Quick Link: A plea for reviewers – can we open up a dialogue about self-published books?

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Roz Morris, owner of Nail Your Novel, reaches out to people who review books with a plea that they open their minds a little towards reviewing self-publishing titles. I can understand the reluctance of book reviewers, there are a lot of self-published books that look, well, self-published.  A lot. But, there are also a lot of self-publishing authors who do it right by hiring the correct people so their title is a professional offering and they are growing.  Thoughts?

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A plea for reviewers – can we open up a dialogue about self-published books?

by Roz Morris

So I find a lovely-looking review blog. The posts are thoughtful, fair and seriously considered. I look up the review policy and … it says ‘no self-published books’.

Today I want to open a dialogue with reviewers. If you have that policy, might you be persuaded to change it? Or to approach the problem in a different way?

I used the word ‘problem’. Because I appreciate – very well – that in making this policy you are trying to tackle a major problem. Your time as a reviewer is precious – and let me say your efforts are enormously appreciated by readers and authors alike. You get pitches for many more books than you can read and you need a way to fillet out the ones that are seriously worth your reading hours. A blanket ban is a way to fend off a lot of substandard material and save you many unpleasant conversations. And traditional publishing implies a certain benchmark of competence.

Competence. That’s probably the heart of the matter. There are good self-published books, of course, but how can I help you sort them from the bad and the fug-ugly?

Read the full post on Nail Your Novel

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Quick Link: Writing and Underwear: More Is Better

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This post isn’t about finding more time to write. Instead, it is about the benefits of finding different types of writing. At Indies Unlimited, Nicholas Forristal has quite the diverse writing resume and the skills that come from it.

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Writing and Underwear: More Is Better

by Nicholas Forristal

It makes sense that, with financial investments and underwear, you shouldn’t try to go through life with just one, right? This sort of logic is the direction I’ve taken with writing as well. Writing, for me, has never been about making the great American novel, or trying to be the best-selling novelist of all time. It’s been a means to an end. I like to create, and this particular craft suits me. If an opportunity comes my way, there’s very little chance I’ll say no. With that in mind, I don’t expect everyone to read this article without hesitation. After all, we all have different aspirations, and some of you out there are more driven towards specific goals. Still, you should hear me out.

Diversity in writing has a number of benefits. I don’t necessarily mean tackling different genres and styles, but that has its own merits as well. More to the point, I mean entirely different markets. Take a crack at copywriting, slogans, haiku, or comic books – anything that comes your way. Will you make money off this? Probably not. But, there’s more to it than that. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Read the full post on Indies Unlimited

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Quick Link: How To Make Your Readers Believe the Unbelievable (Or, The Importance of Facts in Fiction)

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Disney knew the importance of details in creating an over the top user experience. Colleen Oakley, guest posting at Writer Unboxed, knows that the details are important too, especially when writing. By getting your story straight, with all the facts in line, you can create a better space for the unbelievable.

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How To Make Your Readers Believe the Unbelievable (Or, The Importance of Facts in Fiction)

by Colleen Oakly

Please welcome Colleen Oakley as our guest today! Colleen’s debut novel Before I Go was a People Best New Book Pick, an Us Weekly “Must” Pick, a Publisher’s Lunch Buzz Book, a Library Journal Big Fiction Debut, and an Indie Next List Pick. Formerly the senior editor of Marie Claire and editor-in-chief of Women’s Health & Fitness, Colleen’s articles, essays, and interviews have been featured in The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, Marie Claire, Women’s Health, Redbook, Parade, and Martha Stewart Weddings. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, four kids, and the world’s biggest lapdog, Bailey. Close Enough to Touch is her second novel.

People often ask me which I like better—writing articles for magazines or writing fiction, and I often say the two go hand in hand. Though fiction I’m obviously making up, I rely heavily on the research and reporting skills I honed in journalism to help guide and craft my novels. I think that surprises readers sometimes, so I’m passionate about sharing my process and the idea that the best fiction always has at least a small basis in fact.

Connect with Colleen on Facebook and Twitter.

How To Make Your Readers Believe the Unbelievable (Or, The Importance of Facts in Fiction)

Like most writers, I’ve always loved telling stories—the more outrageous, the better. As early as preschool, I remember making up the craziest things about my day to share with my mom when she would pick me up. Like the time I told her that the gingerbread man who I had been convinced lived in the little plastic house on the playground finally came out of hiding and chased us all around. Or the time I plucked a clover to bring home and when she asked about it, I told her the entire class had taken a field trip to a greenhouse and we got to pick out anything we wanted.

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed

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Quick Link: How We’ve Ruined Our Brains in This Modern Era

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As I write this post I have five firefox windows with multiple tabs open, a photoshop session, my music, my phone is in front of me where I can see it and lots of background things going on. C. S. Lakin would be appalled since pretty much proves her post at Live Write Thrive.

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How We’ve Ruined Our Brains in This Modern Era

Ah, distraction. The bane of our modern existence. Face it—we are going to be deluged with distractions every waking moment of the day. Unless you’ve found a way to live in a bubble or at the top of a mountain, deep in a cave, you probably are going to have some distractions. Even then, that water dripping from the ceiling in a steady rhythm is going to start distracting us.

I think the problem is worse than we know. Because decades ago, we just didn’t have the kinds of distractions we have now. And because we are so used to being connected online to everyone else in the world (or so it seems) around the clock, it’s more a problem of our habits than anything else.

So now we’re going to go deep into the “C” of our Productivity ABCs: our choices, which impact our behavior. And retraining our brain is a choice writers need to make if they’re to be super productive.

How We’ve Ruined Our Brain

For instance, my brain is now so used to derailing at any given second, even when I’m backpacking alone in the Sierras, away from any cell phone signals, it takes me days to decompress and allow my brain to settle into what feels like a natural state of being and observation. I have to confess I now take my phone and solar charger with me so I can read and play games and listen to music on my phone while out in the wilderness. But I’m thinking of making a resolution to leave the tech back in civilization. Because it’s starting to control me and not the other way around.

Read the full post on Live Write Thrive

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Quick Link: Stop Worrying About What People Think and Create Anyway

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I have to be honest, I am sharing this article because it really hits home for me. If you are like me and worry about putting yourself out there, then this article is for you and you are not alone. Head on over to Postive Writer and read the article by Bryan Hutchinson. If this article is not for you, please share how you deal with this anxiety!

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Stop Worrying About What People Think and Create Anyway

by Bryan Hutchinson

One of the surest ways to find unhappiness and limit your creativity is worrying about what others think of you or your work.

It’s true, and I am guilty of it. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

When we worry about what other people are doing, achieving or receiving, we steal valuable energy and confidence from ourselves and we start to doubt that we are good enough.

And yet, there’s worse:

The worst comes when you inhibit yourself because you’re too concerned with what someone thinks of you.

Of course, we should have some concern about our image, what we do and what people think of us, especially if we want to be sociable and get along. However, there have been times when I’ve carried this too far and worried incessantly.

To use blogging as an example, I’ve kept posts in my drafts for weeks on end, sometimes not posting at all, simply to avoid criticism from those who are impossible to please.

Oh yes, if you haven’t realized it yet (and I am sure you have), there are people who cannot and will not be pleased and if you are a people pleaser, then writing, blogging, creating art, or doing just about anything publicly might not be for you.

Blogging opens me up to the world, so, of course, there are going to be people who disagree with my ideas and opinions and to a degree, I expected that.

But I’ll be honest, I had no idea that there would be people out there who hate what I write and who go to obsessive lengths to make sure I know it.

It’s not an enjoyable experience and if you can relate, here’s a unique solution you might find helpful.

Read the full post on Postive Writer

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Quick Link: Why Do Readers Stop Reading?

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What stops you from finishing a book? If you ever wondered why people have dropped your story, wonder no more! Head over to Writers Helping Writers to find out Becca Puglisi thoughts on why she gives up on a story and what you can do to stop this from happening to your title.

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Why Do Readers Stop Reading?

by BECCA PUGLISI

Happy Saturday, everyone! I’m a little swamped right now, so instead of our usual thesaurus entry, I’m reposting an old favorite. It’s the first in a series of posts that explore different reasons why I stopped reading certain books. This is really helpful information for us to know as authors so we don’t make the same mistakes in our own books. 

I like keeping lists. And I like books. So I guess it makes sense that I have a lot of book lists. Books To Read, Books I’ve Finished, Books I Want to Buy, and possibly the most informative one: Books I Didn’t Finish. As a reader, it happens quite frequently that I’ll start a book, and for whatever reason, my attention wanes and I end up putting it down unfinished. As a writer, I want to know why this happens so I can avoid making the same mistakes in my own stories. The reasons behind a book’s failure to grab my attention are varied. Some of them I see often in books I read; some offenses I’m guilty of committing myself. Because of this, I figured I’d share what I’ve learned so we can all try not to replicate these errors in our stories.

For this first installment, I’m pulling from a book I was really looking forward to reading…well, let’s just call it Book A (I’m a positive person, and since this isn’t a review, the title doesn’t matter). Regardless, this book was historical fiction—one of my favorite genres that I find in short supply—and a retelling of an old myth. The cover was gorgeous and the back copy contained an accurate summary of the story. The writing itself was strong, the descriptions evocative. So what killed it for me?

Read the full post on Writers Helping Writers

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Quick Link: How I Wrote Two Full-Length Novels in 18 Months

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Over at Lifehacker Nicole Dieker, who is obviously not a pantser, shares how she was able to successfully write two novels in 18 months.  She has some great tips for you to check out and see if anything is useful to you.

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How I Wrote Two Full-Length Novels in 18 Months

by Nicole Dieker

My debut novel, The Biographies of Ordinary People: Volume 1: 1989–2000, releases on May 23, 2017. The sequel, which covers the years 2004–2016, is scheduled to release in the first half of 2018.

I wrote the first chapter of Vol. 1 during the last week of July 2015. I wrote the last chapter of Vol. 2 during the last week of December 2016. Two full-length novels—roughly 90,000 words each—drafted over eighteen months, plus I was revising Vol. 1 while I was drafting Vol. 2.

If you’ve dreamed of writing your own novel(s) but haven’t yet written anything besides the first two chapters—and trust me, I’ve been there—you’re probably wondering how I got it all done, in addition to my everyday workload and all of the other stuff that goes into a life.

Some of it has to do with experience. I was able to write The Biographies of Ordinary People in part because I had already written hundreds of blog posts, online articles, and short fiction.

But a lot of it came down to structure and planning.

Read the full post on Lifehacker

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Quick Link: Tracking Your Progress While Outlining and Revising

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I am a loud and proud pantser, but after reading the post by over at Pub Crawl, I may just have to think my approach. She shares her very adaptable process on how she keeps herself on track and her revisions clear. What tips do you have to keep your writing organized?

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Tracking Your Progress While Outlining and Revising

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Hi all! Julie here. Recently I blogged about How to Finish Your Book, focusing on tips on how to get to The End when writing a first draft. In the comments, I was asked a great question about tracking progress during the outlining and revising stages of the writing process.

The reason I think this is such a great question is because tracking outlining and revising is definitely trickier than tracking drafting. When getting a draft down on paper, for the most part, a daily wordcount goal is all you need. But if you (like me) are obsessed with measuring and tracking your progress, you’re going to want to track everything. Things get a little more subtle and nuanced when you are in the pre-writing and outlining stage, and again at the end of the draft when you enter the revising stage, so setting up a system to track your progress definitely requires more flexibility and reflection when setting goals and expectations.

Once I have an idea for a story, I start creating the story world and brainstorming plot points. For the earliest stages of this process, I find it difficult to set hard deadlines because I feel the idea needs to breathe and grow organically. Eventually, as things take shape, I start adding structure to my tasks.

I generally work on the world first. In the beginning, I might have a single world-building document that explains the world in broad strokes. But as the story world takes shape, specific questions arise, such as “What is the political history of these two nations?” or “How are spiritual leaders chosen?” As I identify these questions, I set a goal to create a document addressing each one.

Read the full post on Pub Crawl

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Quick Link: Why Did I Get a ‘No’? – The Do’s and Don’ts of Query Letter Writing

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Today’s offering is from Mark Gottlieb posting at Elizabeth Spann Craig and gives you hints and tips on query letter writing. Enjoy!

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Why Did I Get a ‘No’? – The Do’s and Don’ts of Query Letter Writing

by Mark Gottlieb

As a literary agent in major trade publishing at the Trident Media Group literary agency, I often have to explain the elements of a good query letter to new clients. This article is intended as a description of what goes into a good query letter, for new authors unfamiliar with what literary agents and editors are looking for in a query letter intended the book-publishing world. For a writer who might be currently querying literary agents, or even contemplating that process, this might be interesting reading. Considering the high rejection rate in the book publishing industry for writers trying to become debut authors, this article will hopefully be enlightening for the countless writers who are experiencing rejection due to a poorly-constructed query letter.

A lot of authors dread writing query letters. I know many authors who can write a novel in a matter of months, but who could endlessly spend years toiling over writing a query letter. My advice to authors along the querying process is to really nail the writing of that query letter. A query letter that reads well is usually a good indication to the literary agent that the manuscript will similarly read well, inclining the literary agent to request a manuscript. Often the query letter can go on to become the publisher’s jacket copy, were the publisher to acquire the manuscript via the literary agent.

The Do’s

Read the full post on Elizabeth Spann Craig

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Quick Link: What Social Media Groups Are and How To Use Them

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So you already know that you need social media to help spread the word about your titles, but have you heard of social media groups?  They are a great way to connect with people and help you stand out. Each social media platform has its own type of groups. Melissa Flickinger over at Bad Redhead Media helps you get started.

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What Social Media Groups Are and How to Use Them

By Melissa Flickinger

We discussed social media groups during our recent Twitter #BookMarketingChat. Of course, there is a lot to cover in one hour, so we chopped the list down to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. We’ll discuss Pinterest, Goodreads, and other social media groups in future chats and my next post. Here are some key tips to get you started on social media groups.

If you have any social media accounts, chances are you’re already in several groups. But for those who are just getting their virtual foot in the social networking door, let’s explain what a social media group is and why they’re so great for building relationships!

What Are Social Media Groups?

Social media groups are general interest or niche-specific forums within social media platforms. Indie writers, paranormal romance book lovers, and author street teams are all examples of the different types of groups you might find on social media. These groups can be open or closed/secret, based on the owner’s (aka, moderator’s) preferences.

Read the full post on Bad Redhead Media

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Quick Link: 6 Ways for Indie Authors to Use Goodreads to Network

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This post from on the Self Publishing Advice Center from ALLI has reminded me about how neglected my poor Goodreads page is.   Everyone talks about Facebook as the best for your dollar marketing tool, but Barb suggests you also give Goodreads a try. What do you think? Is Goodreads worth the time and effort or are you like me and neglecting it?

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6 Ways for Indie Authors to Use Goodreads to Network

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Social media expert Barb Drozdowich counts the ways for indie authors to network on Goodreads to help market their self-published books.

 

Goodreads is often the site that is dismissed as difficult to navigate or full of nasty people.  Let’s talk about these elephants shall we?

  • Can Goodreads be difficult to navigate? I think so.  But like learning to write excellent dialogue,  navigating Goodreads can be learned with a little bit of patience.
  • Is Goodreads full of nasty people?  Not really.   There are 50 million account holders on Goodreads.  In a group that large there are bound to be nasty people.  Take your local mall as an example.  Not everybody there is pleasant,  yet you continue to shop there.  You develop a way to cope with the nasty people –  you can do the same on Goodreads.

The Enormous Potential Reach of Goodreads

Goodreads had 50 million readers all in on place. What could be a better place for finding readers, especially for the beginning author – or the author trying to make contacts in new countries, ?

But just like you would never stand in the middle of your local public library holding your book and yelling at everybody to read it,  that behavior is not acceptable on Goodreads either.  So put on your reader’s hat,  grab yourself a cup of coffee and think about six distinct networking possibilities.

Read the full post on Self Publishing Advice Center

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Quick Link: Character Motivation Entry: Gaining Fulfillment By Giving Back

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Character Motivation Entry: Gaining Fulfillment By Giving Back

by ANGELA ACKERMAN

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal’s going to be and they’ll know what to root for. But how do you know what outer motivation to choose?

If you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. Through this thesaurus, we’d like to explore these common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): Gaining Fulfillment By Giving Back

Forms This Might Take:

Read the full post on Writers Helping Writers

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Quick Link: Copyrighting Our Books

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Copyrighting Our Books

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

When I was first signing a book contract in 2008, I remember that the industry generally scoffed at writers worried about copyright issues. Some writers wondered if they should register a copyright on their manuscripts before submitting them to agents and publishers. There was even a line of thinking that authors could simply mail their manuscripts to themselves to acquire a ‘poor man’s copyright’ through the postal service.

Acquiring a copyright to send work to a reputable agent or publisher was probably overkill. But the problem now is more insidious: there are cases where retailers like Amazon have challenged writers to prove a book’s content is theirs after receiving challenges from unscrupulous writers.

I’d been meaning to copyright my books for some time, but it became a higher priority after the copyright challenges became news. And I hopped right over to the US Copyright site after reading a post on Joanna Penn’s blog: an interview with attorney Kathryn Goldman. I recommend you read or listen to the entire post.

One of the things Kathryn Goldman brought up in the interview is that the US Copyright is a better deal than one in the UK, for instance. It’s $35 for a copyright in the US for the life of the copyright (a one-time fee). In the UK, it’s £65 for 5 years.  According to Goldman, “if you have a registration in the United States and your country is a signatory to the Berne Convention, then you’re entitled to the protections that that country offers based on the U.S. registration.” That’s important information for international writers.

Read the full post on Elizabeth Spann Craig

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Quick Link: Changing Horses Mid-Stream (or How to Not Panic Over a Mid-Book Structure Revision)

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Changing Horses Mid-Stream (or How to Not Panic Over a Mid-Book Structure Revision)

y Lauren K. Denton

Our guest today is Lauren K. Denton. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren now lives with her husband and two young daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. Her first novel The Hideaway comes out next month and in 2018: Hurricane Season, also from HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson.

It’s scary to be in the middle (or worse—near the end) of your book and realize you need to make a huge change. I wrote this to commiserate with other authors who’ve done this sort of thing as well as to encourage authors who are up against this kind of major change.

Read the full post on Writer UnBoxed

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Quick Link: Don’t Kill Your Darlings—Give Them a Fair Trial!

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Don’t Kill Your Darlings—Give Them a Fair Trial!

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I’ve never been a big fan of the writing admonition to Kill your darlings. It’s been a virtual axiom among writers for decades. Yet it seems to me about as useful as Destroy your delight and as cold-hearted as Drown your puppies.

I mean, if something is your darling, should your first instinct be to end its life? Sounds positively psychopathic.

Isn’t a darling at least owed a fair trial?

The phrase itself has its origin in a lecture on style delivered by the English writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch back in 1914. He said:

To begin with, let me plead that you have been told of one or two things which Style is not; which have little or nothing to do with Style, though sometimes vulgarly mistaken for it. Style, for example, is not—can never be—extraneous Ornament … [I]f you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.’

At least Sir Arthur was honest enough to call it murder! But murder requires malice aforethought, and that is a terrible way to think about a darling.

Darlingicide should be outlawed, not encouraged!

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