Plot Twists

 

In Publishing News this week,

News broke this week that Amazon was shutting the doors on Book Depository. The warehouses are based in the UK and had free delivery to anywhere in the world. This was a boon if you were looking for a hard to find book and postage was prohibitive. Now there are lots of job cuts. While everyone was wailing about the news, Mark Williams started drawing some comparisons to what else Amazon is doing to its book business. This is a big flag to book consumers!

 

Also closing their doors is Overdrive’s eBook library app Overdrive. They are putting all their energy and promotion into the Libby App for libraries. 

 

Publishing Perspectives have an article on the upcoming London Book Fair which will have Sustainability as a major new programming initiative. They have speakers and panels devoted to this and how publishing can clean up their carbon footprint throughout the duration of the fair. Comments on this range from "it’s about time," to "print on demand would take care of the carbon wastage of stripping and returns." Will the publishers be asking the hard questions about their sustainability practices?

 

Publishing Pirates got taken down in India- They were pirating … print copies. 

 

In AI News. (It’s too big to ignore the impact it will have on publishing so better to have some knowledge of the issues.)

A writer got Chat GPT to write a novel and detailed how he did it. It’s for sale. 115 pages 0 input from a human.

Chat GPT has been blocked in Italy with Open AI (its parent) being taken to court over Data Protection (GDPR) violations which will be a test case for the EU. This may be the slow down that the Tech founders were looking for. There is nothing like a lengthy court battle to slow things down. 

Meanwhile, an Australian mayor is also taking Open AI to court over the falsehoods claimed by ChatGPT that he was a criminal. Many users have noted that the first paragraph is alright but subsequent paragraphs are so much fantasy that you can’t rely on it at all to state the facts.

John Fox has 26 ways an author can use ChatGPT- (Be very aware of what you are doing.)

Kris Rusch has a MUST READ article on copyright and Chat GPT and MidJourney- Can you afford a court case?

 

Matt Holmes has a great guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog on the 4 pillars of marketing. This is a print out and read primer on what to do to make it easier on yourself and how to tackle book marketing. 

 

Anne R Allen has a great article on how much description you should be putting in your novel or memoir. Some genres need it more than others.

 

In The Craft Section,

Story verbing- Storyempire- Bookmark

How to write exotic settings- Sarah Hamer

A framework for moving past your first draft- Amy Bernstein -Bookmark!

How to listen to your protagonist- Sarah Bradley- Bookmark

Saggy Middle ? Use conflict- Sacha Black

Got 15 minutes- how to fill it with writing 500 words- Colleen Story – Bookmark!

 

In The Marketing Section,

5 tips to balance bookmarketing with writing- Colleen Story

F.A.R. Marketing – Angela Ackerman

2 interesting articles from Bookbub- How to use Bookbub ads tutorial and Insights About Bookbub 

subscribers- Bookmark Both

What to expect when pitching a book for film rights- Penny Sansevieri

ALLI Podcast Best use of your time with limited money- Bookmark 

 

To Finish,

A good plot twist keeps you on the edge of your seat. I have stayed up all night to finish books… complained to author friends that their twist at 2 AM meant I didn’t sleep. This is the drug that keeps a reader chained to your book. They have to know what happens next!

Setting up the twist takes careful thought and almost invisible clues. James Scott Bell has a great post on micro scenes and Laurel Osterkamp has an interesting collection of tips for creating plot twists that create suspense.

 

As I was compiling this week’s blogpost news I kept thinking I was reading plot twists for the book ‘publishing as we know it now.’ I think the ending will be a zinger!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Figuring Out What’s Important

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

The news everywhere in publishing was the smackdown given by the judge in the Internet Archive vs The Publishers court case. The centre of which was Internet Archive claiming a controlled digital lending policy of printing a PDF from an Ebook for their patrons was fair use.

There were comments on all sides, Libraries, Publishers, Writers, Lawyers all had opinions often conflicting. In the middle was copyright and who loses out. Libraries have been stung by publishers license demands. Publishers argue that a PDF is just the same as an Ebook and if printed out a paperback. This will be an ongoing wrangle.

 

Meanwhile, the American Library Association has released a report stating the numbers of books banned in the USA in 2022 broke all previous limits. It is sobering reading. If you live in a country that doesn’t have book banning public drives, don’t take this privilege for granted. Libraries closing is another way to ban books from the community. 

 

Also in the news was a Wired article that was little better than a hatchet job on Brandon Sanderson. Brandon graciously defended the writer… but the outrage from other writers and his fans was loud and public. Apparently all Brandon does is write in a very scheduled way. If the writer had problems with Sanderson- how come he owns 17 books written by Brandon?

Esquire writing at the same time as Wired detailed the organisation Brandon has had to put in place since that Kickstarter. 

 

AI was back in the news (surprise) today when many influential tech founders published an open letter asking tech companies to pause their AI training citing the risk to humanity. A media commentator looked at how publishers could license content to AI’s and the potential prices they could charge. 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on AI content being the mediocre level of work instead of purposefully crafted writing, or speaking.

 

Jez Walters has an article on how Bonnier Publishing company has restructured based around enthusiast communities. This is a result of the covid lockdown where their publishing company went to Zoom and now they are staying that way. It’s an interesting article. Bonnier CEO likens it to taking the company back to start up mode. Ground yourself in who you are and be pragmatic.

 

Publishing Trends looks at what makes an audiobook original. That is a book that is published in audio first. This is a different publishing model from the norm but audio companies are seeking out titles they can have exclusively.

Lisa Tener has a great article on protecting yourself from accidental plagiarism. Don’t forget to attribute your notes to who said what. Lisa has some recommended plagiarism trackers to keep on hand.

 

Jane Friedman has a guest post by Carly Watters on What Is Upmarket Fiction. This is a deep dive into that sweet spot between commercial and literary, which everyone wants to inhabit.

In The Craft Section,

No Swords No flowers- Anatomy and sex scenes- Molly Rookwood- Bookmark

How to write a memoir- Reedsy

5 mistakes to avoid if you want to finish your book- Colleen Story

How archetypes changed my life- K M Weiland- Bookmark

6 terror tactics for really scary villains- Sacha Black

 

In The Marketing Section,

How soon should you think about marketing your book? K M Weiland

9 proven strategies to increase book sales- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to build your reader audience- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Social Media for writers- Ellie Diamond

Your books press release- Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish,

It’s the end of March, for many it’s the end of the tax year or the end of the first quarter. If you need to review your goals, get some, or just identify one goal to focus on check out this Goal Setting post for writers.

Along with goal setting you might need to run your eye down this list of things that might be holding you back from achieving your goals.

See you in the next quarter (next week.)

Maureen

@craicer

 

It nearly time for my monthly newsletter so if you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here. 

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

 

Pic: Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash