Snacking On Publishers

 

 

In Publishing News this week

It’s a tough old time if you are a writer down under. You may have had some hope of placing a book with one of the independent presses that still operate, but last week saw another of them gobbled up by Penguin Random House. Our regional voices are disappearing said a Guardian article. While Aussie authors are wincing- Kiwi authors have been there. Most of our publisher’s head offices are in Australia and we are lucky if they publish 1 NZ book a year.

 

In Davos the world economic forum got underway. How does this relate to publishing? Well, one of the key presentations is the future of jobs report. Dan Holloway took a look and found key indicators for publishers and writers. Reading is down…but creative thinking is up. Can we work with this information?

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on a new imprint being started by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. It’s all about science. In this world of misinformation, any increase in science publishing is a good thing.

 

When it’s award season the critics choices are always highlighted but if you look at the bestseller lists, they often don’t show up. However, bestsellers have awards too. It is based on number of sales. Spot the children’s books. Julia Donaldson has topped the UK bestseller lists for the 5^th straight year. She is a critics’ choice and a bestselling author. Gotta love children’s authors, they keep publishing houses afloat.

 

Bookshop.org is turning 5. This great independent initiative linked independent booksellers together and created another way to order books instead of always heading to Amazon. Now they are about to add eBooks into the platform.

 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was the last word in authoritative knowledge when I was growing up. They are still around and having gone online early they are now embracing AI. This is a fascinating example of a publishing pivot. Mark Williams takes an in depth look at what they are doing. I don’t know about you but if I have to get information from an AI bot, I would prefer it to come from a trusted verified source, not a scraped chat forum.

 

Angela Ackerman has an interesting article on How Authors Thrive In A World Of AI-Generated Books. She has some great points to think about. Being human is your point of difference. As ever, she is a must read.

Meanwhile, Dale Roberts is talking about live video being the key to author visibility in 2025.

In The New Publishing Standard, Mark Williams shines a light on a publishing topic not much talked about, the three words ‘adjusted for inflation.’ Why don’t publishers show the real figures? 

 

Victoria Strauss does great work on Writer Beware and lately she has been looking at ghostwriting scams. She has a list of websites that are fronts for a scam publishing company.

 

Ah procrastination, what is stopping you from writing that novel? Barbara O’Neal has an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the three things that cause procrastination. This is a must read if you want to conquer this insidious problem. Read It Now!

 

In The Craft Section,

How to make themes work together- Jami Gold- Bookmark

How to write dark fantasy- Stephanie Wytovich

How to stay focused on your central conflict- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

World building lessons from Myst- Gabriela Pereira-Bookmark

5 wellness hacks to boost your writing- Colleen Story

 

In The Marketing Section,

Planning a book launch party- Tama Hela

 2 great posts from Sandra Beckwith- 3 Author marketing mistakes to avoid in 2025 and

Using AI as your author assistant - Bookmark

Is Facebook still worth it for writers- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

How to budget for your book- Written Word Media- Bookmark

 

To Finish

It’s been a rough old week in politics for the USA. For those of us looking on from afar we do feel for the people caught up in the middle. In this age of instant news and opinion it can feel overwhelming. “In war, truth is the first casualty” said Aeschylus in 500BC. When the world is wondering whether Mein Kampf, published in 1925 is being dusted off 100 years later to the detriment of another empire, it is courageous to stand up to your government and demand that they do better. One such person was the Bishop Mariann Budde who asked the new president point blank if he would protect the meek and helpless. Her words resonated around the world and now her book How We Learn To Be Brave, published in 2023 is being rushed into a second printing and is climbing the bestseller ranks. 

 

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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Writing Good Stuff

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

This week Publishers Weekly reported on the state of publishing in 2023 now that the numbers are in. The sales figures were slightly up on last year but only because of a strong showing in religious books. The other numbers were down slightly. Life is good if you are a theological university publisher. 

 

Publishing Perspectives looks at the 2023 Canadian book buying trends showing a snapshot of key buying trends. Are book buyers buying from physical stores or online? Are they embracing digital or print only? Are Canadian buying habits reflected around the world?

 

Mark Williams reports that on the other side of the world, Thailand is about to have its first rights fair. Publishing is a global business and often people forget that Asia and the Middle East have over half the world’s population. The western centric book fairs don’t reflect this huge demographic and a lot of them want English language books. Are publishers missing a market here?

 

Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware has a list of the agents, editors and publishers who are being impersonated at the moment. This kind of scam is on the rise so if you get a nibble from someone check out if its legit before celebrating.

 

The writing business can be a lonely one. Where would we be without our writer friends. If you are new or trying to figure out how to find your literary community read this great guest article on Jane Friedman’s blog from Star Wuerdemann.

 

Joanna Penn interviewed Matthew Holmes this week on how to advertise on Meta. (Facebook) Matthew shares what is working now and tips on Going Direct. 

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors had a well-attended panel event at the London Book Fair on the future of publishing and it was filmed. Check out the video if you want a little slice of bookfair hustle along with some great commentary.

 

Writer Unboxed has their craft guru Ray Rhamey examining first pages and wondering if they would be an instant buy. 

 

Suzanne Lakin has a great writing craft blog. Her latest excellent post,  How can you get a character to self describe themselves without it sounding like a shopping list. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Why rough drafts should never be perfect- E S Foster

How to build powerful character relationships- Angela Ackerman

Best books for editors- Bookmark

Using beat sheets for memoir- Lisa Cooper Ellison -Bookmark

9 types of personalities writers can use for characters- Ken Miyamoto- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to promote a self published book- Derek Haines

Indie book marketing plan- PublishDrive

Tips for growing a worldwide audience- Mark Lefebvre- Bookmark

8 best book marketing strategies- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Visual Branding- James Scott Bell - Bookmark

 

To Finish

 

Give a writer a long weekend and they will invariably be thinking about their Work In Progress and how to carve some time to work on the craft of writing. The letters W.I.P. act just like the homonym to lash the back of the writer. Get some proper words down! (All that is missing is the H word.) James Scott Bell is a great writing craft teacher. In this article he takes a first page and edits it explaining what he is doing. This may be the Help you need to get stuck into your own craft learning.

 

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.

 

pic Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Out There Doing The Business

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is on this week and the hot topic this year is AI and children’s books. Porter Anderson has a great overview of the various keynotes around this topic. He nails the constant chatter around AI as a chicken little syndrome. Remember when everyone thought publishing was doomed with Virtual Reality, enhanced eBooks and Kindle?

 

Penguin Random House is re-organising. This is a little shakeup which sees imprints spun off or repurposed and staff moving all over the place. Publishers Weekly has the details.

 

Bookshop.org picked up steam during the Covid lockdowns by providing a place where bookshops could link in their shops and sell books online. They started offering eBooks last week. Now they are offering print books and beginning to publish. It all feels like the early days of Amazon.

 

Meanwhile, Small Press Distributors a 50 year old distributor specializing in Indie Publishers has inked a deal with Ingram and will be offering their 400 clients Print On Demand, warehousing, and international printing. However, they need some money to transition all their warehouses to Ingram so they have a Go Fund Me campaign running.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors is running an author income survey. If you spent 50% of your time writing and publishing they want to hear from you. Apparently, the data so far is amazing. You only have a few days to participate. 

 

Mark Leslie Lefebvre has a great post on the Insights blog 10 tips for growing a global audience of readers. I’ve had this open on my computer for a few days as I mull over the excellent tips in here. 

 

Book Riot has collected what they think are the 25 iconic covers of all time. Do You Agree?

 

Ruth Harris has an interesting post on charisma and how too much could be psychopathic. Are you writing a psychopathic hero?

 

Victoria Strauss has a great article on Writer Unboxed about red flags in contracts. Do you know how to spot one? Where to look? The cluses that are most problematic. She shows examples of real contracts that she has seen. Ouch!

 

Grace Bialecki has an interesting post on the Acknowledgments page. How often do you look at it? It is actually full of great information… from editors who worked on the book and agents that repped it to writing awards and residences you might not have heard off. Grace shows how to put this information to good use. 

 

Kris Rusch has a super post on AI Audio and what she is finding out as she delves into whether AI Audio is worth pursuing. It is all about formats. Audio is expanding so much it will soon look like print.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when you say you are a writer someone will always reply, I’ve always wanted to write a book. Angela Ackerman has a great post that you can share around – 13 Tips On How To Write A Book From Start to Finish.

 

In The Craft Section,

A great article on reader anticipation- Donald Maass

How to edit- StoryGrid- BOOKMARK

Tips on How to write a mystery-K M Weiland

The 5 turning points of the character arc- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

How to amp up your conflict- Angela Ackerman

 

In The Marketing Section,

A step by step guide to using Booktok

Bad book marketing advice- Shayla Raquel

2 Great posts from Penny Sansevieri-

The definitive guide to creating a reader magnet and 

How to get more Goodreads reviews- Bookmark both

Bookfunnels explained- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The Guardian has an article on the rise of older female writers with recent hits by debut authors over 70. And the authors are not writing cozy stories. They are edgy and angry. There are some great quotes in this article. More power to them I say.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here.

This blog is fueled by coffee. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate all virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic:  Brooke Lark on Unsplash

 

Navigating the Author Life

In Publishing News this week,

The annual writing income surveys from the UK, the US, and Australia all hit the news, leaving authors hot and bothered. For many, it was proof that their unsettled feelings that icebergs were ahead was completely right. Writer incomes have dropped all around the world.

The Guardian published the UK findings and then Joanne Harris explained how this drop would impact the books being published in the future.

Australia had a more rigorous approach with Macquarie University publishing breakdowns over 8 key findings from their survey. The impact of the PLR and the ELR income saving the children’s writers particularly.

Written Word Media took a different approach and looked at the backlist and its impact on writer income. There it was a different story. The bigger the backlist you control the better for your income.

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has been looking at scam publishers who contact writers telling them that their backlist can be reissued with only a few changes … just sign here. Beware fishhooks. Victoria details how you can get out of these traps if you find yourself in one.

Kris Rusch has been looking at the judges’ comments on the PRH and Simon and Schuster court case and making some pithy comments of her own on bestsellers. This is an informative read, in light of the author income survey results which came out after Kris had written her article. 

 

Over in Europe, audiobook companies are scrambling to get a bigger share of the market and another audiobook company abandons the unlimited subscription model. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard also casts a weather eye on Nextory’s venture into adding News and Magazines to its subscriptions.

With all the stress of the writers' income reports Beth Barany of Writing and Wellness suggests 7 different types of rest that writers need to restore their creativity. 

 

In The Craft Section,

The best places to write- K M Weiland

The importance of writing your thoughts down- Rachel Thompson

The ingredients for a successful story climax

The eighth element the author needs- Donald Maass- READ and BOOKMARK!

The 4 stages of writing a novel- Beth Barany

When to use a scene or a summary- Savannah Gilbo - Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

The 2023 literary calendar for marketing ideas- Sandra Beckwith- BOOKMARK

6 things to know before publishing a book in 2023- Penny Sansevieri

The ultimate guide to Book Distribution tools – Bookbub- Bookmark

Pivoting Genres and Mindsets for Success- Joanna Penn Interview with Dan Padavona

 

To Finish,

Terry Odell has a great article on writer priorities… it’s all about finding out what are the big important things to you. 

Another week, another great list of writers’ gifts. This time Katie Weiland lists the best gifts she has received over the years. 

Meanwhile, a winning lottery ticket will be on every writers wish list.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter. Get the best of my bookmarked links when you subscribe.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

 

Publishing Icons

 

 

This week in Publishing News,

 

Reuters reported that Amazon is closing all its physical bookstores

I wonder what happened? Maybe customers didn’t like only seeing face out books of the top 100 in the store? Or perhaps customers didn’t like not taking the book away with them when they bought it, instead having to wait for it to be sent the next day. 

Or maybe it was the lack of book aware sales people or their experiences with the contactless physical shop. I wonder what they will experiment with next?

 

Publishers Weekly reports on an Industry meeting where publishers were trying to figure out what to do about the paper shortage. I reported a couple of weeks ago that Italy was dropping art books from publishing lists. But the paper shortage is biting hard and now publishers might have to change their way of business (Outmoded, some would say.) Do we really need massive print runs to get the unit price down? Booksellers have to return unsold books which then get pulped or sold to Big Bad Wolf in a cut your losses deal. Will Print On Demand be the way of the future along with a big book price rise? There may be other ways out….

 

Brandon Sanderson decided that he would have another Kickstarter. He posted it on the 2^{nd .} as a surprise. In 6 hours he surpassed his previous record and by the end of the day had passed $14 million and he has the rest of the month to go. 

How did this happen? Kickstarter author experts analysed his spectacular success. 

Give the fans what they want. Brandon has noted that his fans like book boxes. He is releasing 4 secret books next year. In the 8 months where there isn’t a book release, he will send a book box of swag related to one of his previous books. 

He gamified the launch. He is releasing the title of each book each week of the Kickstarter so that you have to keep coming back. The books are already finished and different tier rewards release different formats. Or you can go straight to premium and get everything for $500.

He has made a cool easy shared video and his fans are getting the word out. 

That’s all you need for Kickstarter success. (And being Brandon Sanderson, of course.)

 

Apparently, there is money to be made in NFT’s. Illustrators are being snapped up to produce limited-edition images for middle managers to market as NFT’s. But if the NFT bubble bursts, on the horizon lurk custom-made 3d avatars for the metaverse.

 

Victoria Strauss has joined Writer Unboxed. Her first article for them is a breakdown of the most common writing scam that gets authors every time. Surprise! We saw your little book and we want to take it to Big Publishers/ Film Directors… someone rich and famous our fee is… Victoria shares what the red flags are.

 

Who knew that Horror was the favourite of Latin America? Apparently, we like classics Down Under. 

Check out this reading infographic-What are people reading around the world?  Market your books accordingly.

And just in case you think that books are not selling, check out Book Riots reading statistics for the last two years.

 

Ruth Harris has a great article this month on how to get rejected. Before you think oh that’s easy… just check out the mistakes that authors are making that get them rejected before they send in the manuscript.

 

In The Craft Section,

 2 Great articles from Jami Gold-Nods, smiles, and frowns. How to avoid talking heads and Story focus- Character or plot?- Bookmark

18 tips on writing better sentences- Helen Bolam

Writing prompts with dream symbols- Kathy Steinemann

Cause and effect- 2 sentences to use when editing- Kahina Necaise- Bookmark

Breaking writing rules- September Fawkes

 

In The Marketing Section,

7 questions for your book marketing plan- Sandra Beckwith - Bookmark

What sells books in 2022- Kobo- Bookmark

Book marketing resources- Indie Book review

How to launch on a budget- Thomas Umstattd- Bookmark

Have you found your book marketing niche- Colleen Story

 

To Finish,

In the children’s writing world there are touchstone authors. The ones that create a genre niche so perfectly that their books are instantly iconic. So, it was a huge sadness when the news broke that Shirley Hughes has died. An extraordinary illustrator and storyteller.

Requiescant In Pace.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

I’m late with the monthly newsletter (Aaargh.) So if you want the best of my bookmarked links go on and subscribe. (You will also get a nifty mini book with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Illustration by Shirley Hughes. 

 

Pick and Mix

 

What caught my eye in the Publishing World this week.

Reedsy has a very detailed look at Kindle Vella including how the money will work. This is going to be an eyes wide open enter at your own risk programme, which will only suit a few authors.

 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware shared a snapshot of a clause in a publishing contract that has everyone flabbergasted. Take a good long look- this is how royalties will be calculated at Cayelle Publishing. 

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors has a look at all the different ways you can make a living as an author these days. Take a look at this idea that came across my FB feed today. This is subscription serial writing on another level.

 

In the must have category…

AppSumo has one of the cheapest deals for stock photo’s around and this deal does not appear often. ($39 for 100 Depositphotos- limited time) I know writers and designers who jump fast on this when it comes up. So move quickly.

 

Kristine Rusch has compiled an excellent Storybundle of writing craft books. Available now. Storybundle is a pay what you want model. There are some fabulous books in this bundle!

 

Jane Friedman has an interesting guest post from Lisa Cooper Ellison on inconsistent voices in memoir. How do you keep them all in control when you are writing?

 

In The Craft Section,

What is an unsympathetic character- Anne R Allen – Bookmark

When you write Second Person Point Of View- Tal Valente

How to write faster- J D Edwin

The main  Hero character archetypes- Tami Nantz- Bookmark

Building the suspension of disbelief- Donal Maass- Bookmark

 

 

In The Marketing Section,

Unique promo ideas for May- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

How to pick a best selling title- Barbara Delinsky

Kindle Vella- Is it right for you?- Sandra Beckwith-Bookmark

Great ideas for Book Promotion Contests- Diana Urban

Social media mistakes that can damage your author brand- Penny Sansevieri

 

To Finish,

I try and keep things upbeat on the blog but I thought I would share with you something that has me muttering epithets. Disinformation campaigns around the Covid Vaccine. I know a few writers who have compromised immune systems, (including myself.) Covid is a nasty constantly mutating disease. Scientists are just beginning to understand that Long Covid symptoms are appearing in 50 % of patients that were hospitalised with Covid 19. The symptoms include organ damage that will last for the rest of their, now shortened, lives. This will be an ongoing burden to health systems worldwide. 

The vaccine is a lifeline to everyone to beat this disease and must have a worldwide take up if we are to stop it mutating into strains faster than we can cope with. (See India.) I do not know why there are people peddling anti-vaccine stories- but it is not based on proper science. There has been a significant breakthrough in the development of the Covid 19 vaccine that will change the way all future vaccines are made. It has nothing to do with your DNA. It is SAFE. (scroll down to @xolotl and @siousiewiles science cartoon on how it works) 

When you get the vaccine, You Will Be Saving Lives, especially the immune-compromised, (which includes every person who has had cancer for a start.) 

Put your Superhero cape on and get the Jab. 

Thanks for saving my life!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? When you subscribe you will also get a nifty mini book crammed full with marketing notes as a thank you. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Paul Wilkinson

 

Good Villains

Ssssh You can’t tell anyone but someone with your name left a large amount of cash in a bank account and died with no heirs....

Straight away I knew the letter was a fake.

Several things tipped me off. No letterhead. The appeals to greed, tastefully alluded to, inside the letter. Some of the sentence structure was clunky. (Barclays Bank can afford to hire people who can write.) And my mother rung me up to say she had received a letter just like it earlier this week.

Can you always spot the scammers though? I have been watching Victoria Strauss (@victoriastrauss), co founder of Writer Beware pointing out  a series of questionable practices to a small publisher on Twitter. The publisher feels that they should be treated like a plumber and get paid by the writer to publish the work. (Hint: they have a license to publish your work under strict conditions... that’s only for fixing the leak... not the house and contents.)

After reading Kris Rusch’s latest blog post on dealing with editors who want to be paid to pass on information to the writer. Along with writers who don’t know what rights they have given up so are missing out on reprint rights because their agents can’t be bothered or don’t know what rights they sold either... I’m not surprised that Kris had a melt down. Know your business! Everybody should read this blog post and be educated.

Jami Gold has an excellent series of blog posts on Indie Publishing that I am working my way through. Her post on long term goals got me thinking. Do you have a master plan? (For world domination...)

Two weeks ago I linked to two important blogs discussing whether author newsletters were a good idea. (Anne R Allen’s blog post and Kris Rusch’s.) This topic has caused quite a stir in the online publishing world. Kris wrote a new blog post refining her thoughts on this. Anne’s blog post had 125 comments.

Writers Digest recently had a blog post about the importance of finding your tribe. That’s all your writing friends... and then Writer Unboxed had an interesting guest post from Kate Brandes about what a debut writers collective did for each other... (I keep saying this is the way of the future...)

Nate Hoffelder writes that Audible are dropping their credit gifting to the dismay of their fans.

Dean Wesley Smith has an interesting post on how to make money from short fiction pieces.

John Doppler has a must read post on the Alli blog about visualising the best sellers. Just how many Indies are in the top 100 by category.

Lit Reactor has a great article on 13 ways to support an author without spending a cent. (Spread the word and be a hero!)

Roz Morris has a fascinating blog post about opening up Book Reviewers to Indie published books. The discussion from book reviewers in the comments is well worth a read.

The fabulous K M Weiland has gathered up her recent series of blog posts based on Marvel movies. The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling according to Marvel. This is an excellent resource for every writer. (Her latest book on characterisation is amazing as well!) I Have been obsessively watching Avengers Civil War and seeing all the plot points!

In The Craft Section,

Five Failed Character Arcs- Mythcreants

Checklist to improve your writing- Writers Write- Bookmark

How to Refine your novel- Martha Alderson

How to end books in a series- Bookmark

Creating your remarkable villain- David Villalva- Bookmark

10 signs of underdeveloped characters- Emily Morgan

How to use writers intuition- Colleen M Story- Bookmark

5 qualities of a brilliant story- Roz Morris- Bookmark

5 examples of characterisation- Now Novel

In The Marketing Section,

Ultimate guide to creating Author Bio’s- Chris Well- Bookmark

Grow your Google page

Creating an irresistible series- WriteToDone

How to encourage readers to leave reviews- Bookmark

Marketing a new book in a series- Julianne MacLean - Bookmark

Endorsement quotes, Do you need them?- Debbie Young

Avoid looking like an amateur author

International author central on Amazon- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

To Finish,

Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy knows that I am a sucker for a fabulous infographic so he takes the time to email me and send their latest one. Everything you wanted to know about dynamic characters... in a handy chart!

Sara Letourneau has been taking a break from blogging recently. Here she explains why in a great article, Seven Steps to Honoring Your Reality. This is how you become a writing hero...

Maureen

@craicer

I have a monthly newsletter. It is a collection of the best of my bookmarked links plus other news about my writing and what I am personally learning about book marketing and publishing. I don’t spam or push any products. You can virtually meet me for coffee every month if you subscribe. (Thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee by hitting the Kofi button.)