In Publishing News This Week,
In the continuing saga of the disestablishment of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Publishers Weekly reports that there are only 12 people left doing the work of 75. Questions have been raised as to the ability of some of these people who seem to have been picked because of who they know and not what they know. And where is all the money going?
In the Meta Lawsuit, many organisations aren’t waiting to be called but are submitting briefs to the court in support of the lawsuit, Publishing Perspectives reports. At issue is Meta claiming fair use. An argument that is supposed to be for the purposes of review in journals, not wholesale scraping.
Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has a chilling article on how Meta employees came to think that scraping a pirate site was a good idea. There was horrible little paragraph where they thought it was ok because the works themselves were valueless. Tell that to authors who have had their entire life’s work stolen.
Malaysia has been having a super book giveaway in an effort to promote reading. Mark Williams looks at the parent company of Big Bad Wolf and how they can lay their hands on all remaindered English language books to be able to do these big events.
Spotify is extending their reach in audio books and is opening up to French and Dutch language translations. They are throwing some money at it too. In their latest stats the audio listeners are primarily from the younger age bracket. Spotify is keen to promote human voices, but they are open to digital voices as well.
If you are still trying to make sense of tariffs in the book industry – do you pay them- do you not, The Alliance of Independent Authors has a good article to help you figure out what to do. Make sure you diversify where you get your books printed, so you can manage production costs.
Publisher’s Weekly reports on a panel discussion with creative industry people on how to manage AI technologies. This was interesting as there were music industry people who have been dealing with AI for longer than book people. Their advice- get involved in policing it.
Rachel Thompson has an article on PR scams that are targeting writers. It’s like playing whack-a-mole with scammers. All you can do is stay abreast of the ones doing the rounds and make sure newbies know about them.
Jane Friedman has a guest article from Anne Carley about how difficult it is to help publish other people in the self publishing space. This is because of the hoops you have to go through to establish who you are. When publishing companies are trying to weed out the scammers and pirates it can be hard to be a genuine helper for other people.
Joanna Penn has a super interview with Tara Cremin from Kobo. Tara gives an overview of all the great things Kobo offers and then gets into detail on subscriptions and marketing. If you already publish on Kobo are you taking advantage of all that they offer now?
Jennifer Dorsey writes about how to lay the groundwork for a successful nonfiction book launch. Have you mined who you know as well as what you know?
James Scott Bell has a post dedicated to the thesaurus and how useful it is. When was the last time you opened one specifically to find the right word.
Barbara Linn Probst has a great article on person and tense. Whoever tells the story is not the same as the protagonist unless you are very careful. Does the protagonist really know the inner life of all the other characters? This is a must read article.
In The Craft Section,
A peek inside the mind of a developmental editor- Jenn Windrow- Bookmark
Conflict is not tension- Sally Hamer
Understanding genre conventions- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark
Cinematic technique for authors- C S Lakin
How to prepare eBooks in Word.- Diane Wolfe
In the Marketing Section,
How long does publicity take- Kathleen Schmidt
How to make time to market your book- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
How you should price your book- Matthew Holmes- Bookmark
Best Email services for authors- Dave Chesson
Getting more value from the backlist- Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark
To Finish,
It is the 17th anniversary of the blog today. That’s 17 years of watching the publishing industry change in front of me. The eBook, the Kindle, Amazon, Print on Demand, the rise and fall of publishing houses, the amalgamations, the rise of niche indie brands, the rise and fall of booksellers, graphic novels, audio books, translations, the rise and fall of distributors, selling direct, authorpreneurs, and now AI. The publishing world looks very different from when I started learning about it 17 years ago. I continue to learn every day. For everyone who is still reading and learning along with me, sharing little notes, the occasional coffee, the meet in person times, Thank you for still being here. It has been a wild ride.
Happy Easter.
Maureen
@craicer
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