Avoiding the Sharks on Your Journey

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

There is a new scam going around and it is targeting authors and is particularly nasty. Anne R Allen has the details and even though it reads like a crime novel plot it is particularly horrible for people caught up in it. Before you think 'that would never happen to me', I invite you to think how you would react if you were confronted by law enforcement officers about all your identification being used to commit crimes. The horrible part is where the scammers are getting their information about you from. 

 

Back in the heady publishing days of the 1980’s when Harlequin was on the prowl buying up little publishing companies- Romance editors could see which way the wind was going and quickly set up publishing companies promising their innocent authors loads of goodies to come with them to the new digs- while they waited for Harlequin to buy them for big bucks. Authors got burned left, right, and center in all the wheeling and dealing of Romance imprints and publishing companies. I’m not saying that this new publishing house is anything like the bad old days but it triggered memories as I was looking at the news story from Publishers Weekly.

 

Ru Paul has a book club. Ru Paul has a bookstore. A big one. Taking a leaf out of the Amazon playbook Ru is catering to a specific audience and promising extra gravy to the authors and readers who sign up to be members.

Publishing Perspectives reports that the Access Copyright, a management site for Canadian Authors have been slapped with a huge court fine for demanding copyright fees on authors behalf. The court ruling seems to indicate that it is ok to copy anything you like from a Canadian author- which can’t be right or am I reading it wrong?

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard keeps an eye on what is happening outside our Western centric publishing view. He reports that the Oman Book Fair was well attended and the new trend on the rise is children’s books. With Big Bad Wolf selling remaindered English language books hand over fist in these markets, are publishers missing the sales boat on this?

 

Writer Michael Lucas comments on the Findaway saga using his knowledge of the tech world to explain how developers use Terms Of Service. While authors think that Findaway have walked back their horrible terms this might not be the case…think Bait and Switch.

Dave Chesson has been doing a deep dive into the data from a survey of authors on Direct Selling. Who is making money? Which store is popular? How many books you need? When should you jump into it? All these questions are answered with charts.

If you are trying to keep up with moves in AI and publishing here is a new way of combining the two into something that may be profitable (they have a lot of investment dollars) for someone. Tech Crunch reports on a new company that promises a bright new world- I’m not sure for whom.

 

Katie Weiland has a fantastic post on how to write deeply emotional fiction. If you have been struggling with nailing a scene or trying to convey tone or subtext read this great post. One to print out and stick on the wall. 

Tricia Jenn Loehr has a guest post on Jane Friedmans blog about emotional intimacy and how it’s not restricted to the characters in a romance novel. A great read and food for thought.

 

Gabriela Pereira from DIYMFA has a great post on writing prompts and how they build up the stamina and practice of writing. She offers some great insights here. 

 

In The Craft Section,

7 tips for compelling character motivation- C S Lakin- Bookmark

7 signs you have hidden self doubt- Colleen Story

The hierarchy of exposition- Donald Maass- Bookmark

Crafting an irresistible inciting incident- Polly Watt- Bookmark

Increasing the emotional impact of your story- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

8 things needed on a homepage- Corina Amos

Back cover copy formula- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

How to use crowdfunding for book publishing- Sandra Beckwith

How to promote to the right audience- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

20 bookmarketing ideas that take 10 minutes or less- Jenn Hansen-dePaula- Bookmark

 

To Finish

As you wend your way through this blog post looking at links and trying to figure out what is most worth your time to read (all of it but I’m biased) you finally get down to the bottom and hopefully get a last gem. I have been following Suzanne Lakin for years and she always has a deeply insightful way of looking at the craft. This week she looked at how writers become proficient and the 10,000 hours mantra that Malcolm Gladwell made famous. It’s about the journey not the destination.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

I’m late with my monthly newsletter (life got in the way) but it is coming I promise. If you want the best of my bookmarked links and other assorted stuff you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. It feeds my caffeine addiction. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

Writing Mindset Problems

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Lee and Lowe published their latest survey on the diversity in publishing. Has anything changed since the covid years… only a little. It is a bit disheartening to see that a survey done every four years doesn’t show the bar shifting that much across the data points. 

 

Italy is preparing for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and their guest of honor status at Frankfurt. Publishing Perspectives looks at their industry figures and what is on offer for Bologna. In a nice touch one third of books sold in Italy are children’s books.

 

Staying with kids books- Oxford University Press has launched an app called Little Oxford for parents to give to their children. It is full of educational content and subscription based. Now if one press can do it will others follow suit? (If you are a press, I know an App maker in this field looking for content.)

 

If you are trying to keep tabs on all the moving lawsuits to do with AI, drop into the Passive Voice blog. Passive Guy who runs it is a lawyer and he has been watching with interest the counter suing going on with Open AI- Someone hacked their AI for a lawsuit? Or did they?

In further Open AI news, they have just released an AI that can make a video based on text. This is next level and in Beta but already its worrying commentators. 

 

Writer Unboxed has an interesting article from a children’s publisher about the rise in AI manuscripts that they are seeing. They are begging for an assurance that your work is written by a person. This is what Joanna Penn was talking about when she said to double down on being human. Joanna has a whole section of her website on how to navigate a fast changing AI world for authors.

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has a post on Writer Scams and how to manage your mindset when you feel overwhelmed with all the scummy behaviour out there. All Is Not Lost!

If you are a fan of the Emotion Thesaurus group of books by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi- There is another one on the way and it looks like a great addition to the bookshelf.

Are you looking for a comparison list on what is the best book formatting software out there? Check out this list.

 

Trisha Jenn Loehr has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about tropes. This is a great overview on when using them is good, when having too many is bad and what the downright ugly looks like.

 

Ruth Harris has an excellent post on getting past writer’s block. She has 7 hacks that will get the writing muse working again.

 

In the Craft Section,

Important Do’s and Don’ts for writing novellas- Kobo team

How to write conflict without bad guys- Angela Ackerman

What makes a good action scene- Terry Odell- Bookmark

How to use dynamic and static characters- C S Lakin- Bookmark

How to use antagonists in your story- K M Weiland- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

A guide to welcome emails for authors

Fictional characters on Social Media- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Advertising book tips- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Improve author website SEO- Debbie Emmitt- Bookmark

How to make a short animated ad for your book.

 

To Finish,

Recently James Scott Bell (Writing craft teacher with excellent writing craft books) wrote about timeless writing advice. He was commenting on advice for writers written by Louise Parr in 1894 that could have been written today. Writers have struggled with the same challenges through the decades, how to tell a good story. We are hardwired for story - we love the ads that tell a little story rather than BUY BUY BUY. We crave the payoff at the end of a great novel/film/song. Writing is a solitary activity but you share it with writers through the ages who struggled with the same things you do. Seek out your tribe of online writer friends or a group of offline writer friends who understand the ups and downs of crafting stories. 

We will all be cheering you on.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links  and other assorted stuff you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. It feeds my caffeine addiction. Thanks.

 

 

Pic Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash