May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour

Hunger Games. Hunger Games. 

Everywhere you look. Hunger Games.

The promo is big...all over the Internet...FB...Twitter...TV...Radio...the stupid Team names have been assigned...are you Team Peeta or Team Gale...(completely missing the point but that is a rant for another time.) 

Katniss is the quintessential kick ass heroine down to her boots and braid. How and Why did this book get to be so popular? and What does it mean for an author contemplating their WIP and wondering if their story has the same potential to grab hearts and throats, wallets and imagination as Suzanne Collins story has.

Salon has broken down how the story became a bestseller and it makes interesting reading.

Word of Mouth is the key thing to remember...Hand Selling...Bricks and Mortar bookstores...Librarians...Children’s Book Reviewers...they were all targeted with advance copies of the manuscript which was photocopied...slapped inside a spiral bind cover and passed around six months before publication.

Oh the delicious irony of the very institutions under threat at the moment in the Brave New eWorld being the key that started the engine of this years blockbuster movie.

Helping The Odds

Word of Mouth...getting the word out about your project...and hopefully generating some excitement or at least readers is a hot topic in the blogosphere this week.

Jody Hedlund has Word of Mouth at the top of her list of how a writer can become and stay visible.

Rachelle Gardner has a timely list of 8 things writers should know about Goodreads.

The FAB Elana Johnson (WriteOnCon and YA Author) has an in depth look at Goodreads and Facebook marketing for children’s writers.

Kate Hart has taken an in depth graphical look at what has been selling in the last year in the Y A category...Contemporary is back....but what is following closely behind?

If you would like to check out some more intricate pictures that show lots of information...check out this one of the origins and then the sub genres of Sci Fi.

In Your Favour

Writers In The Storm have a guest post by lawyer Susan Spann looking at royalty clauses...this is a good overview about some tricky language that affects our bank balance...net... gross... wholesale....

Dean Wesley Smith has a good hard look at dead tree printing and concludes that it is worth it...and POD is the way to go. This is a very in depth article and the comments following it (over 80) are just as in depth...so take some time over this one.

The TOC conference is on in Bologna and they have been looking at the digital children’s book marketplace. Publishing Perspectives gives a quick overview of what people are saying on this topic.

A couple of quick resources for you.

Free Mac tools for writers.

The IndieBook Collective is a nifty little site that has lots of resources for writers who are Indie bound.

The Hunger Games Movie is a 5 star effort all the way. The screenwriters, and Suzanne Collins was one of them, hit every note from the book just right. The best movie from book adaptation I have seen.

Go see it... take tissues and pop corn!

maureen

That chinese curse...

Today I asked my Facebook friends who put the chinese curse on me? You know the one...may you live in interesting times!

Yesterday was manic day...with NZ readers and writers week events to attend...as well as a book launch followed by the Arts Festival event the whole family was going to...(Circensus...mind boggling theatre.) Today I have to pack up family after a full day of activities and get them on the plane to attend a bittersweet family event that was supposed to be a highlight of the year...but now is a sad reminder and cope with all the family trauma surrounding this.

Yesterday in a great panel event on comics fantasy and popular culture chaired by Dylan Horrocks, Kelly Link, Denise Mina and Robert Shearman were asked a question about whether writers should seek to fill up their lives with experiences so they can write about them...The consensus from the panel...you should have a boring life but interesting friends!

So this is a shout out to my interesting friends...who are writers and artists... I hope that I am inspiring your creativity the way you are inspiring mine!

The publishing industry must be collectively searching for the disgruntled writers who put the chinese curse on them...as the US government looks to investigate the Big 6, Amazon and Apple over ebook price fixing.

This is a big story and will be played out over the year. To get a quick handle on it read James Scott Bell and Mike Shatzkin...they come in from different sides...James is kinder to the authors....There is a lot of comment and debate in the comments section for both of these articles and in the blogosphere so take the time to have a look. Porter Anderson has put together a linked list of opinions from all around the blogosphere on this topic.  Many bloggers are urging writers that they must get to grips with the publishing industry. Writers must make themselves aware of what is happening in publishing and how it will affect them and their careers.

While you are thinking about your career...check out this excellent post on Author Platform and best practice from Jane Friedman.

Interesting

To fuel your writing brain (are you an artist?), Justine Musk has a great post on your original creative voice and Kristin has one on whether publishing supports artists...

In craft tips...The great site Romance University has a fabulous post on pacing...and if you don’t know what that is you need it!

Times

Elisabeth S Craig has a post on time management...which you need when you write series books...and Jody Hedlund has one on managing social networks.

You

If You like cool information shown in graphs check out this infografic on the thematic flow of a book...

If You need to find out how to get more people to engage with your fan page on Facebook look at this list of 50 ways...

Writer Beware has a warning on dodgy writing competitions.... Last year I quickly did the maths on The Text Prize and came to the conclusion that they can’t be losing any money on it...and it looks win/win...and they are a reputable company. Check out the rules very carefully when you enter a writing competition.

Anne R Allen has a guest post by Mark Williams about how the Big Six are fighting back after the eBook publishing scare of writers taking this into their own hands.

Live in.

As I start investigating marketing opportunities for Craic I came across this useful site promoted on Goodreads.... One of the biggest drivers of how successful your book is in the world is how many people read it, loved it and then were prepared to write a review on it.  Reviews can be the biggest hurdle to overcome. So finding an eBook review site that you can participate in is a wonderful bonus.

If you commit to leaving a review, the writer will send you a free copy of the book, win/win. (Hint: Craic is available if you want to give it a try.) Writers go and check it out and share the love...

Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) is living in interesting times as he promotes his next book in this book trailer....

maureen