They are sharing information. The Authors Guild and the Society of Authors (UK) say... Cease and desist or we bring in the lawyers. Who is in the right? This is an interesting case given that author incomes have been falling lately.

Hot on the heels of this story comes a timely post on Jane Friedman’s site from author and intellectual property lawyer, Brad Frazer about the Public Domain. Every year on January 1st new works enter the public domain... If you are hazy on what it means... read this very interesting post. (I’m off to find my Kahlil Gibran... there are some merch opportunities...)

Longtime readers will know how interested I am in co-operative publishing. I keep saying that the model is a smart way of working. Sri Lankan data science author, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, has a fascinating post on this popular publishing model (think James Patterson) and the increasing dominance of Indies in this area lately.

Two fabulous podcasts caught my ear this week. No surprises one of them was Joanna Penn interviewing Paul Jarvis on how to effectively be a Company of One. This is a great interview on being in business by yourself. The other was the latest episode from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marking podcast. If you haven’t caught any of their shows you are missing out. The team interviews great guests about real marketing ideas every week. This week they chatted among themselves about all the different tools they use (and why) to conduct their various author empires.

Jami Gold has a great post on the aftermath of the move to KDP from Createspace. If you were waiting for the dust to settle to find out what the problems are this is the post for you!

Kris Ruch continues her excellent series on what to watch out for in 2019. This week she turns her laser eyes onto all the recent mergers in publishing. There were a few that slipped in over the Christmas break that will be quietly unsettling the industry in the next few months.

Mike Shatzkin has been down under recently... (he wandered through my home town this week.) While down under he popped into Lightning Spark – Ingram's print on demand printer arm, to see what they were doing. Eyes were opened. Mike is a publishing futurist commentator. He has a few things to say about where publishing and POD might head in 2019 especially for Aussie and Kiwi publishers.

Rachel Thompson has a list of ten excellent books for writers... there are a few I haven’t heard of which look very interesting- however one book she missed was The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. (The book that started their publishing empire...) They have updated it. This is a great writing craft resource book. Jami Gold got her hands on an ARC and she is wowed with all the new updates!

In The Craft Section,

All about subplots!- Elizabeth Spann Craig – Bookmark!

What does your hero want? Michael Hauge- Bookmark

How do I get the main character involved with the plot?- Mythcrants

What to do when there is no bad guy- Janice Hardy

Courting the modern muse with Tarot- Writers In the Storm

In The Marketing Section,

7 steps to build your brand from scratch- KevinTumlinson- Bookmark

10 great strategies to monetise an author event- Janice Hardy-Bookmark

How to get going with mailchimp and email marketing and Pinterest for writers- Frances Caballo

Are you losing money on KDP Delivery fees- Bookmark

To Finish

Katie Davis has a guest post over on Anne R Allen’s blog about that terrible writer syndrome... Procrastination. This afflicts many writers and there are many causes of this terrible disease. Katie outlines some of the reasons why you might be suffering this and what to do about it. (Summer holidays anyone?)

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, 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 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- Benny 457

The Same But Different

Another New Year... Another set of Writing Relating Goals and Publishing Predictions... reach for the last of the New Year’s party wine. 

Last year predictions were that Audio would start to take off. – This year continues that prediction- we haven’t seen the end of the beginning of the explosion in audiobook sales...  AI technology is ramping up. Chuck in publishers making audio-only deals and everyone in publishing is starting to take note of the gold in them thar hills....

Mark Coker always has an interesting perspective on what the new publishing year might bring. He’s more often right than wrong so take a look at what he considers to be the big issues going forward.

Joanna Penn dashed down under to catch up with family but still had time to make sure that her great podcasts were ticking over. Two recent ones that are well worth checking out are Creative Goal setting trends for 2019 and a great interview on 21st-century lessons for a creative mindset with Mark McGuiness.

Agent Laurie Mclean has also dipped her toe into the prediction pond for this year. Her big message – people reading (and finishing) a book is declining... we must encourage the eco system of books if we want publishing to survive. 

Kris Rusch and her husband Dean Wesley Smith have seen too many new publishing years to count. Kris is doing a great series on planning for the New Year. The longer I have been watching this industry (coming up to 11 years soon) the more I value Kris and her insights into what is going on. Start with her Boxing day post – The Current State Of Disruption... follow up with Part Two- Sales ... Part Three - on libraries and Part Four- Audio

Over The Christmas Break...when everyone was recovering from Christmas dinner Amazon changed tack again. Gone are product display ads... and in are Lockscreen ads. As everyone is commenting it’s a pay to play world out there.

Also in the news was the highlighting of a new trolling behaviour that is targeting successful sellers on Amazon.  They target the reviews and tell Amazon that you paid for 5-star reviews... The Zon comes down with their big sledgehammer... meanwhile the originator of the false claim reaps rewards... It’s a long process to get back to square one.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to get a handle on Social Media you are not alone, Fae Rowan writes about the pain she feels when she contemplates Social Media marketing. Drop into the Writers In The Storm Blog to join in the conversation.

Penny Sansevieri has decided that 2019 should be the year of the vlog. Writers need to get a handle on using digital media as search becomes increasing image driven. And it is so easy, says Penny....

Anne R Allen highlighted a tidy list of ... new writer scams for 2019. They don’t stop trolling for newbies as we hit another new year. If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know who to avoid and where to go to find out more... don’t forget to tell the newbies out there that there is heaps of information if they just search for it. Google is your friend. Typing ‘to-good-to-be -true-offer and scam in a search bar is the first thing they should do. Remember anyone who wants you to pay them to publish your book... tread really really carefully!

Keren David over at an awfully big blog adventure ( children’s writer's blog) throws down the gauntlet to publishers about diversity... getting out of London and seeing what’s happening in the smaller centers etc etc. She has a list of great things she thinks they should do this year... after all, it is 2019. Has anyone in publishing heard of Skype? 

In The Craft Section.

How to get emotion on the page- Lisa Cron-Bookmark
The different types of editing- Writer Unboxed
Resources for writers- June Takey- This is an all you can eat blog post Bookmark!
8 writing tools to get the words flowing
Setting up a kanban board to reach writing goals in 90 days. Organise and win at writing...

In The Marketing Section,

What to include in your marketing strategy
Follow these steps when you publish your first book
Bookbub ads- David Gaughran- Bookmark
Using Pinterest to market children’s books- Jane Friedman- Bookmark
Amazon Advertising for KDP authors in 2019- Chris McMullen

To Finish,

Over my summer break, I had some fun trying different dictation solutions. Google came out the clear winner with almost 100% accuracy... except for the lag in voice capture which meant I lost the beginning of every sentence. All the words it caught were 100% accurate tho. At the huge Consumer Electronics Show (CES) The big tech giants were showing off their snazzy voice everything applications... including translations.
In 2019 will we be able to dictate content and have it automatically translated including social media posts to become a truly global publishing consumer and provider... 
Fasten your seatbelts...  

Maureen
@craicer

In 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 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. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Davity Dave

The Epic Roundup of 2018…

This will be my last post for 2018.
I’m having a few weeks off over Christmas. And it’s a day late too…. So what exciting things can I draw your attention to…
I thought I’d look back over the year and see what happened…

In January everyone was processing all the changes of 2017 and making predictions for 2018. Let’s see how they did. Joanna Penn had a list of coming tech trends for authors. Imposter syndrome- (Warning it’s from Chuck) and layoffs at Createspace had authors wondering what’s up?
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
The eyes have it- A fascinating look at how people view the Amazon buy page 
Katie Weiland’s fabulous infographic on Storytelling nuts and bolts.

In February
Scandal in the Children’s Lit community, Apple and Google playing with their book store fronts and the first inklings of how big Audio was going to get this year. Author Solutions has been pinged for predatory practices on newbie authors so much that their other name is shark. But did you know how many aliases they operate under?  
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Killing Writer Perfectionism and Reverse Engineering Your Editorial Calendar

March was the month of… Death. With the deaths of Stephen Hawking, Ursula Le Guin and the news about Harper Lee’s estate… How prepared is your literary estate for after your death?
Findaway voices offer serious competition to Audible and writing podcasts – a source of information and creation for the modern writer., with serial novels. Don’t forget to stretch at your writing desk.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Seven strategies and Ninety-four tools to find readers 
Anne R Allen- Plot holes and Pot Holes

April had…my eleventh-year blogversary. Reviews disappearing left, right and center around the internet. The rise and rise of AI- Get Siri or Alexa to buy the books and then read them to your child. (I wouldn’t have predicted that eleven years ago!)
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from 
Larry Brooks- Everything you need to know about story structure and 
David Gaughran- Canva- the author Go To for graphics.

In May   
Literary Embezzlement, the demise of Kindle worlds and implications thereof and GDPR and what it means for authors were the huge talking points in May. Take control of your author business and sell direct. Responsible use of mailing lists is a must.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Jami Gold - Why head hopping is lazy writing
SFF Marketing podcast- Cultivating a rabid fan base.

June followed up with Book Stuffing scandals and the implications for writers regarding copyright that Cockygate is highlighting. Patricia Cornwall jumps to Amazon and Writers and learned helplessness. Audio publishing- The next big thing!
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Jane Friedman’s guests this month.
What does it mean to write a scene that works and The psychology of Author Marketing

July… When agents are found to be crooked.#daniellesmith and other predators in publishing. Why the literature Nobel was not awarded. Author income surveys and Wattpad the new go-to source for publishers to find the next big thing.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Sell your books, not your soul
Procrastinating productively

In August Walmart and Kobo teemed up… Is there serious competition ahead for Amazon? Createspace was shut by Amazon in favour of Kindle Print – (They are still ironing out the problems of this move.) Audible, owned by Amazon, changed their contracts… not for the better. And remember Cockygate?
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Anne R Allen-Troubled Characters and their personality problems
Roz Morris- Building readership – a quiet rebellion

In September Bookstores were bought and sold. 
Contracts were contested and explored and Amazon put up the price of their Ads.. catching everyone on the hop. How will Brexit affect publishing? The days of nice booksellers are on the wane.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Bookbub- The biggest Ad mistakes
Go Into The Story- Protagonist vs Nemesis

October saw… a global and future focus with the Future Book conference. Publishers are looking at Asia as their next big markets to tackle and you should be too. Blockchain in publishing was talked about as the next big change to negotiate. And everyone everywhere is looking into book serialisation either Audio or subscription streaming. October is also the month where you plan for NaNoWriMo.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Katie Weiland has a magical post about the power of language
Joanna Penn Interviewed Dave Chesson about keywords for Amazon ads.

November, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo…. Craft articles were the flavour of the month. In publishing news- Amazon changed their systems and glitched a whole lot of writers. Now you really need to advertise as the organic discovery writers used to be able to do has disappeared. Viral sensation The Scottish Granny elevated a children’s book from 7-year-old obscurity to marketing sensation. And China is hunting for children’s books. 
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
I guest posted over on Jami Gold’s blog on leveling up your craft learning.
70 plot twists and examples – Reedsy
Bookcover Zone - seriously addictive

And now we get to this week in December 
Publishers Weekly had an article on Hybrid publishers and how authors are redefining success and failure in publishing.
Nate Hoffelder comments on how often Publishing hit USA Today’s list of big job layoff’s in the last decade.
Bookmark worthy posts
Make your own book video trailers for free... 
Writing intuitively - September Fawkes
Writing beats and meaningful actions- Women on Writing

As I’ve rolled through the year’s blog posts I discovered that 2018 was the year of the book cover for me. I bought six and commissioned three. I finished Book Three in my Starlight series and discovered that I have to add another book to that series.  I launched the first two books in The Circus Quest Series. (On sale over Christmas if you need some great books for your child's new Tablet /eReader.) and I was part of the Judging team for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. (Waves Hi to the current crop of judges who will have their first onslaught of books about now!) It’s been a full 2018.

Have a safe and relaxing Christmas break filled with love, laughter, and great writerly thoughts.
I’ll see you back in mid-January 2019 with all those goal planning posts.

Maureen
@craicer

In 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 book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or Buy a Circus Quest Book for the creative quirky kid in your life.   

pic: Flickr Creative Commons Lindsaye Eyink

Are you giving books this Christmas?

If you want the industry to survive and thrive say Brazilian Publishers, you had better step up and buy some books. This plea from the publishers struck a chord with Booksellers everywhere reports the Guardian. Unfortunately Barnes and Noble seem to have missed that memo.

The FutureBook conference was held last week in London. Among the topics discussed were the rise and rise of Audiobooks, voice technology, and podcasts. Can we make publishing rival Netflix was the cry… With Google entering the audio market we could be seeing interesting times soon.

While you are contemplating the news from FutureBook, Richard Charkin was issuing a list of Don’ts to traditional publishers about 2019 in Publisher’s Weekly. If you read the two articles together you will have a fair idea of the state of play in the publishing world going into the new year.

While Joanna is down under, (Hope the weather in Auckland is nice Joanna!) she is continuing to put interesting articles on her blog. Here are the two latest that I found interesting. Money management for authors and Tips for keeping in a Creative Routine while on holiday.

WriterHQ also has an interesting article on how to stay motivated in the Summer holidays… Tip one- ignore kids and don’t do housework… Roz Morris also has a great blog post on staying in touch with your writing project while navigating your way through Christmas madness.

Jami Gold has a great post on writing rules- what rules? - We don’t need those stinkin’ rules and don't forget to check out the writing gift Advent calendar from Becca and Angela! 

Reedsy has started a podcast for writers. The focus is on writing craft. Bang2Write reinforces this focus on writing craft by taking issue with the words aspiring writer. (Remember to expunge the word aspiring from your vocabulary at your next Christmas party.)

This week was my last week running away to my creative happy space for the year. I love it because I’m not faced with laundry, dishes, phone calls, etc. (Everybody needs a creative happy space.) My writing buddy and I spent our last day for 2018 studying Suzanne Lakin’s posts on vision and strategy for 2019. These are well worth doing. Check out all the posts in the series and grab your planner. 

In The Craft Section,

Plotting on Notecards- AR Beckert

Lessons from a lost novel- K M Weiland

The pitfalls of writing a series- Gordon Long

Inciting incidents- Reedsy- Bookmark

The hero’s journey- Joseph Campbell- Bookmark

Writing technique- Euphonics- Bookmark

Taking character relationships to the next level- Mythcreants- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Visibility- Nicholas Erik- Bookmark

Nate’s big list of free and paid book promo sites- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

Twitter advertising infographic- Barb Drozdowich 

Bookbub ads- David Gaughran- Bookmark

Best Book Covers of 2018

14 Twitter apps/tools for writers- Frances Caballo

Indie Authors – empowered

To Finish,

The Christmas decorations are up everywhere you look. The sun is beating down!  It’s a struggle to get the kids out of bed in the last week of school. Let alone make sure all your present buying is done by then. Writer’s gift lists get updated
so you can buy for yourself... always a good idea. But Tara Sparling has the definitive article on what 
a writer really wants for Christmas.

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be hitting inboxes in the next few days. 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 book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or (Look Right) buy a book for your favourite 6+-year-old. My books are available in print and ebook- and you can feel good about buying books for Christmas.   Next week will be the last blog post for the year...