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Articles about craft.

15 Steps to Create Great Blog Videos

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Video is everywhere in blogs today. As many people predicted, when web surfers get broadband internet service, they want blog video and lots of it.

Let’s face it, we’ve all be raised on television in one way or another, and that’s got to be a powerful influence.

Lots of people enjoy learning through video lessons, and if it’s entertainment that drives your blog and your books, there’s no better way to deliver it than through video.

In order to deliver great content, it seems like you have to get your videos to look good, too. A year or two ago you could probably get away with bad-looking video if your content was good.

But the spread of video has also raised the bar as far as what looks “good” to the average viewer.

A few weeks ago a woman walked up to me at a publishing group meeting and introduced herself. “Actually,” she said, “I feel like I already know you since I’ve been watching your videos.”

Wow, that was great, because that’s just what I was aiming for. It’s also the way I feel about people I’ve watched on blog videos, and it’s a powerful testament to how we humans connect and how, if we invest ourselves in what we’re doing, it can really affect other people.

Which is Better, Video or Text?

Last week I posted a video instead of writing a post. At times I’ve wondered whether making a video takes more or less time than writing a typical 1,000-word article.

Over the past year I’ve acquired equipment for doing videos, gotten a ton of practice, and created hours of video for my online training course for authors, The Self-Publishing Roadmap.

So while I’m sitting at my desk pounding on my keyboard, right behind me are the lights, tripod, camera and a big whiteboard just waiting to be used.

The two processes—writing and making video—use completely different skills and equipment.

Writing a post is pretty straightforward:

  • outline
  • write
  • edit
  • format
  • add photo
  • post

With video, you get much more involved with technology and completely different kinds of processes. For short videos you might not need a script if you already know what you want to say, so at least you can avoid the writing part if you’re confident on your feet.

Of course, it’s far simpler to create screencasts where you make a movie of what’s happening on your screen, and you add your voiceover. I use a lot of these, too, but it’s the live action videos that I like the most.

With all that in mind, here’s my method of dealing with web video for blog posts, and for products and services that you might create from your blogging activity.

How to Create Blog Videos in 15 Steps

This is the basic process I go through—along with the tools I use—to make blog videos like the Book Marketing Continuum, a pretty simple whiteboard presentation that ran about 13 minutes:

  1. Outline content—there’s no way around this, and it’s very similar to outlining a written post. Regardless of how it looks, most people can’t just turn the camera on and start shooting impromptu and hope to get anything of quality out of it.
     
  2. Create a cheat sheet—I hang a single piece of paper on the front of the tripod so I can glance at it during filming. I do them with a Sharpie marker which makes creating diagrams very easy and quite visible from 4 feet away. I’ll use this as I work through the content. The illustration at the top of this article shows part of one of these sheets from a recent shoot.
     
  3. Adjust the lighting—On the recommendation of a cinematographer I bought a set of 2 “softboxes” on tripod stands. Unless you’re adept at shooting outdoors, you pretty much need to have lighting to get a good looking video.
     
  4. Check the microphone—You may have realized this, but while you can watch a video that’s not very well made and still get a lot from it, if the sound is bad, it’s likely you will stop watching. When I realized that microphones don’t have to cost that much, I got an Audio-Technica ATR-3350 microphone for less than $25, and it works great.
     
  5. Set the camera—Last year I made a bunch of videos using my iPhone. Although these came out better than expected, eventually I realized I needed a camcorder, and bought a Canon Vixia MF400. This allows me to zoom, adjust white balance and exposure, and generally takes great HD video.
     
  6. Shoot the video—Surprisingly, this part can be just a small part of the process. I know what I’m going to say, I’m all set up with equipment I’ve used a lot before, so I’m comfortable and just launch in. I was super pleased to find a tiny remote control that came with the camera, too. This allows me to flip the screen around so it’s facing front, which makes it easy to see if you’ve got the shot framed properly, then start filming with the remote. Love that.
     
  7. Transfer the video—My camera uses SD cards, so I’ve got a couple of those, and they are very cheap for mass storage. Not only that, I discovered the new Macintoshes now come standard with a slot for SD cards, making it very easy to get them onto my Mac.
     
  8. Convert the video—Unfortunately, I can’t use the videos in the format the camera uses (*.MTS) so the first thing I do is run them through a converter to get a .MOV file. I use Wondershare, a fast and capable program with lots of options.
     
  9. Edit the video—When I first got started with video I realized it would work for me if I could keep it simple. Like a lot of people I don’t have time to learn a ton of complicated new software. iMovie looked like what I wanted, but the interface was frustratingly hard to learn. Eventually I started using the editor in Screenflow, a fantastic screen recorder for Macintosh. I love this software for its simplicity, range of tools, and speed at getting video done without getting hung up in editing minutia. What a great program.
     
  10. Export the video—Once you’re finished adding titles and editing your video, you export it from Screenflow. You can send your videos straight to Youtube.com or Vimeo.com or just dump them to your drive in .MOV format. I’ve been hosting my videos on Amazon S3, a bulk hosting service. This means I’ve got another step to do.
     
  11. Convert the video again—The standard for web video is the MP4 format, and that’s the one that also plays on mobile devices like phones and tablets. So now I run the video through a great free product, Handbrake, to get them encoded properly for all kinds of uses.
     
  12. Upload the video—Since these files can get pretty big, you either have to use FTP software to transfer them to the server you’re using for hosting, or a special program. Right now I’m using a nifty free plugin for Firefox called S3 Organizer that does the job quickly and easily.
     
  13. Set permissions—By default all media files uploaded to the S3 servers are private, so you’ve got to go in and set the permissions through the ACL (access control list) because otherwise people will get an error when they press the “play” button.
     
  14. Create a player—If you use a host like Youtube.com you won’t have to worry about this, but for S3-hosted videos, you have to create the player that will actually show your video on your blog. I use the (paid) EzS3.com service to do this.
     
  15. Embed your video—Grab the code from your host (or EzS3.com player) and make sure it’s sized properly for your blog. The main content area on my blog is about 500 pixels wide, so I want to stay within those boundaries. Embedding is just a matter of putting the HTML code provided into your blog post.

Extra steps can include creating an MP3 audio file for those readers who would rather listen than watch, and that has its own conversion and uploading chores, too.

Is all that faster than writing a blog post? I don’t think so, but if you want to get the benefits of a great connection with your readers and the ability to explain complex or visual tasks, it’s really worth it. This whole process probably took me about 2 hours to produce that 13-minute video.

Have you thought of trying out video on your blog? Have you been able to streamline the process?

 

This is a reprint from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer.

Living In The Past

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This post, by Liza Perrat, originally appeared on The Writer’s ABC Checklist on 7/30/12.

Some wonderful advice from historical novelist, Liza Perrat, on how to breathe life into your novels.

I was initially drawn to historical fiction because I love history, and historical novels bring it closer to us in an entertaining fashion. I have only just set out on my third historical fiction adventure, so I’m far from being an expert, but this is what I’ve gleaned about this fascinating genre so far.

It appears very few historical fiction writers have university degrees in history. Most authors of historical fiction are, first and foremost, novelists who must master the craft of good fiction in the same way as contemporary novelists. Knowing how to write a good story, which hooks readers and keeps them turning the pages, is as vital as getting the historical details right.

Yet we do have to get those period customs and technological details right. Our ancestors had very different attitudes about many aspects of life than people of today. What was your heroine’s relationship with her husband, her children, the people with whom she lived? Did she use cutlery and plates? What job might she have had? Would she have been literate? Historical fiction falls flat on its face when the characters jump off the page as modern-day people dressed up in period garb, and details like this can be frustrating to research. But these days, with all the historical resources available, and the internet, authors spending the time and effort can usually discover those golden nuggets that will bring their story to life.

Besides spending hours online and frowning over the barely legible print of yellowed letters, postcards, diaries and old books, there’s nothing like spending time in a place, trying to imagine how it might have looked, felt and smelled, in the past. Readers like to sense the spirit of place –– the vegetation, the seasonal light, the odours. It pulls them into the story, makes them empathize with the characters, and provides a stage on which they can visualize the story. But readers will quickly become bored with history lessons, so information should be integrated into the story, without it coming across as school textbook.

Historical monuments and structures evoke the past and I like to study them as closely as possible, and take lots of photographs (preferably minus any lurking tourists!). A walk around the rural French village in which I live gave me the idea for Spirit of Lost Angels, the first novel in my historical series, set during the French Revolution, and recently published under the Triskele Books label. On the banks of the Garon River, I came upon a cross named croix à gros ventre (cross with a big belly). Engraved with two entwined tibias and a heart shape, it is dated 1717 and commemorates two children who drowned in the river. Who were they? How did they drown, and where are they buried?

 

Read the rest of the post on The Writer’s ABC Checklist.

Words I Never Want to See in Your Novel. Please.

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This post, by Jamie Chavez, originally appeared on her site on 5/17/12.

When I get to the end of an edit, I generally make a list of the author’s “favorite” words and phrases—words he or she used over and over without realizing it. It’s quite instructive.

Usually they are words like so and well used at the beginning of sentences of dialogue. Often it’s amazing (and you know how I feel about that!). Smirk shows up a lot too. Recently a manuscript I worked on had dialogue littered with you and I both know and listen as a way to begin a sentence (Listen, Sam, you and I both know the president will never approve that death squad).

You can’t hide much from your editor, my friends. We’re like hairdressers. 🙂

But in the spirit of self-improvement, let’s talk about some words and phrases I really wish you wouldn’t use, because I am, frankly, tired of reading them. It’s good for you to know these things now. Honest.

• I couldn’t help but … (notice, think, wonder)
This phrase shows up in many variations, and all of them are unoriginal and empty. Stop it. Just say, “I noticed …”

• Truth be known
Aside from the fact it’s way overused, it’s awkward. If you really must use it, it should properly be If the truth were known. Don’t tell me it’s your voice. Please.

• Suddenly
The hallmark of an inexperienced writer. Think about it: everything in fiction (in life!) happens suddenly. One second it wasn’t happening … and then it was. Suddenly.

• Blurt out
You remember my post on dialogue tags, right? I’m already not crazy about blurt for that reason, but when you write he blurted out, I cringe at the redundancy. 

• I thought to myself (or he thought to himself)
Of course you think to yourself! Who else is in there with you? Now, you can say things to yourself. That means you’re speaking out loud, but are not engaged in a dialogue with another character. And that’s fine. Although it is, they say, one of the first signs of insanity.

• Then, then, and then
It’s not necessary to keep reminding me that one action came after another.

 

Read the rest of the post on Jamie Chavez’ site.

The Problem with Fantasy . . .

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This post, by Amy Rose Davis, originally appeared on her A Modicum of Talent With Occasional Flashes of Brilliance blog on 7/16/12.

After reading the two already-published installments of The Kingkiller Chronicles, I started to put into words some of the real criticism I have about my beloved genre. I think these thoughts are worth sharing in more general terms for a few reasons. First, I don’t want to rant about Rothfuss anymore. I don’t think his books are rant-worthy. I just think they’re overhyped and not nearly as brilliant as people think. Second, I want to go over these things because I think anyone who reads my blog and writes fantasy might find them useful. And third, I want you all to know what I’m trying to avoid in my own work!

As I see it, fantasy falls into three big traps:

The books exist to build bridges, set up conflicts, or establish scenarios for future plots. One could argue that most of The Wheel of Time exists purely to set up the next book, ad infinitum, until we hopefully get the big payoff in the last book. I wouldn’t know because I don’t plan to re-read the books. The problem of books existing only to bridge gaps is probably more of a problem with second books, I think. I suspect that authors work so hard on those first books in order to get an agent or publisher that the first book is usually polished to a fine sheen–plots are tight as they can be, characters as fleshed out as possible, worlds intricately built.

But the problem is that when we come to book two, authors have deadlines, expectations, and multi-book deals in hand. So maybe there’s a rush to write something to meet the deadline and expectations. Or even worse–book one was outrageously successful, so maybe in the haste to publish book two and book three, the author writes like a demon, the agent and publisher work more on marketing or publishing than on editing, and the result is a book that’s not nearly as tight as the first one.

Listen, authors. Every book in your series should potentially stand alone. There should be some kind of central conflict, some kind of goal for each book in the series. Do not expect your readers to go along with you for three or five or twelve books just hoping for the big payoff at the end. Give them a payoff in each book.

Too much backstory becomes frontstory.

Did I just make that word up–”frontstory?” Honestly, I think this is about 90% of the problem I had with Rothfuss’ books, and I think this is quite possibly why Kvothe comes off as such a special snowflake to me. If I just didn’t have to hear every flipping detail about his entire life, maybe he wouldn’t come across as so irritating. I think Rothfuss got caught up in writing backstory and history for Kvothe and never really distilled those stories into an actual plot.

 

Read the rest of the post on A Modicum of Talent With Occasional Flashes of Brilliance.

Copy-Editing And Beta Readers

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After some major rewrites based on my Editorial Review from the Steve Parolini, the Novel Doctor, I gave my thriller novel ‘Pentecost’ to seven beta readers and asked for their feedback.

This is one of my honest, personal posts! I hope it helps you on your writing journey.

Who are beta readers anyway?

 

Review copies printed locally for beta readers

Beta readers read your book prior to it going to the printer. You could also use them before submission to an agent or publisher. They read the manuscript for comment on the structure, characters, plot as well as grammar/spelling or anything else they notice that may need revision.Their comments will generally result in another rewrite although of course you don’t need to action everything. Beta readers should be people who like the genre you write in, and also need to be able to give honest feedback. There is no point in just hearing praise at this stage. Criticism only makes our work better!

The practicalities of working with beta readers

I selected five of my friends who read in similar genres as me i.e. fans of thrillers, crime, mystery and fast paced novels. I also asked a writer friend I respect, the lovely Alan Baxter and also my copy editor (who just happens to be my Mum – lucky me!)

I gave them a hard copy A5 version of the book I had printed locally (above) so it was easier to review and make comments on. I also included a letter indicating the comments required i.e. grammar and spelling would be done by my copy editor but I wanted feedback on character, plot, any parts they skipped over or found jarring as well as general comparative notes on other books vs mine.They had three weeks to read it and provide feedback.

I received feedback in the form of marked up A5 books, an interview style discussion and brainstorming as well as phone calls, during which I took copious notes with page references. The most heavily marked up version was from my copy-editor (to be expected).

For the next step, I took my own hard copy of the novel and added comments and notes from all the beta readers. Blue writing is for word changes, tense issues and grammar. Red is for more rewriting needed. Finally, I went through another full rewrite fixing everything from that master draft.

Feedback and lessons learned

Hard copy with edits

I had a few depressed days as I considered the extent of the feedback! I had thought I was 95% complete but it was actually more like 85%. Going through another full rewrite was not on my schedule and by this stage, I was pretty sick of the manuscript! BUT/ the whole point of the beta reader review and copy edit was to ensure that a quality product is released in Feb 2010.

Some of the good feedback included:

  • Great idea for the plot, believable and unsure what was real and what wasn’t
  • Fast paced with no time to rest for the reader (this was also given as a criticism but it’s how I like my thrillers to be)
  • Good settings, vivid descriptions made it cinematic in scope
  • Learned a lot about the Apostles and also Carl Jung which made it interesting
  • Good beginning and good ending (with obvious potential for a sequel)

In the spirit of full disclosure and learning for us all, here is some of the constructive criticism received:

  • Overuse of particular words e.g. now, just, was, then as well as using the same word in consecutive sentences
  • Wrong tense often used
  • Dialogue stilted in places
  • Point of view moves into third person omniscient when it shouldn’t, especially when settings are described as if from a travel book instead of character’s POV
  • Protagonist name change was needed. Morgan Stone as a character came to me when the book was called “Mandala” back in Nov last year. Then the plot morphed to be about the Pentecost stones and her name was too much repetition. I chose Morgan Sierra and rewrote some back story to explain the history of her family so it makes sense.

Not a page was untouched in the edit

One of my beta readers also came up with some brilliant additions to the plot which I’m adding in with his consent. It made me think that I need to give the book to readers earlier so I can expand on the plot at an earlier stage.

From this I learned a few very important points:

  • I need to study the craft in 2011 so I can fix all the basic stuff myself next time. I’m happy with the story but upset at how much blue is all over the book. Thankfully my copy-editor is brilliant and will go over it again now it has been rewritten so you can expect all this to be fixed in the finished product!
  • I understand why editors, agents and publishers hate to read the slush pile. If people don’t use editors, copy-editors and proof-readers before submission, the work could be definitely be improved.
  • To all indie and self-publishers, we MUST use editors, copy-editors and proof-readers. Quality in our publishing is especially important as the most annoying criticism of self-publishing is the lack of quality. Yes, it costs money but it definitely improves the finished product!

Have you used beta readers and copy editors? What have you learned from the process?

 


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

Splurge & Save: How To Be A Thrifty Indie!

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If you’ll allow me, I’d like to take just a second to clarify an important point before we resume our regularly scheduled blogging…

Last week, our post on Self-Publishing Costs was added to Reddit.com by a well intentioned reader who felt we were projecting way too much overhead cost for indie authors (a sentiment that was echoed by many other readers on that website).

Holy misinterpretation Batman, that’s definitely not what we meant.

Judging from the comments we received here on Duolit from our wonderful readers, you guys seemed to have no problem picking up on the point of the guide – it was an overview of the possible costs associated with self-publishing.

 

But just in case that wasn’t clear, we want everyone to know that it was never our intention to say that self-publishing required the purchase of every service, product, tool, and coaching session we mentioned in the post.

Just like the example we used at the beginning about going to Wal-Mart – it’s possible to spend thousands of dollars in Wal-Mart (especially if you like camo and beef jerky) but it’s also possible to spend $5.

It all depends on your wants, needs and budget.

The same goes for self-publishing.

*Phew! Glad we got that straightened out!*

Moving right along, we thought that this week we could delve a little deeper into the possible costs of self-publishing by giving some advice about where you’ll get the most bang for your buck and where it’s okay to scrape and save a little.

To simplify things, we’re going to use the same breakdown from last week.

The Costs of Writing

¢ Save ¢

  • Organizational Materials: The dollar store sells post-its, pens, highlighters, thumbtacks and a variety of other office supplies that we love (!) but don’t need to spend big bucks on.
  • Coaching: Find a friend or family member who can be your sounding board/motivational coach through the writing process. You can also buddy up with a fellow author to keep each other on the straight and narrow for free!

$ Spend $

  • Books and Courses: Research is valuable. The more information you have at the outset of your project, the more you will save down the road by avoiding costly mistakes. Don’t go overboard by any means, but find a few resources that you trust and invest in your author education.
  • Software: If you’re planning to do your own formatting (see below for more on that) Microsoft Office is a better bet than any of its open source counterparts. There are more features, it’s user-friendly, and you can easily find support for it online if you have questions. It’s worth the extra cost for less headaches!

The Costs of Editing/Revision

¢ Save ¢

  • Beta Readers: This is a no-brainer my friends. If you start your marketing early on in your writing process (like we recommend!) you should have some fans in your corner prior to publishing who would be happy to test drive your novel. You’ll get valuable feedback, earn new fans, and not have to spend a dime. That’s the definition of a win-win!
  • Proofreader: When it comes to copyediting (finding those pesky typos, misspellings, inconsistencies and general word flow) you can probably find a friend, family member, or former teacher who can read over your manuscript for the cost of a nice dinner (or maybe a gift card). It’s so cheap we’d recommend getting at least two people to proofread for you.
  • One other quick savings note for editing: Do the less expensive editing options above before you dive into the professional editing below – you’ll take care of all the basic fixes before you put your manuscript in a pro’s hands and start incurring some pro costs by the hour.

$ Spend $

  • Professional Editor: A good editor is worth Fat Albert’s weight in gold, if you know what I mean. This is not the place to cut corners – find someone good, with good references, who has experience in your genre. Get this domino positioned perfectly and all the rest will fall into place behind it. [Check out our Indie Resource Directory if you don’t know where to find someone!]

The Costs of Professional Design/Layout

¢ Save ¢

  • Layout Design: If you really need to save money, you can DIY your interior formatting with the right software (see the discussion about software above).  To avoid piling up your set-up/submission fees with your publisher, you should do your research on margins, bleeds, fonts, letting, etc. (see the discussion about courses and books above). Believe it or not, eBook formatting is actually more complicated in a lot of ways than print formatting, so be sure you know what your publisher requires before you dive into this one and if you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, you can hire a professional without breaking the bank.

$ Spend $

  • Cover Design: We all know this by now, but you absolutely do judge a book by its cover. There are simply too many books in the marketplace not to make snap judgments based on a book’s immediate visual appeal. To compete in this market your book design *must* hold its own against traditionally published titles. Still, you can sometimes college art students or online designers who can give you a good deal without sacrificing quality.

The Costs of DIY Design/Layout

¢ Save ¢

  • Software, Stock Images/Photography & Fonts: Toni gave pretty good details on how/where to save here, so I’ll just offer one other tidbit for you – if you are a college student (with a valid college email account), you can get major awesome discounts on design software like the Adobe Creative Suite through AcademicSuperstore.com. If you are not a college student, I would NOT ever tell you to find a college student in the family and use his credentials to get your discount. I would NOT tell you to do that. NOT.

The Costs of Publishing

¢ Save ¢

  • ISBN: If you plan to write multiple books, it’s well worth it to buy ISBNs in bulk (lots of 10) directly from Bowker (keep in mind that your eBook has to have a different ISBN than the paperback version, so that’s two separate numbers right there). If you’re just getting started, it’s totally okay to use the provided ISBNs from publishers like CreateSpace and Lulu. You absolutely maintain the rights to your work, they just get listed as your publisher in the files and on your title page. Not a big deal, yo.
  • Setup Fees & Distribution: Do your research on publishers before hand to find out who has the loweset fees for set-up and distribution (but be sure you’re comparing apples to apples – what you get for the money is as important as the money itself).

$ Spend $

  • Proof: Once your book is approved and sent out to the distribution lists, releasing a new edition becomes time consuming and often requires you to pony up those set-up fees all over again. It’s MUCH better to get the proof copy and clear up any issues from the outset than to try and fix those mistakes down the road.
  • Review Copies: Like Toni said, where possible you’ll want to provide eBook copies to reviewers, but some will require paperbacks so it’s worth it to have a stash of printed copies on hand to mail out.

The Costs of Promotion/Marketing

¢ Save ¢

  • Website Design: I recently put on my big girl pants and redesigned my website all by myself (even though I have a world class designer for a best friend and business partner). With the newest Twenty Eleven WordPress template (free) it was easy peasy to add a custom header and background. You can also add navigation tabs and set-up pages with one click, it really couldn’t be any easier. (Also, take a look at Suzanne Collins’ website and you’ll feel much better about anything you can design yourself.)

  • Domain Name & Hosting: I hate their commercials, but Go Daddy is cheap and easy when it comes to domains and hosting. You can choose to pay monthly or quarterly (for less commitment and smaller upfront cost) or get long term savings by paying for a year in advance. Either way, it’s a bargain.
  • Mailing List: We seriously love Mail Chimp like whoa. We are unfortunately in the process of leaving them for AWeber (only because we’re planning some more advanced marketing stuff coming up in the near future) and it’s breaking our hearts. But for your indie author purposes MailChimp is a dream come true!

$ Spend $

  • Book Trailer: You don’t have to do a book trailer, but they are becoming pretty popular and give a three-dimensional feel to your book. If you do decide to get one, it’s worth it to spend the extra bucks and get a quality one versus using something that looks like it belongs in a bad corporate media presentation.
  • Author Branding: If you’re really serious about making a career out of this author business and you are clueless when it comes to design, it’s worth it to get with a designer and plan out a logo, colors and general brand aesthetic you can carry through everything you do (website, book designs, business cards, etc.). It will help readers begin to recognize your books from the very beginning and I think it has a lasting impact!

Don’t smash the piggy bank just yet!

That’s our two cents (get it???) on where you can save and where you should splurge when self-publishing your book.

We have one other tip that’s worth mentioning – and it’s you! If you’ve already been down the self-publishing path, you probably learned where you could save in the future and where you were glad you spent some extra money.

Help your fellow authors out and share some of those tips, you’ll probably learn a few secrets as well!

 

 

This is a reprint from Duolit.

To Be (authentic online) Or Not To Be (authentic online): That Is The Question

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Writers are supposed to be passionate, communicative, and have some strong opinions. Like all artists, it’s their job to speak truth to power when others will not or cannot. In other words, they’re supposed to have something to say, and they’re supposed to say it, and they’re not supposed to give a damn what anybody thinks. It is in this that the purity of their art is grounded. 

Authors are supposed to establish an online presence that’s open, welcoming, inclusive, and entirely inoffensive. Like all marketers, it’s their job to appeal to the widest demographic possible. In other words, they’re not supposed to have anything negative or controversial to say, and if they do, they’re not supposed to post it, and they’re supposed to care a great deal about what everyone thinks of anything they do post. It is in this that their online reputations are kept untarnished. 

Do you see the disconnect here, the fundamental opposition of these two sets of requirements? 

[palm-forehead] What were we thinking?!

For years now, I’ve been proferring the same author platform advice: carefully cultivate and maintain your image, always be nice, don’t say or do anything that could be construed as negative or controversial, and strive to avoid turning off your readers (and potential readers) at all times and at all costs. I’m beginning to think this advice is wrong. 

How can one possibly spend half or more of the time wearing his Author hat and being a totally benign milquetoast, and the rest of it wearing his Writer hat and churning out impassioned, moving prose? Assuming it’s possible to make a habit of pretending not to care too much, or be bothered too much, by anything, is it a good idea for any artist to do so? 

I’ve noticed that after about five years of doing the benign milquetoast thing, the seams on my carefully cultivated, totally benign, online effigy are starting to show sometimes. And rip open in a few places. However hard I try, when I come up against something or someone with which/whom I disagree very strongly, there are only so many times I can avert my eyes, either say nothing or just mumble something vague, and keep moving. Increasingly, I can’t seem to help going off on the things and people that bother me lately. 

Maybe it’s just because election years always bring out the ignorant yahoos and smug twits in droves, and I’ve had just about enough of their nonsense. Maybe it’s that the collapsing economies all around the world have us all on edge. Maybe it’s because I haven’t felt I’ve had a well-developed enough concept to channel all that writerly angst and passion into a new novel. Maybe it’s because I’ve been (figuratively) beaten down and bloodied by a few simultaneous life crises over the past two years. 

Maybe I’m just a cranky bitch. 

Or maybe, just maybe…it’s because behind my carefully tended online persona, I’m a human being who’s alive, with an active mind, who has thoughts and experiences and feelings, who is imperfect, and sometimes gets angry at the wrong people or for the wrong reasons, who feels guilty or insecure every now and then, and every so often runs out of patience at precisely the wrong time. 

As a writer, I’m supposed to believe—no, I NEED to believe—that all the mistakes I make, all the wrongs I either inflict or endure, inform my work. As an artist, if my art is to have any impact at all, I am supposed to wring meaning and insight from these experiences and channel it into my work. 

Remember when part of the charm of celebrated authors was their other-ness? They were legendarily prickly, snarky, bohemian, drunks, or brawlers who seemed to spend their days in bed (often with multiple partners), and their nights about equally divided between scandalizing the bourgeoisie and pouring out Important Literature. Above all, they didn’t give a toss what the general public thought about them. How could they? In much the same way an actor must be totally un-self-conscious in order to really disappear into a role and be true to the material he’s been given, a writer must be totally un-self-conscious in order to disappear into the world of his stories and characters and be true to the material he’s creating. 

When you’ve developed the habit of turning off your authentic self to the point that it feels effortless, how can you be sure you’re really capable of turning it back on again? If you spend so much of your time worrying about how you’re being publicly perceived, how can you prevent that insecurity from creeping into your work? If you care so much about being perceived negatively online that you’ve made it a practice to avoid posting anything that could possibly cause you to be perceived negatively, how can you be sure you’re not sanding off all the rough edges of your ideas, plots and characters as well? 

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying writers should all immediately pick up some self-destructive habits and start purposely offending everyone within virtual earshot. No, no, no. But I am saying that maybe it’s not so bad to take a stand every now and then, and maybe it’s not the end of your career if it’s a poorly informed and badly executed stand. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to expose your human-ness and your passions once in a while. 

Being a good little Author Platformer means putting the Ego in charge: the reasoning, detached part of the self that suppresses baser urges and animal instincts. The Id is where all base urges and instincts originate, but it’s also where insight and creativity live; chaining the Id to a post in the basement of one’s day to day life may be the worst mistake any artist can make. My Id has been locked up for too long, and it’s acting out. I’m beginning to wonder if I should’ve been letting it come out to play, and make its mistakes and messes, a little more often than I have these past five years. 

Case in point: a post of mine was picked up by The Passive Voice blog, and there were a number of comments. One commenter zeroed in on one specific line in the post, and took up a real battleflag against it. And this irked me, a great deal. Straw man arguments are a pet peeve for me, but not without good reason… 

I have read and personally experienced far too many cherry-picking arguments when the indie author movement was just getting off the ground, where some naysayer or other would attempt to discredit the entire notion of indie authorship by attacking or attempting to disprove one specific statement in an essay or blog post—an essay or blog post with which they could find no other particular fault. Time and again, the trolls would come forward to hold up this or that one, specific example of a failed or poor-quality indie book, and use it as the foundation for their thesis that, "therefore, all indie books are bad and virtually no one buys indie books." So I’m pretty touchy about cherry-picking arguments. 

I do not believe this commenter is a troll, nor do I think he necessarily deserved the chilly and irritated responses he got from me. I’m sure many people have seen the exchange, and some of them thought worse of me for it. Three years ago, I would’ve been frantically working damage control and obsessing about the potential fallout. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have responded to the commenter at all. One year ago, I would’ve responded with some bland bit of mild disagreement, sure to include at least one qualifier that would welcome anyone reading my response to dismiss it completely. 

Now, I’m doing nothing. I overreacted because this commenter unintentionally hit a raw nerve, but while I did go so far as to wonder "aloud" what his motivations might be for so tenaciously clinging to this one line of argument, I don’t believe I stepped over the line into being rude or hurtful. A display of poor judgment on my part? Absolutely. Obnoxious? Fine, I’ll give you that. A total meltdown? No, I think that’s going too far. 

Above all else, what it was, was proof positive that I’m not just a bland…um, I mean brand. It was a demonstration that I can and do get bothered and passionate about things sometimes, even if this Author Platform lifestyle of stuffing those tendencies down for the past five years is now resulting in me getting a little too bothered and being a little too passionate about relatively unimportant things. 

I’m not advocating for authors to start shooting their mouths off about anything they want to in any setting. There are such things as decorum, respect, and ‘reading the room’, after all. I’m just saying that maybe it’s not such a bad idea to be your authentic, opinionated, imperfect self now and then, at least when the stakes are low, even in the context of author platform. Some will respond well, others won’t. But those who don’t like your authentic self probably never would’ve liked your work anyway. And if constantly stifling your authentic self may also result in stifling the authenticity of your work, it’s a price that’s too high to pay. 

Maybe letting your Id peek through the veil every once in a while serves to vent bile that would otherwise build up until you do have a public meltdown when some minor irritation tips the scale. I can’t say for certain. All I can say is that whatever I’ve been doing up until now ain’t working anymore.

 

This is a cross-posting from Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief April L. Hamilton’s Indie Author blog.

A Plea to Book Trailer Producers and Authors, too…

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In one of my past lives – still actually overflowing into this one – I spent more than twenty-five years as an Adman of sorts. I worked as a graphic designer/art director and also copywriter for a variety of agencies and eventually my own design studio. My learning curve was a rugged one and while I learned from many of the very best professionals, I also learned from some hacks. As a result, my experience ranged really widely, but touched on just about every area of marketing from Mom n’Pop to Corporate. When I sold my design business and became a full time writer and Indian Trader (really, no kidding…), I had to keep up my design skills so I could work up websites and promotions as the technology of marketing shifted, for our new business.

All that said, I have now added cover design as a sideline, and as a result, I get a lot of inquiries to review covers, make suggestions for improvement and even re-design them, create advertising for launches, posters, collateral mailing pieces and now, it seems, book trailers. A few days ago, I received a request from a fiction author I know and respect, to do a review of the trailer for his upcoming launch.  OK – I’m always glad to give my opinion, as you probably have already figured out.

The trailer was alright. It did a passable job of conveying the nature of the book, the period, the mood and a little tickle about the characters. But the end?  Really, really problematic.  The producer had chosen to end the trailer with an ultra-fast scroll down of the Title, the author’s name, and the sales availability/retail locations for the book. Much too fast to read, but following the scroll down, the viewer had to look at a still self-promotion frame for the video producer/artist for a full three seconds, and if I tell you that the images in this frame had nothing to do with the style or content of the video, it is a huge oversimplification. It was awful and I had to stare at it and the artist’s contact info/cred until the trailer was finished. Since it was U-Tube, I was left with the still frame of this artist’s promo, long after the trailer ended.

Let me be perfectly clear here. No professional marketing artist/designer/producer would ever so compromise a client’s message. Ever. Not only did this smack of hobbyist level production, it completely killed the trailer message. I told the author what I thought he should do to improve the trailer, and a day later, he sent in the revision, which corrected some redundancy in the copy, added a credit to an outside reference he’d missed, and slowed the scroll down at the end. IN addition, at my suggestion, following the scroll down, was a last image (or so I thought…) of the book cover. But then, scrolling up from the bottom was a copy blurb promoting the trailer producer/artist and when the trailer actually ended, I was still looking at the promotional page of thumbnails of this artist’s work.  I was aghast, but replied to the author’s request by saying that the video was much improved, but effectively hobbled by the unprofessional addition of the producer’s promo. He indicated it had been a friend or something like that. I assume I won’t hear from him again on this matter.

Here’s the thing. If you launch a book with an unprofessional trailer, it is never going to go away, unless you only release it on television broadcast – then it has a relatively short life, and I’ve seen bad commercials forgotten and the product resurrected to sell well. Online, though, it will never die. It will live on and on and on long after its useful  lifespan, to haunt you, your book and maybe your future work as well. Don’t make this mistake.

Here’s the thinking: a book trailer is a “commercial”, if you will, for your product. A published book is a product, like any other, that is sold to consumers. When you market your product to consumers, you must work hard to set is aside from all the marketing clutter they will read/view. In the case of a book trailer, at least you know some viewers will see it that are readers within the genre, so some of your work has been done for you already. Still, in the most tangible, personally connecting way you can, you need to do the elevator conversation.  In three minutes, you must tell a total stranger what your book is about and motivate them to buy it. A trailer is much shorter, but it uses images which can be more useful than words as they enter a different part of the brain. The imaging cortex stores images along with associations. Words are just stored words, but the two: images and associations, are retained, intact. This is something you can actually control and direct. Amazing stuff!

If your pockets are not deep, you may have to rely upon the services of a friend or acquaintance to produce a trailer for you: mix and stream the music and voice over if you use one, etc., plus find stock footage, shoot new footage and stills and edit it all down to make your pitch with as much impact as possible. It’s not an easy job, and to do it right takes a great deal of skill. But the lasting impression a viewer will retain may well be that last frame. Don’t ever negotiate a trailer deal where the last frame is a promo for the trailer’s producer. EVER. If mutual promotion is the deal breaker, then offer live links on your blog, do a guest blog, tweet out the producers site, etc., etc., but don’t be such a wuss that you let them destroy the efficacy of your promotional trailer by plastering their name on it.  As I’ve said, an unprofessional launch can hobble your book.

And those of you, who want to be trailer producers, read this again: Your client’s trailer is not a place to promote yourself. Do it on your own time, anywhere but in their trailer. It makes you look like a dilettante, or worse…  It might be tempting to see your name up there, but don’t do it. You will be hurting your client as well as yourself. Consider this a fair warning.

 

This is a reprint from Richard Sutton‘s site.

How I Got A Big Advance From A Big Publisher And Self-Published Anyway

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This post, by Penelope Trunk, originally appeared on her blog on 7/9/12.

I have a new book out today. It’s called The New American Dream: A Blueprint for a New Path to Success. You will notice that the link goes to Hyperink. They are an independent publisher.

I sold this same book, two years ago, to a mainstream publisher.

I have been reporting on research about on how to be happy for almost a decade. It’s important to me that everyone learn what I learned, which is if you want to have a good life, you shouldn’t focus on happiness, but rather, on making your life interesting. That’s what makes us feel fulfilled. Searching for happiness is making us crazy. And creating an interesting life is actually intuitive to most of us, it’s just that we feel like somehow we are doing something wrong. This book explains why you are probably on the right track, and all that stuff you hear about the pursuit of happiness is from another time. A time of ignorance, when we knew a lot less about what makes us human.

So I sold my book to a mainstream publisher and they sucked. I am going to go into extreme detail about how much they sucked, so I’m not going to tell you the name of the publisher because I got a lot of money from them. I’m just going to tell you that the mainstream publisher is huge, and if you have any respect left for print publishing, you respect this publisher.  But you will not at the end of this post.

To be clear, I wrote my book, and they paid me my advance, in full. Three months before the publication date, the PR department called me up to “coordinate our efforts.” But really, their call was just about giving me a list of what I was going to do to publicize the book. I asked them what they were going to do. They had no idea. Seriously. They did not have a written plan, or any list, and when I pushed one of the people on this first call to give me examples of what the publishers would do to promote my book, she said “newsgroups.”

I assumed I was misunderstanding. I said, “You mean like newsgroups from the early 90s? Those newsgroups? USENET?”

“Yes.”

“Who is part of newsgroups anymore?”

“We actually have really good lists because we have been working with them for so long.”

“People in newsgroups buy books? You are marketing my book through newsgroups?”

I’m not going to go through the whole conversation, okay? Because the person was taken off my book before the next phone call.

At the next phone call, I asked again about how they were going to publicize my book. I told them that I’m happy to do it on my blog, but I already know I can sell tons of books by writing about my book on my blog. So they need to tell me how they are going to sell tons of books.

“LinkedIn.”

“What? Where are you selling books on LinkedIn?”

“One of the things we do is build buzz on our fan page.”

I went ballistic. There is no publishing industry fan page that is good enough to sell books. No one goes to fan pages for publishers because publishers are not household brand names. The authors are. That’s how publishing works.

“You know what your problem is?” I said, “Marketing online requires that you have a brand name and a following, and the book industry doesn’t build it’s own brand. But I have my own brand. So I’m better at marketing books than you are. I have a voice online and you don’t.”

I scheduled a phone call with my editor’s boss’s boss to tell him that. I told him his business is online marketing and his team has no idea how to do it, and he should hire me.

He told me, “With all due respect [which, I find, is always a euphemism for I hate your guts] we have been profitable every year that I’ve run this division and I don’t think we have a problem.”

Then he told me he really needs me to work well together with the marketing and publicity team, so they flew me to their office to have a meeting. There were five people in the meeting.

Here’s what I learned at the marketing meeting, where I sat through an interminable set of PowerPoint slides on the book industry.


Read the rest of the post on Penelope Trunk’s blog.

The Top 100 Creative Writing Blogs (Updated)

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This post originally appeared on bestcollegesonline.

Whether a creative writer’s heart sits with prose, poetry, or both, there likely exists an author or aspirant author out there with something to offer his or her work. And that, friends, is why the Internet stands as one of the best possible tools for today’s emerging literati. Thanks to the online input of industry pros and fledgling dreamers, today’s writers enjoy some incredible opportunities to finely-tune their craft and seek personalized advice from those who came before.

We have updated our previous list to include some pretty nifty new reads since then, and we hope you’ll find them as advantageous and informative as we do! Please keep in mind that entries are not to be read as ranked in any particular order.

General

These reads cover a broad range of subjects concerning both novice and old-timer authors alike, making them particularly well-rounded starts to exploring the writerly corner of the blogosphere.

  1. Writer Unboxed:

    Authors and aspiring authors alike post their thoughts and ideas regarding the craft of writing as well as other related critical fields.

  2. Write Anything:

    eMergent Publishing’s cross-genre, international community of writers offers up prompts, advice, and pretty much everything else an up-and-coming author could possibly need.

  3. Inkygirl:

    Debbie Redpath Ohi rounds out her highly informative postings about writing (mostly for younger readers) with some fun, quirky illustrations and comics.

  4. WOW! Women on Writing Blog:

    This highly useful e-zine also hosts classes, workshops, contests, job postings, a writer’s market, and plenty more resources ardent wordsmiths need.

  5. Write to Done:

    Write to Done features some of the web’s most accessible, informative articles about the writing process to help readers tighten their abilities and learn more about the industry.

  6. The Urban Muse:

    Copy editor and freelance writer Susan Johnston dishes out advice and teaches classes on blogging and general authoring, posting much of what she’s learned right here.

  7. Writing Forward:

    No matter one’s creative writing passion, chances are Writing Forward has already covered it, so stop on over for delicious tips and tricks.

  8. Writer’s Blog:

    Hit up this one-stop digital shop when seeking out info about the publishing industry and expert advice on how to make it – and make it with an excellent body of work.

  9. Writerly Life:

    Check Writerly Life often, as novelist Blair Hurley enjoys challenging her readers with prompts, advice snippets, and other resources meant to bolster their craft.

  10. Creative Writing Contests:

    It should be pretty obvious what this blog is all about, but for those who never quite got the grasp of reading comprehension 101, it posts creative writing contests.

  11. Strictly Writing:

    Multiple authors from across different creative writing mediums blog about anything and everything related to their respective paths, from valuable techniques to getting published, and everything in between.

  12. Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog:

    And podcast, too! Give ol’ Morgan Bailey a visit and hear what authors across genres have to say about the craft of creative writing, recommended events, reviews, and plenty more.

  13. WEbook Blog:

    One of the largest online communities for writers keeps a wonderful blog packed with a wide variety of posts about improving, inspiration, and all components of the publishing process.

  14. Writers In The Storm Blog:

    Another great group blog encompassing a wide range of genres and creative mediums for an in-depth look at anything and everything the writerly world entails.

Aspiring and Emergent Authors

Follow the careers of — and, of course, network with! — writers hoping to publish their very first works as well as their counterparts with a little more experience to their names.

  1. Emerging Writers Network:

    The Emerging Writers Network focuses on bringing together novices into a supportive online community to trade resources, tips and tricks, and even reviews.

  2. Ficticity:

    Tim Bennett shares his short stories as well as experiences and advice culled from trying to break into the writing world.

  3. Plotmonkeys:

    Read up on what four different aspiring authors have to say about the art of literature and what they’ve been learning along their journeys.

  4. Emerging Writer:

    Author of the “dinky book” Some Poems Kate Dempsey chronicles all of the triumphs and tragedies behind getting published as a newbie to the industry these days.

  5. Macmillan New Writers:

    Macmillan hosts this nice little blog to help its emerging authors without a web presence promote their books and learn how to navigate Internet promotions.

  6. WriteWords Members’ Blogs:

    Wannabe writers gather at this wildly popular community and job listing service to share their philosophies, strategies, and sample pieces with the hopes of helping one another achieve their literary goals.

  7. The Aspiring TV Writer and Screenwriter Blog:

    This blogger chronicles her journey after college and before she manages to land her dream job in a specific creative writing industry.

  8. The WriteGirl Blog:

    WriteGirl encourages young women to take up the literary arts in order to voice their hopes, anxieties, and ideas to the world.

  9. The New Author…:

    Promoter and author SB Knight hopes this blog will serve as an informative reference to his contemporaries hoping to get their names out there.

 

Read the rest of the list on bestcollegesonline.

How Much Does Self-Publishing Cost?

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For real-life stories from indie authors on how much they spent to self-publish their work, check out our discussion: How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book?

Stepping into Wal-Mart is kind of like falling into a black hole (only without the stretching/exploding).

Seriously, though, think about it. You walk in, ready to purchase your few needed items and walk out. Hours later, you emerge into the garish sunlight, staring at your recipt and thinking, “how did I spend $100 on socks and Pop-Tarts?!”

For first-time indie authors, the process is much the same. You start out intending only to purchase editing and a cover but end up spending WAY more than anticipated.

As any money-saving guru will tell you, the way to avoid this black hole syndrome is by going in with a plan, a specific list of items to purchase and blinders to costs not essential to your task.

While I can’t help you turn a blind eye to those tempting purchases, I can lay out the possible costs associated with self-publishing so you can create that all-important shopping list!

NOTE: The below is simply a list of *possible* costs. Don’t let your eyes glaze over as you try to figure out how to raid your child’s college fund to raise enough money! Every author’s needs and goals are different — what’s essential to you may not be essential to your fellow author. Self-Publishing can cost tens of thousands or nothing at all, depending on the route you take. 

The Costs of Writing

Organizational Materials: $25

You know, all those idea notebooks, sticky notes, calendars, and smartphone apps to capture your thoughts and keep you on track.

Coaching: $250+

If you need a bit of a kick in the butt to keep your fingers to the keys (or would benefit from a consistent sounding board as you write), professional writing coaches will do their best to help you finish your book — at a price. Writing coaching packages start at around $250, but I’ve seen them go for $1000+!

Books and Courses: $25+

Be your *own* writing coach! Books like Roz Morris’ Nail Your Novel and courses like Kristen Lamb’s We Are Not Alone teach you the skills to finish your novel. PS: Shannon created a great ecourse, How NOT to Write a Novel, exclusively for our Indie Ninjas!

Software: FREE-$125

Follow the free route and choose something like OpenOffice or Storybook  to write your novel or go a bit fancier with Microsoft Office or Scrivener.

The Costs of Editing/Revision

Beta Readers: FREE+

The easiest way to recruit beta readers is from your already crazy-dedicated fanbase. Ask your tribe nicely and you’re bound to get a few volunteers! To show your gratitude, however, consider throwing in a $5-10 Amazon or iTunes gift card.

Proofreader: $250+

Proofreaders check for typos and are generally more thorough than beta readers, but much less so than professional editing service. Be sure to check out proofreaders in our Self-Publishing Resource Directory.

Professional Editor: $500+

Hiring a professional editor is one of the true *musts* for any indie author. Don’t skimp here! For a list of editors who work with indie authors, check out our Resource Directory.

The Costs of Professional Design/Layout

Cover Design: $250+

If you’re going to go pro in one design arena, your cover is the place to spend the bucks. Be sure to visit our Self-Publishing Resource Directory for designers who work with self-publishing authors.

Layout Design: FREE – $150+

Many indies stick to Word for the interior layout of their book, but (especially for your paperback) we highly recommend going pro. Again, check out the Self-Publishing Resource Directory for self-pub approved layout designers!

The Costs of DIY Design/Layout

Software: FREE-$1000+

Design your book cover for free using included templates with publishers like CreateSpace or go the true DIY route with something free like GIMP or (for the true pro) Adobe Photoshop. As for the layout, you can stick with your word processing program (covered in the Costs of Writing section above) or use Adobe InDesign like the pros.

Stock Images/Photography: FREE-$20+

Free stock images can be found on sites like sxc.hu, but Fotolia or iStock offer a bigger selection of quality high-resolution images, which will run you $20 or more.

Fonts: FREE-$200

You can choose to use free fonts (already hanging out on your computer) such as Times New Roman or Garamond for your interior layout. If you want your book to look like others in your local Barnes and Noble, however, use a true professional font such as Minion Pro (which comes with Adobe Creative Suite) or Caslon.

When it comes to your cover, you can get a bit more creative with fonts — check out the selection at DaFont or MyFont.

The Costs of Publishing

ISBN: $125+ (total control) or $10+ (certain restrictions)

Purchasing a single ISBN from Bowker will run you $125. If you’re planning to write more than one book or are publishing your book in multiple formats (print, eBook, etc), you’ll save a ton by purchasing a block of 10 for $250.

Some publishers (like CreateSpace or Smashwords) provide much cheaper ISBN options if you’re willing to meet certain requirements, such as listing them as your publisher.

Setup Fees: $75

Certain POD publishers, such as Lightning Source, charge you a certain amount to setup your files for printing. LSI charges $37.50 for cover setup and $37.50 for interior setup for a total of $75.

Distribution: $12+

Lightning Source charges $12 a year to be distributed through Ingram, the largest book wholesaler. The fee also includes distribution through Baker & Taylor (who you could register with separately for $300 — ouch).

Proof: $30

When printing through Lightning Source, a proof copy of your book costs $30, including expedited shipping. This is an essential step because there are many issues you don’t notice until you actually hold your printed book (side note: it also feels *really* awesome).

Review Copies: FREE-$5+

After approving your proof, consider personally ordering copies to give away for review. You’ll pay the wholesale price, usually around $5 for a 300-page book.

Alternately, you could provide electronic review copies of your book by converting your interior file into a PDF.

The Costs of Promotion/Marketing

Author Website

  • Design: FREE – $350+
    If you choose custom design for your website, make sure you will easily be able to make updates as your career progresses. Just getting started? Consider a free website hosted on wordpress.com to get your feet wet! Note: we offer quality custom WordPress designs for our indie friends :-)  
  • Domain Name: FREE – $15/yr
    This is sometimes included in your hosting package (see below), but if you want to register multiple domains through a provider such as GoDaddy, they generally run around $15 apiece.
  • Hosting: FREE-$5/mo+
    A place for your website to live. Personally, we use InMotion Hosting (awesome, so far)!
  • Theme: FREE-$20+
    If you can’t afford a custom design but want something a little more spiffy than the default WordPress theme, purchase a premium theme from WooThemes  or ElegantThemes.
  • Mailing List: FREE-$20+
    A mailing list is the best way for you to keep in touch with readers you know are crazy-dedicated to you and your work. We use MailChimp, but have heard amazing things about AWeber. Most are priced by the number of subscribers you have (and MailChimp also offers an awesome ‘Forever Free‘ plan, perfect for getting started).

Book Trailer: FREE-$799+

To DIY your book trailer, check out Shannon’s post ’4 Steps to Making Your Own Book Trailer.’ If you’d rather leave it to the pros, a 90-second trailer goes for $500+.

The Biggest Self-Publishing Cost

As any indie author will attest, the biggest cost of self-publishing is your own time. Unless you have a hefty sum saved up to outsource everything, you’ll spend at least 50-100 hours on this endeavor!

Put Away That Calculator!

Again, remember, the above are simply the possible self-publishing costs. Some authors have spent thousands and others invested nothing but time. The route you choose is up to you!

Did I leave any costs out? Let me know in the comments!

 

This is a reprint from the Duolit blog.

Writing About Yourself

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There comes a time in our lives when some of us get the urge to leave a legacy. Who would like to read about our lives? Will our writings pass the Who Gives A SH– test? Perhaps just our families would be interested in our stories. Maybe our friends, or perhaps many people would have an interest in us. What should we write about and how should we write it?

Perhaps you could break your life up into time lines or you could write about topical areas such as my outline of my life below:

Mea Culpa (appology for tricks of memory or lack thereof)
Family Roots
Down on the Farm
Vagabond Years
Move to Lafayette
Middle School
High School
Indiana University
Army Years
Marriages
Civil Service Years
Music
Martial Arts
Writing, Publishing, and Reviewing
Patriot
Teaching
Book Barn and Other Businesses
Spirituality
Health
Kids and Grandkids

You can try to create dialog or just tell what went on. You can include pictures and captions to add clarity and interest.

Software

You can use a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or more ideally, a layout program such as Adobe InDesign, Quark, or Publish. Journal programs such as MacJournal can prove helpful as well. You can make it as simple or as complex as you want.

Suggestions

Be positive. Provide lessons learned. Don’t write an expose of your life. Remember, kids may read this, so keep it reasonably clean. Include interactions with others. Mention awards and honors and what they meant to you. Mention what you did not get a chance to do as well as your accomplishments. Talk about who helped you along the way and pay it forward. If you did something worthwhile, did it make a difference in someone else’s life? Write this in such a manner that readers will be proud to have known you. Don’t focus too much on those who have done you dirty. Do explain how you overcame adversity. 

 

This is a reprint from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends blog.

Is the Stigma of Self-Publishing Finally Gone?

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This post, by Ben Galley, originally appeared on C.S. Lakin‘s Live Write Thrive.

It’s a sad truth, and one that is almost immediately apparent to most, that self-published works can be immediately dismissed due to their origins. From readers, to blogs, to bookshops, the word self-published is often greeted with a grimace and a groan. Some of you may not have experienced this yet, but I guarantee you will in time. But why is this reputation such a notorious one? And, more importantly, what can we do to escape it?

 Cheap and Quick Doesn’t Mean Lousy

There are two main foundations to this reputation. The first comes from the very roots of why there has been such an “Indie Boom”over the last few years. Self-publishing is cheap and quick, and in any industry, this doesn’t often mean quality. This has had a deleterious effect on the rest of us.

In a nutshell, one of the reasons for this stigma is the high volume of low quality, rushed self-published works available. The large majority of readers will be unforgiving of books with no proper editing or a cover made in Word. It’s painted a poor initial view of us. Notoriety results. A bad reputation is a hard one to shrug. For readers who may have simply tried a few indie books in the past and been consistently disappointed, they are unlikely to try again. The same goes for reviewers.

 No Quality Controllers

The second reason is due to the publishers, though not directly. One of the big issues surrounding self-publishing is the idea of curating. This is the idea that within the book industry publishers are the curators of quality. Ideally, they decide what is good enough to go to print, and discard what isn’t. Whether or not this works in reality, some readers simply trust publishers to be stamps of high quality. Self-publishing has no such process, and because of that we’ve been dubbed the new slush pile. Because we lack this “quality stamp,” readers unfortunately view us as a risk, and not worth spending the money on. Combine this with the misconception that self-publishing is simply Vanity Publishing: a last resort to rejected authors, authors that therefore must not be very good at what they do, and we’ve got a community that thinks all self-published books are substandard. Who would want to buy a book by a rubbish author? This, combined with an already shaky reputation, has caused many readers, reviewers, press, and bookshops to close their doors. Many for good.

This is simply untrue. So what do we do about this? Do we campaign? Do we street march? Speak out? No, the simple answer is this: We attain quality.

 A Turn for the Best

The good thing is the tide is already turning. We are seeing Indies encroaching on the best-seller lists. We are seeing reviewers amending their policies. We are seeing dedicated blogs and sites curated by voracious readers of Indies. People are beginning to see that the lack of so called publisher-curating can actually allow fresh and new writing. The opinions are beginning to change. How? Because we are now working to avoid these stereotypes. And we are working HARD. Here’s how:

 

Read the rest of the post on Live Write Thrive.

What Are You Saying?

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This post, by Jenny Hilborne, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective blog on 7/4/12 and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site’s permission.

“What is the main theme or message of the book?”

I heard this question quite a bit on a booth I shared with 5 other authors at the LA Festival of Books this past April. I’ll admit it had me a bit stumped and I had to scramble for an answer. Madness and Murder has a theme of second chances woven through it, although I wasn’t actually aware of this until a reader pointed it out in a review. 


When I start writing a new novel, I have a main plot in mind and a possible working title, and that’s it. I definitely don’t have any kind of message or theme on my mind. If I’m honest, I don’t intend to convey any kind of message in my novels. I write to entertain rather than to educate. One reason for this is that I can’t be sure my message, should I decide to send one, would be interpreted in the way I intended.

I’d like to pose a question to readers: how important is it for a novel, a work of fiction, to carry a message? Does it need to be moralistic? 

I read fiction (thrillers) because I like to be entertained and I enjoy trying to solve the mystery. I’ve never thought much about whether there was a message in the books I read, and it doesn’t spoil my enjoyment if there isn’t one. Having just read (and loved) To Kill A Mockingbird, I’m not so sure anymore. I believe books with a message are more memorable and stay with the reader for longer. These are the books that generate conversation, which creates interest and spreads the word among the reading community.  Without a message, does the book stand a chance of breaking out from the ever-growing crowd? 
 
I’ve read books by authors who use their work to express themselves and their personal opinions, be it politics, religion, whatever. I tend to shy away from those. As a reader of fiction, I don’t want to know the author’s opinion on a subject and have it slant the outcome of the novel, or have it shoved down my throat. I just want a good story. After a little thought on the subject, I’d say I’m of the opinion a message is fine, good even, as long as it’s not too intense, but I don’t care if there isn’t one. How do you feel about it? Do you feel let down if there is no underlying message?

 

Read the rest of the post on the Crime Fiction Collective blog.

The Thirteen Trickiest Grammar Hang-Ups

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This post, by Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty, originally appeared on the Writer’s Digest site on 6/26/12.

I trust that you all know the difference between who and whom, and I trust that typos are the only reason you use the wrong it’s. It happens to the best of us. For most writers, if you can just maintain your focus (perhaps with caffeine and frequent breaks), you’ll get the basics right. The following problems, however, may have you scrambling for a refresher.

1. Half can be both singular and plural.

Typically, subjects and verbs agree: If the subject is singular, the verb is singular. If the subject is plural, the verb is plural. Easy peasy. However, sentences that start with half don’t follow this rule.

Half alone is singular: My half of the pizza is pepperoni. Yet although half is the subject in a sentence such as Half of the pizzas are missing, we use a plural verb because of something called notional agreement. It simply means that although half is singular, half of the pizzas has a notion of being plural, so you use a plural verb. Follow this rule when half is the subject of a sentence: If half is followed by a singular noun, use a singular verb. If half is followed by a plural noun, use a plural verb. Half of the pepperoni is ruined, but half of the tomatoes are missing.

Compound words that start with half are quirky too. They can be open, closed or hyphenated (e.g., half note, halfhearted, half-baked). There’s no rule that applies across the board, so you’ll have to check a dictionary.

2. Companies are not exactly people.

Companies are entities, but they are run by men and women, so you could make an argument for referring to a company as who, particularly since U.S. courts have ruled that companies are people in most legal senses. Nevertheless, the standard style is to refer to a company as an entity and use the pronouns it and that: We want to buy stock in a company that makes hot air balloons.

If you want to highlight that people in the company are behind some action or decision, name them and use who: Floating Baskets was driven to bankruptcy by its senior directors, who took too many expensive Alaskan joyrides.

3. American is a flawed term.

American is the only single word we have to refer to citizens of the United States of America (U.S.-icans?), but technically, an American is anyone who lives in North America, Central America or South America.

In the U.S. we, the people, have been calling ourselves Americans since before our country was even founded (as have our detractors). Although all people of the American continents are actually Americans, most readers in the U.S. and Europe assume that an American is a U.S. citizen, since that is how the word is most commonly used.

Despite its failings, use American to refer to a citizen of the United States of America. No better term exists. Feel free to feel guilty.

4. The word dilemma can be, well, a dilemma.

The di- prefix in dilemma means “two” or “double,” which lends support to the idea that dilemma should be used only to describe a choice between two alternatives. The Associated Press Stylebook and Garner’s Modern American Usage not only support that limitation, but go further, saying that dilemma should be used only for a choice between two unpleasant options.

Nevertheless, Garner also notes that other uses are “ubiquitous.” Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage and The Columbia Guide to Standard American English say it’s fine to use dilemma to describe any serious predicament, and The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style takes an intermediate position. What’s a writer to do? (Is it a dilemma?)

Unless you’re writing for a publication that requires you to follow a style guide that limits dilemma to a choice between two bad options, it’s not absolutely wrong to use dilemma to describe a difficult problem, even when alternatives aren’t involved, or to use dilemma to describe a difficult choice between pleasant options. Still, you’ll seem most clever when you use dilemma to describe a choice between two bad options. In other instances, before using dilemma, ask yourself if another word, such as problem, would work better.

Also, a cursory search of the Internet reveals that lots of people are confounded by the spelling of dilemma. Many were taught to spell it wrong. In fact, I was taught to spell it dilemna in school, and when I got older and checked a dictionary, I was shocked to find that the word is spelled dilemma. Further, the only correct spelling is dilemma. It’s not as if dilemna is a substandard variant or regional spelling. Dictionaries often note alternative spellings and sometimes even nonstandard spellings, but dilemna doesn’t even show up that way. As far as I can tell, nobody knows why so many teachers got it wrong. Perhaps a textbook typo is to blame.

 

Read the rest of the post on Writer’s Digest.