Piracy is something that we all know can negatively affect an author’s sales. But what about in places where readers do not have access to a book and just want to read it? If the publishing house isn’t losing money, and the product is getting to avid fans and readers, can it sometimes be not so bad?
Facing The Music
Pic: Flickr Creative Commons – Tim Green – Sax Maniac
This week Japan just jailed some copyright pirates. (Is that a cheer I hear from authors?). How much did publishing lose? The New Publishing Standard crunches the numbers and asks is it piracy if the pirates were just filling a gap in the market?
The European Writers Council is looking sideways at EU member nations this week who have been dragging their feet over ratifying the Single Market Digital Copyright Directive. They have had two years. There are now some very nervous content providers out there looking at their disappearing copyright. Publishing Perspectives looks at implications.
Dave Chesson is on a roll with another comprehensive article on how to choose good book titles. This is a fascinating deep dive into the emotion of book titles… just in case you thought they were pulled out of a hat.
Kristine Rusch has another great post on fear-based decision-making in publishing. There is so much to mull over in here. Kris is writing mainly about the US publishing world but these things echo around. I know that print runs have been drastically cut in the last ten years here in NZ.
Anne R Allen has a very good blog that is chock full of interesting content. This week Anne has a mini-rant on self-publishing. It is not a childish game. This is not a let’s play at publishing dress-up. It’s a business and the choices you make at the beginning can make or break you. (Totally Agree)
I was interested to see an opinion piece on Forbes about micropayments and the continuing lack of a viable way to show one-time appreciation. It was big news about five years ago as everybody thought it would be sorted soon. And still, we wait. A tip jar could make all the difference to writers whose work is stuck behind paywalls and subscription plans. How many subscriptions does one person need?
Brenda Copeland has an interesting article on Show and Tell. We often hear writing advice that emphasizes the Show -Don’t Tell mantra. But sometimes you need some telling. Brenda shows where it is most effective.
In The Craft Section,
5 types of surprise and how to write them– September Fawkes- Bookmark
5 ways to get unstuck– Lisa Tener
2 great posts from Jami Gold –How we can avoid talking heads and Characters and Settings- make them interact- Bookmark Both.
Archetypes- The parent- (another in her excellent series) K M Weiland – Bookmark
In The Marketing Section
FAQ on Lyrics In Books-Bookbaby- This question comes up all the time- You may need to bookmark it if it’s something you want to do in the future.
Book promotions- The long term– Anne Janzer
How to get awesome book cover blurbs and Who are the best Booktubers– Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark Both
Podcasting as an Indie author- The Alliance of Independent Authors- Bookmark
To Finish
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Finalists were announced today. Congratulations to all finalists. I have been a judge for these awards and it is no easy task. There would be many fine books that would have just missed the cut. We need a longlist.
Maureen
@craicer
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