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Quick Links: Pros & Cons: Referencing the Real World in Our Story

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The wonderful Jamie Gold goes over the potential and pitfalls of using real world references in your story. A must read if you have ever considered doing this!

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Pros & Cons: Referencing the Real World in Our Story

by Jami Gold

I’ve often mentioned that I appreciate questions from readers (even though I can’t answer them all, especially with my health issues this year). Every question gives me ideas for potential blog posts, and today I’d like to thank Lee Green for the idea for this post (and Julie Sade for encouraging me to write it). *smile*I’ve run into the issue Lee mentions within my work as well, so I’m glad her question forced me to think deeper about the pros and cons. As with many things, we might answer one way at first glance but later discover a different angle that changes our opinion.

Lee asked:

“In a WIP, is it OK to have the lead female reading and maybe referring to a book written by a real life current author and naming that author, title of book and maybe a sentence from the book?”

That is a fantastic question that got my brain spinning in multiple directions. On the surface, it’s a question about copyright (and maybe the right to publicity), but deeper down, it’s a question about the relatability of our story and character. Let’s take a closer look…

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Quick Link: Using Twitter to Make Powerful Connections as a Creative Professional

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Today’s social media post is all about Twitter, a great way to connect to people 150 characters at a time. Posting at Jane Friedman, Daniel Parsons explains the best way for authors to use Twitter.

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Using Twitter to Make Powerful Connections as a Creative Professional

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Today’s post is from Daniel Parsons (@DKParsonsWriter), author of The #ArtOfTwitter.

Finding an audience for your books can seem like an insurmountable task when you enter the publishing space with no prior experience. Thankfully, Twitter can help you become not only an engaged member of the community but—in time—an influencer with a loyal audience.

Four years ago, I joined Twitter because I was writing my first book, and every blog post on the internet seemed to be saying the same thing: authors need a social media presence. Starting out, I had one goal, and that was to get 3,000 engaged Twitter followers. Why 3,000? Well, I had heard that you only start to get interactions on every tweet when you hit that number, and publishers wanted authors with ready-made, interactive audiences.

A lot has changed in the last four years. For a start, I discovered self-publishing and decided that I preferred it to the traditional route. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is my focus on Twitter. I now have 93,000+ followers, reach 500,000 people every month, and get over 200 interactions per day. My followers have helped me grab the attention of powerful influencers, got one of my stories 30,000 reads on the story-sharing site Wattpad, and landed me a job at a publishing house. Along the way, they’ve helped my tweets trend above those of A-list celebrities—beating the likes of Craig David and Ryan Seacrest in various hashtag games.

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Quick Link: 12 Questions To Help You Create Memorable Characters

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We all want to make our characters compelling and having depth. I don’t know about you, but I have read some very good serials that have kind of lost me at the end because the hero/heroine was too perfect and always good.  No one is like that. Even Mother Teresa had her doubts. That is what makes a character relate-able and interesting.  Write To Done‘s Jack Woodville London has ideas on how to help you make your characters more interesting.

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12 Questions To Help You Create Memorable Characters

By Jack Woodville London
Would you like to create memorable characters? Of course you would!

But where do great characters come from?

Are they great because of what they do, or because of what they say?

Suppose someone walks into a store and asks, “May I see what you have in a nice .30 caliber hollow point?”

If this character is a combat infantry squad leader or deer hunter, if his greatest achievements are his marksmanship and taking a life here and there, you’d expect that he’ll think of buying bullets and shooting something.

But what if it’s 87-year-old Sister Agatha, who’s had enough of the bishop’s meddling with her side business in the communion wine trade?

She’s someone I want to know more about!

What makes Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice interesting?

It’s more than just her clever observations as a woman who won’t be treated with disrespect by a rich man; she is a clever woman wearing blinders, who discovered that it was she who was proud and prejudiced.

As for Monsieur Dantès of The Count of Monte Cristo, he sought (and got) revenge on those who buried him in the Chateau d’If, but didn’t know when to stop, becoming as bad as the people he hunted down and ruined.

Both became classic characters because the resolutions of their stories came with their realization of how wrong they had been all along.

They turned out to be different than who they, and we, thought they were.

They also turned out to be people that we think, deep inside, we could be.

This is a good place to restate the classic rule of character development: no hero should be without a flaw, no villain without a bit of good in his heart.

But to make them memorable, each must have something in their character that is different than our expectations, and theirs.

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Quick Links: Passing Time Is The Secret To Improving Your Story

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When we write, we get so deep into the story that sometimes it is hard to see any problems, especially ones that deal with the timeline of the story. But if you have been to any fan sites on the internet, you know your readers will figure out this plot hole fast.  from Standoutbooks will help you take control of time in your story and even use it to enhance your plot.

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Passing Time Is The Secret To Improving Your Story

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Time – the fourth dimension, and one over which an author possesses complete control. Like every aspect of a story, the way in which time passes is completely in the author’s hands. That I’m suggesting this is noteworthy may surprise you – you may think that time just happens as you write – but it’s an ability on which many authors fail to capitalize, and that’s frequently to the detriment of their stories.

Yes, as any sci-fi fan will tell you, time can go wrong. More than that, time can go wrong in ways you’ll never even notice, but that will jump out at your readers. Like all our articles, though, this isn’t just a warning; time can also go right, and a compelling sense of time passing can bring a story to life in ways you’d never expect. In this article, I’ll be talking about how authors can take control of time in their stories, and the advantages this can give them in crafting an engaging tale. To do that, let’s start with an example.

Time waits for no man (unless they’re an author)

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Quick Links: Top Five Ways to Have an Awful Book Cover

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I see a lot of book covers during my day job and I can tell with one look who created their own book cover. It makes a huge difference in getting your potential audience to look at your book. So when I found this post by K.S. Brooks at Indies Unlimited I knew I found a kindred spirit. My personal pet peeve is #3 because very long titles make it very difficult to create sponsorship posts that look nice.  What are your hints for good book covers?

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Top Five Ways to Have an Awful Book Cover

by K.S. Brooks

I’m constantly looking at book covers as part of my “job” here at Indies Unlimited. On top of that, I run into authors posting their covers in groups all the time, asking for input. So I see a LOT of covers. And most of them all have the same issues.

What I find most ironic is that the same people keep posting book covers with the same problems. I don’t get that. Please allow me to make something perfectly clear. And I’m not just making this up to be difficult or bossy or right. I’m speaking from experience. I used to provide my own cover art to my small Indie publisher – and because of that, I’ve taken some lumps. But I’ve also learned some important things about book covers. I share this knowledge freely, to help my fellow Indie authors. Book covers are important. We all want to make a good first impression. Book sales count on it.

But I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t want to listen to my advice, but, silly me, I keep giving it in hopes that I can help someone, maybe… someday. What would happen if I started advising them to do the exact OPPOSITE of what should be done? Do you think maybe THEN they’d do the opposite just out of spite and end up with a decent cover? How about we give it a try? With that in mind, here are my top five tips for better book covers.

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Quick Links: 10 Things I Know About You and Your Books

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Jenny Hansen knows 10 things about you, and I have to admit she pretty much nailed me.  After reading Tolkien as a child, I spent many a day searching for Ents in the forest behind my house. Head on over to Writers In The Storm and see how many items fit you.

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10 Things I Know About You and Your Books

By Jenny Hansen

From our earliest moments, most writers are avid readers. We devour books – for story, for Craft, for new worlds and new ideas.

We have To Be Read piles (TBR for short) that are taller than small children. Our favorite authors and characters become our friends.

I don’t know if we become students of the written word because we love to read or if we read because we were born to love the written word. All that chicken and egg Zen is well beyond me.

I just flat out love books and every writer I know does too. You might even describe us as “obsessed with the printed word.” It takes a lot of love to go through what we must do to yank our stories from our hearts onto the page.

If you are a writer, there are things that I know about you and your books:

1. I know you get uncomfortable when you are “bookless.”
If you are stuck somewhere without a book, you will begin reading any words available – shampoo bottles, food labels, billboard signs. Whatever. Books and magazines are preferred, but in a pinch, any words will smooth your soul. (Do you keep a bag of books in your car trunk like I do?)

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Quick Link: Critique Groups: 6 Ways they May Hurt Your Writing…and 6 Ways they Can Help

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Are you a member of a critique group? Anne R. Allen thinks they are a great resource for all writers. She also has a few cautions as well so whether you are in a group or not, go check out her article. 

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Critique Groups: 6 Ways they May Hurt Your Writing…and 6 Ways they Can Help

Critique groups have their pros and cons.

Wine helps…

by Anne R. Allen

I often advise new writers to join critique groups. Groups are usually free and they’re a great way to learn the basics of the writing craft. They can get writers out of their “writing garrets” and help newbies navigate the treacherous waters of the ever-changing publishing industry.

But I also warn writers to be wary. Never take what you hear in critique groups or workshops as gospel. Groupthink can be dangerous. Petty tyrants often hold sway and the Dunning Kruger Effect can demonstrate itself on a regular basis. (That’s the scientific theory that the most ignorant people are usually the most confident.)

Even when you’ve found a wonderful critique group that seems knowledgeable, helpful and kind, they can sometimes steer you wrong, simply because of the nature of the group set-up. If your group reads work aloud, you’ll run into one set of problems. If you send copy ahead of time and red-pencil it, you’ll have another. The simple time-lapse can cause hassles too.

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Quick Link: Podcast – Marketing Your Book All the Way to the Bestseller Lists, with Jay Baer

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We are offering up something a little different today, a link to a podcast instead of a post. It is an interview between Chris Ducker and Jay Baer about book marketing that I thought was very interesting. Let me know if you like this or not.

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Marketing Your Book All the Way to the Bestseller Lists, with Jay Baer

In this podcast episode, Chris Ducker sits down with Jay Baer to learn exactly how to become a New York Times bestselling author! Get your notebooks ready!

Book marketing is a topic that has come up a lot for me lately. As many of you know, I’ve just wrapped a book, that has been traditionally published a while back.

Earlier this year, I interviewed Farnoosh Brock about her book on juicing, and her grassroots approach to marketing it – which worked very well for her. This time you will hear a different approach – a mix of old and new techniques, with some long-term brand building as the backbone.

In this interview, I talk with Jay Baer about his well-planned book marketing campaign, and we delve deep into how to become a New York Times bestselling author.

This is some very useful stuff, so get your notepads ready!

In this 50 minute episode, Jay and I discuss:

  • Why using unorthodox book marketing techniques can work in your favor.
  • How you can build awareness long before your book is released.
  • The criteria for hitting the NYT bestseller list.
  • How to utilize your community to make your book go viral.
  • Why hiring a publicist is still a good idea in the new business economy.
  • How to use re-targeting to your advantage.

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Quick Links – Should You Pay for a Publicist?

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posting at Jane Friedman, shares her experiences and costs of hiring a publicist.  As an indie author, you should be willing to spend a little money on a great cover and a great editor, but is it worth it to spend more money on a publicist? What have your experiences been?

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Should You Pay for a Publicist?

by Jane Friedman
You’ve written a great book and—if you’ve self-published—probably shelled out for the services of a good editor and cover designer. The last thing you want is to pay for a publicist. But in a sea of authors, how will potential readers know about your book?As a traditional-turned-hybrid author publishing with She Writes Press, I foot the bill for all the publishing costs but reap a much higher percentage of royalties for both print and ebook sales for my debut memoir, Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces. My book is distributed like a traditional one, in all the retail channels; distribution is a major challenge facing self-pubbed authors, and traditional distribution is an advantage of my particular press.

I invested in a publicist to break into mainstream media, which led me to identify a number of online and print women’s media sites that would be perfect for my coming-of-age memoir and mother-daughter story. Of course I could have tried approaching these editors on my own, but that would have been time-consuming, and I didn’t have the established and nurtured contacts. Accidental Soldier has been featured with The Reading Room, Brit + Co, Writer’s Digest, Reader’s Digest, SheKnows.com, Working Mother magazine, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen—and that’s just a few. I would have never gotten that far on my own.

However, good publicists are not cheap. They command higher payment than a quality editor because they spend more hours over a longer time period working for you and your book.

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Quick Link: How Authors can Utilize Facebook Live

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Want a great tool to boost your social media reach and be able to interact with your fanbase? Alan Parks from Indies’s Unlimited gives a great tutorial on how to use Facebook Live.

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How Authors can Utilise Facebook Live

by Alan Parks

Almost every single Indie author that I know is on Facebook. Most of us spend time trying to sell our books to our friends, and many authors I know still insist on spending time copying and pasting a generic post to 20 or 30 Facebook groups and hoping that it will get them sales. STOP. There is a better way.

Facebook is still the best form of social media to use to sell your books, but you have to be smart. In recent months, Facebook has generously given us the best new tool for reaching and interacting with readers that we have had for years, and I haven’t seen anyone using it. It is called Facebook Live.

As authors, we hear a lot about algorithms. Whether it is Amazon algorithms or Facebook, all we hear is that these algorithms are working to stop people from seeing our posts/books. Facebook Live is different. If you have the Facebook app installed on a smart phone or tablet, you have the ability to use the live video to reach new and, crucially, different readers.

How to ‘Go Live’

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Quick Links – How to use Pinterest for Branding and Marketing

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Do you Pinterest? While not quite as popular as Facebook, Pinterest can be a great platform to add to your social media marketing plan, plus it is great fun! Over at Bad Redhead Media  where Melissa Flickinger has all the info on Pinterest and some great tips on how to really make it work for you. Do you have any great tips for managing social media?

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How to use Pinterest for Branding and Marketing by @melissaflicks

By Melissa Flickinger

Recently on #BookMarketingChat, we had the pleasure of discussing Pinterest with the brilliant Kate Tilton. Pinterest is an easy option for authors looking to extend their platform, build their brand, and connect with readers. Here are a few tips we chatted about to help you get started:

What type of boards and pins should I include? (I hear this question A LOT!)

  • The first thing I suggest is getting your list of keywords that you created for your author brand. Create boards based on those and add relatable pins.
  • Create a board for your blog posts, guest posts, featured articles and add pins that link back to your website.

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Quick Link: 7 Ways to Find Beta Readers and Reviewers for Your book

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Beta readers are a great tool for success. They provide a fresh set of eyes to look over your manuscript and hopefully provide great feedback, so you can polish your story before putting it in front of agents or customers. But where to find them? The wonderful Shelly Hitz has got your back with a great post and podcast to tell you where to find these literary angels.

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7 Ways to Find Beta Readers and Reviewers for Your book

by Shelly Hitz

When you are publishing a new book, creating a Beta Group can be a great idea. But where do you find beta readers and reviewers for your book?

In today’s training, I’m going to share with you 7 ways to find beta readers and reviewers for your book.

Why We Need to Find Beta Readers and Reviewers?

Recently I was sharing how I’m using a beta group for this project, and it’s really been super helpful for me. You can find it here: 3 Ways to Use a Beta Group.

After I posted this on my YouTube channel I received a question.

“These are great tips and tricks, thank you so much for sharing, but I have a question. How do you find beta readers?”

My previous training was all about three ways beta readers can help you when you’re publishing your book, but it didn’t cover how to get the beta readers.

So, I thought in this training I would answer her question and share with you seven ways to find beta readers and reviewers for your book.

First I’m going to tell you what I did. I simply asked those that are already following me on Facebook if they wanted to be part of my beta group. I set a page where they could sign up to an email list.

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Quick Link: “Going Wide” – Gaining Traction on non-Amazon Vendors Part 1: The Upload Process

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eBook authors usually have a choice to be proprietary with Amazon, or go “wide” and try and get their books out to a bunch of different places. That is not as easy as it sounds but at Fiction University, Angela Quarles has some tips to make the choice to go wide a little easier.

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“Going Wide” – Gaining Traction on non-Amazon Vendors Part 1: The Upload Process

 By Angela Quarles, @AngelaQuarles

Part of the Indie Author Series

I see a lot of indies frustrated when they try to “go wide” by distributing to non-Amazon vendors, but then panic when they don’t see immediate results and pull their books back to being exclusive on Amazon. I wanted to tackle this topic because there are ways to get traction at these other vendors, but it does take time. But first, a primer on how to set up at the various vendors, because each can be confusing, and some extremely difficult (I’m looking at you Google).

Barnes and Noble

Like Amazon, B&N has its own name for the dashboard for uploading and managing your titles–NookPress. NookPress is relatively easy. On the first page there, you’ll want to click “Learn More” under the eBook Publishing graphic and then “Start Your Book” on the next page. Next it will ask you to sign in or create a new account. Once you’re inside and all set up, you’ll click “Create New Project.” It walks you through guided steps for setting up your project, as they call it. First, you give it a name, then you upload your manuscript (I upload an ePub), and then through pretty much the same questions as KDP. The only differences are:

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Quick Link: 5 Steps to a Thorough Book Edit

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Editing a manuscript can be cringe inducing, right up there with getting a root canal.  But it needs to be done to move you forward.  Good thing has some great tips so you can do a thorough job and perhaps not spend as much time on editing. Helping Writers Become Authors

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 5 Steps to a Thorough Book Edit

December 16, 2016 by

Nothing can strike fear in the hearts of writers like editing. But if you’re going to improve your story, a thorough book edit is something that must happen. With the right tools, mindset, and preparation, it doesn’t have to be scary at all!

The fun thing about the writing and editing process is that everyone approaches it differently. Sometimes writers approach different books with different methods, since each new book is not the same as the last. You’ll take bits and pieces of what you’ve done in the past and mix it up with tips you’ve read in a book or blog, trying to find the magic that makes this book sparkle.

My own editing process continues to evolve as I grow as a writer, and as I learn more about the craft. Most recently, I tackled the edit on my just-released novel Omission, the fourth book in the Darby Shaw Chronicles. You’d think by now, I’d have my path mostly set in stone, but life has a tendency to force change, and this time was no different.

Inspired by my most recent round of editing, here’s how you can tackle a thorough book edit, based on suggestions made by your beta readers.

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Quick Links: The 5 Most Common Mistakes Writers Make When Seeking Book Reviews

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Reviews are very important for all authors, but especially for indie authors. Good reviews help legitimize your writing and encourage other readers to check out your book. But getting reviews are very difficult.  At Live Write Thrive, Gisela Hausmann gives out tips to avoid stepping on your own toes when trying to get reviews.

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The 5 Most Common Mistakes Writers Make When Seeking Book Reviews

Today’s guest post is by top Amazon reviewer Gisela Hausmann. This content originally ran on the Huffington Post, and it is reprinted here with her permission.

The day before yesterday, I received an email asking me to review an indie author’s book. Somewhat ironically, this request email stated, “As you liked (title of book), you might also love my newest book, (title), because it’s in the same category as the book you already reviewed . . .”

I remembered the book I supposedly “liked.” I didn’t like it at all; I had awarded it with a negative review.

Obviously, this indie author made a mistake; most likely, because he rushed trying to find as many top reviewers as possible to whom he could offer his book “in return for an objective and unbiased review.”

Desperately Seeking Reviews

Seeking reviews from Amazon top reviewers is a common practice among indie authors. Since only about one percent of readers review the books they read, indie authors, who don’t have a huge marketing budget, try to build up the number of reviews their books receive by asking top reviewers like me to read and review their books.

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