Looking For A Life Ring.

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

Just after I published last week’s blog news broke about Meta forcing a book take down. I published a note about it in my Substack blog version. The Streisand Effect is in full flight as many are picking up the book to see what the fuss is about. A tell all about the Meta company by an ex -employee. The author is barred from talking about the book. Kathleen Schmidt has the details. The Kiwi author was due to be interviewed on our state radio last Friday but the take down went into effect forcing the termination of the interview.

 

The London Bookfair is over for another year and Publishing Perspectives talks about their impressions of the fair. It looks like the new venue isn’t wonderful, but the deal hall is getting bigger. What happens when you sacrifice comfort for turnout at a bookfair? 

 

While the UK had a seven week consulting period on AI and copyright, the US has just had a three week consultation period on the same issue. Publishing Perspectives looks at publishers viewpoints on this and their warning over the fair use defense. US publishers were scrambling to put in a submission. This is a comprehensive article, and they draw on responses from the Associations of American Publishers. They quote from the American government AI action plan.

The American “AI Action Plan” is not as detailed and structured an approach as the British proposal is. Instead, the US plan—described in the current administration’s fondness for comparative bravura—”will define priority policy actions to enhance America’s position as an AI powerhouse and prevent unnecessarily burdensome requirements from hindering private sector innovation. With the right governmental policies, continued US artificial intelligence leadership will promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

 

Publishers Weekly has an interesting article on a survey of Spanish language publishing professionals 75% of whom believe that the adoption of AI is unavoidable. Diving into the article there is a sort of cost benefit analysis. It is a great tool, but it could threaten jobs. Is there an upside?

 

Mark Williams points out that the robot rebellion is underway with an AI refusing to do the work of a coder. Mark also looks at lessons for book publishers learned from watching television morph into streaming. He says that publishing history is active resistance, passive acceptance, and eventual embrace. 

 

Bloomsbury is expanding its imprints. Harry Potter may have saved them, but Sarah J Mass is keeping them going and now they are acknowledging this by having a dedicated imprint for Science Fiction and Fantasy. It only took them 25 years.

 

Spotify is expanding its audiobook platform to include short form audiobooks from Indie publishers. Dan Holloway writes about this latest move and who will benefit from it.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has an interview with Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy on Marketing and what he sees as important for 2025.

 

Darcy Pattison has in interesting article on using AI to do preliminary copy editing. This is how she saves herself time but while she uses these and other tools she does go through a human editor as well.

 

P J Parrish has a great article on giving your secondary characters some love. Do they even have a growth arc in your story? 

 

Oliver Fox has a guest article on Katie Weilands blog which explores an alternative narrative structure. This is thought provoking stuff. We all have a favourite book that seems to break the rules of classic storytelling structure. This approach maybe the structure that resonates with you.

 

In The Craft Section,

2 fantastic articles from September Fawkes on Structuring scenes and Alternative views of basic story structure- Bookmark Both!

How to master the passage of time- C S Lakin

How to write a likable character- Lucy Hay- Bookmark

The 5 leaf clover structure of story genre- Storygrid- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

How to create email press releases to journalists- Sandra Beckwith

SEO for authors in 2025- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Pricing strategies to sell more books- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

10 tips for public appearances- Kathryn Craft- Bookmark

What do you do when the book reviewer says yes- Karen Cioffi

 

To Finish,

Who are you online? Michelle Cutler writing on Jane Friedman’s blog has a warning. If you don’t define and present yourself online, others will. How do you define yourself? Has it changed from the first time you put up a website?

 

With all the future talk of AI now becoming present talk, and in your face AI, it is worth dropping into Joanna Penn’s website to checking out all the articles and interviews she has done on the future of publishing. She offers ways to approach the changes that are now here and how to use them. Joanna advocates for using AI as a tool and doubling down on human experiences for your readers. 

We are in another publishing revolution. It might be time to hunt down a life ring for comfort and safety. 

 

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.

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 virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

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

Working Together

In Publishing News this week

 

If you have been reading my publishing roundup for a few years you will know that every now and then I state that co-operatives are the way to go in publishing. Writer co-operatives or marketing co-operatives once started, seem to be the bee’s knees in terms of collegial support for all the writers concerned. So it was with interest that I saw this news article on a publishing co-operative from Publishers Weekly. (What took them so long?) A group of small publishers banding together to share resources and help each other out. It’s a no brainer and totally good news in today’s world.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports that youth masculinity seem to be the flavour of the year with the Carnegie long list being announced. Is the pendulum swinging back?

 

How many small press founders do you know? What gender are they? Publishers Weekly have a great article on how women keep reinventing publishing with independent presses.

 

Booksellers in the UK are having an awareness day, Bookselling Is Not A Crime, in support of educational booksellers that have been arrested for the crime of selling books that might challenge the prevailing propaganda. When speech is not free in so called free speech countries. 

 

GoodEReader reports that The Braille Institute has introduced a new font for e Readers. This is good news if you want to be supportive of the disability community.

 

Two great podcasters got together to talk about second editions. Joanna Penn appeared on The Indy Author podcast with Matty Dalrymple. The podcast was wide ranging and including author evolving business models along with updated editions of best selling books. Check out the transcript or listen to these great women talk about the business.

 

This week Katie Weiland talked about self doubt and the way you can work with it. Doubt is not a stop sign but a challenge to grow. She has five proven ways to conquer self doubt.

 

Gabriela Pereira has an interesting article on DIYMFA about Goal Setting.  When you come to set those goals are you choosing the right mountains to climb. This could make the difference between achieving the summit or falling off the cliff.

 

Staying with goal setting, Emma Billington has a great article on Jane Friedman’s blog on a tomato a day… or the pomodoro method. If you haven’t come across this for writing – it is brilliant!

 

A space of ones own. This is the dream of all writers. A room that they can escape to and have everything sorted the way they want it. But is it the room? Is it the state of mind? Sue Coletta writes about the challenges of finding the space to write.

 

In The Craft Section,

Point of view and head hopping- Anne R Allen

A complete guide to revising your novel- Lynette Burrows- BOOKMARK

The bane and pain of transitional scenes-John Gilstrap

Naming and renaming your book-Barbara Linn Probst- Bookmark and Watch this short YouTube video on a novel naming game- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Was the Bookbub featured deal worth it?- Colleen Story – Bookmark

Boost author website traffic- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

2 great posts from the Alliance of Independent Authors- Distribute your Audiobook globally and Setting the right price for your book- Bookmark

How strategic marketing turned a debut into a success- Sandra Beckwith

 

To Finish

Over the years I have been involved in organizing conferences, writing retreats, workshops, evening events etc. The reason for doing this is because I can’t afford to go on any of these myself. So, I organize them and then I can hopefully learn while rushing around making sure that the event goes well. Amy Goldmacher has an article on Jane Friedman’s blog asking if you are too intimidated to organize a writing retreat. Frankly, Tuscany would be a tall order. A wise bookseller told me when I floated the idea of holding a national children’s writer conference that looking around at who I knew and using their strengths would sort out my programming fears. He was right. You know the people already. All you have to do is reach out and offer to do the leg work. Your time is as valuable as the entry fee.

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 Hannah Busing on Unsplash

 

Publishing: The Meet Cute Rollercoaster

 

 

In Publishing News this week.

 

Paris, the city of love, or if you have been following AI news, the city of the International AI Summit. 40 world organizations called on the summit to recognize the threat to copyright. Unfortunately, the summit didn’t take much note of the threat to Intellectual Property, so publishers are not happy.

 

Joanna Penn recently interviewed Alicia Wright on copyright and AI which gives you a handle on how one Intellectual Property lawyer who also happens to be a sci fi author is using it.

 

Meanwhile, The Diamond Comics Distributor bankruptcy is beginning to bite with many bookshops left hanging. Diamond distributed many niche comic magazines which may go to the wall if another distributor doesn’t buy Diamond’s business. Publishers Weekly looks at the assets on sale.

 

In book sales news, the latest monthly numbers are in. Dystopian books are outselling everything else. Is everybody looking for a how to survive the current political turmoil handbook? Publishers Weekly looks at who the big winners are in post inauguration book sales.

 

While dystopian fiction is on the rise- Mark Williams is taking acerbic aim at HarperCollins and how they may have only just come to realise that the world has changed in publishing. 

 

Spotify are happy. Dan Holloway reports that they have made a profit after a year of making audiobooks available. They are also very keen on their Spotify for Authors platform.

 

Anne Carley has a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog about the messy creative process. Nothing is ever straightforward in the creative life. This is a great post on recognizing when the process gets unstuck and how to get creative again.

 

Colleen Story has a great post for when you don’t think your writing is good enough. This happens to every author. It doesn’t matter how many best sellers they have. If you are feeling down about your writing check out this great post. Jenny Hansen takes it a step further looking at Book Structure for Disorganised Writers. No, you are not at fault... in fact there is no fault. 

 

Kathleen McCleary has a great post on Writer Unboxed about working obsessively on the beginning of your novel and why it’s important to nail these pages.

You have to make the reader care… really it’s just a reader meet cute.

 

In The Craft Section,

5 questions to ask before adding a subplot- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

How to use traits to create character arcs- Sarah Hamer- Bookmark

Deepening a story with theme echoes- Jami Goild- Bookmark

Redeeming your villain- Becca Puglisi

Overcoming plot constipation- James Scott Bell

 

In The Marketing Section,

Book advertising- David Gaughran- Bookmark

How to promote like a pro- Ingram Spark

How to build a loyal audience- PR by the book- Bookmark

25 ways to promote your book- Marika Flatt

2025 Literary Calendar dates Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The romance story outsells every other genre. The romance authors are the savviest book marketers on the planet. The romance brand gets the most brickbats. I don’t know whether it’s jealousy because of the sales, or covering up sentiment by doubling down on hate, or some mistaken idea that cool people don’t like romance. With savvy marketing, huge sales, and the stories promoting being nice to each other, everybody should be celebrating the genre. September Fawkes writes on how every story needs a meet cute scene. 

It’s got to be better than doom scrolling.

 

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.

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 Bundo Kim on Unsplash

Creating Assets in 2025

 

 

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

 

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 BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash

Looking for Rainbows!

 

In Publishing News this week,

Microsoft launched a non-fiction publishing arm publishing original research, ideas and insights from the intersection of science, technology, and business. Publisher’s Weekly reports on this venture that looks like a mashup of a research journal and a vanity imprint.

 

Sharjah International Book Fair clocks up nearly 2 million visitors. Publishing Perspectives looks at the huge impact of the fair.

Bologna is starting to ramp up its planning and guests five months out from the big children’s book fair scheduled for the end of March. With the roaring success of the Chinese Children’s Book Fair will they be implementing any new ideas?

 

There is a lot of comment around the news of the HarperCollins AI deal that has publishers and writers talking. Publishers Weekly looks in depth at the implications for agents and writers. Under the terms HC want to split 50/50 the pot of cash for allowing AI to scrape the book. Everybody has an opinion. Authors Guild has come out with their recommendation. Don’t take the money. Publishers have a different view, it looks so sweet and backlists are just sitting there.

 

Joanna Penn commented on her podcast that in the space of a year the mood of authors has changed around using AI tools. She is just back from Author Nation – the rebranded 20books Vegas conference (also known as the biggest writers conference in the world.) AI can offer shortcuts and great tools to help with mundane tasks but it shouldn’t be used to create the content. 

Josh Bernoff writes about how his developmental editing business is being impacted by AI writing. It’s harder to edit AI generated content because it is inconsistent, repetitive, and a grammar mess. AI shouldn’t replace your own writing voice.

 

Meanwhile, after the election, the publishing industry is trying to make plans or sense of what might be coming down the track in the brave new world after January. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard details the lawsuits that face publishing from the president elect already and how this might be a sign of things to come. It looks like a lucrative time to be a lawyer.

Kathleen Schmidt from Publishing Confidential points out where publishing can learn from the election.

 

Jennie Liu writes about the authors note… that’s the page in your novel where you write about your influences. Readers love them… authors struggle.

 

Michelle Baker has a post on the five fears of writers and how to defeat them. (Don’t reach for the alcohol just yet.)

James Scott Bell reassures a young writer that writing can be good again in his excellent piece on writing past discouragement. 

Ellen Buikema has a great post on Writers In The Storm about Writing Anxiety and how to overcome it. 

Look after your mental health- give yourself healthy writing challenges, check in with your writing friends. Remember, you write so your readers can escape from stressful lives. You are vital to each other and the general population. Be the rainbow after the storm!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to trust yourself as a writer- K M Weiland- Bookmark

What are the stakes- how to find out- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Nailing teen dialogue in YA Fiction- Kris Maze

Humorous scenes  – Dale Smith- Bookmark

Balancing showing with telling- C S Lakin

 

In the Marketing Section,

18 book marketing tips from the trenches- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

Harnessing the power of AI for author branding- Kimberley Grabas- Bookmark

Identify your most successful marketing paths- Emily Enger- Bookmark

Colleen Story on Selling at Craft Fairs- YouTube video

The best concepts of Write to Market-Karen Whiting

 

To Finish

Look Rainbows!

 

It’s Black Friday sales time so here are some writer focused deals. Some of these are time sensitive so don’t wait around. 

 

The Dream Team – Angela And Becca have a roundup of some great writer deals for software and craft books.

 

Don’t forget Storybundle still has their collection of writing craft books up until the end of November if you are looking for good cheap craft books. 

 

Katie Weiland has 25% off all her courses and books. (I snapped up her new revised expanded edition on structure. I loved her first edition!)

 

David Gaughran has links to the EXCELLENT AppSumo deal from Deposit Photos. This is a total no brainer if you do your own book covers or ad images. $49 lifetime deal on 100 stock photos or videos- limited time! Dave also has a video showing how to use two stock images to generate a whole ad campaign. 

 

Amid the depressing news there are little gems to make you smile. And these deals might just help with that.

 

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.

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 Agustin Gunawan on Unsplash