Out There Doing The Business
The Bologna book fair is off to an interesting start as the conversation is already moving from author content to AI. Will AI be the next step for publishing or will it fizz out as another technological “trend.” Most importantly, if it does take center stage, what will that mean for authors?
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
Pic: Brooke Lark on Unsplash
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