Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-in-a-digital-age"
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: Audrey Niffenegger
I attended The Literary Consultancy's conference at the weekend and really enjoyed it.
In the coming weeks I am going to be sharing some of the highlights of the conference with you, and also my thoughts on the event.
I'm hoping the series of blogs will be useful to writers and readers.
*******************************************************************************************
The first speaker at the event was Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife.
I found her speech interesting and inspirational.
Audrey is a visual artist as well as a writer. She said most people's reactions in the publishing industry to the way the digital age is developing is "jumpy and alarmed".
The backdrop for her speech were various slides based on the history of typography and how the letters of the alphabet developed over the years and in different languages. I think she said the pictures were from Meggs' History of Graphic Design.
Audrey Niffenegger was trained as a visual artist and she said that the way she thinks of a book is in terms of putting images and words together. She was 40 when she wrote her first novel.
When she trained as an artist, she said it was all about expressing ideas, not going with the flow, not following trends, breaking new ground. She was inspired by Aubrey Beardley.
In Niffenegger's last two years at art school she wrote a book that was mostly pictures with a bit of text, The Adventuress. When she graduated she tried to get it published but it was rejected because it was too original and different. She went on to show it at an art gallery and sold a few copies.
14 years later she wrote another illustrated book, The Three Incestuous Sisters and sold only a few copies. In the process of doing that, she got involved with other people doing conceptual books. She and a group of other book artists, papermakers, and designers founded a new book arts centre, the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The idea was to tie in art with computer, sound, film, video, interdisciplinary arts.
Tn 1994 they started offering classes and a couple of years later graduate dregrees (MFAs Master of Fine Arts). Many of the students were graphic designers. The idea behind the book art centre was to allow students to do what they want.
While working there as an assistant director, she was in charge of writing the catalogues describing the classes and she wanted to find ways of making the descriptions of the classes more interesting, so she started writing them more creatively and this made her mind think differently. It was around that time she started writing The Time Traveler's Wife.
The idea behind that novel, for her, developed by asking questions. She began to find that her own reality worked its way into the fiction, for example one of the characters in the book is a paper-making artist.
When she sent the manuscript out, it was rejected more than thirty times. Then an independent press picked it up and published it. At the time, that independent press MacAdam/Cage only had 14 employees. The novel has since sold 7 million copies and has been translated into many different languages, and of course there is now a film.
She found that the success of that book allowed her the freedom to experiment with other publishing. Her first book picture book, that had been initially rejected, was then picked up by Abrams and has sold well.
Audrey stated that the reach she now has, due to the success of that one book, has created opportunity. Her current project is a fairy tale that has been made into a ballet, Raven Girl.
The whole nature of publishing has changed since she first published The Time Traveller's Wife. She explained how when she signed the contract, the concept of e-book rights wasn't even considered, so she found she still owned all the rights. She didn't publish it in e-book for quite a while, wanting to wait for the right moment.
A great influence on Audrey has been her agent, Joe Regal. In 2011, he started a company called Zola Books, named for the writer Émile Zola. Audrey helped Joe set up the company. The idea behind it is that e-books could and should be better. The idea is also to bring the community together through social networking and partnering with independent bookshops and authors.
For The Time Traveller's Wife e-book, she is writing a sequel to go with it.
Audrey says that things that succeed are: "Useful, beautiful, friendly, and make themselves available to you." These are the ideas behind book production on Zola Books. She mentioned that there is an idea to make e-books available on 5 devices so that you can register on the site and move your e-book to any of your reading devices.
She believes that distribution is the most important thing when it comes to e-books.
She recommended a book, "The Gift" which is a study of creativity.
She says that she believes creativity has to be somewhere people can interact with it. She pointed at fan fiction as one of the most active ways this is happening lately, with readers becoming writers and back again.
In her book that is now a ballet, she has an idea to include sound and animation that would be an extension of the text. Although, she did say that she finds it distracting to listen to music with lyrics when she's writing. I do too. I know that there are some writers that can write and listen to songs at the same time, though.
Audrey's experience in the publishing industry is a good example of how much has changed, and at quite a rapid rate, over the past twenty years or so. What Audrey's students were once doing in the paper arts centre is now being done on computers and in digital form for e-books. Despite all the changes, she says that in the publishing world everyone depends on everyone else, and she doesn't see e-books as a challenge to paperbacks.
Audrey's speech affirmed to me some things that I already knew about the publishing world and writers in general, but it was good to hear it from a multi-million bestselling author. She has her feet firmly on the ground even after all her success, and I believe that is because she had to work hard to become successful and didn't quit.
**************************************************************************************
In the coming weeks I am going to be sharing some of the highlights of the conference with you, and also my thoughts on the event.
I'm hoping the series of blogs will be useful to writers and readers.
*******************************************************************************************
The first speaker at the event was Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife.
I found her speech interesting and inspirational.
Audrey is a visual artist as well as a writer. She said most people's reactions in the publishing industry to the way the digital age is developing is "jumpy and alarmed".
The backdrop for her speech were various slides based on the history of typography and how the letters of the alphabet developed over the years and in different languages. I think she said the pictures were from Meggs' History of Graphic Design.
Audrey Niffenegger was trained as a visual artist and she said that the way she thinks of a book is in terms of putting images and words together. She was 40 when she wrote her first novel.
When she trained as an artist, she said it was all about expressing ideas, not going with the flow, not following trends, breaking new ground. She was inspired by Aubrey Beardley.
In Niffenegger's last two years at art school she wrote a book that was mostly pictures with a bit of text, The Adventuress. When she graduated she tried to get it published but it was rejected because it was too original and different. She went on to show it at an art gallery and sold a few copies.
14 years later she wrote another illustrated book, The Three Incestuous Sisters and sold only a few copies. In the process of doing that, she got involved with other people doing conceptual books. She and a group of other book artists, papermakers, and designers founded a new book arts centre, the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The idea was to tie in art with computer, sound, film, video, interdisciplinary arts.
Tn 1994 they started offering classes and a couple of years later graduate dregrees (MFAs Master of Fine Arts). Many of the students were graphic designers. The idea behind the book art centre was to allow students to do what they want.
While working there as an assistant director, she was in charge of writing the catalogues describing the classes and she wanted to find ways of making the descriptions of the classes more interesting, so she started writing them more creatively and this made her mind think differently. It was around that time she started writing The Time Traveler's Wife.
The idea behind that novel, for her, developed by asking questions. She began to find that her own reality worked its way into the fiction, for example one of the characters in the book is a paper-making artist.
When she sent the manuscript out, it was rejected more than thirty times. Then an independent press picked it up and published it. At the time, that independent press MacAdam/Cage only had 14 employees. The novel has since sold 7 million copies and has been translated into many different languages, and of course there is now a film.
She found that the success of that book allowed her the freedom to experiment with other publishing. Her first book picture book, that had been initially rejected, was then picked up by Abrams and has sold well.
Audrey stated that the reach she now has, due to the success of that one book, has created opportunity. Her current project is a fairy tale that has been made into a ballet, Raven Girl.
The whole nature of publishing has changed since she first published The Time Traveller's Wife. She explained how when she signed the contract, the concept of e-book rights wasn't even considered, so she found she still owned all the rights. She didn't publish it in e-book for quite a while, wanting to wait for the right moment.
A great influence on Audrey has been her agent, Joe Regal. In 2011, he started a company called Zola Books, named for the writer Émile Zola. Audrey helped Joe set up the company. The idea behind it is that e-books could and should be better. The idea is also to bring the community together through social networking and partnering with independent bookshops and authors.
For The Time Traveller's Wife e-book, she is writing a sequel to go with it.
Audrey says that things that succeed are: "Useful, beautiful, friendly, and make themselves available to you." These are the ideas behind book production on Zola Books. She mentioned that there is an idea to make e-books available on 5 devices so that you can register on the site and move your e-book to any of your reading devices.
She believes that distribution is the most important thing when it comes to e-books.
She recommended a book, "The Gift" which is a study of creativity.
She says that she believes creativity has to be somewhere people can interact with it. She pointed at fan fiction as one of the most active ways this is happening lately, with readers becoming writers and back again.
In her book that is now a ballet, she has an idea to include sound and animation that would be an extension of the text. Although, she did say that she finds it distracting to listen to music with lyrics when she's writing. I do too. I know that there are some writers that can write and listen to songs at the same time, though.
Audrey's experience in the publishing industry is a good example of how much has changed, and at quite a rapid rate, over the past twenty years or so. What Audrey's students were once doing in the paper arts centre is now being done on computers and in digital form for e-books. Despite all the changes, she says that in the publishing world everyone depends on everyone else, and she doesn't see e-books as a challenge to paperbacks.
Audrey's speech affirmed to me some things that I already knew about the publishing world and writers in general, but it was good to hear it from a multi-million bestselling author. She has her feet firmly on the ground even after all her success, and I believe that is because she had to work hard to become successful and didn't quit.
**************************************************************************************
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: 5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing - Part II
Part I of this segment of the series can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have been writing a series of posts about what I learned at the recent "Writing in a Digital Age" conference. The staff at The Literary Consultancy have collated various press reports and write-ups on their website. Check it out here: http://www.literaryconsultancy.co.uk/...
My blog posts are included!
Now on to part 2 of this topic. Today I'll tell you what was said about the importance of book design.
There was a very interesting presentation about how book design (the cover and interior) can be an effective marketing tool for writers.
Lots of market research goes into creating covers that sell books. This is one area that I found quite eye-opening. I've always thought that little or no imagination goes into the book covers created by the big publishers, but there is a method in their madness. They know which covers sell, so why bother spending lots on a cover? They have researched the elements that have to be included on a cover for the book to stand a chance of selling to a target market, and they make sure that their covers have those.
Kristen Harrison, found of The Curved House, said that the covers of commercial books 'speak' to the target market.
An example given was that for chick-lit books, typically marketed at 30-40 year old professional women, the usual key requirements are:
1. The colour pink included somewhere on the cover
2. A font that looks like handwriting
3. A woman's legs from the knee down
4. A pencil skirt
Yes, weird, but true... Some covers were shown at the conference and it really was obvious that most of the chick-lit books had followed this winning formula to some extent using one or more of these elements.
Here are some covers I found that kind of prove the theory:
Lots of pink, and legs, and handwriting font there...
Another important point brought up at the conference was about brand identity and how that can help to attract readers and sell books. We see it with the bestselling authors, where they have many books with similar book covers that identify them as the author. For example, they may always use the same font type for their name, or maybe a similar picture on each cover.
The example given at the conference was Rachel Hore. If you take a look at her website, you can see how similar all her book covers are: http://rachelhore.co.uk/
Many indie authors (myself included) do not set out with a marketing plan when designing a cover; they will just choose a cover they feel suits the story and the book. There is a subjective feel to many indie authors' covers. However, from a marketing point of view this is probably not the best strategy.
Some indie authors are aware of the need for brand identity. A couple of authors that spring to mind are Terry Tyler and Susan Buchanan. If you take a look at their book covers, you'll see what I mean:
Susan's books:
Terry's books:
(click on the book covers to see larger images).
It definitely gives a more professional image when you have these types of 'brand image' covers.
******
It's not only the outside of your book that will influence what readers think of it; you have to think about the inside as well.
The type of font you choose is important.
The standard type fonts used by most independent authors are Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial. At the conference, we were told that these types of fonts may put readers off as they are associated in their minds with office documents, and the look of the book will be 'home-made'. To elevate your book to a more professional status, it was advised that writers should move away from using the standard fonts available with MS Word.
Suggested fonts for use inside a book are benbo and garamond. But it was also mentioned that sometimes publishers will state which font is used at the start of the book on the book information/copyright page. If you read a book by a large publisher and like the font, you can try looking there to see which font it is. Most professional fonts can be bought. A few websites mentioned where you can buy fonts: 1001fonts.com, dafont.com, fontgrill.com, Google
Apparently, readers like the tried and tested book interiors. For example, it's usual in traditionally published books to start the first few pages by numbering in roman numerals, e.g. i, ii, iii, and then when the actual book starts you go onto normal page numbers.
Chapter drops are usually about one third of the page. It was advised that authors stick to this when publishing. The idea is to make readers feel at home, and to associate your book with traditionally published books.
This design strategy does not stop with your book cover. It was advised that things like the fonts used and the colours used on your covers should become your identity online also, for example on your website or your Facebook Page.
Make your website look interesting, add images and videos.
It was also advised that you should use good quality images on your website and other networking sites.
There are some great websites that provide free photos for book covers under the creative commons licence, i.e. you can use the photo for free and just have to credit the photographer. One example given was Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I've also found a good site http://www.morguefile.com
Another tip given was that you should complete fully your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other such sites. Often they are left incomplete. Make sure you add an image to your profile pages and a bio.
Wordpress.com was recommended as a good site for creating a website/blog as it has good quality images.
Something that was mentioned was how big publishers often have different designs for covers depending on where they are selling the book. Different markets around the world respond to books covers in different ways. The point was made, however, that indie authors do not really have the option of designing different covers for different countries because the way we can publish is limited. One book design goes all around the world with independently published books.
There is a website, that I had never heard of before, called Fixabook.com where you can get opinions on book covers, which could prove quite useful: http://www.fixabook.com/
********
Well, I think that is quite enough information for you to get your heads around today. I was going to write up this part of the series in two parts, but I will add a Part III. In the next part of this section of the series, I will pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
**********************************************************************************
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have been writing a series of posts about what I learned at the recent "Writing in a Digital Age" conference. The staff at The Literary Consultancy have collated various press reports and write-ups on their website. Check it out here: http://www.literaryconsultancy.co.uk/...
My blog posts are included!
Now on to part 2 of this topic. Today I'll tell you what was said about the importance of book design.
There was a very interesting presentation about how book design (the cover and interior) can be an effective marketing tool for writers.
Lots of market research goes into creating covers that sell books. This is one area that I found quite eye-opening. I've always thought that little or no imagination goes into the book covers created by the big publishers, but there is a method in their madness. They know which covers sell, so why bother spending lots on a cover? They have researched the elements that have to be included on a cover for the book to stand a chance of selling to a target market, and they make sure that their covers have those.
Kristen Harrison, found of The Curved House, said that the covers of commercial books 'speak' to the target market.
An example given was that for chick-lit books, typically marketed at 30-40 year old professional women, the usual key requirements are:
1. The colour pink included somewhere on the cover
2. A font that looks like handwriting
3. A woman's legs from the knee down
4. A pencil skirt
Yes, weird, but true... Some covers were shown at the conference and it really was obvious that most of the chick-lit books had followed this winning formula to some extent using one or more of these elements.
Here are some covers I found that kind of prove the theory:
Lots of pink, and legs, and handwriting font there...
Another important point brought up at the conference was about brand identity and how that can help to attract readers and sell books. We see it with the bestselling authors, where they have many books with similar book covers that identify them as the author. For example, they may always use the same font type for their name, or maybe a similar picture on each cover.
The example given at the conference was Rachel Hore. If you take a look at her website, you can see how similar all her book covers are: http://rachelhore.co.uk/
Many indie authors (myself included) do not set out with a marketing plan when designing a cover; they will just choose a cover they feel suits the story and the book. There is a subjective feel to many indie authors' covers. However, from a marketing point of view this is probably not the best strategy.
Some indie authors are aware of the need for brand identity. A couple of authors that spring to mind are Terry Tyler and Susan Buchanan. If you take a look at their book covers, you'll see what I mean:
Susan's books:
Terry's books:
(click on the book covers to see larger images).
It definitely gives a more professional image when you have these types of 'brand image' covers.
******
It's not only the outside of your book that will influence what readers think of it; you have to think about the inside as well.
The type of font you choose is important.
The standard type fonts used by most independent authors are Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial. At the conference, we were told that these types of fonts may put readers off as they are associated in their minds with office documents, and the look of the book will be 'home-made'. To elevate your book to a more professional status, it was advised that writers should move away from using the standard fonts available with MS Word.
Suggested fonts for use inside a book are benbo and garamond. But it was also mentioned that sometimes publishers will state which font is used at the start of the book on the book information/copyright page. If you read a book by a large publisher and like the font, you can try looking there to see which font it is. Most professional fonts can be bought. A few websites mentioned where you can buy fonts: 1001fonts.com, dafont.com, fontgrill.com, Google
Apparently, readers like the tried and tested book interiors. For example, it's usual in traditionally published books to start the first few pages by numbering in roman numerals, e.g. i, ii, iii, and then when the actual book starts you go onto normal page numbers.
Chapter drops are usually about one third of the page. It was advised that authors stick to this when publishing. The idea is to make readers feel at home, and to associate your book with traditionally published books.
This design strategy does not stop with your book cover. It was advised that things like the fonts used and the colours used on your covers should become your identity online also, for example on your website or your Facebook Page.
Make your website look interesting, add images and videos.
It was also advised that you should use good quality images on your website and other networking sites.
There are some great websites that provide free photos for book covers under the creative commons licence, i.e. you can use the photo for free and just have to credit the photographer. One example given was Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I've also found a good site http://www.morguefile.com
Another tip given was that you should complete fully your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other such sites. Often they are left incomplete. Make sure you add an image to your profile pages and a bio.
Wordpress.com was recommended as a good site for creating a website/blog as it has good quality images.
Something that was mentioned was how big publishers often have different designs for covers depending on where they are selling the book. Different markets around the world respond to books covers in different ways. The point was made, however, that indie authors do not really have the option of designing different covers for different countries because the way we can publish is limited. One book design goes all around the world with independently published books.
There is a website, that I had never heard of before, called Fixabook.com where you can get opinions on book covers, which could prove quite useful: http://www.fixabook.com/
********
Well, I think that is quite enough information for you to get your heads around today. I was going to write up this part of the series in two parts, but I will add a Part III. In the next part of this section of the series, I will pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
**********************************************************************************
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: 5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing - Part III
In June, I attended a very interesting conference about how the publishing industry is changing now that it is easier for authors to self-publish. I've been writing a series of blogs about the conference, and hope they will be of use to authors, both indie and traditionally published, as well as readers who might want a bit of insight into how the publishing industry works.
One segment of the conference was called "5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing". You can see Parts I & II of this part of the series here:
Part I: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Part II: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Now on to Part III
Orna Ross was one of the speakers at the conference. She's an author and founding director at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI). She explained why she decided to go from being traditionally published (her books were published by Penguin) to self-published. She is now self-published because she prefers it.
One of the key differences she mentioned was that she always found it difficult to understand her royalty statements, but now with self-publishing, it's so much easier to have control over such things. There was a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing.
Advantages of Self-Publishing:
Higher royalties - the author doesn't have to pay a percentage of his/her royalties to a publisher. Of course, there are costs involved e.g. when you publish through Amazon Kindle, it is usual for the author to get 70% of the sale price. There are similar fees on other publishing platforms.
Creative freedom - in traditional publishing there are often changes made to the book and sometimes the author may not have particularly wanted those changes. In self-publishing, the author decides.
Clear sales and royalty statements - monthly or quarterly - easier to understand
Book never goes out of print - unless the author wants it to, of course. In traditional publishing, titles often go out of print. There is usually a certain time limit for when promotion is done for a particular book, but with self-publishing you can promote a title whenever you want.
Disadvantages of self-publishing
Bookstores
It is difficult to get bookstore distribution, especially front-of-store placement. This is usually reserved for bestsellers, and traditionally published books. Browsing in book stores accounts for a lot of sales, and indie authors are missing out on these.
There is a campaign that ALLI is currently running called "Open Up To Indies", to try to help change this policy in bookstores. They are currently seeking volunteers who can help with the campaign: http://selfpublishingadvice.org/blog/...
Distribution
Distribution of books is more limited in general in the self-published sphere. It's important for indie authors to ask questions about distribution before they decide to publish on a particular site.
A couple of warnings were given about some unscrupulous services. Agent-assisted self-publishing is on the rise for traditionally published authors with a back list of books that may be out of print. Some of the services are good, but a warning was given that authors should research well. Some problems that have occurred include agents uploading the book in the agent's name and taking control. Also beware of fees charged for these types of services.
Another warning given was about digital-only presses, who offer to help self-publish. This is seen as a form of "vanity" publishing. Authors should avoid paying fees to such services as they are usually good for the publisher but not the author. Research should be done into what this service is actually offering the author.
It was also pointed out that authors should avoid publishing with companies who sell services more than books.
A bit of advice given to indie authors was: slow down -- when you write one book, put it in a drawer and write another, then go back to the original one you wrote to edit it so you can see it with a fresh eye.
Get a good editor and designer, and take time on the book.
Anyone can join ALLI, and there is self-publishing advice on their blog: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/
I hope you found some useful tips here!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One segment of the conference was called "5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing". You can see Parts I & II of this part of the series here:
Part I: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Part II: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Now on to Part III
Orna Ross was one of the speakers at the conference. She's an author and founding director at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI). She explained why she decided to go from being traditionally published (her books were published by Penguin) to self-published. She is now self-published because she prefers it.
One of the key differences she mentioned was that she always found it difficult to understand her royalty statements, but now with self-publishing, it's so much easier to have control over such things. There was a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing.
Advantages of Self-Publishing:
Higher royalties - the author doesn't have to pay a percentage of his/her royalties to a publisher. Of course, there are costs involved e.g. when you publish through Amazon Kindle, it is usual for the author to get 70% of the sale price. There are similar fees on other publishing platforms.
Creative freedom - in traditional publishing there are often changes made to the book and sometimes the author may not have particularly wanted those changes. In self-publishing, the author decides.
Clear sales and royalty statements - monthly or quarterly - easier to understand
Book never goes out of print - unless the author wants it to, of course. In traditional publishing, titles often go out of print. There is usually a certain time limit for when promotion is done for a particular book, but with self-publishing you can promote a title whenever you want.
Disadvantages of self-publishing
Bookstores
It is difficult to get bookstore distribution, especially front-of-store placement. This is usually reserved for bestsellers, and traditionally published books. Browsing in book stores accounts for a lot of sales, and indie authors are missing out on these.
There is a campaign that ALLI is currently running called "Open Up To Indies", to try to help change this policy in bookstores. They are currently seeking volunteers who can help with the campaign: http://selfpublishingadvice.org/blog/...
Distribution
Distribution of books is more limited in general in the self-published sphere. It's important for indie authors to ask questions about distribution before they decide to publish on a particular site.
A couple of warnings were given about some unscrupulous services. Agent-assisted self-publishing is on the rise for traditionally published authors with a back list of books that may be out of print. Some of the services are good, but a warning was given that authors should research well. Some problems that have occurred include agents uploading the book in the agent's name and taking control. Also beware of fees charged for these types of services.
Another warning given was about digital-only presses, who offer to help self-publish. This is seen as a form of "vanity" publishing. Authors should avoid paying fees to such services as they are usually good for the publisher but not the author. Research should be done into what this service is actually offering the author.
It was also pointed out that authors should avoid publishing with companies who sell services more than books.
A bit of advice given to indie authors was: slow down -- when you write one book, put it in a drawer and write another, then go back to the original one you wrote to edit it so you can see it with a fresh eye.
Get a good editor and designer, and take time on the book.
Anyone can join ALLI, and there is self-publishing advice on their blog: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/
I hope you found some useful tips here!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Literary Consultancy's Writers' Conference 2014
Last weekend I was at The Literary Consultancy's conference: Writing in a Digital Age.
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I attended last year and ran a series of blogs afterwards with lots of advice for writers.
This year's conference was just as information-packed and useful as last year's.
I came away with lots of scribbled notes and there is probably too much information to fit into one blog post so I'll do another series of blogs here.
I'll also be copying the blogs to my UK Arts Directory blog so that more people get to see the advice.
As an overview, a few interesting snippets from the weekend that stood out for me were the following:
1. Traditional publishers and independent/self-published authors now appear to be working more in unison. Last year there seemed to be a resistance to change. This year, however, there was a wonderfully author-friendly aura about the whole conference. The industry is changing and it felt more like the big players in publishing are embracing the changes more. I imagine that there will be much more collaboration between indies and mainstream publishers over the coming years. I'm happy about this because most of the books I read these days are by very talented indie authors and -- as some of the speakers at the conference proved -- indies are finally finding a place in the market. Although not yet equal, the playing field is levelling out a bit. There was the use of the term 'Author-Publisher' rather than 'self-published' that is becoming more popular, giving more credibility to independent authors.
2. One important thing that kept being repeated at the conference by different speakers was the importance of targeting your readership for effective book-marketing. Many authors (especially self-published) try to market their books too widely and miss their target audience. It's important to know who the perfect reader for your book is and to seek them out.
3. The past year has seen a significant rise in self-published eBook sales. I'll be posting more details about the numbers in a future blog.
4. Agents can be very important to writers to help secure things like foreign rights and TV/film rights etc. Some of the largest book markets are abroad and authors need to know how to promote effectively to those countries. Again, I will post more information about this in future blogs.
There is a lot more, but I think I'll stop here.
Stay tuned for more information coming soon...
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I attended last year and ran a series of blogs afterwards with lots of advice for writers.
This year's conference was just as information-packed and useful as last year's.
I came away with lots of scribbled notes and there is probably too much information to fit into one blog post so I'll do another series of blogs here.
I'll also be copying the blogs to my UK Arts Directory blog so that more people get to see the advice.
As an overview, a few interesting snippets from the weekend that stood out for me were the following:
1. Traditional publishers and independent/self-published authors now appear to be working more in unison. Last year there seemed to be a resistance to change. This year, however, there was a wonderfully author-friendly aura about the whole conference. The industry is changing and it felt more like the big players in publishing are embracing the changes more. I imagine that there will be much more collaboration between indies and mainstream publishers over the coming years. I'm happy about this because most of the books I read these days are by very talented indie authors and -- as some of the speakers at the conference proved -- indies are finally finding a place in the market. Although not yet equal, the playing field is levelling out a bit. There was the use of the term 'Author-Publisher' rather than 'self-published' that is becoming more popular, giving more credibility to independent authors.
2. One important thing that kept being repeated at the conference by different speakers was the importance of targeting your readership for effective book-marketing. Many authors (especially self-published) try to market their books too widely and miss their target audience. It's important to know who the perfect reader for your book is and to seek them out.
3. The past year has seen a significant rise in self-published eBook sales. I'll be posting more details about the numbers in a future blog.
4. Agents can be very important to writers to help secure things like foreign rights and TV/film rights etc. Some of the largest book markets are abroad and authors need to know how to promote effectively to those countries. Again, I will post more information about this in future blogs.
There is a lot more, but I think I'll stop here.
Stay tuned for more information coming soon...
TLC's Writers' Conference 2014 - DRM: what is it, and do you need it?
The Keynote speech from the TLC writers' conference this year was from Cory Doctorow a successful Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author.
His speech centered around the use of DRM in digital publishing and he says we don't need it and shouldn't use it.
What's DRM?
When you publish an e-book you have the option to 'protect' the content with Digital Rights Management. This means that your book will be effectively locked and no one can copy the words and steal it. Well, that's the theory anyway.
This part of Cory's speech stood out for me because as an independent author I have always been concerned about piracy and I always check the box when I publish on Amazon to make sure my books are protected with DRM.
The truth is DRM doesn't make it impossible to steal the words. I have always been aware of the existence of software that can remove DRM, but I thought it's better to have the protection in the first place because any pirates might only target text that is easier to get hold of without having to go to the bother of getting software to remove the DRM. After hearing Cory's speech, I am left thinking that it probably doesn't make a difference whether you have DRM protection or not. The fact is your e-book is vulnerable to piracy either way.
Not only that, Cory thinks that you're actually giving away control of your work to the book seller e.g. Amazon, when you allow them to 'lock' your product.
Cory Doctorow says there are 3 things that publishers must understand for digital success. He calls it 'Doctorow's Law':
1. When someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you and won't give you the key, there is something wrong and it's not there for your benefit.
So this goes back to the DRM issue. It is illegal to remove DRM protection unless you're the company who published the product, so once you've given the go-ahead for DRM protection, you can't then change your mind with that particular product. However, pirates happily remove DRM immediately, and very easily.
Cory Doctorow is adamant that DRM doesn't prevent piracy.
2. Fame won't make you rich, but you'll have a hard time making sales if no one's heard of you.
Cory believes that the problem most digital publishers should be more concerned of is obscurity, not piracy.
It's becoming more common for publishers to approach and offer publishing deals to authors who are successful on Kindle.
Piracy can actually help you get noticed. It only takes one person to read your book and become a 'super-fan' and that may help with promotion. People who download from pirate sites will always be downloading that way, whether or not a book has DRM doesn't make the decision for them. Potentially, you are missing a market by 'locking' your books.
3. Information doesn't want to be free but people do
Cory says DRM hands over control to the companies that publish the digital material.
Information that’s supposed to be free and public is shut away, where it’s kept under lock and key. There is a law that prevents companies telling people about the flaws in DRM.
He says that his publisher (a Macmillan imprint in the US) has dropped DRM and hasn't seen a resulting fall in sales.
Cory says that most indie authors are naive about DRM.
*********
It was an interesting speech and definitely made me think.
One of the audience members did make a comment after the speech that perhaps the use of DRM has prevented large-scale piracy.
I'm not really sure where I stand on this. As an author, of course I don't like the idea of anyone getting my writing free when I hardly sell any books. Writing is hard work and authors deserve to be paid for it.
What I'm now thinking, though, after Cory's speech, is maybe I'm losing out on reaching a wider audience by insisting on DRM protection of my work.
It would be interesting to hear other authors' views on this topic.
________________________________________________________
I'll be posting some more stuff from the conference soon...
TLC's Writers' Conference 2014 - A look at the past 12 months in the publishing industry
At the recent TLC writers' conference there was an interesting discussion chaired by Claire Armitstead of The Guardian about the changes that have occurred in the past 12 months in the book publishing world and a few predictions for the coming year.
Steve Bohme from Nielsen Book started the discussion by providing some figures about books sales and current trends. The information was taken from Book Scan data, which is the long-scale tracking of print book sales. He confirmed that Nielsen will shortly be introducing this for eBooks. Information was also provided by reference to customer surveys about book-buying habits.
Here are some of the results from 2013 (based on UK data):
1. In the UK in 2013 323 million books were bought. The book sales market is stable. There was a 4% decrease in sales overall compared to the previous year, but it's believed that was due to the phenomenal success of 'Fifty Shades' in 2012 boosting sales for that year.
2. There was a decrease of 10% in the amount of printed books bought in 2013 but an increase of 20% in the purchase of eBooks. There is a definite shift in book buying habits from print to digital.
3. Interestingly, there was a 79% increase in purchases of self-published books. In 2013 18 million self-published books were bought. This is a fast growing part of the market.
4. 5% of all books bought last year were self-published (it was pointed out, however, that it is sometimes difficult to track self-published books).
So what types of books are people buying?
Top genres for UK fiction in 2013 were Thrillers overall, whether print, eBook, or self-published.
Overall, the top three genres were: Thrillers, Biography, General Fiction
The least popular overall were Romance, Historical fiction, and Food & Drink
However, things change slightly when you look at just eBooks. The top three popular eBook genres were: Thrillers, General Fiction, and Crime, with the least popular being Erotica, Children's books, Classic literature
There are different results if you just look at the most popular self-published books. Top three: Thrillers, Romance, Crime. The least popular for self-published fiction: Historical fiction, Horror/Ghost stories, Erotica.
How much are people paying for books?
Self-published books have lower prices on average between £3 and £3.99.
eBooks are mostly priced up to £5.99.
Most of the self-published eBooks are priced at around £2.
Most commonly eBooks are being bought for about £1, so probably when there are special deals on Amazon, but there are also quite a lot being bought for between £5 and £5.99.
Discovery of Books - 2013
How do people discover the books they choose to buy?
The most popular way overall is that they have read another book by that author or the book they buy is part of a series. The second most popular is by browsing in a bricks and mortar bookstore. Browsing online comes in third.
Looking at the data for only eBooks (both traditionally published and self-published), the most popular way is the same i.e. the reader has already read another book by the author or the book is part of a series. The second most popular way is browsing online, and interestingly, the third is 'following' the author on social networking sites e.g. Twitter. This shows the importance of authors building a following online.
When you look at how most self-published books are discovered, the most popular way is by readers browsing online. So online presence is very important for self-published authors and their books.
Other popular ways people are discovering books by self-published authors are by recommendations, following the author e.g. on Twitter, and by an advert or book trailer.
Browsing habits and discovery of books
For print books the most popular way people end up buying them is by searching for a specific book.
For eBooks, people browse by author.
For self-published books, people browse the recommendation sections and browse by subject/genre.
The fastest growth in browsing trends is people looking at the offer sections for the best deals in self-published books.
The data shows that planned purchases are less likely for self-published books, the most common factors for someone making the decision to purchase a particular self-published book will be the description, the author, the price.
The fastest growth is in readers becoming more familiar with some self-published authors and going on to purchase another of that author's books.
What influences the decision to buy a book?
Overall the three most popular factors will be 1. Author, 2. Subject, 3. Price
Other factors include, the book being part of a series, the blurb, characters, gift appeal.
For eBooks the findings are the same, except that eBooks are not working as gifts at the moment. Instead another influencing factor there might be the extract that is available online.
For self-published books the top 3 influencing factors are: 1. Price, 2. Blurb, 3. Subject.
Other influencing factors for self-published sales are: the book is part of a series, the reader is familiar with the author, extract available online, characters.
One major growth area is the trend for people buying more book series.
Who is buying books?
Buyer demographic for UK 2013:
60% - female
40% - male
Females over the age of 45 make up 25% of the book buyers.
Looking at the figures for self-published books alone, this changes. 70% of those buying self-published books are females and 32% are over 45.
52% of the buyers of self-published books are heavy readers, those who read lots of books, and they're most likely to try books by less well-known authors.
----------------------
The panel members for the discussion were invited to talk about how the industry has changed in the past 12 months.
James Gill, from United Agents said he thought the past 12 months were characterised by a narrowing of market channels. He thinks that more well-known authors can do well, better than they could have ten years ago, but less well-known authors will do worse than they could have ten years ago.
Stephen Page CEO of Faber & Faber, says the business of publishing is changing and the author has more choices. Self-publishing is a real option.
He says that for the past 20 years the publishing industry was trade-focussed, but this has been changed by the Internet. Now, it's a more customer-focussed industry.
He says that the obscurity factor is the biggest problem for self-published authors. Publishers can help with this because they are skilled in search engine optimisation, packaging, producing multiple formats, creating value to help sell books.
He says that Faber are still investing in authors and pay three million in advances per year.
Diego Marano of Kobo Writing Life said that because of the changes in technology an author/creator can deal directly with consumers and produce a book as good as a trade-published book. The key word is flexibility. He says, publishers wanted to do what they've always done, but that's no longer possible as things are changing. The business should be ready to embrace flexibility.
Some other interesting highlights from the discussion were:
1. Stephen Page wondered whether this is the greatest revolution in the industry since the printing press.
2. Publishers are changing the services they offer. For example, Faber launched a creative writing school 5-6 years ago as a service to writers. He thinks publishers now need to offer more.
3. Self-published books are getting more recognition in the media. For example, The Guardian launched the self-published book of the month.
4. Stephen Page said that the high street trade for publishers doesn't exist anymore, not as it did 20-30 years ago. Some areas of publishing are under threat.
5. Growth over the past year has been seen predominantly in self-published books.
6. Books are now being created in many different formats including as apps.
7. Agents and publishers want books to be commercial. Most 'literary' fiction only sells small numbers unless a book wins a major prize, like the Man Booker Prize and then can sell hundreds of thousands of copies overnight.
8. Traditional publishers are still taking months or years to provide authors with sales data, whereas with self-published books Amazon sales can be seen almost immediately.
-----------------------------
To sum up, the main concerns raised by those on the panel are of a dying high street book market and perhaps technology going too far and changing books into apps and videos rather than written word. On the bright side, there hasn't been a decline in book sales in the UK, people are still reading. A shift from print to digital can be clearly seen, with more recognition for self-published writers.
Steve Bohme from Nielsen Book started the discussion by providing some figures about books sales and current trends. The information was taken from Book Scan data, which is the long-scale tracking of print book sales. He confirmed that Nielsen will shortly be introducing this for eBooks. Information was also provided by reference to customer surveys about book-buying habits.
Here are some of the results from 2013 (based on UK data):
1. In the UK in 2013 323 million books were bought. The book sales market is stable. There was a 4% decrease in sales overall compared to the previous year, but it's believed that was due to the phenomenal success of 'Fifty Shades' in 2012 boosting sales for that year.
2. There was a decrease of 10% in the amount of printed books bought in 2013 but an increase of 20% in the purchase of eBooks. There is a definite shift in book buying habits from print to digital.
3. Interestingly, there was a 79% increase in purchases of self-published books. In 2013 18 million self-published books were bought. This is a fast growing part of the market.
4. 5% of all books bought last year were self-published (it was pointed out, however, that it is sometimes difficult to track self-published books).
So what types of books are people buying?
Top genres for UK fiction in 2013 were Thrillers overall, whether print, eBook, or self-published.
Overall, the top three genres were: Thrillers, Biography, General Fiction
The least popular overall were Romance, Historical fiction, and Food & Drink
However, things change slightly when you look at just eBooks. The top three popular eBook genres were: Thrillers, General Fiction, and Crime, with the least popular being Erotica, Children's books, Classic literature
There are different results if you just look at the most popular self-published books. Top three: Thrillers, Romance, Crime. The least popular for self-published fiction: Historical fiction, Horror/Ghost stories, Erotica.
How much are people paying for books?
Self-published books have lower prices on average between £3 and £3.99.
eBooks are mostly priced up to £5.99.
Most of the self-published eBooks are priced at around £2.
Most commonly eBooks are being bought for about £1, so probably when there are special deals on Amazon, but there are also quite a lot being bought for between £5 and £5.99.
Discovery of Books - 2013
How do people discover the books they choose to buy?
The most popular way overall is that they have read another book by that author or the book they buy is part of a series. The second most popular is by browsing in a bricks and mortar bookstore. Browsing online comes in third.
Looking at the data for only eBooks (both traditionally published and self-published), the most popular way is the same i.e. the reader has already read another book by the author or the book is part of a series. The second most popular way is browsing online, and interestingly, the third is 'following' the author on social networking sites e.g. Twitter. This shows the importance of authors building a following online.
When you look at how most self-published books are discovered, the most popular way is by readers browsing online. So online presence is very important for self-published authors and their books.
Other popular ways people are discovering books by self-published authors are by recommendations, following the author e.g. on Twitter, and by an advert or book trailer.
Browsing habits and discovery of books
For print books the most popular way people end up buying them is by searching for a specific book.
For eBooks, people browse by author.
For self-published books, people browse the recommendation sections and browse by subject/genre.
The fastest growth in browsing trends is people looking at the offer sections for the best deals in self-published books.
The data shows that planned purchases are less likely for self-published books, the most common factors for someone making the decision to purchase a particular self-published book will be the description, the author, the price.
The fastest growth is in readers becoming more familiar with some self-published authors and going on to purchase another of that author's books.
What influences the decision to buy a book?
Overall the three most popular factors will be 1. Author, 2. Subject, 3. Price
Other factors include, the book being part of a series, the blurb, characters, gift appeal.
For eBooks the findings are the same, except that eBooks are not working as gifts at the moment. Instead another influencing factor there might be the extract that is available online.
For self-published books the top 3 influencing factors are: 1. Price, 2. Blurb, 3. Subject.
Other influencing factors for self-published sales are: the book is part of a series, the reader is familiar with the author, extract available online, characters.
One major growth area is the trend for people buying more book series.
Who is buying books?
Buyer demographic for UK 2013:
60% - female
40% - male
Females over the age of 45 make up 25% of the book buyers.
Looking at the figures for self-published books alone, this changes. 70% of those buying self-published books are females and 32% are over 45.
52% of the buyers of self-published books are heavy readers, those who read lots of books, and they're most likely to try books by less well-known authors.
----------------------
The panel members for the discussion were invited to talk about how the industry has changed in the past 12 months.
James Gill, from United Agents said he thought the past 12 months were characterised by a narrowing of market channels. He thinks that more well-known authors can do well, better than they could have ten years ago, but less well-known authors will do worse than they could have ten years ago.
Stephen Page CEO of Faber & Faber, says the business of publishing is changing and the author has more choices. Self-publishing is a real option.
He says that for the past 20 years the publishing industry was trade-focussed, but this has been changed by the Internet. Now, it's a more customer-focussed industry.
He says that the obscurity factor is the biggest problem for self-published authors. Publishers can help with this because they are skilled in search engine optimisation, packaging, producing multiple formats, creating value to help sell books.
He says that Faber are still investing in authors and pay three million in advances per year.
Diego Marano of Kobo Writing Life said that because of the changes in technology an author/creator can deal directly with consumers and produce a book as good as a trade-published book. The key word is flexibility. He says, publishers wanted to do what they've always done, but that's no longer possible as things are changing. The business should be ready to embrace flexibility.
Some other interesting highlights from the discussion were:
1. Stephen Page wondered whether this is the greatest revolution in the industry since the printing press.
2. Publishers are changing the services they offer. For example, Faber launched a creative writing school 5-6 years ago as a service to writers. He thinks publishers now need to offer more.
3. Self-published books are getting more recognition in the media. For example, The Guardian launched the self-published book of the month.
4. Stephen Page said that the high street trade for publishers doesn't exist anymore, not as it did 20-30 years ago. Some areas of publishing are under threat.
5. Growth over the past year has been seen predominantly in self-published books.
6. Books are now being created in many different formats including as apps.
7. Agents and publishers want books to be commercial. Most 'literary' fiction only sells small numbers unless a book wins a major prize, like the Man Booker Prize and then can sell hundreds of thousands of copies overnight.
8. Traditional publishers are still taking months or years to provide authors with sales data, whereas with self-published books Amazon sales can be seen almost immediately.
-----------------------------
To sum up, the main concerns raised by those on the panel are of a dying high street book market and perhaps technology going too far and changing books into apps and videos rather than written word. On the bright side, there hasn't been a decline in book sales in the UK, people are still reading. A shift from print to digital can be clearly seen, with more recognition for self-published writers.
TLC's Writers' Conference 2014 - How can writers get funding?
At the recent TLC's "Writing in a Digital Age" conference, there was a panel of experts talking about available funding in the UK for writers.
Here's a breakdown of what is available out there:
Society of Authors
They give away £200K per year
Writers in financial difficulty can apply to them for funding. See the terms and conditions and details on their website, including how to apply: http://www.societyofauthors.org/grant...
They also have grants available for works in progress, and various prizes for authors: http://www.societyofauthors.org/grant...
Arts Council
Anyone can apply for an Arts Council grant to, but you have to pitch your project well. You have to demonstrate a good track record and a good reason for needing the grant.
In the past they have given funds to authors who, for example, had to travel abroad for research.
To be successful, you usually have to be endorsed by other organisations e.g. publishers.
Find out more about what they have to offer and how to apply on their website: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
The Literary Platform
Website: http://www.theliteraryplatform.com/
The representative talked about two arts programmes they have:
1. The Writing Platform Bursary: http://www.theliteraryplatform.com/co...
2. Annual prize also open to self-published writers - £5,000 to each of the 8 books selected. Find out how to apply here:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/jer...
Other prizes and sources of funding that were mentioned:
Folio Prize. Read more about it here: http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/i...
Guardian First Book Award: http://www.theguardian.com/books/guar...
Royal Literary Fund Scholarship Scheme: http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipschem...
The Literary Consultancy has a Free Read Scheme to assess your manuscript. Follow the link for more details: http://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/edit...
IdeasTap Funding: http://www.ideastap.com/Funding
Winston Churchill Travel Fund: http://www.wcmt.org.uk/
Also, all UK writers should make sure they're signed up and have their books listed with Public Lending Right: http://www.plr.uk.com/ and ALCS: http://www.alcs.co.uk/
It was stated that there are more opportunities for funding/grants etc. in the UK than anywhere else in the world.
If you're a writer, have a look at all the sites above and see whether there's anything you can apply for!
Here's a breakdown of what is available out there:
Society of Authors
They give away £200K per year
Writers in financial difficulty can apply to them for funding. See the terms and conditions and details on their website, including how to apply: http://www.societyofauthors.org/grant...
They also have grants available for works in progress, and various prizes for authors: http://www.societyofauthors.org/grant...
Arts Council
Anyone can apply for an Arts Council grant to, but you have to pitch your project well. You have to demonstrate a good track record and a good reason for needing the grant.
In the past they have given funds to authors who, for example, had to travel abroad for research.
To be successful, you usually have to be endorsed by other organisations e.g. publishers.
Find out more about what they have to offer and how to apply on their website: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
The Literary Platform
Website: http://www.theliteraryplatform.com/
The representative talked about two arts programmes they have:
1. The Writing Platform Bursary: http://www.theliteraryplatform.com/co...
2. Annual prize also open to self-published writers - £5,000 to each of the 8 books selected. Find out how to apply here:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/jer...
Other prizes and sources of funding that were mentioned:
Folio Prize. Read more about it here: http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/i...
Guardian First Book Award: http://www.theguardian.com/books/guar...
Royal Literary Fund Scholarship Scheme: http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipschem...
The Literary Consultancy has a Free Read Scheme to assess your manuscript. Follow the link for more details: http://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/edit...
IdeasTap Funding: http://www.ideastap.com/Funding
Winston Churchill Travel Fund: http://www.wcmt.org.uk/
Also, all UK writers should make sure they're signed up and have their books listed with Public Lending Right: http://www.plr.uk.com/ and ALCS: http://www.alcs.co.uk/
It was stated that there are more opportunities for funding/grants etc. in the UK than anywhere else in the world.
If you're a writer, have a look at all the sites above and see whether there's anything you can apply for!
