Keep Calm and Carry On

In publishing news this week...

If you have been checking into book social media lately you will have noticed the many new book release posts. A side effect of the early lockdown overseas is that the usual Spring releases were delayed until Autumn and the Autumn releases are still coming out or have been delayed until next year. The first Thursday in September is when the books hit the bookshops and if you are a Bookseller in the UK that’s nearly 600 books being released today. As you can imagine that is a lot of books needing attention. (And not getting it!) Another side effect of this is that printers are snowed under trying to print the books.

Should we hold off writing and publishing until things get back to normal or is this the new normal? Rachelle Gardner has a she’ll-be-right post to soothe your anxiety.

 

Today the news that Simon and Schuster were on the sale block broke. S&S are number 5 in the big publisher lists. With the merger of Penguin and Random House into the behemoth PRH it was only a matter of time before another sales merger would happen. Who will it be? Publishers Weekly lays some smart money out.

 

Scammers have been particularly active lately in the Book World. One horrible scam that is attracting attention is the fake book publishing offer from a major book publisher. These people prey on dreams. If your friend tells you they’ve received a book offer from a big publisher ask them where the email came from. Writer Beware has screenshots of these offers which look like they come from Big 5 publishers… except for the odd email header. 

 

China has moved to put the Beijing Book Fair online using smart technology. This is a huge move as the book fair has been getting bigger every year. In a surprise move, they have decided that the book fair will go for longer. How about a year-long book fair with free attendance? TNPS looks at what is on offer.

 

John Peregine has an interesting article on the Writers In The Storm blog about plagiarism. There are six types. Do you know the differences? If not, it could cost you a lot of money and a trashed reputation.

 

 U.S. Independent bookstore Powell’s announced that they were quitting Amazon. Powell’s CEO likened the move to quitting smoking. Passive Guy takes a look at whether this is actually a good move.

 

Jami Gold has a brilliant post on the dark moment in your script. This is excellent advice and I found I was mulling over my protagonist’s actions wondering if I had properly hit the emotional low of the 'all is lost' plot point.

 

In The Craft Section,

MS diagnostic opening scenes- Maria D’Marco - Bookmark

New writers guide to revising fiction- Cady Hammer

The secret ingredient in a Pixar movie- Scott Myers-  Great Short video!

Drawing your plot- James Scott Bell

Dynamic Dialogue- Laura Drake- Bookmark

Discipline vs Enthusiasm- K M Weiland - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Two Great Articles from Sandra Beckwith- How you can share your knowledge to market books and 5 common Press Release mistakes

Eight Book promotion strategies – Haley Zelda  (N.B. Learn from savvy romance writers!)

Creating discussion questions for your book- Sara Letourneau- Bookmark

Growing an email list- Alli Team- Bookmark!

Ten tips for amazon success- Garry Rodgers- Bookmark

Powering up email book marketing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

As I am writing this we are having an earthquake.  (5.7) We can get very blasé here about earthquakes as they are frequent. They don’t call us the shaky islands for nothing. But we are all a bit twitchy as this is the tenth anniversary of one of our biggest quakes and it’s 2020… what more can happen this year? Take a deep breath. Breathe Out.  Breathe In. Breathe Out. Let’s go calmly onward into September, the joys of spring… and stay positive.

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: WW2 motivation poster

Milestones

 

This post is numbered 600. I’m in my 13^th year of weekly roundups. When I started the blog, I didn’t know what the future would hold. How long I would be doing this- Where it would take me. I started the blog to share what I had found out about writing. Along the way, I had a ringside seat at the launch of the Kindle and online publishing, Print On Demand and subscription-style consumption of entertainment. I’ve seen the humble beginnings of what now are huge online careers and little publishing ideas that turned into global resources.

Tonight, the family speculated about reaching one thousand… an impossibly high number in my head. That will be another eight years and who knows what the future will bring for publishing. I hope to still be in my little corner writing what my friends call The Weekly Homework Sheet that they have to read. 

To everybody who has commented, emailed, followed, bought me a coffee or just stared at me in a writer gathering saying ‘You write that blog,’ Thank you for the encouragement. 

To the international writers who have picked my brains or asked advice- thanks for thinking I am worthy of the ask. 

To my writer friends- online and IRL – Thank you for being there.

It’s been a rocky road at times but the one constant has always been my weekly appointment with the blog and the 11:59pm deadline. Cheers.

 

And Now To The Reason You Are All Here…

 

Recently Savannah Cordova from Reedsy wrote a blog post on Writers helping Writers about the predictions for publishing in the next half of 2020. Will dystopian ever become fiction again… 

 

This week Kris Rusch has been looking at the art of the pivot…when things go belly up what can you do? First, you need to have a plan. Kris details how you can remain nimble in your business dealings.

 

James Daunt new CEO of Barnes and Noble has been thinking that the pandemic might be a good thing as he uses it to streamline the stores. But he also has found another side to Barnes and Noble Digital Book Sales… didn’t they have an e-reader? The Nook may be saved.

 

Dean Wesley Smith has been discovering that many writers have got book covers and not got contracts for the artwork. This could be problematic in the future. I have seen an instance where the writer had to junk several thousand dollars of covers because the designer had ripped off another artists work. It does happen. Be Careful.

 

I love Penny Sansevieri’s monthly roundups of interesting days to use for content post ideas.

Penny has got September sorted… but you can also download a years worth to put on your wall.

 

David Farland writes about the mental toughness that authors need to develop when they are writing to deadlines or to other stressors. How do you cultivate the right attitude to get you through? Yesterday I listened to The SPA Girls podcast on empowering women- Their guest was talking about strategies authors could use to make a difference in their productive lives- What are your body’s resistance tricks?- Brilliant podcast!

 

How is your writing going? Mine is inching along. Some days feel great, the words flow and other days I feel like I’m getting nowhere or going around in circles. I came across this article, How to write a marketable genre fiction series and wondered if I was doing everything all wrong… although all is not lost…. 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Line edits- How to do them- Writelife- Bookmark

Scene sequels- K M Weiland- Bookmark!

The biggest writing craft issues new novelists face- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

How to thread backstory into your narrative- Heidi Croot

Common reasons protagonists are unlikeable- Mythcreants- Bookmark

Worldbuilding tips- NowNovel- Bookmark

Why lack of structure is killing your characters- Lucy V Hay

 

In The Marketing Section,

Author collaboration- Emma Lombard- Bookmark

How to approach book clubs- Jenn Hanson dePaula

Social media tips- Frances Caballo

Nine digital book marketing ideas- Hayley Zelda

Amazon ads keywords- Jay Artale- Bookmark

Timing your book launch- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

 

To Finish,

Nate Hoffelder has an informative article on Zoom tips for authors. As we look into the next few years of dealing with this pandemic we all must get comfortable with using this sort of technology to interact with readers and peers. And then there’s Instagram… many authors are on there – take a look at this article on making a home photography studio… Get creative.

 

Here’s to the beginning of the journey to the next milestone…

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

My monthly newsletter with loads of bookmarked links and tips will be going out this weekend. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Tim Green

Publishing - Always Learning.

In publishing this week,

There has been a mixed reaction to a publishing company releasing books written under male pseudonyms with their correct gender name. The publishing company is promoting a special collection of books, however, others are asking, is this what the authors would have wanted? Just because we can – should we?

 

The rapid growth of Amazon (40% over lockdown) has caused more disquiet in the publishing industry. Publishers Weekly reports that American publishing leaders have now written to the American government to get them to curb the tech giant’s growth before it destroys the publishing industry.

 

Publishing Perspectives recently highlighted Ukraine’s publishing industry woes as publishing in that country has taken a big hit. The New Publishing Standard looks at the global publishing industry. How well, or not, is publishing doing in other markets? This week TNPS published an article on the book trade in Europe. What can we learn from other markets? Will they be saved by the undead also? (YA vampires saved the book industry once…  Midnight Sun rockets past a million copies sold in its first week.) Meanwhile, everyone keeps one eye on the American market.

 

A piece of news that made me gasp today was a hint at the possible disruption of the audiobook industry. There has been speculation about what this company could do to the audiobook landscape.  TNPS saw the job advert and put a few things together. Enter Spotify…

 

I am always fascinated by where science and Artificial Intelligence is going. This week I listened to Joanna Penn and Mark Lefebvre have a conversation with voice doubles. It was uncanny… and the possibilities for its use slightly scary. On the other hand, imagine pressing a button at the end of writing your manuscript and having the whole thing read back in your own voice- edit on the page… and then upload as an audiobook.

The Alliance of Independent Authors has been looking at copyright. With rapidly improving AI, copyright is not keeping up. If an AI can write a book in the style of another author who owns the copyright? 

 

Barb Drozdowich has an interesting article on Anne R Allen’s blog about the psychology of selling and the superfan in book marketing. Limiting choice makes a big difference in selling your books. Angela Ackerman also looked at marketing this week with an examination of FAR marketing. Focus, Authenticity, and relationships.  They are both excellent articles.

 

Reedsy has updated their book editor and it is pretty spiffy. Check out their free writing program.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to stay on point in your plot.- Jennie Nash

9 ways to originalise your story idea- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Story description- Lynnette Bonner

Transitions- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

How to create a blockbuster- Story Grid- Michael Finberg

Character development-shadow- Antonio del Drago- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

4 secrets to book marketing- Frances Caballo

2 articles from Penny Sansevieri - Pitching to be a guest blogger and 

How to connect with influencers on Twitter

How to repurpose audio and video content for social media- Social Media Examiner- Bookmark

Guide to social media image sizes- Social Media Today- Infographic

Must-Do steps for Amazon ebook campaigns- Judith Briles- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Recently I congratulated Joanna Penn and the SPA Girls for achieving significant milestones in their podcasts. It takes a special commitment to keep showing up every week to share thoughts and ideas with an audience. Often the audience has no idea what hurdles you have overcome to be present in that time and space. Kristine Rusch is also celebrating a milestone with her publishing business posts. She talks about the time when she thought there was nothing more to say and then the world changed. It’s a great post from a great voice in publishing. She has done it all and has wide-ranging knowledge of the publishing industry. Learn From The Masters, people. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

P.S. This is blog post 599

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter with loads of bookmarked links and tips.

When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate  virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Alan Levine