Okay, summary of the weekend! First, apparently there was a petition to support Europe’s creators, although IMHO it’s mostly for filmmakers, but I guess it’s for writers too. Not sure, didn’t sign in time, haha. Although I probably wouldn’t have signed it anyway – I did sign an online petition once, and I started receiving spam messages from that site. I took out my signature and unsubscribed from the site. I didn’t want this one to be the same (although the other one was Italian, hehe) and I don’t believe in petitions much. Signatures never changed the world, did they?
From the Fair’s newsletter: Italy is a country where 55% of the population doesn’t read – not even one book in one year. So no wonder my Italian pen-name doesn’t sell. By the end of 2012 only 3% of the population will read e-books. Pretty low, huh? They give this data for the US (feel free to correct them if you know better) – in the US 19% of adult (over 18) population uses e-readers, and as many read on tablets. The number of people reading e-books has grown to 21% of adult population and they read not only on Kindle (41%), but also on multitasking devices (29% i-Phone, 23% tablet). Are you still wondering why my main writing production is in English? 😉
The only very interesting panel was the interview with Greg Sung, founder of Anobii. Apparently Anobii has a very strong community in Italy and the UK – so all Italian readers are on Anobii. Unfortunately the poor guy was squeezed between Camilleri (whose panel ended late) and someone else as important, so his speaking time was reduced to 40 minutes instead of one hour, therefore I couldn’t ask him to elaborate more on his social network – like, can a writer become an Anobii Author (like on Goodreads) or is it just for readers? Because if it’s just for readers, I’m not copying my bookshelves from GR to Anobii, I’m already overwhelmed as is! 😉
Now, about other writerly topics! An unmissable post about Indie Publishing in 2013: Why We Can’t Party Like It’s 2009. Please check also the comments, it’s a very good overview of how things changed in the past 4 years – heck, even since last year. I noticed changes in sales (like “free” not being so strong anymore), although personally I have almost the same number of sales on Amazon and Smashwords (as of November 2012 – December started very well on Kindle US, nothing on Smashwords yet), and don’t use Facebook to market. The article mentions changes both for Amazon and Facebook, so it’s really worth your reading time – if you’re a writer, that is! 😉
Writing World has an excellent article on pen names or pseudonyms, if you’re considering getting one – or three. You know why I chose to write under pen names (different genres, different languages, and impossible real family name), but there’s a good list of other people who do so, including famous ones. And don’t forget to subscribe to their newsletter, if you haven’t already! 😉 They even have The Writer’s Year Datebook & Planner for your writerly 2013! 🙂
Now, I wish I had time to check more blogs and chat more about writing, but I’ve just come back from the oculist and my eyes are still failing me – so forgive the typos today… I’m off to edit Six Months, as I had a beta-reader reading it during the weekend, plus heard from Mighty Editor as well, which means I’ve got work to do! Happy writing!
Barbara G.Tarn - writer 
Shafali
/ 12/12/2012Hi Barb, I don’t know how you find time to do the research required for such articles. You write, you draw, and you also work (I mean the kind of work that people think is work – writing and drawing is often not considered work.) But thanks for the data. 19% of the American population reads eBooks. Those are good numbers. My best wishes to you for everything that you are planning to do in the new year.
– S
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Barb
/ 12/12/2012well, that “research” was spelled out on the newsletter I received because I requested to attend as a writer… other links were sent to me on mailing lists… like I said, I didn’t really have time to wade through blogs this weekend, so it’s only stuff that came into my inbox! 🙂
Best wishes to you, my multi-tasking friend! 🙂
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Shafali
/ 12/12/2012Multi-tasking…that’s right. I’ve been working on some animations since 6 in the morning…it’s 4 PM now, and I must get unstuck to make us some tea…and then I might…watch that word…might…make that post on my caricature blog. There’s no way I can be as regular as you are, and believe it or not, I’ve not drawn a single caricature for almost a month now.
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Barb
/ 12/12/2012Totally believe you, still waiting for that particular caricature of a certain Bollywood star… 😉 No rush, it can be a New Year’s present (I’m not much of a Christmas person anyway, LOL)! 😀
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Shafali
/ 12/12/2012I tried looking for that caricature, Barb. I honestly did. I think I’ve lost that caricature along with a few others. I’ll try to make one for you, but I won’t have time until after Jan 15th. But I promise to make a nice one for you 🙂
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Barb
/ 12/12/2012No rush! 😉 Old one, new one… I know that you hate his nose, so try to be kind (although I believe there are much worse noses around Bollywood – SRK comes to mind…)! 😉
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Nafees
/ 12/12/2012Italians dont read a book in year and Pakistanis dont in their whole lives 😀
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Barb
/ 12/12/2012But they watch movies, right? So you better start writing that screenplay! 😀
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Nafees
/ 12/12/2012they watch Bollywood mostly and am interested in Hollywood 😀
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Barb
/ 12/12/2012writing screenplays is probably similar anyway… you could write a movie that is a mix of Bolly&Holly… that would be great! I’d watch it! 😉
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Nafees
/ 13/12/2012always easier said than do 😀
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Nafees
/ 13/12/2012must watch Bollywood movie “Mere Dost Picture Abhi Baqi Hai”.
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Barb
/ 13/12/2012no pitch or summary on IMDB… What is it about?
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