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

Author Education

It seems that every month we are mourning a creative genius who made an impact across the world. This week the creative dynamo Prince unexpectedly died at age 57. But the big tragedy as Kristine Rusch writes today in her Business Musings post was that he had no will. 

Kris started her Contract Deal Breakers series with a post on understanding what rights are last week and I had planned to link to that excellent post first when her latest post just slipped into my inbox. Both of these posts are must reads for authors as they highlight the very specific problems that authors face as their estates live long after the author is dead and what to do about it.

In another interesting pairing of posts, Wendy Sparrow writes about how writing romance is seen as easy to do when it is anything but... and Harlequin announced that they are dropping one of their most popular lines. Their letter announcing this is a wonderful example of corporate speak.

Janet Reid this week was asked about Agent contacts and what should be in them. She writes a fairly detailed letter outlining the sorts of things that you should see in a contact. If it says anything else be very careful.

This week Ruth Harris wrote about how to protect yourself from the University of Hard Knocks- or how to protect yourself from the scammers out there. She lists a comprehensive go to list for checking out offers you think might be your pot of gold... or your crock of s....

Publishing Perspectives talked to two pundits at the London Book Fair on publishing trends on both sides of the Atlantic. This is an interesting read. What sells in New York is not what London might pick.

Jane Friedman has a great guest post on her website on ways to generate Online Book Publicity. 

If you are dipping your toe into podcasts there are a few to choose from with book or publishing themes. The Bookseller has a collection of ten different podcasts that you might like to browse. I often link to the Creative Penn podcasts but I have dropped into a few others on this list and they are all good.

(I contribute to a monthly podcast at Writers Island. In the latest episode is a feature on NZ On Air and how writers might be able to access this funding.)

In the Craft Section,

Martha Alderson on using a plot planner-Bookmark

Joanna Penn on writing across genres-  Bookmark

Two great posts from Angela Ackerman on Character failures create a recipe for character growth and Sharing protagonists deep feelings makes for reader engagement.

Marcy Kennedy on ways to evoke emotion. Bookmark

Two great posts from K M Weiland on Choosing the protagonist and How to write strong characters.

E J Wenstrom on How to tap into the writing mode anywhere

Ann Kroeker on ways to manage your energy.

Ash Krafton on Engineering your series.

In the Marketing Section,

How to price your self published book

Five comparisons NOT to make for your book in a query.

Rachel Thompson on branding 101 for authors- Bookmark

Molly Greene on the new way to go free on Amazon (This is a 
How To on the new Amazon rules) Bookmark!

7 must have features on Author websites

Ten author websites examined.

To Finish,

If you want to get inspired or educated just check into a TEDx talk. This week The UK’s top agent Jonny Geller gave a talk on What makes a bestseller. Food for thought...

Maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr/ Creative Commons/ Shimer College

Fair Learning

This week is all about the London Book Fair. (It is still Book Fair season.)

The Alliance of Independent Authors hosted a packed online conference at the London Book Fair. They had some wonderful speakers and have put blogposts up on their website with all sorts of juicy information and learning. This is well worth spending some quiet time trawling through.

One of the standout events was a panel discussion on selling more formats into more countries.

Publishing Perspectives has their eye on the fair and the interesting ideas to come out of it and Lithub finds out how easy it is to get lost but then you find other things at the fair.

Sukhi Jutla has a great blog post on lessons learned at the London Book Fair.  This is of special relevance to independent authors or those thinking of the hybrid author model.

Joanna Penn has another great podcast, this week, on building your author business. This is an interesting subject because even if you follow the traditional approach to publishing you are still in the author business.

Mark Coker has released his 2016 survey on insights and habits of the bestselling authors on Smashwords. This is a comprehensive look at pricing sweet spots, box sets, etc. etc.

This week Passive Guy pointed out an interesting article in the WSJ about the new selling footprint of famous independent bookstore Shakespeare and Co. The new owner has turned it on its head. Is this the bookstore of the future?

In the Craft Section,

Why it helps to construct your novels in scenes- Roz Morris –Bookmark

How to deal with procrastination- Janice Hardy

Character likeability and subtext- Jami Gold-Bookmark

Hidden emotion – how to tell readers what characters don’twant to 

show- Angela Ackerman-Bookmark

Understanding exactly what a quest is

3 surefire ways to generate book ideas- Jody Hedlund

Top 4 editing tricks for narrative flow- KM Weiland- Bookmark

7 step guide to big picture revision

In the Marketing Section,

11 tips for building an online community- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Using video marketing effectively for authors- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Online marketing tips for kids publishing.

Why school librarians are your best resource- Middle Grade Ninja- 

Bookmark

Making changes to a published book- Elizabeth S Craig

How to increase traffic at your author website

To Finish,

After spending so much time Book Fair related it is time to take a break. Bustle has an article on why authors should take a reading break every now and then. This is a funny post about the need to step away from books in order to write them.

Maureen

@craicer

Thanks for all the kind messages about Craicer's 8^th Blogoversary throughout the last week.

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons- Kirt Edblom

Fair Value

This week I have some links to articles about the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (as promised last week.)

Publisher’s Weekly looked at what was happening in the Children’s App market at Bologna and then had a round up of the major trends coming through.

The New York Times had a piece looking at the rise of children’s publishing and the large Chinese contingent at the fair. This augers well for the new fair being inaugurated this year in Singapore for the ASEAN nations.

The London Book Fair is underway right now. Publishing Perspectives has a quick look at what the major talking points will be.

Children’s author C Alexander London this week wrote a brave article about coming out as Gay to children... and their reactions. All they really wanted to know was when the next book was coming out.

Larry Brooks has a great article on story development. What is the key criteria to the story? It’s a compelling premise. Another must read article from Larry.

Molly Greene has been carefully examining her earnings and her book goals. She sets out her Marketing goals for 2016 and the reasons why she is doing all these changes to her book business.

Recently I was chatting to my husband about Scrivener as I thought it might be useful in his office for a project his team was working on. He downloaded a free version and became a convert. This seems to be what happens when someone tries Scrivener- instant writing software love. Here is a master tips article for all those Scrivener users.

What are the marks of a Professional Independent Author? The key word in that sentence is ‘professional.’ The Book Reviewers site has a breakdown of what you should be aiming for.

Elizabeth S Craig has a great article on valuing your time. Writers are often asked to do things for free and it’s hard to say No. How do we evaluate the events we participate in so that they add value to us as writers? This is a great article to get you thinking about your time price.

In the Craft Section,

3 essential tips for your anti hero

The secret ingredient for POV magic- Kristen Lamb

Creating a strong emotional response from readers- C S Lakin

How to resuscitate a lifeless scene- Bookmark

5 important ways to use symbolism- Bookmark

10 questions to beef up your conflict.

5 traits of a winning concept- Mythcreants

When you are telling the wrong story- K M Weiland

Essential writing tools -Angela Ackerman Becca Puglisi Bookmark

In the Marketing Section,

What you need to know about Merchandising rights

Online marketing mistakes to avoid

How to put together a marketing plan

Using images for marketing- Joanna Penn Bookmark!

An Instagram primer for authors- Frances Caballo Bookmark

How to sell your book direct- Bookmark

Managing your Author Blog

Using private Facebook groups as your street team/marketers

To Finish,

This week marks the eighth year of Craicer. I have been thinking about all the things I have learned along the way.

1. Commitment to a deadline. There is nothing like the creeping hour hand of the clock to make me stop researching and get the blog published.

2. Chances to push out of my comfort zone. Researching and writing this blog every week has made me a Go To person for speaking to groups or planning programmes or podcasting. Somehow people think I know stuff.

3. When I’ve struggled with my health the fact that I had a regular appointment to research and write up for others what I have learned has kept me sane. Ok not as crazy as I could be.

I am grateful for the people who read the blog, ask questions or share the blog to new readers. It always makes me laugh when I’m with a bunch of authors and someone asks 'how do you...' and the response from the group is “Read Maureen’s blog!”

Thanks everyone for reading and sharing the blog over the last eight years!

Maureen
@craicer

Taking The Long View

In the children’s publishing world Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the big date on the annual calendar. It is just finishing as I write so all the commentaries about the fair will be out during the week. However Publishers Weekly has a day one impressions piece. In other Children’s Book News, today the brilliant  Meg Rosoff  won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award  for her career achievements. 

This week Hugh Howey gave an interview for DBW where he set out in his forthright way what the publishers should be doing now and into the future.

Mike Shatzkin, who programmes the DBW conference, then replied in his forthright way where he thought Hugh was right and where he thought Hugh was completely wrong.

Both of these articles are good reads. As always read the comments where you get a fuller sense of the conversations around both points of view.

Two people who have much to say on publishing and writing are Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. They both keep a sharp eye on the industry and have tremendous business smarts.

Kris is starting a new Business Musings series on Contracts and specifically deal breakers in contracts. Kris starts out by saying she was hoping that contracts would have improved in the three years since she wrote her book on Contracts but sadly they haven’t. With Author Societies calling for fairer contracts in the US and UK, writers need to keep these posts in their must read list.

Dean has a tremendous work ethic and works hard at explaining the writing business. He doesn’t suffer fools and has nothing to prove to anyone. This week he was a little taken aback when he was accused of devaluing the novel art-form because he wrote a novel in a week. Riiiiight.

Joel Friedlander is another publishing practitioner who has a must read blog. This week he looks at what Self Publishers can do when they find their books have been pirated.

Nathan Bransford still has interesting things to say about the publishing business. This week he comments on a New York Times article about focus groups being asked to read unpublished novels and mark where they stopped reading so the publishers can figure out how much money to spend on marketing.

In the Craft Section,

Making your plot less episodic- The Editors Blog-Bookmark

Making a series outline- Better Novel Project-Bookmark

Storyboarding your novel

Dramatic momentum or End of Chapter buttons-Writers in the 

Storm-Bookmark

Beginning your story with setting

Crafting a compelling story

How to write an epilogue that works- KM Weiland

5 steps to take before you start your next story

In the Marketing Section,

Joanna Penn on changing book titles and covers.- Bookmark

Lindsay Buroker on finding more categories for your keywords

How to pitch non fiction influencers to get your book noticed

Promote a new release by marketing a series-Megg Jensen -

Bookmark

Things to think about before publishing.

BadRedheadMarketing AKA Rachel Thompson on her top author marketing tips

To Finish,

This coming week Beverley Cleary turns 100 years old. Her books have touched the lives of millions of children around the world. We all love Henry and Ribsy, Beezus and Ramona and a whole cast of characters from neighbourhoods just like ours. She has had a remarkable publishing career which started when one little boy marched up to her library desk and asked 'where are the stories about kids like me.'

Maureen

@craicer

Pic: Beverley Cleary Born 12 April 1916

The Ebb and Flow of Publishing

This week in the publishing blogosphere there was a lot of sympathy for the plight of Eilis O’Hanlon. Eilis has traditionally published her crime novels with her partner. They enjoyed modest success then in the ways of publishing... editors move... the series gets dropped and copyright reverts and the book goes out of print. That is until the book get plagiarised and finds a new success on Amazon.

This week Caroline Paul was shining a spotlight on publishing dilemma. Why boys should read girl books? There are some great arguments for this and a disquiet among authors that the push to be gender specific has not done children any favours. Melinda Szymanik explains this very well in her opinion piece.

Molly Green posted a breakdown of her earnings last year. A few authors are doing this now to explain why they are choosing to self publish. Transparency does educate. Her post makes interesting reading. As ever you should read the comments to get a fuller understanding.

Publishing Perspectives shines a spotlight on a new publishing company. Assisted publishing using people working in traditional publishing. It’s another way people can buy the services of a traditional publisher.

Joanna Penn interviewed Mark Lefebvre of Kobo about their global expansion into Asia and the new opportunities for authors who

publish with them. This makes interesting reading. Kobo is 2^nd in sales of eBooks behind Amazon and they are growing.

In the Craft Section,

When to write the end- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Revelation Midpoint- Sara Le Tourneau- Bookmark!

7 things that will doom a novel- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

10 tips to create a good writing routine

Why every writer needs a VIP- Ruth Harris- Bookmark!

Plot skeletons

In the Marketing Section,

7 ways you can use Pinterest.

Top book marketing takeaways from DBW16

How to get distribution after you‘ve printed the book

How to build a media kit- Molly Greene- Bookmark

Don’t make these rookie marketing mistakes-Miral Sattar

Website of the Week

The cool One Stop for Writers website has got even cooler. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have put together visual story maps. This is a handy aid to those writers who struggle with structure. 

To Finish,

Stephen King’s book On Writing is one of those must have craft books in your writing arsenal. Here he has 17 screenwriting lessons. These are really writing lessons regardless of the medium.

Fabo is back! It's that time of the year when NZ's wacky children's writers come out of their writing caves and start another round of story starters for NZ children. 

 maureen

@craicer

Pic from Flickr / Commons  Nedre Leirfoss, Trondheim, Norway 1890

Genre Journeys

This week seemed to be genre week with interesting  articles from across the genre spectrum.

Children’s Publishing day at Digital Book World had some interesting takeaways. A few years ago it was widely speculated that with all these smart phones the early adopters would be teenagers. But they aren’t. They still want a physical book with printed pages.

But the genre could be slowly changing.

Over in the Romance field the HEA (happily ever after) ending is being questioned... do modern romances need this? It isn’t reflected in real life... is it? Some interesting thoughts in this blog post and comments.

James Patterson, who is his own genre, has been making waves this week with the revelation that there is a whole publishing arm devoted to just him... and he is employing them through his publishers, which would make him a Self Publisher with a traditional publishing house or a traditional publishing house with a self publishing imprint devoted to one person. No one can decide but it makes fascinating reading especially as he is publishing across age groups.

Leo Hartas, an illustrator, makes a plea for writers to understand how to commission an illustrator. If you are in the market for having illustrations for your project... read this first. I know illustrators who say these words often.

One of the most heart felt posts on Social Media came from Anne R Allen this week. This follows on from Jami Gold’s post last week. Anne talks about the increasing pressure on writers to be everywhere... You don’t need to be. She makes absolute sense and this is a must read for every author out there.

Catherine Ryan Howard who is a Go To Guru on how to self publish has an agent and a traditional publishing deal. This is an interesting journey... and one a lot of writers are taking as Hybrid is seen as a good career move.

This week publishing futurist Mike Shatzkin has been thinking about the need for publishers to use critical data research in the acquisitions process. These days research and data profiles are becoming easier to find and use so why aren’t publishers using them? As always read the comments for the robust discussion points.

Today while traveling on an errand a character, whom I had put on hold for a few years, popped into my mind demanding that now was the time to tell his story... never mind I’m in the middle of something big... somewhere else. Some characters are so rude! This got me thinking about Story Structure and this led me to one of Larry Brooks latest posts on structure versus pantsing. There is no opposition. There is subliminal understanding that every story should have a beginning and an end. This is a one of those A-HA posts that you will print out!

In The Craft Section,

18 tips to deconstruct novels to nail genre- C S Lakin Bookmark

7 steps to hook readers

How to write a love scene- Jane Friedman Bookmark

6 emotional motives for your characters- Mythcreants

2 Bookmark posts from  K M Weiland 5 ways to trim your word count and 11 killer chapter breaks.

The 4^th rule of storytelling from Pixar

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have compiled a popular posts list.

The critical importance of crafting a strong opening- Jody Hedlund Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

6 ways you are ruining your book marketing- Bookmark

Social media guidelines for newbies

How authors can find readers- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

What to talk about in the marketing meeting.

A guide to what agents are looking for in the first five pages- Bookmark

6 straight forward ways to structure a blog post

To Finish,

Y A Highway is an interesting site where YA authors hang out. They have an interesting infographic (very Jasper Ffordish) with lots of clickable links on all sorts of interesting posts. This is well worth a trawl. Children’s writers cover all genres the good and the bad...

Maureen

@craicer

Colourful Easter pic from https://www.flickr.com/photos/praktyczny_przewodnik/7047496769

The Scattered Writer Brain

Last week I linked to a couple of posts on the first day of the Digital Book World Conference. This week Porter Anderson covers Day Two and Jane Friedman shares her takeaways from the whole conference - 4 lessons in publishing. This post has been passed around Social Media quite a few times and is a must read.

Selina Kitt shines a light on scammers on Amazon. This is a sobering read and goes to the heart of the Kindle Unlimited subscription service. It is also a lesson in eBook formatting. Even when you are doing it right for the reader, you may be doing it wrong.

Jessica West takes a look at the grey area of paying for reviews. No you shouldn’t pay for a review but there are technical services that take a fee and their reviewers are legit. Using one of these services can make you a best seller.

If you’re a children’s author you always have an eye on Bologna. Publishers Weekly interviewed seven agents about what’s hot and what they are looking for at Bologna.

Roz Morris always has something interesting to say. This week she looks at ways to blog about your book without blogging your book. This is always a tricky topic for authors... how do you entice readers to check out your work without giving it all away.

The UK Society of Authors is ramping up their Creator Campaign for Fair Contracts. Many international author societies are supporting this too. When you look at the writing festivals that aren’t paying their writers and add that to the unfair contracts it can get pretty depressing out there.

Jami Gold has a timely post this week on when you just have to admit you are not a super publishing hero. Sometimes you just can’t do it all. It is an excellent article. Jami asks pointed questions to help you identify if you are falling into this common writing trap.

Ben Zackheim gathered together his list of great podcasts. I have listened to about half of these teams and I must take some time to listen to a few more. Sometimes just listening to authors chew the fat about writing is enough to make you feel energised to get back into your writing.

Booklife pulled together some great people to talk about book reviews and discoverability. This is a must read.

In the Craft Section,

Getting inspired to write- James Scott Bell

The copyedit from Heck- Kristine Rusch – Must Read!

How to write a fantastic author newsletter

How to weave story elements and avoid info dumps- Jami Gold-Bookmark

Mastering Outer motivation- Bookmark

What to do when readers are skipping crucial parts of the story –Bookmark

Seven keys to unforgettable characters- Bob Mayer- Bookmark

Short Story Secrets-Anne R Allen

In the Marketing Section,

11 reasons why authors need Social Media-  Frances Caballo and The Book Designer - Bookmark!

Are audiobooks in your future?- Molly Greene

Should an author have their own podcast

Free tools that can help build buzz for your book

How a Fiction Anthology is made – Jane Friedman

Follow these steps for marketing your first book.

Connecting with readers- Elizabeth Spann Craig -Bookmark

Website of the Week

If you’ve got that book finished and you're thinking 'now the hard part begins,' you are right. However there are a few voices out there in the Blogosphere that can point you in the right direction -marketing wise. Penny Sansevieri has been a marketing Go To site for authors for a few years now. Here are just three posts that caught my eye this week. 50 ways to promote your book- Part One and Two and 5 minute marketing.

To Finish,

I came across this interesting article today on Creativity. What are five areas you would like to grow and develop in your writing? Take Five Fat Files... is a way of refining your goals and making them more achievable.

maureen

@craicer

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons /Kenny Louie

The Business of Writing

This. You never know where you'll end up in the industry (even if you have a ~plan~) Understand the business! #DBW16 https://t.co/TZf4jECOwM

— Phil Stamper (@stampepk) March 9, 2016

The above is the whole reason I started this blog in the first place (coming up on 9 years).

Over the last two days I have been following the #DBW16 on Twitter. DBW is Digital Book World and they have conferences on... Book publishing now and in the future.

All the usual suspects were there but what is always interesting at DBW is you often get a glimpse into what’s going to hit in a years time. Tech startups that suddenly get big... etc

Porter and Jane Friedman were both there doing live tweeting... and some interesting ideas were being talked about. Porter has a wrap up of day one and The Bookseller (UK) has their own perspective on it. Next week I’ll link to day two but if you are interested put #DBW16 in the search bar in Twitter (click live) and get some gems.

Ros Barber’s blog post about telling the truth about what writing is really like now is getting talked about all over the place. It’s a brave writer that actually tells it like it is... because we can be seen as biting the hand that drops the crumbs....

Joanna Penn talked with Orna Ross this week on her podcast about Rights Selling and a fascinating chat it was too. This is a sit down with a beverage of your choice and take it all in. It is compelling listen.

Bran Lindy Ayres has a great post on writing diversity. It is thought provoking and lays out how a writer should approach telling a story when they don’t identify with the race, gender or sexuality of their characters.

We are all told we need to have email subscribers etc etc but what do we actually do with them once we’ve got some. Will Hoekenga wrote an interesting blog post – 7 emails you should send to your subscribers but probably don’t. This opens up a whole new world... and now you have to read Jami Gold’s great post -What is your reader retention plan...- Masterclass!

Recently an email came across my inbox with a pointer to a new US based website. Formswift combines a nice website with a whole lot of legal forms for free lancers and their business. Basic contracts, cease and desist orders... There is a huge range all downloadable, all free, that you can use as a basis for what you need.

Anne R Allen and Ruth Harris make a potent team for authors. They are always writing insightful helpful blog posts. Ruth has a wonderful post of 7 ways to rekindle joy in your writing. This is a print it out and stick it on the wall mantra for writers!

In the Craft Section,

Crafting a one page synopsis using story beats- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

10 tips to writing multiple POV’s

Writing MG with Kate Messner- Bookmark

How Show, Don’t Tell is terrible advice for Newbies- Anne R Allen BOOKMARK

Josh Whedon’s top 10 writing tips

7 reasons why you should outline your novel duringrevision.- Bookmark

Editing yourself first

In the Marketing Section,

5 steps to great cover art- This is in the great 5 question series by Jane Friedman. Bookmark. (Today’s 5 questions to Henry Baum is also interesting)

How to use Pinterest as an Indie author

2 literary agents have great posts this week. Mistakes writers make in query letters- Steve Laube and Oops it happened again by Marisa Corvisiero. These are Bookmark reading if you are going to query!

5 free ways to expose your books to readers

How to number your series books for Amazon- (it’s trickier than you think) Bookmark

How to put together a marketing plan for your book- Bookmark

The three year no bestseller plan to a sustainable income- Patty Jansen- Bookmark

Website of the Week

Kate Tilton has a great website with all sorts of resources for writers. She hosts #K8chat on Twitter and generally is a fund of all sorts of useful information. Here she has put together her list of Book Review bloggers. Bookmark

To Finish,

Hands up those who noticed the new thing in my side bar. I have been wondering how to put a progress bar on my blog for a while. (I’m treating my series as one whole project.) So up pops this handy guide from J Abram Barneck.  It is excellent! Of course I could go crazy and add the 2 finished books in the drawer... 2 books plotted... 6 books still to go all from different projects – Beta readers saying my Mars book needs a sequel...  but I won’t bore you about my business.

maureen
@craicer