And we’re back…Hello 2025.
So down under - it’s supposed to be Summer but we have been getting cold snaps. Summer taunts us by appearing on different single days. Meanwhile, in the Northern hemisphere its Winter and California has been hit by devasting wildfires. I think we can agree that the climate has changed. Publishers Weekly has an article on how the publishing industry is helping out in California. There is some good advice for small publishers in there about prepping for disasters, business wise.
The Christmas/New Year break saw a bankruptcy filing that alarmed a lot of people in the publishing industry. Diamond Comics filed for bankruptcy. The news rocked the comics publishing world as they are one of the big distributors of comics to bookstores. One commentator has described it as the make or break moment for the comics industry.
Comics are big business. While Diamond owes PRH $9 million which helped to trigger the bankruptcy, other companies are full steam ahead in publishing comic book versions of their intellectual property. Mattel are doing big deals for manga versions of their hot properties Barbie and Hot Wheels. Mark Williams talks about the new deal and its implications.
Publishing Perspectives has the follow-up article on the Created by Humans business which has officially started with some big author names backing it. This is a marketplace to sell licenses to AI to use your creative work, amongst other ideas.
Remember, if you create it, you own the copyright. If someone copies your work without paying for it, it is theft. There is a huge market for Intellectual Property assets. Publishers are valued, bought, and sold on the size of their IP assets which is why publishers want as many rights from the creator as they can get. It is all valuable and on the asset side of the ledger. Even if they never use those e-book rights, or special edition, or audiobook rights in Spanish. Whoever holds the IP has the potential to make money. With AI doing some underhanded scraping last year – this is an attempt to control the playing field.
If you have been reading the blog for a time and following the news in the publishing industry you might have forgotten that eBooks are still new in some countries. The New Publishing Standard reports that Greece is about to take the plunge with eBooks.
We are a quarter of the way through the current century, and it’s been a wild ride in publishing. However, there are still questions from new writers about how to publish. Writers in the Storm contributor Gale Leach has expanded Jane Friedman’s article of the different ways to publish by looking at the keywords Responsibility and Control. How much of each do you want to give up?
In the UK the Society of Authors is protesting against the BBC’s new move to discontinue audio drama. This is a blow for authors and a boon for audio book publishers they say. Audio drama is another format to interest and publicise books to a new audience. Here in New Zealand, we have a similar argument happening with our state broadcaster who is not even reviewing New Zealand books, let alone making dramatic readings of them. Our Society of Authors published a stinging criticism of what is happening. No one is holding their breath to see if it will get covered by other news media. After all, how does a country define its culture…, music, art, stories… or, if you are a broadcaster, news and sport. We have made huge movements in covering women’s sport in the last five years, wouldn’t it be great if there was a cultural segment as well?
A first roundup of publishing news and interesting craft and marketing information wouldn’t be complete without a predictions for 2025. Written Word Media pulled out their crystal ball and found 10 trends and predictions for the publishing industry . I agree with every one of them. They also have a great article on how to grow your author business in 2025 without losing your mind.
Elizabeth Rynecki has a guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog on avoiding creative slumps by changing your writing and publishing medium. If you are looking for a new project this might tick your creative buttons.
The Dream Team of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are back in 2025 with their great website and blog full of resources but I have discovered that they are venturing into video. Check out this great little episode on inciting incidents by Becca.
In the Craft Section,
The role of narration in storytelling- Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark
In search of the well crafted sentence – C S Lakin- Bookmark
Look to the past for your writing future- Eldrid Bird
StoryGrid- Resource page- full of goodies!
What happens when there is no plot- September Fawkes- Bookmark
In the Marketing Section,
Authors and Bookclubs- Sandra Beckwith
Broad vs Niche keywords (2025)- Dave Chesson - Bookmark
Social media for authors in 2025-Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
How to make an author website – Bookbaby
Selling books from your own website- Morgana Best- Bookmark
To Finish
I’m a fan of podcasts and I have a few that are regular listens. While I am on my summer break, I try to stay off the computer and focus only on being present with my family. Even if it’s reading a paper book in the same room. So, this week as I walked back into my study, I stopped to check out a couple of my favourite podcasts. The Spa Girls have a super interview with Ines Johnson on direct selling and special editions. Joanna Penn always has an interesting goal setting podcast show for the beginning of the new year.
It’s time to get cracking and creating!
Maureen
@craicer
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