In Publishing News This Week
Another week, another news story on the Institute of Museum and Library Services, this time it’s an open letter to Harper Collins. Everyone else has made the campaign to save the Institute a priority- why haven’t they?
In the UK, a new survey on reading finds that nearly half of the adults surveyed struggled to finish a book. This should be ringing all sorts of alarm bells. Most reported that they had seen a significant shift in their lack of reading in the last three years.
Barbara O’Neal’s article on Writer Unboxed about The War of Attention is a timely reminder to be proactive in carving out reading time.
Sara Hildreth also has a great post on types of reading slumps and how to fix them. If we all share these articles around we might get some people reading again. It can only be good for us.
Recently I was out with family, and we were in a pub that had been decorated with old Reader's Digest books. You know the ones, four abridged stories in one volume. I had to explain to the teen what they were. Book subscription boxes are on the up reports The Guardian. In fact they are becoming so popular as a curated reading experience that they are starting publishing companies.
Richard Charkin writes on the existential threat to publishing. Which one I hear you mutter. Yes it’s all of the above but the biggest threat according to Richard is the publishing industry itself.
While we are lamenting reading with our eyes, perhaps we could take some time to look at reading with our ears. The rise of Spotify and its commitment to audiobooks, especially the launch of its short form audio this year, has reaped a big industry prize, says Dan Holloway.
Authors are taking advantage of the short form audio boom and reaping a nice pay day with 2000 word novellas. Revenue exceeded $2Billion in podcast advertising writes Mark Williams.
The Alliance of Independent Authors writes on how to use short form audio to your advantage. Meanwhile, over on The Creative Penn, Joanna has an interview with Derek Slaton on how he is using short form audio as serialized chapters on YouTube. This is a fascinating look at another form of storytelling with podcasting and YouTube.
Anne R Allen has revised her post of 10 pieces of bad advice new authors get from their unhelpful friends.- Hands up if you have received more than one of these gems of bad advice.
Terry Odell has a super post on the very underrated super power that every writer has. It has nothing to do with structure and everything to do with voice.
In The Craft Section,
2 great articles from Becca Puglisi-6 tips for creating chemistry between characters and Effective dialogue techniques- Bookmark
How to use asides- Arthur Plotnik
Writing a fall arc- K M Weiland – Bookmark!
Villains vs Antogonists- Debbie Burke- Bookmark
Unforgettable villains- Masterclass
In The Marketing Section,
How to define a strong author brand- Jenny Hansen- Bookmark
Teachers guides with AI- Darcy Pattison
How to talk about your book ahead of publication- SamMissingham
Crucial elements to an author website-Carlyn Robertson- Bookmark
Prize ideas for promotions-Bookbub- Bookmark
To Finish,
Dan Blank takes the concept of the writers voice and expands it in this great article on the incredible power an author has to take us out of our daily life and into another world. He writes about how to use your writer friends to challenge yourself to go deeper as a writer. We all have a unique voice, are we using it in our writing?
Maureen
@craicer
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