Is it Good Literature?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

If you are a comic book publisher by now you must be suffering severe stress at the uncertainty of the Diamond Comics distributor woes. They have a buyer. They haven’t a buyer. Their potential buyer is now suing them. Publishers Weekly tries to keep everyone up to date.

 

Also suffering is the Children’s Publishing community with the news that Albert Whitman and Co is in bankruptcy after 106 years of trading. After a series of disastrous moves and the failure to pay people, usually the first sign of a sinking publishing ship, the company has closed. But will anyone get their money back?

 

The money is being handed out by Spotify - $100 million this year already. Mark Williams looks at the symbiotic nature of podcasting and audio books and speculates what else Spotify might be doing with the spoken word.

 

This week Canada had a national election that highlighted what happens when another countries president tells you how to vote. Amongst the first laws that Canadian authors want fixed is the poorly worded copyright law that is hurting the creative community in Canada.

 

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) had their annual meeting in New York. The theme – Move Fast and Fix Things. Publishing Perspectives reports on the outcomes from the study group that identifies pain points in publishing and how to fix them.

 

Back in court are five well known authors challenging the legality of the book banning in Florida. Several states are waiting on the outcome as it will set a precedent on whether their book bans are lawful. It is slow going but the outcome is important. Luckily these authors have the financial resources to see it through.

 

Dan Holloway reports on moves to make AI generated films eligible for The Oscars. While you are pondering this, check out Wiley (Academic publishers) guidelines for using AI in book and journal writing. My thought is that by the end of the year most publishers will have specific guidelines like these. After all, if they are using it in their offices can they really demand others don’t?However, be very transparent in your AI dealings. Publishers won’t back you up if there is a court case. You are on your own, and they may just sue you to make the point.

Use AI as a tool to help creativity. Your author voice is original, and an AI is not. An algorithm can’t feel like a human can. 

 

Amy Bernstein has a great post on Jane Friedman’s blog about using fiction techniques to make your nonfiction book better. Borrow From Fictions Toolbox to Elevate Your Nonfiction Book.

 

Andrea Grigg has an interesting post on Writers in the Storm about Emerging from Writers Block. When you have tried everything and beaten yourself up for having writers block it might be the permission to quit that frees you. Everyone’s creativity is different. 

 

Two excellent craft articles caught my eye this week. Becca Puglisi’s Build Character Growth Milestones into your story and Katie Weiland’s impressive take on the Corrupt Character Arc. These are two outstanding posts on the craft of writing compelling characters. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Trigger questions for world building- Jaime Buckley- Bookmark

Genres of writing – Storygrid- Comprehensive!

Building scenes with beats- C S Lakin- Bookmark

The 5-4-3-2-1 of scene setting- Diana Giovinazzo

Why you should avoid bored protagonists -September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

3 author mistakes when marketing- Sandra Beckwith

10 strategies to grow your author newsletter -Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Where to find readers- Fussy Librarian

Is Kindle Unlimited right for you – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Approaches to marketing – Story Empire- Bookmark

 

To Finish

 

A long time ago before we had children… my husband and I used to hold Port and Poetry nights for our friends. It was our version of a literary salon. Friends would arrive with Port… or something else and their favourite poems and we would read them out loud. Sometimes there would be a theme, or we would just gossip about world events. When the kids came along we didn’t hold so many, but they were allowed to read out their favourite poems when we did. The Guardian recently wrote about the new literary salons being held. Funny, Sexy, and a bit Weird- how the young are doing literary salons now. Take an odd venue, stuff it full of people- bring a DJ, and read anything you like. 

Literature, always in fashion!

Maureen

@craicer

 

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

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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Speaking Up for Reading

 

 

In Publishing News This Week

Another week, another news story on the Institute of Museum and Library Services, this time it’s an open letter to Harper Collins. Everyone else has made the campaign to save the Institute a priority- why haven’t they?

 

In the UK, a new survey on reading finds that nearly half of the adults surveyed struggled to finish a book. This should be ringing all sorts of alarm bells. Most reported that they had seen a significant shift in their lack of reading in the last three years. 

Barbara O’Neal’s article on Writer Unboxed about The War of Attention is a timely reminder to be proactive in carving out reading time. 

Sara Hildreth also has a great post on types of reading slumps and how to fix them. If we all share these articles around we might get some people reading again. It can only be good for us.

 

Recently I was out with family, and we were in a pub that had been decorated with old Reader's Digest books. You know the ones, four abridged stories in one volume. I had to explain to the teen what they were. Book subscription boxes are on the up reports The Guardian. In fact they are becoming so popular as a curated reading experience that they are starting publishing companies.

 

Richard Charkin writes on the existential threat to publishing. Which one I hear you mutter. Yes it’s all of the above but the biggest threat according to Richard is the publishing industry itself.

 

While we are lamenting reading with our eyes, perhaps we could take some time to look at reading with our ears. The rise of Spotify and its commitment to audiobooks, especially the launch of its short form audio this year, has reaped a big industry prize, says Dan Holloway. 

Authors are taking advantage of the short form audio boom and reaping a nice pay day with 2000 word novellas. Revenue exceeded $2Billion in podcast advertising writes Mark Williams.

The Alliance of Independent Authors writes on how to use short form audio to your advantage. Meanwhile, over on The Creative Penn, Joanna has an interview with Derek Slaton on how he is using short form audio as serialized chapters on YouTube. This is a fascinating look at another form of storytelling with podcasting and YouTube.

 

Anne R Allen has revised her post of 10 pieces of bad advice new authors get from their unhelpful friends.- Hands up if you have received more than one of these gems of bad advice.

 

Terry Odell has a super post on the very underrated super power that every writer has. It has nothing to do with structure and everything to do with voice. 

 

In The Craft Section,

2 great articles from Becca Puglisi-6 tips for creating chemistry between characters and Effective dialogue techniques- Bookmark

How to use asides- Arthur Plotnik

Writing a fall arc- K M Weiland – Bookmark!

Villains vs Antogonists- Debbie Burke- Bookmark

Unforgettable villains- Masterclass

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to define a strong author brand- Jenny Hansen- Bookmark

Teachers guides with AI- Darcy Pattison

How to talk about your book ahead of publication- SamMissingham

Crucial elements to an author website-Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark

Prize ideas for promotions-Bookbub- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Dan Blank takes the concept of the writers voice and expands it in this great article on the incredible power an author has to take us out of our daily life and into another world. He writes about how to use your writer friends to challenge yourself to go deeper as a writer. We all have a unique voice, are we using it in our writing?

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

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It Used To Be So Simple…

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

In the continuing saga of the disestablishment of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Publishers Weekly reports that there are only 12 people left doing the work of 75. Questions have been raised as to the ability of some of these people who seem to have been picked because of who they know and not what they know. And where is all the money going? 

 

In the Meta Lawsuit, many organisations aren’t waiting to be called but are submitting briefs to the court in support of the lawsuit, Publishing Perspectives reports. At issue is Meta claiming fair use. An argument that is supposed to be for the purposes of review in journals, not wholesale scraping.

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has a chilling article on how Meta employees came to think that scraping a pirate site was a good idea. There was horrible little paragraph where they thought it was ok because the works themselves were valueless. Tell that to authors who have had their entire life’s work stolen.

 

Malaysia has been having a super book giveaway in an effort to promote reading. Mark Williams looks at the parent company of Big Bad Wolf and how they can lay their hands on all remaindered English language books to be able to do these big events.

 

Spotify is extending their reach in audio books and is opening up to French and Dutch language translations. They are throwing some money at it too. In their latest stats the audio listeners are primarily from the younger age bracket. Spotify is keen to promote human voices, but they are open to digital voices as well.

 

If you are still trying to make sense of tariffs in the book industry – do you pay them- do you not, The Alliance of Independent Authors has a good article to help you figure out what to do. Make sure you diversify where you get your books printed, so you can manage production costs.

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a panel discussion with creative industry people on how to manage AI technologies. This was interesting as there were music industry people who have been dealing with AI for longer than book people. Their advice- get involved in policing it.

 

Rachel Thompson has an article on PR scams that are targeting writers. It’s like playing whack-a-mole with scammers. All you can do is stay abreast of the ones doing the rounds and make sure newbies know about them.

 

Jane Friedman has a guest article from Anne Carley about how difficult it is to help publish other people in the self publishing space. This is because of the hoops you have to go through to establish who you are. When publishing companies are trying to weed out the scammers and pirates it can be hard to be a genuine helper for other people.

 

Joanna Penn has a super interview with Tara Cremin from Kobo. Tara gives an overview of all the great things Kobo offers and then gets into detail on subscriptions and marketing. If you already publish on Kobo are you taking advantage of all that they offer now?

 

Jennifer Dorsey writes about how to lay the groundwork for a successful nonfiction book launch. Have you mined who you know as well as what you know?

 

James Scott Bell has a post dedicated to the thesaurus and how useful it is. When was the last time you opened one specifically to find the right word.

 

Barbara Linn Probst has a great article on person and tense. Whoever tells the story is not the same as the protagonist unless you are very careful. Does the protagonist really know the inner life of all the other characters? This is a must read article.

 

In The Craft Section,

A peek inside the mind of a developmental editor- Jenn Windrow- Bookmark

Conflict is not tension- Sally Hamer

Understanding genre conventions- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark

Cinematic technique for authors- C S Lakin

How to prepare eBooks in Word.- Diane Wolfe

 

In the Marketing Section,

How long does publicity take- Kathleen Schmidt

How to make time to market your book- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How you should price your book- Matthew Holmes- Bookmark

Best Email services for authors- Dave Chesson

Getting more value from the backlist- Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

It is the 17^th anniversary of the blog today. That’s 17 years of watching the publishing industry change in front of me. The eBook, the Kindle, Amazon, Print on Demand, the rise and fall of publishing houses, the amalgamations, the rise of niche indie brands, the rise and fall of booksellers, graphic novels, audio books, translations, the rise and fall of distributors, selling direct, authorpreneurs, and now AI. The publishing world looks very different from when I started learning about it 17 years ago. I continue to learn every day. For everyone who is still reading and learning along with me, sharing little notes, the occasional coffee, the meet in person times, Thank you for still being here. It has been a wild ride. 

 

Happy Easter.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox, subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Simon Harmer on Unsplash

Can We Get Off The Roller Coaster?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

It’s been a tricky old week if you have been watching the tariff brinkmanship going on and wondering what this will do to the global economy. Closer to home writers and publishers are wondering what it will mean for the book industry. If you are in the USA and get your books printed in China, you may be lucky as so far books have been exempt from tariffs, unfortunately paper and ink imported into the USA from China is not. Kathleen Schmidt has a quick run down on what the American Booksellers Association is saying about tariffs.

 

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair has just wrapped up and interesting articles have come out of the presentations at the fair. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the panel discussion with audio publishers at the fair. There is an emphasis from audio publishers to snap up all audio rights so they can be in control when new formats arrive in this space. If you aren’t sure what I mean, think AI audio books, AI translated audiobooks etc.

Publisher’s Weekly also had an informative article on what everyone was buying at Bologna, the trends in children’s books, Romantasy might be over, and what everyone is doing about middle grade books. If you write in this space, it’s a must read.

 

In wider publishing news, last week I wrote that the staff of The Institute of Museum and Library Services – the body that oversees funding for libraries have been placed on administrative leave. This week the American Library Association has gone into bat for them with a court case suing The President, the DOGE executive, and the directors of the Institute. 

 

The American Publishers Association co-hosted a day long forum to look at the threat of AI on creative license. This is to tie in with the recently introduced bill – The TRAIN act, or Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks. Your creativity rights are in the constitution. (Looking from outside the USA, I wonder for how long…)

 

The Guardian has written an article looking at book banning and who are actually behind the majority of the book bans, and it is not individual concerned parents but interest groups. 

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware does a fantastic job of keeping up with the scam artists out there. In her latest article she turns the spotlight on a new scam that uses identity theft to impersonate editors and agents with pre-paid commissions and contracts that have been copied from Penguin Random House. This is a must read for all writers. You might feel that you know enough about what is happening to spot a scam, but many writers don’t. If they do a cursory search to see if the editor is legit, it looks like it… then the fish hooks start happening. At the very least you will be able to tell a newbie writer what to look for in this new scam.

 

Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors talks about a new feature being rolled out by Amazon for the Kindle, ReCaps… where an AI will tell you what’s happened in the story so far, if you are following a series. I can’t see anything problematic here at all….

 

Cassie Manns Murray a book publicist has an interesting opinion piece about Publishers Weekly’s new move to charge a $25 submission fee for a potential review. It is not guaranteed. If they do this will others follow? This is a good piece on how hard it is juggle publicity around publishing dates.

 

A writer recently asked me if was programming another writers conference what topics would be on my must have list. Contracts, Understanding Intellectual Property, and Literary Estates. This century so far has seen huge changes to each of these three important facets of the writing and publishing life. This week Madeleine L’Engle’s literary executor, her granddaughter, has an interesting article covering these topics in a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog. Planning for the life of your work (even if you are not famous yet.)

 

In The Craft Section,

Humanity over AI- your difference – Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

The importance of flaws- Beem Weeks

What is play by play in writing- September Fawkes – Bookmark

Search Out The Unexpected- Kathleen McCleary-

3 Writing aspects you should never mess with- Julie Glover- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Parts of a book – a primer- Fictionary

Step by step to profitable ads- Bookbub- Bookmark

3 unconventional ways to market- Savannah Cordova- Bookmark

Why Quality Counts- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to grow your list with giveaways- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

 

To Finish

If you have been feeling battered by this week’s news and the constant churn of the news cycle which never has any good news. Chuck Wendig has a post on his blog that you can read that explains your feelings- What it feels like right now- It’s hard to hope.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Itai Aarons on Unsplash

Reading Success

 

London Book Fair is over and in comes Bologna Children’s Book Fair. I like to think it’s the most important because without creating readers the other book fairs wouldn’t exist. 

Publishers Weekly has a deep dive into what the big topics are at Bologna. The crisis in early literacy is worrying and have the covid years caused a reading slump or is it cyclical?

 

Graphic novels are now one of the biggest formats at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. There are many interesting moves in this area reports Publishers Weekly. One thing that caught my eye in this article was audio books scripts generated by graphic novels.

 

The awards for Children’s Publisher of the year at Bologna is always a great event. The world is divided into six continent-ish zones and so there are six winners. Publishing Perspectives has a run down of the winners. Congratulations to Mila’s Books from New Zealand which took out the Oceania prize.

 

In another attack on literacy in the United States-The staff of The Institute of Museum and Library Services – the body that oversees funding for libraries have been placed on administrative leave according to Publishers Weekly. Hopefully their jobs can be saved.

 

Also closing their doors is NaNoWriMo. After a turbulent year and falling memberships the organization has closed. NaNoWriMo was a great idea and many bestsellers got their start in the white hot frenzy of writing a novel in a month.

 

Ingram Spark’s new book to screen database, MediaScout is now live. Publisher’s Weekly reports they already have an impressive number of books in the catalogue.

 

Mark Williams looks at the latest fallout of Meta AI and the proposed tariffs that had a good portion of the world on edge. While Mark see’s the value in some AI tools on the basis of its coming anyway we may as well use it. Dan Holloway looks at the impact AI has had on translators and artists. 

 

Teri Case writing on Jane Friedman’s blog looks at how AI made her want to trademark her name and how she went about it. This came about because Jane Friedman’s name had been stolen and pasted on AI generated books last year. Amazon wouldn’t take the books down because Jane hadn’t trademarked her name. 

 

Kathleen Schmidt has a fascinating article on book publicity. She dives into when and how to connect to your audience and book publicists. This is a must read if you have a book ready to release into the world.

 

Sandra Beckwith has a list of useful apps and tools to help the writer.

 

Donald Maass writing on Writer Unboxed has an excellent craft article on the hidden reason why readers read. Donald has excellent advice on how to craft your plot to hit all the right cues. A must read!

 

In The Craft Section,

The wolf under the table- J Scott Coatsworth

How conflict enhances your story- Ellen Buikema- Bookmark

4 stages of knowing in character arcs- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Using writing prompts to unstick yourself- Savannah Cordova

Dialogue mechanics- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to get accepted by a distributor- Bokbaby- Bookmark

Marketing tips for a new genre- an example - Bookbub

Author swag and merch- IWSG- Bookmark

Amazon central changes – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to sell on Amazon – Dave Chesson – updated- Comprehensive!

 

To Finish

The world can be filled with negativity everywhere you look. It’s hard to stay upbeat when you feel bludgeoned by the daily news. In writing we can so often feel discouraged about our work. Harper Ross had a timely post on Writer Unboxed last week -The importance of defining success for yourself. This is a little reality check to recognize the wins in your creative life and celebrate them.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Blaz Photo on Unsplash

When The Writing Business Gets You Down

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Just after I published last week’s blog, The Atlantic* published an article on the books that Meta used to train their AI as well as the shady practices they used. Substack readers of the blog got the breaking news. Use The Atlantic search engine if you want to check whether your books were scraped, then contact your local writer association. Here in NZ the Society of Authors is taking names to join a class action. 

Many authors guilds around the world are preparing court cases. Publishing Perspectives has the US and UK Authors societies responses. 

 

While authors are getting hot under the collar about AI theft, publishers have been quietly doing deals with AI companies to let them have access to their lists. Jane Friedman highlights just what is going on under writer’s noses.

 

Of course, AI as a tool offers so many advantages to the struggling publishers. Although I don’t think Taylor and Francis is exactly struggling, Publishers Weekly reports that they are using AI to translate their books into English. 

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has an interesting article on film companies and how they are using a text to screen AI to generate films. Yes, AI is everywhere. Last week he said that publishing history is active resistance, passive acceptance, and eventual embrace. I think the publishers might be moving out of passive acceptance. So many seem to be saying one thing to authors and another to their staff. 

 

Do you remember Stories for Rebel Girls? The author, Francesca Cavallo has been looking at the dire statistics for boys reading and has a new collection coming out. Publishing Perspectives has an article looking at what Francesca will be doing at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair next week.

 

Diamond Comics Distributors has found a buyer, reports Publishers Weekly. Whether there will be enough left over to pay all the creditors could be touch and go. Many comics publishers who used Diamond have been scrambling to find other distributors in the interim.

 

Written Word Media were at the Future of Publishing/ Writer MBA conference, and they have an in depth article about what they learned there. They also have some great takeaways to get you thinking about your publishing business.

 

Alia Habib has an interesting article where she sat down with five book publicity people are asked questions about the best way of getting their attention with a book project. The package matters.

 

Phil Simon has a guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog about a new writing tool that can streamline your workflow. If you are looking for help in sorting out all your projects this might be useful. It has a free tier.

 

James Scott Bell has a great article on the melted butter of writing or in other words metaphors and similes. He has some great examples. Do you use metaphors in your writing?

 

In The Craft Section,

Relationship Conflicts- prolong the agony- Jerry Jenkins- Bookmark

How to use the thesaurus properly- September Fawkes

How to use show don’t tell- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

Consider your characters age- Tiffany Yates Martin - Bookmark

If the relationship is the primary story- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to thrive without viral marketing- Janee Butterfield- Bookmark

The best author promo ideas- Penny Sansevieri

From Readers to review- Written Word Media- Bookmark

How to market a book- Reedsy

Maximising Backlist Sales- SPA Girls- Bookmark!

 

To Finish,

Sometimes the writing and publishing world can leave you feeling like a used tissue. That is where having a writing buddy to share the highs and lows with is so important.

Every year Katie Weiland has a week where she helps writers find a writing buddy. Hop on over to her blog and scroll down to comments. You never know, you might find your life-long writing buddy who helps you to scale new heights, propels you to new projects and has your back like you have theirs. 

And if you already have a writing buddy- Make time to celebrate them. You don’t need an excuse. Reach out and say you value them, with cake. 

An AI won’t do that.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

N.B.* The Atlantic has been having a sensational week- AI Theft and War Plans. All it takes is a courageous writer to speak truth to power. They give us hope that we can do the same.

 

Photo by Pixel Rich on Unsplash