Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?

 

In publishing news this week,

European Publishers and Booksellers are happy that the European Parliament has adopted the new Digital Markets Act which directly hits the global tech companies over their use of content and their ‘advantageous to themselves’ publishing business practices. Now the EU has to make them take notice. 

 

The New Publishing Standard reports on textbook printing slowdowns. This is due to the worldwide shortage of paper and the problems with the Global Supply Chain. If you add in the rising cost of fuel due to war, climate change, and staff shortages due to a pandemic then you have a perfect storm in publishing. Is this the end of print?

 

While you might be taking yourself to the latest Marvel movie for escapism, spare a thought for the creators of those comics. They are now seen as classic creators of story and they have been enrolled in the Penguin Classic library to prove it.  Finally, Graphic Novels are legit literature. (Cue much rolling in graves.) This looks like a smart move by Penguin as the latest numbers say that Graphic Novels are the fastest growing genre in sales. 

 

Last week Macmillian was hit by a cyber attack and went dark for a week. Publisher’s Weekly reports they are back up and running. This might be a time for everyone to just check their security settings, especially if you have time-critical books to get out.

 

Writer Beware has an interesting post on handshake contracts. I didn’t know that these were still a thing. Originally a handshake contract relied on the integrity of the two parties' personal reputations. In the modern world of publishing, it seems that some publishers and agents are still using this but not caring about the integrity bit.

 

Wattpad has started a creator fund. The writers with the most engaged audiences will get money. Interestingly they have a threshold count for every genre. If your story gets over your genre’s threshold of engaged followers money will flow into your pocket. Horror writers only need 900 engaged followers. So if you have a dark story to tell, get over to Wattpad.

 

Anne R Allen has a cautionary tale on dealing with internet trolls, bullies and the offended. Anne writes about the way to deal with these perpetually annoying people. Back Away slowly. Nothing you can do will soften them. 

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Clare Macintosh, a traditionally published author on how to write twists and how she markets her books. Some nice little craft nuggets in here. 

 

In The Craft Section,

7 essential questions for a better character arc- Heather Davis- Bookmark

Utilizing 3 types of death- September Fawkes

3 modes of story imagination- Donald Maass- Bookmark

7 ways to improve your craft- Dario Villirilli- Bookmark

How to keep those ideas- Insecure Writers Support Group

 

In The Marketing Section,

Timesaving tips with Social Media-Kris Maze- Bookmark

Author email lessons- Sandra Beckwith

Book marketing – Neil Patel- Bookmark

Promote your book on Social Media and feel good about it- Aileen Weintraub- Bookmark

How to create an effective website- (podcast)- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish,

It has been a roller coaster ride if you have been watching politics lately. The truth is stranger than fiction. Just when you think the stories are too outrageous to be fact they turn out to not be outrageous enough. It can leave you feeling shell shocked and wondering if you should keep doing this writing game. Nothing you can come up with will trump real life. Sometimes the best thing to do is turn everything off and start again. If your writing habit has stalled, because of life… Nina Amir has a solution to quickly get it going again.  

 

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 Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Writing With The Machines

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Publishing Perspectives writes about a new UK literary magazine starting up which is international in its outlook. Fictionable has short fiction, translated fiction, and short graphic fiction and is backed by some big literary names.

 

Pan Macmillian has had a cyber-attack that seems to have crawled right across the company over the last week. I’ve seen a couple of references of it hitting the US and now the UK.

 

This week the UK government released its response to Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property consultation paper. Are the AI’s being given copyright rights? Not yet.

As everyone delves through the document to find out how many rights AI will have, there are rumblings from Techcrunch over Alexa’s new features. Amazon has given Alexa the ability to speak in dead relatives' voices, (for an extra layer of creepy.) Of course, it would never be abused.

 

Publishing perspectives reports that German audio publisher Bookwire has now added AI voices to its range of narrators, the first audio publisher to do so and have them for sale. (Google offers AI narration only on their publisher dashboard.)

If you want to learn more about this checkout Joanna Penn’s great article on AI Narrated audiobooks.

 

Book Riot reports on the latest data on American reading habits. The stats say that half the adults don’t pick up a book but it depends on their age. Who are the biggest readers? Some interesting takeaways from this.

 

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Independent Authors is collecting data of its own. They want Authors to share their earnings and their publishing numbers to get a snapshot of how healthy the publishing industry is. Check out their numbers so far this year.

 

Penny Sansevieri has a great article on getting the most out of writing conferences. If you are attending one soon, check out her tips.

 

Jen Calonita has an interesting article in Publishers Weekly on being a children’s writer on TikTok. Embrace the fun.

 

Kris Rusch continues her series on why writers fail- How do writers treat money? Love it. Loathe it. Spend it. Hoard it. It’s a problem that writers are always struggling with.

 

Ruth Harris has a great post on how lists can keep you sane as a writer. Use them to jog your memory, plan your scene, character interview, plot points… there’s a list for everything. 

 

In The Craft Section,

13 Methods for writing the best dialogue

3 ways to infuse Character voice

Point of View and voice- John Gilstrap- Bookmark

Trimming- The tricks of the trade- Scott Myers

The role of the antagonist in story structure- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Is the last page as good as the first- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to acquire an agent- Lauren Sharkey

Kindlepreneur list of promo sites- Dave Chesson

Get better book launch results- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to get a great author photo- ALLI

How to prepare for a blog tour- WritePublishSell

 

To Finish,

It’s been a while since I linked to a Terrible Minds ramble but this week’s news has been an up and down rollercoaster of emotion. Chuck Wendig looks at how writing is a place to put your rage, sorrow, and even joy and have it take the emotional load you may be carrying. 

 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links, come join our happy band and 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 Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

 

 

Reflecting, Educating, Planning, and Celebration

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Those pesky kids books. How dare they have dubious morals. 

Writer organisations are watching the lawsuit in Virginia, filed by Republican lawyers on behalf of a Republican Congressional Candidate who claims obscenity, against two authors and their publishers. The two books in question, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, published in 2019 by Oni Press, and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maass, published by Bloomsbury in 2016. It doesn’t matter how old the books are…. Will other states follow suit? First they came for….

 

Mark Williams notes that the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair has been postponed again. While everywhere people think the shocks of Covid 19 lockdowns are over. They are not. Is the publishing world ready for another China lockdown?

 

The Guardian looks back on how The Costa Book Awards changed reading in the UK. With the shock withdrawal of the awards what is left to fill the gap?

 

Spotify finally closed the deal over Findaway’s acquisition and took the moment to announce what they have in store for the future. It’s going to be very big!

 

Cory Doctorow always has interesting things to say about Tech and Big Business and shonky companies and he is generally out there trying to educate people on their rights. This week he pointed the finger at magazine writers contracts. Oh boy do they not make good reading. So if you are a writer just what are you having to sign in the fine print and how much are you liable for? Once you read this, you will be more educated than most. 

 

Rolling right after Cory was Kris Rusch who detailed just what is happening her in her town about Elvis and Intellectual Property. And then there is the Top Gun potential lawsuit where the heirs of the writer, whose original article the movies are based on, did everything right. Will Big Business blink?

 

Joanna Penn had a great podcast this week with guest Katie Cross on selling books direct from your website. What are all the things to be aware of? Tax? Currency? Getting paid immediately?

 

Dean Wesley Smith has a huge library of teaching videos and courses on his website for writers. Recently he was looking at gaps and came up with a whole new list of potential courses which are now in the pipeline. If you are looking to upskill in any area check out the new courses.

 

In The Craft Section,

2 Great articles from Becca Puglisi-Subterfuge in dialogue

and Character talent skills- Bookmark Both

Character Arcs in the Karpman Drama Triangle- K M Weiland – Bookmark

What does authenticity mean anyway- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark

Creating conflict and resolution in your novel- Now Novel - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Should authors use video to promote their books - Transcript Alli Twitter chat

Get more author and book publicity-Sandra Beckwith

Top 5 social media strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Sell Sheets- Carolyn Howard Johnson- Bookmark

Free ways to build an author platform- ALLI podcast transcript.

 

To Finish,

It’s Matariki weekend. It’s a big deal here in NZ as it is the first indigenous holiday weekend for our country. The first time in law that the whole country will celebrate the New Year according to Maori tradition. Everybody is talking about how to celebrate it- what traditions should we have - what does it mean for us as family or communities. Matariki celebrates the rising of the Pleiades- which happens around Winter Solstice which makes much more sense for big family dinners and planning New Year’s resolutions. In the Northern Hemisphere around Winter Solstice you celebrate with big family dinners and New Years resolutions while Down Under it’s Summer, it’s hot and we just want to go to the beach. We’re in the middle of Summer holiday’s trying to figure out New Year’s Resolutions at late night BBQ’s which means they will all be broken by January 3^rd.

So here’s to a New Year in Winter. May it be fruitful, blessed, and full of Joy for your family and your writing community.

Kua haehae ngā hihi o Matariki.

The rays of Matariki are spread.

 

The rays of its stars are thought to carry messages for the people. Matariki is a time to share stories, reflect on the past, and plan for the future.

 

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 Matariki- or The Pleiades – Fraser Gunn 

How to Find Matariki

Look on the Dawn horizon. Find Orion’s Belt.

Look left to Aldebaran (red star) and left again to Matariki/Pleiades cluster of stars.