Author: Lisa E. Betz

Lisa Betz is a writer, blogger, and occasional director who lives in an empty nest perched on a wooded Pennsylvania hillside. She loves to bring characters to life, both on stage and on the page.

Categories
Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for October

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!

“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”

Creative Website Content with Rhonda Dragomir

In this episode, Rhonda continues the series on effective author’s websites. She shares with us the current trends in site design, as well as simple ways to add effective content that will draw people back to our sites.

Watch the October 9th replay

To learn more on creating amazing website content, check out the information and resources on this week’s Show Notes and Live Chat Discussions.

Rhonda Dragomir is a graduate of Asbury University with a degree in Social Work, she is also a pastor’s wife and Bible teacher. Rhonda is an award-winning writer, with published works in Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies and Spark magazine.

How to Prep for Writers Conferences with Bethany Jett

In this episode, Asst. Acquisitions Editor and Serious Writer co-owner Bethany Jett gives wonderful tips on how to prepare for a conference and what to expect while there. She also discusses etiquette when meeting staff, either for a fifteen minutes appointment or during a meal.

Watch the October 16th replay

To get the low down on making the most of your conference experience, including a secret or two, check out this week’s Show Notes and Live Chat Discussions.

Bethany Jett is the Founder and Co-Owner of Serious Writer, Inc., and Vice President of Platinum Literary Services where she specializes in marketing, nonfiction proposal creation, ghostwriting, and developmental editing. Her love for marketing and social media led to her pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in Communication: New Media and Marketing. She also holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Behavioral Social Science and Humanities with a Criminal Justice minor.

How to Create Compelling Book Covers with Graphics Designer Cody Morehead

In this episode, Cody discusses why you want a trendy, good looking book cover. He shows examples of eye-catching covers and explains the importance of understanding the current book cover trends. Cody reminds us, people really do judge a book by its cover.

Watch the October 23rd replay

To learn more on designing your book cover, as well as learning what a hex code is, check out the information and resources on this week’s Show Notes and Live Chat Discussions.

Cody Morehead is the Creative Director for Serious Writer™ Inc, and founder and owner of PubZoo Creative. To get a consultation for your book cover or logo design, go to RealPubZoo.com.

JOIN US!

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. Here’s the permanent Zoom room link.

Participants mute their audio and video during the filming, then we open up
the room for anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.

Additionally, you can grow your network and add to the conversation by joining our Writers Chat Facebook Group.

 

Categories
Copywrite/Advertising

4 Books that Fueled My Copywriting Imagination

Normally, when you search for a definition, you are looking for a way to narrow a term or concept. But the more I read about copywriting, the broader my understanding of copywriting becomes.

Copywriting is a boundless genre with limitless applications. Every time I bump into another copywriter and we swap writing stories, I am amazed at the uniqueness of his or her experience. I think to myself, “What a great idea! I’ll have to try that!”

The same happens when I “meet” another copywriter through reading their book.

Here are four books that fueled my copywriting imagination:

Writers for Hire: 101 Secrets for Freelance Success by Kelly James Enger. This book takes you step-by-step into the journey of freelancing. Most of the freelancing examples from the book are related to magazine article writing, but the concepts were useful for copywriting as well. Kelly emphasizes a personal touch by giving thank you notes to those she interviews, and she stresses the importance of keeping up on the business end of your writing life with invoices and paperwork.

Building a Storybrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller. People don’t really read emails or websites. They skim them. It’s not facts and figures that capture a skimmers attention. Storytelling captures attention. Donald Miller teaches you the simple elements of storytelling and applies them to business copywriting so you can catch the attention of customers and consumers and inspire them to participate in the call to action. Brilliant.

How to Write Copy That Sells: The Step-by-Step System for More Sales, to More Customers, More Often  by Ray Edwards.  This book is very practical with how-tos and templates for emails, websites, direct mail, and more. Includes tips and guidelines for social media posts as well which is an often overlooked area of copywriting.

102 Ways to Earn Money Writing 1,500 Words or Less: The Ultimate Freelancer’s Guide by I.J. Schecter. This book opened my eyes to unique writing possibilities that I never would have noticed otherwise. Wherever there are words, someone was paid to write them. My kids get tired of me saying it, but whenever they read a billboard or the bag that contains their fast food meal, I say, “Someone was paid to write that, you know.”

Sigh.

“Yes. We KNOW, Mom!”

Also, don’t be shy at initiating to ask if a business needs a copywriter. Even a big company. Send out an email describing your experience and your interest in writing about their service or product. The worse that can happen is… nothing. They never write back. The best case scenario? You land an awesome copywriting gig.

You don’t have to write fiction to be a creative writer. Open your eyes and take a look around you. What words are needed? Could you be the one to write them? Search #copywriter on Twitter and ask what kind of copywriting others do. Meet new people. Share your stories. Inspire each other to use your imagination.

Rachel Schmoyer is a pastor’s wife, mom of four, and a copywriter. She also helps Christians find the simple truths in the complex parts of the Bible at readthehardparts.com. Her other writings and publishing credits can be found on rachelschmoyerwrites.com.

Categories
Novelists Unwind

Novelists Unwind Welcomes Melody Carlson

Novelists Unwind Guest

Melody Carlson has written over 200 books but is especially known these days for her Christmas novellas. Her latest story, A Christmas by the Sea, was inspired by her own family’s experience of finding hundreds of sand dollars one Christmas while staying at a cabin along the Oregon coast.

New Releases

The authors featured in past interviews have been busy writing new books! Check out a few of the latest releases on Novelists Unwind.

New Releases from NU Featured Authors

More New Releases from NU Featured Authors

Novelists Unwind Giveaway

Congrats to Mary Roberts Smith who won Falling for You by award-winning author Becky Wade.

The next Novelists Unwind Giveaway will be announced on Saturday, November 3, 2018 at novelistsunwind.com. Be sure to enter for your chance to win a print edition of an amazing inspirational novel.

Meet Johnnie

Johnnie Alexander creates characters you want to meet and imagines stories you won’t forget. Her award-winning debut novel, Where Treasure Hides, made the CBA bestseller list. She writes contemporaries, historicals, and cozy mysteries, serves on the executive boards of Serious Writer, Inc. and the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference, co-hosts an online show called Writers Chat, and interviews inspirational authors for Novelists Unwind. She also teaches at writers conferences and for Serious Writer Academy. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Make Your Blog Mighty: Attention To The Details

Do details matter? In the world of blogging, I would say, “Yes.” You labor over a beautifully crafted blog spending time, effort and energy to share your heart with your audience only to hear crickets. Has this happened to you? The following two tips could help make your blog hum with activity by paying attention to the details.

SEO Your Headings

I recently saw a lengthy news article online. After the title and under the featured image, the writer listed bullet points sharing the most important topics shared in the article. This helped me to decide if I wanted to read the article in its entirety.

Headings in a blog are similar to the points noted in the article. Using the Headings Feature in WordPress will help your blog to be easily read. This allows the reader to scan the blog and know, at a glance, if they would like to read it.

Another reason to craft Headings is for SEO. As stated in a Yoast article,

“Although not a major ranking factor, headings do affect SEO. That’s because headings are important to help users understand the subject of an article. And if readers use headings to figure out what an article is about, Google will too.”

Crafting headings helps visually set a block of text apart and aids with the readability score in WordPress.  Yoast SEO recommends you offer a heading for every 300 words. To add headings, you type the heading, highlight it, and then select the dropdown box that says Paragraph.

Heading 1 – 6 are available options to select from. I usually use Heading 2 throughout my blog. You can choose Heading 1 as your first heading and use Heading 2 in the remainder of your blog.  For this blog post, I used Heading 2 only.

The Mighty Meta-Description

The purpose of creating a meta description is to have a reader choose your blog to read. Similar to the description on a book jacket, the meta description helps draw them in. State why they should read your blog. Using 150 characters, craft enticing phrases like, Learn More, Get It Now and Try It For Free. This needs to mirror/match your content or Google may penalize your site.  The meta-description should have your selected keyword shared at least once for SEO purposes.

For my blog titled, Why Being A Mother Has Great Value, I wrote the following meta description:

Is there value in the mundane daily chores of being a mother? This article says, “Yes.” Read why being a mother has great value.

My selected focus keyword is: a mother has great value. These words are also contained in my title. Using the focus keywords in my meta description, and title helped to give my Yoast SEO score a green light.

Another example of a meta description used by Barnes & Noble for the memoir, I Can Only Imagine By Bart Millard is the following:

I Can Only Imagine is an amazing book. I was humbled just reading it, Mr. Millard’s story is fantastic to read. To know all that he is gone through in his life and how GOD fit exclusively into it.

In this meta description, Barnes & Noble chose to use a book review to entice the reader. However you choose to craft your meta description, remember to make it do the heavy lifting to gain attention. In other words, make it mighty.

Why do these details matter? Meta descriptions help to entice your reader. Headers help your readers decide if they want to continue to read. There are many aspects to writing, designing and marketing your blog. These two details are two of the ingredients to make your blog mighty. For more tips, read Sure Fire Ways To Gain An Audience .

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Child's Craft

Is the Story Middle Grade or YA?

A Quick Look at the Two

Middle Grade:

Age of readers: 8 to 12 or 13

Length of books: 30,000 to 50,000 words

Content restrictions: No profanity, graphic violence or sex

Age of the Main Character: usually 12 or 13

Focus of the Main Character: friends, family, school, the immediate world and relationships.

Voice: usually third person

Young Adult:

Age of readers: usually 14 to 18

Length of books: 50,000 to 75,000 words

Content restrictions: Profanity, graphic violence, romance and sexuality are allowed if pertinent to the story.

Age of the Main Character: usually 14 or 15 for younger YA books, 17 or 18 (but still in High School) for older YA books.

Focus of the themes: YA MCs discover how they fit into the big world outside their family, friends and school.

Voice: usually first person

Ask Yourself The following Questions:

(Do this BEFORE you get into writing the manuscript.)

How old is the Main Character of the story?

9 to 12 years old means the story is for Middle Grade students. 14 to 18 means the story is for a YA audience. Avoid a 13 year-old Main Character.

What kind of strong language does the book contain?

Middle Grade books stay away from cursing. Some publishers allow peripheral characters like parents or coaches to do mild cursing a little. Words like “darn” are permitted.

If the Main Character and or their friends use profanity or sexually explicit words the book is for Young Adults. But publishers insist that the profanity serves a purpose, that it is critical to the character or to the voice. They don’t want profanity just for the sake of making a book edgy.

How graphic and how frequent is violence in the  book?

Often General Market publishers follow the same guidelines for violence as the ratings for movies and TV programming. Some Christian Market publishers allow more violence than others.

CHECK AND FOLLOW THE PUBLISHER’S GUIDELINES EXACTLY.

If you choose to add profanity or violence to the story remember that much less is allowed in Middle Grade books than in Young Adult books. That means much less violent, much less gory, much less frequently. Often the violence is reserved for the end, the last battle or the darkest moment in a Middle Grade book.

How much, and what kind of romance is in the story?

A crush, some hand-holding, a lot of blushing and embarrassment and maybe a peck on the cheek means the book is for Middle Grade.

If the Main Character (and others) are “in love,” have sexual contact or talk about sex, experience making out, real kissing or more, the book is for Young Adults. Even if these topics are not committed but are strongly hinted at, discussed or imagined, the book is for Young Adults.

How does the main character experience and interpret life and the world?

If the story centers around home, family, school, friends the Main Character probably experiences the story and their personal changes internally. That is typical of a Middle Grade book. The characters change but stay within the confines of their smaller world. They are just beginning a journey into seeing life a different way. They experience the events of the story, but aren’t especially aware of what they are feeling and why. They are not really analyzing life.

If the Main Character’s world expands during the story so that they start questioning and thinking about their place in the bigger world beyond home, family, school and friends the story is for Young Adults. The Main Character is experiencing the world externally and beginning a journey to find their place in the bigger world and see life differently. They tend to be introspective and analytical about their experience and how it affects their life.

Jean Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary. Her premier picture book series Four Seasons was recently signed by Little Lamb Books. Jean is a member of the SCBWI, Word Weavers International, and the Kentucky Christian Writers. Visit Jean at www.jeanmatthewhall.com, on Facebook at Jean Matthew Hall, and on Twitter as @Jean_Hall.

Categories
Mastering Middle Grade

Three Things I Wish I’d Known

Do you ever stare at one sentence until your eyes start watering? Have you had to read that one sentence a few times before the words carry less sting and begin to make more sense?

That happened to me when I opened a rejection email, skimmed the courtesy introduction part, and then reached the paragraph that started with

“I’m sorry to say I stopped reading after chapter 7.”

Ouch.

After I put some ice on my bruised ego, I decided to send the offending manuscript to some trusted reader partners.

I truly did want productive feedback. But in the dark, vain corner of my heart I sought validation. I knew my readers would review my work, love (nearly) every word, and validate  They’ll prove this agent wrong and my pride will be healed and I will send this gem back out into the world and so on and so forth and what have you.

Let me tell you what actually happened.

I got some comments back that changed the way I think about writing for middle grade. Here are the biggest three:

1) Quick starts are the best starts.

If you think you need to set the stage for eight- to twelve-year-old readers by filling the first three (or more) chapters with character and location descriptions, think again. Start in the middle of action or they will get b-o-r-e-d fast.

Think of your book as a swimming pool. Middle grade readers don’t want you to hold their hand and walk them through the shallows. Middle grade readers are eager to jump in to the action of your world. If you try to show them their way into it, they will leave. For example:

My old writing: Susie Queue was the shortest girl in her sixth grade class. She had chestnut hair and dark eyes that observed every envious look the other girls shot her way.

My new writing: Suzie stretched to retrieve her books from her top locker. She tried to ignore the girls giggling next to her and focus all her energy on not being late to class.

The first two sentences were passive, observational. We were told about Susie, but nothing really happened to pull us in. The second two sentences dropped us into action. We learned about Susie because of what she did. As she does more, we will learn more.

2) More pages, more problems (but in the best way).

Protagonists need problems to solve. If those problems are too simple, a middle grade reader at best will become bored and put the book down. At worst, they’ll get offended and tell their friends not to bother reading it because “it’s for little kids.”

Good stories have main characters who have something to gain and something to lose. Know what those are for your characters. Make sure in every scene you’re using them to move the story forward. When your characters are comfortable, your reader is probably bored.

3) Humor is your friend.

I wrote a protagonist who lost his parents, his sibling, his best friends and then his dog over the course of three chapters. It was an overly intense, emotional mess that nobody wanted to finish.

I realize that I just wrote about giving your protagonist high stake problems to solve. Keep doing that. Also, give your reader a little laugh occasionally to let them breathe. Think about the times in your life where you’ve been in a low place. Having a friend to make you smile gives you the energy and encouragement to keep going. Write that smile to give your readers the emotional breather so they are ready to turn the page.

What are some things you wish you had known when you began writing for middle grade? Anything you’re still curious about?

Kell McKinney earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and an M.S. in documentary studies from the University of North Texas. She’s a part-time copywriter, double-time mom and wife, and spends every free minute writing and/or hunting for her car keys. Connect with her on Twitter @Kell_McK or kellmckinney.com.

Categories
Platform and Branding

Nailing Your Metadata: Keywords

Last month we talked about categories. Now we’re going to dig into the other side of the metadata equation: keywords.

Nailing your Keywords

Your keywords are the 7 (on Amazon) particular words/phrases that you’d like your book to come up under if someone searches for them. Most authors make the mistake of picking a few descriptive terms like “bible study” or “romantic comedy”. Unless you’re a NYT Bestseller, it’s unlikely that you’ll rank first on this page of results.

Alternatively, some people pick keywords that no one is interested in or actually typing in. If you are trying to rank in ultra-competitive keywords, you’re in shark-invested waters without a float. If no one is searching for the keywords you’re using, you’re in the desert.  So what’s the key? Picking keywords that are being searched for often, but don’t have much competition. There is a fine line, and it’s a tightrope to balance.

 There’s a statistic that says if your book ranks first overall for a search term, there is a 27% chance a shopper will click on your book. If your book is the second result, that number drops to 12%. The odds of someone clicking on your book if it ranks on the second page are only 7% (for all 10-15 results on the page).

So, you want to be on that first page, and you want to be that first result if possible. But you also want to make sure there are people actually interested in that keyword.

Your job is to research various terms related to your book and analyze the market for it. You need to break down the monthly traffic volume for each possible term, and then look at how fierce the competition is based on the highest-ranking titles’ sales rank. With these numbers in mind, you can choose the 7 most effective keywords to keep your book visible to the right audience.

Pro Tip: How do you analyze the traffic of each term? Well that’s a good question. I use a tool called KDP Rocket to analyze traffic data for all of my clients. It digs into the Amazon numbers to tell you just how often (per month) a term is being searched for, and how competitive that term is. You might be surprised by the results. This is the best tool I’ve found to help with keyword research.

Putting It All Together

Optimizing your metadata might not become a bestseller overnight. It doesn’t have the kind of immediate effect that ad campaigns or discount promotions have. But what it does give you is a competitive advantage and the ability to maintain long-term success from the short-term sales strategies. By updating your categories and keywords, you instantly become more discoverable to target readers, and that is always a good thing.

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel The Man with Two Names was published in July 2017 and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent is also the Senior Editor for blueridgeconference.com. If you are interested in contributing a blog for the site, or have any other queries, you can reach him at Vincent@thirteenthpress.com

Categories
The Intentional Writer

Promotion is Coming

The intentional writer

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s this—promotion always takes preparation.

That truth was never more evident in my life than when I took a magazine feature writing position at a worldwide ministry, only to be informed I’d actually be doing something entirely different…and I wasn’t thrilled about it.

My editor explained that they had a greater need for another ghostwriter, so I would be fulfilling that role. During my years at Indiana University Journalism School, I’d been told to “find my voice.” So, I’d been working hard every day since college graduation to do just that. Now, my new boss was telling me: “Lose your voice, and find somebody else’s.”

That just didn’t make sense to me.

“Let me get this straight,” I answered. “I’m going to be taking somebody else’s thoughts and words from a sermon or a presentation, and then I’m going to write an article weaving all of those thoughts together in that person’s voice? With no byline?”

“Exactly,” my Editor answered. “That’s why it’s called ‘ghostwriting.’ You are invisible.”

Little did I know, not only was God working out some of that stubborn pride from my heart, but also He was preparing me for a role that would be a great blessing in my life—spiritually, professionally and financially. I was able to learn to ghostwrite while getting paid to do so—all the while being mentored by one of the best ghostwriters in the business who happened to work two offices over from me. It wasn’t an especially easy season in my life, but it was a season of preparation, though I didn’t know it then.

A few years later, I was offered the assignment of a lifetime, ghostwriting a book for a celebrity I greatly respected. That book ended up being a New York Times Bestseller, which opened up numerous ghostwriting doors for me. Over the years, I’ve been able to ghostwrite for many wonderful people, and it’s been a privilege to help them tell their stories.

But I wouldn’t have had those awesome opportunities without that season of preparation at the worldwide ministry.

You know, there are examples of preparation proceeding promotion throughout God’s Word. Take Esther, for example. She was just living her life as a lovely young Jewish girl in Persia when she ran smack dab into her destiny—becoming the Queen and ultimately saving the Jews from annihilation. However, in order for her to step into that destiny, she had to go through a year’s worth of beauty treatments. (Esther chapter 2) During that season, God was preparing her both spiritually and physically for what was to come. Had she not gone through those 12 months of preparation, she wouldn’t have been in position for that promotion.

So, let me ask you, are you experiencing a season of preparation? If so, don’t be discouraged or grow weary in the waiting. Just know that you are being prepared for promotion, and rejoice in it!

Michelle Medlock Adams is an inspirational speaker, award-winning journalist and best-selling author of more than 80 books, earning top honors from the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Hoosier State Press Association. Since graduating with a journalism degree from Indiana University, Michelle has written more than 1,500 articles for newspapers, magazines and websites; acted as a stringer for the Associated Press; written for a worldwide ministry; helped pen a New York Times Bestseller; served as a TV host for TBN’s “Joy in Our Town” show; and blogged for Guideposts. Today, she is President of Platinum Literary Services—a premier full-service literary firm—and she serves as chairman of the board for Serious Writer Inc., and teaches courses for Serious Writer Academy.   Michelle is married to her high school sweetheart, Jeff, and they have two grown daughters, Abby and Allyson, two son-in-laws, and one grandson, as well as a miniature dachshund, a rescue Shepherd/Collie mix, and two cats. When not writing or teaching, Michelle enjoys bass fishing and cheering on the Indiana University Basketball team and the Chicago Cubbies .

Categories
My Writing Journey

Thanks, Tony Robbins

“Janine?” Where are you?”

I don’t know why my husband asked me that. He knew where to find me– in front of the computer, squirting eye drops in my blurry eyes.

Yep, I’d spent another all-nighter spiffing up my manuscript. After twenty-two years, a renowned publisher had asked to see the whole thing. As I pounded the keyboard, giving Answered Prayer a final twice-over, I wondered how many nights I could go without sleep. (It was four, minus a couple two-hour naps.)

My writing journey started in the summer of 1996. I had purchased a set of “Personal Power” cassettes from Tony Robbins. At the ripe-old age of thirty-eight, it was time to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. For thirty days, I walked the high school track and let Tony’s voice seep into my head:

“The past does not equal your future.”

and

“Decide today who you will become, what you will give, and how you will live.”

I got the message. I wanted to become a writer. And not the kind who pens killer grocery lists on the back of the electric bill.

I went back to college, took a couple of computer and creative writing classes, and began my writing journey.

I wish I could say my first book was good. Calling it bad is a compliment. I still cringe when I think about it. If you’re a writer, you understand why. Your first book, though a labor of love, is fraught with newbie errors: POV changes mid-paragraph, a plot so crooked it rivals a dog’s back leg, and characters so boring they put themselves to sleep.

But it was my start…

With the love of God and 19th-century westerns deep in my soul, I began the second book. And for the past twenty years Cassandra Jane Pickett and her ruggedly handsome (of course) love-interest, Matt Atkins, have visited agents and publishers, in hopes someone would see their worth and give them a shot. (Well, yes. I revamped and edited their story so many times, it barely resembles its auspicious beginning).

But I’m happy to say their dreams, and mine, have not been in vain. The editorial director at Kensington Publishing is reviewing Answered Prayer even as I write this article.

As I wait by my computer with bated breath (Eww!), I hold hope Answered Prayer will see the publishing light of day.

Hmm… Tony Robbins was right. The future can look brighter every day.

Janine Mick Wills is a former pastor’s wife with a B.A. in Christian Ministry. She received The Grace Way Bible Society Award from Ambassador Baptist College for high academics and Christian character. She has used her training to help women grow in the grace and knowledge of God (Titus 2:3-5). To this end, she created a page on Facebook  called Growing in Grace by Janine Mick Wills. Janine has published articles in many magazines, including NovelAdvice, an online site that gives advice to aspiring novelists. She was also a columnist and freelance reporter for The Tomahawk (Mountain City, TN).

Categories
Book Proposals

The Why Behind a Book Proposal

No, agents and editors are not sadists. We do not ask you to write an extensive book proposal to torture you; although many say writing a book proposal is harder than writing their book. We ask you for a proposal to help us evaluate three things.

Continue reading “The Why Behind a Book Proposal”
Categories
Novelists Unwind

Novelists Unwind Interviews Lynette Eason and Becky Wade

Romance with suspense or romance with glamour?

Why pick one when you can have both?

Lynette Eason

I met Lynette a few years ago at a writers retreat, and our paths have crossed again at other conferences. She’s a kind-hearted, humble, and talented writer. So it was a delight to chat with her about her latest novels in the Blue Justice Series. The first book in the series, Oath of Honor, is a page-turner with an intricate plot. And a cute little dog named Mozart.

Becky Wade

Becky and I discovered we have something in common—we’re both the oldest of our siblings. And so is her heroine in Falling for You, the second novel in the Bradford Sisters Romance Series. The paths of a famous model and a famous football player cross again when they’re enlisted to help a young girl solve a family mystery. Will the love they experienced before be rekindled? This story is a page-turner, too!

The next Novelists Unwind Giveaway will be announced on Saturday, October 6th, at novelistsunwind.com. Be sure to enter for your chance to win a print edition of an amazing inspirational novel.

Meet Johnnie

Johnnie Alexander creates characters you want to meet and imagines stories you won’t forget. Her award-winning debut novel, Where Treasure Hides (Tyndale), made the CBA bestseller list. She writes contemporaries, historicals, and cozy mysteries, serves on the executive boards of Serious Writer, Inc. and the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference, co-hosts an online show called Writers Chat, and interviews inspirational authors for Novelists Unwind. She also teaches at writers conferences and for Serious Writer Academy. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

3 Sure Fire Ways To Find Your Audience

When I started blogging, I researched examples online. I came across a blogger who posted one paragraph a day. I wondered if this was the norm. I thought there had to be more to blogging than writing a single paragraph. Is this how I find an audience for my blog?

Posting

After a few minutes, I discarded the idea of writing so few words. Instead, I chose to create blogs ranging from 400 – 700 words, depending on the topic. But what I failed to realize from the blogger I discovered was the concept of consistency. Posting daily created a body of work which helped him be found by search engines. 365 paragraphs to be exact. At 120 words on average, the total equals 43,800 words. His body of work all posted on the internet. A library of sorts, if you will. Each post with its own topic.

My sister-in-law had started a blog before me. She had consistently posted over the years creating her own body of work. When she shared my website with her followers, several of them started following me. Her consistency and sheer volume of work helped me to start finding my audience.

As a new blogger decide how often you want to post and stay consistent. At first, I posted weekly. Now, my schedule as a special needs mom, author, columnist, and social media instructor allows me to post on my own blog monthly.

How much should you post just starting out? How do you create your own body of work in a short amount of time?  One way is to join this year’s NANOWRIMO which is an acronym for National Novel Writing Month.

Sure Fire Tip: Find your audience by posting quality content, 2-3 times a week. Posting once a week or once a month can still gain you an audience but at a slower rate. You may also want to guest post to help your audience find you. Read more here.

You don’t have to be writing a novel to join this challenge in November. Another writer who joined last year used the opportunity to write a blog post each day of the challenge. This year, I plan to create a blog every day in November. Once completed, I will use the body of work created as a backlog of pre-prepared blogs. With consistent posting, this could also boost my SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helping me to grow my audience. You can sign up for NANOWRIMO here

Titles/Descriptions

As an author, I know how important it is to have an attention-grabbing, gotta read it, give it to me now title. From the title of your blog to your meta-description, creating interest for your audience is key.

Use a great title generator to help you craft the perfect title. I use coschedule.com’s headline analyzer. This title generator ranks your title on a scale up to 100. Don’t fret, I’ve never received a 100 on any of my titles, but I am happy to see my title go green (above 70.)

Sure Fire Tip: Use this headline analyzer to create your titles with a score of 70 or above.

The title I intended to use for this blog post was Blog Basics For Beginners. Kinda rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it? Though it seemed like a catchy title to me, it received a headline score of 40.

How did I get my score up? I downloaded a list of emotional words:

I added Sure Fire which is an emotional word found on the list and changed the title to 3 Sure Fire Ways To Find Your Audience.

The title of this blog received a score of 71. Your score color is green when scoring over 70.

Focus Keyword

When I want to search for topics about memoirs, I type the word memoir in my google search bar. Or, in my particular area of interest, I type, medical memoirs. The first return under this topic is Popular Medical Memoirs Books by Goodreads.

If I type in my son’s diagnosis using this string of words: Thanatophoric Dwarfism Survivors, the second result is an article I wrote for The Mighty.com. The 8th result is a blog I wrote on my website. (The Mighty.com has a much larger body of work than my blog; hence, higher on the list.)

The word or string of words searched for in the Google search bar are focus keywords your audience will use to find results for a topic. And hopefully, they will find you.

TIPS

Tip 1: When crafting your blog, think about how your audience would search for your topic/blog.

Tip 2: Before writing, search your topic in Google. What words did you use to search? Chances are, this will be your keyword or keywords. Did your search return any results? If so, peruse the results and decide if you want to narrow your topic. If no results appeared, your topic may be just what your audience wants to know.

Tip 3: Still need help finding a keyword(s)? You can find suggestions for a keyword by using Yoast suggest.

Write your article/blog with your keyword or keywords in mind. Naturally add these words in your title, article headings, picture tags, meta-description and in the body of your content. (Read Part 2 of Sure Fire Ways To Find Your Audience next month for further discussion of headings, tags, and meta-description.)

Sure Fire Tip: Use Yoast Suggest to find a fit for your keyword(s).

For this article, I searched for Grow Your Audience in Google. Potential focus keywords returned were:

  • grow your blog audience
  • how to grow your audience
  • how to find grow your audience

Based on this list and the content of my blog, I would select “grow your blog audience” as my keywords. This should help my ideal audience find this blog post when searching using these words.

Sure Fire Tip: Use Yoast suggest to find your keyword(s) for your blog.

Have you used any of the above websites when creating your blog post? Do you use other websites to craft your blog and help find your audience? Share in the comments below. Let’s help each other grow.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
The Picky Pen

Editing Like a Director

Hello! How’s your editing been going for you? I hope you’re seeing great improvement, but if you’re at a loss for how to edit or even what it consists of, take heart.

Editing is as much an art form as writing, so the more you practice, the better your results will be. Last month, we looked at three way to think like an editor. This month, we’ll switch gears and look at how to edit like a director. Rather, we’ll transform our story into the stage and our characters into actors. You enjoy a well-done performance, don’t you? Consider what makes up a stunning stage performance . . . and we’ll incorporate a few tips for how to edit like a director.

Three tips for how to edit like a director

  1. Captivating dialogue

I understand. Dialogue is hard to craft because as in life, there’s emotion, nuance, and subtext in our characters’ dialogue. When crafting my own dialogue between my characters, I must reflect on the general goal I want my hero and/or heroine to accomplish. And whatever that goal is the dialogue should mirror that goal. For instance, if my amateur detective heroine wants to get admission into the exhibit so she can scoop up clues from last night’s painting theft, but no one will let her in because that section of the museum has been closed off, she’s got to convince the ticket master that it’s important to let her in. What might that dialogue consist of?

Amateur detective: “Sir, I’m with the police. I’d like to be let inside the exhibit hall, so I may conduct my search.”

Ticket master: “I’m very sorry. Only the private investigators are allowed in there.”

Amateur detective: “But I am a private investigator.”

Ticket master: “Hardly, miss. Where are your credentials?”

  1. Strong character actions

Outside of dialogue, strong character actions is the most important element on the stage because it connects the audience with the actors and endears them to the entire story. Likewise, giving your story characters specific movements throughout each story scene will entice our readers to want to engage with the story. Let’s take the dialogue we crafted between the amateur detective and the ticket master and incorporate some strong character actions.

Lily Nash stepped inside the museum’s expansive lobby, searching for the ticket counter. Ah, there, near a huge marble column. “Sir, I’d like to be let inside the exhibit hall, so I may conduct a search from last night’s robbery.”

“I’m very sorry, but that’s closed to the public. Only private investigators are allowed in there.” The ticket master stamped a few papers and filed them.

Gripping her handbag, she said, “But I am a private investigator.”

The ticket master cast a scorning glance down at her over his thin metal spectacles. “Hardly, miss. Where are your credentials?”

Did you notice yourself envision the scene, what the characters might look like, and how their voices might sound, based from this scene? Does it seem like Lily isn’t as prepared as she should be, and the ticket master is a stern fellow? Do you hear the desperation in Lily’s voice and the disbelief in the ticket master’s? Can you see the lobby’s high ceiling and the large, stone columns? We have not included anything but character actions and dialogue, and perhaps you are connected with the scene already.

  1. Strong transitions between scenes

Incorporating strong transitions between your story’s scenes will help your readers connect the dots and stay on track with the story as it ebbs and flows, leading to the climax and the ending. Now, we’ll take the last scene, with dialogue and character action, and create transition scenes before and after.

Looking up at the front of the art museum, Lily Nash clutched her stomach. Her first assignment alone.

She stepped inside the museum’s expansive lobby, searching for the ticket counter. Ah, there, near a huge marble column. “Sir, I’d like to be let inside the exhibit hall, so I may conduct a search from last night’s robbery.”

“I’m very sorry, but that’s closed to the public. Only private investigators are allowed in there.” The ticket master stamped a few papers and filed them.

Gripping her handbag, she said, “But I am a private investigator.”

The ticket master cast a scorning glance down at her over his thin metal spectacles. “Hardly, miss. Where are your credentials?”

“I have them, sir.” Lily dug through her handbag. Fear gripped her throat. She’d had it at the station. Without another word to the ticket master, she turned and fled the building.

Transitions don’t have to extend to several sentences or even paragraphs. Just mention enough to get your characters from one place to the next so it will be clear to your readers how your characters are moving throughout the story as it progresses, hopefully, from good to bad to worse to a climactic ending with a satisfying end.

Just as each theatrical production has its own style, theme, and tone, your story has its own style, scene exchanges, dialogue, and tone so that the message truly reaches the reader’s heart. The bottom line is to make sure your writing shows an entire story being acted out as if it were a theatrical production. Now, take a small scene from your current WIP and see how you can transform it into a scene that fully engages readers in dialogue, character actions, and transitions.

Please join in the discussion! I’d love to hear from you!

Take a few minutes and ruminate. How do you edit like an actor?

Tisha Martin writes historical fiction and nonfiction but also edits and proofreads for beginning and best-selling writers, professional editing agencies, and publishing houses. She has a BA in Professional Writing, an MS in English Education, and an editing certificate from the PEN Institute, affordable continuing education for editors. Active in American Christian Fiction Writers and The PEN, she appreciates the writing and editing communities. As Assistant Director of PENCON, a conference for editors, she enjoys travel marketing and updating PENCON’s Facebook Page. Connect with Tisha on her website www.tishamartin.com and engage in the conversation.

Categories
Child's Craft

Nonfiction For Kids Is Big! – Part II

Last month we looked at an overview of writing nonfiction for kids. This month we focus in on writing nonfiction magazine articles for kids. Most children’s magazines buy MORE nonfiction articles than fiction.

Here are some helpful tidbits for crafting and selling your nonfiction to children’s magazines (online and print).

  • Research way more than you think you need. Use print sources and primary sources (interviews with people) primarily. For facts be sure you have three reliable, verifiable sources for each fact you include.
  • Keep track of your sources. A variety of website and software packages include bibliography builders. Pick one and use it to keep track of the following information:
    • Title and author (and illustrator) even on websites
    • Publishing company or magazine title
    • Publishing date or magazine date, volume and issue
    • City of publication for books
    • Page numbers for all printed material. Photocopy or download the actual pages you use.
    • For online sources the URL
    • For primary sources their names and date of the interview
  • Organize your research. If you can outline your article before you write it. If not, be sure you can outline it logically after it is written.
  • Be able to sum your article up in one sentence.
  • Remember the rule of threes.
  • Use great writing: strong verbs and nouns, clear sentences, keep words and sentence length age-appropriate, write tight, avoid passive voice.
  • Use visuals if you are a photographer or illustrator. If not, recommend the inclusion of visuals at specific places in your article.
  • Use humor when appropriate
  • Try to use a child-character in your article.
  • Research the publishers (books and magazines) well before submitting. Follow their guidelines exactly.

Magazines buy a variety of nonfiction articles. Here are a few ideas to get your brain tumbling.

  • Step-by-step How-to articles. Be sure the tools, materials and instructions are age-appropriate. Follow magazine guidelines exactly.
  • Sports articles. Interviews with sports figures, or profiles on them are always needed. Also informational articles should be about unusual sports. Introduce kids to sports they don’t commonly read about or participate in.
  • Articles about the arts. Focus, again, on famous people or people who have accomplished exciting or unusual things. If your subject is a kid that’s a big plus. Focus your articles on unusual productions, musical instruments, how-to articles for visual arts or literature.
  • How-to articles are great for sports, the arts, cooking, crafts, science experiments, gardening, pet care. The list is endless. Be sure to organize the article well with headings that clearly show the steps.
  • Facts or informational pieces. RESEARCH well. Write in a kid-friendly style. Engage and inspire your readers to dig deeper into the subject. Supply them with other sources (books, websites, magazines) they can check out for themselves.

Remember: nonfiction is BIG! It takes lots of research and plenty of patience to get the articles done right. But selling nonfiction magazine articles is a giant step toward publication and a readership of hundreds of thousands of kids. They’re eating this stuff up.

Go for it!

EXTRA: For more handy info about writing nonfiction for children read Cyle Young’s article here.

Jean Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary. Her premier picture book series Four Seasons was recently signed by Little Lamb Books. Jean is a member of the SCBWI, Word Weavers International, and the Kentucky Christian Writers. Visit Jean at jeanmatthewhall.com, on Facebook at Jean Matthew Hall, and on Twitter as @Jean_Hall.

Categories
History in the Making

Is Writing Historical Fiction a Good Fit for You?

History in the making

I enjoy digging into the past, following bunny trails of history, and learning about cultures long interred and nearly forgotten. And then weaving a plausible story using the events and people of another time period.

It takes a lot of excavating (sometimes years) to discover enough buried remains of the past to write authentic prose, avoid historical mistakes, and gain the trust of your readers. Then you live with the fact that, inevitably, there will be mistakes. And what you create will be neither true nor false, but only a probability of what may or may not have happened.

 You can’t depend on what you think you already know.

I write Biblical historical and my first novel is set in Ancient Egypt during the Abrahamic era. I started writing with my own memory of events (from Sunday School) having a large influence over my story and discovered several mistakes early.

  • Abraham and Sarah were called Abram and Sarai at this time.
  • Pictures of Abraham riding a camel through the desert are historically inaccurate–the camel had not yet been domesticated.
  • Although Pharaoh’s army pursued Moses into the Red Sea on chariots, during Abraham’s day, the ancient Egyptians had no such vehicle.

Wear the hat of an investigative reporter.

I took a step back and spent nearly the next five years exploring the Middle Bronze Age, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient Mesopotamia. And I realized I had to find research material beyond the internet because (surprise) it had a lot of false and flawed information.

[bctt tweet=”Like a reporter, historical novelists have to check facts and verify sources. #writetips #writerslife” username=””]

Going “old school” and visiting libraries or buying and borrowing reference books often provide my most reliable resources.

I recently wrote a heart-wrenching chapter about the death of a beloved man named Mamre. Going back through my research, I realized I killed the poor fellow off too soon. I put him in an early grave before (according to history) he went to war and became a hero.

My WIP is from Genesis, so any student of the Bible would have caught my mistake and lost confidence in me as a writer. I was glad I took the time to fact-check.

You dig up a lot of gold nuggets, but only cash a few in.

One of the most difficult things to do when writing historical fiction is to not use all of your research. You spend countless hours exploring a specific time period, and you want to share all of that information, but most of it should never make its way into your novel.

The work you do is to give yourself a sense of time and space. Take your reader on an adventure in another age, but do so without overwriting. You have to know what to leave in and what to leave out. Remember that you are writing a novel–not an encyclopedia.

Questions to ask yourself if you are wondering if historical fiction is for you:

 Does reading about the past interest you?

  • Does the prospect of a long process sound worthwhile to you?
  • Are you willing to find research material beyond the internet?
  • After all your hard work, are you willing to let most of it go?
  • Do you see yourself reimagining history?
  • Can you visualize combining past events or people with fiction?

If you answered yes to all of the above–good news–this genre is for you!

KD Holmberg is an author, blogger, and freelance writer. She is a member of ACFW, Word Weavers International, and a founding member of the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild. She is represented by Hartline Literary Agency. A retired flight attendant, she has traveled and lived all over the globe. She and her husband, Keith, love to golf and live in South Carolina. You can find more about her: Facebook @authorkdholmberg, twitter @kdeniseholmberg, and kdeniseholmberg.blogspot.com

Categories
Guest Posts

Writing with Family

Writing a book is a process.

It began as a school assignment for my granddaughter when she was in third grade. She is now a seventh grader.

She was supposed to write 100 words and grace her pages with artwork. From her hand-written pages, I typed. Then she drew.

A little girl collected buttons and had a favorite that she had misplaced. She searched and searched, and searched some more–and found it! That was her story.

She put her finished work in a binder decorated with buttons. She earned a very good grade.

And I said, “I think you have something here. Let’s keep going.”

So we worked to understand the girl. Why was the button important? What did the girl look like? What did she like? Who was her family? Who were her friends?

We switched from third person (she) to first person (I). We developed a reason the button was important. We added family, friends, dialogue, description, repeating symbolism, and motives.

I thought we had a picture book, so I shared it with an author/friend. She said, “It’s not a picture book. It’s a chapter book. Keep working.”

So we did.

Writing a book is a process.

 

We shifted from the perspective of the little girl to the viewpoint of one of the previously peripheral characters–a boy–a new kid in town.

We drew in a team of helpers–her brother and some of their cousins. Sometimes, a committee of us met in a very professional manner discussing the story and deciding how to enhance it—even once debating a character’s name.

Around my dining room table, the family at large discussed the hair color of one character—calling a cousin down from the playroom to be our model.

Sometimes, ideas popped up during car rides.

Sometimes, I wrote alone.

One day, I typed as a grandson and I developed a chapter together.

Just last evening, another grandson gave us our revised title.

Now, we have more than 12,000 words. And so begins the process of cutting fat that may weigh it down and slow its journey to print. During that process, we search for places to add flesh and blood where the text is dry bone.

Then we will ask others to invest in it—to help us send it on its way. Will it float and fly? Or will our labors continue? To do otherwise is to let our project die. And our dream is that it will live in the imaginations of many.

Wordcraft is a process in which we grow along with our characters, a process that weaves bonds by telling stories real and imagined.

William Faulkner said writing is “agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before.”

We are making a piece of work that did not exist before. Something from our human spirits. And in that process, we’ve explored life and characters and human character and tightened the bonds between us.

Writing a book is a wonderful process.

 

Writer and teacher Nancy E. Head is the author of the soon-to-be-published Restoring the Shattered: Illustrating Christ’s Love Through the Church in One Accord. Nancy was a single mother with five children under the age of 14 when she attended Penn State to earn a bachelor’s degree in English and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  Her career took a journalistic turn from radio news to newspaper reporting, then education before she returned to the classroom to secure a master’s degree in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Currently an instructor at Penn State Altoona and Great Commission Schools, she also spent two summers teaching English in Asia.  She is a member of the Altoona Writers’ Guild, the Christian Writers’ Roundtable, and Toastmasters.

When not teaching or writing, she restores antique quilts, crafts projects for her grandchildren, and helps her husband lead a small group devoted to ministering to the needy in their community.

Categories
Mastering Middle Grade

Branding Basics for Middle Grade Writers

When you think about the word “brand,” what comes to mind? A metal tool used with cattle? A particular fruit? A can of soda?

Before I started writing for kids, I wrote marketing campaigns and ad copy as part of a corporate brand advertising team. Companies invest major money in creating brands, and for good reason. People who sell products want to claim a portion of your mind and heart so you will feel good about spending your hard-earned money on them.

What is a brand, anyway? A brand is:

  • a promise
  • an emotional connection
  • actions that deliver upon both

You may be wondering whether this is important right now, especially if you have not published that much or are pre-published. Branding is important for writers for the same reasons it is important for businesses. Readers have plenty of options to choose from, and they are more likely to choose books by authors they are either a) familiar with or b) recommended by their friends. You have a better chance of being read if readers recognize your name. That’s where your branding efforts come in.

Does this mean, as a writer, that you have to take out a second mortgage to hire high-powered advertising agencies to create a brand for you? Of course not. But you do need to spend a little time thinking about some things. Make no mistake: you are, with every decision you make and every action you take, constructing your own personal brand. Let’s make sure that it’s the one you want to build.

Good branding starts with understanding the business – in this case, you.  Remember the three essential elements of a brand that I outlined earlier? The first one is the promise. What is your promise? Discover this for yourself by answering these questions:

  • What do you write?
  • For whom?
  • What value do you bring (what makes you special)?

Next, you will want to consider what kind of emotional response you want associated with your author brand. Whether you write scary stories, bible-based adventures, or slapstick comedy, think about how you want to be perceived by your readership. Do you want them to count on you for a dose of silliness in a stressful world? Do you want to connect through your adventurous spirit and imaginative tales?

Finally, your actions – what you do and where you go to market your work – must be consistent with your brand promise. Whatever your desired connection with your reader is, you need to bring that goal into focus and let it guide you. Thanks for reading and happy branding!

Kell McKinney earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and an M.S. in documentary studies from the University of North Texas. She’s a part-time copywriter, double-time mom and wife, and spends every free minute writing and/or hunting for her car keys. Connect with her on Twitter @Kell_McK or kellmckinney.com.

Categories
Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for September, Part 1

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers, and for writers!

“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it!”

Live Website Critiques with Rhonda Dragomir

Not sure if your website is effective or professional looking? Well you’ve come to the right place. In this episode of Writers Chat, as Rhonda critiques a volunteer’s website, she will share her criteria on what makes a website effective and engaging. You can use her criteria to bring your website to the next level and have “engage-ability”.

Watch the September 4th replay.


Want to see know more about how to make your website professional grade? Find it on this week’s Show Notes and Chat discussion.

How to Create a Social Media Campaign with Bethany Jett

Writers need platform, but with so many options, it can be overwhelming. Bethany Jett shares best practices for creating a social media campaign and the most beneficial mindset for growing an engaged audience.

Watch the September 11th replay.

Looking for specific apps and programs to help with your social media campaign? Discover more from the Show Notes and Live Chat discussion.

Bethany Jett is the Founder and Co-Owner of Serious Writer, Inc., and Vice President of Platinum Literary Services where she specializes in marketing, nonfiction proposal creation, ghostwriting, and developmental editing. Her love for marketing and social media led to her pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in Communication: New Media and Marketing. She also holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Behavioral Social Science and Humanities with a Criminal Justice minor.

JOIN US!

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. Here’s the permanent Zoom room link.

Participants mute their audio and video during the filming, then we open up
the room for anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.

Additionally, you can grow your network and add to the conversation by joining our Writers Chat Facebook Group.

Categories
Guest Posts

Why Should I Market An Unpublished Book?

“Lisa, everyone is asking me when they can buy a copy of the book.”

I looked at my friend without exasperation as I explained what I knew of the process. “I know, but first I need an agent, and then a publisher.”

“But why do you need an agent and how do you get one?”

Ah, there’s the rub. The advent of self-publishing has changed how people view the process of getting an actual “I can hold it in my hands” book into the marketplace. It’s easy enough to put an e-book together, and it takes more work (and money) to hire a company to print your book. If you go that route, the general rule is you must pay for the book’s production and then you have to do the marketing and get it placed in bookstores on your own. It can turn into a tremendous outlay of time and money (See a theme here?).

When an author wants a powerhouse publication, we go the traditional route, securing an agent who then finds a publisher. To get an agent you need a book proposal, which is like a business plan. Can you say research?

When I first met with the lady who would become my agent (Yes! It happened!), she liked the premise of the book and asked me to submit a proposal. It includes three synopses of the book (of varying sizes), chapter summaries, comparable works, an endorsement list, marketing plans (There it is!), and a few chapters of the book. After all, you must show the agent that you can, you know, write.

I had no clue what was involved until I started writing Marshall’s memoir, Someplace To Be Somebody. He finally got it when he thought of LeBron James, a local young man some of you may have heard of.

“Okay, so it’s like LeBron. For him to get the best contract, he has to have an agent who looks out for him.”

“Bingo!” We finally jumped that hurdle of understanding.

“But why are we doing all of this advertising when we don’t even have a book?”

It’s a valid question because it’s imperative for an author (especially a first-timer) to be a viable asset for a publisher. They need to know we have a following of people who will buy the book. I keep Marshall busy with promotional videos, and I asked him to share news on his social media sites. We were recently interviewed by Patricia Durgin (Marketers on a Mission) about the book, and we utilize Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and blog posts.

You have to get creative when it comes to book marketing. Publishers no longer do all of that work for an author, and it’s more than just going to book stores and doing a signing. It’s thinking way outside of the box and coming up with unique ways to interest people in your adventure (Yep, we’re not in Kansas anymore).

It’s about getting name recognition, speaking engagements, email lists, viral blog posts and Youtube videos, a large following, and giveaways.

Wait. What? This is where the real creativity comes in. I have to bow to those who lead the way in this (Bethany Jett, Cody Morehead, Edie Melson, Cyle Young, e.g.). They know what entices publishers, and they share! Wow! What a bonus, too for a new author to have their excellent help and support.

As we maneuver our way toward publication, marketing serves as an essential tool. As I learn, it’s my joy to share with other authors.

Lisa Kibler is a writer/blogger and international speaker. She has been published in Celebrate Gettysburg, CBN.com, and contributed to Heart Renovation by Lighthouse Bible Studies. She has just completed Someplace To Be Somebody, the memoir of former Black Nationalist, Pastor Marshall Brandon. Lisa is represented by Hartline Literary Agency. Her website is lisakibler.com

Categories
Magazine and Freelance

Why Write Articles?

When I began writing I had small children at home. I wrote in my head all day long and looked forward to the few computer moments I would have at nap time, between loads of laundry, and after bedtime. Because of that mental prewriting, I was able to quickly get my work into files ready for submission. The best market for these short pieces seemed to be articles, so that is where I focused.

After several years of writing articles (because I thought it was the only thing I had time to do), I realized that I really enjoyed writing articles, for several reasons.

  1. They were short and they fit very well into my daily schedule of parenting. As the children got older I realized that even though we had added new activities to the day, I could still write in carpool line or while I was waiting for dance lessons or soccer practice to be over. Even when the children got old enough to be dropped off for long periods of time or to drive themselves, my favorite thing to write was articles.
  2. Because of their brevity, I could complete articles quickly. Some days I could finish multiple articles and submit them. That was always a good feeling to know much had been accomplished in a day. Especially since some days left almost no time for writing.
  3. Articles often require research which means not only am I writing something that will educate others, I am learning new things myself. Research can also be used to write other articles without additional time in the library.
  4. Often when you figure it per word, articles are a great way to supplement your income. Many people think books are the best way to make additional money. But strategically placed articles can be lucrative.
  5. Articles are a good exercise in writing tightly and making the most of the words you use. When you only have a few hundred words to get your message to the world, you need to make sure they all count.
  6. Articles can be written anywhere. Recently I was on the road and someone else was driving. Before I arrived home I had written an article, edited it, submitted it, and it was accepted. What a great road trip!
  7. As writing moved into the digital world, I found many new markets for my articles. True, writing for the web is a little different than writing print articles. But with very little additional learning I found a new world of writing for the internet.

What about you? Have you discovered the fun and excitement of writing articles?

Linda Gilden is an award-winning writer, speaker, editor, certified writing and speaking coach, and personality consultant. Her passion is helping others discover the joy of writing. Linda recently released Articles, Articles, Articles! and is the author of over a thousand magazine articles and 16 books including the new LINKED Quick Guides for Personalities. As Director of the Carolina Christian Writers Conference, Linda helps many writers take the next step in reaching their writing goals. Linda’s favorite activity (other than eating folded potato chips) is floating in a pool with a good book surrounded by splashing grandchildren—a great source of writing material! www.lindagilden.com

Categories
The Poet's Pen

What Makes A Good Poem?

All writing is about “words” but poetry uses concise words in a concise order. One word in a  poem can make a drastic difference in how the poem is perceived. Sometimes changing one word can make or break a poem.

Look at the following example from THE EAGLE by Alfred Lord Tennyson

He  clasps the crag with taloned hands (my version) or–

He clasps the crag with crooked hands (the way Tennyson wrote it)

Do you see how much smoother Tennyson’s version reads?

Which of the following two poems by an anonymous writer do you think is better?

A
The spoken or written word
Should be as clean as a bone,
As clear as is the light,
As firm as is a stone.
Two words will never serve
As well as one alone.

 

B
The written word
Should be clean as bone,
Clear as light,
Firm as stone.
Two words are not
As good as one.[1]

A Good Poem:

  1. comes from the poet’s heart.
  2. touches your heart.
  3. makes you want to read it again…and again.
  4. like the Bible, each time you read it you see/learn something different.
  5. creates a new image by juxtaposing different things together.
  6. uses clear, memorable, concrete images
  7. tells a story.
  8. creates a world inside the poem

The next time you write a poem, think about how the words fit together. Try replacing a word of phrase with a different one to see which one is better.

[1] Perrine, Laurence, LITERATURE Structure, Sound, and Sense, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, 1970. p.565.

Darlo Gemeinhardt writes middle grade novels. She believes that there is a story in every dog. In her spare time she takes care of 1 husband (of 40 years), 29 dogs and trains with TALLAO, K-9 SEARCH AND RESCUE. Visit her at From the dog pen.com

Categories
Publishing Perspectives

How Many Pairs of Eyes Are on Your Book?

I recently finished making wording changes on a self-published book that had already been typeset and printed — or perhaps I should say I thought I had finished the changes. A large batch of new changes just came in from another person who had looked through the book. (I sure am glad I was the typesetter/page designer, and not the editor of that book!)

Thankfully, with print on demand, such changes can be incorporated for a relatively low cost, but my client was concerned about how “unprofessional” the process seemed to be. Surely such last-minute changes never happen in traditional publishing! Oh, if that were only more true. Traditional publishing arguably has fewer of these unfortunate last-minute wording changes than self-publishers do, but it still happens once in a while.

When it comes to avoiding last-minute wording changes, traditional publishers have a distinct  advantage over self-publishers, and it all comes down to who is paying the bill. Even if a self-publishing author pays a professional editor to go through the manuscript, the author pays the bill and has the final say.

If the editor finds wordiness, the overuse of a phrase, or a myriad of cliches, will the author have the humility to allow the editor to remove them? (I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told by an author, “That’s just my style,” in response to my discovery of such problems.)

But there is yet another advantage that traditional publishers have over self-publishers: the manuscript gets seen by multiple pairs of eyes. A manuscript at a traditional publisher may go through two or three levels of editing (each by a diffferent person), and more than one proofreader, and “in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Every person who looks at the manuscript brings a different perspecitive to the writing. It’s crazy, but sometimes a proofreader will notice a problem with a sentence — a sentence that has already been read by four or five people!

Sometimes all it takes is a missing “not” to change a godly author’s words into heresy. Think of this sentence: “Jesus is not indifferent to our sufferings.” If that “not” gets lost, several people may read it and unconsciously insert the word, and thereby miss the typo.

Sometimes a sentence goes past several pairs of eyes before someone notices that it can have two meanings. (My favorite is the old joke about the guy who got fired for laziness. When asked for a recommendation, his former employer wrote: “You’ll be lucky if you can get this guy to work for you.”)

Self-publishing authors cannot typically afford to pay for multiple sets of eyes on a manuscript, but they can still manage to get this advantage in an economical way. They can use beta readers. A beta reader is a friend or fellow author who is willing to read your book and point out any snags or confusing passages. (Or even, sometimes, a major flaw in the logic of your nonfiction, or a hole in the plot of your fiction.) With print on demand, it is now economically practical to hand out printed review copies of your book to your beta readers — but I would strongly suggest having your manuscript professionally edited and proofread before you produce review copies.

When you use beta readers, you need to practice both humility and discernment — humility to accept that your book may have errors, and discernment to realize that nonprofessional advice is not always worth taking. With those two virtues in mind, the more eyes on your book, the merrier!

David Fesseden has degrees in journalism and theology, and over 30 years of experience in writing and editing. He has served in editorial management positions for Christian book publishers and was regional editor for the largest Protestant weekly newspaper in the country.

Dave has published seven books, written hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, and edited numerous books. He is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences. Two of his books, Writing the Christian Nonfiction Book: Concept to Contract and A Christian Writer’s Guide to the Book Proposal, are based on his experience in Christian publishing. The Case of the Exploding Speakeasy, Dave’s first novel, reflects his love for history and for the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan-Doyle.

Dave and his wife, Jacque, live in south-central Pennsylvania and have two adult sons.

Websites/Blogs:
www.fromconcepttocontract.com
www.davefessenden.com
www.thebookstore.info

Categories
Platform and Branding

Nailing Your Metadata: Categories

What is Metadata?

Metadata is the information you give to Amazon (or other distributors) that instructs them on where your book should be located, and to whom it should be shown. Most readers will never know what your metadata entails, and just as few will care about it. Amazon’s algorithms, however, care about it deeply. If your metadata (namely, categories and keywords) aren’t correct and optimized, Amazon will not help readers find your book, and therefore it will drift into obscurity and be undiscoverable.

By adding the proper keywords and categories for your book, you help Amazon’s algorithms guide your target readers right to your book. If you have these elements in place, your book will be much more visible to shoppers, and you’ll begin to see an increase in sales.

Keywords and categories are very simple once you understand them, but they can be a bit more complex than most authors think. Let’s dig in to categories:

Nailing Your Category

Your category is not the same as your genre. They can be one in the same, but categories can also be much more complex.

For instance, I personally write in the genre of historical fiction. As far as I know, it’s the only genre my book fits in. However one of my categories looks like this: kindle ebooks -> literature and fiction -> historical fiction -> Italian. The other looks like this: kindle ebooks -> history -> ancient civilization -> Rome.

Whereas my chances of ranking high in the historical fiction category is very  improbable without a huge marketing budget and a well-established platform, I almost always rank within the top 20 of my first category, and top 10 of my second.

Why is that important?

Because people looking through the bestsellers list will see my book at the top of those charts.

It’s all about visibility. Allowing Amazon to do a little bit of visibility marketing for you can lead to a lot of book sales in the long run.

If I had stopped with the most obviously categories, such as historical fiction or historical thriller, I likely wouldn’t have that added visibility by being at the top of my category charts.

Your job as the author is to research your genre to figure out the most optimal categories for your book to be listed in. You do this by analyzing the competition and it’s difficulty, while also testing how popular the category is.

Through the KDP platform, you can select up to two categories for your book to be listed in. Your goal with each should be a book that your book can easily rank within the top 100 in (the bestsellers list for each category shows the top 100). After that box is checked, you want to find categories that you can confidently make a push into the top 20 (the first page of a bestsellers list shows the top 20). At last, if possible, it’s always good to shoot for a category that you have the ability to rank #1 in. You might not be able to stay there very long, but it is nice to know that if you focus your efforts and spend a little bit on marketing, you can make a push for #1.

If you do, you’ll end up with a nifty little status like this:

Bestseller in America

Bestseller in Canada!

Bestseller in Australia! Have you ever wanted to be an “international best seller”?

 How do you do this, one might ask? Well, it’s fairly simple. You need to spend a lot of time yourself digging into the many niche categories on Amazon to find one that your book can accurately fit into. Next, you’ll need to look at the ASBR (average best seller rank) of the #1, #20, and #100 book in that category. Once you have that number, head over to the KDP Calculator, and type those numbers in to see how many books per day that title is selling. If you feel confident in being able to sell that many books per day so that you can place within the top 100, top 20, or have a shot at number 1, than it is the category for you.

Pro Tip #1: If there is a category you find on Amazon that you cannot find within the KDP dashboard to add your book to, you can always email KDP support and ask them to add your book to a particular category. All you need to do is provide the book title, the ASIN number and the FULL category chain, and KDP will do the rest.

Pro Tip #2: If all of this sounds tedious to you, or your want to ensure you have the most accurate data, you can purchase the KDP Rocket software, which distills all of this information in a quick and easily digestible way. I use it personally for all of my clients, and for myself. I can’t recommend it enough, and it will make your category searches much more efficient.

Vincent B. Davis II is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and soldier. His first novel The Man with Two Names was published in July 2017 and has since become an Amazon International Best Seller. He is passionate about helping authors improve their brand and platform. He works with publishing companies and individual clients to help them sell more books in the modern publishing environment. Vincent is also the Senior Editor for blueridgeconference.com. If you are interested in contributing a blog for the site, or have any other queries, you can reach him at Vincent@thirteenthpress.com

Categories
The Intentional Writer

Is “Write Every Day” Good Advice?

The intentional writer

Write Every Day

It’s oft-given advice for aspiring writers. If you want to become a good writer, you should write every day. Sounds like simple, practical advice. But is it?

That depends.

I know writers who work best when given concrete goals. For them Write Every Day might be exactly the kick in the butt they need to keep motivated. I know other writers whose creativity shuts down when faced with an inflexible goal like Write Every Day, because sooner or later (probably sooner) life will get in the way and they will miss their daily quota. Guilt will set in and before they know it they have become disillusioned and quit writing altogether.

So, if Write Every Day is not always good advice, why is it given so frequently?

The intent behind the words

“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” – Jane Yolen

Writers are advised to write every day because, as the quote indicates, good writers know the benefits of developing a habit of writing consistently.

Three reasons this is important:

  • Practice makes us better. Like any skill, the more we practice writing, the better we get.
  • A consistent writing habit helps us overcome Resistance. We can find a million excuses to avoid writing. A consistent routine helps us get our butts in the chair and words on the screen.
  • Keeping our head in the project increases the flow of ideas. Creativity doesn’t just happen. Many factors come into play that increase or decrease our ability to think creatively. Tapping into our creative thinking regularly will encourage the subconscious linkages that lead to inspiration.

How can you develop the habit of writing consistently without the burden of Write Every Day?

By adopting strategies that help you make writing a priority while allowing flexibility to adapt to the realities of life.

Here are some to try:

Know your “why” and honor your passions

Joy is a stronger motivator than guilt, fear, or duty. Start by defining why you want to write. Keep your “why” fresh in your mind and let it motivate you. Also know what you love about writing. If watching characters come alive is your thing, forcing yourself to journal may not be productive. Neither will writing science articles if your heart is set on world-building or romance. It’s easier to be consistent when you are doing the kind of writing that feeds your soul and inspires your creativity.

Ease into writing

Starting is often the hardest part of writing. Many writers have discovered that beginning their time with a creative writing prompt loosens the writing muscles and gets things flowing. It’s less intimidating than jumping right into their “serious writing work.” (One writing friend calls this approach “sneaking in the back door.”) If you hate the idea of “wasting” time that could be spent on “real” work, here’s a trick: Use writing prompts strategically. Adapt a writing prompt so it applies to some aspect of your work-in-progress. Then you can ease into writing while simultaneously accomplishing something that directly impacts your current manuscript.

The percentage strategy

Instead of making specific time goals, one friend assesses each day to see how much time is available. Then she takes the available minutes and divides it between writing time and other work. For example, if she had three hours and she allotted 25% to writing, she would write for forty-five minutes. Some days she has more. Some days she has less. Some days she has no time for writing. Life happens. The percentage method allows a flexibility that has breathed grace and renewed motivation into her writing life.  Note: My friend has found that this system works best when she does her writing before she tackles other tasks.

Broaden your definition of writing

When I am working on a rough draft, I find a goal of writing two-thousand words a day keeps me chugging along. But what about the bulk of my writing life when I am outlining or revising instead of filling blank pages? I broaden my definition of writing to include all creative thinking that is connected to the writing process. Editing, rewriting, plotting, outlining, character sketches, doodling while dreaming up new ideas… All of it involves exercising my creative muscles, so I say it counts. This helps me remain motivated instead of frustrated at a perceived lack of output.

What about you? What keeps you from writing consistently?

Which strategies have helped you develop a more consistent writing habit?

Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical mysteries, and her blog about intentional living. You can find her on Facebook  LisaEBetzWriter and Twitter @LisaEBetz

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Fantastic Fairytales

Browse through your local bookstore and you’ll notice fairytale retellings are quite popular across multiple genres. These tales have remained a staple within the world of storytelling for centuries because of a few key components: they have a solid storyline that’s easy to follow and they always have some sort of moral lesson to be passed along.

So, how can you join in on the fun of creating something new, from something old? Here are a few tips for coming up with your own fairytale retelling that will keep your readers wanting more.

Do your research. Many tales have been passed down by word of mouth, traveling across national borders. Learn how your specific fairytale might differ from one culture to another. Did it originate in another culture having been adopted into our own, with elements within the story changed to fit our own world view? Get to know the tale from every angle, every source. The more you know about it, the more ideas you will have to pull from when you create your own unique spin.

Give it a good twist. Readers want a fresh story. Make it familiar enough that the reader can see the original tale, but different enough to keep them wanting more. A retelling is different from a remake—a remake is simply the same story retold. A retelling allows you, as the author, to push the boundaries and make something completely different from what has been done before.

Think theme. What draws the reader to the original story? What is the deeper theme? Cinderella is more than just a “rags to riches” story of a pretty girl who got her Prince. It’s a moral lesson to teach children to be kind (even when they don’t feel like it) without allowing selfish desires to win. Think about the deeper theme you want to convey, one that speaks above the surface of the original tale.

Ask the “what if”? How can you make the story different? Change the time period; change the setting (here’s your chance to really world build!); or change the genre in which it would normally fall. (A steampunk retelling of Rapunzel could really shake things up!) Just as you would ask the “what if” when creating a fiction story from scratch, allow the same pattern of questions to guide you as you reform the familiar fairytale into something exceptional.

Change the viewpoint. Tell the story from the viewpoint of the villain. What is his motivation and how is it different from the original hero? Make the villain human. Make the reader empathize, so they are actually rooting for the villain in a way they normally wouldn’t. Giving the reader access to the villain’s private thoughts can create tension as the story progresses. They know they should be on the side of the familiar hero or heroine, but are realizing a new hero is emerging within the villain himself.

Another viewpoint to utilize would be a minor character from the original tale. Give the character a backstory, complete with flaws. What would the Beauty and the Beast story be like if narrated entirely from the viewpoint of a selfish Mrs. Potts who would do anything to provide for her son, Chip? How would the characters come across differently? How would the theme(s) change?

Do a Crossover. Allow characters from one fairytale to visit another. How would Ariel react if she found a Beast living in the castle next door? Would Maleficent and Evil Queen get along if they were ever introduced? What would Red Riding Hood do if she stumbled upon Hansel and Gretel as they searched for their way home? Allowing one or more characters to leave their own universe and enter another is one more way to make your story unique and exciting for the reader.

Change the ending of the story. Think you know how the story ends? Maybe not! With a fresh perspective on theme, character motivation, and a new setting, the door is wide open to allow for a varied ending that will not only surprise the reader, but might fit better with the new twist you’ve given to this old tale.

No matter how you choose to retell your fairytale, remember to take it deeper than the original. Readers know the Disney version of these tales. What they want is to be captivated—where they can actually see themselves in the characters and themes that have existed for hundreds of years.

Laura L. Zimmerman is a homeschooling mama to three daughters and a doting wife to one husband. Besides writing, she is passionate about loving Jesus, singing, drinking coffee and anything Star Wars. You can connect with her through Facebook, Instagram @lauralzimmauthor, Twitter @lauralzimm and at her website Caffeinated Fiction.