Publishing News Roundup Series: Dealing with Criticism as an Author
by Maureen Crisp • October 19, 2015 • Follow
Published in News • No comments
Criticism is always the hardest thing to deal with as a self published author, especially after all the extra effort you put in to your work.
This week we will be talking about how to deal with criticism properly. We will also be focusing on how to mentally deal with editing other people’s work:
Editing Thoughts
This week I have been picking the threads up of my writing life… pulling out the project that was put on hold. When you take a month away sometimes it’s hard to dive back in. This is a good time to edit.
When I read Chuck’s Kubler Ross Stages of Grief of Editing I had to laugh. (Warning it’s Chuck!) My editing thinking is usually harsher. ‘Good grief how did I come to write this mess….’ I have to stop
myself from deleting it all and curling up into a snotty whimpering ball in the
corner.
myself from deleting it all and curling up into a snotty whimpering ball in the
corner.
I must have been sending out unconscious signals on editing because some great posts on dealing with criticism fell into my Twitter feed. Stephen Pressfield has a great post on pushing forward into
a project –The 1 way I screw myself up. Jami Gold also has a great post on criticism and how to deal with it. (even when it’s your own.)
a project –The 1 way I screw myself up. Jami Gold also has a great post on criticism and how to deal with it. (even when it’s your own.)
Last Night The Booker Prize went to Marlon James from Nigeria. So this begins his author celebrity life where his every utterance will be scrutinised. Quartz magazine has an article on why turning authors into celebrities is bad for the reader.
Future Book has been compiling manifestos lately from people in the publishing world about how they see the future and what changes they would make. Porter takes a look at some of the ideas– from how to treat publishing interns to instantaneous transfer from writer to reader.
Many people in the publishing world are wondering how to get their books into the Asian market. Christine Sun has a very informative and detailed look at Fiberead, a translation service with a difference.
The Author Earnings team has published a new report on what sales look like in the rest of the eBook market outside of Amazon. Kris Rusch takes a look at what it means and offers some advice for Indie Publishers going forward. Kris also has a great post on front list... and how the Traditional Publishers
are finally understanding what a backlist means in sales for the front list. If you didn’t understand that sentence go and read the Kris Rusch’s very good article.
are finally understanding what a backlist means in sales for the front list. If you didn’t understand that sentence go and read the Kris Rusch’s very good article.
In the Craft Section,
The writing world is heading into NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. That means that there are plenty of writing tips around NaNo in October.
Teddi Deppner has all the tools you might want to try out while NaNo-ing
Jami Gold also has a list of writing resources for NaNo.
How to find Book Ideas – Now Novel
Plotting mini arcs– Janice Hardy- (Bookmark)
In the Marketing Section,
Media Kits – Janice Hardy
Manuscript to eBook cleaning guide – Joel Friedlander (Bookmark)
Marketing books on Social Media– Anne R Allen
A 12 month strategic plan for marketing your book before release– C S Lakin (Bookmark)
Website of the Week
Joe Konrath has long been the go to website of Indie/Self publishers. Here is today’s guest post by Andrea Pearson with the Master Class on how to plan for success in the long term.
To Finish,
After all the editing and publishing, authors are after readers. Angela Ackerman has a great article on finding readers... What are the themes of your book… are there groups out there you can market to? You might find them in very unexpected places.
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.