The Writers Gift

 

In Publishing News this week,

If you have books on the Amazon store you may have received a message about an important change coming in January. Amazon will allow book downloads of ePubs and PDF’s. This is a potential hazard as one author put it. What’s to stop someone taking that PDF uploading it with another name and selling it… or using it to train an AI? Will the T’s and C’s change allowing Amazon to train Ai’s because you didn’t put a DRM on the book? A nice conundrum present for Christmas.

 

Writer Beware also flags a problematic Amazon gift. The one that introduces a chat bot into your book to help you find where you got up to in the story. This could be a breach of copyright. Publishers are reaching for contracts and lawyers. Amazon’s gifts are double edged and always in favour of the gift giver.

 

If you are an author in France, you will be celebrating as the French Publishers Association have negotiated a way to compensate authors for used book sales. Money for writers, what a present.

 

Also in the money for writer’s present mode, a new literary prize for Deaf and Disabled Writers. This is welcome news and a nice boost of sharing the love to emerging writers. Publishing Perspectives talks to the first recipient. 

 

Hachette is funding a Raising Readers campaign to encourage reading by funding class libraries and other great things to reach the younger readers. After all if we don’t encourage reading early, we won’t have adult readers. It would be nice if other publishers joined in this gift giving.

 

The American Book Fair died a lingering death over a few years ago and pretty much disappeared but now something new is coming. BookCon 2026 which has sold out already, according to Publishers Weekly. A potential gift to the publishing industry in America- their very own Bookfair.

 

The Diamond Comics fallout, or the gift that keeps on giving. It was the first news story of the year and now it’s in my last roundup for 2025. After all the court cases, the shady deals, the legal wrangling, finally they are moving to liquidate stock. Probably, says Publishers Weekly.

 

PEN America has the list of most banned books for 2025. Sigh. Not the gift you were looking for, John Green and Jodi Picoult. On the other hand, having a banned book might result in lots of sales as a backlash. 

 

Hoopla library app has been tracking the 2025 most borrowed trends. Audiobooks are up nearly 20 percent with Thrillers and Romantasy the top audio borrows. Banned books were also amongst the top borrowed books. With physical libraries suffering under book bans- there is still a way to read that ‘controversial’ book.

 

Richard Curtis has part 2 of his article on collaborations. This is where the copyright and back detail gets a close look. If you are thinking about collaborations with other authors next year – check out these articles.

 

Mark Leslie Lefebvre has an entertaining article on the author photo. I didn’t realise the lengths he would go to get the right author photo. Hilarious. A completely different way to look at author branding.

 

Sarah Brinley has an interesting article on the stress response and how you can use the Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn responses to strengthen your scenes. 

 

In The Craft Section,

What to write next- Julie Glover- Bookmark

Tech tips for organizing your novel- Kris Maze- Bookmark

Allow your characters a moment of happiness- Lesley Krueger- 

Bookmark

Using character themes to fix a scene- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Why character motivation matters- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section.

The art of the ask- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How authors can elevate their brand- Kimberley Grabas- 

Bookmark

The years best book marketing articles – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

The complete guide to Amazon optimization- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

 

This is the last roundup for the year. I feel a bit battered by the years events. Jane Friedman has written a comprehensive review article on the standout moments. You may be reaching for the eggnog after reading it.

 

Gift giving for writers always generates lists of journals and pens etc. The best gift you can give a writer is a review or a library request. Go out and talk about your favourite writers. Share the love. (My book Star Light is free in an epic mid-grade book giveaway.)

 

I will be back halfway through January 2026. I’m off to finish the bumper newsletter and find some sunscreen because its Summer down under. 

Have a fantastic festive season.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

If you have enjoyed my weekly blog this year and want to buy me a coffee or an eggnog, you will have my grateful thanks.

Newsletter subscribers will be getting the bumper Christmas edition. You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the free Substack version.

 

Thanks.

Book Bans – The Non Gift for Writers

 

In Publishing News this week

 

In another blow for libraries in the United States, the supreme court has denied an appeal to re consider a book banning case in Texas. The decision affects three states and affects the freedom to access information. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the impacts that are likely to freedom of speech. 

 

The judgments being handed down on the United States courts have a bearing on publishing worldwide according to a symposium on Future Proofing Equality in Children’s Publishing held recently in the United Kingdom. Most of these book banning judgements center around children’s books. With diversity, equity, and inclusion hot topics in children’s publishing, the flow on effects from the US are impacting children’s books worldwide. Publishing Perspectives report on the symposium highlighted the increase in books being dropped before publication just in case they might violate some US ban.

 

The School Library Journal published an open letter from the owner of Lee And Low Publishing about the danger of soft censorship. Jason Low exhorts publishers to keep publishing inclusive titles. Soft censorship is a slippery slope to restriction of information. Everybody needs to get behind challenges to book banning including publishers. 

 

PEN International is an organization supported by author groups worldwide to shine a light on writers who have been imprisoned for speaking truth to power. They are fund raising for various legal campaigns for imprisoned writers. Many well known authors have supported by donating amazing collectables to the literary auction.

 

New Zealand is one of the few countries to have a Public Lending Right. This means that writers are compensated for having books in public libraries. Recently all the PLR countries got together to have an international body reports Publishing Perspectives. They are looking to exchange ideas and international cooperation.

 

Lit Hub is reporting on the possible Netflix Warner Brothers merger and why author societies are up in arms about it. Can you see any danger in a large corporation controlling all the entertainment media? Yes, Publishing books is in entertainment media.

 

Dan Holloway reports the European Union has not exempted books from the deforestation regulations. This is going to impact publishing supply chains as paper is crucial in publishing books.  James Daunt, CEO of the largest book chains in the world told the BBC that he would sell AI produced books if someone wanted to buy them. Watch for new dartboard pictures in publishing offices.

 

Mark Leslie Lefavbre is a well respected commentator on publishing. He has done pretty much every job in it. He has an essay on how the traditional slush pile has moved out of the publishing in-box and into the digital publishing sphere. He makes some great points and is a must read.

 

Agent Richard Curtis looks at collaborations and how they can be richly rewarding or a nightmare of unrealistic expectations. He talks about the best projects that lend themselves to collaborations.

 

Rachel Thompon has an outstanding post on relationship based book marketing. This is the post you need when you are figuring out how to show that you are not an AI. She offers lots of tips, and reasons to stop saying buy my book everywhere.

 

Jane Friedman has been highlighting memoir this week. She has two guest posts on the process of writing memoir. It’s Not About You. Your Memoir is Someone Elses Story by Allison Williams and Why Your Memoir Feel Like its Rambling and How To Fix It by Wendy Dale.

 

 

In the Craft Section

2 excellent posts from Janice Hardy- Freshen up tired tropes and How to edit without feeling overwhelmed- Bookmark

4 ways to protect yourself when writing trauma- Rachel Warmath- Bookmark

Anticipation – writing thesaurus- Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Trying out dictation- Gabriele Pereira

 

In the Marketing Section

2026 literary calendar- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark!

Running successful events- Jillian Forsberg- Bookmark

12 proven book marketing campaigns- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

2 different approaches to direct selling- Sacha Black and Joanna Penn (podcast)

How does a good book get discovered – Brian Feinblum

 

To Finish

It’s December which means…  Lists of gifts for writers. Lit Hub has 50 interesting gifts for writers  If you are looking for a really good resource, The Dream Team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have a Buy One Get One Free Thesaurus sale. If you haven’t checked out these amazing books… run to their store.

 

If you have any mid grade Sci Fi and Fantasy fans, there is a book giveaway happening over December. You can even get my book Star Light for free.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

My last post for the year is next week, and Newsletter subscribers will be getting the bumper Christmas edition. You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the free Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Ionela Mat on Unsplash