Thursday, September 28, 2017

Writing To Conquer


This morning I read a nifty blog post by Hugh Howey* entitled What Is A Book Worth.
I have been mulling over it all day. A book can be a brief escape or a lifeline. It can mean the key to passing a grade or a library fine. Some stories resonate so deeply you must have them in every form available. Some stories only last in the memory a few hours.
Hugh was exploring the moment when the book crosses over and it becomes something you must have as a high end artifact. Bring back personally bound books of beauty.

This week Kris Rusch has been exploring what I.P. means to her. She has a great post on this. Too often she sees writers squandering their IP as they don’t even know what they have until its gone. If you have no idea what I.P. is, Read The Blog Post!

Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy was Joanna Penn’s guest this week on her podcast. Joanna asked Ricardo about the top 5 mistakes he sees Indie Authors making all the time. This is a full and frank discussion about attitude and execution.

Barnes and Nobel have thrown in the towel over the Nook platform. Nate Hoffelder of The Digital Reader explains where they went wrong and what it means for Authors who sell on the Nook platform. (Again there is that scary thought... is the whole company going down the tubes.)

Bookfunnel have done a crazy thing that has some authors cheering... They have extended their service to hosting shops for authors. Book funnel is a great service that takes the hassle out of delivering ARC’s and Book Prizes.

The Independent Book Publishers Association have pulled out of Book Expo America- The biggest book fair. Among their reasons, they feel they get no value for money from it. They feel B.E.A is increasingly fixated on the Big 5 traditional publishers. (What big 5? Amazon, Random Penguin, Hachette, Harper Collins...)
Will they start up their own fair?
(This week I have been watching NZ’s own Indie publishers doing an Expo style road trip to all our big cities just to gather booksellers together for wine, nibbles, goodie bags and the chance to view the latest catalogue offerings for Christmas.)

This week I was struck by two little articles dealing with imposter syndrome. I think every writer suffers from this. I definitely do. Usually when I’ve finished editing and doubt my own skills in telling a story. You are not alone- Neil Gaiman suffers from it... and so does Nathan Bransford.

Seven offensive mistakes that well intentioned writers do. Once you start reading these... the ghosts of past books rises up before your eyes... Note To Self: Be Better!


In The Craft Section,

How many words in a novel- Reedsy- Bookmark

10 Key scenes for framing your novel-C S Lakin- Bookmark Print out!

How to write a scene-and Writing scene transitions- Now Novel  - Bookmark

Writing sad scenes- Ryan Casey



In The Marketing Section,


Advanced marketing skills – Kevin Tumlinson- Bookmark

Sending cold emails- Copyhacker- Bookmark



To Finish,

Do you ever think about your writing process? How do you trick the muse into turning on just when you want it? Ruth Harris has written a fantastic blog post on writing process. This is where bite sized goals really work! 
Pat Olsen also has a great post on focus... especially when you are in a busy household. She has some tips to help. Between them you will feel that you can conquer anything!

Maureen
@craicer

* Kia Ora Hugh, Welcome to New Zealand!


I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces every month in a newsletter. When you subscribe you will also get my nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. Feel free to hit the coffee tab. I need all the coffee I can get. One series in production... another being written... websites here and there... SIGH. 



Thursday, September 21, 2017

Global Fears and Solutions


This week seemed to be a global focus week.
Is there a books market outside of the UK and the USA and assorted countries that speak English?
Why Yes.
How do we know?
Because Amazon thinks so.
This week Amazon made moves into South East Asia... Alibaba,the East’s version of Amazon, is not amused.
Neither is India’s publishing and book trade. Suddenly they have less book shops than they did before.
Where Amazon goes so do Indie publishers. But how do you price for the market in the East? There are so many currencies?
This week Publish Drive talked about pricing books in South East Asia and what Indies need to bear in mind if they enter this part of the world.

Smashwords introduced Global Pricing. Now you can tweak each countries book price. They have made some changes to their dashboard too.

Jane Friedman takes a snapshot of the publishing industry at the moment. Is there a resurgence in Print books? Just how much of the eBook market does Amazon have?

The Guardian printed an interesting article by Y.A. author Meg Rosoff on the point of Fairy Tales. This is a rebuttal to Richard Dawkins and the government and the push to only make education fact based. This has seen a decline in the funding of the arts in tertiary education and beyond. Do we really need fairytales?

Sarah Moore has written an interesting post on nipping your creative fear in the bud. Just what do you have to be scared of?
OK 
Now how do you manage that fear?

Anne R Allen has been writing up a storm on her blog with two great posts recently.
Do podcasts sell books? There are some great publishing focused podcasts out there and I try to listen to one most days. It makes me feel productive when I’m taking a screen break. Also professional development also...  If you haven’t dipped in to one yet, you are missing out!*

The use of pop ups on authors sites is getting ridiculous. Anne asks is it time to kill the pop up?

Bang2Write have a beautiful Infographic on 12 unusual and achievable productivity hacks for authors. This is a print out and put on your wall post!

The Write Life takes a look at that deep fear of authors. What happens if I lose my work?
Here are some solutions you can implement straight away.

In The Craft Section,


Mastering outer motivation- Michael Hauge- Bookmark


What should the story climax include- Jami Gold – Bookmark





Writing an outline- Tasha Seegmiller-Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,


The relaxed release- Elisabeth S Craig

Ebook checklist before uploading- Digital Book World- Bookmark


Two great posts from Kevin Tumlinson on the Draft2Digital blog, 10 sneaky hacks and Making yourself a brand.


To Finish,

This week in an online writers group the discussion turn to Authors selling Merch. I had a sudden vision of an author selling table filled with knick knacks. Somewhere in amongst the jumble of author branded merch on the table was the lone book that inspired it all. (Rather like our big brand bookstore....) Then one author said take a look at this... and we all said OOOOH. A whole different level of Merch for authors...

Maureen
@craicer

* Kiwi author Nalini Singh was on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing podcast this week. One of our publishing rockstars!

I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces every month in a newsletter. When you subscribe you will also get my nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. The blog runs on coffee fumes. If you want to say thanks feel free to hit the coffee tab. My brain says Thanks!
 


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