You Deserve An Award

 

Awards are the external validation that you have ‘made it’ as a writer. Just entering or long listing can be affirming that your work is good. This week Publishers Weekly who administers The Selfies – Awards for self-published books added a new category - Kids books.

Meanwhile, The New Publishing Standard takes The Bookseller to task for blowing hot and cold over allowing self publishers a place at the award table… or under it.

 

Rachel Thompson has a great article on Anne R Allens Blog on writing, marketing, and staying mentally healthy in these challenging times. It’s all in the quality of care you give to yourself.

 

Kris Rusch is also thinking about self-care. How are you framing the pandemic to yourself? Kris explains that this once in a generation event changes human behavior forever. Are you allowing yourself the mental space to absorb new behaviors or do you think we will get back to normal?

 

What's New In Publishing has been looking at what publishers have learned during lockdown.

They talked with three UK publishers about lessons learned and changes made in their operations which they are taking into the future. 

 

Teleread has an opinion piece of the demise of comics. It was news to me… but I understand the reason to be concerned. Comics were originally aimed at the Middle-Grade child… Has anyone seen any of these comics around lately?

 

How many of you stuck at home in the pandemic have been twiddling your thumbs over the games console? Did you know that games need stories? Abeer Kapoor writes about the opportunities for writers in the gaming industry.

 

Two powerhouses of writing in one place… Joanna Penn interviews Katie Weiland. It’s all about craft and story planning in this great episode/ transcript.

 

How long should a short story be? Reedsy has an interesting blog post on examining the short story- and you can sign up for their weekly short story competition.

 

In The Craft Section,

Timeless endings- Donald Maass

Creating Characters who clash- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

5 exercises for honing story instincts- K M Weiland - Bookmark

Stuck in the middle- Janice Hardy

Creating Believable characters- Elizabeth S Craig- Bookmark

60 words for Just- Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

 2 Great posts from Penny Sansevieri-Planning for holiday sales and Knowing your reader- Bookmark

Presenting Virtually- Tamsen Webster- Bookmark

Quenching your readers' thirst- Judith Briles

Author newsletters- DIYMFA -Helen Darling

 

To Finish,

October is known as NaNoPrepMo… or the preparation month before National Novel Writing Month. Angela Ackerman sets out a few good reasons for why NaNoWriMo should be on your must-do list this year. If you are looking at your Work In Progress,  you can still do NaNoWriMo… just log your words.

Every year Kevin J Anderson curates a writer's bundle of craft books on Storybundle. There is a great collection this year. Check it out- Cheaper than an award ceremony you can’t attend.

 

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: Flickr Creative Commons – Fennec Cooper

 

 

The Art of the Dare…

 

 

In The Publishing Blogosphere this week,

 

In rare book news today… The BBC reports on the find of year- The lost rare books that were stolen from an auction house. The heist was the stuff of spy movies.

 

How much do you know of the Romance Book Industry? If you asked the average reader, they might say not much. But do you know how big it is? Why don’t we hear about it? If it was on the stock exchange it would be as big as Apple…

 

Publishing Perspectives reported on an alliance between three nations, and opening up to anyone else, for a new green book consortium dedicated to the publishing industry supply chain. They intend to promote and publish books and events in the publishing industry to do with Climate Change. (Remember Climate Change?) This looks like an important stake in the ground for amplifying ethical practice and collaboration.

 

Mike Shatzkin took a deep dive into the interview BISG did with James Daunt on the plans he has for Barnes and Noble. Mike looks at what he did say but also what he didn’t and that should be more worrying. Has James missed a few important facts?

 

Recently Joanna Penn interviewed David Gaughran on her podcast. Any time these two get together is full of golden tips and ideas. Do yourself a favour and check out the interview. You can read the transcript here or listen to Dave’s Irish voice in the podcast.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard (Happy 3^rd Birthday) has been writing a nifty series on global publishing for the Alliance of Independent Authors. Recently he wrote about the big global book distributors, Apple, Google Play, and Nook and their reach across the world. This week he turns his attention to the biggest global book player… Kobo. If you want to learn about publishing around the world, start with these articles.

 

Recently the talk was Amazon wanting to start a bookclub. It seems that these are becoming a virtual rage. A startup has launched a Bookclub which they are basing around the popular Masterclass model. Techcrunch took a look. 

 

Rachel Thompson has 5 strategies to help you squeeze more out of your writing time. 

 

In The Craft Section,

A hack for getting to the heart of your story- Sharon Bially

Writing the fight scene- David Farland

Inciting incidents and climactic moments – K M Weiland – Bookmark

Image tips- Angela Ackerman – Bookmark

Climax and tension- H R D'Costa

Writing Flash fiction with a twist- Charles Stross- Bookmark

How to write a plot twist- Reedsy video - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Create content in less time- Sabrina Ricci

Updating your cover 101- Melinda Van Lone

Author branding Secrets and October content ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark both

Plan for publishing success- Orna Ross- Bookmark

How to get reader reviews – Anne Meick

How to do honest and legal giveaways- Chrys Fey- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Dean Wesley Smith has been writing for years. He has done everything you can think of in publishing, so he has a wealth of experience. He is most known amongst writers for his writing in the dark, style of writing, which many find useful. Here he shares his secret to why he is so prolific- Dare To Be Bad.

 

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: Flickr Creative Commons – M01229

 

Ear Wars

 

In the publishing blogosphere...

This week Mark Williams from The New Publishing Standard shone a light on a new move from Amazon. Audible launched an unlimited audiobook subscription in Spain. This looks like a big test of audio subscription and the beginning of subscription wars in audiobooks.

Amazon is also making moves on the podcasting front – adding podcasts to Amazon music.

 

Cory Doctorow is an astute observer of the tech space and an award-winning writer of cyberpunk and surveillance novels. Over the years he has been a high profile anti DRM campaigner. He is holding a kick-starter to get enough money to independently produce the third audiobook in the Little Brother series away from the Amazon system. Kickstarter profiled why he is taking on a corporate monopoly. 

 

Jane Friedman is an astute observer of the publishing ecosystem. This week she published two in-depth articles looking at the publishing printers supply chain and Amazon’s increasing power in the bookselling market across the world.

If you were wondering when your printed book might show up or why Random Penguin is acquiring other publishers, check out these articles.

 

Publish Drive – EBook distributors to the rest of the world, have looked at what the best selling genres were in August across the world. Do we all read the same books in times of crisis?

 

The New Statesman has taken a close look at Goodreads and wonders whether the time is ready for some disruption here. Does Goodreads even do what it says it should on the box?

 

If you need a shiny landing page, without a website attached, check out Carrd. They offer a neat website page that you can customise for free. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Discipline vs Enthusiasm- K M Weiland

Struggling through the first draft- Heather Webb

The power of facial expressions- Almost an author

Tips for the historical writer- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

Setting elements- Now Novel – Bookmark

How to write a kissing scene- Ride the pen - Bookmark

Ten editing tricks to make your writing better- Gabino Iglesias

 

In The Marketing Section,

Email marketing – Miblart- Bookmark

Selling kindle books internationally – Dave Chesson- Bookmark

The power of author collaborations- Sandra Beckwith

No excuse for not knowing where your books sits- Nathan Bransford

Going against the flow -reflowable book layouts- The Book Designer

30 scary author website mistakes- Pauline Wiles

 

To Finish,

With the fight for our ears going on in the publishing world I thought I might share the podcasts I listen to fairly regularly on the publishing business and other tricks and tips to do with writing and marketing. These podcasts are published weekly. 

The Creative Penn. (The BEST!)

The Self Publishing show. (NB: Mark Dawson’s self publishing 101 course is now open.)

6Figure author. (Jam Packed Tips!)

The SPA girls.  (Brilliant Kiwi Indie Romance Writers)

The Sell More Books Show. (News and Tips)

I also drop into Alliance of Independent Authors and Stirling and Stone every now and then and visit great writing podcasts like - Sacha Black and Mur Lafferty.

There is a writing podcast for everyone....

Grab your headphones!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter with the best of my bookmarked links. 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: Flickr Creative Commons- Jeremy Segrott

Book Love

 

 

In Publishing news this week,

The Frankfurt Bookfair goes virtual following all the other book fairs around the world. They are opening up their virtual fair free to anyone who is interested. Publishing Perspectives details what virtual sessions are on offer.  

 

Meanwhile, Publishers Weekly reports that the book industry took a hit in sales over the last quarter. Was anybody surprised? The ongoing size of the contraction has some concerned. If you factor in the huge amounts of books being released this month and up to Christmas, there could be desperate times ahead for booksellers.

 

This week Amazon quietly announced a new service, Bookclubs. It seems kind of odd when they already have Goodreads. Nate Hoffelder reports, although their new idea sounds good it is missing some important features going forward, namely the club feature. It is still in Beta mode though.

 

This week Joanna Penn interview Erin Wright about publishing wide and the mindset you need to cultivate to do this successfully. It is a fascinating interview, well worth the listen/read.

 

This week Kris Rusch wrote about dealing with the effects of the wildfires along the west coast of the U.S. Do you have a Go Bag for your business? In the event of a sudden calamity could you access your passwords… your files… your finances… If you haven’t thought about it – time to make it a priority.  

 

Have you heard of Booktubers?  These are YouTube book reviewers that are influencers. Wired has an interesting interview with one. I checked out the site and lost an hour watching entertaining book reviews. 

 

Ruth Harris has an interesting article on imposter syndrome. We all suffer from it. Ruth mentions that sometimes it can be a good thing. 

 

Dave Chesson has an interesting guest article on changing up keywords in your metadata. If you regularly do this, it can make the book more relevant in the Amazon store.

 

In The Craft Section,

Antagonist motivations- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Structural Editing- Iris Marsh- Bookmark

How to write a synopsis if you hate writing synopses- Roz Morris- Bookmark

10 things you don’t want when naming characters- Katherine Grubb

How to put your reader into the scene- Sean Platt

Managing your cast of characters- Writer Unboxed

 

In The Marketing Section,

Building a long term career- Jane Friedman

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri- Get creative with Bookbub and Promote with creative collaboration- Bookmark Both

Maintaining a reader mailing list – Alli Blog – Bookmark

The hidden potential of audiobooks- Tina Dietz

 

To Finish,

Being a book nerd, I can waste a lot of time on font sites. Their design fascinates me. Did you know that many of the fonts you read now were designed or based on fonts developed 400 years ago with the printing press?  The Ingram Spark blog looks at the best fonts for books and if you love jacketed books, Ingram are now offering this plus hardback books with embossed covers. FANCY! Meanwhile, check out the Alliance of Independent Authors blog on the guide to the perfect book cover.

 

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: Flickr Creative Commons- Rulenumberone2

Publishing Complications

 

 

This week I have been thinking about AI and the implications for writers. It was sparked by the viral post from The Guardian that an AI wrote. If you haven’t read it now is the time to do so. The Paris Review recently published an op ed about creating fictional backstories for AI to make them more human.

 

The New Publishing Standard is a great resource for finding out what the global publishing community is doing.  Mark Williams does a fantastic job of keeping abreast of all the news. This is where I first heard about Big Bad Wolf- who sell remaindered books in the English language in huge 24-hour 10-day long book sales in Asia. They sell millions of print books and they are getting bigger. TNPS looks at the recent news about BBW going online. Traditional publishers have missed a trick here. Mark is also doing a great series for Alliance of Independent Authors- this week he looks at how geographically spread Amazon is… not as far as you might think.

 

The BBC took a look at the murky world of 1-star reviews. This hurts.

 

While you are thinking about global publishing Kristine Rusch talks about how the publishing industry still keeps to a 75-year-old publishing model and how this model is about to fail all the debut writers who have their books coming out in the publishing deluge this week. Add to this the overworked printers and you have a perfect firestorm for writers. Writing careers may be over before they start. This is a must-read piece for understanding how the publishing industry evolved and what needs to change.

 

A librarian recently sat down with a stiff drink to write what it is like to manage the buying budget for a library and have to deal with ebook lending restrictions and prices above the hardback copy. With libraries shut due to Covid 19 many patrons borrowed online, this hit the library budget. Do publishers really hate libraries that much?

 

This week Joanna Penn interviewed Emily Kimelman about creativity and ambition. This was a great interview. How do you structure a writing life around kids… when to get help… Is it wrong to be ambitious for yourself? Imposter syndrome… 

 

I have a nifty little gadget that lifts my laptop into a standing desk… but every now and then I think hmmm a treadmill desk… Check out the benefits for this writer.

 

With the recent attention in publishing on diverse voices one writer highlights, in The Guardian, the plight of disabled writers- They are diverse, own voices… where is their seat at the table?

In The Craft Section,

Worldbuilding – cultures- Mythic Scribes

When you have no story conflict – Jami Gold – Bookmark

Stir your echoes- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

Fiction to Nonfiction writing challenges

Have you forgotten to have fun?- Julie Glover- Bookmark

Creating believable characters – Yen Cabag- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Why authors should know their target audience- Kate Tilton

15 steps to self publish- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Lean book publishing- Sabrina Ricci

55 tweets to start posting now- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

Picture Book Resources- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is nice to peer through the gloom and see a shining light- a feel-good story. Angela Ackerman tells the story of the Emotion Thesaurus and how they (Angela and Becca Puglisi) accidentally started a small publishing empire doing everything the wrong way round. More power to them I say! 

 

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: Flickr Creative Commons - Jonathan Pearson

 

 

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