Forewarned is Forearmed.

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In Publishing News this week,

 

Australia’s online book retailer Booktopia has gone into voluntary administration. This caught everyone by surprise, including Australian booksellers and publishers who are seeing a big hole opening up in distribution. The June redundancies should have given everyone a heads-up. Now will they flog it off and who to?

 

Amazon announced its dates for Prime Day and immediately Indie Bookstores got into action. Dan Holloway talks about the concerted actions to drive sales away from Amazon by TikTok and the American Booksellers Association.

 

In the UK, Waterstones have announced the new Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrill-Boyce. Each laureate serves for two years, and they campaign for a cause associated with children’s literature. The new laureate is passionate about the freedom to read.

 

Over in the USA, librarians have been discussing the freedom to read problems that they are having, especially soft censorship. That’s the censorship when you think a book might be challenged and so you don’t buy it. Authors filling a need for books for marginalized communities are being hit in the pocket with this type of censorship.

 

The complaints about Baillie Gifford using their fossil fuels money to finance book festivals in the UK resulted in them pulling their funding of the festivals. Now the festivals have to find alternative funding. Some publishers have stepped up. 

 

Roz Morris has a great article on the six main hustles that are targeting writers so far in 2024 and what you can do about them. Over at Writer Unboxed, Michael Castleman writes about why we are seeing more writing scams than ever before and how we can avoid being ripped off. Make an effort to read these articles. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Ruth Harris writes about the sting of rejection. It’s not about you the writer. She points out that there can be many things that generate a No response. David Lombardino writes about successful editor author relationships. Who is in charge?

Elizabeth Spann Craig talks about procrastination and being kind to your future self.

 

Draft2Digital is working hard on integrating Smashwords into the fold. They are also renaming their book cover acquisition. If you haven’t checked out D2D lately, they have a pretty comprehensive distribution network and loads of free stuff for authors and publishers.

 

What makes timeless fiction timeless? Donald Maass asks the writers golden ticket question. ‘Timeless characters stand in for us but are larger than we are.’ This is a fascinating read from a master agent.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

Creative ways to brainstorm ideas- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

How to use antagonists in your story- K M Weiland- Bookmark

Developing a scene outline- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Using tone in literature- Reedsy

Handling a cast of thousands- Terry Odell - Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Book Promotion timing – Sandra Beckwith

Positioning your book-Jane Weisman

Choosing an author name format- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

2 great posts from Authors Red Door- table of contents sales tool and copyright page marketing- Bookmark Both

 

To Finish,

This week I have been listening to Joanna Penn and Rachelle Ayala talk about AI tools and how authors are using them on the Creative Penn podcast. Whichever side you come in on, I really think you should give this transcript a read, or listen to the podcast episode. I had a few aha moments. Rachell is a romance author with a PHD in applied maths and a background in computing. So straight away she was able to explain what an AI is and is not and how it works. This was a super interesting episode. If you have been dismissive or fearful or bewildered by the changes that are coming like a runaway freight train towards you, take some time to understand what sort of tool AI could be in your writing business. At the very least you will be more informed of the possibilities even if you don’t choose to actively use them.

 

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 Jan Canty on Unsplash Due to a glitch the photo hasn't loaded but you can check it out here. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-large-orange-object-with-a-flag-on-top-of-it-yIImaRNGro8.

 

Author Anxiety

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The Readmagine conference is underway in Madrid and after the opening keynote from Madeline McIntosh from the brand new Authors Equity publishing house, a roundtable discussed  ‘publishing in the age of anxiety.’ This has been a theme through all the bookfairs this year. Publishing Perspectives reports on the big discussion points.

 

Authors Against Book Bans was officially launched this week in America. They have 1500 authors signed up to support librarians and schools who are battling on the front line of freedom to read.

 

Dan Holloway reports on Spotify bringing in a new tier to placate the Spotify music fans. It won’t have audiobooks available in it, but if you pay a dollar more…. Meanwhile, a Spotify executive who left the company has ventured out into publishing and is creating deals with Simon and Schuster for all things media. Watch out for even more rights grabbing in contracts as publishing companies become media companies with publishing as a side hustle.

 

Dave Morris writes about traditionally published authors being told that it is super hard to make eBooks. He was asked if this was true by a best-selling author whose publishing company assured him it was.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors decided to canvas their authors for their best tips for success in 2024. They came up with 25 tips and tricks for success.

 

Jane Friedman has an interesting guest post from author brand strategist Andrea Guevara, on being yourself so others can find you.

 

Joanna Penn has an inspirational interview with disabled writer Daniel Bate on how he overcomes his challenges and manages to write, and what sort of technology and apps allow him to do it. This article has been written by Daniel using dictation software as he is blind, paralysed, and dyslexic.

 

Dave Gaughran has a new series starting on his YouTube channel. How to turn your book cover into a killer Facebook ad. If you haven’t come across Dave before I recommend you check him out. He is highly regarded by everyone who is anyone in the Indie Author community for the quality and expertise of his advice, all of which is free.

 

Penny Sansevieri looks at why your Amazon Ads might not be working and Sandra Beckwith talks about author technophobia and how to overcome it.

 

Written Word media have a comprehensive post on 100 book marketing ideas for authors.

Katie Weiland has a great post this week on 9 ways to maintain your creative focus while you juggle writing and life.

 

How do you know when you are telling in a story? Check out this great post from Suzy Vadori on how to spot the signs.

 

In The Craft Section,

Choosing the chosen one- Vaughn Roycroft- Bookmark

The most important thing to include the story- Angela Ackerman

Getting the best response from your characters- Janice Hardy

How are Archetypes different from Tropes- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Inner conflict -the driving force- C S Lakin- Bookmark

 

In the Marketing Section,

Beyond the words, the impact of a brand style Deb Vanasse-Bookmark

Using hashtags-Kathy Steinemann

Using Bookfunnel as a landing page – Katie Cross-Bookmark

Canva tips for authors- Jeevani Charika- Bookmark

Book marketing strategies- Dale Roberts

 

To Finish,

You know the scenario… you are at a party and inevitably someone asks what you do? You tell them and you get the reply, ‘Have I heard of you?’ Aside from being annoying – how would I know what you’ve heard? How do you navigate the conversation after that? James Scott Bell looks at this dilemma and how to rise above it.

I am reminded of my uncle who used to make up highly technical terms for ordinary jobs when he was asked these questions. 

I am a content creator for an international media company currently specializing in long form content for juveniles in the speculative genre. 

Or you can just invent a boring job title.

 

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 Cosiela Borta on Unsplash