The Writing Business- Shaking Hands with AI

 

 

In Publishing News this week

Publisher’s Weekly reports that Readerlink will stop distributing mass market paperbacks this year. With Readerlink responsible for distributing 30% of all the books into big chains in the United States that is a big revenue hit. Will the cheap mass market format disappear? 

 

Bologna Book Fair names their licensing awards shortlist for 2025 and for the first time licensing for video games makes an appearance. It’s all about the merch in the children’s world. And if you aren’t sure, this is Intellectual Property (IP) based on a creators idea. Smurfs are still a big thing. I wonder how many of their original creators are getting a dividend.

 

The UK government has wrapped up ten weeks of submissions on their copyright and AI proposed law. They finished with a big campaign on the covers of Newspapers asking if AI was fair. It wasn’t just UK associations making submissions. Many overseas publishing organisations also submitted on the bill. Publishing Perspectives writes about what is happening next. Many are calling for transparency and licensing deals. Will the law take this into account? 

 

While the UK is grappling with writing a new law, across the pond Meta is in court trying to justify their theft to train their AI. I’m not sure their arguments- everybody is doing it, and apologise later, are good ones to make to the judge.

 

Mark Williams has his own particular take on the use of AI. Consumers love it. Therefore, we need to embrace it. This could be problematic when your contract arrives, and you have to state whether you have ever used AI or not on the project. Publishers are looking at ways to indemnify themselves from accusations of plagiarism.

 

The way forward into the AI forest looks dark and winding and it might be years before we see the sunlight on the other side. Shining a torch is Debbie Burke of the Killzone authors who explains how the Author’s Guild Human Authored campaign of registrations and stickers work.

 

Jenny Hanson has a great article over at the Dynamic Duo’s blog on Book Structure for Disorganized Writers. Remember writing and plotting is unique to each writer. Jenny offers some handy tips to make sense of your process.

 

Russell Nohelty has the mega post/tutorial on Book Marketing. There is absolutely something for everyone in this post. Bookmark it! 365 simple ways to talk about your writing and keep readers engaged all year. 

 

Carol Michel has updated her very popular post on Jane Friedman’s blog about How to market a book without social media. Also on Jane’s blog is a great article by Lisa Cooper Ellison on Memoir Mistakes. When the backstory derails your narrative.

 

 

In The Craft Section,

9 ways to originalise your story idea- Becca Puglisi

Circling conflicts- September Fawkes- Bookmark

Alternatives for Speechless – Kathy Steinemann- Bookmark

The backstory balancing act- Marissa Graff

How to avoid flat characters in your story- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

3 ways to get amazon reviews- Bang 2 Write

Your voice, your narration- Cindy Gunderson - Interesting article!

5 handy tips for book marketing- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

Article ideas for book publicity- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

The author media kit- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

 

To Finish

James Scott Bell always has wise words about writing craft but he has a good business brain for writing as well. It must be the lawyer training. He has an interesting take on the writing business and what is happening in traditional publishing. Remember that publishing is a business, and you should understand this with every contract you sign. One of the most important clauses now for a writer is the rights reversion clause. The old out of print clause doesn’t cut it now with eBooks, so put a time limit on it. 

It's all IP and that’s what the publishers are buying, as much of your intellectual property as they can get. It is a pot of gold if they can on-sell your merch rights to the video game developer before you get the rights back.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

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Photo by Lukas 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