Bookshops and Booksales

 

This week Audible finally let creators know the changes they have decided on to address the concerns of Audiblegate. (Audible’s practice of promoting read and return audiobooks with no compensation to creators last year.) They are promising to create a new dashboard for authors to see which books have been returned and they are changing their terms of exclusivity. Publishing Perspectives asked Author groups what they thought. Not good enough was the answer. This is where the value of belonging to a strong writer’s union comes into play.

 

The Guardian recently published an article entitled Bookshops defy pandemic to record highest sales in eight years. After they published this they had to go and change the title to accurately reflect the article which was on Book Sales. Yes, bookshops were selling books but a lot of the print book sales were happening online. However, as the Society of Authors points out that’s cold comfort to a lot of writers who relied on appearances to pay the bills.

 

Publishing Perspectives interviewed the CEO of Wattpad on their merger with Korean digital publisher Naver. If you have been keeping an eye on Wattpad and how they have grown from a fanfic forum to a movie and television production powerhouse, their merger with Naver, who operates a similar model in Asia, is a good thing. The numbers are interesting. Together they will almost be as big as Netflix.

 

Big Five publishers are back in court for price fixing. Again. They are named as co- conspirators with Amazon. Publishing Perspectives looks at the case and whether it will hurt Amazon at all.

 

Kris Rusch writes this week about the rise of e-reading due to Covid-19 lockdowns and how Bertelsmann danced with the numbers trying to prove that there was a huge number of Indie publishers, so that they wouldn’t be slapped by regulators for controlling too much of the market by buying Simon and Schuster. As it is, they may have over 50% of the Trad publishers market.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an interesting blog post on whether having your book in book shops is worth it for Indie Authors. With Trad Publishers used to getting books published in China for little cost they can use the sale or return option as a carrot for bookshops to stock their books. Indies using POD have higher costs per book which impacts on discounts to bookstores. This article breaks down the numbers and the cost benefit for Indies to use bookstores.

 

Anne R Allen has a great guest post from Joseph Perry, a literary attorney, on important clauses to take note of in a publishing contract. One thing to remember, Joseph says, is that the publishing contract is always written in favour of the publisher.

 

How often do you stare at your just completed hot mess of a manuscript and wonder how to tackle the revision aspect. Jean Grant has an interesting blog post where she breaks down the way she revises. Having a checklist of things to look out for is a good starting point.

 

In The Craft Section,

5 mistakes writers make with relationships- Bang2Write

Understanding third person omniscient POV- Tiffany Martin

Using Twin Relationships in Writing- Becca Puglisi

5 point plan on how to kill a character- WritersWrite- Bookmark

Good Storytelling- Internal and external stakes- Karen Woodward- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Heart centered Book Marketing- Beth Barany- Bookmark

Amazon Keywords 101- Penny Sansevieri

February Content ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to get publicity for your book- Kaelyn Barron- Bookmark

What’s the deal with Amazon verified reviews- Sandra Beckwith

How to use Book Awards for publicity- Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish,

Are you aware of time racing differently due to how engaged you are with a book? Have you struggled with narrative time? What about reader time? How does the reader experience the forward motion of your story? Writer Unboxed has a great article on Character Time and Reader Time and how you can make the most use of time in your manuscript.

 

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: The Tannery Bookshop- Christchurch

 

Magnetic Poetry

This week in publishing news…

Wattpad has been sold to Naver, a south Korean group who own other e-publishing ventures. It’s a deal that makes sense according to Techcrunch as they will probably keep it going in the same way.

 

How many of you know someone who has a digital subscription for entertainment? 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting comment on Netflix’s goal of 500 million subscribers. If digital subscription is the new way to get entertainment where are the publishers?

 

Orna Ross of The Alliance of Independent Authors, and Joanna Penn get together once a month to talk about the publishing industry and new projects they are working on. The January meeting was all about planning for the year ahead. Check out the transcript or listen to the podcast. There are some great nuggets in there on goal setting and time chunking.

 

If you like setting yourself challenges, Austin Kleon talks about the 100 days and suck less challenge he has got going. You can also do mini-challenges It’s all about creating the habit of showing up.

 

Every few years Jane Friedman updates her infographic on all the different ways to publish. With the pandemic changing the publishing landscape, Jane has updated her infographic.

 

The Write Life has rounded up their top 100 websites for writers. Take a look. There is something for everyone in this collection. For podcast lovers check out Writing Excuses.

 

This year I have decided to read more poetry. I am in awe of poets as they seem to have a hot line into creating memorable lines. If I want to get better at writing I need to learn to read and write poems. Here’s a great little instruction list for writing poems.

 

In The Craft Section,

New Year New Writing goals- Michael Hyatt

Dreamzoning-7 steps to find new ideas- K M Weiland

Getting past the blank page- James Preston

Give your characters something to die for- Karen Woodward- Bookmark

7 ways to use deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

A beginner’s guide to Amazon pre-orders- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

The shy authors guide to book promotion- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Alternatives to Goodreads- Emily Stochi- Bookmark

8 tips for better manuscript formatting- Now Novel

 

To Finish,

Today has been an historic day for the USA. Among their ‘firsts’ on inauguration day was the first ever US National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman.

Her poem is sensational and timely. A MUST WATCH

 

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: 

 

And We're Off...

 I’m Back…

Yes, this blog is one day late. It will not be a trend for the year. (Way to go, Maureen, starting 2021 with an apology… OTOH isn’t that how we feel about 2021? It is supposed to be better than 2020.)

 

Over the Southern Hemisphere Summer, I tried to take a complete media and screen break. It worked some of the time…

This week I’m back in the swing of things researching, writing, and twiddling with my current WIP. I was on a roll yesterday with Pomodoro sprint writing so didn’t stop to get the blog done.

The posts that caught my eye over summer were the usual, what will 2021 be like for writers, what can we learn from 2020, and wow, what a great idea. 

 

Written Word Media has a post on the top ten trends authors need to know about 2021.

If you have been keeping an eye on publishing news, the shrinking of the Big Publishers is on that list. Let’s buy up publishers screamed accountants. (Obviously, they know where the money is- authors backlist IP) Publishing Perspectives reports that Aussie Illustrator Robert Ingpen’s backlist of titles, owned by one publishing house has been on-sold to a new publishing house. 

In other acquisitions, over Christmas, a hedge fund bought Overdrive the Ebook library service and now there are rumours that Wattpad may be on the block. If you haven’t checked into how big Wattpad has become, Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has all the info and the rumoured price tag. (Eye-popping.) And just in, Nate Hoffelder reports that The Book Designer site has been sold to a dubious operator…. 

 

Looking back at 2020, Writer Beware had a rundown of all the scammy behaviour that popped up over 2020. Some of these scams are still ongoing. Don’t forget to familiarise yourself with the bad actors out there. Fore Warned is Fore Armed. I have just seen a reference to a new scam this week, Negative reviews on your books, which will be taken down by the reviewer… for a price. (Don’t engage… coz then they know you are a soft touch.)

 

Paula Munier has a handy roundup of writing lessons learned over 2020. These are timely reminders. Also, no idea, however weird, is too weird. Just think over the real-life plotlines of 2020 for a moment. (Or even the first two weeks of 2021…)

Nothing is to ‘out there’ anymore. 

 

Colleen Story thinks writers should take more risks this year. She has five reasons why this is a good thing. 

If you are wanting a challenge for 2021, the 12x12 Picture Book Challenge is open for the next month. Every year I vow that one day I must do this challenge. I’m in awe of my fellow writers who can write picture books... It is a special skill.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a great roundup of Tech resources for authors for you to bookmark and investigate over the year ahead.

 

If you have been following the blog for many years. (12+) you will know I am a fan of author collectives. There is nothing like a group of authors to cheer you on. Recently Bookbub profiled a group of authors who got together to write a series set in a joint world. They are having a lot of fun. I know a couple of authors who are doing this with writer buddies- Cue writer envy- Such a cool thing to do. Check out how they make it work.

 

Alison Williams has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog. This is a must read for a great tip to get your manuscript from first draft to second draft to ready to publish. (Everybody cue your movie trailer voices.)

 

In The Craft Section,

Write yourself a bad review- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Editors share their top tips- Emma Lombard

The vital importance of your writing community- John Peregine

10 quick tips to make your writing craft better- Diane Glazman- Bookmark

Inner conflict- reflecting the inner struggle - Janice Hardy - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

10 Smart book promotion services- Penny Sansevieri – Bookmark

How to price your self-published book

Book Promotion a marathon, not a sprint- Sharon Bially- Bookmark

How to declutter your book marketing- Pauline Wiles

How to market your Kindle book- Penny Sansevieri

Extra,

Video on marketing on YouTube- This is by musician Mary Spender- It deals with musician income, however, this could be a heads up for the future as the book industry is following the music industry- (Subscription streaming services anyone?)

 

To Finish,

The Fabulous Spa Girls are back with tips on how to set goals for your writing year. They have a series of Golden Questions to answer which then make setting goals for the coming year so much easier. Then you can drop into Michael Hyatt’s website to learn about SMARTER goals, to put them into place.

 

2021… Here we come.

 

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.

 

 

 

Take A Deep Breath

  

 

It’s nearly the end.

 

This is the last blog post for 2020. What can I say… I will be glad to see the back of it. Summer (down under) A time to relax and recharge while dodging sunburn.

 

With New Year just around the corner, it can be a fun planning time for the year ahead.

Joanna Penn has a new book out on Author Business Plans so check out her latest podcast then pair those ideas with this article from LegalZoom on how to write one.

 

The Dream team Angela and Becca have unlocked all their Advent Contest Giveaways which are still available until the 19^th so check out what’s on offer.

 

Scott Myers has a new post in his Writing goals for 2021 series. This one is on time management. This is a good series and something to bookmark for craft goals next year.

 

If you missed the AudibleGate scandal – Alliance of Independent Authors has a run down on what has been happening this year. Audible aren’t making changes until next year. If you were thinking of getting into audiobooks in 2021- Check out all the distributors before going with any of them. This is a fast changing sector. There are better players out there.

 

Remember Publishing Conferences? Germany has their FutureBook conference online in January. For a look at the state of publishing check out the titles of the keynote speeches.

 

Penny Sansevieri has a roundup of what she thinks will be the marketing trends to watch out for in 2021. Check out her comprehensive list and do some future planning. 

 

Joel Friedlander has his Book Templates on sale so if you are looking for an interior template to format your book in, check them out. I use them and they are brilliant!

 

In The Craft Section,

25 things you should know about Antagonists- (Chuck Wendig- an oldie but a goodie. Usual Chuck warnings apply.)

2 great posts from C S Lakin- Metaphor and imagery and Evoke Reader Emotions- Bookmark

What is the motif literary device? - Sherry Howard

7 tips for creating tension- Hannah Green- Bookmark

Keys to start your mystery novel- Zara Altair

 

In The Marketing Section,

Will your novel solve a problem?-Janice Hardy

Two great posts from Penny Sansevieri- How to choose keywords for Amazon Ads and 10 

Design tips for a Buy Now Book Cover- Bookmark

5 Nonfiction lead magnet ideas- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to pick a best selling title- Barbara Delinsky

 

To Finish

Eagle-eyed readers might have spotted a new addition to the sidebar. Yes, finally after twenty years, the first in series is out and it is on sale until January. 

 

Let’s finish the year with a reminder on the 5 things every writer needs.

May you have a peaceful, blessed, and safe Christmas break. I will be back halfway through January.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s time for the last newsletter of the year. So if you want to get the bumper roundup of links for Christmas- Go on and subscribe.

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: Line Edit of a Christmas Carol… when 2020 becomes ridiculous.

New Lamps For Old

 

In Publishing News this week…

 

Remember this time last year when Audible wanted to create transcripts of audiobooks and they got slammed by publishers because that was effectively making ebooks. Another year rolls around and Android are making changes, one of which is captions for audiobooks and this time the publishers are on board?

 

Last week I mentioned Overdrive’s huge jump in lending figures. Overdrive supplies libraries around the world with eBooks. A lot of publishers distribute their eBooks to libraries through Overdrive. Amazon was never interested in libraries until someone in their office must have made a connection somewhere. Publishers Weekly report changes are afoot. 

 

I try to keep one eye on the educational publishers, think of the captive market of students and their textbooks needs. Academic publishers went to digital subscription early for journals. Textbooks however are still a holdout. What are the differences between Trade and Academic publishers? Prestige or Money? Richard Charkin explains how the mindsets of each are changing and even swapping.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi always find innovative ways to give back to the writing community. They are hosting a writing advent calendar and you can go back in time and join all the giveaways. Check it Out!

 

Nick Stephenson has been working with a website designer recently looking at author websites and coming to grips with what should be in a comprehensive one. He has 7 essential elements for an author website for you to think about. 

 

Reedsy decided to round up the best book covers, in their opinion this year. I was looking through them trying to figure out what sort of unifying trend there was that made them all similar. 2020 - was it the year of blue or the year of rough font- or a symbolic representation of the existential despair suffered by cover designers and publishers as they grapple with life in 2020.

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog this week on the signs of hope that the coming year may be getting back on the right track. But there will be big changes. For instance, all the big movies are being released online instead of in cinemas. Movie producers are still going to rake in the cash from a captive home audience. Will this spell the end of the big cinema chains? (There is a huge movie theatre construction site happening not far from me. They might have to repurpose the building.)

 

Recently K M Weiland had a blog post on overthinking your writing. This is a horrible little trap when the perfection demons come out to play and you lose any joy in your work. Katie has some strategies for you.

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make the most from our story tropes- Jami Gold Bookmark

13 pieces of advice for aspiring authors- Shelly Munro

4 ways to fix a boring story- Gilbert Bassey

Writing schedule hacks – Now Novel- Bookmark

Your characters why- Beth Barany- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Lessons learned from producing podcasts- Simon Owens

The 2021 Literary Calendar for Social Media- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to sell romance books- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

What to include in an advanced information sheet- Dan Parsons- Bookmark

 

To Finish

As we head into the end of the year thoughts turn to writing gifts… What would you like to give yourself? If you are struggling to put your finger on the right gift check out Reedsy’s collection of gifts. For the creative among you - you can always make your own version of The Writer’s Block.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Next week will be the last blog post for the year and also time for the last newsletter of the year. So if you want to get the bumper roundup of links for Christmas- Go on and subscribe

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 – Gisela Francisco

 

Publishing- The Numbers Game

 

 

In the publishing blogosphere this week

News broke that Book Expo America is no more. Once the biggest book expo in the world BEA has had difficulty over the last few years trying to regain their niche. There are mixed feelings about the news.  The New Publishing Standard says no tears will be shed. 

However, there is a different story coming from Publishers Weekly. It is interesting to see the two sides of the story.

 

TNPS reports on Overdrives lending figures for 2020. Overdrive provides digital content for libraries around the world. They report that ebook lending almost doubled- the numbers are eye-watering. The biggest jump in borrows was children’s picture books. I was not expecting that.

 

The Story Studio guys sat down with Jane Friedman recently to talk about the lay of the land as Jane sees it going into 2021. Will there be big moves or will it be more of the same? No surprises- it’s an audio podcast and guess what, audio will keep getting bigger as Traditional Publishing starts to figure this out. A fascinating interview with Jane. 

 

I keep an eye on Academic publishers because that branch of the industry is usually the last to change their ideas. That’s when you know something has gone mainstream. Publishers Weekly has an article from Oxford University Press about how to survive a pandemic for publishers.

 

Ruth Harris has a great post on all the resources to create DIY covers. I like to trawl cover sites for inspiration… you never know when an image might spark an idea for your current work in progress. Playing around on Canva is relaxing and it's free. 

 

Donald Maass has a great article on Writer Unboxed about beats. If you are unfamiliar with this term- these are the turning points of your story. This is a MUST READ craft article. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Layering your scenes- Jordan Dane- Bookmark

Writing tightly- James Scott Bell - Bookmark

How to create unique voices for multiple POV’s- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

When you have no story conflict- Jami Gold

Editorial feedback – friend or foe- Sherry Howard

 

In The Marketing Section,

The shy authors guide to book promotion- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Are you ready to market -take this quiz- Frances Caballo

SPA Girls- How to use bonus content to sell books- Podcast brilliance

How to leave digital breadcrumbs- Lola Akerstrom

How to market a kindle book- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Marketing Apps- a guide- Frances Caballo- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Finally, we get to December and the wrapping paper comes out. I am always interested in the best presents for writers lists. Some I wouldn’t mind getting, some I just shake my head at. Here is a list of writer creativity and craft books from Lit Reactor. I have 3 of these and they are amazing reference books. (Story- Robert McKee, The War Of Art- Stephen Pressfield, On Writing -Stephen King)

Dianne Mills also has a great list of gifts for the writerly soul. (In a cute Christmas tree picture.) 

 

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:

 

 

All Eyes On The Prize

 

Over the last few months, I have posted the occasional news item about the sale of Simon and Schuster. Sometimes I have seen it as the old stag in the river surrounded by piranhas.

Each piranha wants the stag for themselves and is also trying to avoid being eaten by a bigger piranha. Yesterday I had a news item for you about Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp group with their eyes on the prize. Biggest piranha, I thought. This morning Penguin Random House bought Simon and Schuster by outbidding everyone.

They still have to go through regulatory approval because of monopoly, but as they’ve been through this before when they became super big PRH, it looks like a foregone conclusion. 

What this means for everyone? Expect more disappearances of imprints, jobs, and advances.

This isn’t over yet with speculation that Murdoch could come back and outbid the $2.2 Billion offer. The prospect of a publishing duopoly is worrying for many in the industry. Already The Atlantic magazine is sounding an alarm about the industry’s future.

Meanwhile, there is speculation as to what their new name will be. Someone suggested going back to Random House as they keep buying random publishing houses.

 

This week I listened to Joanna Penn talking with Holly Worton on business mindset and author career. The interview is fascinating. However, the before interview is just as meaty with Joanna talking about attending the Future Book conference, virtually. This conference is aimed at Traditional publishers and Joanna talks about how far in advance of them Indie publishers are in terms of mindset and practice. Mind-Blowing! (You can only hear the beginning 20 minutes if you listen to the podcast.)

 

A few weeks ago I highlighted the practice of Audible encouraging customers to exchange their audiobooks for another when they had finished listening to them which meant that the author, narrators missed out on the sale even though their content was consumed. (The word I used was despicable – that was me being polite.) The backlash, protests, petitions, worked and Audible issued a statement yesterday saying they would no longer encourage this… and that they would only allow returns up to 7 days. However, it won’t be effective immediately so don’t count on audiobook earnings as a Christmas present.

 

Recently, Global English Editing shared an infographic of the world's reading habits in 2020. It’s an interesting snapshot into who and what is being read around the world.

 

Hugh Howey was interviewed by Publishers Weekly about his deal with Houghton Mifflin to bring out the Wool series again. This is the trilogy that keeps on giving. Read the interview to see how Hugh straddles the best of both Indie and Trad publishing with this deal.

 

In New Zealand, one of our Indie authors had an article published recently about bucking the trend of the out of pocket writer. This is a great spotlight on our success stories who are quietly going about the business.

 

In The Craft Section,

A three step plan for getting back into your manuscript- Janice Hardy

Busting 3 myths of the inciting incident- Ane Mulligan

Character motivation- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark

5 Random ways to trim your manuscript- Kathryn Craft- Bookmark

How stakes set up expectations- September Fawkes- Bookmark

What should I write about- Now Novel- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Virtual Book Tour Strategies- Leila Hirschfeld- Bookmark

How to promote consistantly and Festive Book Marketing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark Both

Finding competing book titles- Penny Sansevieri

5 quick and easy ways to use book reviews

Promoting your book on a shoestring budget- Hayley Zelda

 

To Finish,

It’s the last week of NaNoWriMo and also the holiday of Thanksgiving.

Tonight I launched 3 books in my Circus Quest series with a small party at the children’s bookshop. I decided that I needed to mark 2020 with an acknowledgment that it’s been a tough one for writers and that we have still produced good work, despite the challenges.

So custard pies, candyfloss, cake, wine, and a clown were the order of the day. (and juggling lessons.)

Paula Munier wrote recently about writers keeping a gratitude journal. It’s a good idea. I was pleased to have writer friends and family who I hold deep gratitude for, sharing the wine and the gossip and the pina colada candyfloss.

Maureen

@craicer

 

P.S. This is the last week for Storybundle writing craft books. Scour the online Black Friday deals for Writers- AppSumo have some amazing deals at the moment.

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter so if you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here. (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 – Robert Nunnally