Messy Details

Twitter is always interesting for the pithy quote on a current news situation.

Clarkson and One Direction: two devastating blows to publishing in the same day
— Philip Jones (@philipdsjones) March 25, 2015

This Tweet comes from the Editor of the UK based Bookseller magazine. On one hand it acknowledges the celebrity nature of publishing current trends, (this enables those other books to be published.) On the other it shows when events/people get messy in public, sales of books plummet.

In other messy publishing news, my Twitter feed is filling with comments about the new censorship app, Cleanreader, which you may download to your reader of choice and run those pesky books through. It will take out and replace all those horrible naughty words that authors unwisely decided to use in their stories.

Joanne Harris (Chocolat) takes issue with the extreme nature of the ‘clean’ being perpetrated and the complete lack of understanding by the App developers of the authors position. (You can imagine Chucks Wendig’s reaction.)

Equally messy is the position of a large Book Festival who have trade space being used by a predator concierge company owned by Penguin Random House. The festival report that they can’t get out of it because then PRH may withdraw their support. It is not a new position in publishing as Dave Gaughran points out.

Publishing is always looking for what the next big trend is, so one eye is always being kept on the tech sector. This week, Joanna Penn gave a guest article on Virtual Reality becoming the next big thing in publishing. Heady stuff. 
As I was trying to imagine it, up popped these two articles. Picture Book Apps and the vanishing author... with some timely comment and then Publishers Weekly highlighted what Mary Hoffman (author of Stravaganza series) is doing with a multiplatform VR App for kids. Definitely a trend to watch.

Jane Friedman has a guest post from an author who has partnered with a small press. He extols the virtues of working this way.

Bob Mayer looks at the basics for being a successful author now.

Mike Shatzkin has some starter thoughts for publishers to be thinking about on their author websites. (Authors might be thinking somewhat differently tho.)

In the Craft Section,

Smart tactics for describing a character in 1st person POV.

What does your character want? (Great post)

A first chapter checklist

Using growth hacking to write faster.

Building your own world.

Character Talents and Skills (from the Angela and Becca’s new Thesaurus)

The five best online tools for outlining your novel.

How to get that book written this year.

Critique Etiquette - (Bookmark)

In The Marketing Section,

Two interesting articles from the Book Designer blog - The ultimate guide to Twitter for writers and Quick Book Marketing tips.

In the spoken word realm, Audible wants writers to work exclusively for them... think radio serial style.

Podcasting and Indie Writers.

Hot book marketing tips for Indies.

Jane Friedman has distilled her Social Media philosophy and it makes for interesting reading. Are you being genuine in your outreach?

Website of the Week

I enjoy dropping into Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog. She writes with passion about the need for authors to keep educating themselves in the industry. This week she highlights how your attitude to writing and publishing can see you have a short career or a long one.

To Finish,

If you are on Twitter you will sometimes see conference takeaways being tweeted. This week the Pubsense conference looked at publishing in the future. The #pubsense15 Twitter stream was full of good comments.

Bookbaby decided to put up a nifty video using Neil Gaiman’swriting advice... Lets take it right back to the reason we write in the first place.

Maureen
@craicer

Living Virtually

Last week I had to come to terms with the fact that writers are mortal, that the world you loved to visit in a new book by a favourite author would be forever frozen. There would be no more adventures in Discworld. I enjoy Fantasy and SciFi or as they are increasingly being called SPECulative FICtion.* When you have read every children’s book in your rural town library by the time you are 11 then the only thing left is adult books (boring) or wild imaginary stories set in far away places. I didn’t come to Discworld until my 30’s when I discovered he wrote Satire... and I was hooked. So I thank Sir Terry Pratchett for the immense pleasure and laugh out loud funny lines and his headology – the gentle wry take on the human condition. The Guardian has a wonderful tribute article on Terry’s legacy and there is a nice bit of news about the last Discworld book.

If writer’s for adults know that it is challenging to independently publish a book then children’s writers know the hoops that you jump through are ten times more challenging. We are always on the lookout to find outliers who have taken the plunge to find out what works and what doesn’t. Jane Friedman has an article that looks like the definitive 101 guide to self publishing achildren’s book.

Jane is also conducting the Author Say survey and Phillip Jones of The Bookseller takes a close look at the midway results on what authors are saying about traditional /indie support and attitudes. It is a great snapshot with some surprising twists.

Some projects will fit better in different forms of publishing. Janice Hardy examines the Pro’s and Con’s of Traditional vs Indie for a good project fit.

This week there was a rumpus on Twitter responding to an essay challenging people to read books by everybody other than straight white males for a year.

The trolls were out ready to march on Koom Valley again when Neil Gaiman pointed out the author had a valid point.

The enemy isn’t men, or women, it’s bloody stupid people and nobody has the right to be stupid. Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

In the Craft Section,

Angela Ackerman has two posts that are her usual nuggets of excellence, tips when writing multiple POV’s in your novel and using the excellent Emotion Thesaurus to help you find mirror midpoints in the middle of your novel.

3 questions to ask when you start cutting your manuscript.

The role of desire in your plot... You had better be having some or the reader will disengage. (bookmark)

One important thing writers forget to do...

Two great posts from the Killzone blog - Crafting subplots and How to write a Young Adult novel.

K M Weiland has wowed everybody again with a story structure database... Drop in and check out all the books and movies she has analysed for structure. You will learn so much. (bookmark)

It’s still magic even if you know how it’s done. A Hat Full of Sky- Terry Pratchett

In the Marketing Section,

How to build a website in one hour.

How to translate your book.

How to polish your writer brand.

How to use an email list.

8 ways writers can be more reader friendly.

Jane Friedman interviews a group of literary authors about how they put a box set together of their self published work.

There is a new kid on the block in terms of marketing and it looks really interesting. Thunderclap. If you harnessed all those people who would come to your book launch from all around the world in one place at one time...

Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.  Jingo - Terry Pratchett

Website of the Week

Anne R Allen has a great blog of tips and advice. Here she has the definitive guide for writers on how NOT to sell books. Spend some time on her blog trawling around she has lots of great stuff.

Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness. Men At Arms - Terry Pratchett

To Finish,

Our National Conference committee is tying down some great stuff for conference and around conference... yes we are going to make you work... but it will be amazing... promise.

In the mean time you can virtually attend Indie ReCon which is going to be bigger than before. The Indie Recon conference is a free online conference that is just packed full of awesomeness. This years program had me seriously thinking about running away from home to a motel for 3 days by myself so I could attend virtually every one of the sessions. (If the motel was in London I could also join the meet up day.) I am also pleased to find how many themes in Indie Recon are similar to what we have planned for Tinderbox in October.  We will be meeting in real time, (with wine) and having a great collaborative working time.

*Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one. - Terry Pratchett

Maureen

@craicer

PIC The Master Storyteller who will live on virtually… and isn't that just the best tribute….R.I.P.

Productivity and Risk

Last week the writing blogosphere was up in arms about that MFA dude and his comments about students doing MFA’s and their talent or lack of it. When people calmed down there was some great writing about talent. Do you need it? Is hard work enough? Melinda Szymanik has a great comment on this.

Kristen Lamb looks at the evolution of the writer from Neophyte to Master and all the stages in between.

Cathy Yardley looks at the publishing cycle... What happens when you get the next big thing? With the publishing lag to bookstore sometimes taking two years how will you know if your genre will still be hot? She has also got a great post on how to prevent publishing agony.

Publishing perspectives has an interesting article on whether US and UK publishing is getting stale. Is this why they are mining the Asian and European market for stories they can translate?

Over the last year Mike Shatzkin (publishing futurist) has had a straight up learning curve on the disruption of the publishing industry. Here he identifies the ways publishers need to change their ideas about marketing.

Victoria Mixon has an interesting article about copyright.Yes it applies to blogs. Self publishers need to be very aware of the risks of copying content.

In the Craft Section,

The character most writers get wrong.

How to make the most out of writing critiques. (Warning it’s Chuck)

If you have ever wished for writing prompts Reedsy is for you. Every hour a new one.

5 ways regret can deepen your main character.

7 productivity tips to boost creativity and productivity for the scattered writer.

World building and the freedom, or not to do this in speculative fiction.

7 key character motivations.

In the Marketing section.

Joel Friedlander takes a look at the different ways to publish now.

Copyblogger wants you to set content goals as part of your marketing plan.

Punching up a blurb or query.

11 free apps you can use for productivity related things.

Website of the Week

Joel Friedlander is The Book Designer but if you trawl around his site you find out so much more... from interesting articles on fonts to his amazing Book Design Templates.

To Finish

Jane Friedman has put together a survey for Authors about how they are feeling about their publishers... early indicators are in. It might surprise you. Do you want to risk not knowing?

maureen

pic from Flickr/Creative Commons Dennis Hamiton

Saints and Sinners

The publishing world woke up yesterday to the news that Mal Peet had died suddenly. There was a collective Whaaat Noooo gasp around Wellington. Mal and Elspeth had stayed here two years ago when Mal was Writer in Residence at Victoria University. He made an impact from the first day and was always affable and approachable, charming us and being charmed by us. He teased us... gently. He was a brilliant Young Adult writer  and the sadness over his passing is for ourselves and the world because there will be no more Mal Peet books. Our thoughts are with Elspeth. (What a wonderful team those two made...)

Earlier this week my Twitter feed was being burned up by responses to an article written about MFA programs by an ex MFA teacher who decided it was time to write his feelings about being a teacher of an MFA program. As Chuck Wendig (usual warnings) exploded over the dismissive tone he used in his article... I was thinking, yes but he did have a point here or there, which Chuck concedes. (However his rant is more entertaining than the original article.)

Anybody venturing into the wonderful world of publishing should always find out as much as possible. Yes Book People are wonderful people but there are sharks out there, like any other industry and regularly dropping in to Writer Beware is a good habit to get into.

This week Victoria shines a light on contract clauses that make your hair curl and the latest news about Author Solutions.

If you are a newbie you won’t know that Author Solutions is the subject of a class action suit. As this outfit has a wonderful chameleon reputation running ‘concierge’ services for some of the biggest publishers out there, they look bone fide and their tactics are anything but. Dave Gaughran has the latest twist in the plot of who is the next big publisher to swim with the sharks.

Chris McVeigh has written a heart felt post about the disconnect between publishing industry professionals and authors and the state of publishing industry today after a recent trip to London. Chris has his own solutions to fixing this disconnect, which is very real and what I hear on an almost daily basis.

One author who has stepped into the disconnect and carved out a different model is Bob Mayer. He is interviewed by Reedsy about his work and his publishing house Cool Gus. Bob and his team (Jen) work with other authors to publish their books under a collaborative model. He has a really interesting publishing model and he’s a great writer.

If you write for children you will know that print is still king but there are different e-book

/app models being trialed all the time. Jane Friedman has a magnificent interview with two children’s book agents where they talk about e-books for children. Is it going to be like the adult take up?

In the Craft section,

Oh the goodness of Jami Gold who has some brilliant worksheets for writers on her website...

And a halo goes to Janice Hardy who has started a month long series of story structure analysis posts.

K M Weiland has a wonderful post on passive voice...

The awesome Jenny Crusie has a next level post on ‘agency’ something that Chuck is very in to. That's when you unleash your characters.

The Crimson League has a post on killing your characters needlessly...or how not to do this.

How to write productively – sometimes it’s the simple things.

The most important thing an author should know...

In the Marketing Section,

Jane Friedman and Christina Katz on building better author bio’s and making use of them.

How to Hack Amazon effectively for authors.

21 Book Marketing tips.

If you are thinking about book trailers Joanna Penn has interviewed a book trailer making expert so this is chock full of tips and then talks to Debbie Young about getting your book into bookstores and libraries.

Making the most of your publicity – tips from the agent.

The art of ARC-ing. What to do with those Advance Reader Copies...

Website of the week

It’s more of an infographic.... but this is THE infographic of Book Genre’s.  Any genre with examples...Check it out.

To Finish,

This week we launched the first news about Tinderbox2015 - The National Conference of NZ Children’s Writers and Illustrators. It’s happening October 2-5^th in Wellington this year. It aims to ignite sparks, shed light on new practices, and nourish and energise authors and illustrators. Tinderbox 2015 will be a hands-on conference, with workshops and panels, both experiential and inspirational, it's not to be missed.  We are thrilled with the enthusiastic response already and hugging ourselves because we know what is coming... tho we are still working out some details... hehehehehe. You can go on to our exclusive mailing list at 2015tinderbox at gmail dot com or head on over to our Facebook page, Tinderbox 2015. Our website will be up and doing soon.

In the meantime you can speculate as to what this might mean... and an innovative real-time, collaborative project that will run alongside other sessions....

maureen

@craicer

pic from Flickr/Creative Commons – Caroline Wickham

Educating Ourselves

This morning I read an interesting article about the Princess Author Syndrome. As I was reflecting on it I was thinking about the need for all authors to educate themselves on the industry. Especially if you are thinking about traditional publishing as these tweets from Writer Beware blogger Victoria Strauss this morning illustrate.

Grrr! Email today from writer who signed with schmagency, got referred to "independent" editor who's actually boyfriend of schmagent. 1/6
— Victoria Strauss (@victoriastrauss) February 25, 2015

Editor charged insane 5-figure fee, schmagent offered contract for edited ms, then turned around & demanded more editing. 2/6
— Victoria Strauss (@victoriastrauss) February 25, 2015

(read the rest in my Twitter feed)

Scott Berkun takes an unsentimental approach with 28 things no one tells you about publishing.

If you are into experimenting with Indie publishing you will know that learning never stops in this game. Kathryn Rusch has a great blog post on this and how she is weighing up which of her many projects will go down the traditional route. (Along with a fascinating story about a rejected YA series because of main characters race.)

Elisabeth S Craig talks about the pro and cons of being a Hybrid author and that ties nicely into Porter Anderson’s big thought piece on publishing terms that get confused. Porter also profiles a company that wants to partner with authors... but be wary. (see above)

Ryan Hanley looks at the 7 harsh realities of self-publishing as a side hustle from your day job.

Kiwi author D C Grant has a great opinion piece on the ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) blog about collaborating with publishers on projects. Here in NZ we face the real prospect of having celebrity rugby players biographies or chef’s cook books as the only NZ themed content on the shelves in the next decade. Which brings me to another excellent Alli post on collaboration with other authors in marketing and publishing. (Take the time to have a look at the Triskele Trail e-book,)

Charlie Redmayne CEO of HarperCollins addressed the Scottish Book Trade conference this week with a warning that Amazon could be disrupted this year. The Bookseller reports on Charlie’s candid state of the publishing nation speech which includes why they bought Harlequin, what kind of celebrity book they are looking for and yes he is related to....

In the Craft Section,

10 reasons the hero needs flaws.

Script mag on writing log lines – Great post.

5 really good reasons to outline your novel first.

When you need a pep talk – reach for these inspirations.

How to crack the first line.

Moving from Scene to Scene.

6 must have elements of a WOW story. (Bookmark it!)

Finding the right writing group – start your own

In the Marketing Section,

Book covers- forget Fabio d-i-y covers. (Bookmark this!)

Goodreads giveaways – don’t do what you are told.

50 questions to ask yourself about your author platform. (Your marketing 101 course)

5 ways to fall in love with marketing your work.

Jody Hedlund shares how she creates great launch buzz.

Simple promo tips - call your book by its name and put your author bio on the front and back covers.

Book Marketing truths few experts will admit- a stellar post by Angela Ackerman.

Website of The Week

It’s not really a website...more of a web guru. Jane Friedman is a great resource for writers. This week she talks with Laura Backes on picture e-books for children and shares her round up of 5 great digital resources for writers.

To Finish,

Roz Morris asks whether you can teach writing to anyone. This is always the dilemma faced by creative writing tutors everywhere.

Chuck Wendig explains why adults read so much Young Adult fiction. (This is the argument you use when someone questions your book choice.)

Educating ourselves about the publishing industry is just good sense, don’t you think?

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr/Creative Commons – Cindy Shultz

It’s All Subjective

.@ardit_haliti You think I should write something where nobody dies? Hmm... it wouldn't be easy. I'm all about the death.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 18, 2015

This week I have been mulling over the perfect conference program. This is highly subjective. Why do you go to conferences? Some people say networking. Some say up-skilling in your craft. Some say to learn new approaches to old ideas. That’s my ideal, learning. I’m not into great big crowded rooms where everybody is glad handing and I know no one. So planning the perfect writers conference for me has to have plenty of learning opportunities and meet and greet without being overpowering. We are in the middle of refining our program for Tinderbox2015 and I have a big problem. I want to go to everything!

As I look through this week’s links for you it is amazing how many of them link into something in our conference program.

Passive Guy has linked to two posts this week that have people talking. Do publishers really understand SEO (do you?) and Authorpreneurs. from The Economist which has weighed in saying what authors should be doing regarding their business which is finding influencers and publishers should be publishing celebrity authors to stay afloat. Reading the comments on both those articles is entertaining. And in breaking news Pharrell is writing a series of children’s books... about being HAPPY.

Porter Anderson takes a good long look at publishing terms everyone gets wrong and the implications for planning your writing business. Do you really get royalties if you self publish? And why you need to know the differences.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting opinion piece about whether agents and publishers want authors that know about the publishing business. Do MFA programs want clued up authors?

Darcy Pattison talks about her last 18 months. This is chock full of information about the decision to Indie Publish and what she has learned. (this is a bookmark post!)

Today was a #MSWL day on Twitter. Agents and Editors write on Twitter what Manuscripts they wish would come across their desks. Type #MSWL in the search bar. If you do query an agent or editor from this, mention the tweet. Another cool search on Twitter is #tenqueries. Agents and Editors going through their slush pile will comment on ten queries live on Twitter and their immediate response. This is a great heads up about what grabs and what doesn’t.

In the Craft section,

The great James Scott Bell has a new post on story and structure and how they must love each other.

Author Biz has a great interview with Editor Shawn Coyne who is working on a story grid book for editors. This is a bookmark post! (and a print out the Storygrid and stick it on your wall post.)

Jeff Goins on overcoming writers block.

Jody Hedlund on the 5 point character checklist (great revamp of her website)

When do you rewrite an old manuscript and when do you let it die...

Ava Jae on what she’s learning as a publishing intern

How to make the most of a writing retreat

In the Marketing section,

55 digital branding tips for Authors

Lindsay Buroker has been sourcing covers from fiverr for short stories - she explains how to do this.

7 must do tactics for promotional tweets. (please don’t spam... the 90/10 rule should apply- thats 90 pieces of interesting stuff for every 10 promotional tweets)

7 things you learn when your book is published.

Moderating panels – How to be rude in the nicest possible way

Writelife interviews four authors about the real cost of self publishing

Website of the Week

Bibliocrunch is an interesting hangout. Not only do they host chats on Twitter but they have lots of resources for the Indie Authors.

Here are two of their recent articles- Using Skype to organize a virtual writing groups and

Tshirts with memorable book quotes on them...

To Finish,

John Green is known for a lot of things that he does well. However today he found out something he doesn’t know well - The quotes from his books. This made for a great confessional post to his brother about how he always assumed that the quote memes were from his books...oops 

If you are interested in finding out more about Tinderbox 2015 - The National Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference in Wellington, NZ, October 2-5^th  send us an Email to 2015tinderbox AT gmail DOT com and we’ll put you on our dedicated mailing list for updates and news.

maureen

John Green's confession below.

Tweet from a conversation thread with J K Rowling.

Scrubbing Up

This morning parts of New Zealand were declared officially in drought. (finally…)

The kids have gone back to school. 

The floor still needs scrubbing. 

I’m still trying to find my desk under the summer onslaught of papers, Christmas wrappings and other detritus that has to be put away. 

Business as usual.

I need to change my mindset.

Scott Berkun has descriptions of 3 writer mindsets that he switches through.

I need to revisit the story that makes me have nightmares.

Mark Wisniewski has 3 pieces of advice that he should have given when he taught writing.

I need to understand my history as a writer and view my books as an annuity.

Seth Godin on The truth about Sunk Costs and Mark Coker on treating your ebooks as annuity earnings.

I need to relook at my print book project.

Elisabeth Spann Craig on why we still need print copies of our books.

Conference planning is underway with my great team. News will be coming soon. If you found yourself instantly linking to some of the above for a different way of looking at your career ... you may want to keep October 2-5^th free and come to Wellington.

In the Craft Section,

Every one of these is a bookmark post...

How to place turning points on a beat sheet

What your first 250 words is telling your reader

11 secrets to character description

The art of story - when telling trumps showing- Angela Ackerman

4 ways to think about narrative architecture- (Warning-ChuckWendig)

What are the needs and goals of your character- Jami Gold

What it means when they say the story is didactic.

In the Marketing section,

40 questions to ask an agent

The one page synopsis- Killzone

Giving the people what they want

12 book marketing tips

How to send review copies

How to use Facebook to help other authors

Tools for writers.

To Finish,

Joanna Penn revisits her favourite craft books for writers... and I’m nodding my head as I own about half of her list... Now do I dive into a craft book or scrub the floor…(save the water…)

maureen

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons- Nick Perez

The Cost Of Writing

What are the odds that a reclusive writer who wrote one book that has topped best seller lists for nearly 60 years would suddenly decide that the time is right at age 88 with severe medical issues (deaf and nearly blind) to bring out the first book she ever wrote.  (insert dead fish smell here.) 

This has been the main topic of conversation this week in the publishing blogosphere.

Once the usual literary crowd finished celebrating that Harper Lee was releasing a sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird then saner heads started asking why and the story becomes increasingly unlikely. Is it a rights grab by a lawyer who took over Harper’s sister, Alice's, law firm after her death a few months ago. Is HarperCollins behaving ethically in this whole affair? Is the lawyer to be trusted or have they played a very long game? There are lots of questions around this. Where is Atticus Finch when his creator needs him?

Staying with things legal... Tess Gerritson talks about what is happening with her landmark legal battle with Warner Brothers who bought out New Line who had the option on her book Gravity 15 years ago... and it makes for some nervous reading for writers selling film options.

So the first two items this week are after the book has been written, Chuck Wendig looks at the emotional rollercoaster of writing the book with his handy guide.

Susan Kaye Quinn talks about the need to create... and how that jumbly mixed up feeling is telling you something important.

That something important could be the startling finding from last weeks author earnings report about that 30% of books being published without ISBN’s. Here in NZ we are in a relatively fortunate position of getting free ISBN’s. But in the rest of the world it is a different story. It is a real cost. Porter looks at the issues raised by the author earnings report and then discussion over ISBN’s and their value get a hammering in the comments.

If you have a toe in the academic publishing world these five predictions for 2015 are for you.

Seth Godin amplifies his call to publishers that if you aren’t selling direct to consumer you are....

In the Craft Section,

Kristen Nelson on what is uneven writing

21 fast hacks on fueling the suspense

K M Weiland on writing backstory

Susan Kaye Quinn on not rushing to publish

3 most effective types of inner torture for your characters

Writing exercises - changing the tail.

In the Marketing Section,

The big story this week is Bookbaby beginning Print On Demand. This is big news for those who don’t want all their stuff in the Amazon basket. Canny marketers have also discovered how you can play both sides...

Jody Hedlund on whether you really need social media

Jami Gold on branding 101

Self promotion for horrible people

Odd Stuff

Buzzfeeds collection of coffee mugs for book nerds

Jeff Sanders on why you need to track every little accomplishment.

To Finish

It is possible that Harper Lee stared at each of the 5 reasons why writers avoid writing in the face and took them on board or she didn’t know how to follow up the first book (first book syndrome) or, as everybody suspects, the phenomenal success frightened her to reclusiveness. But if this is a rights grab... it will be a landmark in publishing... as the day when some publishers lost all moral credibility.

Ranting On

This week I have been working hard on a funding application for our national conference to our national arts funder, Creative New Zealand.

When you work on a funding application, it gets you thinking about what you really really wish for and how limited the funds actually are out there in the arts world.

While I was finalising the last bit of number crunching our Man Booker winner Eleanor Catton was being interviewed live on Indian TV. She was voicing some of my thoughts about arts funding... we could do with more of it here. Unfortunately her comments annoyed a talkback radio host here and suddenly he was off on a rant calling her a traitor... to New Zealand. 

I found this very hard to swallow coming less than two weeks after the Paris attacks on free speech. Yes I disagreed with a lot of the religious attacks in the Charlie Hebdo comics but we live in a free speech democracy. The radio host has his right to free speech too. But can’t we be grown up and debate the issue of whether our arts funding is adequate. Of course, we in the arts community will say it isn’t. It would be nice to have the forum where we could show the rest of New Zealand exactly why we think it isn’t adequate and not be penalised for speaking our minds. We need to have a healthy forum for debate instead of having the whole thing reduced to competing soundbytes, as our NZ Society of Authors president Kyle Mewburn so ably said this morning on Breakfast TV.

The cartoonists have had a great time this morning illustrating the backlash.

Due to my week being spent crunching numbers... I haven’t got my usual 30ish links or so.

This morning Author Earnings released another report... and it makes interesting reading. Passive Guy highlights main points but a stunning revelation is the high percentage of books that don’t have ISBNs. These ‘shadow’ books aren’t counted in any official book statistics.

Jane Friedman comments on stats from DBW conference (which may be in doubt now that the new Author Earnings report is out) and she lists the best bits of Seth Godin’s session. This makes interesting reading for authors about where you should be aiming for in marketing.

The wonderful Kris Rusch was interviewed on her new book –Discoverability, This is all about passive marketing which authors need to understand. Worth taking the time to listen!

In the Craft Section,

Ava Jae on finding critique partners

What kinds of basic story plots are there

Janice Hardy on avoiding unnecessary internal question in 3rd person.

In the Marketing section,

Making free 3D book covers

Daily Dahlia has a post on Agent red flags... with examples... must read if you are looking for one.

Jane Friedman on platform building for authors. This one is a must read/listen. I am always saying that groups of authors getting together to market themselves, and talk about writing, is the way forward. And here Jane is saying the same. Can’t argue with that!

To Finish,

One of my illustrator friends commented that she was sick of ignorant writers thinking that illustrators would illustrate their manuscripts for royalty splits when they hadn’t even got a publishing contract. Illustrators have to pay mortgages too. Picture Book illustrations can take up to a years full time work. Publishers pick the illustrators and most are paid flat fee and/or royalty. Please share this information around with your writing friends or you might encounter illustrators going off in Wendig inspired rants.

and on another note...

Terri Ponce has a nice little article on success and failure... worth printing and sticking above your writing desk  (especially this week...)

Maureen

P.S. When I have more details to share with you about the National Conference of Children’s Writers and Illustrators (A.K.A Tinderbox 2015 - Wellington October 2-5) I will share them.

(hugs self and chuckles gleefully)

pic from Todays New Zealand Herald