Climbing To The Top

 

In Publishing News this week,

Amazon’s acquisition of MGM has been completed. Expect to see all those old classics turning up on Amazon Prime…. But it’s not just about the old classics it’s a consolidation of entertainment into streaming services. Choose your streaming hero. (Bond or Ironman)

 

The Society of Authors (UK) have launched a new campaign. Pay The Creator. They are highlighting the insidious tactic of firms asking for content then telling the creator to be happy with the exposure instead of the money. Try that on with your plumber. 

 

Another week another Brandon Sanderson comment this time from the man himself. He has also been surprised at how well he has done with his Kickstarter ($31 million and another week to go.) He wanted to prove some points to his publisher about bundling. It’s an interesting read and savvy authors will be taking notes for their own marketing ideas.

 

Kris Rusch has been taking an entertainment law class and she is fascinated with copyright. This post is a must read. If you think you know about copyright clauses you should still read this. If you think it is all too hard… just ask yourself, are you happy to be ripped off? 

 

Writer Beware has a new home- They are still run by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America but now have a spiffy new website. Of course the old scams are still happening, this time with fancy new apps looking for content.

 

Joanna Penn has a fascinating interview with Elle Griffin on serial fiction, Substack newsletter being the new Patreon, and NFT’s. Elle has her finger in all of it and it is a glimpse of the future. For instance, take a character you create, licence them as an NFT for fan fiction….

 

Colleen Story has a great article on why writing success remains elusive to many writers, it’s not that you aren’t passionate enough…

 

Richard Thomas has an article on Litreactor about short term goals… Are you setting short term writing goals for your career? 

 

If you haven’t been writing under a rock you will have heard of the Hero’s Journey. Stefan Edmunds, guest posting on Anne R Allen’s blog, talks about The Adversity Cycle. This is a deep dive into adversity, the origins of story, and writing structure and offers a whole ‘nother way of looking at story. 

 

In the Craft Section,

Opening with a characteristic moment- K M Weiland-Bookmark

6 classic story structures- Writerswrite

Weaving flashbacks seamlessly- Tiffany Martin - Bookmark

2 great posts from Becca Puglisi-  Fear; relational commitment and Choosing the right job for your character- Bookmark Both

 

In The Marketing Section,

8 questions to know your audience better- Barb Roose- Bookmark

Manage your expectations- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Revamp your old titles- Penny Sansevieri

10 ways to build your audience- Stephanie Chandler- Bookmark

Writers are not your competition- Angela Ackerman

 

To Finish,

Recently Katie Weiland updated an old article of hers – How to know when you’re a successful author. Katie drilled down into the meanings of success it comes down to who do you write for and why. So how do we answer these questions and not angst over the answers?

What is your definition of success? 

 

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

 

Pic Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

Talking Tough

In publishing news this week,

The Booker longlist is out and this is when the judges make some sort of statement about the industry. The chief judge has called for translators to get royalties. This isn’t the first time that translators have been highlighted by the Booker judges. The Booker, one of the most prestigious English language literary prizes has made a point of noticing that their long lists have books that rely upon top-notch translations to get into contention. They argue that translators should get co-billing with the original author, or at least their name on the front of the book. 

 

Publishers Weekly reports on a Caldicot winner setting up a writers retreat for children’s writers. It looks amazing. The retreats are to be themed with 8 or so people at the time across the children’s literature spectrum. 

 

Bologna Children’s Book Fair is on the horizon and Publishing Perspectives details the new events happening online for attendees and free talks you can drop into. 

 

Meanwhile, further over in Europe, publishers are helping out struggling Ukraine publishers by taking books mid-production and finishing them off on behalf of their colleagues. There is a real push to provide small books in their own language to all the displaced Ukrainian children who have ended up in different countries. It is great to see publishers working across borders to help out.

Edit: When I originally posted this blog I edited out a paragraph that I couldn’t back up except with a general Twitter thread that was being talked about and shared, the mass exodus of publishing staff because of burnout. It’s a huge problem. So now I’ve found an article about it. 

This week Amazon apparently opened up advertising on traditionally published books by authors. If you have a traditionally published book you can run Amazon ads to it from your dashboard, not your publishers. (Of course, the sales will be good for your publisher…) I haven’t seen a direct link to a statement from Amazon about it yet but it is being talked about as having been slipped into Ad eligibility.

 

Another week, another Brandon Sanderson comment. Kris Rusch takes to task the thinking behind the sour grape comments about Brandon’s success. It is not down to his publisher's work. Quite the contrary. 

 

Here in NZ, a publisher has announced they are hosting a new prize for a commercial fiction novel. This has caused a lot of comments about why our books aren’t seen as commercial… or read as widely in our own country. Is it cultural cringe? Across the ditch in Australia they have a thriving Read OZ literature scene… why not here? Melinda Szymanik shares her thoughts on the subject. (Mine would get my mouth washed out.)

 

Written Word Media have an interesting article on how to dictate a book and Writer Unboxed has a great article from Sophie Masson on story strands using varied narrative forms- she touches on Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s YA books The Illuminae Files which are a tour de force if you want to see narrative forms used in all sorts of ways. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Writing secondary characters with purpose- Barbara Probst- Bookmark

Trimming tricks- Scott Myers

The role of failure in your character arc- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Being a hybrid plotter panster- Zoe McCarthy

How to know whether your story is a Horror, Mystery or Thriller- Lucy V Hay- Bookmark

The 3W’s of scene orientation- Kathryn Craft

 

In The Marketing Section,

9 uses of Free -David Gaughran- Bookmark

Twitter Spaces for writers- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Author Platform-7 manageable ways to start from scratch- Brooke Warner- Bookmark

6 marketing myths for writers- Lisa Hall Wilson

Strategies to improve your website – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Anne R Allen celebrates 13 years of blogging this week, or as she puts it, survives. What a treasure trove of interesting and thoughtful articles about writing, the craft of writing, scams, attitude, mindfulness, creativity, the whole 9 yards as we used to say. Drop in and have a trawl around. It is a blog well worth the visit. Congratulations Anne (and trusty co-blogger Ruth Harris.)

 

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.

 

Photo by Sam Moqadam on Unsplash

It's All About The Money

This week in publishing news,

It is difficult to look away from the disaster unfolding in Europe. The call went out from the embattled president to the writers and other creators of Russia to speak out the truth of what is happening in Ukraine. In response came orders in Russia for the arrest of anybody who publicly dissented or protested. That is not stopping a lot of brave people. Publishing Perspectives reports on publishers and writers sticking their necks out, along with an article about a brave Ukrainian publisher continuing to work while in a bomb shelter.

 

Meanwhile on the other side of the world FastCompany reports on the way that book lovers on Tiktok are changing the publishing industry. If an economics magazine is taking notice something must be happening. (The trickle-up effect?)

 

James Daunt, CEO of Barnes and Nobel, has released his figures for last year and is optimistic about the future. It is an interesting interview on Publishers Weekly. James says he is in the business of selling reading and his main drivers are young people and Booktok. He also has a pick for the breakout hit everyone has been waiting for. It’s a mid-grade book about unicorns.

 

The biggest news this week has been Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter which I wrote about last week. A quick look shows he has 21 days to go… and he has ticked past $26 million. Kris Rusch breaks down the numbers and shows where Brandon did everything right.- Master class coming right up.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a great collection of articles. Recently they published another Ultimate Guide, this one On Multiple Streams of Income. If you want to succeed as a writer you have to be able to turn your hand at a few extra moneymaking things.

 

This week Joanna Penn Interviewed Dharma Kelleher on writer self-doubt and writer's block. Self-doubt about your work can be crippling. This is a great interview- gift yourself some quality time to read/listen to this.

 

Angela Ackerman is guest posting over on Katie Weilands blog-(2 powerhouses in the same website room.) Her topic 7 Tips For How To Write A Book When You Have No Idea What You’re Doing.

 

In the Craft Section,

2 great articles from Angela Ackerman- Know your character and Do you want your character to stand out- Bookmark Both

What are pinch points where do they go- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

What makes a good protagonist?- Jack Smith

Author voice vs Narrator voice September Fawkes- Bookmark

Lies, Secrets, and Scars- Lynette Burrows- Bookmark

 

 

In The Marketing Section,

Five secrets to generating more sales- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to Pitch a Story – Now Novel- Bookmark

Social media for authors – Dave Chesson

Drive traffic to your website- Julien Bradley

1000 sign-ups a week? It’s possible- Ashleigh Renard- Bookmark

The business of writing- shorten your learning curve – Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

DIYMFA is an interesting site to trawl around for inspiration. Recently they had an article from Stephanie BwaBwa on Author goal setting using an authorial calendar. Stephanie drills down to the bottom line. Where is the money… how to get it…the steps you need to plan for how to get it.

An interesting tip from Seekerville on buying your own ebooks when they are on sale and then using them for gifts at a later date…

 

You gotta save money somewhere…

 

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 Josh Appel on Unsplash

 

Publishing Icons

 

 

This week in Publishing News,

 

Reuters reported that Amazon is closing all its physical bookstores

I wonder what happened? Maybe customers didn’t like only seeing face out books of the top 100 in the store? Or perhaps customers didn’t like not taking the book away with them when they bought it, instead having to wait for it to be sent the next day. 

Or maybe it was the lack of book aware sales people or their experiences with the contactless physical shop. I wonder what they will experiment with next?

 

Publishers Weekly reports on an Industry meeting where publishers were trying to figure out what to do about the paper shortage. I reported a couple of weeks ago that Italy was dropping art books from publishing lists. But the paper shortage is biting hard and now publishers might have to change their way of business (Outmoded, some would say.) Do we really need massive print runs to get the unit price down? Booksellers have to return unsold books which then get pulped or sold to Big Bad Wolf in a cut your losses deal. Will Print On Demand be the way of the future along with a big book price rise? There may be other ways out….

 

Brandon Sanderson decided that he would have another Kickstarter. He posted it on the 2^{nd .} as a surprise. In 6 hours he surpassed his previous record and by the end of the day had passed $14 million and he has the rest of the month to go. 

How did this happen? Kickstarter author experts analysed his spectacular success. 

Give the fans what they want. Brandon has noted that his fans like book boxes. He is releasing 4 secret books next year. In the 8 months where there isn’t a book release, he will send a book box of swag related to one of his previous books. 

He gamified the launch. He is releasing the title of each book each week of the Kickstarter so that you have to keep coming back. The books are already finished and different tier rewards release different formats. Or you can go straight to premium and get everything for $500.

He has made a cool easy shared video and his fans are getting the word out. 

That’s all you need for Kickstarter success. (And being Brandon Sanderson, of course.)

 

Apparently, there is money to be made in NFT’s. Illustrators are being snapped up to produce limited-edition images for middle managers to market as NFT’s. But if the NFT bubble bursts, on the horizon lurk custom-made 3d avatars for the metaverse.

 

Victoria Strauss has joined Writer Unboxed. Her first article for them is a breakdown of the most common writing scam that gets authors every time. Surprise! We saw your little book and we want to take it to Big Publishers/ Film Directors… someone rich and famous our fee is… Victoria shares what the red flags are.

 

Who knew that Horror was the favourite of Latin America? Apparently, we like classics Down Under. 

Check out this reading infographic-What are people reading around the world?  Market your books accordingly.

And just in case you think that books are not selling, check out Book Riots reading statistics for the last two years.

 

Ruth Harris has a great article this month on how to get rejected. Before you think oh that’s easy… just check out the mistakes that authors are making that get them rejected before they send in the manuscript.

 

In The Craft Section,

 2 Great articles from Jami Gold-Nods, smiles, and frowns. How to avoid talking heads and Story focus- Character or plot?- Bookmark

18 tips on writing better sentences- Helen Bolam

Writing prompts with dream symbols- Kathy Steinemann

Cause and effect- 2 sentences to use when editing- Kahina Necaise- Bookmark

Breaking writing rules- September Fawkes

 

In The Marketing Section,

7 questions for your book marketing plan- Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

What sells books in 2022- Kobo- Bookmark

Book marketing resources- Indie Book review

How to launch on a budget- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

Have you found your book marketing niche- Colleen Story

 

To Finish,

In the children’s writing world there are touchstone authors. The ones that create a genre niche so perfectly that their books are instantly iconic. So, it was a huge sadness when the news broke that Shirley Hughes has died. An extraordinary illustrator and storyteller.

Requiescant In Pace.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

I’m late with the monthly newsletter (Aaargh.) So if you want the best of my bookmarked links go on and subscribe. (You will also get a nifty mini book 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: Illustration by Shirley Hughes. 

 

Looking For Happy

 

 

This week in publishing news,

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard reported that Storytel was having a shakeup with their founder and visionary leader Jonas Tellander stepping down unexpectedly. With uncertain times in Europe at the moment- finding a comfort book to read or listen to maybe a priority. 

 

Publishers Weekly is confident that Bologna will be back in person…however they are expecting a smaller turnout. To compensate they are expanding the children’s book fair to focus on independent publishing and educational publishing. Congratulations to the shortlisted publishers around the world for International Children’s Publisher of the year. Huia has been named in the Oceania shortlist along with Beatnik.

 

Anne R Allen has another timely look at scammers in the book industry. They keep changing their shonky practices. Please keep an eye on Writer Beware… if you get an offer of any sort, treat it with caution. Agents have been burned too.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Craig Martell this week on tips for author success. If you have heard of the Facebook group 20 books to 50k then Craig will be a familiar name. If not, Craig runs the biggest writers conference in the world. Read /listen to this extraordinary man and his mission to empower writers.

 

Kris Rusch is another extraordinary resource for the publishing community. Her longevity in the industry and her ability to see through the murk to the realities of the publishing business make her a must-read resource. This week she looks at exclusivity deals- when they are a good thing and when they go horribly wrong.

 

Author newsletters can be a wonderful marketing tool but they often give writers a headache as they try to figure out what to put in them. Nate Hoffelder shares 8 things he learned from the Newsletter Ninja, Tammi Labrecque.

 

Colleen Story wrote this week on author mindset when it comes to book marketing. How do you approach marketing your book? Colleen writes about some easy changes that will change your marketing mindset.

 

In The Craft Section,

4 steps for second drafts- D Edwin - Bookmark

When to kill a character- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

How to develop content for a workbook- Nina Amir- Bookmark

Flat character arcs- Lewis Jorstad

3 tips for a time bomb plot device- Becca Puglisi

 

 

In The Marketing Section,

Promote your book while watching TV- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Book Marketing Burnout- Dave Chesson Bookmark

Unique branding for March- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Promoting with a limited budget- Bookbub

Facebook ad images- Written Word Media

110 book marketing ideas- Smith Publicity

 

To Finish,

I’m in the last quarter of my current book and trying to tie up all the loose ends. This week I read an interesting article from Mythcreants on keeping the readers happy with your novel series. You don’t have to always follow the main character. Write an anthology series like Discworld or spin-off books or prequels. This article opens up a whole new drawer of ideas which is a writer’s happy place.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It is nearly time for my monthly newsletter of the best bookmarked links. When you subscribe you 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.

 

Kia Kaha Ukraine. 

Reaching for a life ring.

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The paper crisis in publishing is beginning to bite with Italian publishers reporting that costs for paper are beginning to make publishing some books uneconomic. Production costs have risen almost 90% compared to last year. Publishing Perspectives reports on the types of books most affected. Italian publishers are concerned for educational materials which they are guaranteed to supply, the costs of which are swallowing all their publishing budget.

 

Meanwhile, in Spain, they are tackling Book Piracy using sports technology. With an estimated 3 pirated copies for every book published something has to be done. Artificial Intelligence may just be the referee we all need on our side.

 

Penguin Random House in an altruistic move last year made books available to Libraries with easier terms than usual because everyone was in lockdown and we all needed to read more. Usually, publishers allow Libraries to buy books at very marked up prices to make up for the sales they potentially lose to library patrons. PRH announced that they are keeping their easier terms going this year. 

It can’t have anything to do with more States taking publishers to court to make them provide ebooks to libraries.

 

Another Social Media company is offering creators a revenue pool to earn from. Snapchat is introducing ads and top Snapchat creators will be able to share in the ad revenue from their stories. Streaming income for creators falls into either revenue sharing or getting a fixed price from a fixed sum of money-e.g. Kindle Unlimited monthly pool of money. The downside of this model is the more creators the less money you can earn. 

 

Kris Rusch has been mulling over exclusivity and what it means to creators. Do the tradeoffs make it worthwhile. What about when the contracts change? An interesting beginning to a new series from Kris on the business of writing.

 

If you get the chance to watch the Beatles documentary by Peter Jackson, it is a fascinating insight into the creative process of the four members of the band. Dan Blank pulls out 23 lessons on creativity from the documentary. 

 

Reedsy has a comprehensive list of all the novel writing software out there that you might like to try out.

 

Victoria Thompson has published over fifty novels and she breaks down the two most asked questions that authors get. Points if you guess what they are. (Children’s authors may have a different set of questions… How old are you being one of the most asked by children.)

 

Barbara Probst puts on her reader's hat and analyses 5 recent books to see if they follow the ‘rules’ that writers are supposed to follow.ie hook and compelling stakes in the first few pages. She found that they didn’t follow that at all but explored character development instead. An interesting article.

 

In The Craft Section,

5 tips for writing memoir-Rachel Thompson

How to turn your short story into a novel- Roz Morris

3 tips for describing characters- Bang 2 Write

How writers can mine emotions with music-  C S Lakin- Bookmark

Author voice vs Narrator voice -September Fawkes- Bookmark

Tips for creating a bestselling title- Margie Lawson - Bookmark 

 

In The Marketing Section,

6 benefits of good website design- Barb Drozdowich

Booktok for book marketing-Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Clever ideas for promoting sequels- Bookbub- Bookmark

How to market an eBook- Reedsy (comprehensive)

Not all book marketing services are created equal- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish,

I recently read a Writer Unboxed article on the importance of writing truth for yourself. John J Kelley- Writing Truth in the era of falsehood. This article particularly resonated with me as our city is partially gridlocked by a large protest around our parliament. The protestors are demanding freedom but are denying the rights of others around them while they protest. They want the freedom to not be vaccinated, to not wear masks and to go back to life the way it was. Their rhetoric is filled with conspiracy and hate and is quite worrying. How did so many people lose sight of the science and truth of the pandemic? While they chant for individual freedom- the rest of us are taking our responsibilities seriously towards others more vulnerable than ourselves. We are getting vaccinated and wearing masks and living a careful life in a pandemic. Sometimes the negativity can drown us. Writing a truth can be a life ring in uncertain times.

 

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

 

Owing The Writer

 

In Publishing News this week,

The merger of Draft2Digital and Smashwords was announced this week and everyone is talking. Each company has made a significant noise in the Indie Publishing world. Smashwords was first making ePublishing accessible to everyone in 2008. Draft2Digital followed them in 2012. Each publishing portal has its own specialties and exclusive deals. Many authors belong to both, to get as wide a coverage as they can along with access to accreditation, coupons, print deals etc. Together they will be a force, a complete one-stop portal for Indie publishers. Read the Press release from D2D and the commentary from Publishing Perspectives. The two companies are merging staff and senior management with Mark Coker of Smashwords joining the board. Both companies have a wide reach into Europe and it will be interesting to see if they can crack Asia. Now that Amazon has closed down their Asian publishing arm there might be expansion room.

 

Leipzig Book Fair happens 2 weeks before London and is a useful indicator on whether Book Fairs are back to normal. Last week everyone was happy, Leipzig will be in person. 6 days later Leipzig is canceled. A week is a long time in publishing and Covid 19 is not done yet.

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware took Wattpad to task over the rules to their latest contest, which has caused a huge controversy in that part of the publishing blogosphere. The overreach in rights being denied authors entering the contest was excessive. Please read this article from Victoria on the language used and what it means. Publishing contracts and Contests are increasingly using this language. Grabbing as many IP rights as you can is highly profitable for publishing companies. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Anne R Allen has a great article on 10 dangerous critiques that can scuttle your book and your mental well-being. This is an article that anyone involved in workshopping manuscripts needs to read.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed John Kremer over on her podcast and it is a fascinating read/listen on ways to market books long term. John authored a successful book on the subject now in its 7^th edition. The two of them talk about new markets, new ventures and co-op marketing.

 

David Gaughran has a great article on 15 rules for Book Advertising. David has a wealth of information at his fingertips and all over his website to check him out and pay attention to what he says.

 

Jane Friedman has a great guest post  from Janna Maron on the 3 shifts you need to finish your book. I was fascinated by the sanctuary idea. Do you have a mental sanctuary for your book?

 

The Dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have come up with a great article on treating your writer self this Valentine’s day.

 

In The Craft Section,

Do you begin at the beginning- maybe not- Barbara Lynn Probst

5 Steps to becoming a nonfiction author- Nina Amir- Bookmark

The zigzag plot arc- Marissa graff- Bookmark

Antagonist motivations- K M Weiland

The rule of three- Anne R Allen

 

In The Marketing Section,

Leverage someone else’s network- Sandra Beckwith

Which comes first the marketing or the book- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Infographic for March marketing- Penny Sansevieri-Bookmark

Best promo sites 2022- David Gaughran- BOOKMARK

An introvert’s guide to an online presence- Tessa Barbossa

Prize ideas for giveaways and promotions- Bookmark

 

To Finish, 

Writer Unboxed has all sorts of interesting articles and this one caught my eye this week

Who does an author owe?

Before you start looking at your bills, this article is about owing energy, owing creativity, owing your story to … your reader.

 

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