Publishers Behaving Badly – Are they really clueless?

 

In Publishing News this week…

 I was contacted today by a writer notifying me of a new scam… on the surface I saw nothing wrong but the writer pointed out that the agent in question should have never used the words 'payment remittance advice' from a financial controller. 

Now you may think that is so under the radar as to be easily overlooked but the author in question went back to the agent. (Note: You should always do this. Ring them and talk in person.) The agent had clicked on a link and inadvertently installed malware on his computer which then gathered up all his email addresses and used them to contact authors… promising money which the authors clicked on spreading the malware. 

Authors are so poorly paid, of course we are going to click on anything that promises us royalties. 

However, this kind of scam targets the financial affairs of agents and publishers. How many of them have tight controls over who can access their financial accounts… and their authors financial accounts? How secure are they? The author who alerted me to this commented that with everyone having to use 2 factor identification all the time elsewhere it seems absurd that publishers and agents aren’t doing the same to limit peoples access to their own accounts. 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has updated the fake agent scam that hit last year… it seems there are many variations around and this year the scam trend continues. Over Summer I had a fascinating conversation with a bank analyst who told me the biggest banking scams were targeting lawyers who thought they were savvy. Always check up- by phone, not return email. 

Meanwhile Publishers Weekly reports that Adelaide Books who got into hot water when they grew too quickly and fell over when Covid hit is trying to make things right. But it is a cautionary tale which has the Authors Guild spluttering with rage on behalf of the 450 authors involved.

 

Publishing Perspectives has named the main stage speakers for London Book Fair. The usual CEO’s are speaking but the subjects reflect the hot topics in Traditional publishing; copyrights, licensing, sustainability of their business, supply chain woes, along with inclusivity and how to get more eyeballs. I wonder if they will come up with any solutions?

 

Sales numbers are a hot topic if you are a publishing CEO – The latest figures from Nielsen and the Association of American Publishers makes interesting reading or if you’re Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard only a pointer to what he has worked out is the true figure, which is many billions more than Nielsen and AAP think.

 

With the news this week that Harper Collins is going into mediation with its striking staff – a muted cheer went up among HC authors and agents. Today Harper Collins announced they are laying off 5% of their workforce- OUCH.

 

AI images and the threat to income dominates the artists water cooler talk. Two of the main image suppliers Getty and Shutterstock have formed opposing camps. Shutterstock is partnering with AI and Getty has released a formal statement taking AI to court.

 

In lighter news…

Kris Rusch has an interesting tale around the theme the problems in your writing are the problems in your life.

Ruth Harris asks if you are guilty of the Writing No No’s which may be ruining your book and Daphne Grey- Grant has an interesting article on how to prepare an annual writing plan.

 

In The Craft Section,

Units of story- StoryGrid- Bookmark

2 great articles from the Dream Team. How to choose the right 

kind of conflict and How does internal conflict fit into the character arc- Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Transition sentences- Grammarly – Bookmark

Developing a scene outline for your novel C S Lakin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Should you hire a book publicist- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

10 tips for author blog traffic- Anne R Allen

7 ways to build direct connections with readers- podcast with Penny Sansevieri

8 author website marketing mistakes- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Selling Books direct- Joanna Penn in conversation with Steve Pieper- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a nifty blog with a great roundup of articles but this week she shone a spotlight onto her  7 favourite resources for writers. Do you use any of them? If you have something to add to the list – feel free to comment below.

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here. 

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

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash

Data is The Answer

 

In Publishing News this week…

A slow week on the publishing front unless your last name starts with T and ends in P.

Publishers Weekly reports on a lawsuit to stop Simon and Schuster from publishing a memoir from a criminal prosecutor who believes a criminal lawsuit has to happen against the former president. As PW reports anytime Trump throws lawyers at a book… it ends up a bestseller.

 

Techcrunch reports on the Shutterstock and Open AI deal. This is an ongoing story to keep one eye on. How the artist community picks their way through the minefield of AI assistance will inform how the writing community can do the same, notably around plagiarism. Interestingly, after Gizmodo outed CNET (see last weeks blog) the policy of using AI to write articles quickly changed. Gizmodo tries out the AI tool on Shutterstock with mixed results. Meanwhile a content writer for Buffer has conflicted feelings about using the AI tool for her job.

 

If you are battling against book pirates or other plagiarists, Knight in Shining Armor, Nate Hoffelder has a great post which you should bookmark on how to file a DMCA takedown notice. He’s done the hard work for you as this article is chock full of links and advice. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting post on the uncounted book industry which is worth half a billion dollars last year from KDP alone. So exactly how many books are being published out there?

While Mark is looking at the big picture Draft2Digital has an interesting blog post on how to track all your own sales.

 

Joanna Penn is launching her latest book on Kickstarter. In this interesting post she talks about using Kickstarter like a book launch pad and how she approached her first time Kickstarter project. Her Kickstarter was for a modest amount that has already exceeded expectations.

 

Kathy Steinmann has a post on going down the KDP rabbit hole when your book is unexpectedly pulled from the site and what you can do about it. 

 

Over the last few years the word on author websites is that at the very least you have to have a landing page that you own somewhere. 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive post on how to get people coming back to your website again and again.

Nate Hoffelder writes in a guest post on Anne R Allen’s blog about the 10 website mistakes new authors make and how to fix them.

Penny Sansevieri has a great post on how to sell books from your website. Penny breaks down the various partners you can use and what is involved.

 

Colleen Story has a great post on permission and how you have to give it to yourself.

 

Kris Rusch has the last in her 2022 in review series and this week she muses about estate planning- something our wider family has been focused on since halfway through 2022. When a near relative has an extensive literary estate and their health is not good… you realise the importance of a literary executor and what life of copyright really means.

 

In The Craft Section

7 ways to decide what story idea should come next- K M Weiland

How to use ProWriting Aid- Sue Coletta

Build suspense with secrets- Christina Delay- Bookmark

Character sketch template – Shayla Raquel

6 lessons learned from 4 years of writers block- K M Weiland- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

No one wants to hear you breathe- Tips on narration – Gabbi Coatsworth

Tips to get people to your book signing- Michael Gallant- Bookmark

How to write a blog post people read- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Infographic on marketing to different generations- Barb Drozowich

What do literary agents want you to know- Amy Collins with Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish

Last week I was preparing to go to the first author conference in a very very long time. I had a great day and met some great people. Among them was Nat Connors, a data scientist who runs Kindletrends- a deep dive weekly newsletter of analysis in any of your chosen categories. Everywhere I went people kept telling me I had to talk to Nat. He was an interesting chap and his service is praised by lots of writers- a great endorsement. 

One of the guest speakers was another lover of data and analysis, Deb Potter. She has a great book on Amazon Ads for writers trying to figure out how to do them. Here she is being interviewed by the Spa Girls podcast. These were just two of the many awesome writers who came from around the country and overseas for a one day conference. 

It is always beneficial to your writing soul to meet up with others in this crazy industry. You never know what you may learn.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here. 

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

Thanks.

 

Pic:  Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

Finding our way in the year ahead

 

And we are back into 2023…another year of watching the ups and downs of the publishing industry and trying to navigate its shoals and reefs.

The last post of 2022 had us going into the Christmas season with the news that PRH CEO Marcus Dohle was stepping down. That the USA Today list was on hiatus due to the editor being let go as a cost cutting measure. That some magazine subscriptions were uneconomic for Amazon and the Rise Of The Robots… or GPT3 Artificial Intelligence was about to change life as we know it. 

 

So, what is everybody talking about in January…

 

GPT3 is still the hot topic. 

How are publishers going to navigate books written by an AI?

How will the Amazon lists crash and burn when filled up with books written by an AI?

How will writers use this new tool or are they tools for using AI to generate ideas?

Gizmodo has an interesting article on how CNET has been using AI written article for months and nobody noticed. (You still need editors.)

The Hollywood Reporter has an article on how AI will be writing movies by 2025. (really?)

 

AI tools are here to stay and while it might be tempting to put your fingers in your ears and scream loudly it is probably better to figure out how the new technology can be used or abused and how this will impact on your own author career.

There are a few articles in this week’s roundup to get you thinking of possibilities.

First up Mark Dawson’s interview with Joanna Penn- which is wide ranging but interestingly he discusses using GPT3 for marketing ideas.

Kris Rusch looks at AI audio and discusses how it can help your readers. She links to lots of articles on the topic. 

Anna Featherstone talks about all the other tech writers should be getting a handle on in 2023. What else is out there to help the busy writer?

 

Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary, has her predictions for 2023 for the publishing industry.

Laurie mentions BookTok- The Rollingstone magazine has an article on how BookTok is changing publishing and what might happen when the influencers realise the power they have over publishers.

 

Just before Christmas- Harper Collins employees went out on strike over pay and conditions. They are still on strike and the publishing industry is looking at how long this might last and the impact on Harper Collins going forward.

In the New Year news broke that a writer who had been reported as committing suicide over bullying was alive and had a new book out with the plot sounding like real life. This did not go down well.

 

Fast Company has an article on the turn around of Barnes and Noble and how James Daunt’s experiment of putting books front and center has been instrumental in book sales going up. (Who knew that would work?)

 

I was looking at a list of books expected to come out in 2023 locally and I was struck by the covers all looking text heavy. 99 designs has an article on the latest trends for book covers for 2023. Font and Text are where the designers are playing this year.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a great article on why Authors should publish Gift Books.

Penny Sansevieri has an in-depth article on the changes to A+ content on Amazon pages. There are some great take-aways in here so Bookmark this article.

 

Jenny Hansen of Writers In The Storm has a great article on Why You and Your Characters Deserve Some Ikigai – This is a good article to mull over before getting back into your writing stride for the year.

 

In The Craft Section,

Knowing the difference between all those dash’s

How to revise for deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson

Sexy scenes -open door or closed door? - Jami Gold -Bookmark

5 ways to approach your novel like a trial lawyer- Marissa Graff- BOOKMARK

Writing Insecure Characters- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Why blogging is essential in the era of a fragmenting social media.- Anne R Allen BOOKMARK

Can a Facebook ad really sell books- Randy Minetor- Bookmark

2 great articles from Draft2Digital -What is Content Marketing and building your personal brand from scratch

23 successful marketing strategies in 2023- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

After looking at all the predictions out there for 2023 this post gathered up a useful list to think about. It was written in November but the advice is evergreen.

Reedsy updated their Book Marketing mistakes post which they publish every year beginning. This is a reaffirmation that the same things need your attention year in year out.

 

This year looks like being an interesting one for the publishing industry. As you navigate your writing and author career through the shoals don’t forget to invest in relationships within the writing community. There is nothing so affirming as being able to moan to another writer who perfectly understands the ups and downs of the writer life. 

I’m off to 20Books Auckland- (if you are there too, come and find me. I will be wearing a scarf and behind a mask. That pesky virus isn’t over yet.)

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here. 

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

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

 

 

Giving Gifts

 

In Publishing News

Penguin Random House CEO Marcus Dohle is stepping down after ten years at the helm of the biggest publisher on the planet. Publishing Perspectives looks at the impact Marcus has had on the Traditional Book Publishing Industry. Meanwhile, Mark Williams gives a less glowing report on Marcus Dohle’s tenure. Ouch! The fallout from that court case is still ongoing.

 

The USA Today Bestseller list is on hiatus. The news broke leaving writers in consternation. The USA Today list was a fair stab at the real numbers of the bestselling books as opposed to the *curated* numbers from The New York Times. The editor of the list was let go as a cost-cutting measure. This could be an early warning of Christmas layoffs in the publishing business.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports that Amazon is tightening its offerings by cutting magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Also on the block is Textbook print rentals. What will be next?

 

It is looking like an AI wild west out there. The big news has been GPT3’s chatbot which has shifted the game of AI text generation. This morning I saw an article written about a particular indigenous cultural practice in our country written by the GPT3 AI that was lyrical, informed, and accurate. That an AI wrote it was mind-blowing. So where do we go from here? If you are a publisher it could be useful says Nieman labs. If you are an Artist or using AI Art, strap in for Chuck Wendig’s take on it. Techcrunch reports that OpenAI is experimenting with watermarks for AI art. After this morning’s article, I think text might need this too.

 

Kris Rusch continues to look at the publishing year in review. This week, the relevance of Traditional Publishing.

 

Richard Charkin has written an opinion column in Publishing Perspectives about the three gifts he would like to see under Publishing’s tree. I’ve got to agree with all of them! What About You?

 

Judith Briles has an interesting series of 3-minute focus YouTube videos on writing and marketing. Check out this one on organizing writing files.

 

In The Craft Section,

Foreshadowing- Jami Gold – Bookmark

How to write a thriller- Reedsy- Bookmark

Where to start developing a story- Scott Myers

Dealing with multiple drafts during revisions- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Mining Abandoned Projects – James Scott Bell

 

In The Marketing Section,

Video Camera shy tips- Amy Rodgers Nazarov- Bookmark

Creating single author box sets- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Updating Amazon Book and Author pages- Elizabeth S Craig - Bookmark

Holiday promotion tips- Bookbaby

How to create a newsletter- Sendinblue

 

To Finish,

The Dream Team Angela and Becca have a great Christmas gift for writers – A free webinar on secrets to engaging readers. 

This is the last blog for the year. 

It has been a challenging year on the home front and I am ready for some downtime over Christmas and New Year. The blog will be back mid-January.

In the meantime, you can read past blog posts for great craft and marketing tips.

Leave reviews for other authors (Feel free to share the top image around.) 

Check out the First Book (Ebook) in the Circus Quest series for FREE or get any of my children's Ebooks for HALF PRICE. 

 

Wishing you all a peaceful holiday break.

Maureen

@craicer

 

There is a bumper newsletter with goodies coming to all subscribers soon so don’t forget to subscribe.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee or eggnog for Christmas, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate all the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Navigating the Author Life

In Publishing News this week,

The annual writing income surveys from the UK, the US, and Australia all hit the news, leaving authors hot and bothered. For many, it was proof that their unsettled feelings that icebergs were ahead was completely right. Writer incomes have dropped all around the world.

The Guardian published the UK findings and then Joanne Harris explained how this drop would impact the books being published in the future.

Australia had a more rigorous approach with Macquarie University publishing breakdowns over 8 key findings from their survey. The impact of the PLR and the ELR income saving the children’s writers particularly.

Written Word Media took a different approach and looked at the backlist and its impact on writer income. There it was a different story. The bigger the backlist you control the better for your income.

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has been looking at scam publishers who contact writers telling them that their backlist can be reissued with only a few changes … just sign here. Beware fishhooks. Victoria details how you can get out of these traps if you find yourself in one.

Kris Rusch has been looking at the judges’ comments on the PRH and Simon and Schuster court case and making some pithy comments of her own on bestsellers. This is an informative read, in light of the author income survey results which came out after Kris had written her article. 

 

Over in Europe, audiobook companies are scrambling to get a bigger share of the market and another audiobook company abandons the unlimited subscription model. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard also casts a weather eye on Nextory’s venture into adding News and Magazines to its subscriptions.

With all the stress of the writers' income reports Beth Barany of Writing and Wellness suggests 7 different types of rest that writers need to restore their creativity. 

 

In The Craft Section,

The best places to write- K M Weiland

The importance of writing your thoughts down- Rachel Thompson

The ingredients for a successful story climax

The eighth element the author needs- Donald Maass- READ and BOOKMARK!

The 4 stages of writing a novel- Beth Barany

When to use a scene or a summary- Savannah Gilbo - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The 2023 literary calendar for marketing ideas- Sandra Beckwith- BOOKMARK

6 things to know before publishing a book in 2023- Penny Sansevieri

The ultimate guide to Book Distribution tools – Bookbub- Bookmark

Pivoting Genres and Mindsets for Success- Joanna Penn Interview with Dan Padavona

 

To Finish,

Terry Odell has a great article on writer priorities… it’s all about finding out what are the big important things to you. 

Another week, another great list of writers’ gifts. This time Katie Weiland lists the best gifts she has received over the years. 

Meanwhile, a winning lottery ticket will be on every writers wish list.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. Get the best of my bookmarked links when you subscribe.

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 Annie Spratt on Unsplash

 

Raise A Glass

In publishing news this week,

Porter Anderson has the rundown on what happened at the Futurebook conference. The big talking points- audio and the changing face of publishing.

 

Techcrunch reports that Spotify has launched audiobooks into more English speaking markets. They are apparently moving away from the all-you-can-eat model. Is this the beginning of the end of unlimited subscriptions? Mark Williams adds his own take on this new development in Audio.

 

If you want to understand book marketing – talk to romance writers they are amongst the savviest book marketers on the planet. Jane Friedman did just this and has an interesting interview with Kitty Thomas

 

Kris Rusch has part two of the year in review. This is a romp through that court case again. However, Kris has some very pertinent things to say about how this could be the last best year for Traditional publishers based on what the court case revealed about publishing.

 

Ruth Harris has a list of clueless things that drive writers crazy. I can see this morphing into writers drinking game.

 

Joanna Penn has a great interview with John Truby about his new book, The Anatomy of Genres. John is an in-demand writing craft teacher. He has several best-selling books which are on my bookshelf. I watched a webinar about the new book today and it is top notch so it’s now on my must-buy Christmas list.

 

In The Craft Section,

The plotting grid- Kobo- Bookmark

Getting to know your characters- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

When to use flashbacks and backstory- Donna Jo Stone

Plot bitches and how to slay them- Marissa Graff

Good endings- Roz Morris- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri- Celebrate read a new book month and Clever book promos for 2023- Bookmark

How does a top book publicist think- Interview – Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Why does my book need interior formatting- Bookbaby

5 concrete steps for building a mailing list- Laurel Osterkamp

 

To Finish,

The last month of the year is here. As we totter towards Christmas, the lists of Christmas gifts for writers start doing the rounds. I started with two lists last week- Check out Angela and Becca’s Christmas gift list for writers this week. I often buy myself a writer textbook in print for Christmas. It’s a gift to myself for achieving another writing year. What gift would you get for yourself? 

 

R.I.P. The Original Songbird. Christine McVie

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. Get the best of my bookmarked links when you subscribe.

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 Kelsey Knight on Unsplash

Writing Challenges

 

 

It’s been a challenging week on the home front so apologies for no roundup last week. 

 

In Publishing News this week,

Tiktok is selling books- Yes, this is old news I can hear you say… but No, TikTok has partnered with Bookshop.org to create a Bookselling platform right in the app. It was only a matter of time.

Another company spreading its wings is Written Word Media- home of the Book Marketing email lists. They have partnered with Yonder, a serialized fiction app. They see it as curated a list of previously published fiction that is serialized. Didn’t Dicken’s do this? This could be an interesting way to mine your backlist.

 

And is Amazon price fixing again? Publishers Weekly reports that a new lawsuit is on the books involving Amazon and the big 5 and the pricing of ebooks. 

Maybe they saw something of interest in the recent lawsuit judgment against PRH and Simon And Schuster which you can read here.

 

This week a theme emerged. Every time I opened my laptop there was another post on writing and mental health. So dip into these.

5 strategies to prevent perfectionism with writer self-care by Lisa Towles

Small changes that can make big differences in your writing life by Beth Barany

9 things writers need to know about Trauma and Mental Health by Lisa Hall Wilson

 

As the country gets hit with lightning strikes and wild weather, this post popped up as a timely reminder of what writers can do to prepare for the worst mother nature can throw at us. There are some good tips in here to keep you from losing all your work. If you are congratulating yourself on storing everything in the cloud – just hope your server isn’t hit by lightning.

 

Indie thought leaders Orna Ross, Joanna Penn, Jane Friedman, and Becca Syme recently shared their thoughts on publishing trends and how to predict and profit from them. 

 

James Scott Bell, one of the best writing teachers around has an interesting article over on  The Killzone Blog about the writer quadruple threat. Do you qualify? If you are weak in any of the main areas it might be time to upskill yourself.

 

In The Craft Section

How to describe a location you have never visited?- Angela Ackerman

Surprising your reader in every scene.- September Fawkes- Bookmark

On Story Death and Life- Writer Unboxed

Clarity in the writing- Patrick McNulty - Bookmark

Emotion amplifiers- Angela Ackerman

Killing your darlings- Ruthanne Reid- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Using the right Font- Jessica Bell - Bookmark

Best practice for marketing on Kindle- The Fussy Librarian- Bookmark

You don’t need a platform if you can find an audience- Catherine Baab-Muguira- Bookmark

Why you should care about Library distribution.- Draft2Digital

5 steps to author success - Joanna Penn interviewing Rachel McLean  Bookmark

 

To Finish,

As we near the end of the year, and what a year it has been, thoughts turn to writer gifts.

If you need to hand your family some gift inspiration, get them to check out these two sites. Sandra Beckwith has pulled together 30 great gifts for writers, and Shayla Raquel adds to this with some wonderful extra ideas. 

Of course, one of the best things you can give your writer is time… so don’t forget to mention mini writing retreats – where the family goes away or you go away, or time banking where the usual chores are looked after by someone else so the writer can get more time in front of the keyboard.

 

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 Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash