Trick Or Treat

Happy All Hallows Eve,

A couple of years ago Young Adult writers decided to hand out scary books to trick or treaters...and it has gained a following amongst the writing community in the countries that celebrate Halloween as a cultural festival. All Hallows Read...go to your local second hand bookstore...buy up ghostly children’s books and R L Stines...and hand them out.

This week in the publishing blogosphere there was a flutter as Larry Kirshbaum announced he was going back to agenting after heading up Amazon’s print publishing operation. Larry was up against it, when he was hired two years ago as all the bookstores holding onto deals with publishers decided they wouldn’t stock Amazon printed books. Traditional Publishing pundits have taken a ‘We Won Against The Mighty ‘Zon’ attitude but others aren’t so sure... Anyway you look at it, the authors are the ones suffering with poor print sales and no exposure to the bookstore browser. If the Mighty ‘Zon ever works out distribution into the bookstores for print books... the game will be changed.

In the blogosphere it is NaNoWriMo time and tips abound for how to tackle the month where everyone tries to write their 50,000 word opus. Editors and agents are shuddering because December heralds all these manuscripts hitting their floors. Many of them are saying they won’t look at a book that arrives in December because it won’t have moved beyond a first draft.

If you are not heading into the bunker to write you may be interested in the changing ownership hop of Figment, the teen writing community that keeps getting bought by very big publishers.... If I was very cynical I’d wonder whether they were keen to get their hands on the next big young thing who knows nothing about the cut throat business of publishing.... Lucky I’m not.... Dave Gaughren has a good blog post on this subject.

A Publishers Weekly article this week is definitely scaring quite a few people. The article has anonymous agents and editors saying publishers are beginning to carefully change contract wording so it doesn’t say what format they will publish the book in. If publishers don’t commit to a print edition or they go to a POD print edition so that rights will never revert back...or the Print edition will be under their new imprint where the writer pays costs (read Author Solutions here) then writer’s dreams may rapidly turn to nightmares.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a comparison piece on the indie music scene and the indie publishing scene and couldn’t find one and then into my Twitter feed pops this opinion piece from a musician writer.... Interesting reading.

Mark Coker looks at the economics of Ebook lending library style.

Joanna Penn has an interview with an expert on selling books into Germany. They have the biggest population of readers in Europe.

Now for all those great Craft Treats

These are the best blog posts I’ve seen on plotting this week.

Structure in HarryPotter and how JK Rowling followed the rules.

Plotting made easy.

Other inspirational writing tips worthy of bookmarking

How to figure out a great Concept

How to fix the sagging middle,

Why Voice is so important.

What do you do with a semi colon and other useful grammar stuff

Can you include song lyrics?

Telling vs Showing and how to figure it out.

NaNoWriMo a collection of tips and resources.

To Finish,

Two stellar opinion pieces.

On writing Y A from a literary writer... and what he learned, which was a heck of a lot!

Hugh Howey on the challenge of connecting with readers directly. You need to do it.

Here is my All Hallows treat for you...Writing tips fromGreat Authors. 

Print out a couple of these and hang them over your desk!

maureen

This great pic was from http://www.flickr.com/photos/rattler97/

Genre Fiction; Up, Down, Sideways...

This week in the publishing blogosphere has been focussed on the continuing fallout over KOBO pulling self-published books featuring erotica... which caused booksellers sites to fall over including Whitcoulls our biggest chain bookseller which made news around the world.

The Alliance of Independent Authors comments about the damage done to authors and publishers on this... as a lot of the books pulled weren’t erotica... leaving 50 shades and Lolita untouched.

David Gaughren also asks who do we want making our moral decisions... as this all happened as a knee jerk reaction to an article in The Daily Mail. Lots of comments on this.

Porter Anderson continued his Ether this week with more snippets from Frankfurt and predictions for content (read stories) in the gaming industry ... the books of the future.

Writer Beware is highlighting Kill Clauses in contracts and the underhanded ways these are being used now... Check it out and be aware!

The great Brainpickings, Maria Popova’s site is 7 years old today and she looks back at 7 years since her idea and 7 things she has learned... a great little inspirational piece.

Jane Friedman has started up a magazine dedicated to writers. Scratch.  Her first issue is free so you can take a look at what she is doing and hoping for. If you don’t know Jane Friedman... she is consistently voted as one of the best writers advice/publishing commentators on the web.

McDonalds (New Publisher Alert) are giving out books to kids with their order... or you can go and download them yourselves. Yes...I told you it was coming ad now it is here... just not in NZ yet.

If you are thinking about getting into China you need to think about censorship...The NY Times details the hoops writers are prepared to go through.

Agents doing different things....

Lit Agent Mandy Hubbard is calling for a different kind of submission...She’s got a project in mind but she needs the writing voices...

Jill Corcoran is working with one of her writers using Kindle Singles and episode publishing a YA novel. 

Curtis Brown agent, Gordon Wise, has written an article on whether you need a print publisher now and ‘curated publishing services’ for authors that some agents are now doing....

In Craft,

NaNoWriMo is nearly upon us and the blogosphere is gearing up with articles on how to tackle the event. Here are two of the best this week.

Janice Hardy: On six stages of plotting.

KM Weiland: Are you hiding behind your writing or using it as a mirror.

In Marketing,

Joanna Penn talks about sharing your research with your readers... (Great article, something I have been mulling over.)

Ebook pricing is always a hot topic... Molly Greene talks about her experiences and what she has learned around this.

If you are self publishing, you need a team...Bob Mayer tells you why and how to choose them.

Website to check out,

Blake Snyder of Save The Cat (Screenwriting Bible) has a great website. This week a guest novelist shows how he used Save The Cat Beats to structure his novel...A great insight into plotting...while still leaving room for ‘as you write’ inspiration...Bookmark this one.

To Finish,

Chuck Wendig was recently in this part of the world... he left just as the fires started in OZ....hmmm. Chuck was a guest of GenreCon in Brisbane where he delivered a speech on 25 things he loves about Genre fiction.... Chuck is not for the faint hearted so warnings apply. You will laugh and maybe fall off your chair...

Here is a collection of visuals that may help explain your writing obsession to others.

Enjoy

maureen

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons/ Grmisiti 

Changing The Game

So nothing much has happened in the writing blogosphere this week....

YEAH RIGHT.

New Zealand writers were gripped with Man Booker fever as they followed Twitter streams, news reports and rumours to find out if our own Eleanor Catton had won. At 11am Thursday morning, writers around NZ were cheering. This was a nice patch of bright news in an otherwise depressing publishing landscape here in NZ. (Not sure about Publishing Perspectives calling it a Kiwi Twin Peaks tho.)

Victoria University Press published her here...in conjunction with a larger press in the UK.

With the race to leave NZ by the bigger publishing firms, this does leave the field open to small nimble presses. They and NZ writers need to think global and Eleanor’s success may be the kick we all need. In other comments about the win here...NZ writers were saying to the NZ public - See we have great writers...why don’t you get behind us instead of thinking that all good writing comes from overseas. Cultural cringe is alive and well here.

Before the Man Booker award took over the blogosphere what was everyone talking about..?

Frankfurt. (Implications and analysis ongoing)

Bloomsbury and Author Solutions (scary but true)

Book Discovery problems (when a booksellers website goes down over erotica.)

Frankfurt threw up some interesting statistics. This years Book Fair saw the impact of Self Publishing, both to the sales part of the industry and the traditional model of publishing, cease to be the elephant in the room.   

Jane Friedman has fully examined these implications and they make interesting reading. Take some time to look at her series of reports.... it’s a weekend workshops worth of information.

Laura Hazard Owen also brings her considerable analysis skills to bear...as she looks at the eBook marketing battles from Frankfurt.

Porter Anderson’s Ether at Jane Friedman’s site and his Ether at Publishing Perspectives gives you more information if you want to pretend that you went to Frankfurt. Always a comprehensive overview.

David Gaughren, champion of the small guy (self published writer) and defender of the newbie writer, continues to rage about the insidious ways that big traditional publishers are trying to jump on the self publishing bandwagon by telling writers that they can publish with their special imprint if they pay all the costs (exorbitant.) The imprints are fronts of Author Solutions, which is being taken to court, over questionable dealings with writers...The latest reputable publisher to engage Author Solutions to run a self-publishing imprint for them is Bloomsbury. If you are not aware of this please read and share with other writers...Eyes Wide Open People!

Mike Shatzkin takes a look at book discovery in the new world, in light of Frankfurt and also comments on the unfortunate nature of a major bookseller coming afoul of a publishers drive to clean up all mention of erotica. The publisher using a filter pulled all mention of erotica and the Bookseller, who had linked all their eBooks into their website found the website disabled. A bit of a problem for the biggest Bookseller in the UK. * Update* Writer Beware takes a look at the impact of this on authors.

Joanna Penn is always good value and in this blog post she looks at her writing business two years on...what she has learned and where to next. Very good reading.

12 seriously screwball ideas that writers must lose to become a better writer.

Romance University (always a great go to site) interviews an ex Harlequin editor going freelance and what she found out about self publishing quality and no it’s the opposite of what you think...great read.

In Craft, (all must read posts)

Agent Rachel Gardner on cutting thousands of words and how to do it...easy.

Victoria Mixon on 5 things always overlooked by writers.

Jody Hedlund on how to know which scenes you need in the book.

James Scot Bell on Don’t kill your thrills!

Livewritethrive on Creative mind mapping for novelists.

Writer Unboxed on Using Save The Cat to find the story

In Marketing,

50 Book Marketing things for under $50

Novel Rocket on Studying the market! (agent rant that is a must read)

Susan Kaye Quinn on write what you want...(Great post)

Anne R Allen Social Media secrets for authors (Anne is a must read anytime)

KidLit.com Agents vs Editors and why they all have a different focus.

Website to check out,

The Bookshelf Muse team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have changed their great website into an even spiffier one which celebrates what they do best... Writers Helping Writers. They have launched it this week with two more companion Writer Thesauri.... Positive and Negative Traits. If you have not had a chance to check out the phenomenally successful  Emotion Thesaurus For Writers...YOU MUST.

To Finish,

Indie Reader has looked at the growth of Self Publishing and has refined it down to five books and their impact on the publishingworld...see if the book that you immediately thought of is in the list...you may be very surprised. Every one on the list has been a game changer much like the predictions from Frankfurt...London and maybe the Man Booker on New Zealand Publishing.

maureen

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons/ Robscomputer 

Not A Bear Market

This week the news in the publishing blogosphere is... FRANKFURT.

This German Book Fair is amongst the biggest in the world and it was a big deal when New Zealand went as Guest Of Honour last year. This is where foreign rights deals are made so it is big business and fueling this big business is ebooks.

Every year the continuing growth of self publishing gets talked about at the big book fairs...which are required attendance for agents and publishers. This year, in a Frankfurt debut, CONTEC an industry forum to specifically discuss Digital Publishing was launched and started making waves. The news right off the bat... 60% of Self Published authors would not take a Trad deal if it was offered to them. Publishing professionals were asked how this would impact the industry...

Jane Friedman takes a close look at all that was said and unsaid on this panel that has everyone talking.

In an off the wall moment a respected agent demanded that all publishers pull their books from Amazon...annoying Penguin Random House in the process. The Passive Guy looks at the fall out.

Discussions about Author Collectives are everywhere I look as more writers find this is a model that makes sense to help them cope with the fast changing world of Publishing Now. From small press collectives to nationwide collectives for small countries... Catherine Stine looks at starting an Indie Collective.

The wonderful Anne R Allen has a brilliant blog and this week she lays out the rules of the Amazon Jungle...This is all about the changing nature of reviewing...a must read.

In the Craft Section,

Online tools to boost your creativity

How to nail NaNoWriMo

Editing long sentences

Paying attention to the characters life journey with Kristen Lamb

Janice Hardy doing a diagnostic on opening sentences with back story.

In Marketing,

Formatting tips.

Jane’s Friedman’s best business advice wrap up

Book Trailers...Do’s and Don’ts

The Jungle Red Writers collective look at what makes them stop reading.

Ebooks - Think Globally... another must read.

Writers and Artists interview with Karen Inglis a children’sbook author self publishing with POD illustrated books...

Website to check out,

K M Weiland has a new website and it is beautiful...check it out and her latest post on when characters lack solid story goals.

To Finish,

Over the last few years there have been rumblings of discontent in the text book world. First from the students...the high prices...then from the professors who have to pay for their work to be published in journals...as the text book publishers have a cash cow... but check out this latest from Harvard Business School....and read the comments!

Enough to make me reach for a ....

Maureen

* High Five to anyone who gets the reference in the title...

pic from Flickr /Creative Commons/Tim Pearce

Online Identity

The debate this week on the blogosphere is Author Websites.

They take too much time.

The authors should spend their time writing not on social media.

Most author websites are outdated...never updated and boring.

VS

Engaging websites connect readers with the author.

Connected readers are your marketing team.

In this modern age you need to be searchable as an author and have an online home.

So many opinions on this one...

Digital Book World was hosting a conference this week where this was discussed and the pro’s and con’s debated thick and fast... Here is their very detailed breakdown of the discussion.

Jane Friedman then picked up the baton and added her considerable intellectual weight to the discussion in her blog.

My two cents worth.... Time and again I have seen comments by editors and agents that if they really like the MS and they don’t know the author personally they google their name. This means that you should give them something to find...that you control. If it is your website...showcasing your style... Great.

Readers wanting to find out more about you and your books should be able to... and wouldn’t it be great if they could go on and buy your book! Check out Darcy Pattison’s article on the Codex survey about what readers want on an Author Website.

Joanna Penn source of amazing writing and marketing information for authors often interviews leaders in this field. Here she is, talking with Dan Blank on Combating Platform Fatigue...It is an hour long video blog so clear the decks for this one.

In Craft,

6 ways not to start your novel

Kidlit.com looks at building your book lexicon

Top 5 reasons to write New Adult

An easy technique to make your writing more immediate and effective

In Marketing,

PublishingGuru -  Twitter for authors

Training Authors – are you losing customers over this common problem

Your Writer Platform – defeat obscurity tips

Gordon Burdett on a handy tip for titles

Website to check out: The Insecure Writers Support Group.They have put together a great site chock full of info.

On Twitter today...The coolest writer in residence programme ever... Go enter!

To Finish,

Susan Kaye Quinn has been blogging her book over the last couple of months. It is a how to book on self publishing...I have been referencing Susan for a few years now and she is a great source of knowledge and inspiration. This chapter looks at Booksellers and Susan details her bookstoreof the future... If they were like this you wouldn’t get me out of them. (hmm it's difficult now....)

This is timely as Booksellers conferences are all over the place... everybody trying to find the solution to keep them going...which we all need when so far this week, in our small country, 3 independents have gone out of business.

If we end up only being able to sell online we will need our websites more than ever...

maureen

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons/ SEOplanter 

Trolls and Turtles

Reviews...fake...nasty...and contained has been the topic around the Blogosphere this week.

Goodreads moved to ‘set the appropriate tone’ of reviews on their site this week.  But some cried foul as they saw it as censorship.

As I have said before, if you don’t like the book don’t review it...or say why you don’t like the book and back it up....

Goodreads new policy is to try to stop the bullying reviews and personal attacks of authors on the site. The freedom of anonymity, while you are sitting at home, to write on the internet a corrosive review of a book or author because you can...and no one will call you out to your face for your behaviour...brings out the troll in some people. And trolls seem to seek affirmation of their troll behaviour from other trolls.  Any writer putting their head above the parapet to call out troll behaviour gets targeted. Hugh Howey talks about this and how he was guilty of ducking it until this week...A great article from Hugh.

Being the geek I am, I read PopSci and this week PopSci looked at a scientific study of negative reviews on science stories and found that constant negative reviews which are emotive, skewed the perceptions of the readers to put aside the facts of the science article.

PopSci pulled the plug on comments on their articles on their website...there are still ways to comment...FB, Twitter.... but not on their website. 

If you carry out those results to their logical end--commenters shape public opinion; public opinion shapes public policy; public policy shapes how and whether and what research gets funded--you start to see why we feel compelled to hit the "off" switch.

Self-publishing advice has an article which tells you about the subculture of Amazon Reviewers...yes they talk to each other...

Porter Anderson spends a lot of his Ether just looking at the articles flying about reviewersthis week and there are many... So take a long break and maybe reach for alcohol.

The Frankfurt Bookfair is about to kick off and as usual there are lots of side events looking at the state of publishing. Publishing Perspectives takes a look at one aspect that will be big news at the fair... Self Publishing : the industry implications and impact.

Another must read is Kris Rusch. This week’s stand out article is the stages of an Indie writer. This is being tweeted around the blogosphere...

Elisabeth S Craig also has a nice little post on being a Hybrid Writer.

Chuck has always been Mr Nice when talking about traditional publishers, after all he may cuss but he is not a hypocrite.  (Unlike a certain author who is getting roundly dissed for his hypocrisy all over the web.) Chuck traditionally publishes but doesn’t diss Indies or Amazon or anyone that plays fair... until today when he came out in Chuck mode in an open letter... Dear Publishers.

In Craft,

Star Wars...and the 8 things it can teach us about writing.

Simple Writing  has one of the best explanations ofVoice I have read in a while.

In Marketing,

Julie Muesil looks at the brilliant way that Hugh Howey markets.

MediaBistro takes a look at how to do book covers with public domain pictures.

DigitalBookWorld looks at 5 ways that authors can handle bad reviews.

Website to go look at,

This is an author run co-op with some illustrious members...making waves in the indie publishing world. Check out how they got together and how they publish their work. I keep saying this is the way of the future...

To Finish,

SCBWI has introduced a new award for non traditionally published books...and Katherine Applegate (Animorphs) has been signed by HarperCollins for a new series on the strength of 3 sentences...

The green trolls of jealousy should be gathering to pull her down about now. 

More Power to Katherine’s Arm. 

I saw in my Twitter feed today a nice reminder....

If you think your idea is too weird to fly... just remember these four words. 

Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles.

Feel free to comment....

maureen

Pic courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons/ Frankensteinnn

Heading To Mt Doom.

We have women's bookstores, children's bookshops, new age emporia ... would a shop dedicated to New Zealand books fly, d'you think?
— Jolisa Gracewood (@nzdodo) September 13, 2013

Last week I started to write my blog post but ended up writing a 2 page letter of complaint to the government MP’s who decided that closing down Learning Media was a good thing.

From a teaching point of view my first Go To Resource was the School Journal Index book, 5 years of Journals indexed by subject and age level and theme.  With four levels of journal coming out three to four times a year, there was a lot of fiction, non fiction, plays, poems and craft activities to form the core resource component in literacy, science and numeracy  programmes.

Learning Media, who produced these resources, are a dedicated bunch with a commitment to high production standards... because they know that their work is what New Zealand children learn to read on. They used to work inside the Education Ministry producing not only free core resources in English but also in Maori and Pacific Island languages. The Ready to Read series was one of the first graded reading series for teaching reading in the world with stories by Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley and Dorothy Butler among the first to be published.

My school was part of a group of schools that regularly hosted overseas teachers to show them best teaching practice because New Zealand consistently placed in the top tier of OECD literacy achievement. Every teacher who came through my class looked at the quality of the School Journal and sighed with envy. ‘How can we get something like this?’ was the most common refrain. From a writing point of view I, like so many New Zealand children's writers and illustrators, got my start in the School Journal. They happily provided feedback so you became a much stronger writer. Now New Zealand's common refrain is 'How can our government wreck something like this?'

New Zealand’s current publishing landscape has made international news...and not in a good way although NZ’s children’s books seem to be holding up. Because of our small size (4 ½ million) the publishing struggles going on overseas are played out here in a much more dramatic fashion. Porter Anderson covers the recent collection of articles about The Death Of Publishing In New Zealand in Publishing Perspectives along with news that The MAN BOOKER Prize will be open to all English language novels from next year...not just the ones published in the UK. This change is not being celebrated by everyone....

We Kiwi’s have an interest in the MAN BOOKER as we have a young writer in the shortlist for the prize...proving that even tho we don’t have a publishing industry we do have great writers.

So what is a kiwi writer to do when faced with the one way journey to Mt Doom.

Self publishing or working with small Indie publishers seem the only way to go... many commentators are saying that thinking outside New Zealand is the only way to survive. But do we then write generic Northern Hemisphere stories or do we really celebrate New Zealand cultural style and promote our stories (choice eh!) unashamedly? It means a cultural shift because Kiwi writers are like Kiwi birds... happy to be running around in secret, in the dark...we’re not flashy!

So if you are thinking Self Publishing... Publishers Weekly is now behind you...

Passive Guy talks about the rise and rise of audio books and Publishing Perspectives warns about 10 counter intuitive tips that Self Publishers try.

The incomparable Joel Friedlander has added some more templates to his Book Design template collection...and they are all children’s!

In the Craft Section,

10 simple rules for good writing.

Formatting Manuscripts Indie Style

Jody Hedlund with another brilliant post on getting to know your characters and plot.

K M Weiland on most common mistakes.

Chuck Wendig on 25 steps to edit the unmerciful suck from your stories. (usual Chuck warnings apply)

5 rookie mistakes negotiating a contract

In the Marketing Section,

10 things I’ve learned crowdfunding writers try.

Setting the right price for your book.

Susan Kaye Quinn on Book Discovery in the Digital Age

Publishing Crawl on Researching Literary Agents

Jody Hedlund on strategic ways to give away books

Writer Unboxed on the Query Detox

Joel Friedlander has a guest post from Anne Hill on How toSell Books from your Website.

Website to Check Out,

Lydia Sharp has a timely blog post on Posture and tips forwriters from the Physio...(I’m sitting straighter already.)

To Finish,

This week I ventured into The Children’s Bookshop for one book (yeah right!) The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. If you haven’t come across John Green, take some time to look at this explanation of the John Green and Vlogbrothers phenomenon. I have been following John Green for a while...and admire what he is doing to connect into his tribe of Nerdfighters. And by the way the book is excellent!

maureen

A short word...

This is the Skinny Blog Post because I have to travel urgently up country again...so

In the news here in NZ, the closure of Learning Media which deserves a long broadside blog post on its own.

Overseas the Goodreads Bullying debacle goes on and on. Nathan Bransford had some thoughts on this. Reviewers behaving badly.... IMHO if you don’t like the book, don’t review it. Life is too short.

Roz Morris has a great blog post on how to deal with Critiques and Editorial Feedback.

Writers Guide To Publishing has a comprehensive post onbacking up your work...how many ways should you ... could you do it...

In Craft,

K M Weiland has two stunning posts on building writing confidence and Crafting Opening Scenes with input from Roz Morris.

Artists Road is also looking at Beginnings and Endings...one reflecting the other.

Write Practice has a close look at the crafting of series books...what do you need to nail down.

Even the Huffington Post has a look at writing tips.

In Marketing,

The Bookshelf Muse team on hand selling your book.

Dear Author has a guest post on cover design for digitalbooks...you won’t look at your book cover the same way again...

Website to check out...

This week I posted on Facebook an article by KristineKathryn Rusch on one book vs career publishing which struck a nerve... Kris and her husband Dean Wesley Smith have covered all aspects of the book publishing trade between them and their Business Of Publishing posts are to the point master classes in being a professional writer.

I promise a longer post next week after I’ve calmed down* over the NZ Governments breaking of an internationally recognized, award winning, educational publishing company dedicated to giving NZ children the best of our writers and artists for 105 years...because education should make a profit for the government shouldn’t it?

maureen

* pigs will fly first...

 pic 1964 School Journal...Four levels covering 5year olds to 12 year olds. Four issues a level...16 journals a year sent to schools (free) in class sets of 30. Each journal comprising of 3 Fiction short stories, 3 Articles, one play, one craft activity, 8 poems all graded at the reading ability of children in each level and cross indexed according to subject and reading level in a comprehensive index issued every year covering 5 years...which was my teaching bible. All schools considered their journal room holding up to 20 years worth of class sets to be their prime reading resource for teaching reading literacy and keeping NZ in the top 5 for reading literacy in the world over many decades.

 B*^%$&D's 

New Moves

The weather scientists this week said that Winter has been so warm that Spring has come a month early. And this is a symptom of climate change. At the moment we have a late blast of winter going through and it is bleak and wet out there. (So breaking Elmore’s sacred rule never start with the weather....)

In the publishing blogosphere this week...

KOBO KOBO KOBO KOBO...

Kobo launched three new e-reading devices this week in NewYork...and got the publishing blogosphere talking...because along with the hardware...Kobo has new content to go on the hardware. Kobo Kids a dedicated e-bookstore for children...Beyond The Book for all stuff beyond the book including a special Font for dyslexics... and other nifty things. So another shift in the publishing world has happened.

Also in a quietly heralded move...The Alliance of Independent Authors has done a deal with PubMatch. If you are a member of Alli you can get a 90% discount on getting all your overseas rights sold...Read all about it...It is an interesting move.

Dave Gaughren has been comparing distributors...Smashwords and new kids on the block Draft2Digital.

Long Time readers of this blog will know that I have a bit of a geek thing with space etc etc and that this year the prominent writers in the SFF Geek community have been calling out misogynist and threatening behaviour towards women in the community. John Scalzi (just stepped down as Pres. SFF) has been targeted for his very vocal support by troll lowlifes. This week around Social Media a picture of John in a dress went viral calling John a feminist. John’s beautiful reply will have you chuckling. Way To Go John...also if you haven’t read any of his work...you are really missing something, he is a great writer!

Bob Mayer has 53 books under his belt and has decided to write a quick article about ten things he has learned as a writer...This is a good checklist for yourself.

The fabulous Debbie Ridpath Ohi and her comics on rejections...This will put it all in perspective.

Roz Morris runs a few blogs which I have referred to over the years in this blog...however I haven’t ever profiled her Undercover Soundtrack blog. Writers who write with soundtracks in their ears, talk about why they write to music and what sort of soundtracks they use.

In Craft,

Eleven Tips On Editing

Five Places To Find Critique Partners

Ten Things Emerging Writers need.

In Marketing, There are some very fine articles this week.

From Writer Unboxed –A key book principal that authors mustnot forget.

From Killzone – The best way to market your book.

From Marketing tips for Authors – tips for authors onAmazon.

From Bookshelfmuse...marketing for introverts.

Website to check out.

If you write Midgrade...Check out Emblazoners. This is another example of an author collective that niche market themselves. Roam around and get a feel for what they are doing and read the excellent article on writing midgrade series.

To Finish,

Rachel Gardner writes about Happy Authors and the things they don’t do.

Be Surprised.

maureen

pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/