Link Roundup for July 20 – The best writing articles on the web that you might have missed!

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Today we have a little bit of everything from improving your website to what you should do if your book is stolen, ending with a funny post from author and dad Chuck Wendig

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Link Roundup for July 19 – The best writing articles on the web that you might have missed!

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Trying something a little different today as part of a movement forward with what I want to do with the site.  Thank you for your patience!

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Quick Link: Audiobooks: What You Should Know

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Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Audiobooks are a hot and growing market. Definitely worth looking into for your title. Romance University‘s contributor Veronica Scott runs down what you need to know if you are thinking of going audio.

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Audiobooks: What You Should Know – by Veronica Scott

RU Contributor Veronica Scott discusses factors you should consider if you’re thinking about creating audiobooks.

Since June is Audiobook Month, I thought I should devote my post to that topic. First, some relevant statistics from a December 8, 2016 post on the Goodereader.com website: “Over the course of the past three years the highest growing segment of publishing are audiobooks. The global audiobook industry is currently evaluated at $3.5 billion dollars and the United States is currently the largest singular market with $1.8 billion dollars in audio sales in 2016 and this was a 31% increase from 2015. The Audio Publishers of America has stated that every year for the past three years 36,000 audiobooks were issued.”

 

Read the full post on Romance University

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Quick Link: How to Transform Your Single Story Into a Complete Series

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Gone are the days of the one hit wonders for authors. You have to build your audience and if you don’t already have a built audience you a great strategy is to write a series. This allows you to start building a following and do clever marketing such as pricing your first book for free to get people hooked. At Write To Done, Sandra Haven has some great hints on how to build on a story to make a series.

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How to Transform Your Single Story Into a Complete Series

By Sandra Haven

Okay, so your single book story jumped to an idea for a nifty book series but … now what?

Even the best of series ideas can miss the mark after only one book.

Ever come to a screeching halt while reading a series because the story just fell apart? Or the character changed? Maybe you moaned, “What is this author doing?”

Not everyone will love every book in a series. There will always be some readers who set your series to the side as times goes on. But readership can also take a plunge and no author wants that to happen.

Good news:

Scary as that is, there are some basic reasons a series fails—and there are ways to avoid them.

Read the full post on Write To Done

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Quick Link: 3 Ways to Stop Self-Sabotaging Your Writing

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Ooh, I had to bookmark this post by C.S. Lakin! She has a list of ways you might be self-sabotaging your writing and I think I won! Seriously, if you feel you are not the writer you want to be head over to Live Write Thrive and bookmark this post.

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3 Ways to Stop Self-Sabotaging Your Writing

by C.S. Lakin

I’ve perhaps saved the biggest issue for last, for, honestly, we are our own worst enemies, and I believe self-sabotage, more than anything else, keeps us from being super-productive writers.

We’ve taken a look at a lot of attitude topics and discussed ways to think positively, boost ourselves with uplifting self-talk, and use mental hacks to adjust our attitudes.

But even if you correct all your bad habits, optimize your writing time, and adjust your schedule to fit your biology, if you have a tendency to self-sabotage, all your good effort may be for naught.

So we’re going to take a look at some of the reasons and ways we self-sabotage and consider some remedies to help us thwart those destructive attitudes and behaviors.

The Long-Term Effects

Some studies have shown that self-sabotage leads to cycles of negative motivation. Meaning, the more you engage in self-sabotage, the less motivated you are to get something done. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle that will prevent you from ever being truly productive.

Each time you fail, you prove to yourself that you just can’t accomplish your task. If you sit down to write and tell yourself it’s going to suck or you’ll never get the scene written, you’ll fulfill your own prophecy. And the next time you sit down, all you have to do is pull out the proof from previous attempts to discourage you from trying again. And when you do finally push through to write, the results are pathetic, due to the pressure you are heaping on your head.

Read the full post on Live Write Thrive

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Quick Link: Inexpensive Promoting

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It’s summertime! That means lots of events and chances to promote your book! Check out the excellent post from Elizabeth Spann Craig that has some fantastic tips on how to publicize your story without breaking the bank.

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Inexpensive Promoting

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I’m not a fan of old-fashioned promoting. I think I’ve sold a lot more books by using better book metadata and following best-practices for SEO on my book pages on my website.

But sometimes…you’ve got to promote the old-fashioned way. In my case, it’s usually by request.  My audiobook producer is big into old-fashioned promo: going out into bookstores for events, doing book tie-ins, and that type of thing. He’s really, really good at it. In the past, he’s asked me for free printed copies of my books to tie-in with the audio versions for giveaways at all kinds of special events. I’ve sent them over to him…just very happy that I wasn’t doing the promo legwork myself.

It’s expensive, though. Even getting the author copies from CreateSpace.  There’s the buying of the books, and then the shipping of the books.  If you’re talking a fair number of books or doing something regularly, it does add up.

This time I told my producer that I’d like to do something a little different (and basically free on my end).  I used Canva to design bookmarks especially for my audiobooks and then added an Instafreebie code to provide a free ebook. Realizing a lot of other writers might be going to summer events, I thought I’d share what I did. (And I used to be a VistaPrint customer…nothing wrong with that, except this particular project required immediacy. I couldn’t wait).

Read the full post on Elizabeth Spann Craig

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Quick Link: 6 Ways You Are Destroying Your Chances of Finding Readers

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Getting readers who hopefully love your story is the whole reason behind publishing your stories. Make sure you are not doing any of these six mistakes from at Books Go Social!

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6 Ways You Are Destroying Your Chances of Finding Readers

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You’re a writer. You want to find readers. Traditional publishers are paying less and less, and they are taking fewer books these days.

So you decide to self-publish. You think it’s enough to put your book on the internet, that people should buy it, that you’ve done your job.

But have you destroyed your chances of your book finding readers, because of basic mistakes?

Sure, readers are still looking for high-quality stories and help from non fiction books, but these days they use the characteristics of how a book is presented as tells, indicators of the quality of storytelling and writing within.

If you can’t pay attention to these basic tells, they assume it’s unlikely you paid attention to the quality of the writing. And often they are right.

Are you destroying your chances of finding readers with these basic mistakes?

Read the full post on Books Go Social

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Quick Links: Are You a Writer or a Storyteller?

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This is actually a really interesting post by K.M. Weiland at Helping Writer’s Become Authors.  I had actually been thinking about this very subject since I am a great storyteller but my writing needs work. Check it out and see what you think. Are you more a writer or a storyteller or are you very clever and are both?

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Are You a Writer or a Storyteller?

“I am a writer!”

This is one of the most important and freeing statements any of us ever makes. It’s almost a rite of passage. The moment you can look your banker/hairdresser/pastor/aunt in the eye and tell them (without mumbling) that you are writer, hear you type—well, then, congratulations, you’ve crossed an important threshold in claiming your power as an artist.

However, not to complicate your victory or anything, but what you may really be trying to tell Pastor John and Aunt Lucy is that you’re a storyteller. Or maybe you’re a storytelling writer. Or is it a writing storyteller?

Or maybe I’m just nitpicking, because aren’t they basically the same thing? Aren’t “writer” and “storyteller” pretty much interchangeable?

Yes and no.

Read the full post on Helping Writer’s Become Authors

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Quick Links: Guide to Self-Publishing Marketplaces

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Today’s offering is a basic guide for self-publishers on the major different marketplaces. There are smaller places out there as well and niche stores, all of which a quick google search will show you. Writers And Authors poster Fred Johnson’s article is a very good place to start! Do you know of any other marketplaces for indie authors?

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Guide to Self-Publishing Marketplaces Guide to Self-Publishing Marketplaces

by Fred Johnson

As an editor, I’m lucky enough to talk to authors as part of my daily grind. I was talking to a friend and self-publishing writer recently who was frustrated by his most recent novel’s market position—he’d been using Amazon to market and sell his book, but, having had little success, he was wondering about alternative channels that might serve him better.
This got me thinking: if my friend was losing sleep over this, surely many others would be to. So, without further ado, here’s my condensed guide to the most popular self-publishing platforms.
Amazon – (inc. Audible, Kindle Direct Publishing, CreateSpace)
The big dog, the king of the hill: Amazon is the default channel for self-publishing, and is by far the most popular choice. They offer various platforms that are geared towards writers of all experience and calibre, from the free and barebones services of CreateSpace through to KDP and KDP Select, which offers greater commission but demands exclusivity for a certain period in return.
KDP offers 70 percent commission on books sold for between 2.99 and 9.99 (that’s in pounds sterling, U.S. dollars, and euros) and 30 percent on books that are sold for anything below or above that bracket. KDP Select offers extra royalties from the KDP Select Global Fund in exchange for ninety-day digital exclusivity—this means that, for a certain amount of time, your eBook will only be sold through KDP.
The great benefit of Amazon is its size and its sheer dominance—huge numbers of people could come across your book. Of course, the flip-side is that there are far more self-publishing writers to compete with. Also, because Amazon let any old bod host their work, there’s an awful lot of poor-quality stuff on the Kindle Store that could put readers off.

Read the full post on Writers And Authors

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Quick Link: Deeper Thinking About Writing Your Scenes

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One of the reasons why I love Stephen King’s writing, besides the fact that he is amazing at story telling, is how he writes scenes. I grew up in Massachusetts and there are times when I will read one of Mr. King’s stories and the scene will be so realistic to me, I can smell it. Larry Brooks from Kill Zone shares on how to have a purposeful deeper scene that enhance your story.

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Deeper Thinking About Writing Your Scenes

by Larry Brooks

Deeper than what, you might fairly ask?

Perhaps, deeper than you’re thinking about them now. Because too often, newer writers (in particular) begin writing a scene without a clear intention for that scene. As a means of discovery (finding and vetting story options), this can be viable and legit…

… but unless you rethink and recast the scene once you do understand the purpose of a particular scene – its mission, if you will – chances are that scene will become a liability.

New writers tend to forget that next step.  The scene rambles, then it finds (perhaps stumbles upon) its purpose… then it’s on to the next scene.

If you have a bunch of scenes created this way, you may have tanked the whole novel on this one issue of craft alone.

Scene writing is its own core competency, separate from – yet every bit as essential as – the other primary core competencies you need to manifest: 1) a conceptually-rich premise, 2) character, 3) theme, 4) structure and 5) writing voice, including dialogue and the general nature of your narrative.

That’s six core competencies (categorically) in all.

Read the full post on Kill Zone

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Quick Link: How to Fix Any Plot Hole Like a Pro

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I hate plot holes. My day job requires me to be very logical and I try not to drive everyone around me nuts with it. But no matter how much I love a story, a plot hole will keep wispering in my mind not allowing me to fully enjoy the story. What is even worse is when I write one, especially a big one!  Kaitlin Hillerich at Inks and Quills helps us to patch those plot holes up like they never even existed!

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How to Fix Any Plot Hole Like a Pro

A pot hole is like a plot hole – it disrupts the flow of the story

Kaitlin Hillerich

Once, I spent a good three hours trying to fix a plot hole involving a parrot while writing my novella, These Savage Bones.

I wish I was kidding.

There’s nothing that can make a writer want to tear their hair out quite like a plot hole. They can be hard to spot and even harder to patch up. And in the case of a particular species of parrot, which turned out to be extinct during the time period my story was set, they can make you question your sanity.

Argh, headaches for days!

Are there pesky plot holes hiding in your story right now? Let’s take a look at the different forms plot holes can take, how they can be accidentally introduced into a story, and how to rid your novel of them for good.

What is a Plot Hole?

Read the full post on Inks and Quills

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Quick Link: We’re In This Together: How To Help Other Authors Succeed

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My wise old granny used to always tell me to treat others the way I wanted to be treated. Who wouldn’t want support from fellow authors!  A big thank you to ANGELA ACKERMAN at Writer’s Helping Writers for this great post and suggestions on how to help each other out! PS. They are promoting Kristen Lamb’s new title The Devil’s Dance, Kristen has often written posts and given back to the writing community so please check it out! PPS. Kristen, love the new professional look!

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We’re In This Together: How To Help Other Authors Succeed

by ANGELA ACKERMAN
Writers should help all kinds of other writers no matter their gender, religion, or nation of birth. Even if they are a partially invisible giantess who could beat you to death with her book.

A common query Becca and I get is, “Why do you do what you do?” It’s a fair question, because in order for us to coach writers through our books, speaking, and our One Stop for Writers site, we’ve had to temporarily put our fiction-writing on hold. Not an easy decision. But the fact is we love to see dreams realized. This is why we do it. As writers ourselves, we know the power of THIS particular dream–a book in hand, our name paired with the title, and the knowledge that readers are losing themselves in a world we’ve created.

We celebrate each time someone we know achieves this dream–and how could we not? It’s so wonderful to see all that hard work pay off! Today, we are celebrating because our friend Kristen Lamb has just released her first mystery thriller, The Devil’s Dance.

Many of you know Kristen and the giant heart she has for writers. She has such passion for those of us in this industry and gives her all every day through her blog and the relationships she builds. So when someone so authentic and genuine rounds the fiction horn, well, we can’t help but cheer especially loud!

I’ve been away the last month in Italy, but the book is on my kindle now and I can’t wait to read it. I hope you’ll check it out too. But first, let’s look more at book releases in general and talk about what we can do to help the authors we know.

Launching a Book: Behind the Scenes

When an author releases a book, it’s all smiles and excitement…on the outside. What we don’t see is the anxiety going on within: will this book find its readers? Will it become lost in the glut of fiction available? If I share my excitement too freely, will people see it as unwanted promotion?

These worries are universal among authors. And, with the saturation of promotion these days, it’s important we don’t push a book too hard ourselves. Inside, we hope others will step up and help.

(And BOOM, this is what community is about, right? Stepping up!)

So if you know an author like Kristen who is releasing a book and you want to help, here’s a few things you can do (beyond the obvious of purchasing the book).

1: Ask your local library to bring the book in. Many libraries have an online form and they often pay attention to requests. Click here to find a library near you…and why not request Kristen’s book while you’re at it? 🙂 If it is an ebook release, first encourage your author friend to make the ebook available to a service like OverDrive.

Read the full post on Writer’s Helping Writers

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Quick Link: 5 Essential Pieces of Advice you Need to Hear before you Publish

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You have done it! You have finished your story, your rewrites, maybe even gotten some feedback from friends. But before you upload that story to Amazon and click “publish” there are a few things you might want to think about. Books Go Social‘s   has some great tips.

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5 Essential Pieces of Advice you Need to Hear before you Publish

#6 Write a good story…

y Elisabeth Schaffalitzky

So you know you want to succeed as a writer. You have a story to tell, you think you’re good at it, and you think other people would agree! However, the will and the motivation to write aren’t enough.

There’s a lot of other things you need to take into account if you want to publish, especially if you’re doing it by yourself or with an independent publisher.

We recently asked a number of independent and self-published authors what they would do differently now they’ve had their book (or books) published, and received a deluge of information.  We’ve compiled the responses together into the essential pieces of advice you’ll need:

 1. Editing is VERY Important

This came up again and again and again.  You may think you’ve mastered spelling and grammar, or believe Spellcheck will save you, but you cannot trust yourself to know when something is as good as it can be.

Editing, proofing, and beta readers, (it) goes without saying these are a must

Editing is your saviour, not just in terms of proof-reading, but also making sure your book flows, has pace, and makes sense!

Read the full post on Books Go Social

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Quick Link: 15 Book Publicity Commandments

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At the Book-Baby Blog (say that 10 times fast!) Carolyn Howard-Johnson gives us 15 must follow commandments for publicity. What do you think? Did she nail them or are there others you would add?

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15 Book Publicity Commandments

by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

16. Thou Shalt Not Annoy Others

If you can’t really afford to spend a lot on a book publicity campaign, carve out some time to do it yourself and apply these 15 commandments.

If you read the newspapers or watch TV, you know that advertising sells. But even those big guys who do all the advertising aren’t sure what works best when it comes to advertising.

A huge retailer once said that advertising works, we just don’t know how, why, or where it works best. Publicity is advertising’s less mysterious cousin. It is the more reliable relative because it is judged on its merit alone and carries the cachet of an editor’s approval. It also is surrounded by the ever-magic word “free.”

Book publicity and marketing are easily identified as kin. They often walk hand-in-hand and yet they can be incompatible. The editors of good media outlets will not allow the advertising department to influence them. Still, in an effort to be completely impartial, they reserve the right to use advertiser’s stories editorially if they deem them newsworthy. That is why it is helpful to use advertising as a vehicle that plays to the audience you would like to see standing before your cash register or clicking to buy your book online.

Advertising can be an entrée to the decision-makers. A contact in the advertising department may be willing to put a news release on the desk of one of his editors, maybe even encourage her to look at it. They can make no promises, but it does sometimes work. If you’re going to try this route, choose a “little pond” – a bookish brochure, an “arty” weekly, or a literary site – so the dollars you spend get noticed.

Read the full post on Book-Baby Blog

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