Can We Get Off The Roller Coaster?

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

It’s been a tricky old week if you have been watching the tariff brinkmanship going on and wondering what this will do to the global economy. Closer to home writers and publishers are wondering what it will mean for the book industry. If you are in the USA and get your books printed in China, you may be lucky as so far books have been exempt from tariffs, unfortunately paper and ink imported into the USA from China is not. Kathleen Schmidt has a quick run down on what the American Booksellers Association is saying about tariffs.

 

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair has just wrapped up and interesting articles have come out of the presentations at the fair. Publisher’s Weekly reports on the panel discussion with audio publishers at the fair. There is an emphasis from audio publishers to snap up all audio rights so they can be in control when new formats arrive in this space. If you aren’t sure what I mean, think AI audio books, AI translated audiobooks etc.

Publisher’s Weekly also had an informative article on what everyone was buying at Bologna, the trends in children’s books, Romantasy might be over, and what everyone is doing about middle grade books. If you write in this space, it’s a must read.

 

In wider publishing news, last week I wrote that the staff of The Institute of Museum and Library Services – the body that oversees funding for libraries have been placed on administrative leave. This week the American Library Association has gone into bat for them with a court case suing The President, the DOGE executive, and the directors of the Institute. 

 

The American Publishers Association co-hosted a day long forum to look at the threat of AI on creative license. This is to tie in with the recently introduced bill – The TRAIN act, or Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks. Your creativity rights are in the constitution. (Looking from outside the USA, I wonder for how long…)

 

The Guardian has written an article looking at book banning and who are actually behind the majority of the book bans, and it is not individual concerned parents but interest groups. 

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware does a fantastic job of keeping up with the scam artists out there. In her latest article she turns the spotlight on a new scam that uses identity theft to impersonate editors and agents with pre-paid commissions and contracts that have been copied from Penguin Random House. This is a must read for all writers. You might feel that you know enough about what is happening to spot a scam, but many writers don’t. If they do a cursory search to see if the editor is legit, it looks like it… then the fish hooks start happening. At the very least you will be able to tell a newbie writer what to look for in this new scam.

 

Dan Holloway of The Alliance of Independent Authors talks about a new feature being rolled out by Amazon for the Kindle, ReCaps… where an AI will tell you what’s happened in the story so far, if you are following a series. I can’t see anything problematic here at all….

 

Cassie Manns Murray a book publicist has an interesting opinion piece about Publishers Weekly’s new move to charge a $25 submission fee for a potential review. It is not guaranteed. If they do this will others follow? This is a good piece on how hard it is juggle publicity around publishing dates.

 

A writer recently asked me if was programming another writers conference what topics would be on my must have list. Contracts, Understanding Intellectual Property, and Literary Estates. This century so far has seen huge changes to each of these three important facets of the writing and publishing life. This week Madeleine L’Engle’s literary executor, her granddaughter, has an interesting article covering these topics in a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog. Planning for the life of your work (even if you are not famous yet.)

 

In The Craft Section,

Humanity over AI- your difference – Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

The importance of flaws- Beem Weeks

What is play by play in writing- September Fawkes – Bookmark

Search Out The Unexpected- Kathleen McCleary-

3 Writing aspects you should never mess with- Julie Glover- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Parts of a book – a primer- Fictionary

Step by step to profitable ads- Bookbub- Bookmark

3 unconventional ways to market- Savannah Cordova- Bookmark

Why Quality Counts- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

How to grow your list with giveaways- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

 

To Finish

If you have been feeling battered by this week’s news and the constant churn of the news cycle which never has any good news. Chuck Wendig has a post on his blog that you can read that explains your feelings- What it feels like right now- It’s hard to hope.

 

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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Reading Success

 

London Book Fair is over and in comes Bologna Children’s Book Fair. I like to think it’s the most important because without creating readers the other book fairs wouldn’t exist. 

Publishers Weekly has a deep dive into what the big topics are at Bologna. The crisis in early literacy is worrying and have the covid years caused a reading slump or is it cyclical?

 

Graphic novels are now one of the biggest formats at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. There are many interesting moves in this area reports Publishers Weekly. One thing that caught my eye in this article was audio books scripts generated by graphic novels.

 

The awards for Children’s Publisher of the year at Bologna is always a great event. The world is divided into six continent-ish zones and so there are six winners. Publishing Perspectives has a run down of the winners. Congratulations to Mila’s Books from New Zealand which took out the Oceania prize.

 

In another attack on literacy in the United States-The staff of The Institute of Museum and Library Services – the body that oversees funding for libraries have been placed on administrative leave according to Publishers Weekly. Hopefully their jobs can be saved.

 

Also closing their doors is NaNoWriMo. After a turbulent year and falling memberships the organization has closed. NaNoWriMo was a great idea and many bestsellers got their start in the white hot frenzy of writing a novel in a month.

 

Ingram Spark’s new book to screen database, MediaScout is now live. Publisher’s Weekly reports they already have an impressive number of books in the catalogue.

 

Mark Williams looks at the latest fallout of Meta AI and the proposed tariffs that had a good portion of the world on edge. While Mark see’s the value in some AI tools on the basis of its coming anyway we may as well use it. Dan Holloway looks at the impact AI has had on translators and artists. 

 

Teri Case writing on Jane Friedman’s blog looks at how AI made her want to trademark her name and how she went about it. This came about because Jane Friedman’s name had been stolen and pasted on AI generated books last year. Amazon wouldn’t take the books down because Jane hadn’t trademarked her name. 

 

Kathleen Schmidt has a fascinating article on book publicity. She dives into when and how to connect to your audience and book publicists. This is a must read if you have a book ready to release into the world.

 

Sandra Beckwith has a list of useful apps and tools to help the writer.

 

Donald Maass writing on Writer Unboxed has an excellent craft article on the hidden reason why readers read. Donald has excellent advice on how to craft your plot to hit all the right cues. A must read!

 

In The Craft Section,

The wolf under the table- J Scott Coatsworth

How conflict enhances your story- Ellen Buikema- Bookmark

4 stages of knowing in character arcs- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Using writing prompts to unstick yourself- Savannah Cordova

Dialogue mechanics- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to get accepted by a distributor- Bokbaby- Bookmark

Marketing tips for a new genre- an example - Bookbub

Author swag and merch- IWSG- Bookmark

Amazon central changes – Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to sell on Amazon – Dave Chesson – updated- Comprehensive!

 

To Finish

The world can be filled with negativity everywhere you look. It’s hard to stay upbeat when you feel bludgeoned by the daily news. In writing we can so often feel discouraged about our work. Harper Ross had a timely post on Writer Unboxed last week -The importance of defining success for yourself. This is a little reality check to recognize the wins in your creative life and celebrate them.

 

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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Publishing: An International Conundrum

  

In Publishing News this week,

 

The London Book Fair is on and as usual the trade publishing world stops to reassess where everything is and what might befall them in the coming year. They kicked off LBF with a discussion on books and what’s selling with James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones and Barnes and Noble, and David Shelley CEO of Hachette. Thank goodness Booktok is still a thing. 

 

NeilsenIQ presented data at The London Book Fair on how the international book markets were doing based on sales figures from last year. There was a little bump up from pretty much everyone except New Zealand where it went down by 3%. This is worrying if you publish and sell books in New Zealand. Come on Kiwi’s we’ve taken hit after hit in publishing lately- give us some love!

 

While everyone seems to be focused on tariffs, spare a thought for Mexican publishers. Publishing Perspectives looks at how they are responding to the tariff trade war with their neighbor to the north.

 

Princeton University Press is partnering with other North American publishers outside of academia to bring a wider selection of books to their branch in China. Publishing Perspectives gives the low down. 

 

Dan Holloway talks about the rise of memberships in Libro.fm. Libro.fm is the audiobook partner of Bookshop.org which is the independent response to Amazon. It wouldn’t have anything to do with tariffs, would it? Maybe its anti-oligarch sentiment?

 

Kathleen Schmidt has an interesting article on the business decision of cancelling a book contract. This follows the news that a book was canceled by its publisher as the author was not prepared to make the changes they requested. As always there are two sides to the story. 

 

Anne R Allen has revived her excellent writing blog after her hiatus. She has an interesting article on how an all-out effort to write a novel resulted in a form of depression and how this is actually common. She also writes about how blogging is not dead, in fact it is very much alive and an interesting alternative to newsletters. I’m only a month off 17 years blogging. There are very few of us around from the good old days. *waves madly at Anne*

 

Anne Janzer writes on Jane Friedman’s blog about Dodging the Scarcity Trap. Is your book idea really unique? Should you be worried that others might steal the concept?

 

Lisa Norman writes on Writers In The Storm about the No Burnout Plan For Writers. If you are feeling overwhelmed, this is the post for you . 

 

The excellent Roz Morris talks about the hero’s journey and archetypes. Have you ever thought about yourself and your writing journey as the hero? Who are your archetype mentors and villains? This is a great post!

 

In The Craft Section,

Deepen character development- Selene Silver- Bookmark

Story Non Negotiables- Storygrid- Bookmark!

6 tips for constructing a heroic sacrifice- Mythcreants

Choosing themes for stories- Isabella Peralta- Bookmark

How to revise and save your novel- Matthew Norman

 

In The Marketing Section,

Elevate your social media presence- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

27 Fun April holidays for book promo- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Marketing using your Amazon author page- Rob Bignall

5 valuable writing tools- Colleen Story- Bookmark

How to record your own audiobooks- Draft2Digital

Podcasting as an author -Tyrean Martinson

 

To Finish,

Recently Joanna Penn interviewed Jacob Nordby about creativity and overcoming fear. It is an interesting interview about creativity and change and failure and all sorts of thought provoking stuff. The publishing world has been changing so rapidly in the last decade and now our geopolitical world is being shaken up. We are all feeling uncertain and worried, embracing our creativity might be just what we need.

 

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.

 

Photo by Andrew Stutesman on Unsplash

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

 

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

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If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

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

Viability and Curiosity

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

January seems to be the month where the accountants have come back to work and said… Your business is not viable. 

The latest to crash is Unbound, a crowdfunding venture that I covered when they launched in 2011. It was a brave new world then and upvoting books to get published was a new exciting thing.

Also in the red is The Good Literary Agency which began in 2018 with a huge 500,000 pound grant. They were focused mainly on discovering marginalized authors in the hopes of uncovering potential runaway bestsellers to keep them viable. They discovered some but not enough. They close their doors in March.

 

Ahh TikTok, you came, you went, you came back. For everyone who has a business that is based on TikTok they recently had quite a scare. Publishing commentator Kathleen Schmidt has a great article on how you should be managing your social media content. First make it shareable. 

 

While this business is hard there is always room for hope with exciting new ventures just around the corner. Ingram Content Group (Ingram printers etc etc) have just launched a new business Film and TV rights marketplace, MediaScout. Publishing Perspectives has the low down.

 

Mark Williams has an article on The Alpine Collective, a new group that aims to help publishers across the globe use each other’s strengths to navigate new formats and territories. This is one of those groups that people often speculate would be amazing if only someone would do it… someone did. 

 

BookFunnel is a great company who got started when an author decided to take the pain out of download assistance for book buyers along the way he happened to solve other pain problems. Now they are venturing into helping with Direct Sales and have partnered with a company to manage the tax headache.

 

I was alerted to the coming closure of the Mobi format in the last week. Ho hum you say it’s been closed for a while. Yes. But after March the Mobi format will no longer be supported on Amazon. You might need to check if your mobi files will still be viable. You can use Kindle Create to construct picture books or image heavy books for EReaders in the Epub format. 

 

Bologna Children’s Book Fair is coming up fast at the end of March. They will be hosting an inaugural AI Summit at the fair specifically looking at how to leverage AI to enhance profitability in publishing. Publisher’s Weekly reports on their summit plans.

 

While you are coming to grips with AI – there is new technology right around the corner using it to develop other nifty tools like taking a 2D image and turn it into a 3D image and then animating it or generating a printer plan etc. Why is this important? Merchandise.  Mark Williams looks at the advantages for publishers.

 

James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones and Barnes and Noble has had an interesting five years at the helm of B&N and he has no plans to leave. In fact, he is just getting started. If you live in a town with a Barnes and Noble store, check it out. James wants a more local focus in each of the stores.  

 

Eleanor Hecks has a great article on how you can stay hopeful in a tough publishing climate. Sally Hamer has an excellent article on Why we don’t believe in our own writing. If you have ever looked at your work and reached for the bin… Stop. Maybe your judgement is flawed.

 

In The Craft Section

Use hidden experiences for empathy-Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

8 steps for getting better at editing- Ali Luke- Bookmark

5 phases to writing a fantasy novel- BookBaby

Dissecting Voice- Dave King

Therese Walsh writes about the LA wildfires leading to character understanding. What would you save in a fire? - Excellent!

 

In the Marketing Section,

13 bookmarketing tips- Victoria Jayne- Bookmark

Book promotion ideas- BookBaby

Unleash your Social Media potential- Rachel Thompson has an excellent article on Social Media now and how to navigate it. Bookmark

 

Sam Missingham has a fabulous video up on her YouTube channel that she did for a recent conference on how to create reader communities. Five creative ways authors can harness fans to sell books. Must Watch

 

To Finish,

In November last year, the Author Nation (the successor to 20booksto50K) conference happened. It’s the largest Indie Writers conference in the world. They have all the big industry players there and the conference is a bucket list item for many writers who live far from Las Vegas. The Indie Author magazine scored a coup by being allowed to show one of the keynote presentations. Be entertained and also learn about the curiosity gap and how you can put it in your writing with Drew Davis. 

Writers have bags of curiosity…make it work for you!

 

 

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.

 

Photo by François Verbeeck on Unsplash