Publishing News Roundup Series: Why Average Writers Should Care About Amazon Moving into the Middle East
by Maureen Crisp • April 10, 2017 • Follow
Published in News • No comments
Amazon continues to spread its influence across the globe.
It seems that just as the big publishers are moving divisions into different sectors of the world, Amazon mirrors the business move. The Middle East in particular is a plethora of new book opportunity that all sides of publishing are moving in to take up opportunities. What do these moves mean for the smaller publishers there? And what about for self-publishers?
Pic Flickr Creative Commons / Moyan Brenn /Tuscany Market
This is the week of the Buy. Amazon bought Souk. Why should the average writer care? Souk
is to the Middle East what Amazon is to the West. Digital books are only 1% of the market. They only have to go into China to get total world domination…
is to the Middle East what Amazon is to the West. Digital books are only 1% of the market. They only have to go into China to get total world domination…
Kobo, the Canadian digital device and bookseller has bought Shelfi. Why? For the tech developers apparently, ( or is it because they have a perfect understanding of buyer’s reading habits.)
Microsoft unveils a digital bookstore. Why? Because everybody else has one… (I wanna bookstore… Google and Apple have one and Amazon has a big one….) Meanwhile a savvy bibliophile wandered into an Amazon bookstore and saw that they don’t sell books like other booksellers. They group them differently.
How is your reading this year? Elizabeth S Craig decided to put a reading plan into action this meant having another identity on Goodreads.
The Writers Guild Association home of script and screenwriters looks like it is gearing up for another strike. Negotiations have broken down between the studios again on what they pay the writers. Why are the content creators the last in line to get paid?
There are rumblings in the universities. Should academics publish their own textbooks? There was an interesting panel debate at London Book Fair on this. Is the traditional academic publishing world finally getting the shake up of self publishing. The days of the $400 text book may be numbered.
Bologna is on! Bologna is the world’s biggest children’s book fair. At this time all the children’s writers get a case of travel and book envy. Publishers Weekly has a quick run down on what everyone is looking for.
James Scott Bell has a great article in Writer Unboxed asking is your writing big enough? You know those sweeping sentences that go on for half a page and your eyes and attention remain riveted to the page, even while you subconsciously know that no editor these days would let a writer ramble on but the writing is soo good and you just can’t help reading on. I have shelves full of writers that were sparing with a full stop but they could sure tell a story. They were prolific and belonged to the pulp school of writing. Anne R Allen wonders if the constant pressure to write and repeat is a good idea. What about those writers who write slowly?
In The Craft Section,
Story structure purpose for readers– Jami Gold – Bookmark
Creating a strong moral premise– Jeff Lyons- Bookmark
Theme examples from literature– Now Novel
10 things to remember about sequels– Janice Hardy
In The Marketing Section,
3 Book marketing skills -C K Syme
9 things authors need on their landing pages– Bookthority-Bookmark
Author bio’s a help or hindrance– Anne R Allen – Bookmark
Amazon keywords to double your readers– Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark
Book description A/B tests Bookmark
To Finish,
This week Marie Force wrote a fantastic article on chasing the best seller lists and how she realised that she needed to change her focus. Kris Rusch talked about the bestseller lists and who you are writing for. It is a fabulous article and a must read.
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.