Escape Writing

 

It is November! Outside I hear fireworks… inside, everyone wants to know who has won the US Election. Meanwhile, there are writers around the world trying to block out all distractions to get on with NaNoWriMo. Don’t forget to check out the NaNoWriMo Storybundle of craft books available until the end of November. (Early Christmas present to yourself. There are some great books in there!)

 

This week the big news was the arrival into the UK of Bookshop.org just in time for the UK lockdown. This initiative has made news in the US and surpassed all their projections in the first week in the UK. This is a way for indie booksellers to sell books that keeps the money in their pockets. Great for shop local campaigns. Meanwhile, Passive Guy takes a look at Indie Bookshops that have started Go Fund Me pages just to stay afloat.

 

Across the channel, the European publishing industry is fighting a campaign of cultural awareness. Books are essential to the well being of a community and therefore bookshops should stay open. Some countries agree- others not so fast, Monsieur.

 

An ugly rumour about Audible has been doing the rounds among authors. They are promoting trading in your audible book credit for another book. Surely not, said authors. That would mean authors would never get paid for their audiobook under the subscription model. Nate Hoffelder found out the rumour was true and Audible is promoting this. This is a despicable thing to do to authors stuck in this program. 

 

Kris Rusch had a great blog this week on how much writing and storytelling is an escape for the writer as well as the reader. How often are you diving into your manuscript with relief as you escape from the outside world?

 

Writing and Wellness has an article on ways writers can benefit from silence and how to build it into your busy day.

Joanna Penn has an interesting interview with Wendy H Jones on writing and marketing in multiple genres. How do you market yourself when you tackle such widely different markets?

 

Ev Bishop has a must-read post on Branding 101 for Authors. This is a really interesting article on mindset. For instance, what do you want your readers to take away from your stories? The answer is your brand. Sounds simple but that is only the start. 

 

Litreactor has a great article on story openings. What are the five things to keep in mind to wow the socks off anyone reading the first page.

 

In The Craft Section,

Incidental Characters that make your novel zing- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Love triangles that work.- Roz Morris

Top 5 mistakes writers make with police characters- Stuart Gibbon- Interesting

How to develop your character- and writing exercises on tense - Now Novel- Bookmark

10 ways to get a stuck story moving- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

12 tips to write tight- Debbie Burke- Bookmark!

How to spill strong emotion on the page- Laura Drake

 

In The Marketing Section,

Selling books internationally – Dave Chesson- Bookmark

20 tips to rock your Social Media- Frances Caballo

5 Book Launch prep essentials- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Email marketing – Julia Evans- Interesting

5 reasons authors should email market- Rachel Thompson

 

To Finish,

With the word count of 1667 per day to crack in the month of November for NaNoWriMo, many writers look for ways to avoid distractions. One of the biggest distractions is the internet… and the US Election. I have a nifty Neo keyboard that doesn’t connect with the internet and runs on batteries. But this week Techcrunch unveiled a little beauty of a keyboard The Freewrite Traveler- a clamshell, take anywhere keyboard and screen. Of course, you don’t need a dedicated unplugged device. You can write anywhere if you have the tools, on your phone, dictation, message yourself, or good old pen and paper. Get those words down. Escape into your writing!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Eden Janine and Jim- Magician Cardone

 

Discoverability

 

This week in Publishing News…

Europe has been hit with another round of business closures as the country shuts down again in an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus. In France, the publishers are pleading with the government not to close the bookstores because it will affect the cultural life of the population. 

The Guardian reports that in the UK – online library lending was up. Apparently, everyone was turning to fiction to cope with isolation.

 

One bookstore has seen the need to give shoppers the bookstore experience while they send them to their online store. You can take a tour of the bookstore to get your virtual fix of bookstore love… It makes me want to visit this bookstore in person… what a great shop!

 

Staying with visibility in the marketplace Vietnamese publisher Ehomebooks has introduced a new global children’s book prize for an unpublished manuscript. They want to share the love with illustrators and authors who are trying to break into the industry.

 

For some publishers who thought the sky was falling six months ago… their balance sheets are not reflecting this. Bloomsbury (saved by Harry Potter in the ’90s) has seen a huge boost to their ebooks sales. Who knew there was money in them thar digital books? But interestingly the profits have spilled over to print as well.

 

Audiobooks continue to look like the next stealth battleground amongst publishers. Podcast sites (and their ability to host audiobook content) are being moved on by the likes of Spotify but this week another player entered the podcast market. IHeartMedia is bringing its considerable heft to publishers with a seismic shakeup according to The New Publishing Standard.

 

Kristine Rusch has part 3 in her series on discoverability in this new weird world we are finding ourselves in. She has a great article about thinking outside your writerly box and writing what you want to write because the publishing landscape will never go back to the way it was before. If you have been stuck in a niche now could be the time to break out. 

 

Over at Jane Freidman’s blog, Susan DeFreitas writes about what publication means. It is a great post on the wisdom of writing for yourself and the discovery that when you started on the publishing journey the core reason to do this hard, challenging, fascinating, drudgery… is the yearning to be seen.

 

Reedsy has an interesting post on Freytag’s Pyramid 5 Act Structure of the story… another way of tackling the first draft. 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

How to improve a story with action beats- Jami Gold- Bookmark

Developing an idea- Roz Morris- Bookmark

How to raise the stakes in your story- NY Book editors

Multiple points of view- Reedsy- Bookmark

Five writing mistakes- Krystal Craiker

5 ways to make your character hate you – Janice Hardy- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

How to find your books target audience- Miblart

5 most common mistakes in book cover design- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Favourite author marketing tools- Judith Briles- Bookmark

Maximising your author central page and 

November Unique content ideas – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

I came across this interesting post by K M Weiland today- On how your age affects your writing. As I was reading I was reflecting on the issues that I was interested in way back twenty-plus years ago when I started taking my writing seriously (said to myself), and what I am interested in now. Yes, your age and life stage does affect how you think about writing, and also the topics you tend to gnaw on as you write. Always keep learning about this frustrating, challenging, creative, business. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: