In Publishing News this week.
Spare a thought for the publishing community on the American Continent. With the new tariffs kicking in this week, the publishing community has been looking at their supply chains and wincing. They can’t print in China, the tariffs will hit them. They can print in America, but the bulk of their paper supply comes from Canada. If you want a Spanish language book- it comes from Mexico. Publishers Weekly takes a look at what else is going to hit hard for the publishing and writing community.
The London Book Fair is next week, and the International Publishing Associations president will be talking about sustainability and the importance of books for today’s issues. Publishing Perspectives has a great article on the president who knows first hand how books are important in a repressed society. “Our weapon is our knowledge.”
In the audiobook world- The Audies (awards for audiobooks) have just been awarded. If you check the list, they have awards in all sorts of fields. Many actors are featured as narrators.
While the dream of a full cast of characters with famous actors might be beyond the purse strings of many authors, the AI voiced audiobook is getting more attention. Eleven Labs has launched an app that publishes audiobooks on their own site. It’s almost a one stop shop. Also making waves is their new deal with Spotify which offers 100% royalties to the author.
Eleven Labs has a voice cloning service which might be useful to think about. Clone your voice and then publish your audio books. It could be a good option if you can’t pay for studio time to narrate yourself.
If you have ever wondered how to get a look inside preview on your website, this article from The New Publishing Standard will be of interest. Bowker has partnered with Indie Commerce – the commerce arm of the American Booksellers Association to make Book2look widely available.
Have you spent long hours in the university library trying to track down source material for your professor? Spare a thought for those institutions whose job it is to provide you the wide-ranging collection of sources. Academic libraries are being hit with huge subscription fees to access research from publishers. Publisher’s Weekly reports that the move is destabilizing the library and university press market.
This new move is punishing…right when we need access to knowledge. Sadly, the altruistic reasons for the internet - where you would be able to access the worlds knowledge wherever you are - is now paywalled behind data bases who are charging $25,000 for access.
Are writers uniquely vulnerable to getting scammed? Victoria Strauss gets asked this question a lot. She has been writing about writer scams for over twenty five years and there is always something new. We are not alone but we may be an easier target.
When you are eyeball deep in your manuscript it can be difficult to figure out where you should put breaks in the story. You don’t want to confuse the reader but ramping up tension is better if you leave the reader hanging. What to do? Reavis Wortham recently tackled this dilemma, with the article Give Me a Break on the Killzone blog.
Katie Weiland has a great craft article on your character’s three choices. They must have a fundamental choice, a primary choice, and a secondary choice. This is a print out and study article for learning about crafting characters.
In The Craft Section,
The top 20 developmental mistakes- Jenn Windrow- Bookmark
Deep POV checklist- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark
Scars tell a story- Sue Coletta
Section breaks and how to use them- Kathy Steinemann
Best ways to pace your story- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
What to do with one star reviews- Sandra Beckwith-Bookmark
Bookmarketing planning and strategy- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
Social Media for authors- Evergreen Authors
How to write an Author Bio- Penny Sansevieri
Marketing for introverts- Laura Gallier
To Finish,
Bands have discovered that playing live and selling merch is almost the only way they can make a living in these streaming times. Writers are now seeing the benefits of selling extra physical products, but you need to be discerning. You don’t want your brand on a crappy product. Check out this comprehensive article from the Alliance of Independent Authors about Author Merchandise. It can be a nice sideline along with audiobooks and writer’s special edition formats. It’s your IP. If it wasn’t important there wouldn’t be a clause in the standard publishing contract about it.
Maureen
@craicer
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