In Publishing News this week,
The most fantastic news hit the worldwide children’s publishing community. The Booker prize for children’s books was announced. Yes, we have made it! A huge prize of our own and it is of equal value to the other Booker prize. That is such an endorsement of the importance of children’s books. (After all if they don’t learn to love reading, they won’t be reading all those other Booker prize books.)
Meanwhile, over the pond the American Publishers association was lamenting the latest sales figures for summer. Every format was taking a hit according to Publishers Weekly.
However, in Europe the biggest selling format was comic books. They were up nearly 10 % in sales. Why? Publishing Perspectives looks at this quiet superhero publishing industry saviour.
In AI court news a judge has ruled that there is a case to answer with Chat GPT’s book summaries that violate copyright laws. These court cases will lay the basis of how AI will operate in the future. More judgements might be going authors way in the next round of the AI legal cases.
While eyes are on AI court cases, the CEO of Bloomsbury was making waves by saying that AI can help with writers block and other creative things. This has surprised many people in the book industry who see AI and creativity in a different light.
The Independent Book Publishers Association has a comprehensive article on the pros and cons of direct sales from websites. Direct Sales has been the one of the major topics of interest in the Indie publishing community for its ability to bypass the Amazon algorithm. What happens in the Indie world will gradually trickle up to the traditional publishing world.
Kathleen Schmidt writes this week about the rise of lavish book publishing parties. She details parties that were spectacular blowouts as a way of marketing. But did they work? Meanwhile, there is a rise in the sort of book party that benefits a charitable cause. I’m going to a book launch next week of a poetry book on food and everyone is asked to bring items for the local foodbank. The last event this small press ran filled a car with food for the foodbank.
Kindlepreneur has added a new video to their useful YouTube series- How to format in Word. This is actually a great primer on the basics of interior page design.
Anne R Allen has an excellent post on writing rules. They are only guidelines. This is important to know. The rules should be in service to the story not the other way around.
Good luck to all those people tackling Novel November. Don’t forget to sign up and access those freebies. Also if you want some craft books to help you on the journey check out Storybundle.
When do you need a prologue? Many writers say never but there is a place for them according to Maryka Biaggio on Jane Friedmans blog. She explores why some prologues work.
Over on Writer Unboxed, Barbara O’Neal writes about The Art of Endings. Do you stop and reflect on the energy of finishing a project? Does the end set the scene for the next project?
In the Craft Section,
Waiting for inspiration to strike- Ellen Buikema
9 ways to energise your plot- Ruth Harris
The stubborn elephant- Sue Coletta- Bookmark
The real purpose of the second act- K M Weiland- Bookmark
The art of crafting relationships - C S Lakin- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
What’s Interesting – Dissecting Marketing Copy-Cassie Murray- Bookmark
Simple steps to success- Rachel Thompson
Leverage someone elses network- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
The week following a promo- WrittenWord Media- Bookmark
Eleven Labs review- Reedsy
To Finish
The blog is late by a day because last night I attended the Whitireia Publishing Course graduation. This course is the only one of its kind in the Southern hemisphere. It has been running for over 30 years. The graduates have a 75% chance of getting a job in publishing within six months which is an enviable position to have as a training course.
So why am I talking about this?
In the constant restructuring of our education system across all age levels, this post graduate course held on in the face of funding cuts and restructuring until this year. The axe fell and 2025 was to be the last year. The shortsightedness of axing a course that was profitable with a great international reputation stunned the New Zealand publishing industry. This course is hands on, working on real projects, and acts as an apprenticeship scheme for publishers. A Whitireia Publishing grad can walk in and do the job on day one is the unofficial motto.
The Publishers Association of New Zealand put their heads together and worked up a model that will save the course, partnering with Whitireia polytechnic to keep the course going. They need a venue, but they are taking enrolments for next year. If you know of anyone who wants to spend an intense year learning all things publishing in a post graduate course with a high success rate, fantastic tutors, internships, publishing projects, speakers, and total book love send them here.
In uncertain times, books are a comfort and an inspiration. It is nice to know that publishers can come together to protect their industry newbies in the face of their own challenges. In the end, the books will be the winners!
Maureen
@craicer
If you have a job for a recent publishing course graduate – drop me a note.
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Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash
