Was it something I said?

It has been a horrible week for some kidlit writers and agents in the blogosphere.
Danielle Smith, a ’respected’ agent who having worked for high flying agencies struck out on her own
was shown to be a fraud. This has stunned her colleagues, her clients and her staff. The kidlit
community is a tight knit community and are rallying round as they do with offers of help coming
from all over.
The bottom line in all of this is - Once you get an agent... the work begins. Follow up regularly.
They work for you. If they can’t or won’t communicate at least quarterly… ask who they have subbed to?
Ask publishers to split the check at source. They can pay agents fees separately… if your agent is
upset about this, ask why.

There are a whole lot of writers and illustrators taken on by Danielle Smith, who have no idea what
properties have been taken on or off or subbed or not...  and not only that... it goes back years through other
clients for other agencies where she was an agent on staff.
A hashtag search in Twitter #Daniellesmith pulls up some sad stories.

Forbes has covered the latest scams in the publishing world this week just as
this was breaking… Be Aware that there are some awful predators out there.

In the continuing serial decline of  CreateSpace, Nate Hoffelder reports that Amazon has hammered
another nail in the coffin. This week they pulled the plug on publishing CD’s and DVD’s. Will the Kindle
Print arm pick these up too? Everyone still in CreateSpace are hanging on grimly…

While Amazon is putting the screws into CreateSpace, Publish Drive has been wooing China. Publish Drive
are doing some interesting things in the global publishing marketplace… If you want world wide sales take a look...

Data Guy was asked to present at the Sci Fi & Fantasy conference just held and he posted up his
slides looking at the last years sales of SFF across the board.  The SFF Marketing Podcast crew
took a look at the trends - Even if you don’t write SFF this is a good podcast to follow.

Every year about this time Joanna Penn takes a yearly snapshot of her working life…
It is really interesting… I always learn something from this indie powerhouse.

In The Craft Section,

Killing off an important character -Live Write Breathe- Bookmark

5 things psychology can teach writers- Angela Ackerman

How to show emotion on the page - cheat sheets - Jessica Grace Kelley

9 character types to include in your story- Writers Cookbook- Bookmark

Different Types of movie stories- Go into the Story

In The Marketing Section,

Why authors should be speaking about their books- Joel Friedlander

5 terrible ways to launch your book- Kevin Tumlinson

How to create pre-launch buzz for your book- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Are you paying too much attention to Amazon reviews?- Barry Faulkner

2 Bookmark posts from Frances Caballo Publishing your first book - follow these steps and
Selling more books- tips from experts.

To Finish,

As you may have noticed this is short and a day late. I had an unexpected hospital stay this last week.
This screwed up quite a few things publishing wise for me. The first two circus books were nearly live online
but the print ones are not. Pro tip from me… build in plenty of time for life's hiccups and rest where you can…
I wonder if the wicked witch of the west cursed me last week for using her picture on my blog.

Maureen

@craicer

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. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thank you for the blog.

The Good and The Bad….

In publishing news this week,

Book Funnel has released download codes.
These are one use codes that you can hand out at events for free copies of your books…
This is another great tool in the PR arsenal for writers.

The New York Times has an article about the alternative Nobel Prize for Literature that the
Swedish librarians are promoting. If you haven’t caught up with Nobel news… due to a scandal the
Nobel Prize for Literature was not awarded this year.

Joanna Penn has two really interesting videos up this week on her blog.
Writing a series - the continuation issues to avoid. This is part of her video shorts series.
The other video is a long form interview with Stephen Pressfield. I linked to Stephen’s blog
last month … he has been posting his latest book as a serial on his blog, The Artist’s Journey.
Stephen is a writer’s writer. He looks at deep issues that fuel or stop creativity.
It is a great interview.

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog about reader tastes and blaming the writer.
Many people agree that not everything released on TV or at the movies is to our taste but somehow we
hold writers to a different standard. What happens when our favourite writer tries something different?

Editor/Agent and Kidlit specialist Mary Kole writes interesting writing craft articles.
This week she looked at writing the book that you don’t want to… what can you do about it?

What would you sacrifice to be a successful writer? First born child… health…. Sanity?
Writing and wellness has an article on the five sacrifices every writer must make in order to succeed.

Jeff Goins writes interesting long form articles.
This one touched a chord with a lot of writers commenting. What to do when you feel like a fake?
Why a shadow career is necessary. (Jeff references Stephen Pressfield in the article.)
Jeff talks about the dance we make between art and money...

Blogging isn’t to everyone’s taste.
Many writers struggle to know what to put in a blog.
I did, hence you have been reading writing craft tips and marketing ideas etc for the last ten years on this blog.
Anne R Allen has an interesting post on how blogging jump started her career.
Long term blogging does work for your writing output and has other unexpected benefits.

Sara Letourneau is celebrating her ninth blogoversary with a list of great writing tips.
Sara always has great advice so check these out.

In The Craft Section,

Katie Weiland has been on fire with great craft articles. I discovered I had
bookmarked four of them for this weeks blog.

Write a better antagonist

Point of View Problems

How to write unique themes

The truth your character believes.

Mythcreants has an interesting article on hiding your foreshadowing in plain sight.

Now Novel looks at Person vs Society conflicts- Bookmark

Reedsy has The Book Title Generator… go and have some fun….

In The Marketing Section,

Mailing lists for authors- Chris Fox- Bookmark

10 reasons Book Reviews still matter- Interesting long form article from Litreactor

Book reviews - The primer- The Book Designer

When to start book marketing - The Creative Penn

How to make instagram work for authors- Monica Corwin- Bookmark

12 key ways to make sure your website is helping you sell books-Penny Sansevieri

The lazy authors guide to platform building by the fab David Gaughran.

To Finish,

There are writers who you read everything they write...follow their social media… enjoy hanging out
with talking shop… or worship from afar through time and space.
And then there are the other kind- The ten types of writers we need to throw down a well.

Amy Collins details what you should do to not be a bad writer on social media.

Maureen

@craicer

 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. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thank you for the blog. (I needed it... I'm nearly ready to push the publish button on my first two Circus books...)

 

Taking a Breather

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

Jane Friedman has taken a middle of the year look at how 2018 is shaping up publishing wise. What is trending? Who stays strong... and what really is going on in the back lists. This is well worth reading to get a sense of what is changing in publishing. If you are chasing a Trad deal come prepared with a marketing plan along with your synopsis to editors.

Joanna Penn always has interesting guests on her podcast. I have only just managed to catch up with two of her latest podcasts. David Kadavy on redesigning your writing life and Book editing tips with Natasa Lekic from NY Book editors. Both great podcasts.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article with Sara Sargent of Harper Collins children’s division on how they are sourcing content from Wattpad. They are working with Wattpad to identify strong authors and offering book deals. They call it the reverse engineering traditional publishing and are looking at compressed timelines etc. With Wattpad becoming a content curator for film and TV studios it is worth authors taking a look.

The Book Designer blog run by Joel Friedlander is another source of great content. Joel runs a monthly cover design award along with his wonderful book templates and an active blog on book marketing. Recently Joan Stewart had an interesting article on working with journalists to get good media coverage for your book.

This week Kris Rusch looks at a problem all writers would like to have... what if that unexpected windfall in the bank account is the start of great new things to come. How long should you wait before spending the checks? It’s an interesting dilemma. Are you prepared for success?

Lately it seems that everywhere I go on the podcasts or the internet or Twitter Dave Chesson pops up. I don’t mind as Dave has loads of great information for Indie Authors. This week he was guesting over at Anne R Allens’s blog with a post on achieving Zen mastery in writing efficiency.

In The Craft Section,

Writing descriptions that wow- Linda Clare- Bookmark

Do you know the 5 different plot holes?- Screencraft- Bookmark

Writing by design using colour theory- Gabriela Pereira

Using character motivations in plot chains

Ways to write instantly likeable characters- P S Hoffman- Bookmark

Hero goals- Scribe meets world

The Rainbow editing method- Angela Donofrio- Bookmark

In The Marketing section,

Promo Stacking effective strategies-Writtenword media- Bookmark

Two great posts from the Bookbub blog- free tools to build book buzz and Creative ways to use images- Bookmark

Author Bio’s- Rachelle Gardner

What promo items do authors really need- Careerauthors- Bookmark

13 pre order strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

It's Ingram Sparks birthday... They have a free deal going.

To Finish,

School holidays and procrastination... All I want to do is sleep in and recharge. That’s what I tell my children whom I have to drag out of bed in term time. So I sleep in... and they get out of bed before the alarm to play on computers... hmmm, a role reversal here. I really need this post on 5 ways writers can be productive while procrastinating.

If you are watching a lot of movies this holidays... take notice of the films with the wrong main character.... Did the writer or the director get it wrong? This article has me looking at the films in a whole new way...

Maureen

@craicer

 My monthly newsletter is coming this weekend... after I send the kids away on holiday. 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. I appreciate the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thankyou for the blog. Extra caffeine is always welcome.
 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Don Le

Show Me The Money

Jane Friedman took a look at the Guardian Article on Author income last week and has written a thoughtful response to it. Are Author Income Surveys Misleading? This is a comprehensive look at data and reports... Have authors ever earned enough to live on from their books in the past...?

David Gaughran has written a great article on granular targeting of advertising for authors. He pulls out some of the gems from his recent book Strangers to Superfans. If you are trying to make sense of your ideal reader... it is a must read.

Are you responsible for your own decisions? If you write a book everybody loves, can you say I write a damn fine story? Kris Rusch has a great post on why writers find it so hard to own up that they made great decisions...

Australian Dixie Carlton has written a case study on how the changes in the publishing industry over the last decade have affected her business. This is an interesting reflection on how much has changed in a short time.

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a great article on how to use Goodreads giveaway's and widgets effectively on your website. Goodreads have recently changed their Giveaway rules and now it costs... but it can still be effective.

If you are a picture book writer... or know one... point them in the direction of this one day conference just for them. It’s online... so you can attend from anywhere.

In The Craft Section,

How we can use beat sheets with short stories- Jami Gold- Bookmark

5 key areas to polish before submitting a manuscript- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Three act structure- Reedsy

Story idea development

2 simple hacks to help write a synopsis- Anne R Allen-Bookmark

Formatting a book for large print- Excellent resource- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Taking control of your metadata- Joel Friedlander- Bookmark

Ebook formatting using MS Word- Molly Greene- Bookmark

Sell your books with collaborative marketing- Alli- Bookmark... Must Read!

How to publish a box set of eBooks- Alli blog

Universal Book Links – Draft2Digital... Very useful

4 ways to craft a better book cover- K J Waters

To Finish,

Rejection. All writers deal with it. If you are smarting under the rejection sting... Read Nathaniel Tower’s plea to publishers about why different types of rejection drive author's nuts.

If it all gets too much... change your name. Have fun with this pen name generator.

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. 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- tax credits

Becoming A Super Hero

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

The Digital Reader reports on the news that the audio market was bigger than anyone thought... how big? Pick a number and put a lot of zeroes after it. This really has implications for contracts, rights and as I posted last week... audio only deals.

Influential authors in the English publishing world are speaking out about the poor payments to writers in a recent Guardian article. The news continues to be really bad with most authors working below minimum wage. What does this mean for the future of Literature... nothing good says Philip Pullman.

This week Joanna Penn had a podcast on writing with depression. Her guest Michaelbrent Collings talked about how to manage a writing life if you are also trying to manage a severe mental illness. This was a fascinating podcast and one well worth checking out and referring others to.

Ruth Harris wrote this week about writers and the F word. Failure. Failure is part of the writing landscape. How do we cope with it? Do we let it derail us? This is a great post on redefining the word and learning to deal with ‘Failure.’

Sometimes our ‘Failure’ come from the lies we tell ourselves as writers. Katie Weiland has a great post on the 5 big lies that writers believe and what we can do about them.

This week Kris Rusch talks about opportunities and how writers need to be open to learning more about the business so they can make informed decisions. This touches on Writer Fear... fear of learning because you don’t think you can... But are you open to try?

Writers residencies... sometimes seen as the Holy Grail... a chance to work uninterrupted in a spectacular place and get paid for it... How about a Swiss Tree house...

The eight stages to writing a book by Leigh Shulman details a step by step process for the beginning writer. This is one of those posts you direct people to... when they ask How do you do it...?

Jane Friedman is always a source of well thought out great content. She has a new university textbook out, The Business Of Being A Writer. Jane has updated her post on How to evaluate small publishers. If you are wondering whether small press publishing is for you check out this article. Jane hosts Dave Chesson this week on her blog. He has written a meaty article on the psychology of Author Marketing. Dave has a popular podcast on the subject so check out the article.

The first million words are practice says Kevin Tumlinson of Draft2Digital. This is an interesting article on targets and goal setting and the theory of writer apprenticeship.

In The Craft Section,

Description and setting in deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

Creating Stunning Character Arc’s- K M Weiland _ Bookmark

The 12 stages of physical intimacy to build tension in your fiction-Jenny Hansen- Bookmark-Read inside a brown paper bag...

How Structure affects pacing- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Main Character life changes – Mary Kole

Literary Devices- Repetition- Peter Rey

Good Character flaws create complex antagonists- Now Novel- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Grow your mailing list with these  7 tools- Digital Reader

7 avoidable rookie errors- Debbie Young- Bookmark

Author Brand 101 turn readers into fans- Bookmark

YouTube creators monetization- This news is important reading if you have a YouTube channel

Important author website metrics to monitor- IngramSpark- Bookmark

3D cover mockups- Derek Murphy- Bookmark Bookmark !!! Check it out... you will see why...

To Finish,

In this unsettled landscape we need to find ways to be calm and achieve a Zen mindset so we can productively put words on the page. With the right mindset and a few tools you can overcome anything so boost your creativity with these helpful oils, fragrances and crystals... and become a super hero.

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 also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you just want to say thanks for the blog you can hit the coffee button up top... Thanks.

Pic: Because you are a super hero to someone!

Writer Rage

It has been a challenge keeping calm this week with the political news dominating the media. Many writers are stuck. Do they try to steer a middle path or ignore what is happening or make a comment. I have seen writers being attacked on Social Media for daring to have a political opinion and voicing it. They are being told that their work is entertainment and to stick to that and not point out anything different, because as one fan said 'I want a small corner of sanity where political views don't intrude.'

So to put your mind at rest I will not be commenting... I will leave it in Chuck's capable hands to tell you what writers should be doing

Anne R Allen has been seeing red lately over people not respecting Book Bloggers or any bloggers in the publishing blogosphere. I understand how she feels. I don't have the readership that Anne has but I get at least two appeals a week to write guest posts or highlight someone or update a post with new information. It is annoying because it clearly shows they don't read my blog. I ignore them including all the 'follow up' emails. Anne has great points to make if you are suffering the Troll Blues.

This week Geraldine McCaughrean won the Carnegie Medal for her novel Where The World Ends, a mid grade- early secondary book. She used her winner's speech to highlight the problems of publishers dumbing down language for children. She has direct recent experience of publishers asking her not to write long words. What happens if we don't stretch our reader's minds? Read the Guardian article on Geraldine's speech and find out.

With the biggest publishers of content in the world (*FAANG) taking over the interface between the creators and the consumers what is next for the poor content creator. Alli director Orna Ross published an article on the Alli blog looking at Self Publishing 3.0 -direct sales between authors and readers. We have the means. We have the technology. What is stopping us?

Last week I highlighted Kris Rusch's blog post on author learned helplessness. The Passive Guy - contracts lawyer in real life- added some learned commentary on Kris' article backed up with some recent discoveries of his own. (If you haven't read Kris' blog post, you are missing out on a valuable learning opportunity.) This leads on to an excellent article about the growth mindset of authors by Jennie Nash. Do you have a growth mindset? It may make all the difference to your career.

In industry news... a wrinkle. Audible (owned by Amazon) has started making audio first deals with writers. This has some major implications to rights sales and contracts.  Melville House Publishers saw it as a tricksy problem for publishers. Read their blog from a writer's perspective before you make up your mind. 

Should you start an author newsletter before you have a book contract? The writer chicken and egg problem. Tamela Hancock Murray suggests that you should and moreover she details just what you should put in one too.

Rebecca Monterusso has written an intensive breakdown of what a scene actually is, on Jane Friedman's blog. "They should do the same thing your global story does: upset the life value of the character and put them on a path to try and restore it."

This is a great article on the basic building blocks of story. A Bookmark Post.

In The Craft Section,

8 common pacing problems  and How to dump info - September Fawkes- Bookmark Both

Writing riveting inciting action and What is a plot point- Now Novel- Bookmark Both

5 tips for writing good prose- Roz Morris

What should your characters talk about - KM Weiland

In The Marketing Section,

Spice up your Amazon Book Pages- Joanna Penn - Bookmark

How to update without losing your reviews- Kate Tilton

Combating release day stress- Elizabeth S Craig

Self publishing marketing strategies- Indiereader

8 cover design secrets- Derek Murphy- Bookmark

Agents Tips to use on Social Media- Bookbub- Bookmark

To Finish,

In our house we have extroverts and introverts and people who sit squarely in the middle. This can make for challenging conversations when it comes to attending Book Launches. The introverts would rather have a quiet celebration dinner. The extroverts a full on party! So what happens when an introvert has to launch a book with a splash? L L Barkat  has the introverts guide to launching a book. 

Happy Solstice Day -

Congratulations Prime Minister on the birth of your baby girl- I'm sure children's writers all over the country are wrapping books for you.

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 also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you want to shout me a Solstice coffee to say thanks for the blog you can hit the coffee button up top... Thanks.

*FAANG- Facebook Amazon Apple Netflix Google (finance speak for media stocks)

Pic: The Scream - Edvard Munch