Resources and tips for the self-published author.

Publishing News Roundup Series: How to Utilize Who You Are as a Writer to Your Benefit

by Maureen Crisp •  October 9, 2017  •   Follow

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Who are you as a writer? And how do you find this out?

What is your marker that makes you the writer you are? What is your signature trademark that readers think about when they think of you? If you want to leave a writing legacy and you have fans to prove it, chances are you already have a trademark or style. Now, can you harness that tool that makes you the writer you are, and turn it into what you want yourself portrayed as?

 

Who Are You?

 

What are the themes of your writing life? Do you know? Sara Letourneau explains how to find them in your writing. Will knowing about your unique themes make you a better writer? This is a great read on an interesting topic.

 

This week Children’s authors in the U K were not happy. Every year a range of books are made available for one pound for children. The new line up for World Book day 2018 heavily features celebrity authors. Any children’s bookseller can tell you that very few celebrities can write for children. Are we dumbing down our kids literature on purpose?

 

I have reported over this year Amazon’s venture into brick and mortar stores. First with their bookshops… or book showrooms as they seem to be, then buying the chain of Whole Foods shops and now they are venturing overseas. Can you see them in France?

 

David Gaughran has made it his mission to defend the innocent writer from Author Solutions shady practices. A S has many names and seems to be able to survive by changing names but not tactics. Lately David has been turning his crusader eyes to the shady practices of Kindle Unlimited scammers.

 

What is the psychology of good cover design? Is it to fit in or stand out? Damon, the man behind Damonza book covers tells all.

 

The next ALLi Indie Fringe conference is coming up in two weeks. If you haven’t dropped in on the other two this year don’t miss this one! It’s free. The Alli conferences are on around the time of the big Book Fairs. With Frankfurt Book Fair coming up this Indie Fringe conference is on Author Business. Check out the speakers they have lined up.

 

Some of the speakers at the Alli conference have writing books in this years NaNoWriMo Storybundle which is available now. Every year I point out this bundle of books going into National Novel Writing Month. October is NaNoPrepMo. This years NaNo Storybundle is stuffed full of workbooks for writers. For the cost of one book get 15 and there are some gems among them!

 

Chris Syme is pulling back on Facebook ads. Chris is a marketing guru whom I’ve often linked to in my roundups. She has an interesting article on why she is cutting back and the new strategy to be more effective going forward. This is a bookmark post.

 

Another bookmark post with warnings is Chuck’s post on saggy middles. If you have read Chuck Wendig before you will be prepared for his 25 ways to fight saggy middles. If you haven’t read a Chuck post… be warned!

In The Craft Section,

How authors can write faster– Daisy Hartwell- Bookmark
 
 
How to make your reader cry– Livia Blackburne
 
What is an emotional wound? – Becca Puglisi-Bookmark- This is a sneak preview into the next Emotion Thesaurus, coming soon from the Dynamic Duo!
 
 
 
Plot isn’t Story– K M Weiland- Bookmark
 
Developing Themes- The inciting incident– Sara Letorneau- Bookmark

In The Marketing Section,

 
 
Indie Ebook promotion strategies– Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
 
 
 
Multi tiered price strategies– Martin Cavannagh – Bookmark
 
Book Marketing checklist– Tim Grahl- Bookmark if you haven’t already

To Finish

This week Anne R Allen decided to explore whether having a pen name was still relevant in this day and age. With Google search at everyone’s fingertips can we stay anonymous? Do we still need a pen name?

 

Maureen
@craicer
 

About Maureen Crisp

Maureen Crisp has been writing her weekly publishing roundups for over seven years. She is a traditionally published children's author as well as indie-published. She lives in New Zealand and is heading the team organising the 4th National Conference of Children's Writers and Illustrators. She is currently trying her hand at writing a children’s book series if she can drag herself away from forever tweaking her Mars novel or obsessing over space.