Feeling Besieged?

 

 

Just after I published last week’s roundup I read the article from Publishers Weekly about the US Presidents comments on copyright. (Substack subscriber readers got the news early.) 

Last month the UK voted down a transparency law that would have required tech companies to compensate owners of copyrights that they had scraped in order to teach their AI’s. This was a blow to authors everywhere who see their work effectively stolen with impunity. 

The President of the United States commented this week at an AI summit that copyright was an obstacle to rapid development of AI. The comments seemed to completely undermine the new directives from the White House on AI and caused many choking fits across publishing. Publishers Weekly looks at the new playing field impacting authors and publishers.

Publishing Perspectives reports on the White House’s Action plan entitled Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan that slid out just ahead of the president’s comments. 

 

Across the pond, European Publishers and writers are having their own crisis of faith in their elected representatives over AI. Groups representing 17 million creative copyright holders are accusing the EU ignoring their rights in favour of Big Tech in the matter of the new EU AI Act. Coming at the same time as the US  statements it feels like copyright holders are getting a bashing from all sides.

 

With Writers and Publishers feeling the creative ground shifting under their feet, it didn’t help to see reports that broadcast television was also under fire from the White House. Kathleen Schmidt sounds a warning to publishers that appeasement never works. 

 

Publishers Weekly has the American sales stats from May and it makes sobering reading. Every genre has taken a hit in sales. Is it a sign of the end times or just a blip going into the northern hemisphere summer?

 

Dr Herman Kleiger has a guest post on Rachel Thompson’s excellent blog about why authors and artists get targeted in phishing scams. The Creative Artists Survival Guide to avoiding scammers.

 

Mark Williams has an interesting opinion on the passivity of publishers exploiting works in the public domain. With the entertainment world jumping on the 250^th anniversary of Jane Austen- why aren’t publishers being proactive about bringing other Public Domain works into the sun?

 

It is always worth dropping into Writer Beware to keep an eye on dubious dealings in publishing. Writer Beware is provided by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Their members have been wrestling with new contract terms being rolled out for submitters to famous Science Fiction and Fantasy magazines. Victoria explores the contract language and the fall out. If you are or hope to be signing a contract soon this is a must read of new terms and rights grabs to watch out for. If you have never seen a writer’s contract, this is essential reading.

 

In a great guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog, Orlando Ortega-Medina looks at the differences between Author Promotion and Book Promotion and why you need both. He explains that authors often confuse the two. He offers practical tips and advice to implement immediately.

 

Catherine Misener has a great article on dictation. The productivity hack hiding in plain sight. I have tried dictation a couple of times and it is great for getting words down but the cleanup is so time consuming that it doesn’t necessarily speed up anything. However, I was recently listing to a podcast where a writer said she dropped her transcript into ChatGPT and told it to punctuate the sentences. It was a game changer for her. I must get out the voice recorder again…

 

Katie Weiland has an interesting article on intentional reading for writers. If you are what you eat as the old adage goes. Do you write what you creatively consume? Is this a strength or a weakness. 

 

An AI does not have emotional intelligence. Lynette Burrows has a fantastic post on Emotional Awareness. It is your most powerful writing tool. This is a must read.

 

In The Craft Section,

A category romance primer- Juliette Hyland

Fictionalising your family-Linda Ulleseit Bookmark

Villainous words of wisdom- Dale Ivan Smith-Bookmark

The gravity of a single word- Evan Swenson

Mining for theme- Susan Fletcher- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section

Finding your audiobook audience- Bookfunnel podcast

What is a soft book launch- Sandra Beckwith – Bookmark

Troubleshooting Bookbub campaigns- Bookbub

The pay to play dilemma- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Where to find royalty free photo’s- Rachel Thompsom- Bookmark 

 

To Finish

If you are feeling besieged with the negative news in publishing this week, take heart there is good news out there. Recently the SelfPublishing Show had their annual conference in London. This is the largest Indie author event in Europe and over 1000 people were there. Business services for writers or publishers see these big conferences as a must attend. Written Word Media has a recap article on SPS and what the big takeaways were. They followed this up with launching a brand-new podcast on YouTube and an episode dedicated to the SPS conference. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Is There Another Way?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

It’s Summer in the Northern Hemisphere so everyone is on vacation. However, there are a few interesting things to think about.

In Brazil they have just wrapped up a Book Fair which had a publishers and booksellers side event to the main public event. Publishing Perspectives looks at the conversation topics. There was discussion on price fixing which is going through the Brazil senate. Is it a good thing? Also under discussion, the quality of digital productions- Does it matter? 

 

Publishers Weekly takes a look at San Diego Comic Con which is on now. This event usually sees a lot of interest across the publishing community with Franchise tie ins in games, movies, graphic novels. However, this year it is a more muted affair because of visas, and the uncertain nature of entering the United States. 

 

The NZ Booksellers conference just wrapped up with many notable people and publishers receiving awards for excellence. Congratulations to authors Rachel King and author booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward. 

 

Audio Book walking groups. Yes, they are a thing. Publishers Weekly looks at the rise of these groups. You don’t have to listen to the same audio book to join in. This could be the great new friend meet up activity. Walk with a friend while listening to your own book.

 

Russell Nohelty has an interesting article on chronic illness and the writer. When your brain says Write and your body says Nope. He looks at ways to get your body to trust again instead of the stress response of panic and shutdown. 

 

Rachel Thompson has a great article on the Why Alt text is a writers secret. Using Alt text has been promoted as a must for helping the disabled community deal with visuals in a way that fits them better. Rachel points out that the extra few seconds to do alt text is great for other reasons.

 

Agent Richard Curtis has an interesting blog post on some contract terms that are important and overlooked in a standard writing contract. On their own they look ok, in a writing contract they mean warning bells.

 

James Scott Bell often does a close edit page to show different story points. This time he is doing one that Chat GPT supplied. His comments are on point. Competant and Forgettable.

 

Seth Godin is known for pithy comments on a variety of subjects. Recently he looked at Productivity, AI and pushback. Are you working for AI?

 

Mary Kole has a great article for children and teen story writers about marketing. What do you do when you can’t market to your stories intended audience. Who is your real audience?

 

Katie Weiland looks at What makes a bad story. No, it’s not bad editing or plot holes, or even an AI written story. Have you taken a close look at your characters?

 

In The Craft Section,

2 great articles from Angela Ackerman The key to writing authentic characters and How to use hidden experiences- Bookmark Both.

Bring your setting to life- Sue Coletta

Why scene mapping is your secret weapon- Juneta Key- Bookmark

3 ways to add tension- Janice Hardy

 

In The Marketing Section,

Email-the best marketing channel?- Bookbub

New hope for old books- Sandra Beckworth

How to format a book- Bookbaby

2 great articles from Thomas Umstettd- How to create sales optimized book pages-and How to grow email lists with giveaways- Bookmark Both

 

To Finish,

Everywhere I look this week, I have seen something from Johnny B Truant. He is one of the originals from Smarter Artists from over a decade ago. After an extended break he is back with a new book on slow writing, no social media etc. Is this really Johnny I thought. He is embracing the Artisan Author way and he chats with Joanna Penn on why he has done an almost about turn. It has lots to do with the joy of writing and how you can kill this joy by being on a produce treadmill. He has a great video which inspired the book. The low stress, high quality, fan focused way to escape the publishing rat race.

Isn’t that what we all want to do?

 

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.

 

Photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash