author tools

Quick Links: Google Maps: The Best Writing Tool that No One Knows About

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

I love Google maps. I have an exercise program that uses them and it is so much fun, but I do admit I never thought of it as a writing tool.  At Writer Unboxed, Camille Di Maio shows how wrong I am and how you too can use Google maps to boost your writing. Just don’t blame me for the lost time spent browsing!

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Google Maps: The Best Writing Tool that No One Knows About

By Camille Di Maio

Has a map ever challenged a pre-conceived notion that you had about a location? Please welcome Camille Di Maio to WU today, who’ll talk about the topic. A bit about Camille:

Camille Di Maio always dreamed of being a writer, and those dreams came true with her bestselling debut novel, The Memory of Us. In addition to writing women’s fiction, she trains in tae kwon do, buys too many baked goods at farmers’ markets, unashamedly belts out Broadway show tunes, and regularly faces her fear of flying to indulge in her passion for travel. She and her husband homeschool their four children and run an award-winning real estate office in San Antonio, Texas. They divide their time between San Antonio and Williamsburg, Virginia. Her second novel, Before the Rain Falls, is out now.

Learn more on Camille’s website, and by following her on Facebook and Twitter.

The Best Writing Tool that No One Knows About

You know that feeling. Some people call it déjà vu. That feeling that you’ve been there before.

And you have. Kind of.

I experienced a unique sense of this in 2016 when I first traveled to Liverpool, UK. It was the setting for my first novel, THE MEMORY OF US, a story inspired by the classic Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby. While writing and researching, I desperately wanted to visit Liverpool. To wander its streets. View its architecture. Feel its history. But what was a working mom of four kiddos in Texas supposed to do?

Enter Google Maps. The best writing tool that no one knows about. Well, of course, you know about Google Maps. But do you use it in your writing?

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Should You Start a Video Blog?

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

Bless Laura Drake for being braver than me! She decided to start a video blog and posted her experiences and why you should start a vlog. She even included her first one at Writers In The Storm for you to check out!

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Should You Start a Video Blog?

By Laura Drake

 

I’ve read so much about how video blogs are the next big thing. I swore I’d never do that. I mean, come on. I’m old, I’m fluffy, I don’t think well on my feet, don’t know anything about the tech involved, and I say ‘anyway’ all the time.  Oh, and I’d have to do my hair and makeup. Other than that, sign me up!

But then a few things happened. I read that in January 2016 Facebook announced there are more than eight billion video views and more than 100 million hours of video watched on the platform daily.

That’s an amazing stat, but it doesn’t negate even one of my arguments above.

Then I ran across this video:

Oh my God. I’ll bet I’ve watched that 9 times by now, and she has almost a million hits on it (more, after today, I’ll warrant). Do I judge her for being goofy? Hell no. She’s badass.

Dammit, this woman just negated all my arguments.

I eased into this the same way I convinced myself to write my first book – I’d write the book, get it out of my system, then hit delete!  NO one would ever have to see it. Boom.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Schedule Your Time in 4 Simple Steps

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

Trying to find more time in the day seems to be every adult’s desire. I don’t know if I could follow Janalyn Voigt schedule personally, but I thought it was very well written and that there are some of you out there that would like more structure in your day. So head on over to the newly redesigned  Live Write Breath website, and let us all know of any time scheduling tips you have. For me, as my kids are older, I have a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Everyone knows when they are on, I am not to be disturbed unless there is fire, flood, or blood.

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Schedule Your Time in 4 Simple Steps

And no, cat barf doesn’t count as fire, flood, or blood.

Have you ever pictured what living a perfect life would look like for you as a writer? Perhaps you would exercise regularly, eat right, take time for hobbies, engage in recreational activities, travel, complete your household duties, keep up with family responsibilities, and ace your job — all while having plenty of time to write.

The divide between what you want and your actual lifestyle is never more apparent than at the beginning of the year. There’s something about turning that calendar with a fresh new outlook that gives all of us a boost toward attaining our dream lives. That’s why we devise New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, exercise, and you name it. The writing version of that can look like a push to increase the number of novels you write this year or simply to finish the first one.

You start with the best of intentions every new day but time escapes you, distractions waltz by, or you rebel against your own schedule. Overcommitting your time is a common mistake. I know about this firsthand, let me tell you. It’s no fun to stay up past your bedtime when you want to sleep in order to meet a deadline.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Quick Link: Top Time Savers for Social Media and Blogging

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

A really great post from Elizabeth Spann Craig on how she saves time with her social media responsibilities. Worthy of a bookmark!

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Top Time Savers for Social Media and Blogging

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The biggest complaint I hear from writers is that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all that we need to do.

Tasks facing writers include reading publishing-related news, doing research, promoting, updating websites and social media…on top of working on our books.

And most everyone is doing the above in addition to a day job, parenting, or caregiving.

It’s a lot, for sure.  The only thing that I can recommend is that we save time where we can.

With that in mind, I’m sharing my own biggest ways of saving time.  With these methods I give myself more time to do…whatever.  It could be more time to write, more time to do housework/cook/run errands, more time to spend with my family.

I started to include all of my tips in one post, but realized it was far too long for a post. I’ve divided them up by category: social media and blogging, writing, book production, and general tips.  I’ll run this series on Fridays for the next month.

Social Media

It’s commonly referred to as a time suck and it certainly can be. For this reason, I keep myself off of social media as much as I can. If I spent as much time on Twitter as I appear to, I’d never get anything done.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Author Tools – Adopting the Micromovements Strategy to Build Your Author Brand

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

Today’s post from Live Write Thrive reminds me of the old question “How do you eat an elephant?” The is answer is, of course, one bite at a time.  C. S. Lakin explains on how to use this strategy to move forward on your writing career one word at a time.

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Adopting the Micromovements Strategy to Build Your Author Brand

June 24, 2016

Micro can be very beautiful.
Micro can be very beautiful.

Today’s guest post is by Kait Fowlie:

Personal brand-building activities usually take the backseat for writers who work full-time jobs or want to spend as much time as possible actually writing. Many of the writers I know “should” themselves into being active on social media, writing blog posts, and the like, and this makes the job an energy sucker.

One solution I’ve found helpful here is the micromovements strategy, a tiny-step by tiny-step approach that’s helped me create momentum (and stave off overwhelm) in my own efforts, while also making sure I’m spending the majority of my time and focus on writing.

What Micromovements Are

The concept was introduced by SARK in her book Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It. According to the author, micromovements are small actions that take as little as five seconds or up to five minutes that accomplish part of a big project.

For tracking movements, the author recommends creating a “micromovements wheel” that shows the ultimate goal in the middle, and surrounding it, the small, simple micromovements that (ideally) require daily action over time to “amount to” the goal.

Doing and tracking daily micromovements can help to gradually complete any creative project, but I’ve found this strategy especially ideal for the goal of growing an online presence, which requires a lot of time to be spent on social media and other writers’ blogs, and can be a slippery slope where productivity quickly becomes pure distraction and self-comparison.

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Author Tools: Is Patreon the Way Forward for Publishing?

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

Patrion is a crowdfunding source for artist. Fans, called patrons, pledge support allowing the artist to have money to live off of while they are creating.  at BookRiot wonders if this is a viable way forward for authors.

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Is Patreon the Way Forward for Publishing?

This week, fantasy author N.K. Jemisin used Patreon to raise almost $4,000 in monthly pledges so that she could quit her day job and write full-time. I really enjoyed Jemisin’s debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and although I haven’t gotten around to reading more of her work, I was impressed enough with her writing to be happy that she’s able to devote more time to it.

NK Jemisin's Patreon Page Header

The Patreon model involves creators asking fans to pay a monthly dollar amount to the creator, usually in exchange for some sort of reward. Jemisin, for instance, will send a monthly picture of her cat to $1 patrons; $2 patrons will get the cat pics and access to patron-only blog posts; patrons at the highest levels, such as $50, will receive signed copies of her new books as they’re released. Creating these perks will take time, but the assumption is that they’ll take less time than a full-time day job.

Read the full post on BookRiot

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Building Buzz Before Your Book Comes Out: 10 Strategies That Work

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Today’s post by  originally appeared on Writer’s Digest on November 4, 2015. He has some really good points about using social media.

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If you’ve got a book scheduled for release, whether it’s traditionally published or indie-published, the onus is on you to promote it. Here are some helpful strategies for making a big splash by using social media to build buzz before your book comes out.

1. Start early

It’s never too early to get your name and face out there. This gives you time to find your groove, make mistakes, and grow your social media following so that when you finally have news about your book, there will be an audience to hear it.

2. Explore social media

Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Pinterest? Goodreads? You can’t do them all. Start experimenting to see what works for you. If you started early, you’ve got time.

3. Post

Get creative, think out of the box. If you write historical fiction, post pictures of period clothing, dirty words from your époque, recipes from the era. If you write romance, update the public on the whereabouts of Fabio, post pictures of your favorite cover model. Review romantic comedies. If you write detective fiction, post a recipe for your character’s signature cocktail, or a diagram with the parts of a gun. Young adult (YA)? Post funny YouTube videos. Science fiction or fantasy? Announce and review cons. You get the idea.

Every tenth time, post book news—signing with an agent, book contracts, cover reveals, release dates, book giveaways, early reviews, announcement about pre-sales. People will endure your self-promotion because they like your other posts—kind of like a fundraising drive on public radio.

4. Use Facebook

It ain’t what it used to be, but it still rules across every age group. Last January, Facebook began sending out fewer and fewer posts to the people who like our pages, hoping we all would pay money to boost those posts to reach our followers. Also, posts from liked pages are now shuttled out of our “news stream” into a “page stream.” Here’s a simple trick to help circumvent that.

a. Post the following message on your Facebook page.

“When you like this page, remember to:
* Hover over the LIKED button.
* Click GET NOTIFICATIONS.
* Click SEE FIRST.

b. Pin that post to the top of your page. Followers who use this setting will be notified when you post.

Remember, you aren’t limited to your own Facebook page for promotion. Join existing community pages with members from your target audience. Find pages with a high number of engaged followers (lots of comments and likes). Every time you post, your name is out there. Mention your book when it’s polite to do so. It’s rude to over promote and it can backfire. Make sure you obey the rules.

Always put key words in the “topics” box on the “About” section of your Facebook page to make it more searchable.

5. Build relationships

Respond to everyone who comments with a like or a word. Check often so you can hide offensive posts. I’ve had Facebook followers duke it out over the pros and cons of corsets, so don’t underestimate the potential for conflicts.

Read the full post on Writer’s Digest.

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com