Taking Sides

The news at the moment is all around voting. Britain goes to the polls tonight about staying in the EU. American senators are staging a sit in about wanting to vote on a gun law. Australia is gearing up for a National Election, the outcome of which may spell a real hit on copyright. What does it all mean for publishing? Porter Anderson takes a global litmus test on how the publishing industry may be faring in this toxic political landscape.

In the meantime independent presses are opening bookstores... This seems to be a move designed to increase a unique community awareness and maximise profits. After all if Amazon can do it with a third bookstore planned soon...

Bob Mayer speculated recently about what would happen if Barnes and Noble closed...

James Scott Bell has an open letter to a discouraged author.

Audio Books are being pushed into the mainstream- why? Digital Book World speculates about profits.

A lot of authors are concerned about the scammer attacks happening on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. However Amazon’s method of dealing with a book taken over by a pirate scammer was not helpful. Instead of dealing with the scammer Amazon closed down the hapless author’s account. This author and a few others may have got caught up in Amazon’s clean up of email blast services which were tweaking their bestseller lists. Hugh Howey explains how this happens. But will Amazon touch Bookbub- the most influential marketing list around...

Anne R Allen has another edition of her scamming watch out list targeting authors. This is a must read and share around post.

In a nice piece of good news Apple have begun to pay out their refunds from the price fixing case they were involved in.

In The Craft Section,

10 dialogue errors

Do’s and Dont’s for beginnings

The first turning point in your novel - C S Lakin Bookmark

Plumb the emotional depth of your setting- Bookmark

How to plot – K M Weiland- Bookmark

Glimmertrain essay on Description- Bookmark

The how of great openings- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

5 Online Marketing Trends Authors should consider

10 things you need to know about Bookseller lists

Email lists  and email list mistakes

5 Marketing tips for Introverts-diymfa

The care and feeding of your Blog -RachelThompson

How to nail Author SEO- Miral Slatter

  

To Finish,

Publishers Weekly highlighted the story of two children’s authors who were disinvited from school visits ... One of the authors seemed to be disinvited because he openly supported another children’s author who had written a ‘controversial’ book. As some children’s authors have said... you want to censor us because of what we ‘might’ say?

Good luck with all the voting...

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Alan Cleaver

Voicing The Truth

This week one of my friends was surprised by an ‘Agent’ who reached out to her on her Linked In account. Of course an agent is going to contact you out of the blue in this way. Yeah Right!

My friends immediately did a Google search and up popped a Writer Beware notice. Writer Beware is a great site sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy writers. This site covers scams, bad agents, agent scams, publisher scams... shonky contracts... it is a minefield out there. If you get contacted by an ‘Agent’ be very wary. Google first. And search their name with Writer Beware and Preditors and Editors.

Anne R Allen has made a list of Facebook scams targeting writers. It’s not pretty. I’ve seen most of them in the last six months. If it is too good to be true... then it’s not legit and you could be opening yourself up to hacking or malware or both.

Staying with scammy stuff the writers who entered the Star Trek writing contest got an email that asked them to work with Simon and Schuster’s self publishing arm Archway Publishing. This is a front for Author Solutions. If you have not heard of Author Solutions then you must read this article by Dave Gaughran. When you see the list of reputable publishers using them it will make your hair stand on end.

Kris Rusch has another great post on contract negotiation as part of her deal breakers series. All writers should be reading this series. Forewarned is a forearmed. Knowledge is power... you get the drift!

The problem of distribution for Self Publishers is a tricky one. Meghan Harvey has written a clear article of the problems. Some of her commenter’s have some innovative solutions.

This weekend Tumblr is running a mini Bookcon. If you need some inspiration or a way to fill up a few hours check out the great speakers.

Last week I linked to the latest Author Earnings breakdown. Joanna Penn has decided to break down her earning for the last year and show you what she has been doing and what worked for her. This is a generous post. She lays it all out. It is thought provoking and impressive. Thank you Joanna!

In the Craft Section,

Two Bookmark posts from Janice Hardy

How can you tell if your idea is worth it?

But what are you really saying – subtext

K M Weiland-Character goals

10 do’s and don’ts on seeking feedback- Jenny Nash

Balancing dialogue and description – Jane Friedman

10 ways to keep your reader enthralled

The Awesome Duo of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have two new thesauri to add to their Writers Thesaurus collection Both on Setting - Rural and Urban. Angela even went to the trouble to get arrested so she could authentically write about the settings. (not for real) So they have some great posts on Setting- Building a story garden and Level up your setting to celebrate the new books.

In the Marketing Section,

Checklists Cheatsheets and Worksheets - The Book Designer -Bookmark

13 ways for authors to use Twitter lists

The importance of your author photo

Tracking ebook links- Bookmark

Planning your Social Media calendar -Writers in the Storm -Bookmark

To Finish,

Voice is one of the hardest things to describe, to write and to nail in a novel for a writer. Every so often I get asked to look out for an article that can help writers understand voice. Chuck has a guest post by Cassandra Khaw on just this and it is a knockout. 

When scammers and pirates want to stop your voice being heard it is hard to rise above it and sing loud. But writers need to do this. We speak for those who can't. We can change attitudes with our writing. This week a hate crime on a huge scale in Orlando tried to stop the LBGT community and the world amplified their voice. 

It's your voice! Write it!

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: The Auckland SkyTower

Where Is The Money?

Yesterday the big news in New Zealand, the finalists of the new combined NZ Children’s and Young Adult Books And NZ Librarian and Information Services Children’s Book Awards were announced. This combines the Elsie Locke Medal for Non Fiction and the Russel Clarke Award for Illustration with the annual National Book Awards. It is a big deal. Along with the standard categories there is a children’s voting component sponsored by a Pizza Chain. Voting is now open for those schools selected as judging schools. The finalists have a nice mix of established practitioners and newbies. And I notice that we are continuing the 20% mark of finalists being Indie or Boutique published books.

This week the latest Author Earnings snap shot was being digested. And it has some interesting information. Around 50% of all publishing sales in the US are on Amazon. The Author Earnings team are looking across all publishing formats now. There is a significant difference in earning capacities if you debuted traditionally or Indie in the last three years. Porter Anderson looks at some of the stand out claims and compares them with Joanna Penn’s publishing disclosure.

While you are digesting that have a look at Jane Friedman’s article on the myth of the print revival. Yes, children’s authors have been saying for years that it’s only the Young Adult franchises propping up print publishing... With no big YA blockbuster what’s holding up print at the moment...

With Amazon striding like a behemoth across the publishing landscape what are its competitors doing? If you are watching Apple then this news for publishers may be what you have been waiting for. Just remember writers you are content creators. You choose what medium your content will be delivered in. This makes more sense if you publish Serials on Apps or by subscription or Picture Book Apps etc etc. Apple may be quietly game changing your future here.

While you are thinking about content creation spare a thought for podcasting and audio books. Podcasting is another sort of content creation and this article looks at where it might be going and who might be poised to make an awful lot of money.... If you have been flirting with the idea of audio books, Jane Friedman has an interesting interview with a rising competitor for ACX.

In The Craft Section,

The Scene Outline Template– Bookmark also Fine tuning your writing style by  C S Lakin

The 10 beginnings that turn readers off

Character development –credibility- Michael Hauge (who is at NZRWA this year)

How to map out your fight scene

Turn your setting into an obstacle course- Angela and Becca -Bookmark

Mixing it up in your books using alternative media- Bookmark

Going deep with a series character- James Scott Bell

In The Marketing Section,

How successful authors are using social media-

Creating a Single Author Boxed set- Molly Greene

Are you ready to be an Entrepreneur- Bookmark

Creating your Author Brand

How Young Adult authors are using Tumblr- Bookmark

5 best apps for writers

Website of the Week

Taking a trawl around Katie Weiland’s website is always a rewarding experience. Whether it is a great blog post like this one -How to write faster and why you shouldn’t to her fantastic video writing craft tips to finding out she has written helpful workbooks to go with her Craft Books on Structure and Outlining. Check it out!

To Finish,

Molly Greene hosted an Estate attorney on her blog. This blog post looks at estate planning basics for the Self Published writer. However Traditionally published writers should be eyeballing this as well. There is lots of information to think about. (As an aside NZ has free ISBN numbers – which works like a US Copyright office- you should use them.)

Slipping under the wire is a standout post on Non Compete clauses from Kris Rusch. This is a must read! (Yes these clauses appear in NZ. Especially from foreign owned publishing companies.) 

Being aware might just save you money. 

(P.S. The Write Stuff Story Bundle has only one week left to run. You can get to it from Kris 
 Rusch's site. I've filled up my kindle with writing craft books... and saved money!)

Maureen

@craicer

Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ khrawlings

In The Fine Print

This week I’ve been catching up with what was happening at Book Expo America (BEA) which is North America’s largest book fair. Porter has a quick run down of what everyone was talking about.

The Wall Street Journal took a good look at book covertrends... it’s all about yellow! Cover designers are being asked to pop it on book covers because...digital. (And here I thought the ‘in’ colour was blue and there had to be water on the front.)

Meanwhile Meg Rosoff was collecting her Astrid Lindgren medal and stating publically that childhood now is under threat from governments. Well said Meg!

In Ireland Catherine Ryan Howard was musing about what happened when she chucked what she thought she should write in favour of what she wanted to write – everything changed.

Kris Rusch is continuing her great Deal Breakers series with a MUST READ on Rights clauses. Writers need to be reading this series by Kris. This week I have also seen comments about authors needing specialised lawyers to read publishing contracts because they are getting trickier.

Bookbub and Goodreads have been learning off each other... changes are afoot. This is an interesting article that Indie publishers should scan.

Becca and Angela are bringing out two new writers thesauri and in their research have come up with 5 ways to help your favourite authors.

In the Craft Section,

Character development a two sided sword- Jami Gold -Bookmark

Characters can never remove their tattoos can they?

5 ways to use dialogue to spice things up

What are those strange pinch points? C S Lakin- Bookmark

A writers guide to editors- Ruth Harris -Bookmark

Turn cliches into reader surprises- Zoe McCarthy

Botched beginnings- common first page killers- Kristen Lamb

In the Marketing Section,

How to optimise your book description and Email sign upforms- Jane Friedman Bookmark

Facebook advertising- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

How to find and select a cover designer- Janice Hardy

Making our books visible on Google- Elizabeth S Craig – Bookmark

5 things you are probably screwing up with your books

Website of the Week

The Alliance of Independent Authors (Alli) has been posting video and audio from their fringe events at London and BEA. This is a great resource. Here are just two excellent postings Mark Coker on using pre orders effectively and Kiffer Brown on the 7 must haves for self publishers. Trawl around their site for other great resources

To Finish,

Sometimes you need to stop and reassess what you are doing and what you want to achieve. Kate Moretti has a great guest post on Writers in the Storm about Cutting through Busyness to get to writing. This is excellent advice here for the writer feeling overwhelmed with what they didn’t tell you in the fine print.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: from inside a Romeo and Juliet - Choose Your Own Adventure... by Ryan North.

Money In Money Out

My 400th Post!

This week in publishing news Simon and Shuster were hit with a class action on payment of eBook royalties. This one will be rattling the cages of a few big publishers. It all hinges on whether publishers treat an Ebook sale as a ‘sale’ or a licensing agreement.

Rattling Author and Agent cages; the news that Month9 publishers were in trouble and having to downsize their business. There was lots of support for the authors and editors caught up in a financial mess not of their making. This great article on how to evaluate a publisher got shared around.

Kris Rusch has another installment in her deal breakers posts, on Non Compete clauses. This is an awful little clause that can stop a writing career in its tracks. Writer Beware has highlighted a few over the years. Read and be very aware what the implications are.

Nicola Morgan is an in demand festival and school speaker in the UK. Lately she has been coming up against the notion that writers should be ‘happy to speak at festivals for free as exposure.’ The UK Society of Authors is running a campaign about this and here Nicola sets out her reasons why she won’t lower her fees without a good cause!

Porter has a thought provoking article about book prices being driven downwards thereby devaluing all creative work. There was lots of discussion around these ideas. Have we encouraged the reading public to only buy free?

We have all heard about laptop crashes and writers losing manuscripts... Janice Hardy has a great article about organising your hard drive to find your work in the first place and then you can back it up!

Rachel Thompson is a force to be reckoned with. I’ve linked to two of her marketing posts today. However this article struck a chord. How often are we left wondering why something failed? Rachel has written a great post on turning rules for failure into success.

Jane Friedman is one of the industry’s Go To Guru’s. She turns her clear and insightful gaze on crowdfunding. Should authors do it?

In the Craft Section,

Creating unforgettable settings- Part 3 and 4 Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

What are your characters not saying- and What can you do about plot -Two Bookmark posts from Janice Hardy

Avoid this pitfall when plotting –Roz Morris Bookmark

Editing for people who hate editing- Bookmark

12 steps from Inspiration to finished novel

Embrace imperfection- Bookmark

5 traits of a winning concept- Mythcreants-Bookmark

Getting the right feedback- Belinda Pollard- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

10 cringeless self promotion ideas

On submitting and submitting again

Why keywords are so important

Contest ideas for FB pages- Bookmark

Rachel Thompson hosts a Twitter chat on book marketing. She has a helpful list of book marketing tips -Bookmark

Mastering your Author Brand

Website of the Week

The Killzone is a great collective of crime and thriller writers who post great articles on the writing practice. Larry Brooks has a fabulous guest post here on receiving and working with editing criticism. As with all my links read the comments for a fuller picture.

To Finish

This week I was thinking about what my next writing craft book might be... and telling myself that really I didn’t need another... (oooh look shiny new book over there) My Kindle is mostly packed with writing craft books which I dip into on a fairly regular basis. Storybundle has been a great source for good writing craft books. And they have another great offering this month. 5 great books in a bundle or 10 if you pay over $15- you do the math. I have some gems in my Kindle from the last Storybundle. You pay what you like, the author gets a sale and you help a charity as well.

Maureen

@craicer

Photo from Flickr/ Creative Commons- 401kcalculator.org

Motivation

I’ve been racing around the country on a lightening tour dropping in at all sorts of stunning places and meeting all sorts of amazing people. Meanwhile the publishing world keeps ticking on.

In case you didn’t know... Amazon owns Goodreads. This didn’t matter so much as Goodreads continued to do their thing... until today when they launched a hand picked also recommends eBook deal service. (They know all about you... so it was inevitable.)

Writer Unboxed has an interview with Magdalene Thomas about the secrets of how to work the Amazon algorithms. This is going to mean much more now that Goodreads is doing the same thing.

Steven Pressfield has an interesting article on the steps you need to think about to find a great title for your book. 

Publishers Weekly have an article on how to update a children's book.

 Kristine Rusch has an interesting article on option clauses. These are important in a contract but authors often don’t understand how important. The choice of words in an option clause confers power in a contractual relationship. Kris points out the pitfalls. This is a must read!

Getting motivated after having time away can be a struggle. Chuck understands and so he has written a great post on the toxic myths that ambush the writer and stop them from writing. (Warning, its Chuck so be prepared!)

Kristen Lamb has also been looking at the hard truths of being a professional writer. She offers some words of advice about getting over the first draft.  

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a useful article on tech tools to help with promotion.

If you drop into Twitter chats, sometimes the hour goes so fast that you miss some of the gems under discussion. Rachel Thompson has a popular Twitter chat on Book Marketing and she posted a link to the Storify version of the chat today. Take a look- So much great information there.

In The Craft Section,

How to write for teens without sounding like an Adult

The pre edit checklist- Bookmark

How to create your own galley proof- Janice Hardy

7 ways to write crisis scenes- Bookmark

Two Bookmark posts from C S Lakin 5 tips to make writing adaily habit’ and ways novelists can 
break structural rules.

Using the right word to breathe life into stories

Plot Obstacles and Character reactions- Jami Gold-Bookmark

Turn your setting into an obstacle course- Angela Ackerman

In the Marketing Section,

Jane Friedman on getting started with email lists- Bookmark

Molly Greene –Using Fiverr- the author’s secret staff

Tips for marketing a Memoir

Engaging with your readers

Fantastic author newsletters - Bookmark

7 Tips to grow Pinterest followers

How YA authors are using Tumblr

Penny Sansevieri has two great posts on Marketing for Self Publishers and Part Two Bookmark

To Finish,

The wonderful Maria Popover from Brain Pickings was invited to give the commencement speech at her Alma Mater. She has an inspiring speech on Cynicism and Hope. Just the ticket if you need to re focus yourself.

Our culture has created a reward system in which you get points for tearing down rather than building up, and for besieging with criticism and derision those who dare to work and live from a place of constructive hope. Don’t just resist cynicism — fight it actively, in yourself and in those you love and in the communication with which you shape culture. Cynicism, like all destruction, is easy, it’s lazy. There is nothing more difficult yet more gratifying in our society than living with sincere, active, constructive hope for the human spirit. This is the most potent antidote to cynicism, and it is an act of courage and resistance today.

Maureen

@craicer

Holiday pics...

This is where I went... and Yes it looks like this!

Failure Planning In This Writing Business

This week I was discussing the abuse of interns with an economist (as you do.) He was highlighting how tech interns are offered lots of unpaid work as a leg up in the industry. Its not a leg up... it’s a leg shackle. This morning The Bookseller had an article pointing the finger at unpaid internships in publishing. (Arrgh – not in my own industry! I thought we were better than that...) I have seen Internships advertised now and again on Twitter... and they ask for writers mostly. So go in with your eyes open!

Kristine Kathryn Rusch has sideways jumped with her blog series on Contracts and Deal Breakers. Prince’s lack of a will raises some huge issues for any creative legacy. Recently Kris was editing an anthology and saw at first hand what a mess some writers literary estates were in. This is an important issue. And yes it applies to you! Take the time to read her article and think about what you can put in place in the unfortunate event...

If you are thinking like a business owner... and you should be... Molly Greene has an excellent article on Business Plans for Authors this week. This is a quick run through of the basics that you should be covering.

Anne R Allen has a great post for new writers about ways they can derail their writing careers before it even starts. This is a good post to share around. I have come up against these attitudes from writers and I just wince.

This week Catherine Ryan Howard had her first Traditional Fiction book published.  Catherine Caffienated has been a popular go to blog for anybody learning about self publishing. She is funny and honest as she learned in public and helped countless others on the way with her non fiction books. So why go traditional with fiction? As part of her promotion she has an excellent blog post on killer twists.

The Marketing SFF podcast is always a great learning resource to dip into. This week the team interviewed best selling series writer Garrett Robinson and it was a cracker! Garrett writes in public on YouTube. It’s almost performance art... Spend some time with this podcast and get mind blown!

Audible is doing an interesting thing. They are allowing subscribers to gift an audible book for free. I’m trying to see the catch. You get to still own the book. The creators still get paid as if it’s a real sale... you don’t have to buy the book again. Sounds wonderful!

In the Craft Section,

How to avoid sagging middles

How to write deep POV- Ava Jae- Bookmark

6 rules to keep Critique Partners golden

Take your reader to another world- Writer Unboxed

How to avoid plotting mistakes

Colouring in scenes

What writers may not know about the 3 act structure- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Building the movie in our minds- Jami Gold - Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

5 Marketing ways to revive your series- Janice Hardy

How to podcast – Joanna Penn

21 ways a reader might find your website

Susan Spann has written an excellent series on right in contracts. These are Bookmark posts! 

Subsidiary rights and Merchandising rights in publishing deals. Read and have your eyes opened!

Penny Sansevieri has a great post on live streaming on Facebook- and other epic Facebook marketing tips- Bookmark

To Finish,

If you are a fan of writing inspiration quotes, a few children’s writers explain their secrets to writing successful books.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- Abductit

Looking for Jam

The Australian government is proposing some radical changes to their copyright laws and the writers have come out to protest. There have been open letters from Booker prize winners and other luminaries in the media over the last week. The Canadian Copyright centre has some warnings for Australia not to go down that twisted path based from bitter experience.

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware has some warnings about the way spammers are targeting authors. I got one this week which I promptly ignored. (Legit publishers don’t contact randomly through Twitter offering to publish.) However Victoria is noticing how many spammers are using writing contests.

Dave Gaughran has been taking Amazon to task over the scammers that have taken over some bestseller categories. This week Amazon finally decided to do something about it. But it relies on you the author/reader too.

Amy from The Book Designer has an article on the new marketing tricks being offered to authors on Amazon beginning this month. This is like lifting the lid on your quiet runabout car and finding a sports car engine... but to use it might cost you the price of the sports car.

Joanna Penn has another great podcast this week on audiobooks and what she is doing. She is such a great resource. If you have been thinking about audio book narration you should check this out.

Dean Wesley Smith is a creative powerhouse. He runs popular courses on writing as well as his maintaining his busy writing career, monthly magazine, popular blog etc etc. This month he is putting some of his popular writing courses on YouTube... because.

Penny Sansevieri has put together a list of top resources for indie publishers- This is one of those bookmark lists to keep coming back to and Derek Murphy has his list of 10 things Indies are doing wrong and what they are doing right.

In the Craft Section,

Writing a page turner

5 ways perfectionism kills creativity

Organising the rough draft

When is a story not about plot -Jami Gold- Bookmark

The pre proofing checklist- Wiseink- Bookmark

The 5 biggest writing mistakes- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

7 great ways to end a story

When you are writing major character deaths- Ava Jae- Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

Susan Spann on crafting the elevator pitch- Bookmark

Rachelle Gardner on effective queries

Using pre orders effectively

Why your author blog may be stuck- Kristen Lamb

10 tips for guest posts- Anne R Allen- Bookmark (I wish my guest post spammers would read this!)

6 ways to build a nonfiction email list.

The basics of book promotion- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Website of the Week

I have featured Writers helping Writers before because of the fabulous work on the writing thesauri that Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi put together. They have two new books on Setting coming out that you might like to check out. For Marketing they usually do some cool pay it forward marketing thing which as a side effect gets their book noticed. They are looking for people to spread the word. However with just this wee taster I can see that these writing craft books will be snapped up!

To Finish,

Today I mucked around with resurrecting quince jam which had turned to toffee, while I was doing this I listened to this podcast on creativity and the art of asking and motherhood etc etc. This interview with Amanda Palmer was really interesting and a good way of getting your brain thinking while the toffee turns to syrup.

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons- Julie