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Articles about craft.

Writing The First Draft Of A Novel Using Questions And Modelling

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Whether you have made the 50,000 or not, it doesn’t matter, as long as there has been some focused writing this month! And, there’s still time.

For anybody else wanting to write fiction, this might help you with the dreaded first draft (which for me, is definitely the hardest part).

Trying something new …

I have made life difficult for myself, because I decided as my NaNo project to write a story that has been on my mind for a while, or at least some of the settings, characters and themes have.

 

But I only had one day, Oct 31st to do some rough plotting and to be honest, I didn’t get too far. I had an opening scene and that was about it. No character sketches, no plot layout. [Note: This is NOT the best way to do NaNoWriMo!]

I also decided to write a crime novel with thriller elements, rather than a straight thriller, so it’s a new genre with new rules. (Whatever you think about rules, readers in a genre expect certain things and we have to deliver on that promise).

What’s the difference between thrillers and crime, I hear you ask!

The main difference for me is that in thrillers you know who the bad guy is and the good guys have to stop him/her destroying the world in a race against time, or something along those lines. But basically, you know who the antagonist is and you write scenes with them in and even from their POV throughout the book. Lots of mini-crimes go on during the book but the big explosive threat is what must be stopped.

In a crime novel, you open with the body and then you have to work out who the killer is, so the crime has been committed and it’s a hunt for the killer. The skill is to keep the audience from guessing ‘whodunit’, but not to make it so obscure you annoy them at the end. So they are quite different, although the genres are put together on Amazon as a macro-category.

crime sceneI’m trying to blend the two with the classic crime structure but I also want a bigger thriller plot behind it, and definitely thriller pacing. I also need to keep the promise to my reader with my brand “Ancient mystery, modern thrill” and include detailed history and setting which my readers enjoy.

So on about Day 5 of NaNoWriMo I wrote this to guide me …

Draft back blurb

When the body of a young heiress is found dissected at the Hunterian Museum within the Royal College of Surgeons, London, Detective Inspector Jamie Brooke is in a race against time to find the killer. An ancient ivory figurine found inside the body is the only lead and she enlists Blake Daniel, a reluctant clairvoyant, to help her discover the meaning behind the figurine and the message it holds.

As Jamie and Blake delve into an increasingly macabre world of body snatching, dissection and the genetic engineering of monsters, they must fight to keep their sanity, and their lives.

What are the questions this raises in your mind?

From the back blurb, a whole load of questions are raised, and since I hadn’t written much of the book at the time of writing, answering the questions is a good place to start.

  • Who is the victim and what is she an heiress to?
  • What is the significance of the Hunterian museum?
  • What is the ancient figurine? What is the meaning behind it and how is it linked to the killer?
  • Who is the killer?
  • Why did they do it and what does the killer want?
  • Why is this a race against time?
  • Who is Jamie Brooke?
  • Who is Blake Daniel?
  • Why is he a ‘reluctant’ clairvoyant?
  • Who are the other characters in the book? What are their motives for murder?
  • What are the stakes of the book?
  • What are the themes of the book?

From those questions, a whole lot more emerge and you can start writing the answers in scenes. For example, in deciding on the other characters/suspects, I can then write scenes with the Detective interviewing them and as I free-write on those, more questions will come to light.

This great episode on plotting from the SelfPublishingPodcast guys also talks about the questions you can use as the basis to plotting.

So this is something you can try if you’re struggling with your NaNo book.

Deconstructing and modeling

I find the above is enough to get to about 20,000 words (if you’re mostly a pantser at least), but especially with a new genre, you need to work out how the plot is supposed to work. I love intricate and clever plotting, so this is important to me. Those of you who prefer character driven plots might not be so interested in this!

When I learned to write a thriller, I deconstructed bestselling books, working out the structure by which they worked in terms of scene length, pacing, setting, character development POV etc.

I read a lot of modern crime, but to go back to basics I started re-reading some Agatha Christie novels, but quickly realized that although the books are great, today’s audiences expect fast moving crime, like the TV shows.

So I watched a couple of episodes of popular crime shows Castle and Bones, both open with a body, then spend the episode trying to solve the crime. I particularly like Castle as it is less police procedural and forensics based. Invariably, you can’t guess the murderer until near the end, regardless of whether you know the ‘formula’ because they drip feed the clues. Both shows have a male and female relationship at the center as primary characters.

Deconstructing those shows was brilliant, as I learned how each clue set up a different suspect and then new information led onto someone else. Once I knew how it worked, it was much easier to do with my own book.

At that point, I was able to really plot out the novel and get the hang of how the scenes should be structured, and whose POV I should use. These tips enabled me to at least get a good chunk of the novel sorted in my head, and a lot of it onto the page.

What other recommendations do you have in terms of techniques for writing the first draft? 

 

Image: Crime scene from BigStockPhoto.com

This is a reprint from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn.

8 Unstoppable Rules For Writing Killer Short Stories

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This post, by Charlie Jane Anders, originally appeared on io9.

Short fiction is the "garage band" of science fiction, claims Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden, so it’s time to step on that fuzzbox and thrash as hard as you can without knocking over your mom’s weed-trimmer. Actually, I think Nielsen Hayden was referring to the fact that you can try more crazy experiments in short SF than in novels, because of the shorter time commitment of both writer and reader. But how can you become a super-master of the challenging form of short fiction? Here are a few suggestions.

[Publetariat Editor’s Note: strong language after the jump] 

I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on short fiction writing, but I have written over a hundred of the little fuckers, a large proportion of which have been science fiction-y. Here are a bunch of do’s and don’ts, that I discovered the hardest way possible.

World-building should be quick and merciless. In a novel, you can spend ten pages explaining how the 29th Galactic Congress established a Peacekeeping Force to regulate the use of interstitial jumpgates, and this Peacekeeping Force evolved over the course of a century to include A.I.s in its command structure, etc. etc. In a short story, you really need to hang your scenery as fast as possible. My friend and mentor d.g.k. goldberg always cited the Heinlein line: "The door dilated," which tells you a lot about the surroundings in three words. Little oblique references to stuff your characters take for granted can go a long way.

Make us believe there’s a world beyond your characters’ surroundings. Even though you can’t spend tons of time on world-building, you have to include enough little touches to make us believe there’s stuff we’re not seeing. It’s like the difference between the fake house-fronts in a cowboy movie and actual houses. We should glimpse little bits of your universe, that don’t necessarily relate to your characters’ obsessions.

Fuck your characters up. A little. Just like with worldbuilding, you can’t necessarily devote pages to your characters’ childhoods and what kind of underwear they wear under their boiler suits. Unless your story is really a character study with a bit of a science fiction plot. I used to have a worksheet that included spaces to fill in in info about each character’s favorite music, hatiest color, etc. etc. Never filled those out. If I’d tried to force myself to come up with a favorite color for every character, I would have given up writing. But do try to spend a bit of time giving all of your characters some baggage, just enough to make them interesting. Most science fiction readers are interested in characters who solve problems and think positively, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have some damage. 

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes 5 more tips for writing short fiction, on io9.

The Greengrocer's Apostrophe, and Why You Shouldn't Buy It!

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For those who don’t know, greengrocer’s apostrophe is a term used in Britain (and maybe elsewhere) to describe the incorrect use of apostrophes in plurals.

Not all countries have greengrocers (and thanks to the supermarkets we don’t have as many in Britain as we used to), but they are typically small shops that specialize in selling fruit and vegetables.

Over the years greengrocers acquired a particular reputation for inserting apostrophes where they weren’t required. For some reason this happens especially with nouns ending in a vowel (as do many popular fruit and veg). So we see banana’s, apple’s, orange’s, cabbage’s, and many more.

Of course, none of these nouns requires an apostrophe in the plural. Apostrophes are generally used to show possession – e.g. John’s car – and in contractions such as shan’t to indicate that one or more letters have been missed out.

There are a very few circumstances where apostrophes can be used in plurals, and these are to avoid causing confusion. Most commonly, this occurs when pluralizing single letters. An example would be, "How many i’s are there in this sentence?" Without the apostophe this would read, "How many is are there in this sentence?" which would be pretty much guaranteed to bamboozle most readers!

Another common mistake is to insert an apostrophe when pluralizing abbreviations. This is almost invariably wrong, however. An example would be, "Members of the UK parliament are known as MPs". It is quite common to see an apostrophe inserted here (MP’s), but again this is unnecessary and incorrect in a simple plural.

Unnecessary apostrophes are also frequently seen in expressions such as the 1960s (referring to that decade). Again, as this is just a plain old plural, no apostrophe is required.

An uglier mistake is where an apostrophe followed by an ‘s’ is used after the singular form where the spelling is different in the plural. Thus you might see canopy’s (should be canopies), party’s (should be parties) and – going back to our friendly greengrocer – potato’s instead of potatoes.

In conclusion, do think very carefully before inserting an apostrophe in a simple plural – and doubly so if you happen to be a greengrocer!

* If you’re wondering why it’s greengrocer’s apostrophe and not greengrocers’ apostrophe, you may like to check out this post about the exemplar possessive I wrote some time ago.

If you have any comments about the greengrocer’s apostrophe – or classic examples you want to share – please do post them [in the comments section of the original post]!

 

This is a reprint from Nick Daws’ My Writing Blog.

The Smartest Thing In Publishing Is To Be Flexible

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This post, by Kassia Krozser, originally appeared on the fortykey publishing blog on 11/5/12.

The only certain thing in publishing nowadays is that everything moves really fast. If you should describe the actual situation with three adjectives, which ones would you pick and why?

I’m not so great with adjectives, but here are three words I think describe the current state of publishing:

 

Uncertain. Nobody knows what the next year will bring, much less the next ten years. In 2007, people were brushing off digital as "less than 1% of our business". Or, it wasn’t something that needed serious attention. Today, trade publishers (U.S., particularly) are seeing approximately 20% of their business coming from digital sales. The thing is, the changes in the print/digital selling mix are uneven.

On top of that, *nobody* really knows how big the digital marketplace is. If you poke around outside traditional publishing, you know self-publishing is seeing huge gains. But what only gets attention is a small portion of that self-publishing market. Beyond the stories that make the headlines (or invite scoffs and skepticism among certain ranks of publishing insiders), there is a a massive marketplace. Now maybe most of those people aren’t making a fortune, but they are disrupting traditional publishing channels.

Exciting. Technology is making it possible for us to reimagine storytelling. It’s also allowing us to get books and other things we read (the list is so long) into the hands of more people than ever before. Right now, I am particularly interested in how innovation plays out in the world of education. The State of California is making a huge push toward open source digital textbooks. This is going to encourage new entrants into the marketplace, and, if history holds true, they won’t be thinking of textbooks in the same way established players do.

Entrenched. One major problem I see across all types of traditional publishers is a desire to maintain business as usual. This is completely understandable — this digital thing is so new, so uncertain, and, frankly, the print model is still working very, very well for most publishers. But, as you note, everything moves really fast these days, and if anyone is stuck in the mode of "that’s how we’ve always done it", they will be left behind.

That sounds harsh, but the publishing industry (as we know it) doesn’t control "publishing" the way it once did. Or maybe it never did, but it seemed that way. Either way, there are smart innovators out there ready and able to fill voids left by publishers who are too busy standing in place to take advantage of how this market is changing every day.

Could you point out an example of innovation in publishing that is worth to look at in the next future?

 

Read the rest of the post on the fortykey publishing blog.

25 Twitter Accounts to Help You Get Published

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This post originally appeared on Online Education Database (OEDB).

We here at the ol’ Online Education Database can’t promise that following these Twitter feeds by periodicals, bloggers, agents, editors, and writers will score you a coveted publishing contract. But we can promise that you’ll more than likely find at least one of them extremely useful when researching the five Ws (and one H) of getting your name out there as an author. And if these don’t work, chances are they link up to a microblog that does. And if that doesn’t work, then the blame probably sits with you.

 

  1. Writer’s Digest:

    One of the best routinely released resources for authors provides updated information about the state of the publishing industry, generating ideas, self-editing, and everything else they need to know.

  2. Publishers Weekly:

    Follow this absolutely essential Twitter feed for all the latest news and trends regarding the publishing world; after all, knowing how it works is half the battle (Disclaimer: It might be a little more or a little less than half).

  3. GalleyCat:

    Media Bistro’s GalleyCat blog (and, of course, accompanying Twitter) focuses on delivering the headlining stories about publishing today and tomorrow. Also probably the next day and the day after that.

  4. Carole Blake:

    She didn’t write THE book on how to get published, but this literary agent wrote A book on how to get published. Head to her Twitter for expert advice regarding the writing and submission process.

  5. Kevin Smokler:

    Publishing and other media collide in one illuminating resource for writers and wannabe writers trying to make it in the business as it transitions fully into the digital age.

  6. Victoria Strauss:

    As the co-founder of Writer Beware, this veteran writer knows what her fellow artists need to look out for to prevent being preyed upon by publishing scams.

  7. SPR:

    The Self-Publishing Review posts up advice, reviews, and other resources devoted to helping writers launch their careers autonomously.

  8. New Pages:

    New Pages catalogs literary journals looking for submissions, so it would behoove every short-form writer out there to check them out regularly and see what new opportunities pop up.

  9. FreelanceWritingJobs:

    Like the name says, this is one of the top resources where writers head to find themselves some gigs to launch their careers. It might not be about publishing what they want, but it still provides links to numerous opportunities as well as advice.

  10. Writers Write:

    Another fully fab resource where writers turn to for advice and publishing news as well as information about what relevant jobs are currently available around the United States.

 

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes 15 more Twitter accounts for writers and authors to follow, on OEDB.

The Preface: Share Your Inner Passion And Inspiration For Better Book Sales

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What Is The Purpose Of The Preface?

The book preface (PREF-iss, not PRE-face) is a short explanation about why you wrote your book. The book introduction, on the other hand, is all about the benefits the reader will get from reading your book. The preface is about you, and the introduction is about the reader. But never forget, both should be written by the book’s author, and that both must show your passion and thereby make an emotional connection with the reader. In contrast to the preface and introduction, the book’s foreword is not written by the book’s author. It is written by a guest author, generally a person that is well know within a certain industry, that can bring third-party credibility to you, the book’s author.

What Is The Structure Of The Preface?

The preface discusses the story of how your book came into being, or how the idea for your book was developed by you, the author. In order to be a successful marketing tool, it must be written to show your passion for the subject matter, and your inspiration for writing the book. Here is your chance to infect the reader with your passion for the topic you have written about. Show the reader that you are a kindred spirit and have a passion in common. Here your aim is to make the readers empathize with you and identify your genuineness in writing the book. Answer questions such as “How was the concept of the book born?”; “How did you think of writing the book?”; “What are you trying to achieve by writing this book?”; “What are your qualifications to write this book?”; “What other books have you written?” The explanation to these questions can be autobiographical. You can tell the background, the context, and the circumstances in which brought you to write this book. The bottom line must be, “Why did you write this book?”. Be very clear and honest about this. And always write in the first-person, and in a friendly manner. Also, use your own voice when writing this way, and speak directly to your audience.

How Do I Close The Preface?

The main body of the preface is followed by a statement of thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful to the author during the writing of the book. If the list of acknowledgements is too long, a separate section should be created just for the acknowledgements. Alternatively, some authors use both sections within the same book, and use the acknowledgements page for the most special contributions – and the lesser contributors are kept in the preface. Another alternative that some authors use it to combine the preface and the introduction into one section and label it as the introduction. And finally, the book preface is  signed by the book’s author, along with the date and place of writing. Fini.

 

This article was written by Joseph C. Kunz, Jr. and originally posted on KunzOnPublishing.com

 

 

12 Holiday Book Promo Ideas

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The holiday season is upon us.

It’s only [a few days past] Halloween, but you and I both know that holiday displays are going up in stores as I type this.

Scratch that. I was just at Walmart, and half the store is already decorated!

While this time of year is crazypants for you (what the heck am I going to get Dad this year?), it’s also the busiest shopping season for your readers — and that makes it the perfect opportunity for a fun promotion.

And, when you start planning your special holiday promotions now, you  build up excitement before everyone else (except Walmart) begins their own jolly campaign.

While you could go with the old standbys of discounts and personalized copies, they’re…well, somewhat predictable. You know your Duolit gals — we like to have a bit more fun!

So, check out these 12 other holiday book promotion ideas (prettily tied up in a bow):

1. Package Deal

Buyers loooove packages. Less shopping, more gifts, right? Create fun packages including your paperback, such as:

– Discounts for buying multiple copies (2 for $15, 4 for $20)

– Bundling multiple books together (2-for-1, 3-for-2)

– Buy one, share one (one book for you, one for a friend!)

2. Post 12 Days of “Your Book”

This can be a blog series or a great theme for a guest posting spree! Celebrate the 12 Days of [Your Book] by showcasing gift ideas, recipes, flash fiction, or playlists centered around your book and its characters.

3. Create an Indie Authors Bundle

Time to grab those indie author friends and gather your books into a package — at an unbeatable price.

You’ll gain exposure to completely new fanbases, and give everyone’s readers lots of ideas for holiday gifts. Be sure to include a ‘gift guide’, so readers know exactly who on their shopping list would love each book!

4. Share Gift Basket Ideas

Make your book the featured item in a gift basket! Post creative suggestions on your website, so all your readers have to do is purchase your book and create the basket! Ideas include:

– Cozy Reader: hot chocolate/coffee/tea, a mug and a blanket.

– Rockin’ Out: albums or playlists to accompany your book.

– Yummy in My Tummy: A character’s favorite recipe and all the ingredients to make it.

– Book Fair: Your book along with others by your favorite authors.

5. Host a Recipe Contest

Everyone has a special family recipe they’d love to share! Get your readers into the holiday spirit by creating your own fanbase cookbook! Let each reader submit a recipe, then give away digital copies to celebrate the season.

6. Donate Proceeds to Charity

Give back during the holidays by donating a week of your book’s profits to charity. If you choose a smaller/local charity, be sure to let them know of your plans — they’ll want to let their donors/fans know of your good deed!

7. Write a Holiday Story

Borrow characters from your novel and craft a short story centered around the holidays. Sell it as an eBook or give it away as a “Holiday Card” to your fans!

8. Partner with Local Stores

The holidays are the perfect time of year to get offline and pound the pavement. While you’re doing your own shopping, ask local stores to consign copies of your book, featuring you as a local author (what a great gift idea, right?). Bonus points if they’ll host you for a signing!

Side note: Shannon’s book is being featured at a local mall kiosk starting this weekend, and she’ll be blogging about the experience on her website!

9. Decorate Your Emails

Y’all know how wild I am about keeping in touch with your fans via email! Don’t slack on this during the holidays — share your feelings about your holiday experience (loving them? feeling stressed?) and ask a question at the end of every email, such as:

– What gift do you think [character name] would love to receive for Christmas?

– Which menorah would suit [family name] the best?

– Which holiday song is your favorite? [Character name] looooves “White Christmas,” but I rock out to “Little Saint Nick.”

– If you use a graphical template, check out your mailing list provider’s holiday-themed options. Now that’s really decking the halls!

10. Offer Free Wrapping

This one depends on your ‘gift wrap’ skill level (read: this would not work for me),but offer free gift wrapping for books you sell from your website. Pick out (or create) cool gift wrap that goes with the “theme” of your book — and don’t forget agift tag, too!

Note: Make sure this is an option, since some peeps like to wrap their own gifts  😉

11. Give the Gift of Books

Prefer a simple promotion? Host a giveaway for Amazon or bookstore gift cards — everyone could use more books this time of year!

12. Close Up Shop

This flies in the face of reason, but, let’s face it, everybody needs a break. If you feel overwhelmed during the holidays, take some time off: announce that you’ll stop accepting sales from your website as of [a particular date].

If you go this route, close with a bang (plan one awesome promotion) and use the time wisely (reflect on what you’ve learned this year).

Talk Back

What promotions are you planning for the holiday season? Do you want to give one of the above a try? Would you rather ignore the whole thing? Let’s brainstorm (and share) in the comments!

 

This is a reprint from Duolit.

Insane Characters

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This post, by Marian Perera, originally appeared on her Flights of Fancy blog.

 

I read an urban myth that The Madness of King George was originally called The Madness of George III, but it had to be retitled in case Americans thought it was the third in a series. That made me think of writing a post on insane characters…

Obvious vs. subtle

I’ve read that one of the scariest things about serial killers or rapists is that they look like everyone else. The same thing would apply to insane characters.

 

 

This isn’t always the case. There was a serial killer called Richard Chase whose disheveled, bizarre appearance helped in his identification and apprehension. But for the most part, people with mental disorders can pass as normal, or eccentric at the most. Writers can often use that to its best advantage, because readers will usually believe that I’m a wolf and will be taken by surprise later.

By the way, the phrase I dropped into the last sentence – “I’m a wolf” – is the first indication in Stephen King’s Desperation that the cop stopping people on the highway is not normal. The cop slipped it into the middle of a regular conversation, and it made me start a little. The people he had stopped weren’t sure if they had heard correctly or not. 

The same thing applies to insanity. It’s incredibly fun to watch readers gradually realize that a character whom they took for normal is nothing of the kind. And is probably very dangerous. 

Often, such slips in dialogue or odd actions can be more unnerving to the reader than if the character is gibbering and clawing at the walls. You can always start subtle and ramp it up to obvious, but it doesn’t work so well the other way.

Beyond the madness

Annie Wilkes, the psychotic nurse in Misery, might chop off a man’s foot but she’ll never use the f-word. Insane characters could have their own codes of morality and ethics. The more you flesh them out – giving them hobbies, fears, genuine liking for some people – the more realistic they’ll be. And the easier it might be for the readers to care about them, if you’re going for tragic-insane rather than only scary-insane.

 

 

Read the rest of the post on Flights of Fancy.

Help! My Book Isn’t Selling. 10 Questions You Need To Answer Honestly If You Want To Sell More Books.

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I love answering your questions and I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned on the journey, but recently I have been receiving the same question over and over again, namely,

“Help, my book isn’t selling. What can I do?”

Most of the time people include a link to their book on Amazon and I can see immediately why they aren’t making any sales, because although I’m an author, I’m a reader first and I’ve been shopping for books on Amazon for years.

The ProWriter multimedia course ‘How To Find Readers & Market Your Book‘ covers this in great detail, but the following checklist will also help you identify your problem and solve it quickly. I have also included lots of links so you can find all the extra material on this (ever-growing!) site.

[As always, these are not rules, because there are no rules in this crazy, fast-moving self-publishing world. There will also always be outliers who get away with not doing any of the following, but these will at least help with some guidelines!]

1. Is your book available as an ebook?

99% of indie authors will not have print distribution in physical bookstores, and I would postulate that all the success stories we have heard in the last 2 years about indie authors and huge sales have come from ebook sales, not print.

I personally don’t do print books anymore because the cost/benefit didn’t work out for me and I want high quality print books (one of the reasons I am pursuing a traditional deal for my thrillers). But if you want a print book, fantastic, go ahead and use print on demand to do it.

BUT/ if you want to sell a lot of books online, then make sure you have an ebook for sale as well.

There has been an influx of ebooks (and print books) self-published in the last year, as well as traditional publishers beginning to re-issue backlists digitally. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about this so-called‘tsunami of crap’, but personally, I believe you can surf the wave and make good sales even if you’re starting now. The ebook market is growing globally as new countries come online and even within markets like the US and UK, ebooks are becoming more widely accepted.

So first off, get your ebook published.

I use Scrivener for formatting in Kindle, ePub and Word formats and then I publish on Amazon KDP, Kobo Writing Life and Smashwords or BookBaby for the rest (US citizens can use B&N Nook PubIt as well.) It’s not hard if you spend some time with the various help pages.

2. Has your cover been professionally designed?

Book buyers still shop with their eyes. If people make it to your book sales page and your cover is terrible, they will not click the Buy button.

Don’t use a painting your child did or that you did yourself. Don’t DIY based on a YouTube video. Don’t assume you can make a professional cover.

Do research your genre on Amazon and take screenshots of books that stand out in a good way.

Do take pictures of books you like with fonts and designs you like.

Do check out the ebook cover design awards at TheBookDesigner.comto see some great covers and some truly awful ones. Then hire aprofessional cover designer, give them that information and work with them to create a professional cover.

If you don’t have a budget for this, then work extra hard until you have that extra money. Seriously, I believe this is non-negotiable if you want to stand out in the crowded market.

3. Has your book been professionally edited so it reads well?

I am passionate about the value of editing and editors, especially for new writers, or books in a new genre.

editing ARKANE

Some of my own editing

You should edit your books until you can’t stand them any longer, and then you should consider hiring a professional editor to help you take it further, because you cannot see your own words after a point because you know the story so well.

You need other eyes, preferably professional eyes who will critique you honestly and tell you where the problems are, especially if the book is truly awful – and sometimes it is (and that’s ok because you can write another one).

Stephen King in ‘On Writing’ says to rest the manuscript for a while, so put it away and when you have some distance, read it again. You may be horrified by what you find but better now than when it’s out there in the world. Here’s some more articles on editing and my recommended editors.

If you can’t afford a pro editor, then you can try using a critique group of readers within your genre, or join a group like theAlliance of Independent Authors to network with other like-minded authors in order to network and potentially barter your skills. Bartering shouldn’t be underestimated in the online world.

But definitely do not publish your book if only you and your best friend, or your Mum, have read it.

4. Have you submitted the book to the right categories on the ebook stores?

Sorry, but not everyone will like your book.

You may think that everyone will, but they won’t. You might not want to put it in a box or a genre or a category, but you have to because that’s how readers find it. The category/genre reader has expectations and if you don’t ‘fit’ they will be disappointed. That’s not to say you need to follow any specific rules in your writing (let’s not get into that now!) but when you load it up to the distributors you do have to choose which categories and tags to use and they need to be meaningful.

You need some distance from your book in order to do this, but consider where your book fits within the online bookstores. This means deciding on the categories, tags and keywords associated with your book.

It’s also important to match reader expectations and the promise of what your book delivers with what your book is actually about.

There is no point having a book with a swirly, girly pink chic-lit cover in the horror section of fiction. It won’t sell, however good it is.

There are some scammy sites out there that will tell you to aim for the categories that will rank the best in order to have a Bestseller on Amazon. That’s just silly because your book won’t match the expectations of the readers and even if you get a bump in sales, it will completely dry up very soon.

You can choose a category that fits your book AND is easier to rank in, for example, I use categories Action Adventure and Religious Fiction. I rank occasionally for the former and consistently in the latter. That’s optimization, but it is still true to the book and to the reader’s expectations.

If you’re struggling with this, choose 3-5 authors your book is like, not what you want it to be like, but what it is really like. That will help you find the right category.

5. Have you optimized your Amazon sales page with a hook, quotes from reviews and other material?

I have seen some Amazon sales pages with not just typos but terrible grammar.

Some of them make no sense at all. Some are just the back blurb with no review quotes or other things that might draw a customer in.

Basically you need to treat the product description like a sales page. People will not buy your book if your description is badly written or hard to understand because it’s an indication of the quality of your book. Here’s another great article on 11 ingredients of a sizzling book description.

If you want to see a fantastic example, check out CJ Lyons Bloodstained which continues to rock the Kindle charts. That product description seriously rocks. CJ also explains all of this in our ProWriter Marketing course.

6. Have you priced your book realistically, or at least tried different price points?

It’s important to say on pricing that no one has a clue how to price ebooks and authors are having success at many different price points. Check out this great article on The Passive Voice and the comments below to get an idea of the widely different levels of pricing and success.

However, I had one author ask why his debut novel wasn’t selling, and when I checked his sales page, the ebook was priced $11.99. It was his first novel and he had nothing else for sale.

However good your book, however marvelous the cover, your first novel is unlikely to sell at that price. Most ebooks are under $9.99, and a lot of fiction is under $7.99, with many indie books being under $5.

The 99c price point still has some power even after the algorithm changes but you might go somewhere in between, changing your price with promotions as well. I have my books at $2.99 right now so I make $2 per ebook. You get to set your own prices but there’s no way you’ll sell much at those very high prices.

7. Have you written, or are you writing another book?

Sure, there are some breakout successes, but most indie fiction authors making decent money right now have 5 or more books. For non-fiction authors, you can expect to make your money on back-end products ans services and not book sales anyway.

The more books you have available, the more virtual shelf space you have, the easier it is for people to discover you. Plus if a reader finds one they like, they may buy them all so you make more per customer.

I was as guilty as anyone of trying to hype my first novel, because it took so long and I thought it was a precious snowflake. I still believe you have to hustle those first thousand sales with everything you have, but my sales and income jumped when I released the second novel with very little fanfare because I already had an established presence on Amazon and they do a lot of marketing for you when you have multiple books, e.g. emails to people who bought your last one.

I am also fascinated by the rise of novellas and serials as a way to create more books, more quickly. Hugh Howey is a great example of someone who wrote novellas in different series and then continued the direction of the stories for the novellas that took off, Wool being his most famous and lucrative. I am definitely moving into this model in 2013 in between longer works.

8. Have you done some kind of promotion or marketing to let people know it is there?

Again, there are no rules and in fact, everyone has different results from different marketing tactics. Some hit a mega-success with none at all, but I do think that you need to hand-sell your first 1000 readers because they won’t just appear out of nowhere.

Remember: Marketing is sharing what you love with people who want to hear about it. You don’t have to be hard salesy, scammy or nasty. Just be authentic and share your passion.

Lots of marketing info here.

If you need some starter tips, you should definitely be building your email list from your own website and also from a signup at the back of your book.

If you do that with book one, you will have at least some people to market to with book 2. It’s a start, and it grows over time. This is my only non-negotiable recommendation for authors, because you never know what will happen with all these sites we depend upon for sales. If they disappear, or the terms we publish under change, then your email list of fans and buyers is all you have.

I also believe that social media can sell books, but it is a slow build over time and you have to have other goals than just book sales, e.g. networking with peers and other authors. It’s not instant sales so you can’t rely on it. The whole author platform thing is massively useful in so many ways but it is only one aspect of book sales.

If you have some budget you can pay for promotion, but be targeted and track results.

The biggest leaps I had on the Amazon charts were from paid promotional pushes on sites that market direct to Kindle readers. I have used Kindle Nation

Prophecy Joanna Penn next to Lee Child

Prophecy with Lee Child on the Action Adventure Bestseller List

Daily and Pixel of Ink and there are new opportunities all the time. I more than made my money back but the rankings were worth it. Prophecy hit the Action Adventure list above Lee Child! (of course, it dropped away but the screen-print is worth gold!)

Free is still a great option, especially if you have multiple books, as it means people can discover your work with no risk. Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker talked about this in our interview where she revealed that the first book in her series is permanently on free with her other books at $4.95. You can do this by making your book free on Smashwords and eventually Amazon will price match it.

9. Have you asked for reviews, or submitted to review sites?

reviewsThere’s been a lot of scandal about the sock puppet reviews but reviews are still critical because they give your sales page social proof and they feed into the book site algorithms.

I give away a lot of free books to people who might like my genre and ask that they leave a review if they like it. No hard sell, no pressure, no expectation. This is easy if you have built up a list from the last book, or if you have built a platform and in fact is one good reason to do this. Traditional publishing has been doing this forever so it is not a new or a scammy tactic.

Remember that not everyone will like your book and not everyone will leave a review, or a good review, but it is a start. [And remember, don’t respond to bad reviews!]

You can also contact book bloggers or Amazon reviewers to get more reviews. This is hard work but well worth it. You can listen to Rachel Abbott in this interview talk about how this strategy got her to #1 on Amazon.co.uk.

10. Are you working your butt off?

hard work aheadGenerally, I’m an even tempered type of girl, but when I get emails from people asking why they’re not successful and they’ve done nothing on this list, I get a little annoyed!

Especially when this site has over 500 free articles on writing, publishing and marketing and there’s 70+ hours of audio for you to learn from for free. Oh yes, and a 57 page Author 2.0 ebookon all this. That’s all available for free, but I also have a number of multimedia courses as well, so there is no excuse not to be educated, even just from this site.

I absolutely believe that you can be a great writer and make an income from writing.

I have to believe that for you because I believe it for me, and I have left a stable job and steady income to take a chance on being an author-entrepreneur. I’ve been on this path since 2007 when I decided to write my first non-fiction book, so I am 5 years into working my butt off to change my life.

But writing books is not a get rich quick scheme.

I look at authors like CJ Lyons, Scott Sigler, Chuck Wendig, Joe Konrath, Bob Mayer and so many others and I know they are working their butts off every day writing and getting their work out there. The recent success ofSean Platt & David Wright in landing a Serial deal with Amazon is because they work incredibly hard at writing all day, every day to produce new content for their market. They are my heroes.

These guys are pros and they know it takes hard work to get there and hard work to stay there.

So please, if your book is not selling any copies at all, go through this checklist and honestly evaluate what you have done and how much effort you have put in. Please also share this with other people who may be asking the same question.

I’d love to know what you think, so please leave a comment below. What other tips can you give for people who aren’t selling any or many books?

 

 

This is a reprint from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn.

Should Charity Be Profitable?

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 A news story this week asked “Is ABC Going to Far in Covering Robin Roberts Illness?” The journalist was speculating about whether the network’s “concern” had crossed the line into exploitation in an attempt to boost ratings.

It’s a very fine line and a subject I’ve been thinking about a lot lately because it applies to authors, charity, and book sales. Many authors have donated the profit, or part of the profit, of a new book to charity, typically a charity or medical cause that corresponds with a theme in the story. And in doing so, they boost their sales and visibility.

On the surface, this seems noble, and we did it on the Crime Fiction Collective blog when the tornado tore apart Joplin Missouri. We all donated all of our profits during a certain time period to a Joplin family, who was very grateful for the help. I even think it was my idea.

But the more I ponder this trend, the more I believe that for myself, charity needs to be separate from commerce. Any donation I make should be done out of compassion and goodwill alone—without profiting from it directly through increased sales.

But why not accomplish both things at once, when it seems so expedient? I’m not sure I can articulate why I’ve come to feel this way. Except that rooting for your book to sell is a completely different emotion and experience than sending money to help others in need—perhaps even a contradictory one.

I understand why authors do this. Their hearts are in the right place. And the readers who buy those books are even more commendable. They’re figure they’re going to spend money on books anyway, so why not make a donation to charity at the same time?

Many businesses also run these campaigns. A pizza parlor down the street often donates part of its one-day profits to a charity, school, or foundation. Everybody wins.

And I understand what ABC is trying to accomplish: educate viewers, raise money for medical research, and boost its ratings. But has it gone too far? Probably. Charities are by definition nonprofit, and raising money for, or donating to, a cause without directly profiting from the effort seems more noble. Yet goodwill results naturally from generosity, so indirect benefits are inevitable, but they’re not the same as direct profit.

I’m not saying it’s wrong for authors to connect their books to a charity. It’s just not something I’m comfortable doing myself. But I’m probably in the minority here. What do you think?

 

This is a reprint from L.J. Sellers’ blog.

Note-Taking And Writing Apps For iPhone and iPad

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Sometimes it’s hard to find ideas for a new blog post, short story or a poem. That’s why it’s so important to catch them at the moment they come to mind.

Mobile devices are a great way to capture ideas, no doubt about it. You’ve got a mobile phone always with you. It’s much quicker to start writing ideas on a tablet than a computer.

Most smartphone or tablet users will probably agree that those devices are not meant to write and publish a complete piece of work. You can write draft posts, scratch new ideas, or list topics to be included in a presentation. You can and should develop them on a computer if you want to work with text effectively.

That’s why syncing is one of the most important features of any note-taking or writing application. It gives the opportunity to access your work from any device and to make your writing as productive as possible. 

 Notes

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: Gmail | Price: free | Default app

The default iOS note-taking application. Users usually neglect it as it’s very basic. Many still don’t know that the app can sync files via Gmail account. All updated notes are stored in a Gmail account, under a Notes tab. More details in this post.

If you write notes from time to time and need a simplest possible way to do it, you won’t need probably anything more advanced than Notes.

EvernoteEvernote

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: Evernote | Price: free | App Store link

The most powerful and advanced note-taking, idea-grabbing solution for iOS. You can add not only text, but also audio and photo notes. Access them via web browser and Mac or PC applications.

To start using the app you have to sign up to Evernote. A free account allows for 60MB of data transfer per month. Offline note-taking is not enabled, but you can send notes to your account via e-mail, to a special address created for your Evernote account.

With Evernote, you are either a powerful user or don’t use it at all. Premium account costs $5 a month or $45 a year. A comparison of features is available on this page.

SimplenoteSimplenote

 

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: Simplenote | Price: free | App Store link

Evernote made easy. The app is very simple to use, yet has all the features you would need. You can access and edit your notes from a web browser as well as many third-party apps and add-ons, listed here. You can publish a note and it will be available at a unique simp.ly url address. You can also share the note with others by tagging it with their e-mail addresses.

A free account is ad-supported. The ads are not intrusive, but if you want to remove them, you have to spend $19.99 a year or $1.99 a month for an upgrade to Premium account – which also enables Dropbox sync and writing notes by e-mail.

Awesome Note (+Todo)Awesome Note (+Todo)

 

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: Google Docs, Evernote | Price: iPhone – free or $3.99, iPad – $4.99 | App Store links: iPhone, iPad

Note taking application and to-do manager in one. Out of all applications featured in this post this one has the best design and richest personalization options. You can change not only a font but also a theme to match the type of note.

I’ve used the app for some time as I’m very keen to be connected with Google Docs ecosystem – and Awesome Note can sync with it. It’s not perfect, though, as you can only do it manually. It’s good to remember to sync before you open and after you finish your note to make sure you don’t lose anything.

To use Awesome Note on both iPad and iPhone you have to buy two separate versions.

MoleskineMoleskine

 

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: no | Price: free | App Store link

The official application of the legendary Moleskine notebooks. It’ll surprise you with a modern UI concept and design. You can draw sketches as well as add pictures and labels from a large selection of Moleskine icons. You can also geotag your notes.

There is no sync functionality, so the only way to use notes on another device is to send them as an e-mail to yourself.

ElementsElements

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: Dropbox | Price: $4.99 | App Store link

This is how I think a writing application for mobile devices should look like. Once you open a note you can focus on writing. The design invites to write longer forms, but you can always use scratchpad to write a quick idea.

You can check word, line and character counts for every note, send a note by mail or print it. The notes are synced back to your Dropbox account as .txt files.

iA Writer for iPadiA Writer

Available for: iPad | Syncing: Dropbox | Price: $0.99 | App Store link

The application makes writing on the iPad serious. It helps you focus on writing by providing features no other app has. You can use FocusMode to concentrate on one sentence at a time.

The keyboard is tailored for writing needs – word and arrow keys as well as most used punctuation marks are available without switching. Word count and reading time is shown at the top bar. You can manually sync notes with a Dropbox account.

The overall design, typography and care for details make this app a great choice for professional writers.

Pages for iPadPages

 

Available for: iPhone, iPad | Syncing: iTunes File Sharing | Price: $9.99 | App Store link

The ultimate text processor for iPad. It includes Apple-designed document templates, several formatting options and advanced layout tools. You can style text, set intents and margins and insert tabs with ease.

You can import and work with Pages ’09, Word and text files. Share your work as Pages ’09, Word and pdf.

Pages includes most of the features of the desktop word processor. The only question is, whether you really need them on an iPad or iPhone.

* * * 

If you are looking for ways to write and edit Google Docs on your iOS device(s), there are applications like Go Docs ($4.99) or Documents ($0.99). Use them with care as you can lose formatting of your original document when you open it in the app and start editing. This happened to me a couple of times. When I really need to change something in one of Google document, I’m using either Safari browser or Safari-powered G-Whizz.

My favourite app is Simplenote. You can’t write for a long time on an iPhone. iPad is not for writing a content but for curating a content. What I really needed was a simple, fast, reliable app which syncs notes across all devices seamlessly. Simplenote matches those needs perfectly. 

If you liked this article, please share it with your friends. Get free updates by e-mail or RSS, powered by FeedBurner. Let’s meet on Twitter and Facebook. Check also my geek fiction stories: Password Incorrect and Failure Confirmed. 

 

This is a reprint from Piotr Kowalczyk‘s Password Incorrect. 

Mad Dash – How To Use The Dash In Writing

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This article, by Ben Yagoda, originally appeared as part of The New York Times Draft series on the craft of writing.

Let’s consider the most versatile piece of punctuation — the dash. That’s right — I’m talking about the horizontal line formed by typing two hyphens in a row. It’s the mark that — unlike commas, periods, semicolons and all the others — doesn’t seem to be subject to any rules. 

You can get a sense of the dash’s versatility from the above paragraph, every sentence of which employs at least one of them. As for rules, well, there are some guidelines, but not too many.

First, make the thing the right way. There are a few ways to do it, but generally, on a keyboard, you can do as follows: previous word/no space/two hyphens/no space/following word. Word-processing programs turn the two hyphens into an unbroken line that’s roughly the width of a capital “M” — hence the official name of this punctuation mark, the em-dash. (Some publications, including this newspaper, add spaces around dashes.)

Do not call a hyphen (-) a dash — as, for some reason, computer-support personnel feel compelled to do when they recite into the telephone the characters you are supposed to enter.

Dashes are used for two main purposes. The first is what I call the Pause Dash. It more or less says to the reader, “Right here, I want you to take a breath. What you will read next relates to what you have just read in an interesting way, and I would like to emphasize it.” When using dashes this way, you are allowed only one per sentence.

The second main category is the Parenthetical Dash, in which dashes are deployed in pairs and set off nonessential elements of the sentence. When using dashes this way, limit yourself to one pair per sentence. (More than that produces confusion about exactly what is meant to be set off by the dashes, as in this sentence from a well-known piece of social criticism: “While an ethic of justice proceeds from the premise of equality—that everyone should be treated the same—an ethic of care rests on the premise of nonviolence—that no one should be hurt.”) In addition, make sure dashes are placed in such a way that, if the material within them is removed, the sentence still makes sense.

A third purpose of dashes is to indicate disjointedness. This function shows up in dialogue (“I saw Bill yesterday — wait, is that a helicopter up there? — never mind”), in prose with a stream-of-consciousness quality, and in poetry, and is subject to no rules at all.

 

Read the rest of the article on The New York Times blogs site.

A Line In The Sand

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This post, by Peg Brantley, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective blog and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site’s permission.

 

If you draw a line in the sand—over which you affirm you will not cross—where do you redraw it when a wave washes it away? Or when a jogger comes along and tramples it? Do you draw it in the same place or move it somewhere out of the way?

 

 

Integrity only means something when you stand strong. It’s mist in the wind if you adjust your values because they become inconvenient. Keeping your integrity might mean you have to lose a few quick sales, or build your career a little slower than you’d like.

Here’s what I’ve seen with many authors recently—traditional or indie:

A lot has been made lately about phony or paid reviews. Most of us were righteously indignant, and deservedly so. Some people unfortunately, simply wish they’d thought of it first. But that’s only one piece of the game.

What about biographies? Is your biography dead-on, or have you played with reality a bit? I’ve heard it referred to as "permissive puffery" which to me is just another way of moving that line in the sand. Did you really make your living as a journalist or is the truth that your local hometown paper published two letters you wrote to the editor? Or that you were a star for your school newspaper?

How about calling yourself an award winning author because you came in second place in some obscure writing contest? (I have a framed certificate on my wall. Does that count?) I remember when I won that award, a friend told me I could now refer to myself as an award winning author. I think she meant it tongue-in-cheek, but it did make me wonder.

Then there’s calling yourself a bestselling author because your book hit the top 100 of a free list, narrowed down by three or four categories? Are you serious? The NYT’s Bestseller list has a few ethical issues of its own—don’t compound it by adding yours.

Or review trading—explicit or implied. This was kind of a new one for me. No one actually came out and said "I’ll give you a great review if you give me a great review", but the timing of their review and suddenly receiving their book made it hard not to hear those words. And when I wasn’t crazy about their book? I sort of felt like I should somehow move to have their review taken down. It felt fake and sleazy.

To be perfectly honest, I asked a few readers who had given my first book a positive review to take a look at The Missings early in order to give it a nice bump at its launch. But I also spread that request out to others who may or may not have ever read my first book. One of my first 5-star reviews is from such a reader. Dishonest? Unethical? Lacking in integrity? I don’t think those were any different than publishers sending out ARCs to try and get that same bump.

Writers, what about you? Have you seen things that made you shake your head? Were you ever tempted?

Readers, especially readers… have you begun to see through some of this stuff? Does it make you doubt everything?

Peg Brantley was never a journalist or a screenwriter or a sought after speaker. Although Amazon might say she has some bestselling books, she’s still trying to reach that mark. Yes, she did receive second place in a writing contest once and even an honorable mention in another… but award winning? Net yet. RED TIDE rose as high as number two one time when she happened to look at the list. That was a kick. It didn’t last.

 

 

My Response To "That" Sue Grafton Quote, And Self-Pub Philosophy In General.

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This post, by A.J. Pearson-VanderBroek, originally appeared on Apology to John Keats on 8/28/12.

So, I’m a little late on this topic, but I feel it’s time that I sat down and assembled my philosophy of self-publishing in wordage. And the topic/quote is a springboard for just that.

So, bestselling author Sue Grafton made a lot of independent and self-published authors angry when she basically called self-publishers lazy wannabes. I originally saw the quote in this Forbes article by David Vinjamuri, and soon after on writer’s blogs. Grafton has since issued some damage control and explanations about her quote, but the embers still burn.

 

Here is the quote, I found here:

"The hard work is taking the rejection, learning the lessons, and mastering the craft over a period of time. I see way too many writers who complete one novel and start looking for the fame and fortune they’re sure they’re entitled to. To me, it seems disrespectful…that a ‘wannabe’ assumes it’s all so easy s/he can put out a ‘published novel’ without bothering to read, study, or do the research. Learning to construct a narrative and create character, learning to balance pace, description, exposition, and dialogue takes a long time. This is not an quick do-it-yourself home project. Self-publishing is a short cut and I don’t believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts. I compare self-publishing to a student managing to conquer Five Easy Pieces on the piano and then wondering if s/he’s ready to be booked into Carnegie Hall."

So, here we go. 

Honestly, getting mad about "wannabe" writers is the third in the Big Three, as I like to call them, of Things Every New Writer Thinks. One is needing to put a © symbol on everything they submit/don’t submit for fear of having their work stolen. Two is honestly believing that their book’s themes are universal themes, so everyone will want to read it. Third, I reiterate, "Omg, I bleed ink better/harder/longer that that guy. I’m mad now." (And I’m speaking from experience as well as observation.)

I ran into the same thing in college. I was a lit major, and I took lit classes. I had peers who never read the books assigned. (That’s all lit classes are. Reading books. And they didn’t. Why. No idea.) Or the scope of their literary criticism/critical thinking was, "Yeah, I didn’t really like that book. That wasn’t a good book." Well, guess what. I loathed "Cry, the Beloved Country" but that thing is underlined and noted on every other page, and I learned a lot from reading it. At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter that they just read Sparknotes and got C’s or B’s, when I stayed up every night reading 300 pages and got A’s. We graduated with the same degree. And since it doesn’t really matter if you can list Dante’s circles of hell when applying for jobs in telecommunications or customer service, I guess everyone wins. (I mentioned writing literary criticism as a hobby at my interview for the grocery store. Express cashier, baby.)

But it’s everywhere. In every job I’ve had, in every hobby I’ve seen, there are people standing around lamenting over the wannabes. Fearing they may be thought of as a wannabe. Pointing the finger at the wannabe, haha, wannabe! But let’s not dwell on the wannabes. Wannabe’s gonna wan..na.

The main point that has ruffled so many feathers is "Self-publishing is a short cut and I don’t believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts." Like many of the angered self-pubbers out there, I do not see self-publishing as a shortcut. I have spent hours (Blood! Tears!) teaching myself formatting. I have honed my skills as an editor, because, honestly, good editors are very hard to find. I’ve read graphic design and art books to learn about cover design and have actively been trying to sharpen my skills in photography. Not to mention that I spend hours in between my three jobs reading fiction, non-fiction, blogs and articles. I take notebooks with me everywhere I go. I write on napkins, in texts, on my breaks, late at night. And many self-publishers do that. They work diligently to polish their product and get better at their craft. But it doesn’t matter to anyone else that I’m sitting at my patio feverishly trying to get a page written before I have to go to work. No one’s life is changed by me staying up too late again to write this blog post. We’re all doing our own thing, to cope, to live, to survive, to escape, to whatever. And we get great books out of it all, that we all enjoy and share. We also get bad books. 

 

Read the rest of the post on Apology to John Keats.

Author Tweets

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Rant Warning: This is an opinionated rant. You are entitled to your own opinion, of course, and may disagree with what I’ve posted here; but the chances are that if you do, you’re probably part of the problem.

I enjoy the back and forth that comes from collaboration and discussion. I suppose at some very elemental level, it’s this pleasure which provokes me to write; hanging up my ideas for all to react to. It’s an invitation to absolutely guaranteed rejection – at least half the time. OK. Most of the time. My wife worries about the psychic damage that may occur.

I try to reassure her that I see it as an academic thing, not personal. So the discourse goes on. There is one area of discussion that seems to provoke rapid, decisive behavior on my part. Author tweets.

I am always glad to receive that happy little email that I have a new follow from someone. I always like to read the profile linked to the notice, and from the description, figure out what they thought about my online presence and writing might be entertaining or useful. But many times, among their pastimes, or career choices, I see the dreaded words. Editor. Writer or, even worse… Author.

I’m not a self-hating writer. Woody Allen’s theory of club membership comes to mind, but I don’t subscribe. I understand how hard it is in this spin-meister controlled world, for an author to get the word out about their work. It takes a huge commitment of time and energy and the willingness to risk behaving foolishly in newly discovered venues. I’ve done it myself. But, there is one thing that really rankles me in the sphere of writer self-promotion. Author Tweets.

Now, while Mutual Tagging and Review and Freebie parties are annoying enough – the whole perpetual motion machine thing – they are still something that one has to stumble into. No, they aren’t as insidious and aggressive as logging into your Twitter account to find twelve consecutive tweets from a writer, methodically blaring out excerpts from his work, or ethereal questions about its impact upon the Olympian Heights.

Twitter, I believe is a very, very useful tool. I think it can be a really great way to create a dialog between a vendor and their customers and between an author and their readers. The marketing validity has already been proven. But this ceaseless beating of the old, tin drum – is it really necessary? I wish more authors would take a moment to consider the impact of their side-show act upon the midway regulars. If we’re there doing the same ourselves, the chances are we know where you hid the card. It’s not a fresh idea with us. Plus, you’re giving your hand away. You’re tipping it over every time your tweet has anything resembling “my book” in it. I see that too often and I walk away, or more accurately, I UNFOLLOW.

I really believe that it is possible to actually share things that are useful, or that communicate one’s own opinions effectively without a big sloppy “See what I did!” tagged onto the end. Readers are intelligent, resourceful people. They read. They can make judgment calls when it comes to deciding whether they find an author’s words worth paying for, or spending the time to read them. If they find something useful in what is written, they’ll decide to pursue it. Otherwise, no amount of repetition (I know repetition is considered a key element of success, but who made up those rules anyway?) or public flagellation will force their hands.

So, rather than spend our time finding clever ways to game the system more than it already is, why not actually try to tweet out something useful, something heart-felt, something of value? Your book probably (I’m going out on a limb, here…) has some really moving themes, or useful information, or common ground or thoughtful discussion in its pages. It’s the “why” that answers the question: why would anyone read this? If you can keep that in mind, and build up awareness of the useful material or awareness of the questions your work poses, without just hanging out your shingle or a bigger, brighter, shinier shingle, you will have succeeded while all around you others will be flailing around. Beating each other over the head with their newest book covers or scintillating reviews. You’ll keep my follow and I might even read your book!

Added thought: Not to say I don’t want to know when you release a new book, but I only need to hear the news occasionally, or it’s really no longer news, right? 

 

This is a reprint from Richard Sutton’s Saille Tales blog.