We have entered the darkest time of the year, and while the sun occasionally bursts through the dark and gloomy overcast skies, the monsoon months have arrived. The eternal rain has set in, which I don’t mind as much as some folks do. Rain in the winter means plenty of water during summer, which can be very dry here in the Puget Sound basin.
But we’d prefer the snow to stay in the mountains where it belongs. Something about the slightest dusting sends the Pacific Northwest into a panic.
I write every day, no matter the season. However, December is a busy, scattered time for me, with a lot of random cooking and partying. As far as writing goes, it’s a month of inspiration racing up the steps, ringing the doorbell, and then running away.
Thus, I make notes of those random thoughts. At some point, I’ll be able to focus well enough to wrestle the Kraken that is my current manuscript, into shape. I’m still plotting the second half of this novel. Last week I managed to cut out two novellas and a short story’s worth of words out of the NaNoWriMo mess though, so that was fun. (Not.)
In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying a little downtime, reading and playing games. So, what have I been reading? Magazine articles mostly.
I’m an indie and am responsible for the success or failure of my books when it comes to marketing, which is not my strong point. But as always, the overall trends of the publishing industry interest me. What follows are the teasers and links to the more thought-provoking things I read this week.
Here is an article that is not recent, but is pertinent to our era of publishing, of writing blogs and publishing as an indie. Read the story here: Skills and Strategies | Understanding Plagiarism in a Digital Age – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
BBC: From memoir and self-care books to comic novels, writing about our flaws and imperfections has never been so popular. But can failing ever be a success? Lindsay Baker explores this question. Read the story here: Is failure the new success? (bbc.com)
BBC: Audiobooks are having a moment. As they soar in popularity, they are becoming increasingly creative – is the book you listen to now an artform in its own right? Clare Thorp discusses this phenomenon. Read the story here: The rise of the books you don’t read (bbc.com)
So, what else is going on in the publishing industry? Let’s have a look at the articles that caught my eye this last week:
NEW YORK, NY (AP) — Book publishing in 2023 was a story of cooling sales and rising conflict, marked by legal action, protests, censorship and the impact of forces well beyond the industry. Read the story here: 2023 in books: Protests, bannings and rise of AI helped shape the story of publishing – ABC News (go.com)
AP NEWs: The nation’s largest publisher and several bestselling authors, including novelists John Green and Jodi Picoult, are part of a lawsuit filed Thursday challenging Iowa’s new law that bans public school libraries and classrooms from having practically any book that depicts sexual activity. Read the story here: Publishing industry heavy-hitters sue Iowa over state’s new school book-banning law | AP News
NBC NEWS: Yahoo News reports that there has been a years-long surge in LGBTQ fiction sales. Read the story here: A ‘renaissance of gay literature’ marks a turning point for publishing (yahoo.com)
Publishers Weekly: This year’s Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), which ran November 25–December 3, drew 857,000 attendees, up from 807,000 in 2022 and 828,000 in 2019. While the fair always attracts several hundred U.S. librarians, who attend to buy Spanish-language titles, more U.S. publishers went to the fair this year than in past years—a sign that business between the U.S. and Mexican markets is growing. Read the story here: Guadalajara Book Fair Attracts More Americans (publishersweekly.com)
Also from Publishers Weekly: A confident mood prevailed among independent booksellers over this November holiday sales weekend. (…) Sales data from Circana BookScan showed that, in a year in which overall unit sales of print books are down 3.3%, sales were up 1.4% for the Thanksgiving week ending November 25, over the comparable week in 2022. Read the story here: The Holiday Season Looks Promising for Indie Bookstores (publishersweekly.com)
So, there you have it, the articles that caught my eye this week when I was sitting at my computer and pretending to work. Now, I suppose I should go and release the Kraken—or at least get to work on that outline.
Credits and Attributions:
Cover of November 6, 2006 issue Publishers Weekly, © 2006 Publishers Weekly (Fair Use). Wikipedia contributors, “Publishers Weekly,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Publishers_Weekly&oldid=1180527918 (accessed December 10, 2023).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 