Publishing News Roundup Series: Scribd Cuts Romance Titles and Apple Loses Appeal
by Maureen Crisp • July 6, 2015 • Follow
Published in News • No comments
This week’s Publishing News Roundup series talks about Apple’s appeal loss, and Scribd’s reasoning for cutting its romance titles.
We will also be discussing E L James’ Twitter chat that didn’t necessarily go as planned and we discuss how to properly handle yourself when not liking an author’s work. Check out this week’s post below:
Flagging Down Karma
Pic: From Grammarly blog on writing retreats.
This week the power of group/mob behaviour was in full view around the blogosphere.
And it wasn’t pretty!
E L James had a torrid time on an ‘Ask E L James’ Twitter chat that her PR people should never have enabled. Mob behaviour was in evidence when she was publically vilified at a live event. You can hate the stories… just don’t read them, but don’t attack the author. They are a human being. Porter reports on the fallout and how Chuck Wendig coped with it.
For the anonymous haters who hide behind computer screens and avatars to say hate speech- there will be KARMA.
This week Apple’s appeal against their sentence of collusion with the big publishers got thrown out. (See Karma…) Fortune magazine details just our cozy the deals Apple and the publishers made. It is not pretty reading.
Scribd, the ebook subscription company, has come up against the voracious romance reader and decided that limiting their subscription is the way to go. There are howls of protest from readers who are instantly penalised for reading too much and from writers who find their books have just disappeared. The Bookseller looks at the issue and what might be a solution.
Writers trying to get their head around the new Amazon subscription service pay per page read would do well to check out Susan Kaye Quinn’s comparison breakdown. Susan’s straight forward analysis clearly shows the writer just what a pay per page means as opposed to a borrow. Math wins and so do some writers.
Fake online reviews are still happening and some authors are being burned by negative review campaigns. Amazon is rolling out some new algorithms to clean this up. Porter talks about what can be done, should be done, is being done about sock puppetry.
In the Craft Section,
Revising without tears (Bookmark)
The writers skill– Stephen Pressfield
The secret behind making me care about your characters– Chuck Wendig (usual warnings)
How fiction writers can ramp up tension and pacing– CS Lakin (Bookmark)
Truth and Fiction- Girl Cliques– Becca Puglisi (Bookmark)
In the Marketing Section,
Behind the scenes making a cover– Dane Low
Book marketing checklist –Tim Grahl (Comprehensive)
Book marketing plans – (Bookmark)
Special forces tools that help writers-Bob Mayer
Book Market results– Nicholas Rossis (Fascinating! Bookmark)
Website of the Week
Grammar – You can’t ignore it. There are some great websites out there to help you write more better (spot the deliberate grammar mangling.) Check out the Grammarly blog for nifty tips and great articles.
To Finish,
Jane Friedman has an interview with Nathan Bransford on her blog. Nathan has been it all… an agent, a writer, a reviewer…. He is in a unique position to comment on today’s publishing industry.
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.