The Same But Different

Another New Year... Another set of Writing Relating Goals and Publishing Predictions... reach for the last of the New Year’s party wine. 

Last year predictions were that Audio would start to take off. – This year continues that prediction- we haven’t seen the end of the beginning of the explosion in audiobook sales...  AI technology is ramping up. Chuck in publishers making audio-only deals and everyone in publishing is starting to take note of the gold in them thar hills....

Mark Coker always has an interesting perspective on what the new publishing year might bring. He’s more often right than wrong so take a look at what he considers to be the big issues going forward.

Joanna Penn dashed down under to catch up with family but still had time to make sure that her great podcasts were ticking over. Two recent ones that are well worth checking out are Creative Goal setting trends for 2019 and a great interview on 21st-century lessons for a creative mindset with Mark McGuiness.

Agent Laurie Mclean has also dipped her toe into the prediction pond for this year. Her big message – people reading (and finishing) a book is declining... we must encourage the eco system of books if we want publishing to survive. 

Kris Rusch and her husband Dean Wesley Smith have seen too many new publishing years to count. Kris is doing a great series on planning for the New Year. The longer I have been watching this industry (coming up to 11 years soon) the more I value Kris and her insights into what is going on. Start with her Boxing day post – The Current State Of Disruption... follow up with Part Two- Sales ... Part Three - on libraries and Part Four- Audio

Over The Christmas Break...when everyone was recovering from Christmas dinner Amazon changed tack again. Gone are product display ads... and in are Lockscreen ads. As everyone is commenting it’s a pay to play world out there.

Also in the news was the highlighting of a new trolling behaviour that is targeting successful sellers on Amazon.  They target the reviews and tell Amazon that you paid for 5-star reviews... The Zon comes down with their big sledgehammer... meanwhile the originator of the false claim reaps rewards... It’s a long process to get back to square one.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to get a handle on Social Media you are not alone, Fae Rowan writes about the pain she feels when she contemplates Social Media marketing. Drop into the Writers In The Storm Blog to join in the conversation.

Penny Sansevieri has decided that 2019 should be the year of the vlog. Writers need to get a handle on using digital media as search becomes increasing image driven. And it is so easy, says Penny....

Anne R Allen highlighted a tidy list of ... new writer scams for 2019. They don’t stop trolling for newbies as we hit another new year. If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know who to avoid and where to go to find out more... don’t forget to tell the newbies out there that there is heaps of information if they just search for it. Google is your friend. Typing ‘to-good-to-be -true-offer and scam in a search bar is the first thing they should do. Remember anyone who wants you to pay them to publish your book... tread really really carefully!

Keren David over at an awfully big blog adventure ( children’s writer's blog) throws down the gauntlet to publishers about diversity... getting out of London and seeing what’s happening in the smaller centers etc etc. She has a list of great things she thinks they should do this year... after all, it is 2019. Has anyone in publishing heard of Skype? 

In The Craft Section.

How to get emotion on the page- Lisa Cron-Bookmark
The different types of editing- Writer Unboxed
Resources for writers- June Takey- This is an all you can eat blog post Bookmark!
8 writing tools to get the words flowing
Setting up a kanban board to reach writing goals in 90 days. Organise and win at writing...

In The Marketing Section,

What to include in your marketing strategy
Follow these steps when you publish your first book
Bookbub ads- David Gaughran- Bookmark
Using Pinterest to market children’s books- Jane Friedman- Bookmark
Amazon Advertising for KDP authors in 2019- Chris McMullen

To Finish,

Over my summer break, I had some fun trying different dictation solutions. Google came out the clear winner with almost 100% accuracy... except for the lag in voice capture which meant I lost the beginning of every sentence. All the words it caught were 100% accurate tho. At the huge Consumer Electronics Show (CES) The big tech giants were showing off their snazzy voice everything applications... including translations.
In 2019 will we be able to dictate content and have it automatically translated including social media posts to become a truly global publishing consumer and provider... 
Fasten your seatbelts...  

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 will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee- hit the coffee button up top. Thanks. I appreciate the virtual coffee love.

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Davity Dave

The Epic Roundup of 2018…

This will be my last post for 2018.
I’m having a few weeks off over Christmas. And it’s a day late too…. So what exciting things can I draw your attention to…
I thought I’d look back over the year and see what happened…

In January everyone was processing all the changes of 2017 and making predictions for 2018. Let’s see how they did. Joanna Penn had a list of coming tech trends for authors. Imposter syndrome- (Warning it’s from Chuck) and layoffs at Createspace had authors wondering what’s up?
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
The eyes have it- A fascinating look at how people view the Amazon buy page 
Katie Weiland’s fabulous infographic on Storytelling nuts and bolts.

In February
Scandal in the Children’s Lit community, Apple and Google playing with their book store fronts and the first inklings of how big Audio was going to get this year. Author Solutions has been pinged for predatory practices on newbie authors so much that their other name is shark. But did you know how many aliases they operate under?  
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Killing Writer Perfectionism and Reverse Engineering Your Editorial Calendar

March was the month of… Death. With the deaths of Stephen Hawking, Ursula Le Guin and the news about Harper Lee’s estate… How prepared is your literary estate for after your death?
Findaway voices offer serious competition to Audible and writing podcasts – a source of information and creation for the modern writer., with serial novels. Don’t forget to stretch at your writing desk.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Seven strategies and Ninety-four tools to find readers 
Anne R Allen- Plot holes and Pot Holes

April had…my eleventh-year blogversary. Reviews disappearing left, right and center around the internet. The rise and rise of AI- Get Siri or Alexa to buy the books and then read them to your child. (I wouldn’t have predicted that eleven years ago!)
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from 
Larry Brooks- Everything you need to know about story structure and 
David Gaughran- Canva- the author Go To for graphics.

In May   
Literary Embezzlement, the demise of Kindle worlds and implications thereof and GDPR and what it means for authors were the huge talking points in May. Take control of your author business and sell direct. Responsible use of mailing lists is a must.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Jami Gold - Why head hopping is lazy writing
SFF Marketing podcast- Cultivating a rabid fan base.

June followed up with Book Stuffing scandals and the implications for writers regarding copyright that Cockygate is highlighting. Patricia Cornwall jumps to Amazon and Writers and learned helplessness. Audio publishing- The next big thing!
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Jane Friedman’s guests this month.
What does it mean to write a scene that works and The psychology of Author Marketing

July… When agents are found to be crooked.#daniellesmith and other predators in publishing. Why the literature Nobel was not awarded. Author income surveys and Wattpad the new go-to source for publishers to find the next big thing.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
Sell your books, not your soul
Procrastinating productively

In August Walmart and Kobo teemed up… Is there serious competition ahead for Amazon? Createspace was shut by Amazon in favour of Kindle Print – (They are still ironing out the problems of this move.) Audible, owned by Amazon, changed their contracts… not for the better. And remember Cockygate?
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Anne R Allen-Troubled Characters and their personality problems
Roz Morris- Building readership – a quiet rebellion

In September Bookstores were bought and sold. 
Contracts were contested and explored and Amazon put up the price of their Ads.. catching everyone on the hop. How will Brexit affect publishing? The days of nice booksellers are on the wane.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Bookbub- The biggest Ad mistakes
Go Into The Story- Protagonist vs Nemesis

October saw… a global and future focus with the Future Book conference. Publishers are looking at Asia as their next big markets to tackle and you should be too. Blockchain in publishing was talked about as the next big change to negotiate. And everyone everywhere is looking into book serialisation either Audio or subscription streaming. October is also the month where you plan for NaNoWriMo.
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles from
Katie Weiland has a magical post about the power of language
Joanna Penn Interviewed Dave Chesson about keywords for Amazon ads.

November, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo…. Craft articles were the flavour of the month. In publishing news- Amazon changed their systems and glitched a whole lot of writers. Now you really need to advertise as the organic discovery writers used to be able to do has disappeared. Viral sensation The Scottish Granny elevated a children’s book from 7-year-old obscurity to marketing sensation. And China is hunting for children’s books. 
Standout Craft and Marketing Articles 
I guest posted over on Jami Gold’s blog on leveling up your craft learning.
70 plot twists and examples – Reedsy
Bookcover Zone - seriously addictive

And now we get to this week in December 
Publishers Weekly had an article on Hybrid publishers and how authors are redefining success and failure in publishing.
Nate Hoffelder comments on how often Publishing hit USA Today’s list of big job layoff’s in the last decade.
Bookmark worthy posts
Make your own book video trailers for free... 
Writing intuitively - September Fawkes
Writing beats and meaningful actions- Women on Writing

As I’ve rolled through the year’s blog posts I discovered that 2018 was the year of the book cover for me. I bought six and commissioned three. I finished Book Three in my Starlight series and discovered that I have to add another book to that series.  I launched the first two books in The Circus Quest Series. (On sale over Christmas if you need some great books for your child's new Tablet /eReader.) and I was part of the Judging team for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. (Waves Hi to the current crop of judges who will have their first onslaught of books about now!) It’s been a full 2018.

Have a safe and relaxing Christmas break filled with love, laughter, and great writerly thoughts.
I’ll see you back in mid-January 2019 with all those goal planning posts.

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 will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or Buy a Circus Quest Book for the creative quirky kid in your life.   

pic: Flickr Creative Commons Lindsaye Eyink

Are you giving books this Christmas?

If you want the industry to survive and thrive say Brazilian Publishers, you had better step up and buy some books. This plea from the publishers struck a chord with Booksellers everywhere reports the Guardian. Unfortunately Barnes and Noble seem to have missed that memo.

The FutureBook conference was held last week in London. Among the topics discussed were the rise and rise of Audiobooks, voice technology, and podcasts. Can we make publishing rival Netflix was the cry… With Google entering the audio market we could be seeing interesting times soon.

While you are contemplating the news from FutureBook, Richard Charkin was issuing a list of Don’ts to traditional publishers about 2019 in Publisher’s Weekly. If you read the two articles together you will have a fair idea of the state of play in the publishing world going into the new year.

While Joanna is down under, (Hope the weather in Auckland is nice Joanna!) she is continuing to put interesting articles on her blog. Here are the two latest that I found interesting. Money management for authors and Tips for keeping in a Creative Routine while on holiday.

WriterHQ also has an interesting article on how to stay motivated in the Summer holidays… Tip one- ignore kids and don’t do housework… Roz Morris also has a great blog post on staying in touch with your writing project while navigating your way through Christmas madness.

Jami Gold has a great post on writing rules- what rules? - We don’t need those stinkin’ rules and don't forget to check out the writing gift Advent calendar from Becca and Angela! 

Reedsy has started a podcast for writers. The focus is on writing craft. Bang2Write reinforces this focus on writing craft by taking issue with the words aspiring writer. (Remember to expunge the word aspiring from your vocabulary at your next Christmas party.)

This week was my last week running away to my creative happy space for the year. I love it because I’m not faced with laundry, dishes, phone calls, etc. (Everybody needs a creative happy space.) My writing buddy and I spent our last day for 2018 studying Suzanne Lakin’s posts on vision and strategy for 2019. These are well worth doing. Check out all the posts in the series and grab your planner. 

In The Craft Section,

Plotting on Notecards- AR Beckert

Lessons from a lost novel- K M Weiland

The pitfalls of writing a series- Gordon Long

Inciting incidents- Reedsy- Bookmark

The hero’s journey- Joseph Campbell- Bookmark

Writing technique- Euphonics- Bookmark

Taking character relationships to the next level- Mythcreants- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

Visibility- Nicholas Erik- Bookmark

Nate’s big list of free and paid book promo sites- Nate Hoffelder- Bookmark

Twitter advertising infographic- Barb Drozdowich 

Bookbub ads- David Gaughran- Bookmark

Best Book Covers of 2018

14 Twitter apps/tools for writers- Frances Caballo

Indie Authors – empowered

To Finish,

The Christmas decorations are up everywhere you look. The sun is beating down!  It’s a struggle to get the kids out of bed in the last week of school. Let alone make sure all your present buying is done by then. Writer’s gift lists get updated
so you can buy for yourself... always a good idea. But Tara Sparling has the definitive article on what 
a writer really wants for Christmas.

Maureen
@craicer

My monthly newsletter will be hitting inboxes in the next few days. 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. If you like the blog and want to shout me a Christmas coffee, hit the coffee button up top or (Look Right) buy a book for your favourite 6+-year-old. My books are available in print and ebook- and you can feel good about buying books for Christmas.   Next week will be the last blog post for the year...