Fishing for the Muse

 In Publishing News 

Recently Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed his shareholders and talked about their audiobook strategy. Spotify, known for its streaming and subscription models may be trying something different for audiobooks, a marketplace where you can buy the audiobook, not just stream it. 

In related news Spotify has just bought an AI voice platform…specifically the one that recreated Val Kilmer's voice in the latest Top Gun movie. I wonder what they want to do with it? Audio narration anyone?

 

The closing of the Costa book prize (previously The Whitbread) has sent a small shock wave through the literary community. Once the dream of many- the world's richest book prize, validation galore. Will there be anything to take its place?

 

This week Anne R Allen had a Writer Beware post on film scams. Yes, a new scam is on the horizon with scammers reaching out to say they can get your book into Netflix or Hollywood. Read the great article and Be A-Ware of the sneaky way they reel in the unsuspecting.

 

Staying with fish hooks Writer Beware’s Victoria Strauss has a close look at some copyright language that is so contradictory you don’t know what you are actually agreeing to in the contract. 

 

When the writing life gets you down the writer can be heard whimpering if only someone paid me to do this my troubles will be over. A fantastic dream? A hedge fund in the UK wants to give writers a salary to just write. The Alliance of Independent Authors looked into it and found there were some good points in the model. If this sounds like you, check it out. 

 

Kris Rusch continues her learning from the licensing expo series. The publishing industry is fixated on the latest releases, however, the money is in the backlist. That’s what the licensing expo is all about mining the longevity of your IP. The longer the better. Quite fascinating.

 

Writer Unboxed continues their PR and Marketing series with Ann-Marie Nieves. This week Ann-Marie delves into the differences between them and gets advice from some big writer names on how to make the best of book marketing communication.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make your character sympathetic- Mythcreants- Bookmark

7 questions about your first chapter- Abigail Perry

7 essential tips to plan your novel- Beth Barany

They’re all going to die, why does it matter- Jami Gold- 

Bookmark

Make sure the reader knows who’s talking- Emma Darwin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Paying for a professional book review- Patti Thorn

Promoting a book with hybrid author events- Penny Sansevieri- 

Bookmark

PR and Marketing tips for authors- Ann- Marie Nieves- Bookmark

How to succeed as a non-fiction author- Penny Sansevieri-Bookmark

Instagram reels strategy- Good ideas for book marketing

 

To Finish,

Sometimes, the muse, packs their bag and leaves town. This can leave the writer struggling and feeling like a fraud. Good News. You are still a writer. Dargan Thompson has an article that picks you up, dusts you off, and gives you a pep talk about how you are still in the game.

 

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 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash

Reading The Future

 

 

This week in publishing news,

 

The outgoing UK Children’s Laureate, Cressida Cowell called for the government to fund school libraries. The Guardian reported that Cressida's experiment where 6 primary schools received a curated collection and dedicated training to school librarians and teachers has been a huge success, now it needs to be replicated. Speaking as a teacher, the last thing you should do is get rid of the library…and it’s always the first to go when you need an extra classroom. If you want engaged, reading-for-life, children - fund the school library!

 

Publishers Weekly examined a law that has just passed in New York State – Freelance doesn’t mean Free. The onus is on the contractor to pay up in 30 days or the freelancer can double the bill. I know so many freelancers that would greet this kind of law with cheers.

 

Wordsrated released an examination of the length of best sellers in the last year. Results… the books are getting shorter. Is this because paper and ink cost more? Attention spans… reading is not trendy? Dive in for the number breakdowns.

 

Writer Beware examines a bad contract from one of the top serial writing companies. This is a must read.  Everyone in publishing needs to be aware of contract speak for taking everything and leaving you no rights at all. However, there is a sneaky way around this contract if you want to write serial fiction.

 

WhiteFox Publishing celebrated their 10^th anniversary by canvassing opinions from publishing people about how they see publishing changing in the next 10 years. Some interesting ideas were mentioned that writers should be aware of.

 

The Readmagine conference on publishing futures wrapped up in Madrid. Publishing Perspectives interviewed Luis Gonzales on the biggest challenge for the publishing industry that he sees going forward- Renewing the narrative that publishing is good for society.

 

Every week I get unsolicited offers from marketers wanting me to feature their content on my blog. Rarely do they have anything to do with publishing or writing and so I immediately junk them. This week I received a tip from Timothy Moonlight who wrote a comparison article on audiobook royalties and how he is having success with a new distributor Soundwise. Why can’t content marketers be like Tim and send relevant information that fits this blog.

 

Last week I mentioned that Kris Rusch had attended the Licensing Expo. In my inbox popped an email from Darcy Pattison on her experiences at the expo where she took her children’s books. It is a fascinating read.

 

John Wilker has written an interesting article on how he wishes Indie bookshops would support Indie authors. He makes some good points. Marketing your books is always going to be challenging and we must celebrate the Indie bookstores that walk alongside us.

 

Can you market books without social media? Penny Sansevieri has an article by Carol Michel who did just that. If you have been wondering about the value or time suck of social media for bookmarketing this is a fascinating read.

 

Beth Havey wrote an interesting article on the lure of stuffing your book full of literary symbolism. Are you tempted to throw everything and the kitchen sink in your book or do you go back once you have written it and find the symbolism naturally occurring?

 

In The Craft Section,

The Fear Thesaurus – Being watched-Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

6 ways to find the best ideas before writing- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Writing un-putdownable characters- A C Williams

Tension and micro tension to keep your readers hooked – Tiffany Yates Martin- Bookmark

The ultimate guide to writing for audio- Jules Horne- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

July social media dates for book marketing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Write emails that sell books- Nick Stephenson- Bookmark

How to write an author bio- Beth Barany

Street teams- Angela Ackerman

Another take on book trailers- Terry Odell- Bookmark

Book promo in July – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

This week Kris Rusch returned to her current series of articles about why writers fail. This week she looked at the problem of aging. How often has a writer started a great series, realized it was going to be a life’s work, and given up halfway through or died on the job? Should we be holding back? Is the fear of big projects causing us to fail before we start? 

Can we future-proof our writing?

 

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 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Ameer Basheer on Unsplash

The Places You Will Go

 

 

This week in Publishing News

 

It’s Queen’s Birthday Honours at the moment in the UK.

Arise Sir Quentin Blake (I can just imagine the fabulous illustrator's whimsy portrait of the event.) 

Arise Sir Ian Rankin- (Can I borrow that sword for my next murder mystery?) 

Across the pond the number one bestselling book is Oh, The Places You Will Go by Dr Suess. It must be graduation time. This illustrates the power of the Suess backlist for keeping publishers afloat.

 

Amazon is pulling out of China. They are shutting up shop for Kindle eReaders immediately and will close their e-bookstore and app down next year. Could be tricky times ahead if you sell into China.

 

This week the New Statesman business magazine published an article looking at the rise of independent bookshops and compared them with Amazon’s increasing prices for books.

Are they really losing out against bookshops? 

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on the latest numbers from Italy. Heading into Summer, visits to bookstores are up which means print sales are up. Everything is looking good but what is really behind the numbers… comics?

 

Publishers Weekly has an interesting report on the Readmagine conference, an annual publishing futures conference in Europe. The first sessions looked at current global trends in reading. There are lots of intriguing ideas to unpick here on reading, its communities, and opportunities to mix it up with other forms of communication and streaming, and its only day one! 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting opinion piece on how Kobo’s move to add the Arabic language, which I reported on last week, is a potential game changer for the predominantly English language based eBook industry.

 

Kris Rusch attended the 2022 Licensing Expo and shares her initial thoughts. If you can remember way back before Covid, Kris was fascinated by the opportunities licensing had for content creators (writers). She is still optimistic but cautionary.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Tammi Lebrecque (NewsletterNinja) this week on The Creative Penn podcast. This is a power house interview that should be mandatory listening/reading for authors. Yes, I know it’s scary but you can adapt ideas for your genre.

 

Julie Issac has a written a great guest article on Sandra Beckwith’s Bookbuzz blog, When ‘good enough’ is not good enough. This is a thought provoking post on what not to do when you are thinking of adding value to your readers.

 

In the Craft Section,

9 ways to approach relationship dynamics in fiction- K M Weiland - Bookmark

The art and importance of ambiguous writing- Becca Puglisi

How to sharpen your first sentences- Carolyn Dennis- Willingham

5 solutions when you are stuck- Bang2Write- Bookmark

Your microcosm is our world- Donald Maass- Bookmark

4 tricks to transform scenes- Zena Dell Lowe

 

In the Marketing Section,

6 strategic benefits to publishing an ebook- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

7 ways to build an author platform- Reedsy

9 things learned from tracking 150k books on Amazon- Ingram- A deep dive into detail.

Prize ideas for book promo- Bookbub

6 ways an author bio sells books – Ruth Harris- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The writer’s imagination - where would we be without it? Sometimes it lets us down, cue writer's block. Sometimes it keeps us up all night. Di Anne Mills has an interesting article on how we can enhance our imaginations, so our readers get a better experience from our writing.

 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It's nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, come and join us by subscribing. You will also get a nifty mini book crammed 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 or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Rumman Amin on Unsplash