Author Earnings Report: The Top 12 Trends For 2017

According the 2017 reoort, Indie Publishing is a $1.25 bn industry with African American Literature composed almost entirely by Indies. Nice.

Nicholas C. Rossis

Hugh Howey and The Data Guy have now done all their usual number crunching and published the latest report. What trends can we identify in 2017, based on their impressive (as always) work?

1. For traditionally published books, print is king.

2. However, this reign is highly genre-dependent. In adult fiction, for example, nearly half sales are digital.

3. Two years of Amazon discounts have let the publishing industry grow by 3,3%. But Amazon discounts have now ended. Expect a drop in 2017 in traditionally-published print titles.

4. This is actually good news for Indies, who usually focus on adult fiction and ebook sales.

5. Regardless, print vs digital is the wrong question. The right one is, online vs. brick & mortar. In other words, Amazon vs. everyone else.

6. Indie publishing is now a $1.25 bn industry.

7. Pricing matters: for Indies, the sweet spots are $0.99, $2.99, and $3.99.

8…

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90s Throwback Thursday Jams – Salt ‘N’ Pepa – Whatta Man (feat. En Vogue)

Whatta man whatta man whatta man, what a mighty good man!

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I wanna dedicate today’s 90s Jam to my hubby! OK so, yesterday was a suppperr busy day. Like, it didn’t even make any sense. So, I was still working when Moshe (hubby) got home and made dinner for us. I mean, he throw down anyway so it’s nothing new but he was so sweet about it. Made me go awwuee! PLUS he barbecued and it was so bomb.

I chose three of my favorite pics (well, I have more favorites but these are what I could find right now). The first is in Texas in 2010. The second is in Jamaica in 2012. That raised eyebrow of his is hilarious. The last one was last year, I begged him to take a selfie (or in this case, a us-ee lol)

Without further ado here is Salt N Pepa Whatta Man…

“I want to take a minute or two, and give much respect due
To the man that’s made a difference in my world”

ENEMIES OF THE WRITER

John, I am humbled. I am also sure that you will no doubt overcome! I am honored that you were moved by my words and I look forward to reading more from you!

No Whining Wednesday – We Haven’t Finished Yet

Happy Wednesday! Your favorite day of the week 🙂

If you’re new to this blog, learn more about No Whining Wednesday HERE.

Today’s message came as I was frying chicken strips last night. I was also listening to some throwback jams (preparing for what to choose for tomorrow!) As I was listening I thought about the night before, where I re-watched some of The Five Heartbeats. For those of you who didn’t see my post last Friday, I quoted a line from a movie, well, it was a song and I asked you all if you knew what movie it was from. Since I got no responses I figure I’d tell ya. It was The Five Heartbeats and from the scene, everyone loves – The “We haven’t finished yet” scene. Long story short, I pulled it up on YouTube. As I listened again and again and again and….you get the point, I decided this would be a great inspiring video for No Whining Wednesday!

You’ve gotta listen to the lyrics as you’re listening. Today’s message is simple: You don’t have a reason to complain because you haven’t finished yet. You are still here and, as I always say, you’ve got something to do. Enjoy and remember, today is a day of peace, not war. When you find yourself getting upset focus on rooting yourself in this present moment and don’t forget to BREATHE.

FYI: The video quality is not great but it is the only version on YouTube that played the entire song. If it’s too low you will have to plug in your speakers or headphones but it should be good though.

How to Correctly Punctuate Dialogue for Novels

Punctuating dialogue tags from The Writers After Dark Blog. The lowercase letter after splitting the dialogue with a tag was extremely helpful. Thank you.

Writers After Dark

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Writing dialogue is messy. Am I right?

It has so many rules, it makes me wish I’d gone with my original plan in life. I’d intended to become an all-in-one supermodel-psychologist/part-time medical researcher. What? I thought I wanted to save people, discover things, and change the world wearing a tiara and killer heels. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I just wanted to sit on my couch drinking coffee and writing all day while wearing no pants.

Plus, apparently my status as a supermodel got cut short (no pun intended) by my lack of height. And love of cake. Also, had I continued studying psychology, I’d have been forced to stop listening to the voices in my head . . . and that was SO not cool. The thing was . . . I didn’t know how to properly punctuate any of my internal…

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Nora Excerpts – 1

“On that windowsill, she stood in the crossfire of people and lights and cars and bobbed her head to the beat of ragtime syncopation and driving brass bands to soaring gospel choirs mixed with field hollers and the deep-down growl of the blues. She danced to the groove of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Bessie Smith, Billie “Lady Day” Holiday, and Chick Webb. Legs swinging, roof rocking, neighbors knocking, and body incapable of standing still. Nora stood up on her toes and let her partner throw her over his back, let him throw her into the air again, and then slithered like her body was made of jellyfish underneath his legs. She danced as if she’d never had legs before, gliding and shaking in ways her father would never approve of. Nora flipped and split and cartwheeled around The Negro Club alongside Louis Jordan and The Nicholas Brother’s until the sweat began to congregate alongside her forehead and trickle its way down to her chin.”

– Renaissance: The Nora White Story, Book One.

Coming July 15, 2017

Advice for Aspiring Writers from Nicole Dennis-Benn

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“Ask yourself why you’re writing and who you’re writing for. Know in your heart that there is no such thing as one story….At the end of the day, your authentic voice and heart will speak to readers. Do not be deterred by rejection. Keep writing, keep knocking on doors, keep sending out work. Never have only one project that you’re working on. The minute one story gets published and rejected, there should be another one waiting in the wings. Be serious about writing. Treat it as you would a job, not a hobby. Lastly, seek successful mentors who are invested in seeing your growth; avoid anyone who projects their journey on you and/or attempts to clip your wings once you begin to soar.”

– Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun

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