Iain Broome - Make more, care less

Hello there

It's only gone and become June, you know. Already! No matter – here I am with another edition of the Draft Mode newsletter.

Earlier today, my pal and all-round creative powerhouse, Rich Wells posted a collection of lovely photos and sketches on Instagram. On one of his ace cut-out collages, he'd handwritten the phrase: make more, care less.

And by goodness, I've been turning it over in my head since. I've spent a lot of time recently dilly-dallying over what to work on and what's good enough. Making more and caring less seems like the exact tonic I need.

Anyway! Enjoy the writerly content found below the fold.

Iain

PS You should hire Rich to draw things or make websites for you. Also the exciting image of Haruki Murakami holding a cat is from a list of iconic author photos.

Links of the week

Every issue I collect and share the best advice, apps and other shenanigans that I find on my internet travels. Find something useful? Subscribe for free.

Craft - Taking notes to the next level

Thought I'd remind you about Craft, which is a writing and note-taking app that can do pretty much anything. As an author, you might find it especially useful for collecting and organising your research. You can link pages and documents together and throw in files of all shapes and sizes. It's really good!

How Auctions Work

I think most of us in the writing world associate auctions with soon-to-be super-successful books that have publishers fighting over them. But is that correct and how do auctions actually work? Here is a comprehensive guide from Kate McKean in her always-excellent Agents and Books newsletter.

How to Write a Hook for Your Novel

This is as much about how to pitch your book as it is how to write it. You might not find it easy to create a hook for your own novel, but I bet you find it a useful exercise to give it a go. There are some practical steps suggested in this blog post from The Novelry to help you get started.

How will the publishing industry change over the next ten years?

The folks at whitefox asked some writers, agents, publishers and industry experts to share their thoughts on where the industry is going. It's full of interesting insights. I've pulled out a few that caught my eye.

I think the challenges of the next ten years are going to be a continuation of the challenges the industry has already been facing. It’s a fight for attention – how do you find readers for books, especially for debuts?
– Catherine Cho, Literary Agent at Paper Literary

We are starting to see a steady flow of self-published authors hitting the bestseller lists and receiving critical acclaim. I anticipate more of this as authors upskill to become entrepreneurial bosses of their own small publishing houses.
– Sam Missingham, Founder of The Empowered Author

I’m optimistic about where dramatic audio can go, both in terms of becoming a trial balloon for film/TV adaptation and also for reinvigorating forgotten tales in new ways.
– Kevin Conroy Scott, Co-Founder of Tibor Jones & Associates

Ten Ways of Thinking About Endings

I promise I won't start linking to George Saunders' wonderful newsletter every week, but you really should read this piece on endings and knowing when you're done with a story.

Attrib and other stories by Eley Williams

Last week, author Sarah Nicolas posted this question on Twitter:

Sarah Nicolas aka Sarah N Fisk @Sarah_Nicolas What's a book published in the last three years (that you don't have a financial stake in), that really totally blew you away? 8:42 PM • May 31, 2022 258 likes • 21 retweets

I thought about is for a brief moment and replied with Attrib, a collection of stories by Eley Williams that I completely loved. Of course, it's important to forget that it was published five years ago now (did the last two years count?) for it to fit this criteria, but I can tell you it is an excellent book. Beautiful writing. Taut, word-perfect vignettes. Five stars from me.

Tweets of the week

So many bad tweets. These are good ones. Follow @iainbroome on Twitter or @DraftModeHQ for newsletter notifications.

James Oswald @SirBenfro I actually have done very well with my books, so perhaps I should break down my most recent deal to give people some idea of how it works. twitter.com/SirBenfro/stat… 2:30 PM • May 28, 2022 853 likes • 215 retweets

Kirsty Logan @kirstylogan Excellent advice from @malorieblackman in the @Soc_of_Authors magazine 9:19 AM • Jun 2, 2022 52 likes • 13 retweets

Becca Worby @beccaworby I can only write for 3-4 hours a day but I need all day to do it 9:42 PM • Jun 3, 2022 12.3K likes • 847 retweets

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