Party Details

Today I hosted an hour of an online FB Book Launch Party for a Y A thriller by Helen V Fletcher called Broken Silence (Promo: grab the ebook for 99c.)

I felt a bit nervous as I have never done anything like this before but Helen said she would hold my hand and so I jumped in. It was a blast! I started with party music and the hour just flew by. Lots of authors joined in the launch. They talked about their books and had giveaways and mini competitions for prizes. And the prizes are up for 24 hours so jump on over and join in the fun.

Helen’s book is contemporary Young Adult. Anne R Allen has a great post on her blog about writing contemporary fiction. I had no idea that the word lengths were getting shorter. Anne writes about the reasons you can’t write War and Peace anymore and expect it to sell.

If you were writing a huge novel you need time to beaver away. Where do you find it? Aha! Try this technique for working smarter, suitable for any writer.  While we are on nuts and bolts of the writer’s physical environment check out Copyhackers best practice for setting up your home office!

My lunchtime break saw me riveted to the SFF marketing podcast. Lindsay, Joe and Jeff were interviewing Joanna Penn on her new book Launch to Market 3rd edition. Joanna says that it is 60% different from the first edition, which I have so... It’s on my want list.

Cynthia Shannon has a comprehensive breakdown of all the things you need to do for planning and having a Goodreads giveaway. I have been watching the results of experiments in an author group I belong to and it seems like a good thing to try.

Kathryn Goldman has a comprehensive post on audio rights. Who actually owns them? This can get tricky when you produce your audio book. Performance rights... broadcast rights...  translation audio... All the rights you didn’t know you had... (see Joanna Penn’s interview above for more options.)

The fabulous Kris Rusch continues her excellent series on marketing and brand discovery. Her in depth attention to detail posts are like a university course. I feel she should be required reading in a Creative Writing diploma.

Writers Digest has an interview with Kristen Owens on 10 actions she has learned in her first year of professional writing.

In The Craft Section,

Avoid opening page info dump- Jami Gold – Bookmark

How to skip the boring parts of your writing- K M Weiland

The power of the unlikely protagonist- Writer Unboxed – Bookmark

What is irony?- a cool post from Reedsy

8 tips for writing in cafes- Louise Marley

How to add meaningful subplots- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Saving the day by solving the problem- Beth Hill- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Using your official name on Twitter- Roz Morris

Digressing slightly to shout out to Kevin Tumlinson who writes such great content for the Draft2Digital site. Here are three recent posts.

8 elements of a good title- Bookmark

10 low or no budget ways to promote your book- Bookmark

Author overheads-What you need to know.

Kevin is also the host of the Wordslinger podcast, which is one of my new great podcasting finds!

To Finish,

Today has been a day about organising... Helen organised a fun online book launch but it wouldn’t have worked without attention to detail. What were the secret schedules of the great authors... did they work the same way? Check out this article and be surprised!

maureen

@craicer

It’s nearly time to schedule my monthly newsletter. (Hi to the new subscribers!) I round up the best of the months 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. Thanks everyone who hit the coffee button this week. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Book Love

Where were you twenty years ago?

I was teaching and scribbling stories at night. We had just got internet and I found a great group of UK writers on a listserv. One night the discussion turned to word of mouth promotion.

‘There’s a great debut story just published, everyone is talking about,’ said one UK author. I went to my local specialist bookseller (who passed away recently,) While he was stacking on the counter the pile of books he thought I should read to my class, I asked him about this book, Harry and the stone... He put Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on the pile saying- ‘my last book, it’s a good read.’ I finished it at 2am and started reading it to my class that day. 

It became the most talked about book in the playground. I was seeing in real time the power of good storytelling transporting children to another world. Teachers and parents would stop me and ask about the book that even the non readers were talking about.... 

That’s the holy grail of writing when the reader can’t bear to close the book. It has nothing to do with clever phrases or perfectly executed grammar. It grabs you by the throat and demands your attention. You can’t sit down to intentionally write a story like this. The magic can't be forced.

This week is the 20 year anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Di Dickenson looks at the criticism leveled at the book series and asks is it justified.

Kris Rusch has her next post on discoverability. This weekshe looks at brand loyalty. This series is cracking along. Kris always gives you plenty to think about.

Brain Pickings has a great post on different styles of great writing. Are you an explainer, an elucidator or an enchanter? Which should you aim to be?

Orna Ross has been thinking about the underlying prejudice towards self publishers in the wake of the recent Byte The Book debate. Why is self publishing still seen as vanity publishing when the reality is very different. Is traditional publishing the new vanity?

R L Stedman has an interesting post on rights. Do you know all the different rights that you have in one piece of work? This is a great reference and eye opening for the new writer.

If you are an illustrator or know one, point them in the direction of this global award for illustration. Entries close in a few weeks and the prize is quite nice...

Jami Gold has been struggling with burnout. She writes an important article on writer self care.

A group of grad students have got together to pool their talents and set up a research group for writers to use. Check out their new weekly blog. If you need a grad student to do some research for you this could be a valuable resource.

Litreactor has an interesting blog on book reviews, specifically why they don’t look at 5 star reviews. This is a really interesting read about how important the 3 and 4 star reviews are to people looking for the next book to invest time in.

In The Craft Section,

4 reasons to outline your settings K M Weiland - Bookmark

Write better fiction- Killzone blog

Better book titles- April Davila- Bookmark

World building in sci fi and fantasy

Check out Writing excuses podcast. This weeks episode –outlining

Book disclaimers don’t have to be boring- Helen Sedwick- Bookmark

6 fantasies that stop writing success- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Getting book reviews- Book marketing tools

Audiobooks should be part of your strategy

Book launch marketing  questions and a print it out checklist – Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Boost eBook sales with box sets

Reasons your bookbub got rejected- Bookmark

Do this not that book promotion- The Book Designer

3 best practices for marketing- Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

To Finish,

I met a composer friend yesterday and I was lamenting that I couldn’t make up my mind on whether to take up the offer of a piano to replace our keyboard. It means moving some bookcases to make room. He laughed and noted that I could always put the books on top of the piano... win/win.

It’s not that I hoard books... um they are just good friends... all of them... (over 2000.) But I’m not a true hoarder. These famous people had much more extensive collections....

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: The first cover. Ours is a patchwork of spellotape holding it together... but nobody in the family wants a new edition. The magic is still in the old one.

If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links and other goodies you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Come and share the book love.

Writing Heroes

It has been a turgid time in the house recently. (Now you have to check I used turgid correctly... clue British dictionary.) ¾’s of the household have been hit with an awful viral cold. The only trips out for about a week have been to restock on tissues, cough syrup, tissues, honey, tissues and chicken (for soup.)

When you are sick, your thoughts can go spiraling down into the pit of despair. You can suffer from comparison-itis,  FOMO disorder and subjectio. Amanda Palmer shared her thoughts on this insidious type of thinking for creative people. It is well worth a read and reality check.

This week my Twitter feed started to fill up with comments about a Byte-The-Book debate in London between Joanna Penn and Euan Thorneycroft on The Author as Publisher -Opportunity or Vanity. By all accounts it was a wonderful debate. Some very interesting points were raised over the future of reading.

This week, writing hero, Jami Gold had an interesting post on the Heroes journey... how are we applying the lessons we make our characters go through to our own lives. Are we real life heroes? 
Jami raises interesting points about personal growth.

Recently Debbie Ridpath Ohi was interviewed on how she manages her online life and her work as an illustrator of children’s books. One of her secrets... it helps to be an introvert. (whaaa???)

Katie Weiland shared her 5 stages of writing process from conception of idea to revision. It is a standout post from a writing craft legend and a MUST READ.

In The Craft Section,

The 3 tiers point of view technique-Writer Unboxed- Bookmark

How to boost your self editing super powers- Jennie Nash-Bookmark

Getting your novel to the finish line- Janice Hardy

Put science in your science fiction

Emotion amplifiers- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Character driven plot- Rachel Geisel- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The difference between a press release and a pitch- Jane Friedman-Bookmark

Hiring a cartoonist- Reedsy

Creating an author business plan- Marcy Kennedy

3 steps to know your audience-Digital Book World- Bookmark

A plan for finding new readers- Book Marketing Tools

Best practice on keywords- Mia Fox

To Finish,

Jane Friedman published an article today on a writer’s guide to fair use and permissions and got 123 comments in very short order. This is a hot topic with accepted practice, internet freedoms and legal requirements all rolled up into one confusing mess which Jane does her best to straighten out. This is definitely a bookmark post from one of the online heroes in the publishing world.

Maureen

@craicer

My monthly newsletter is finally out. (helped along with plenty of tissues...)  If you want to get the best of my bookmarked links and other goodies you can subscribe here. (No germs will be shared... )

Pic: How many of you can name the show, episode, character.... (shiny)