Thursday, July 12, 2018

Taking a Breather





In the publishing blogosphere this week...

Jane Friedman has taken a middle of the year look at how 2018 is shaping up publishing wise. What is trending? Who stays strong... and what really is going on in the back lists. This is well worth reading to get a sense of what is changing in publishing. If you are chasing a Trad deal come prepared with a marketing plan along with your synopsis to editors.

Joanna Penn always has interesting guests on her podcast. I have only just managed to catch up with two of her latest podcasts. David Kadavy on redesigning your writing life and Book editing tips with Natasa Lekic from NY Book editors. Both great podcasts.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting article with Sara Sargent of Harper Collins children’s division on how they are sourcing content from Wattpad. They are working with Wattpad to identify strong authors and offering book deals. They call it the reverse engineering traditional publishing and are looking at compressed timelines etc. With Wattpad becoming a content curator for film and TV studios it is worth authors taking a look.

The Book Designer blog run by Joel Friedlander is another source of great content. Joel runs a monthly cover design award along with his wonderful book templates and an active blog on book marketing. Recently Joan Stewart had an interesting article on working with journalists to get good media coverage for your book.

This week Kris Rusch looks at a problem all writers would like to have... what if that unexpected windfall in the bank account is the start of great new things to come. How long should you wait before spending the checks? It’s an interesting dilemma. Are you prepared for success?

Lately it seems that everywhere I go on the podcasts or the internet or Twitter Dave Chesson pops up. I don’t mind as Dave has loads of great information for Indie Authors. This week he was guesting over at Anne R Allens’s blog with a post on achieving Zen mastery in writing efficiency.


In The Craft Section,

Writing descriptions that wow- Linda Clare- Bookmark





Hero goals- Scribe meets world

The Rainbow editing method- Angela Donofrio- Bookmark

In The Marketing section,

Promo Stacking effective strategies-Writtenword media- Bookmark

Two great posts from the Bookbub blog- free tools to build book buzz and Creative ways to use images- Bookmark

Author Bio’s- Rachelle Gardner

What promo items do authors really need- Careerauthors- Bookmark

13 pre order strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

It's Ingram Sparks birthday... They have a free deal going.

To Finish,

School holidays and procrastination... All I want to do is sleep in and recharge. That’s what I tell my children whom I have to drag out of bed in term time. So I sleep in... and they get out of bed before the alarm to play on computers... hmmm, a role reversal here. I really need this post on 5 ways writers can be productive while procrastinating.
If you are watching a lot of movies this holidays... take notice of the films with the wrong main character.... Did the writer or the director get it wrong? This article has me looking at the films in a whole new way...

Maureen
@craicer

 My monthly newsletter is coming this weekend... after I send the kids away on holiday. I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. I appreciate the virtual coffee love from people who hit the Kofi button as a thankyou for the blog. Extra caffeine is always welcome.
 


Thursday, July 5, 2018

Show Me The Money


Jane Friedman took a look at the Guardian Article on Author income last week and has written a thoughtful response to it. Are Author Income Surveys Misleading? This is a comprehensive look at data and reports... Have authors ever earned enough to live on from their books in the past...?

David Gaughran has written a great article on granular targeting of advertising for authors. He pulls out some of the gems from his recent book Strangers to Superfans. If you are trying to make sense of your ideal reader... it is a must read.

Are you responsible for your own decisions? If you write a book everybody loves, can you say I write a damn fine story? Kris Rusch has a great post on why writers find it so hard to own up that they made great decisions...

Australian Dixie Carlton has written a case study on how the changes in the publishing industry over the last decade have affected her business. This is an interesting reflection on how much has changed in a short time.

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a great article on how to use Goodreads giveaway's and widgets effectively on your website. Goodreads have recently changed their Giveaway rules and now it costs... but it can still be effective.

If you are a picture book writer... or know one... point them in the direction of this one day conference just for them. It’s online... so you can attend from anywhere.

In The Craft Section,






Formatting a book for large print- Excellent resource- Bookmark


In The Marketing Section,

Taking control of your metadata- Joel Friedlander- Bookmark

Ebook formatting using MS Word- Molly Greene- Bookmark

Sell your books with collaborative marketing- Alli- Bookmark... Must Read!


Universal Book Links – Draft2Digital... Very useful


To Finish,

Rejection. All writers deal with it. If you are smarting under the rejection sting... Read Nathaniel Tower’s plea to publishers about why different types of rejection drive author's nuts.

If it all gets too much... change your name. Have fun with this pen name generator.

Maureen
@craicer

In my monthly newsletter, coming soon, I round up the best of the bookmarked craft and marketing links as well as some other bits and pieces. When you subscribe you will also get a nifty book crammed full with marketing notes. 


Pic: Flickr Creative Commons- tax credits
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