Publishing Pick and Mix

 

 

In Publishing News this week

 

London Book Fair is coming up and Porter Anderson gives a run down on the big topics that will be discussed at the fair. No prizes for guessing that AI will be front and centre as how to use it/cope with it/ignore it/embrace it are the hot topics in publishing this year.

 

Forbes magazine put their toe in the water with a prediction on how the publishing industry will cope with AI “which promises to transform how we create, distribute, and consume content.”

Piper Bayard see’s AI as a cause for concern. She looks at the big questions. How much AI is too much and Will AI be the end of authors?  

 

With the concerns about distinguishing your content from AI driven content, Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors takes a look at a new initiative from The Authors Guild to champion a book registering site which makes it official that your book is human authored.

 

This week Simon and Schuster announced that they would no longer blurb books. This has caught some people by surprise with many thinking it is the back blurb that they are talking about, which seems daft. However, it’s the pull quotes from reviews by other authors that they are meaning. (I hope.) My bookseller family member said they had received books from PRH that had no blurbs on the back - only reviews. Which didn’t help when they had to catalogue the book.

 

Publishing Industry commentator Kathleen Schmidt weighs in on the blurb news in her article Let’s Talk About Blurbs Again – Is it past its use by date or does the blurb have a place in publishing?

 

Publishing Perspectives reports that the Big Five publishers and quite a few other interested groups have banded together to sue Idaho over their book banning efforts. 

 

We are two weeks into the new American administration and the big news was around tariffs. Who was getting them who was not? Would there be a reprieve? If so for how long? The publishing industry is caught up in this as well. After all where are the big printers based? Publishers Weekly took a look at what the publishing industry might have to do to survive.

 

Katie Weiland has an interesting article on Creative Burnout Recovery. I am always asking my teacher colleagues about what they are doing to fill the creative well. This is important for writers too.

Netgalley has upgraded their reader experience by creating a new reader browser with the ability to read in the website and protect files from unauthorised downloads.

 

In happy news, Mac Barnett became the new US National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature. In the UK this position is the Children’s Laureate. Here in New Zealand, we are eagerly awaiting who will get the nod as our Reading Ambassador. These positions are about connecting and inspiring reading and young people. These truly are the most important jobs. For every reader we inspire, we create a person who thinks about their life and other lives, who finds solace or inspiration in imaginary worlds and ultimately remains a reader into adult hood. 

 

Donald Maass has another knock it out of the park article on craft. Nailing Purpose and Effect. Do you understand the primary purpose of the story? The intent. The intent of any given story is the effect that you want to have on readers. It is a must read.

 

In The Craft Section,

Creating a plot/subplot template-Laurie Campbell- Bookmark

Tag your dialogue- Margie Lawson

How to manipulate time in your writing- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Important parts of a book- Joe Yamulla

Most asked for topic articles- K M Weilands master list- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

How cover art influences readers-Sierra Kay

Why reviews are a game changer- ReaderViews

Optimize your Amazon Central page – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Generating article ideas- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

From obscurity to bestseller-Leonard Tillerman- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

How wedded are you to a particular sales platform? If it all fell over tomorrow would your business survive? That is the wake up call authors who were primarily relying on BookTok got faced with recently. The Alliance of Independent Authors canvassed a few of their superstar members to find out how they would navigate a similar business problem. This is a great article about being in control of your business. 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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*Kiwi’s call a selection of lollies… a pick and mix.

Snacking On Publishers

 

 

In Publishing News this week

It’s a tough old time if you are a writer down under. You may have had some hope of placing a book with one of the independent presses that still operate, but last week saw another of them gobbled up by Penguin Random House. Our regional voices are disappearing said a Guardian article. While Aussie authors are wincing- Kiwi authors have been there. Most of our publisher’s head offices are in Australia and we are lucky if they publish 1 NZ book a year.

 

In Davos the world economic forum got underway. How does this relate to publishing? Well, one of the key presentations is the future of jobs report. Dan Holloway took a look and found key indicators for publishers and writers. Reading is down…but creative thinking is up. Can we work with this information?

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a new imprint being started by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. It’s all about science. In this world of misinformation, any increase in science publishing is a good thing.

 

When it’s award season the critics choices are always highlighted but if you look at the bestseller lists, they often don’t show up. However, bestsellers have awards too. It is based on number of sales. Spot the children’s books. Julia Donaldson has topped the UK bestseller lists for the 5^th straight year. She is a critics’ choice and a bestselling author. Gotta love children’s authors, they keep publishing houses afloat.

 

Bookshop.org is turning 5. This great independent initiative linked independent booksellers together and created another way to order books instead of always heading to Amazon. Now they are about to add eBooks into the platform.

 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was the last word in authoritative knowledge when I was growing up. They are still around and having gone online early they are now embracing AI. This is a fascinating example of a publishing pivot. Mark Williams takes an in depth look at what they are doing. I don’t know about you but if I have to get information from an AI bot, I would prefer it to come from a trusted verified source, not a scraped chat forum.

 

Angela Ackerman has an interesting article on How Authors Thrive In A World Of AI-Generated Books. She has some great points to think about. Being human is your point of difference. As ever, she is a must read.

Meanwhile, Dale Roberts is talking about live video being the key to author visibility in 2025.

In The New Publishing Standard, Mark Williams shines a light on a publishing topic not much talked about, the three words ‘adjusted for inflation.’ Why don’t publishers show the real figures? 

 

Victoria Strauss does great work on Writer Beware and lately she has been looking at ghostwriting scams. She has a list of websites that are fronts for a scam publishing company.

 

Ah procrastination, what is stopping you from writing that novel? Barbara O’Neal has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the three things that cause procrastination. This is a must read if you want to conquer this insidious problem. Read It Now!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make themes work together- Jami Gold- Bookmark

How to write dark fantasy- Stephanie Wytovich

How to stay focused on your central conflict- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

World building lessons from Myst- Gabriela Pereira-Bookmark

5 wellness hacks to boost your writing- Colleen Story

 

In The Marketing Section,

Planning a book launch party- Tama Hela

 2 great posts from Sandra Beckwith- 3 Author marketing mistakes to avoid in 2025 and

Using AI as your author assistant - Bookmark

Is Facebook still worth it for writers- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to budget for your book- Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s been a rough old week in politics for the USA. For those of us looking on from afar we do feel for the people caught up in the middle. In this age of instant news and opinion it can feel overwhelming. “In war, truth is the first casualty” said Aeschylus in 500BC. When the world is wondering whether Mein Kampf, published in 1925 is being dusted off 100 years later to the detriment of another empire, it is courageous to stand up to your government and demand that they do better. One such person was the Bishop Mariann Budde who asked the new president point blank if he would protect the meek and helpless. Her words resonated around the world and now her book How We Learn To Be Brave, published in 2023 is being rushed into a second printing and is climbing the bestseller ranks. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? 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. Thanks.

 

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Going Back To The Quill

 

In publishing news this week,

 

Last week I was traveling so I didn’t post a weekly roundup. This week is the last weekly roundup for the year. Down Under it’s supposed to be Summer but the rain and the southerly blowing from Antarctica are screaming Winter vibes where I live. 

As I look over the year, Artificial Intelligence and its effect on the Publishing World, from outright abhorrence to tempered acceptance in some quarters has been the major story of the year. There has hardly been a week where I haven’t reported on some AI story. 

This week, Publishing Perspectives reports that the UK Publishers Association sees the UK government announcement of open consultation, to inform the legal framework around artificial intelligence and copyright, as the make or break moment for the publishing industry. All creative people have a vested interest in the outcome. The CEO of the Publishers Association describes it as “a generationally important moment for the creative industries.” 

Techcrunch reports that the HarperCollins CEO spoke at a recent conference citing Spotify’s entry into the audiobook market and AI’s impact on the publishing industry as the most important news of the year for the future of publishing. Techcrunch has more interesting commentary from the CEO.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors also reports on AI, with lawsuits being filed against new AI on the block Perplexity Ai. This AI company writes mini essays on topics in response to questions. But where is it getting the information from?

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard stops for a moment to castigate luddites for trying to hold onto the past when the future is changing everything around them. He is a school teacher in one of the poorest countries in the world and describes what it is like to teach a class with only one book, in a world where even dodgy internet can still deliver information to the most isolated communities. It is a luxury to be a luddite in these times.

 

Jane Friedman reminds new authors that publishing trade fairs are not for them. The world of the big trade fair is about rights selling and won’t get you that coveted publishing or agent contract. As people start gearing up for the Spring trade fairs next year, be mindful that there is always a scammer that will promise you publishing unicorns and rainbows if you will just hand them money.

 

It’s the end of the year so Publishers Weekly reports on what they think were the biggest stories of the year. I’m not sure I would agree with their list though. What do you think?

 

Being the end of the year, thoughts turn to reflecting on what you have learned. Katie Weiland looks at 8 important lessons she has learned over sixteen years and being the fabulous writing teacher that she is… it is all on craft.

 

Penny Sansevieri has a checklist of the top fifteen marketing things that you should revise or revamp to get ready for the new year.

 

Elizabeth Craig points out where new mystery writers are going wrong, they are forgetting to include the reader as a fellow sleuth. Keeping the clues to yourself is not how mysteries are supposed to work. Meanwhile, Gabriela Pereira of DIYMFA has an interesting article on why home improvement is like writing a book. 

 

It's the Christmas season and so gift giving is happening all over the place. If you are looking for writer gifts here are two sites to give you inspiration. Reedsy has their 2024 gift collection of goodies for writers. Etsy have a similar sized collection including candles that have that old library smell (without the dust.)

 

In The Craft Section,

Writing novellas- Tara Deal

Tough love approach to backstory- Barbara Linn Probst-

Bookmark

Three ways to set your character apart- Lucy Hay- Bookmark

Three act analysis of Pride and Prejudice- Gabriela Pereira

8 elements to create tension- Margot Conor- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

5 do’s and don’t’s to save money- Penny Sansevieri- Great advice!

15 book marketing articles from 2024- Sandra Beckwith- All you need, really.

Charles Duhigg talks Nonfiction book proposals with Joanna Penn- Excellent!

 

To Finish

In our family we mark important educational milestones with a Christmas gift of the same significance. On starting high school, a nice watch, on starting tertiary education, an engraved fountain pen. For the postgraduates in the house the fountain pen is similar to their working tools. But the youngest will be going into a completely sound orientated field. She still got a fountain pen, but it was of the feather quill variety which I note turned up in one of the writer’s gifts lists.

I came across this interesting article on fountain pens and their ability to unlock the creative in us, so it’s still an appropriate gift. If you need an excuse for getting an old-fashioned feather quill and ink, it could unlock your next fulfilling creative project.

 

Have a restful and safe holiday season. I will be back half way through next month after I have recovered from the extensive family traveling and gathering schedules that our end of year revolves around. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? The last newsletter for the year coming soon, 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 for Christmas, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

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Is It A Lemon?

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The unleashing of the AI monsters have many in publishing concerned. Two stories caught my eye and left me feeling faintly sick. It was predicted but seeing these things blatantly promoted is confronting. 

A publishing startup/ tech company has decided to disrupt publishing (why?) by using AI to help edit, polish, and sell books. Spines reckon they could publish 8000 books a year with this model. If you give them $5000 you will get their personal attention. 

If you have $5000 – pay for a decent editor and cover and do it yourself.

Following on from this was the wonderful idea of taking out of print classics and getting AI to write new forwards and repackage them for sale. Slate has an in depth article exposing one Get Rich Quick scheme to teach you how to do this. This is problematic if you don’t check where the AI is scraping its content from. You could be breaching all sorts of copyright with university presses or believing the outright lies that AI likes to spin. (N.B. AI is not a super intelligent version of an encyclopedia which has been vetted for veracity.) 

Get Rich Quick publishing schemes have been around forever and using AI is just the latest twist of lemon in the publishing cocktail. Often these schemes are a front for a scam or are morally dubious. 

If you care about producing quality work with your name on it, stay away from them.

 

In audio publishing news, Spotify announced a deal with Bloomsbury. It looks like Spotify are approaching traditional publishers and gobbling up direct deals. Amazon has quickly moved to offer more audio choice. Spotify want to be all things audible… can Amazon compete with this? Mark Williams takes a look at the seismic shift happening with Spotify.

 

The New York University’s Advanced Publishing Institute 5 day conference is open for registration. If you have a spare $5000 you can attend in January. Publishing Perspectives has a quick overview of one of the talks that will be given by Penguin Random House on Shifting Consumer Tastes in Social Media. They hope to give tangible advice on this and other thorny problems to the attendees. For that amount of money it will have to be gold plated!

 

Publishers Weekly is releasing some of the talks from Frankfurt. This interesting article caught my eye by Ed Nawotka on the explosion of AI startups dedicated to the publishing industry.

 

If you follow Taylor Swift you might have heard that she has a book coming out based around her Era’s tour. If you are in publishing you might be surprised that she has not partnered with any publisher. She has the money and the clout and the fan base to be successful without a publisher backing her. However, not all celebrity books do well. The Atlantic looks at how she might upend the model and will there be room for a traditional publishing partnership down the trail.

 

The biggest author publishing conference happened in Las Vegas this month. Written Word Media put together a takeaways article about the trends and issues that were discussed at Vegas. Collaboration is King. 

Derek Murphy ( Creativ Indie) shares his slide show presentation and talks about Authentic Creativity As A Response To Artificial Intelligence.

Back in the day when Twitter was young and had no inkling of what a new owner might do, the publishing world flocked to the social media site. Then things changed. Publishing industry folks left for other pastures and it became harder to get back the tribe you used to have. Bluesky has spent the last week adding almost a million users a day and the publishing industry people started to flock together. Rachel Thompson takes a look at whether Bluesky will work for writers. 

 

Darcy Pattison has put together an excellent article on how to take a rights released book from Traditional Publishing and give it a whole new lease of life. Those books that didn’t get their series finished or didn’t find their audience don’t have to be consigned to the dustbin.

If you are struggling with NaNoWriMo this month you are not alone. Elinor Florence writes on Jane Friedman’s blog about how she got through the train wreck of her own NaNoWriMo project.  

In The Craft Section,

Going deeper with characterization- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark

Balancing your cast of characters- September Fawkes

Don’t tie your story up in a neat bow- P J Parrish- Bookmark

How to write great dialogue- C S Lakin- Bookmark

What is your characters wounding event- Sue Coletta

 

In the Marketing Section,

Is your target readership meaningful to agents and publishers- Jane Friedman- Bookmark

5 essential steps to maximise your books success-Written Word Media- Bookmark

Social Media engagement- a how to from Hootsuite- Comprehensive

What to do when book sales start slipping- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

Turbocharging book sales with preorders- Mark Coker

 

To Finish

It’s Black Friday this week and there are deals galore for writers out there. You can check out Dave Chesson’s huge list of deals. 

If you are thinking about  Christmas/ Holiday gifts check out Sandra Beckwith’s big list of goodies designed for writers.

Infostack have their big bundle of writer resources on sale again.

Yes, It’s that time of the year already. The Credit Card Crunch!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? 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. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash

Writing Resistance

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

AI is back in the news in publishing, specifically how big the international petition calling for a halt to unlicensed use of creative work for training AI is. Publishing Perspectives looks at the big players that have signed and how critical this is to put a stake in the ground for creative livelihood.

 

Frankfurt has wrapped up. One of the interesting sessions which reflects the uneasy feelings of global politics was the session on Storytelling as Resistance. This article has some great statements which could be important to reflect on in the coming months. This one caught my eye. “Storytelling is a tool for human rights…”

 

Publishers Weekly has an article on a new imprint from Penguin partnering with John Green- Crash Course. This builds on the popular Crash Course YouTube channel that he started with his brother Hank over a decade ago. These books are aimed at young adults/students non fiction. The first book on tuberculosis has a 500,000 print run ordered. Just contemplate that last sentence again. If you haven’t investigated Crash Course and you have a teen getting ready for exams point them in this direction. My PHD student child swears by the physics courses which helped her at Uni.

Rachel Thompson has an in depth article looking at the prevailing scams targeting authors at the moment. Facebook scammers are quite prevalent. Scammers are getting more sophisticated so check out this article. Rachel has quite a few tips to show you what to look for. 

 

Publishers Weekly also has an article on Lit RPG becoming a mainstream genre rather than an interesting niche genre for gaming aficionados. Lit RPG is Literature based on Role Playing Games. Ready Player One was the crossover hit. But it now includes anime and other big interests of today’s young adults.

 

Thomas Umstattd has a deep dive into the two act chiastic storytelling structure that is used in anime and manga. He looks at best sellers over the years that have used this eastern form of storytelling. Dracula fits this storytelling structure as does Goodnight Moon.

 

Kim Bullock shares her journey of Promoting Literacy with a side of Activism on Writer Unboxed. This is a subtle form of putting a stake in the literary ground without confronting or using a loud hailer to get your point across.

 

Stephen Pressfield, known for his popular books on creative resistance has been writing a really interesting series of posts on how to get to the 'I love you stage' in your writing. This is not just for romance writers. There is an I love you stage in all genres. Check out this post and then deep dive into the series.

 

Marissa Graff has an interesting article on when you start to lose your readers trust. 

 

In the Craft Section,

How to master story rhythm- Sue Coletta- Bookmark

2 elements you need to catch readers- C S Lakin

Types of POV head hopping- K M Weiland- Bookmark

5 plot hacks that can save your novel- Susan DeFreitas- Bookmark

9 ways to craft the perfect opening line- Ryan Lanz

 

In the Marketing Section,

7 ways to promote your book on Goodreads- Rob Bignall

Book marketing on a budget- Jenn DePaula- Bookmark

How to write a book press release- Fussy Librarian- Bookmark

Master consistency to promote an indie published book- Penny Sansevieri

The must have author success checklist- podcast from Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Joanna Penn has a great interview with Rachel McLean about scaling your author business. This interview had me thinking about all the possible ways to spin off stories, work with different tools and ways to work differently. If you are wondering how to scale the next mountain in your author journey this is a must listen or read. Absolutely fascinating.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? 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 all your kind virtual coffee love, 

Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by ALEXANDRE DINAUT on Unsplash

Accessing your Fearless Superpower

 

 

This week in Publishing News

Coming soon are the new European Union laws on accessibility. This matters as digital books, if they are being sold in Europe, will need to comply with the accessibility guidelines. Publishing Perspectives reports that publishers are already asking for more clarification. Meanwhile Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors has written a quick breakdown of what you need to do. First, use the Epub format.

 

Frankfurt Bookfair is ready to start, and Porter Anderson interviewed the fellows in the Special Program. They are all publishers who are near or in war zones. This is an interesting article that shines a light of the problems of publishing in a war zone.

 

Mark Williams looks at how Korea is managing to be nimble as they stay ahead of trends. This is interesting as smaller publishers can quickly pivot into new genre trends. It’s all about Horror right now but Happiness is around the corner.

 

Written Word Media has a comprehensive guide to Tax Deductions for authors. Even though the article is skewed towards the American tax system there are still items that go across all taxed nations. Take a look you might be able to claim back some tax.

 

Kevin Anderson has curated another StoryBundle of Writing Craft books. StoryBundle is a great way to get books – You pay what you think they are worth- The Author gets the money- A charity gets a slice, and everybody is happy. Don’t forget that reference books can be claimed on Tax as professional development.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Ariel Curry on non fiction writing and marketing recently. If you have some non fiction projects that you want to dig your teeth into, check out the podcast transcript.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a comprehensive guide on the Ethical and Practical use of AI for authors. This is a very useful article to help you understand how to use AI tools. Publishers are already getting on the AI train. You don’t need to use it for creativity but it could speed up those mundane challenging jobs that are part and parcel of the authors world.

 

Colleen Story has a great post on How to identify your writing business relationship type. She uses 5 well known stories to help you pinpoint where your writer business is and how you could help it get better.

 

The dream team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have ticked over nine years with their great website One Stop For Writers. Take a look at all their resources and take advantage of the birthday discount. 

 

Greer McAlister has an interesting post in Writer Unboxed about ideas and how you can have many of them but they aren’t necessarily book ideas. Figuring out which ones are book ideas is the hard part.

 

Katie Weiland is up to the climax in her story structure series of posts. This is where the story lives or dies.

In The Craft Section,

All the different words for hard- Kathy Steinemann

Vulnerability in fiction- Angela Ackerman

The book in your head vs the book you write- Kathleen McCleary - Bookmark

Beta reader options- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

7 tips for perfect character names- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Writing good bio’s- Bang 2 Write- Bookmark

How to be a great guest blogger- Sandra Beckwith

Lessons in Business Cards and Bookmarks- Debbie Burke- Bookmark

How Substack is revolutionizing writer careers- Jaime Buckley

How to get your book into libraries- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is admit that you are an author. Aside from the inane comments like – have I read anything that you have written, or I’ve got an idea for a book, you write it and we’ll split the money, writers can feel shame that they have written something that didn’t quite work. Jennie Case writes about these feelings on Jane Friedman’s blog. It is natural to feel hesitant when you put your writing out there. But you do it. This is what Bridey Thelen-Heidel calls Fearless Writing. How to look the world in the eye and write and live fearlessly.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links 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. Thanks.

 

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