Category: Guest Posts

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5 Tips For Better Guest Post Writing

Guest posts

Guest post writing is one of the best tools you can use to create a good reputation and help people find out about your business. You reach out to different sectors of your target audience and get great results. Quite simple, isn’t it?

However, many people ask “How to write a blog post that will drive people to action?”

While there are a lot of “how to” articles, here you will find 5 essential tips that will level up your game. Some of them might seem easy, but are you actually using them in your writing? Think critically, and if the answer is “No”, I’m not sure“, etc., then try these techniques out as soon as possible.

1: Have Your Own Unique Style But Be Ready to Adapt a Little

If you want to be recognized as a blogger, you need a style. It may develop as you write. To find out if you have one, ask for feedback. Let your family, friends, coworkers, or a test group of readers provide honest, constructive comments.

You can also create a poll asking your followers about your writing style and whether there are any recommendations.

And finally, it’s crucial to get inspired in order to develop your unique tone of writing. Reading favorite bloggers will motivate you to create a combination of special features of your own. This doesn’t mean you should copy a fully-developed style of a person that’s been working hard on it.

You just read, interpret, combine, and create your own unique “language” if you will.

However, be ready to adapt it a little bit for some websites. You see, many webmasters are concerned about a single style of writing on their blog. So, if you know you’re working with such a person, do it as a beautiful gesture of respect (and to be actually published).

2: Know How to Find Proper Platforms for Writing Blogs

You may have the best guest post writing skills, but if the platforms you choose aren’t fit for the purpose, it’s a losing game (like in that sad song).

Here are some recommendations on finding a perfect match:

  • Use Google.
    First of all, using Google to find blogs that accept writing contributions is an incredible hack. Type keywords like “guest post by”, “contribute to my blog”, etc. While there will be many articles about writing if you type “guest post writing”, focusing on phrases that would be on the needed platforms will provide a better result.
  • Only collaborate with relevant blogs.
    Only look for blogs that share a topic with yours or that have a focus niche somewhere near yours. The exceptions are news platforms and general blogs where you can post about anything. There, you’ll find potentially interested people. But on sources close by spirit to yours, there will be a curious audience passionate about the topic.
  • Become an inspector.
    Don’t just believe claims some blogs make. Analyze them, see what people write about them, where they are in the ratings, etc. Only after that, consider communicating with the owner.
  • Be a good talker.
    Considering you write guest posts, this shouldn’t be a problem. Talk to the owner, offer your posts, and then maybe you’ll find a chance to offer your terms as well.

3: Browse Useful Content

The sheer amount of amazing professional recommendations online is staggering. But not all of it is suitable for you. A lot depends on the topic. If you’re writing business content, the recommendations as to the style, tone, vocabulary, etc. will differ from a florist writer.

The purpose of your article writing also changes the need for tips. If you want to build backlinks, you need more tricks on how to incorporate them naturally. In case your goal is to get more exposure, you’ll have to learn how to make your brand an eye-candy first.

Nevertheless, it’s useful to browse general content editing tips by professionals to avoid common mistakes. Because both business and flower arrangement writers may encounter similar mishaps.

Over time, you’ll see many lists of the same common issues and solutions, which means you’ve learned enough and are ready to proceed to more difficult topics. These may be:

  • New SEO strategies
  • Link building
  • Profile improvement
  • Storytelling
  • Portfolio creation, etc.

4: Collaborate with Professional Services

In the first couple of months, it might be tough to constantly improve and learn. Here are some things you may have problems with:

  • One of the most difficult things for many beginner writers is including links naturally, for instance. There’s a guest posting service where you can read more about building links and get help when things get too tough.
  • If you have issues with material uniqueness, adopt anti-plagiarism tools that will test your articles in minutes. You can also turn to professional bloggers that rank TOP on Google and read their tips.
  • If the lack of ideas is your main obstacle, use creative tips and tricks from professional writers.
  • And in case grammar isn’t your best feature, there are Grammarly and similar services.
  • If many blog owners say your posts are too difficult to read, maybe there are readability issues. Hemingway will become handy in such situations.

There’s a service for every stone you stumble upon. But let us give you one general tip. Read a lot on the topics you write about. Don’t copy articles or their ideas. Instead, read them fully and keep the most important recommendations or examples in your head. A couple of months of such information feeding, and you’ll become:

  • A better writer in terms of uniqueness and grammar
  • A more creative writer with lots of ideas
  • A more logical writer with an example and proof for every argument

5: Practice Makes Perfect, and It’s True

We’ve all heard it at school, and many of us were so irritated by this saying. But it works.

Here’s an idea. Find your first piece for guest posting and compare it to the ones you create now. It’s the result of constant practice. If it’s not constant or you don’t see a lot of improvement, then practice!

Think about the topics you are passionate about and write about them. Look for ideas, read relevant information, implement tips from the useful services we’ve mentioned earlier. And be consistent with it!

A Wrap-Up

Never stop learning and implementing these recommendations. Even if you consider yourself the best professional who doesn’t need an example or tips, don’t underestimate theory and practice.

You may know everything about writing blogs, but are you sure you remember all the information? Maybe it’s time to freshen it up a little?

Just try to do it once, and you’ll get on a new level, the one you never knew existed. Improve and adapt your writing style, learn how to look for better platforms this year (each year has its updates). Don’t hesitate to ask for help when necessary, there are so many amazing services for guest blogging, editing, etc.

Seek advice, don’t be too arrogant. There are people who evolve in a different way; maybe they have something you’re missing from your strategy. And finally, keep practicing and incorporating new engaging elements in your blog posts.

Nancy P. Howard has been working as a journalist at the online magazine in London for a year. She is also a professional writer in such topics as blogging, IT and marketing.

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7 Tips on Describing Surroundings in Your Novel

Guest posts

The story setting in literature describes the where and when of a character and action. The setting of a story establishes the fictional environment built in the reader’s mind while they read the novel. However, it is not easy to flesh out or describe your setting.

As a novel writer, it’s tempting to want to go straight to the plot and describe your character in detail. However, your story and the character news need to coexist within a space – the story’s setting. Being able to describe your story setting correctly adds vibrancy to your love and keeps the audience engaged.

Learning to describe the surroundings and setting of a story is, therefore, an essential skill that authors need to have. The descriptive words that you use are capable of showing character, mood, and appearance. A well-described setting will draw the readers in and keep their rapt attention inside the scene.

A good setting uses different elements to create a picture that’s clear in the readers’ minds. It also provides a good background for character and plot development. It is the framework for different narrative elements to come into play.

How to write a good setting or describe the surroundings in a novel?

With an understanding of what a good setting is and its role in writing a novel, we will now discuss how to write one.

In writing your setting, you’re descriptive, so you will use descriptive words that you can combine in different ways to create the vision for your story’s environment. However, there are several tips that you should use to make it more descriptive without boring your audience.

  1. Start early

You shouldn’t go too deep into your story without describing the setting. It would be best if you did it from the very beginning of the scene. Once you launch into the scene without describing the setting, it becomes too late when you need to do it later on in the action. You would have lost your readers at that point already. If you don’t describe the environment from the start, you will have characters talking and acting in space, and it becomes difficult to place it later on.

  1. Include specific details

In describing your setting, it’s not enough to start early: you need to be specific in your description. Using generic words will fail to engage the readers, and you will end up with a bland and unfocused description of your setting.

Including specific details adds some spice to the setting, makes it more exciting for the readers to flow along with, and helps you create a unique fictional environment.

  1. Incorporate sensory details

Your description will be more effective if you are able to use sensory details. You must be able to use the five senses when describing the environment or settings to your readers. This will help them to become more immersed in the fictional environment that you’ve created. Those seemingly small details about the smell of the wood in the old house, the chirping sound of the crickets at night, etc., all go a long way in making your setting more exciting and immersive for your readers. This will make it more straightforward for them and open them to the plot you’re building within the setting.

  1. Build your description with the story

Building on your descriptions gradually gives you more descriptive power. You can’t and shouldn’t take a whole page to describe the background. A paragraph is enough to introduce the setting and give the readers an idea of where they are, and then continue to build the story’s description.

If you mention that the character was outside a building that looks abandoned, don’t forget to build on that with more abandonment signs once they walk into the building. The setting description doesn’t stop at the start of the scene: you carry it along as you build the story in that scene.

  1. Show the setting, don’t just say it.

You have to do more than list off the description for the readers. You must show it to them. If the characters are in a hostile environment, make the readers see how the environment interacts with them. Be more descriptive. If the set includes a factory, show how the factory affects the environment. Show how it smells, the gas it emits, how it makes the sky look, etc. Rather than say there’s a factory around, show how it affects the story and its relevance in the setting. Or even better, show your setting through the viewpoint of your characters!

  1. Get inspiration from a real setting.

If you are looking for inspiration to describe your fictional setting, then you should look at the nonfictional world around you. You’re trying to describe an old church in your novel; while it might not be the same as the old church down your street, you should take a stroll to the church. You’re likely to see things in real-life locations that could trigger ideas and give you inspiration for your fictional environment. It’s the same way that you draw the behavior of your character from examples in real life. You can get inspiration from places that you visit in real life, too.

  1. Select the details to describe

One thing about describing a setting is that there are more things that you would not mention than the ones you’ll tell. Don’t be tempted to mention every detail. Be selective about what you share. Describe only details that are relevant to the story or help make the setting clearer. You could give accurate descriptions while sharing many unnecessary details. Being accurate doesn’t make it necessary or exciting. You could end up with a very bland description of the setting that doesn’t win over the readers. The fact is, your readers don’t care about the information. They want the mood and the atmosphere.

Conclusion

Writing a good setting description is essential to creating the story, plot, and character within that scene. So if your setting description is bland, it will affect the story that you are creating altogether. It also determines if the readers go on with reading the novel or they close the book. So knowing how to write your setting is of utmost importance as an author.

Leon Collier is a blogger from the UK, and assignment writer at dissertation service the UK. He loves to write about everything: pop-culture, history, travel, self-development, education, and marketing. When not writing, you can find him behind a book or playing tabletop games with his friends. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.

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The Key Differences Between the USA And UK Book Markets

Guest posts

The book publishing industry is one of the largest in the world. In 2020 alone, printed book sales increased by 8.2 percent. Due to the pandemic, a lot of people rediscovered their love for reading and books. For example, in the UK, the time people spent reading books doubled. The US and UK rank 2nd and 3rd in book publishing worldwide. Therefore, it will be interesting to know the major differences in their respective book markets.

Just like culture and environment have an effect on what people eat, movies they watch, clothes they wear and so on. It also impacts what people read and how they perceive book design. The best writing companies understand this difference and use it to their advantage. Below, we will discuss some major differences.

Book Cover Design

Publishers understand that book cover design is essential. They appeal to cultures in different ways. Therefore, they pay attention to the design when introducing a book to a new country.

What this means, for example, is that the book “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara has one cover design for the US book market and another for the UK market. Usually, the book titles don’t change, even with the difference in market tastes. British books are associated with darker colors, while American books have more bright covers.

Additionally, American publishers are often comfortable with portraying the characters on the book cover, contrary to what most British publishing firms would do. They usually leave the readers to imagine what the character looks like.

A book series that explains this difference is Harry Potter. You notice the variance in the different editions. Even more, the publishers changed the title of one of the novels to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (US edition) from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Appreciation of Story Tone

You will always find authors whose books become bestsellers in both the UK and US. Most of these books also go on to become best sellers in other countries. Some of these authors include Stephen Kings, Ruth Ware, and Paula Hawkins.

But popular authors are not the only bestsellers. There are other authors who are able to become best sellers in only the US or UK, respectively. The tone of the book greatly impacts how the different audiences receive it.

British humor is quite different from American humor. In the same light, there are differences in the use of words and phrases between these two cultures. These affect how readers relate to a book, and ultimately, how the book sells in each county.

Author Gail Honeyman, for instance, is a successful UK author. Her books contain some dark tone and humor that most British readers appreciate. However, US lovers of women’s fiction would rather have family drama and romance without the dark side.

Standard Book Sizes

Pocket Book (4.25 in x 6.87 in) vs. A-Format (178 mm x 111 mm):

The pocketbook is the US easy-to-carry version used to print cheap paperback fiction, while the A-format book is the UK easy-to-carry version. Many classics, humor, or self-help books are written in this version.

Digest (5.5 in x 8.5 in) vs. B-Format (198 mm x 129 mm)

The US trade size comes in different categories. Digest is the smallest and often used to print fiction and non-fiction books. The B-format is UK’s most popular publishing standard. Most paperback fiction is printed in this format.

US Trade (6 in x 9 in) vs. Demy (216 mm x 135 mm)

US Trade 6×9 in is the most common trade standard size. Most publishers demand this size for paperback fiction. The Demy standard is the UK’s large-format paperback used widely for airport fiction, in place of A-format books.

Hardcover (6 in x 9 in to 8.5 in x 11 in) vs. Royal (234 mm x 156 mm)

US Hardcover sizes vary widely. They are used for premium fiction and non-fiction, and mostly by publishing firms. Royals are UK hardcover standards used for novels and nonfiction. They are larger than other UK standard sizes.

Conclusion

Most writers want to serve readers across the globe. But it’s important to understand the inclinations of the readers in various cultures and pay attention to reviews. Paying attention to little differences like words and phrases, book cover, and book size will impact how much your work will be appreciated in the US and UK book market. Talk to your editor about how to balance your writing to reach your desired audience.

Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.

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How To Get Over Writer’s Block

Guest posts

Every writer’s heart stops when I utter the words, ‘writer’s block’.

We’re ready to write: we have our tea, our snacks, our pens and we’ve told everyone in the house we’ll be writing upstairs. But then we sit down. We munch on our snacks and stare at the incessant blinking of the cursor on MS Word.

We’re people. We have lives. We’re constantly distracted by our phones, friends, families and work. Everything and everyone demands our attention. It’s easy to get lost in it all and lose focus when it’s time to write.

It took me three years to write my first novel and then less than a year to write my second. That’s because I learned some tricks along the way which I’m going to share to help you out if you’re feeling stuck.

1.       Make sure it’s not really something else

‘Writers block’ isn’t always simply being stuck for ideas. Sometimes it’s a mindset. Before you skip to the next step, take a moment to evaluate how you’re feeling about yourself and your writing.

Is the reason you’re feeling ‘blocked’ because you think your writing isn’t very good? Bad writing (and good writing now I think of it) is subjective and yours isn’t as terrible as you think it is, trust me. Be brave and believe in yourself. The rest will fall into place.

Writer’s block can also stem from other struggles, health or be situation related. If you’re struggling with more than your writing and you need to talk to someone, I encourage you to seek support.

2.       Start with the characters

Do you have well-rounded characters with extensive backgrounds? Shallow characters don’t live interesting lives. Once you’ve created a remarkable person, they will likely write the story for you.

3.       Re-imagine the story

Once you’ve determined the characters aren’t the problem, take a step back. What do you already know about the story? Walk yourself through it from the beginning and trust your instincts on what has to happen next.

If you already know what genre your story can be categorised under, I recommend researching plot structures. They provide general advice in how to shape your story and will probably give you the boost you need to get you back on a roll!

4.       Make a plan

It’s recommended that you write a plan before you write a novel. I’ll admit, my fourteen year old self disregarded this advice. (It could be argued, that’s why it took me four years to finish my first book.)

My mistakes aside, writing a plan is an effective way of getting out of a rut. Write it as a mind map, bullet points or a paragraph summary and then take a step back.

What’s missing? Where are you going with this story and how are you going to get there? You don’t have to stick to your plan, but I can almost guarantee it will help you get back on your feet.

5.       Content

Is there too much going on in your story? Is it chaotic with too many loose ends, things to tie up? Cut it. Be brutal. If a character isn’t contributing anything to the story, do they have to have a happily ever after? Do they have to exist at all?

Is there too little going on? Is your story too straightforward? Add some emotion. Get distracted with a romantic subplot. Sprain your main character’s ankle and have them limp for the rest of the journey. You know what you need to do. Do it.

6.       Build up

Sometimes a lack of foundation can lead to an uncertain future. If you don’t know what’s going to happen next, maybe you need to revisit what’s happened already. Does something more have to happen or is that the end?

7.       Seek inspiration

Sometimes nothing works. We spend hours pouring over the characters and the plot and still feel as though our writing is speeding downhill.

Take it easy. Read a book or go outside. It will come to you eventually. It always does. Don’t overthink it.

As Paul Di Filippo said, “If the writer is not surprised by the events, then chances are that the reader will not be either, and grow bored.”

You’re a writer and you have a story here. Sit down and write it. You’ll surprise yourself.

Deborah Rose Green is the author of Dragon Pearls (2019) and Crown My Heart (2020). She’s the Contributing Editor for the ‘Hey Young Writer’ blog and starting her Creative Writing degree in September.

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7 Tips for Writers to Build a Personal Brand on Social Media

Guest posts

As a writer, you need to know how to act and what to do in order to get more people to hear about your work, read your books, and start following your career. It’s not enough for you to have brilliant books if no one knows about them. That means that you need to build a personal brand and become more active in showing it, especially online. And, the best place to do it is on social media.

Social media is the most powerful tool you can use to build a personal brand as a writer. If you’re not sure how to do it, but want to learn, just keep reading. Below, you’ll find a list of 7 best tips for writers to build a personal brand on social media.

Let’s get started.

1. Build Strong Profiles

Let’s start with the essentials. To build a strong personal brand on social media, you need to make sure your social media profiles are fully updated.

Here’s what that implies:

  • profile and cover images
  • personal information
  • business information
  • short bio
  • fun facts
  • contact information

You want to make sure that your social media profiles are professional, informative, and complete. Also, make sure to delete any profiles you might not be using anymore to avoid having them ruin your online presence.

2. Get Personal

People love to see the non-business side of their favorite writers, so you’ll need to get personal. This doesn’t mean you’ll need to reveal your private life completely. It just means you’ll be giving them a sneak peek into who you are when you’re not an author.

That means you’ll share:

  • pictures of you with your dog
  • your family holiday photos
  • your thoughts on global or local events
  • your favorite musician
  • etc.

You need to let the people get to know you and start feeling like they’re your friends. The closer they feel to you, the more they’ll be interested in your work as a writer. Share the content that shows who you are as a person and allows them to learn about you every day.

3. Communicate

People following you on social media will love communicating with you and getting feedback on their comments, messages, or remarks. This is why to build a personal brand, you need to be active in responding to your followers.

That includes:

  • replying to the comments that ask a question or deserve your attention
  • thanking people for their nice words or support
  • answering DMs
  • reposting stories of people reading your book or mentioning you

Apart from giving feedback in this form, you should also try and inspire people to talk to you. You can ask questions, ask them to leave a comment, and share their thoughts. This way, you’ll be able to see how they feel and what their thoughts are on your new book or anything else you’d like to discuss.

4. Be Active

To build a personal brand, you need to present in people’s lives. And, every now and then when they’re scrolling their social media feed, they need to see or hear from you.

This will create a habit of checking your content and staying interested in what you’ll post next. To make this happen, you’ll need to:

  • post regularly (at least 3-4 time a week)
  • create engaging content that your audience will like reading or seeing
  • be innovative and post something fresh and different

Since you’re a writer, it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with interesting new ideas for your social media posts. Try making them fun, unique, and creative.

5. Show Consistency

Consistency is another super-important ingredient in your mixture for a winning personal brand on social media. Why? Because it makes you relatable and authentic.

Consistency means following a set of rules you created that define you as a brand. Those include:

  • your personality
  • your style of writing
  • your tone and voice
  • the colors you’re using
  • the type of visuals you’re posting

You should try and come up with a unique style, and use it in all your posts on all your social media. This comes through trial and error or, if you don’t like to risk, an editing company can do the work for you. This way you will help people recognize your posts before they even read it’s you.

This way, your brand is becoming truly powerful.

6. Understand Who’s Reading

As a writer, you can have a colorful audience of different people following you for different reasons. Understanding and knowing your audience is the key to successful brand building. Your audience can consist of:

  • young writers looking up to you
  • people who have been following your work from day one
  • new followers who only read one of your books

Learn who they are and create content for each of these target groups. Make sure there’s something for everyone.

7. Talk Work

Just because you’re trying to build a personal brand doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to talk about your work as a writer. On the contrary, your social media is supposed to help you build awareness about your latest work and overall career.

This means that you should include updates from your professional life on your social media. You should post about:

  • your work in progress such as a new book or switching to a new genre
  • the release date of your new book
  • promotions and events
  • behind the scenes of a writing session
  • announcements and big revelations

Your social media profiles are there to support your professional career and make a connection between you as a writer and you as an everyday person.

So, don’t be afraid to talk work, but make it fun, genuine, and authentic.

Final Thoughts

Building a personal brand on social media is a great way for writers to gain more attention and expand their readership. When you’re present online the right way, people have a chance to get to know you, like you, and develop an interest in your work.

Hopefully, the 7 tips we’ve shared above will help you build a strong personal brand on social media so use them to reach new career heights.

Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at Bestwritingadvisor, an aggregator for useful college resources and websites. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.

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Picking the Best Book Cover for Your Next Hit

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Most people judge a book by its cover. You put years of your work into a book. Therefore, it deserves a cover that does justice with the story you put into it. The cover of a book should be designed to pique the reader’s interest in an instant. The blurb on the back should draw the reader into opening the book and reading what’s inside.

This indicates the cover of your book has to be stunning. It should not only intrigue the readers but also complements the content. If you have finished your book, now is the time to choose the right cover for it. If you are worried that you might end up making the wrong decision, this article is for you.

Today we are going to share some tips with you that help you choose a winning cover for your book. So without further ado, let’s get to the details.

Tips for choosing the right cover for your book:

There are various ways to ensure that your book cover not only stands out but also does justice to the story. Some of them include:

1. Get inspired:

Get inspired with what sells. Go to your favorite bookstore and explore shelf after shelf. Take a pen and notebook with you. Flick through covers and note down what attracts you. More importantly, go through the cover of those books that your intended readers love. Choose those elements that make the covers of these books unique.

Look for the design elements that go with your story:

Go to the bookshelf you want your book to be displayed on and use your designer eye candy to look for the elements that make it stand out. Go through the latest releases to learn about the latest trends in designs and technologies. Design a book cover that goes with pop culture.

Bring innovation by comparing your genre with others:

Most of the books that belong to the same genre have similar book covers. Although main features depend upon the story but most of the time similar colors are used. It’s similar to how different brands use color schemes to craft their identity. However, there is no harm in bringing innovation to your book cover. To make that happen, you should compare your genre with others.

Explore other genres as well. For example, the covers of fantasy books are a mixture of photography and illustration. Crimes thriller covers are often only photographic. Moreover, titles of fantasy books are heavily stylized. On the contrary crime book, covers have crisp san serif fonts.

Explore sub-genres:

You can also explore sub-genres to get more creative ideas. Also, keep the latest design trends in mind. For example, the covers of modern, dark fantasy books are composed of highly realistic illustrations of photography, whereas the traditional ones mostly contain paintings. Some crime mystery novels have illustrated covers.

Keep your target readers in mind:

While choosing a cover for your book, you should also keep the age of the target audience in mind. If your target audience is young children painted cover with an illustrated character will do. One of the best examples is the different design covers of Harry Potter books for children and adults.

Don’t forget the competition winners:

The winners of recent cover design competitions also serve as a great source of inspiration for your book’s cover design. You can also look through the personal lists created by professionals or avid readers of your genre.

Keep the best-sellers within and outside your genre in mind:

Don’t forget the best sellers while adapting to the recent design trends. If you have written something similar to an old bestseller choose an older cover style to go with. To conclude, the cover design of your book should represent its heart and soul. It should suit your story and hook your intended segment of readers.

2. Discover the tone of your book:

Digging deep into the genre helps. However, you need to go a step further to create a cover design that conveys the emotion of your story. You need to identify the overarching feel of your story and the sentiment your story is written to put across.

It might be hard to find the tone of the story. However, once you figure it out, it gets easier to communicate what you want through the cover of your book. You can translate this tone into a visual form and design a stunning and meaningful cover for your book.

3. Look for the right designer to create a cover for your book:

Make a list of your favorite book covers. Choose the ones similar to what you want your book cover to look like. Look up the designers of the book covers you like. Find their website and have a look at their portfolio. Check out their previous work and understand how their design process goes. If you have a publishing house contract, it is part of the publisher’s job to find you a designer. However, to make it a success, you need to actively involve in the process.

4. Keep it simple:

Minimalism is all the rage when it comes to design trends. If you look at some of the best book cover designs, you will find them minimal. However, going for a minimal book design doesn’t mean you have to be boring.

You need to work towards achieving a simple design that is unique in every aspect and effectively conveys the emotion of the story.

5. Your book cover should be thumbnail friendly:

With the advent of technology, reading habits have changed. People interact with book covers differently than they used to. People read e-book more than hardcover. They also shop for books online. Therefore, it is important to create book covers that turn out to be good thumbnail images.

Creating a thumbnail cover requires a minimal design with contrasting colors and fairly large text. The image file should also be of the right size and resolution. It shouldn’t stretch and display correctly on the screen.

6. Go with a step by step approach:

Your story goes through multiple drafts before it takes its final form. The same goes for a book cover. Once you have figured out the basic features of your book cover design, you should consider various design options. Select the option that closely meets how you want your book cover to look and keep tweaking the design until you get what you need.

Emphasize important design elements. Experiment with abstract or realistic design options to make your book cover stand out.

7. It’s time to test your design:

Once you have the final cover design options ready, you need to share them with the world. Get opinions from everyone you know, specifically your intended segment of readers. Request them to choose their favorite out of the final design options. Also, take the design critique seriously. Keep track of the features they like and dislike about your cover design.

Wrapping up!

It takes years to write a book. You put your heart and soul into it and do your best to make sure it makes it to the list of best sellers. However, what most writers don’t realize is it takes much more than a compelling story to captivate your intended audience.

The cover of a book is the first thing that compels readers to pick up a book and start reading it. Therefore, it has to be a classic one. There are various things you can do that ensure that the cover of the book effectively conveys its emotions, personality, and tone. By following the above-mentioned tips you can ensure that your book stands out from the rest.

Elice Max is a A marketing professional with seven years in the industry. Mostly interested in personal branding and emerging trends. Mom to two humans and one Persian cat.

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Guest Posts

7 Unique Instagram Marketing Tips For Beginners

Guest posts

Introduction: 

Are you looking for the perfect guide to improve your marketing strategy on Instagram? Follow these 7 effective steps that will help you to enhance your business. 

Before we enter into the main topic, a quick look about Instagram marketing. 

Instagram is one of the most popular and influential social networks in the world. As more and more people use Instagram to update their valuable information. Instagram is an excellent platform for publishing your visual thoughts. 

Instagram marketing is the process of promoting your brand among Instagram users. It helps you to reach a large & new audience, increase brand visibility, build strong brand & customer relationships, and generate more sales and revenue for your business. 

Okay, shall we move to our main topic: 7 unique Instagram marketing tips for beginners:

Tip 1: Make A Great Profile 

When someone enters your profile, the first thing they see your profile picture, short bio, and your most recent posts. Your Instagram profile clearly explains who you are and what your business does. It can help to show your brand personality and get people to notice your actions. 

Here are some important parts of your Instagram profile:

  • Profile Image: The image that you use should be relevant to your brand or business. 
  • Username: Add the right username that is searchable. 
  • Bio: You have 150 characters to write an effective bio. So, spend some time making the right impression. 
  • Clickable Links: Bio is an excellent place to take people to your product page directly. 
  • Call to action: You can insert additional call to action buttons such as call, email, etc. 

Tip 2: Follow A Unique Content Strategy 

A solid content strategy is essential to succeed on Instagram marketing. Without useful and relevant content, it is hard to grab the attention of your target audience. 

So, you should analyze what type of content is best to gain more potential followers to your account. 

But, how to find & improve your content strategy?

  1. You should upload more photos and videos that are relevant to your brand/products. 
  2. You can make videos that show your company culture and give a behind the scene look. 
  3. Create a mixture of contents with different formats. 
  4. Focus on high quality and subject matter contents. 
  5. Post one or two times per day when your followers are more active. 

Tip 3: Collaborate With Target Influencers 

Influencer marketing is the best strategy to reach out to your potential customers and gain followers on Instagram within a short time. Partners with the right influencers can show your brand in front of a wider audience. 

According to the research, more and more people purchase products based on the content of influencers. 

Usually, Instagram influencers have a large and loyal follower base. So, most people trust their recommendations to make a successful campaign. 

Ensure that you should choose to partner with those who have a highly relevant audience based on your product and services. 

If you partner with the right influencers, you can easily build strong brand awareness with your target audiences. 

Tip 4: Take Advantage Of Instagram Stories 

Instagram stories are similar to Snapchat posts, and it is a great way to keep your followers engaged and get more engagement. 

Instagram stories are easy to create and get more user attention when compared to Instagram photos. Because Instagram stories appear at the top of your followers feed. So, your followers can easily notice your stories and expose your content to a lot of people. Moreover, stories are a great feature to get more views on your profile page. 

When you boost Instagram story views, you get a chance to increase organic views for your stories. It can also help to drive traffic to your profile and expand popularity within a short period. It even encourages people to share more of your content with others. 

Tip 5: Use Powerful Hashtags 

Hashtags play an important role on Instagram, and you can use up to 30 hashtags per post. Hashtags can help you get more people to see your content and connect your brand with a wider audience. 

There are two types of Instagram hashtags that can get more visibility:

  1. Brand Hashtags 

A brand hashtag is basically your company name or the name of your marketing campaign. You can create branded hashtags to promote your business on Instagram easily. But, make sure your hashtags are easy to remember, unique and trending. 

  1. Content Hashtags 

The content hashtag is essential for getting more and more people to discover your content. You can use these hashtags within your content when it is relevant to it. 

If your content wants to become popular on Instagram, using a content hashtag can help you to show your content in front of your target audience. 

Tip 6: Leverage Instagram Ads 

Most marketers use Instagram advertising to enhance their brand to a huge audience. On average, there are 2 million users who use Instagram as an advertising platform. 

Here are few strong reasons for you to use Instagram advertising:

  • You can introduce your brand to a target audience through Instagram ads. 
  • Instagram ads are more engaging, which can help you to get a better conversation rate. 
  • It provides huge creative features for both images and videos when promoting your products. 
  • Instagram ads increase the chance of generating more sales and getting revenue. 

Tip 7: Access Right Metrics

Understanding your metric performance is the first step to improve your marketing strategy. Instagram provides a free inbuilt analytics tool to measure the success of your profile, content, audience demographic and more. 

These include: 

  • Follower Growth Rate:  The number of followers you have in the last 7 days.
  • Engagement Rate: It includes likes, comments, and shares per post. 
  • Click Through Rate: You can know how many people are clicking through to your URL. 

The above metrics will help you to market your business more effectively on Instagram. 

Conclusion: 

Instagram marketing strategies are the best marketing strategies in the digital world! You can use the above mentioned 7 marketing tips that can develop your marketing level and help to move the next! As a beginner, you must know the importance of Instagram marketing and their stats. 

Good luck for your business! 

Caterina Taylor is an experienced social media marketer and writer who works at PlanYourGram.com. She loves to work on content creation for social media blogs and has the potential to deliver engaging content on various platforms and networks.

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Guest Posts

Top 7 Email Marketing Strategies for Self-Published Authors

Guest posts

Emails and newsletters are the most effective digital marketing tools to promote books by self-published authors. Sending an email is much cheaper than many other marketing tools, and yet it is more effective.

Campaign Monitor reported that for the past decade, email marketing has generated the highest ROI for businesses worldwide. In fact, for every 1$ marketers spend on email marketing, they receive $38 back.

 Given its affordability and its effectiveness, Email marketing is the best promotional tool at the disposal of self-published authors. Let’s take a look at 7 tried and tested strategies to help you get more bang for your buck through email marketing:

1. Segment your Email List

First things first, you must divide your email list into small segments based on geographic, behavioral, psychographic, and demographic factors. Your subscribers and potential readers will hardly be a homogenous bunch.

They will differ from each other in terms of preferences, interests, personalities, behaviors, and other features. Therefore, it makes sense to divide them into smaller groups and design email content specifically for each segment.

Geographic Area

Sort your email list based on their geographic location. Why? Research suggests that people are more likely to open emails at certain times of the day. Marketers consider midweek, between 1 – 3 PM, the ideal time for sending emails.

However, 1 PM in one part of the world means midnight at another place. If you send one email to all subscribers, only those in your time zone will end up opening it. Hence, it’s better to divide the subscriber list according to geographic area and send emails at the appropriate time.

Open rate, purchase history, and user status (new/old) are some other segments to consider when dividing your email list.

2. Develop an Email Sequence

Next comes the sequence of Emails. Are you bombarding the reader with information in the first go? If yes, then try a different tactic for more success. Make use of Drip marketing, a strategy in which you send multiple emails to your subscribers at certain times and dates in order.

What does this do? Instead of an in-your-face sales pitchy approach, the email sequence prepares the reader for purchase by providing them the information they will find useful and interesting.

Here is a sequence that you can try:

  1. A welcome email to new subscribers.
  2. Email containing an excerpt from your book based on the reader’s previous reading history with a CTA button.
  3. Email containing an incentive such as sale price, reward, bundle pricing, etc., with a CTA.
  4. Email containing a limited time only offer with a CTA.

You will need an email automation tool to set up this sequential email marketing strategy, which brings us to our next step.

3. Get a Reliable Email Service Provider

You may be thinking that johndoe_01@gmail.com is a good enough address for your email marketing campaign, but rest assured it’s not! ESP accounts are more likely to end up unread in the spam folder.

Hence, you should get an official email account such as Gmail business suite, MailChimp, MailLite, and more. If you have an official website, you can even install a plugin, which will allow you to create emails from your own server.

Secondly, you will need email automation tools. Mailchimp and MailLite have their own automation tools. You can also use third-party software for email automation, such as software from Hubstaff or Moosend.

Email automation will help you keep track of your emails, what has been sent, what is scheduled, and so forth.

4. Focus on your Strength

Many self-published authors bog themselves down by worrying about email design. They end up wasting a lot of time on the perfect font, image, and style, that they forget the essence of the email.

Yes, it is true that emails with multimedia are more likely to succeed. However, it is not a given. You can simply write to your readers in a natural way to get a conversion. If you want to add design, you can use premade templates from your email marketing software instead of wasting hours designing the perfect layout.

5. Be As Natural As Possible

You are a writer, so do what you do best; write. Write the content of the email from your heart rather than adopting a corporate-esque stoicism. You readers, the ones who subscribed to your website because they love your writing, are more likely to respond to your words than some formal, template-style email.

Here are a few tips that you can keep in mind:

  • Use a friendly tone and talk to the subscribers as though you are familiar with them. It will invite them to continue reading your email to learn more.
  • Use simple language; resist the urge to add hard to read, fancy words. People connect with what they understand and what feels real to them.
  • Speak to them like you are speaking to a friend. If you are sending emails to old readers, share an inside joke, catchphrase, quote, or poem from your previous book to make them feel like they are a part of an exclusive club.

6. Freebies do Work

Take a hint from Software as a Service model and offer free previews to hook your readers. If you are selling e-books, then you can include a free preview for the first few chapters to entice the reader into buying.

Similarly, you can offer discounts, additional perks like buy 1 book and get the audiobook free, and so on. Perks and rewards never fail to convert if done in a classy way.

7. Include a CTA

Always include a clear and visible Call To Action (CTA) button in your email. What do you want to achieve with the email? Do you want the reader to subscribe? Purchase? View? Download?

Whatever your intended result, include a CTA to drive action. You can include the CTA at the end of your email and highlight it, so it pops up.

A few examples of popular CTA are:

  1. Subscribe Today
  2. Download Now
  3. Purchase Here

You can experiment with the CTAs and see what works for you.

Arslan Hassan is an electrical engineer with a passion for writing, designing, and anything tech-related. His educational background in the technical field has given him the edge to write on many topics. He occasionally writes blog articles for Dynamologic Solutions.

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Guest Posts

Rich and Concise: How to Tell More without Extra Words

Guest posts

Using fewer words to convey clear ideas will always engage readers. Concise writing grabs the reader’s attention because it does not use any extra verbs, nouns, and nominalizations. 

A writer’s work becomes more effective by avoiding redundant phrases and conveying the idea quickly. Improve concise writing by engaging in writing exercises, reading other exemplary works, and consciously avoiding the temptation to use long sentences. Here are a few ideas to make every writing piece rich and attractive and creating lasting memories for the readers. Your New Year writing goals might become a reality with this helpful guide.

Improve Vocabulary to Avoid Nominalizations

Read the works of other authors, dictionaries and use various online resources to improve your vocabulary. Using apt words instead of extraneous sentences will make the writing look rich, exquisite, and easy to understand. Writing “he assessed the software,” instead of “he decided to do a thorough check on the pros and cons of the software,” will interest the readers better.

Always aim to keep the sentences under 30 words and paragraphs under 300 words maximum. Convey one single idea by starting with logic or statement, explain the reason or cause that adds to the argument and highlight what you wish to convey precisely. 

This software helps in improving all your performance challenges related to managing a strict deadline and increasing productivity by helping you keep track of your daily progress through automatic backup.

The software makes automatic backups of daily progress to increase productivity and manage deadlines better.

Logic – The software takes automatic backup.

Cause – of daily progress to increase productivity.

Highlighting point – manage deadlines better.

Both sentences convey the same message. But, the second one is easy to read and remember. 

Cultivating Brevity in Daily Writing

Avoiding filler words and correct noun usage is essential to master concise writing as they are tricky to use. Avoid using the common filler words like “that,” “of,” or “up” as they make the sentence unnecessarily long. E.g., I climbed the stairs/ I climbed up the stairs. Do not start a sentence with “this,” “there is,” “there are,” and “it.” 

Always start a sentence with subject, and use a noun along with these four words – this, that, these, and those. For example – avoid “this is unbearable” and try “The pain is unbearable.” Avoid writing “I like these” and write, “I love these colors.” Try to avoid extra nouns like, “these are the basic and necessary steps you must do,” and write “do these important steps.”

Avoiding these common mistakes will make the writing look much more professional and exciting to read. Following this set of collective rules is termed brevity, meaning short and to the point. Incorporate brevity in the emails or resumes, business writing, letters, and all other daily writing forms to save time and convey strong and short messages effectively.

Proper Adjective and Minimal Adverb Usage  

Improve the vocabulary by expanding your knowledge of various common but less used adjectives. There are plenty of ways to shorten a sentence using the right adjectives. Some common examples are very good – superb, really boring – tedious, too harsh – severe.

Correct use of adjectives is vital to set the mood of the sentence and create an emotional appeal. Most of the “Show don’t tell” writing principles stress using proper adjectives to convey emotions. Adjectives are the key to good writing, and mastering the correct usage of adjectives through training and expanding knowledge will improve the quality of writing extensively. 

Try to avoid adverbs usage unless necessary, as most editors try to filter out nearly all the adverbs unless it is indispensable to use them. The thumb rule is to use the adverbs only to mention color, size, or quantity. Most beginner writers tend to use adverbs with “ly” extensively. Instead of writing “quickly,” try to write “quick to.” 

Effective Active Voice Usage

Minimizing the usage of adverbs will also lead to writing efficiently in the active voice. Passive voice writing is often not preferred in business communications and official reports. The modern writing comprising blogs and social media also does not encourage using passive voice sentences. 

Writing in active voice and using passive voice only in unavoidable circumstances is an efficient way to showcase excellent writing skills. Replace adverb usage with exciting descriptions that paint a picture of the situation or background. Classic novels do a great job of describing the situation without excessive adverb usage.

Read them regularly and try recreating the everyday modern conditions in a similar style to improve concise writing. Read contemporary science fiction to learn about brief descriptions.

Try Various Writing Exercises 

Writing, as is with painting, is a skill that will improve only with constant practice. Try various writing exercises incorporating the points mentioned above. Start by creating an exciting tweet about this article in 140 characters using just 22 words.  

Read the work of prominent authors like Kurt Vonnegut, who is well-known for concise writing. Start writing their work in your own words for two minutes, setting up a timer, and write in your style.

Once the time is over, compare your writing with the original piece and spot the differences in the wording. Now count the words in your essay, shorten them in half, compare your shortened work with the original part, and note the improvement. 

Select a caption or appealing newspaper heading and paraphrase it within 20 words without using any filler words. Try the numerous other writing exercises available online and judge where you stand in using articulate words as a writer.

Conclusion

Write for your audience and with a will to provide something valuable and easy for them to understand. Do not overstuff words. Try to edit and re-edit several times before you are certain that every message is concise. Building a loyal readership is all about providing variety and trying not to be monotonous. Avoid making your sentences long and complicated. Organize your ideas, streamline the writing structure and convey the message confidently without any extra frills to bait the audience.  

Leon Collier is a UK-based academic writer and editor working among the best professional paper writers. His current job is with https://my-assignment.help/nursing-assignment-help/ where he helps medical students write research papers, essays and lab reports. When not busy writing, you can find him reading books and novels or playing tabletop games with his buddies. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.

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Guest Posts

How to win book awards. Advice from the Experts!

Guest posts

Paula Sheridan, Founder of Page Turner Awards, offers advice to authors on how to get their books to win awards so they can become award-winning authors.

1. Book Cover:

Your book cover must be professionally designed to create intrigue and thus hook the reader and award judges to choose it to open the pages. It’s a myth that book cover designers are expensive. Most designers will charge a few hundred for a cover. Ask for recommendations in your writing groups. If you’re short on budget, search the internet for book cover solutions.

We’re often told ‘not to judge a book by its cover’ which has a different meaning for humans than for books. Most readers will buy a book based on the feeling they get when seeing the book cover. Equally, for a book award, judges will be drawn to covers they like and that will encourage them to read on. Which brings me on to the next important point…

2. Opening Chapters:

The first page and opening chapters must hook the reader or judge within the first paragraph or two. Ensure your story’s opening grabs the reader or judge by their collar and pulls them along. And, before they know it, they are reading several chapters and can’t put your story down. This is vital for book awards and writing contests.

3. Grammar and Prose:

In your opening chapters, be vigilant with grammar and checking for typos. You cannot have a judge put your book aside due to bad workmanship. A free trial with a great piece of self-editing software, like ProWritingAid will ensure that you don’t have any mistakes in your submission. Don’t rely on Microsoft Word to do this very important job for you! A sterling editing software, like ProWritingAid, will also improve your prose by pointing out where you’ve used too many adverbs and it even lists words that are over-used. If you haven’t tried such a ‘writing wonder’, I highly recommend it.

4. Compelling Characters:

Start your story with a compelling character, either a heroine or a villain but most likely the main hero of the story who is someone the reader or book award judges will care about almost straight away. They must capture the reader or judges attention, so they engage with the character and they continue reading to see what happens to the character. This should be the case for any self-published book, whether you intend to enter a book award or not!

Winning book awards can help your book get discovered. They provide new promotion opportunities for you and your book.

5. Be Brave:

Don’t be afraid to try something new and show off your writing flair with original thoughts and ideas. For example, take a character’s personality or a plot point that we know as familiar and flip it in a way that we don’t recognize, then the reader or judge will find your writing exciting and new, so they’ll want to keep reading. Write something unexpected in plot, or concept. Another given for all stories you intend to self-publish.

6. Find High Value Prizes:

When searching book awards to enter, check out the awards where the prizes are of real value to writers and authors, such as a writing mentorship or PR plans for book publicity, or critical feedback. These are all essential elements of a writing or book award, but not all have them. Page Turner Awards offers these prizes and much more. That’s probably because as an author myself, I created the awards with judges and prizes that I wanted to find in a literary award but couldn’t find. As writers, we want to win prizes that will improve our writing or help to propel our careers.

7. Book Promotion:

Remember that a book award is another form of book marketing. Having a book award under your belt means you can promote your book as an award-winning book. If you’d like help with promoting your book, try out this book marketing trio, which you can download for free https://BookHip.com/XXBVFC

8. Finding the Right Contest:

Lastly, many writers and authors are skeptical about entering a new book award with no track record. If you find one that is new and you’re not sure if you should enter, check their previous successes. Success stories from Page Turner Awards inaugural awards include three writers winning literary representation, six writers winning a writing mentorship, five writers winning a publishing contract and thirteen independent authors winning an audiobook production.

Good luck with your book awards entries!

Paula Sheridan is founder of Page Turner Awards, Book Luver and Writing Goals. She writes and publishes under the pen name of Paula Wynne. Paula’s career spanned several decades as a book publicist and marketing expert (check out Pimp My Site).

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Guest Posts

7 Steps to Write a Great Book Description

Guest posts

Let’s think like a potential reader for a second. We’re looking for a book to buy, and searching through our favorite genre. We see a book cover that intrigues us, but we need more. What’s the next thing we’ll do? We’ll read the book description. This goes for online shopping as well as for buying a book in a bookstore. The readers all follow these steps.

That means that you as the author need to write a great book description that will hook potential readers into buying your book. If you’re not sure how to write a great book description, just keep reading.

Here are the 7 ultimate steps for nailing your book description.

1. Open on a Strong Note

When you’re writing your book description, you need to keep one thing in mind. Potential readers don’t have the time to read dozens of book descriptions. They’ll only read the ones that speak to them from the first line.

This is why your opening lines should be:

  • intriguing
  • shocking
  • mystical
  • attention-grabbing

Make sure that you open on a strong note to inspire the potential readers to keep reading.

2. Don’t Reveal Too Much

Nobody wants to know what happens in your book before they decide to read it. It would be a huge mistake to reveal the most important plot twists or storylines in your book description.

Instead, you need to choose a small fraction of your book’s storyline and share it in the description. Make sure to:

  • reveal no crucial moments of the book
  • give minor hints of what to expect
  • leave an open question that the readers will answer if the read the book

Give them just enough to help them imagine what your book might be like, and imagine themselves reading it.

3. Keep it Short

You don’t want to scare off any of your potential readers by making the description too long. It would be much more effective to keep it short, but to make sure it has all the elements:

  • it’s informative
  • it’s concise
  • it’s to the point

Don’t waste any words on poetic descriptions and vague sentences. Instead, make sure every word counts and reveals something special about your book.

4. Explain What the Book Offers

You want to make sure your book description speaks to your target readers. The best way to do it is to tell them why they need to read it.

Explain what the book offers to the readers to help them decide whether to buy it or not. For example, it could offer:

  • an emotional chronicle of a Jewish family’s life during WWII
  • a passionate love story that was never supposed to happen
  • a complex and emotional thriller that gives insight into the minds of both the good and bad

Make sure to reveal the value of the book and give the readers an additional reason to buy it.

5. Optimize For Google

Selling your book online means knowing how to optimize for Google searches. You have to think like a potential reader and understand the phrases they might be typing in the search box.

For example:

  • a female-empowered adult drama book
  • children’s fantasy novel
  • an adults’ romance novel

Figure out what they’re going to google and use those phrases in your book description. Make sure they fit naturally, or you’ll lose the quality of the description.

6. Create Several Drafts

When writing your book description, chances are you won’t get it right the first time. Try creating several different drafts to explore different angles and approaches.

Then, let them rest for a day or two.

Go back to them and:

  • read each one like you’re seeing it for the first time
  • read it like a potential book buyer
  • make notes about each one
  • choose the best one

In case you need any help with writing your book description, there are professional essay writers who can help you nail it.

7. Show Your Writing Style

Your book description is supposed to reveal something about the emotion, atmosphere, or sensibility of the book. This is why you need to write it in accordance with the book’s content.

Make sure to:

  • show your writing style
  • show your uniqueness
  • let them feel your energy

Make the book description a preview of what’s waiting inside the pages.

Final Thoughts

Writing a great book is not enough to make it a hit that sells like crazy. You need to do all the extra work for promoting it and making sure it reaches the right audience.

The tips above will help you write a great book description. Use them to help your book reach its full potential.

Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at Bestwritingadvisor, an aggregator for useful college resources and websites. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.

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Guest Posts

Do You Know These Benefits of Writing Poetry?

Guest posts

Poetry is such a beautiful form of literature. It allows you to say so much without having to write pages and pages. Through symbolism, rhymes, rhythmic, and aesthetic language, poetry can truly express the author’s deepest emotions and wildest thoughts. And, the best thing about poetry is that it brings certain benefits to the author.

The benefits of writing poetry might be a mystery to you, but we’re here to tell you more. We’ve put together a list that will help you learn just how good poetry can be for you, mentally and physically. Let’s take a closer look.

1. Expressing Emotions

The number one benefit of writing poetry lies in expressing emotions. This is crucial for those people who have trouble dealing with how they feel.

And, one thing’s for sure- you should never swipe your emotions under the rug.

Through writing poetry, you’re able to:

  • process the emotions you’re feeling
  • use creativity to express them
  • deal with them in your poetry and let them go

That means that poetry helps you let go of certain feelings instead of constantly holding on to the past. And, this is extremely beneficial for your mental health and inner peace.

2. Escaping Reality

We all need a break from our reality every now and then. And, poetry allows us to create our own little world and escape in it whenever we like.

People who write poetry regularly report that they feel shifted away whenever they’re in this process. Here’s what that means:

  • writing poetry takes you to your happy place
  • you feel relaxed, stress-free, and inspired
  • you can rest from the daily noise and tension

Escaping your busy reality is a good idea, and poetry is one of the best ways to do it.

3. Building Self-Awareness

Learning about ourselves and getting in touch with our inner-selves is never a bad idea. This is something we should try doing for as long as we’re alive.

Why?

Because it helps us build self-awareness and grow stronger on a personal level. Here’s how poetry helps you build self-awareness:

  • you express your ideas and emotions in your poems
  • you do it intuitively, which makes it honest
  • you re-read those lines and gain new insight about yourself

Poetry allows you to learn about yourself, grow, and improve.

4. Memorizing Important Moments

When certain things happen in our lives, we like to hold on to them. Whether it’s a beautiful memory or a life-changing event, it’s good to be reminded of your past experiences.

But, holding it all inside can be potentially harmful to our mental health. This is why it’s a good idea to write it down through poetry. This way, you’ll be:

  • getting it out of your system
  • making sure it’s never forgotten
  • allowing yourself to re-live it whenever you read the poems

Angela Baker, a literary critic, and editor at Trust My Paper, says:

“Poetry is one of the best ways to preserve some of the most important moments of your life. When you turn them into poetry, they’ll forever remain alive and available for you to re-live them. That’s the beauty of poetry.”

Angela Baker

5. Remove Emotional Pain

Some of the most beautiful poems were written as a result of great emotional pain. When we suffer, we feel most inspired to write poetry because we feel the need to ease the pain we’re feeling.

Poetry helps us remove this emotional pain, and here’s how:

  • we bring it out of ourselves
  • we deal with all the emotions we’re feeling
  • we find relief and peace

Writing poetry benefits those who are struggling to heal from a recent emotional episode and need a hand to do it successfully.

6. Improving Cognition

Poetry isn’t just beneficial for our emotional side. It also has a positive impact on our brand and cognition, so we can almost say that it’s making us smarter.

Here’s why this is the case:

  • writing poetry is a complex process
  • it requires us to combine the words, hidden meaning, symbols, rhymes, and rhythmic
  • this process makes our brain active and stronger

Poetry helps us train our brain into being sharper and working smoothly. As a result, our overall cognition, memory, and focus are improved.

Final Thoughts

Writing poetry is an immensely enjoyable and beneficial process we should all try. People who write poetry experience significant benefits and improvements in their well-being.

Hopefully, the benefits listed above helped you understand just how valuable the process of writing poetry is. Use it as inspiration to start enjoying writing poetry more.

Donald Fomby is an experienced freelance writer and amateur poet. He currently works as an editor at Supreme Dissertations. Donald mainly focuses on literature-related topics and aims to provide practical advice his readers can apply easily

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Guest Posts

5 Ways Content Marketing Affects Your Book Sales

Guest posts

Perhaps, among all the ways to promote your book, content marketing is the most powerful tool since it allows you to instantly reach out to your target audience online and start your conversation with them. Here is how content marketing can be helpful in your book promotion directly affecting the level of sales and the number of engaged fans.

#1 Content Marketing Improves Your Landing Page’s Conversions

First and foremost, consider creating a dedicated landing page for your book. Landing pages have been effective for ages and are still widely being used by all kinds of sellers. Fortunately, they are particularly useful for promoting and selling a particular product instead of focusing on a wide variety of products which means selling your book with the help of a landing page will be the perfect route to go for you.

That being said, it’s important to understand that what you place on the landing page is what really will help you sell your book. You might be directing a lot of traffic to the page, but without good content, it won’t work the way you want it to. For example, some key characteristics of your book, a synopsis, reader and critic reviews, and a sample from the book can be placed throughout the page as well as a button for purchasing the book. This way, you will keep all the attention only on the book itself while promoting it.

#2 Content Marketing Allows Your Readers to Stay in Touch with You Via Social Media

Social media marketing is known to be one of the most effective types of online marketing – and it’s a part of content marketing. Indeed, all the content you create for social media as a part of your campaigns will actually fall into the category of content marketing. This means that you can tie social media into your campaigns seamlessly and integrate them or attach them to other platforms you use for promoting your book (e.g. email marketing).

The best thing about social media platforms is that they help authors stay in touch with their readers at any time from any place. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or any other platforms you decide to use as a writer will help you connect with your audience better while providing some kind of insight into your life to your most dedicated fans. Having an online social media following will also help you maintain a base of readers that will always come back to get more content from you – and more books.

#3 Content Marketing Boosts Your SEO Results

SEO or search engine optimization has been a major part of all digital marketing campaigns for ages now. In addition to that, SEO is needed both on your website and on your social media which means it is crucial for your content marketing as well. Optimizing your images and videos, adding keywords to your articles and blog posts, using hashtags on social media – all of this is a part of SEO just as much as it is a part of content marketing.

As Jocelyn Fry from the essay writing service reviews site Writing Judge puts it, “Content marketing and SEO go hand-in-hand. If you don’t adjust your content correctly, it won’t be discovered organically by search engines and your website won’t rank in search results. Likewise, it will be harder for you to get discovered on social media if you don’t use hashtags and tags. Many people who are just starting out forget just how important SEO is, so if you remember about it and you do everything right, you will have a big advantage.”

#4 Content Marketing Establishes Authority with The Help of Your Reader’s Testimonials

It’s easy to forget that content marketing is not just about the content you create – it’s also about the content your readers create that you can then share with your audience. No matter how much you try to persuade your potential readers to try to buy your book – other readers will be able to do it much better which is exactly why UGC or user-generated content is so important for the success of your content marketing and digital marketing campaigns. Here are just some examples of UGC that you can use:

  • Reader Testimonials: Reader testimonials or reviews help you establish authority and show that you are a good author writing good books. In other words, it’s a way to attract more potential customers and persuade them to actually buy your book.
  • Fan Content: Fan content such as fanfiction, fan art, cosplays, etc. helps you get more exposure, especially on social media, and attracts even more potential readers to check out your book. Such content can also help you create a stronger bond with your audience and create a lasting relationship with returning readers.

#5 Content Marketing Helps Leverage Your Efforts with Paid Ads

Last but not least, content marketing can help you improve the results achieved by your paid ad campaigns. Paid ads are usually used to generate more traffic (to your website, your landing page, or your social media page), but the content is what actually helps you sell your book once the paid ad has taken your reader to the place you want them to be. Moreover, knowing how to create good content will also help you write better ads that will be more efficient and effective.

If you aren’t so sure about your marketing abilities, it’s definitely worth checking out some books about marketing your own book before you launch any digital marketing campaigns. After all, if you want to achieve success, you need to be ready to have to learn some new tricks and techniques that will help you promote your book the right way.

Final Thoughts

All in all, content marketing is definitely an amazing tool that will help you improve your digital marketing campaigns and will help you best the sales of your book. Use the tips in this article to improve your content marketing strategy and start promoting your book more effectively.

John Edwards is a writing specialist who is looking for ways of self-development in the field of writing and blogging. New horizons in his beloved business always attract with their varieties of opportunities. Therefore, it is so important for him to do the writing.

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The Power of Words in History: How Written Words Changed Nations

Guest posts

What makes us human? For some, it’s our cognitive ability, for others, it’s our ability to feel empathy, compassion, and other complex emotions. Many experts might also argue that part of what makes humans so special is our innate needs and desires to document, to write, and to create.

From speculative fiction stories in fantasy worlds to grand political and philosophical texts, people have always seemingly felt a need to mark their experiences and share them with others in some form. We can see many examples of this from delving deep into the past. Cave paintings and ancient hieroglyphs show us that people wanted to document things for posterity from the earliest age.

This tradition, which began so many years ago, has persisted throughout time, shaping civilization and society as we know it, strengthening cultural understanding between people, laying down laws and rules by which we live, broadening the minds of scholars and readers across the globe, and so much more.

Indeed, in many ways, the written word has played a more instrumental role in forging human civilization than almost anything else. Take religious texts, such as the Bible or Qu’ran, for instance, which were first formed many years ago but continue to hold great spiritual and religious significance for countless people today.

We can also take a look at powerful legal documents like the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence. These texts show how the simplest of things – nothing but paper and ink – can be imbued with immense power by those who forge them.

Then, there are the works of fiction, tales told by the likes of Dickens, Austen, Twain, Hemingway, Woolf, Orwell, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and so on that have been enjoyed and admired throughout the ages. They continue to exert great influence over society right into the modern era, performed on the stage, adapted for the screen, and studied in great detail by readers worldwide.

These texts, in all of their forms and guises, have helped to shape and change the world we live in. Without newspapers, vast swathes of the public would have been uninformed of current events throughout their nations. Without dictionaries and literary aids, literacy rates would never have risen as they did.

From a political perspective too, we can see the amazing influence writers can have. The likes of Mary Wollstonecraft helped to lay the groundwork for the feminism of today, while iconic figures of the past like Martin Luther King Jr. made use of their own writing abilities to forge a more equal and understanding society.

Without political writing and musings, key events throughout history like the French Revolution or the American Civil War might never have happened or might have played out entirely differently. Without the works of great philosophers like Plato, Kant, Descartes, and Hume, our very conception of the world around us could be completely different.

From scientific and medical standpoints, written documents allowed researchers from all four corners of the globe to make great strides in their studies and developments, building on the foundations documented by those before them and guiding their descendants towards new discoveries.

There are countless examples of written words helping to transform and indeed form the world in which we live, and it can be argued that not a single key event of the last few millennia would have played out quite the same way without the intervention of documents, texts, books, papers, and journals.

But whether we’re talking about classical romantic poetry, adventure stories for children, legal texts that form the foundation of entire societies, or grand religious documents that inspire the faith of millions, all forms of the written word owe a great deal to one man in particular: Johannes Gutenberg.

In 1439, Gutenberg became the first European to make use of movable type, inventing an entirely new process for mass-printing movable type and pioneering the use of ink in printing books. He formed the printing press, changing the course of history forevermore and allowing people all around the civilized world to have far easier and more widespread access to written words.

Gutenberg’s creation allowed words to proliferate further than ever before, broadening their influence and enhancing their power. It’s no surprise that in the centuries that followed, mankind saw some of its finest inventions, its greatest developments, and its swiftest pushes towards the modern societies we know today.

Still, now, in this digital age of connected devices, social media platforms, and always-online societies, written words continue to hold immense importance for all, and while the printing press of Gutenberg is more of an intriguing artifact than a functional device in the modern era, we’re still seeing societies build and expand on the foundations he laid down.

Written words continue to hold great power, even in the digital space. Short messages and personal stories shared across social media led to the rise of massive global movements like Me Too and Black Lives Matter, while aspiring authors continue to share their tales on a bigger scale than ever before.

At a time when anyone can head online and have their written words read by thousands all over the globe, the importance of those words has never been greater. It’s up to all of us to acknowledge the incredible influence and power we can wield with our words and take heed of the past to use them in the best possible ways.

Leon Collier is a blogger from the UK, who loves to write about everything: pop-culture, history, travel, self-development, education, marketing. He also works as part of a team of professional essay writers, offering dissertation writing services to those who need help. When not writing, you can find him behind a book or playing tabletop games with his friends. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.

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A Rookie’s Best Advice

In the short time since I published my first book (10/10/2020), I’ve been asked many times what advice I would give to those with a book idea of their own. Although this rookie is happy to answer what I can about the mechanics and business of being a writer, I would only be telling a half-truth if I stopped there. 

Over the last 6 years that I’ve been attending my local writer’s and mastermind groups, poking around conferences and expos, taking e-courses, dog-earing craft books, listening to podcasts, and “friend-stalking” the authors I want to be like when I grow up, I’ve learned a great deal. But stretch me as those things have, that learning curve is slight compared to the foundational education that I believe someone whom God calls to pick up a pen must acquire. 

Am I referring to a college degree? No- don’t have one; nor did I go to Bible School. I haven’t held an official staff position (paid or volunteer) at my church. I’ve never even taught a Sunday School class or led a small group. But when it comes to being an author, I don’t suffer for a second from “Imposter Syndrome”. Here’s why: 

I believe that in order to have words worthy of writing down, you must first authentically learn them through life experience. Persevering through the trials, failures, and heartaches that come our way equip us with wisdom worth writing about. And hang with me; I’m not referring to non-fiction writers alone. This is coming from the author of a children’s picture book. Fiction can be one of the greatest ways to impart truth. The Author of Life was, is, and forever will be the greatest storyteller of all time. Jesus Christ himself taught through parables and stories. 

Through his words and deeds, he equipped us to be overcomers, then sent the Holy Spirit to counsel us along our way. And like anything worthwhile, I am convinced that the journey of becoming an effective writer (one who is doing Kingdom work, producing fruit that will last) starts at His feet. And what drives us there more effectively than trials?

I write fables. My debut book illustrates what it looks like to love the difficult people in your life. And although it’s catchy and cute, I’m told that it can preach- But honestly, to no one more than myself. 

What I didn’t expect was the way in which I would be tested on my own words through the process of publishing this book. I’ll have a more definitive opinion down the publishing road, but I have a hunch that perhaps this is the reality of the author journey. How often I have been exhorted by the words of the little woodland creatures in this series! Simple truths, much easier taught than lived out, require the work of the Holy Spirit in our yielded lives.

So whether or not you have a degree, business experience, an impressive platform, or are just getting started—f you have a desire to write, here is my best advice:

First, practically speaking, be patient. Avoiding embarrassing or costly mistakes. Having a professional product in the end is worth the investment of your time and dollars. 

Next, silence the voice that questions your ability or whether or not you “qualify” to be an author. God never chooses those whom we would view as the obvious pick now does he?

Finally, sit humbly at his feet and gain a heart of wisdom as you negotiate your own set of trials and victories. What he is teaching you, though often through a painful process, is likely the reason the desire to write has been planted within you. 

Listen for His voice if you want to find yours. Then write. Write for the joy of it. Write because it makes you laugh, or cry, or feel inspired. Most of all, write because when you do, you feel the unparalleled warmth of his smile.

Shelleen Weaver is a poet, former Miss Teen of Pennsylvania, a singer/songwriter/recording artist of the CRW # 1 hit song, Enraptured, a speaker, wife, and mom. And completely, utterly, a child at heart. She’s the author of Love Bird, the first of the Fruit Fables series, which grew out of the bedtime stories and original lullabies she told and sang to her children when they were young. Shelleen lives with her husband and three children in gorgeous Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. More at ShelleenWeaver.com

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The Complete Guide For Beginners To Stand Out On Twitter

Twitter is a major social media platform, which holds 330 million monthly active users, and 450 million daily active users. People see Twitter as the mini entertaining channel; you can find all kinds of updates and trending news. On Twitter, you can notify lots and lots of marketers, business professionals to grow their business in their way. It is the right place for startups or beginners to develop their brand or platform quickly on social media. Through Twitter, beginners can introduce their brands or products to millions of people worldwide.

Let’s start with some specific tips and tricks for beginners on Twitter.

Construct an Impressive Profile 

Once you decide to start your business on Twitter, your first and foremost action is to create a Twitter account for your business. Creating a Twitter account is not enough; you need to build an impressive profile. When people identify your tweet or account, their first action is to visit your profile. To build an impressive and useful profile, you must concentrate on certain items.

Choose Your Username Wisely

Your username must belong to your business name (brands, products). Suppose if your business name is already taken, you can try adding your location with your username. At Least you can pick a name that specifies your business. Don’t use an underscore or hyphens, which may look unprofessional. If you have accounts on other media, then use the same username here you have used there. It helps to bring your existing followers to other media. Avoid changing the username often.

Add Necessary Details in the Bio Section 

Did you know a bio with a link receives more followers than those who don’t have one? At the same time, don’t overload it with lengthy words; keep it short and sweet. If you cannot express your business within two lines, think over what you are doing. How can you express the benefits of your products?

Display Picture & Background

Your brand or company logo will be the best fit for your profile pictures. It helps to make your people think about your brand image. It must be clear and easily recognizable. For your background cover photo, select photos that are unique and styled. Twitter branding is the most crucial thing to make your brand famous and trendy. You can keep your brand or product image as your background.

How to Engage on Twitter 

Once you have a good profile with sufficient information, what next? Of course, you need to start the real work. You begin to build engagement for your account. Start to grow your followers . Use search tabs to find relevant accounts and people who are interested in your topics or genre. Once you find those accounts, follow them, and engage with their tweets. Respond to their tweets by liking and commenting to them. Engaging with others helps them decide to follow your account.

Know What To Tweet

You need to offer engaging and fascinating content on Twitter to grow your audience engagement rate. Use multimedia and visual content in your tweets to catch your audience’s sight. You can share any beneficial content that will be useful for your audience. Asking questions will help to know your audience mindset and preferences, so concentrate on increasing your poll votes to see how your brand works. Moreover, you can use Rousesocial Twitter poll votes to gain lots of attention and engagement from your audience. On the other hand, you can try giveaways or contest to expand your brand reach and visibility.

Listen To What’s Going on

Once you start to grow your follower’s rate, you have to increase your engagement rate by posting exciting and attractive content daily. Use the search tab to discover the trending topics and discussions on Twitter. Your primary intention is to increase your retweets counts, as it automatically maximizes your engagement rate. Through keywords on the search tab, you can spot many conversations and chats belonging to your genre or themes. When you identify those conversations, don’t promote your products directly. Rather, offer content that is more valuable to others.

  • Like worthwhile posts
  • Provide answers to people who need your help
  • Give your suggestions to people’s questions
  • Solve people’s problems

Always remember to go with the trend, retweets to trending tweets, content. Keep an eye on viral tweets, talk about them, think about how to make those viral tweets connect to your content.

Post Regularly

Consistency is the key to success not only for Twitter but for all businesses. Maintain your active presence on Twitter by posting the content regularly. Avoid posting too much promotional content. Connect with your followers, ask them instant replies to their questions.   

Conclusion 

Posting frequently is essential but posting the right content at the right time matters most. Try to find your audience’s active time. Statistics from third party sites may help you. You may benefit from Twitter ads to grow your followers rapidly. Influencer marketing is also powerful. You can partner with them to enhance your recognition on Twitter. We hope this article is useful to beginners who want to develop their platform on Twitter.

Kaira Ralph works at  Rousesocial as a social media strategist and a content writer. She contributes a lot of articles focusing on the latest social media trends to many blogs across the web. Her passions involve reading, painting, and traveling

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9 Writing Tools to Become More Productive as a Writer

Do you want to become a successful writer? Be ready to work hard and keep your productivity high.

Yep, writing talent is not the only thing you need to succeed in today’s world. You also need to be able to work effectively and deliver results fast.

Luckily, we live in the technology age, where productivity tools are widely available.

If you want to become a more productive writer, use the following tools and apps.

Grammarly

How much time do you spend fixing typos and correcting small grammar mistakes? Fifteen minutes a day or maybe a few hours? Try to install Grammarly and proofread your writings automatically.

Grammarly is an AI-powered grammar checker – it defines common mistakes and suggests fixes. If you start using it today, you will significantly speed up the writing process and get a chance to release your book sooner.

Evernote

The most brilliant ideas always come to mind unexpectedly. And if you don’t want these ideas to fade away, you should be ready to write them down immediately.

Evernote is an app that allows you to take notes and manage your tasks in a smooth and convenient way. You can use it to create textual notes or save drawings, photographs, audio, or web content that inspires you.

The best thing about Evernote is that it allows you to sync your notes across multiple devices. It means that you can access your saved files using your phone, tablet, and laptop no matter what device you have used to create that file.

Scrivener 

Scrivener is a popular writing app used by best-selling novelists, professional screenwriters, and non-fiction writers. If you want to take your writing to the next level, consider using this tool for crafting your next draft.

Use Scrivener to write down your ideas, edit your manuscript, and add background materials. Compile everything into a single document for printing and share your book with the first readers and publishers.

Thesaurus

Good writing is all about choosing the right words to describe characters, settings, and items. If you want to expand your vocabulary and improve the quality of your texts – use Thesaurus. This tool will help you to find relevant synonyms for overused words and enrich your language.

Thesaurus is an excellent solution for elevating and improving writing and vocabulary for both newbies and pro writers.

Novel Factory

If you are a newbie in novel writing, Novel Factory will be a great tool for you. It works like an integrated step-by-step guide that helps you to craft a story one idea at a time.

Novel Factory interface includes dedicated sections for characters, locations, and items. It means you can describe the main hero of your story and the settings first and then move to crafting a plot.

Besides, Novel Factory offers plot outlines for popular genres like romance and thriller. If you want to write a novel but don’t know how to start, you can use these outlines for inspiration and as an example to follow.

Essay Guard

Nothing and no one is perfect. So if you feel like you need expert help to improve your writing, don’t feel ashamed to ask for it.

The best way to find a reliable writing service is to check websites ratings and read reviews on Essay Guard. Choose a qualified writer wisely, and you will get adequate editorial assistance.

Writing Prompts

Do you want to become a part of the online writing community? Install Writing Prompts, a mobile app, and create your own writing prompts and stories. Share it with other writers and get valuable feedback.

Writing Prompts allows you to check stories written by other authors. It means you can evaluate the quality of other authors’ works and learn the lesson from their mistakes and successes.

FocusMe

Do you find it challenging to focus on writing? Do you get distracted by social media notifications? If you want to finish your book due to the deadline, you should fight your social media addiction.

Install FocusMe and block access to social media websites. If you don’t have the strong willpower to stop checking your phone – this tool is just a perfect solution for you. It will limit the distractions so that you will be able to immerse yourself in writing.

Freedom

Freedom is another app for blocking distracting websites and apps. If you use it daily, you will improve your productivity and will get able to generate more brilliant ideas. You can set a work schedule, so Freedom will block access to distracting media automatically at hours when you are busy with writing.

In conclusion

All these nine tools are available for free or offer free trials, so you don’t have to pay money to understand whether they suit you or not.

We highly recommend you to test productivity tools one tool at a time to find a solution that works for you the best.

Daniela McVicker is a well-known writer, a contributor to EssayAssistant. She enjoys reading classic literature and doing research on internet marketing. Her favorite pastimes are to write, listen to jazz tracks and take quiet walks.

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10 Tips to Ruin Your Book and Lose Your Readership

Writing your book should be something that the author finds interesting. However, in the long run, you aren’t writing the book for yourself. You’re writing it for your audience, which you aren’t a part of. This means that you need to offer them something worth their time and attention, which can put you under a lot of pressure. Some writers crack under this pressure and start to do things that are likely to ruin the book and make them lose their readership. This is something that you have to avoid.

In the spirit of learning through examples of what NOT to do, here are ten things that will cause you to ruin your book or lose your readership.

Wait for inspiration

This is something that too many writers are guilty of. I don’t know where they got the idea that you can’t write a good book (especially fiction) without inspiration. So, they do all sorts of time-wasting gimmicks, sit on a spot, and relax while waiting for inspiration, take coffee, take a walk, etc. These are not bad by themselves, but if you’re doing them to get inspiration, then it’s a waste. The best writers don’t wait for inspiration to write. They write to get inspired. The worst part about waiting for inspiration is that it might never come, and even when the inspiration does come, it’s not a guarantee for a good novel.

Feel insecure about your writing

Good writers have learned to write without stopping to think about what they’re writing and how good or bad it is. Taking time to dwell on your writing during early drafts will only make you feel bad about it. It might start as a self-critic or inner critic, but it might quickly degenerate into fear; fear of not selling a copy, fear of people hating your work, etc. Once these thoughts start creeping in, you begin to ruin the book you’re writing.

Ignoring the craft

Every craft has its rules, structures, and techniques which must be applied to be successful. Writing isn’t any different. One of the best ways to ruin your book is to be an artistic rebel and ignore the craft. Abandon the works of previous writers before you. Listen to no critique and don’t entertain feedback. Just do whatever you want; however, you want it.

Have a chip on your shoulder

Beyond ruining your book, this is the fastest way also to ruin your career. When it comes to publication, make sure that your best tools are defiance and arrogance. No one should ever reject your manuscript. It’s an insult to you and your hard work for anyone to say no to your writing. Rebuke them publicly if you can. Perhaps you can also drag them on social media for being so short-sighted. Do all of this instead of having a rethink and then learn from their criticism of your work and improve it.

Chase the market

There’s popular publishing saying that it’s too late to join a trend once you spot it. It would be best if you ignored this saying. Get the bestselling novels and study them to find a trend. Once you notice the trend, then write your book following this trend. Be extremely market-conscious. It would help if you neglected the fact that people would’ve moved on from that trend into something else by the time you’re done writing yours.

Take shortcuts

Since you’re trying to ruin your book, taking shortcuts to everything will do you much good. The boom in e-book and increasing ease of publishing means that you can self-publish, right? So, why work with a publisher when they’re likely to reject the work after all? Get your friends to help you preview your book and get a freelance editor to edit it, and you’re good to go.

Disregard the audience of your book

You’re trying to write a bad book, so why should you care about what the audience feels or says? That should be none of your concerns. Your book is your book, regardless of whatever experience the readers get while reading it. Write it as lazily and as carefree as you possibly can. Create boring plots and make them read your chapters without actually reading anything. You might lose a few readers, but that shouldn’t be a problem. That’s the goal, right?

Break every known (and unknown) writing rule

You don’t have to give yourself to learning writing rules and how to write in the first place. You don’t owe anyone that, do you? However, should you somehow know some writing rules already, make it a point to continuously break and disregard every one of them in your novel. After all, writing is about getting creative. So, get creative even with simple things like grammatical structure and create bad writing.

Don’t ask for or pay attention to any feedback.

People have a way of making others feel bad about their works. This is done out of jealousy most of the time. (Or so the bad writer thinks.) So, don’t allow anybody to get to you by asking for their feedback. You’re an island by yourself; you don’t need anybody’s feedback. You’ll be fine on your own. You’re a champion; that’s what champions do. If people peradventure send you their feedback, ignore them. Don’t even read or listen to it at all. You have no more growing up to do.

Be a quitter

There is no shame in quitting. If things seem to be going too well with your book, you can choose to stop and if things aren’t going well either, quitting is always an option. You don’t even have to finish the novel. Writing a good book can take a long while, and you’d need to persevere through that time, but you’re an author, not a marathon athlete. Why do you need to persevere with anything?

Conclusion

It’s important to note that this article is for those looking to ruin their books and reputation as authors and don’t mind losing their readership. If you’re looking to write a great book, you should do the exact opposite of this article or look elsewhere for tips.

Leon Collier is a blogger from the UK, working for AssignmentHolic, where he provides this writing paper service. He loves to write about everything: pop culture, history, travel, self-development, education, and marketing. When not writing, you can find him behind a book or playing tabletop games with his friends. Follow him on @LeonCollier12.

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The Top 3 Easiest Ways to Market Your Book on a Budget

You’ve written a book and published, and that felt like the hard part. But marketing your book is one of the most important items on an author’s to-do list. Or at least it should be. After all, how can you expect any sales if you don’t get your book out there, in front of the hungry readers who want to dive into your story?

In this article, we’ll look at three easy ways you can market your book on a budget. 

1. Newsletter Swaps 

The first step to building a great author platform and making your marketing efforts easier is growing a mailing list of your readers. You can do this by: 

  1. Writing a reader magnet (this is a short, free book or resource that you give away to your readers to get them to sign up for your list). 
  2. Signing up for a mailing list service. I suggest MailerLite because you get so much with your free account and you can have up to 1,000 contacts. It’s also super easy to set up. 
  3. Put a link to your reader magnet in the back of your books, asking readers to sign up. 
  4. Distribute your reader magnet using either BookFunnel or StoryOrigin (StoryOrigin is free). 

With that out of the way, let’s talk about newsletter swaps. 

Newsletter swaps are when authors who have mailing lists take turns sharing each other’s books. So, Author A shares Author B’s book and vice versa. 

It’s important for both authors to be in similar genres. For instance, if you write sci fi, you probably wouldn’t benefit too much from a romantic mystery books author promoting you to their readers. And you should make sure any books you choose to promote are books your own readers will enjoy. 

But how do you find these other authors? Well, that’s where StoryOrigin comes in. 

It’s a completely free service authors can sign up for, and they facilitate author swaps by connecting you with other authors in your genre. It’s pretty neat. 

2. Revamp Your Cover and Blurb 

This might not be the most obvious marketing step you take, but it is probably the more important one. 

If your cover isn’t right for your genre, readers simply won’t click on it or buy your book, because they have expectations that match what they’re used to. So, if you’re writing sci-fi military books, your cover should probably look something like the bestsellers in the genre. 

It’s safe to say that readers in this genre would expect your cover to be similar if your book was a military sci-fi. And the same can be said for your title and your blurbs. 

Follow these steps to make your book more appealing to your target customers: 

  1. Check out the top 20 books in your category (independently published ones) and note down what their covers look like. 
  2. Note down what keywords the books are using in their titles, subtitles, and book descriptions. 
  3. Rewrite your blurb to better suit the genre. Check out Bryan Cohen’s book, How to Write a Sizzling Synopsisfor more direction on how to do this. 
  4. Redesign your cover (either yourself or with a cover designer). For DIY cover redesign at a low-cost price, I suggest checking out BookBrush. They’re an author friendly service that can help you redesign your cover quickly and professionally. 

3. Change Your Kindle Keywords

This might not be the most obvious way to market your book, but it’s a big one. If you’ve ever set up a book in your KDP Dashboard before, you’ll have seen 7 boxes on the first page of setup.

Basically, your goal is to enter keywords into these boxes that help Amazon present your books to readers browsing the Kindle Store. But how do you find those keywords? 

Well, you can follow this method: 

  1. Open Amazon in your browser’s incognito mode and select ‘Kindle Store’ from the dropdown menu. 
  2. Type in a keyword that best suits your book ‘military sci-fi’ for instance. Type in ‘military sci-fi a’, ‘military sci-fi b’ etc. and note down all the auto-fill keyword phrases that Amazon gives you. These are all search terms that readers have typed into Amazon before. 
  3. Check out the competition for these keywords by looking at the top 3 books and working out how many books they sold to get there. You can do this by noting their ABSR then heading over to my Amazon Sales Rank Calculator and working it out. If they’re not selling many books, the keyword might be no good. 
  4. Once you have your list of keywords, make sure they’re ‘allowed’ by Amazon by checking out their keyword requirements here.
  5. Now you have your list of keywords, input them into the boxes. 

If you already have these keywords boxes filled, start by changing only two of them (and write down the original keywords you had in there before you change them). Then, wait 5-7 days to see if your sales go up. If they don’t, change back to the old keywords, if they do, keep the new ones and consider performing more experiments. Here’s a full guide on changing your keywords. 

Final Thoughts

Publishing a book can definitely cost money, but marketing your book doesn’t have to be super expensive. That’s why I recommend the above three methods for getting the most bang for your buck. 

Cheers! 

Dave Chesson is the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book Marketing which even Amazon KDP acknowledge as one of the best by telling users to “Gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing for your books.” Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, his tactics help both Fiction and Nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.

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Reader, I…? Writing in the First Person

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), the character Atticus Finch says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” As authors, this is what we do when we choose to write in the first person. We come as close as we ever can to experiencing the world from a perspective that’s not our own. Writing fiction in the first person then is a leap of empathy and imagination, but the challenges this point of view (POV) poses are technical, as well as psychological. 

Some writers experiment with POV, trying out omniscient third, close third, and first, before settling on a narrative approach for their book. But when writing my debut novel, Bronte’s Mistress, I was never in any doubt as to whose voice the story needed to be told in. Not only was my book a response to one of the most famous first-person novels ever written, Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 Jane Eyre (“reader, I married him”), but my protagonist, Lydia Robinson, was a woman who’s been vilified through history as being responsible for the Bronte family’s demise. What would she say if she could tell her side of the story? I wondered. And, equally importantly, How would she say it?

Writing Lydia forced me to enter a world (1840s England) in which, even wealthy, women had few choices. She doesn’t own property, she’s never voted, she has no access to divorce. And it also made me confront the technicalities of writing first person prose, a few of which I’ll share with you today.

Placing your narrator in time

You’ve decided you’ll be writing in the first person, but this is just one of a series of hard choices. Now that you have the who, it’s time to think about the when. Will your first person narrator be telling the story from a point in the future? Will they know the story’s destination from the very first line? Think of Charles Dickens’s titular character David Copperfield (1850) or Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925).

Choosing a retrospective viewpoint has the potential to make your story more didactic. It’s easier for a character to draw conclusions or moralize with the benefit of hindsight. And there are other advantages. For example, if your character is going to undergo a significant transformation, the older protagonist can excuse, explain or apologize for the behavior of their younger self, maintaining reader sympathy. This makes this choice popular for writers of bildungsroman. 

On the other hand, a retrospective first person can distance us from the character in the moment, alienating us from the action, and even intruding on scenes with overly expositional commentary. A retrospective first person can slacken the tension too. A first person character is already unlikely to die, but the existence of an older narrator pretty much precludes this possibility. If you write historical fiction like me, you might also have to pinpoint an exact year from which your protagonist is speaking, giving you a second time period to research and understand.

In Bronte’s Mistress, although the book is in the past tense, Lydia Robinson tells her story as if she’s in the moment and living through the events of the novel vs. relating the events years later. For me, this decision made sense as I wanted readers to feel viscerally with Lydia as she enters into an illicit and dangerous affair. However, I did occasionally miss the tools a retrospective first provides, like giving me the option to foreshadow more overtly.

Experiencing your story through their senses

Writing first person means your story can only contain what the protagonist knows, but this advice goes beyond questions of plot. 

Seeing the world through the narrator’s eyes means describing each new setting through the lens of what they would observe—and in the order in which they would notice every detail. Your characters’ senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch) become readers’ only points of access to the world around them. This isn’t a movie where you can start with an establishing shot before zooming in on the face of the character we’re following!

This means you have to be careful that your descriptions seem to fit within your character’s realm of experience. Can your narrator really detail different types of weapons? (Maybe yes, maybe no.) Can they see another character’s expression from so far away?

Watching your metaphors

Linked to this, is the difficulty of handling imagery (for instance, simile and metaphor), when writing in first person.

As with your descriptions, your images need to ring true to the character whose perspective you’re writing from. Would they know these words and think these thoughts? Crucially too, is this an appropriate moment for them to be thinking poetically? Or are you sacrificing believability because you’ve fallen in love with a sentence, phrase or image? If your character starts thinking in too many similes, they may seem distracted from the task at hand.

People have their favorite images and points of comparison, and these are dependent on their interests. Tapping into this can be a great way to establish your character’s personality, but you may also run the risk of making your imagery repetitive. In Bronte’s Mistress, for instance, my character Lydia is a good musician, so she often uses musical metaphors. This was a helpful guide for me, as music gave me a lot of scope to play, without the imagery I employed ever feeling out of place in her narration.

Offering other perspectives

Finally, one of the toughest parts of writing first person fiction is the danger for overidentification between the writer and the protagonist. How can you show that you disagree with your character’s views or actions, if you’re writing from their perspective?

Here, other characters’ voices (e.g. through dialogue) are crucial. Include others’ views to cast doubt on your protagonist’s conclusions or to hint that they might be unreliable. There is also potential to use irony in the same way, having “what happens next” totally contradicting what the first person narrator has thought/said previously.

In Bronte’s Mistress, I had another device to help me do this. I inserted letters addressed to Lydia at various points in my narrative, allowing me to showcase viewpoints that were in opposition to hers, and, of course, play around with additional first person voices!

I hope some of these tips have been helpful to those of you writing fiction in the first person. Writing using the “I” may seem straightforward, but when the going gets tough, remember that what you’re attempting is truly extraordinary. You’re stepping out of your own skin and into someone else’s. What could be more miraculous?

Finola Austin, also known as the Secret Victorianist on her award-winning blog, is an England-born, Northern Ireland-raised, Brooklyn-based historical novelist and lover of the nineteenth century. She has two degrees from the University of Oxford, including a Master’s in Victorian literature. Brontë’s Mistress is her first novel and is available for purchase now. By day, Finola works in digital advertising. Find her online at www.finolaaustin.com, or connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

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How Authors Can Market a Book with No Budget

The biggest misconception that most authors have is that they need to have hundreds or thousands of dollars to market their work. This is not true. Spending a lot of money on marketing is not a guarantee that people will buy your book. In our world today, there are lots of opportunities for authors to connect with their readers and make more sales.

You need not be a marketing expert to connect with your audience. Marketing is all about connecting with people who share similar interests with you. With this fact in mind, marketing becomes a simple puzzle. The best thing about marketing is you can connect with anyone in the world. If you don’t have enough money to market your book, here are a few tips that will help you make rapid progress.

1. Start immediately

Don’t wait to complete your book to start marketing it. If you do, it might be too late. When you start marketing the book while writing it, you’ll have enough time to build relationships and bond with your readers. According to best custom essay, connecting with your readers will help you know their needs and expectations. You can also put yourself in their shoes while writing the book. Knowing your target market and their interests in advance will make it easier for you to market the book.

2. Focus on a few promotions

To market your book effectively, you need to pick a few promotions and focus on them. When you spread yourself too thin, you’ll have a hard time marketing your book effectively. Focus is a key ingredient of success. Picking lots of promotions will not only affect your performance but also lead to stress and anxiety.

3. Small audiences are great

When you compare yourself to famous writers, you might think that you have a small audience. However, a small audience is good. Remember, we all start with nothing. According to essay writing service, every person who signs up or buys a book plays an important role in your success. You should treat them like royalty. Find out where they buy their books, how they find new books, and which blogs they visit frequently to name a few. A small audience will help you discover more details and insights that will help you reach other people.

4. Make plans

Don’t just throw everything together and expect great results. You need to think things through before acting. Think about your goals and how your book can help you accomplish them. Create a clear strategy that will help you reach your destination. People who write down their plans and goals are 42 percent more likely to realize them.

No matter how small your budget is, the one thing you should do to make your book a success is to invest in time. Set aside at least two to three hours every week to focus on your book and marketing.

5. Know your reader

I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of knowing your ideal reader. When you write your book with your ideal reader in mind, marketing will be a simple puzzle to solve. Remember, you are not writing for yourself but for your readers. As assignment writing service reports, failing to know your ideal reader will make marketing extremely difficult. No reader wants to invest in a book that he or she will never read.

6. Focus on opportunities in your area

In most cases, writers tend to focus on the big opportunities that they’ll find in cities and international libraries whilst ignoring their own backyard. There are lots of opportunities around you that will help you generate money without having to spend a fortune. Think of the local bookstores, libraries, schools, festivals, breakfast, and literary organizations around you. These institutions will not only provide local support but also help you connect with other bigger merchants.

7. Contact publications and local news outlets

Writers often overlook local news when it comes to attracting the attention of the public. This is the best place for writers to start if they want their efforts to pay off in the long run. A Google search will help you get contact info for the local newspapers, talk shows, websites, and blogs to name a few. Remember to look at their requirements before making your submission.

8. Use your hobbies

How do you spend your free time? Do you draw, knit, garden or paint? You can use your hobbies to connect with other people. According to the essay writers, the more people you connect with; the more people will be aware of your work.

9. Create amazing visuals

Human beings are visual creatures. We all love looking at beautiful pictures. The first thing people look at before buying a book is the cover. A great book with poorly designed visuals will not sell. You need to take your time to design a book cover and your posters to market your book easily. Apps such as Adobe Spark will make your work easy. And the best part is, most of these great apps are free!

10. Don’t forget family and friends

One of the biggest challenges most writers encounter is getting book reviews, particularly on Amazon. Your family and friends can help you with this. Most of the time, our loved ones are ready and willing to help. However, they have no idea what they should do. Give them a copy of your book and ask them to review it.

11. Connect with other authors

According to custom essay help, you shouldn’t see other authors as the competition but allies. Connecting with other authors will allow you to get mentored and also promote your work. You can help each other progress and grow your audience.

Conclusion

Effective marketing is all about creativity. You need to know the strategies that other successful authors are using and adapt them to get similar results. Always start simple. Start by knowing your ideal reader and using the opportunities in your own backyard. In the end, your book will sell without having to spend a fortune.

“Kurt Walker is a skilled freelancer and editor at a professional writer service and resume writer review service in London. He is one of the many UK essay writers specialized in essay writing and assignment help. In his spare time, Kurt plays the guitar and takes his dog Shay for a walk.”

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8 Things to Do Before Your Self-Published Book is Released

It has never been easier to publish a book thanks to the rapid advancement of technology. Goodreads and Amazon are some of the best platforms for new authors, most of whom are unknown and inexperienced. Most writers have no idea about what it takes to release a book. Publishing a professional, well-written, and memorable book is a process.

As a writer, you’ve probably published some of your books. Perhaps you have completed writing another book and you want different results when you finally release your creativity to the world. Here are eight things that you should so before releasing your book.

1. Write a great book

According to college papers, every reader wants to invest in great books. While this point may appear simple, you’ll be surprised by the number of poorly written books that have already been published. Don’t be too excited to release your book without ensuring that it’s good. People will hate the book and the author. And you’ll end up hating yourself.

How can you be sure that your book is good? If you are happy with the plot, characters, and the flow then you are one step closer to having a good book. However, reading the book alone is not the most effective solution. There are people who can spot errors that your eyes can’t see even if you read your work fifty times. You need beta readers to help you out.

2. Find beta readers

Beta readers are people who read your book from cover to cover and give you an honest opinion. Some of these readers might be writers. And others might be people who simply love reading. You give them a free book for their honest opinion.

It can be surprisingly difficult to find people to read your book especially if it’s too long. Some will say they don’t have enough time to read. And others will want to read without having to look for mistakes. Avoid asking the following people to point out mistakes in your work:

  • Best friend: Even if they are willing to help, there’s a chance that they’ll never find time to read it. You’ll keep pestering them and they’ll always come up with excuses or worse, avoid you.
  • Your mum: Your mum is always going to love the work of your hands. Your mother is the best choice if you want to be complimented. However, not the best choice if you want honesty.
  • Your spouse: People who are close to you are the least likely to be completely honest with you. They have already accepted you with all your strengths and weaknesses.

You should ask:

  • Writers: Writers understand their craft. You should go for experienced authors because they’ll quickly notice your mistakes. They can also offer constructive criticism and suggestions of what you need to improve and how to go about it.
  • Editors: Editors love reading books. Some of them won’t charge you anything for reading your book. Editors are experienced in pointing out mistakes. They won’t hesitate to tell you what needs to be improved.

Today, it’s quite easy to find beta readers. They have formed groups on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Other platforms to find experienced writers and editors include research paper writing service, assignment help and essay reviews. For other people to read your work, you must be willing to read other people’s work.

3. Criticism shouldn’t hurt

Don’t send your book to an experienced writer or editor and expect them to shower you with compliments. They won’t unless they are close to you.

Criticism is a free gift that improves the quality of your book. Some people will just trash your book without any valid reason. Instead of feeling awful, ignore such people. However, if you get comments such as “continuity error in Chapter X Paragraph Y, then you’ve got some work to do.

Criticism can hurt. But it’s one of the most effective ways of improving your skills. Take criticism well and make the most out of it. If one reader can spot mistakes and leave honest feedback, it’s highly likely that others will feel the same way.

4. Find more beta readers

After correcting your work, send it more beta readers. Hopefully, some of your original readers will be interested in reading your revised manuscript. This is good because they’ll let you know if the changes you made have improved your book. And other things that you need to add. Honest feedback can be a pain in the ass. But it’s an important process if you want readers to take you seriously.

5. Find a copy editor

According to dissertation help service, if you are self-publishing, you’ll have to hire a copy editor. The best part is, you’ll get to choose an editor who is ideal for you. A copy editor will check for things like repetition, word choices, and get rid of weak sentences. Beta readers will not do this for you. But a copy editor will greatly improve the quality of your work.

6. Hire a proofreader

All the stages that we’ve discussed are important. And can be skipped if you are an experienced writer with a loyal following. However, proofreading is a must. Since our eyes are usually blind when it comes to finding our errors, a proofreader will help you fix typos, punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors. Unless your book is short and you are a professional proofreader, it’s always good to hire someone.

A study conducted by Dissertation Today found out that close to forty percent of books that you’ll find on shelves have never been proofread. They are full of spelling mistakes, incomplete sentences, and tense confusion. And they frustrate many readers. To avoid joining this club, hire a proofreader to polish your work.

7. Get a captivating cover

The cover is the first thing people look at before picking a book. Believe it or not, a lot of readers judge a book by its cover. Therefore, it’s important to hire a professional designer to help you create a good cover for your book. Ensure that the designer takes into account the main points in your book. You don’t want your creativity to be hidden behind a poorly designed cover.

8. Format

Self-publishing a book requires a lot of formatting work. The font has to fit properly on e-readers like Kindle. The cover size has to be perfect. It’s better to work hard and eliminate errors before releasing your book than after you’ve released it.

Conclusion

After completing all these steps, you’ll have a professionally written manuscript with a great cover waiting to be published. And you can start calling yourself an author. The more you write, the easier this process will be.

Kurt Walker is a skilled freelancer and editor at a professional writer service in London. He is one of the many UK essay writers specialized in essay writing and assignment help. In his spare time, Kurt plays the guitar and takes his dog Shay for a walk.

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How To Promote Your Writing On Instagram

In 2020, social media is a vital part of our lives. We use it to communicate, to share stories, and for entertainment. However, studies show that businesses that want to promote their brands use social media the most.

Instagram is a social and marketing platform that can help you grow your brand. In this article, you’ll find how to promote your writing on Instagram and become a successful writer.

Create An Appropriate Profile

If you want to promote your writing efficiently, you might want to improve the marketing aspect of your artistry. Start treating your work as part of your brand. So, complete your bio and profile with the following elements:

1. A good and catchy name. Since you’re trying to create a brand for yourself, you need a name that is easy to remember. Try using one of your names and pair it with a word that reflects your artistry. For example, if your name is Alexandra, your brand username can be “Alexandra’s Writing” or “Alexandra’s (adjective) Blog.” Form different word combinations and find the one that sounds best. Alternatively, you don’t need to put your name in your brand. It can be something witty, that stands out, and in the formula of “(adjective) (pertinent keyword)” such as “The Honest Blogger ” or “Unknown Author’s Commentary.”

2. A professional bio. Social media management is about helping people reach you without any difficulty. So, when you write your bio, try to keep it simple yet interesting. Start with a short description of what you write about and who you are. Whether you’re a blogger, a writer for an online assignment help service, or a novel author, specify your work. Then, add your contact info such as email, blog, and other social media accounts. Remember that, on Instagram, the only place you can post a hyperlink is in your bio. So make sure to update the link every time you post.

3. A high-quality profile picture. The profile photo should have you in it or the emblem of your blog. People like to associate a blog to a face, so don’t forget to show yourself on posts even if your profile picture is about your blog.

Create A Story Of Your Work

The key to reaching your audience is storytelling. People like to follow a story with a message and a constant flow. Think of your posts as chapters of a book. Each one talks about an episode, but they all connect to form a novel. Therefore, when you start posting, try to follow a guiding line.

For example, begin by telling your audience about how you started writing. Then talk to your followers about how you posted your first blog entry. Share knowledge and fun facts about you, all while you subtly advertise your artistry.

Don’t be too persistent with promoting your brand. For example, try adding a “new article on my blog (link in bio)” at the bottom of every post. This way, you encourage your followers to read your blog, without being pushy.

Lastly, make sure your posts are coherent, and don’t forget about the editing and proofreading of your captions.

Perfect The Aesthetic Side Of Your Brand

Instagram is an incredibly visual app. The majority of the content on the app is photos, videos, boomerangs, and stories. Therefore, you might want to create an aesthetic page that invites people to check it out. Here are the visual elements you should consider on your Instagram profile:

  • Post high-quality pictures. Try to use a good camera when you take photos. Having clear images on your feed is crucial because people understand that you are putting effort into your work, and you deliver top-notch content. From a marketing stance, clear photos show that your business is real and professional.
  • Use consistent filters. When you edit pictures, try to maintain the same look. Find the most flattering filters for you. If you are a novel writer, maybe you need a vintage filter. On the other hand, if you’re a freelance writer at college paper.org reviews, you may need a slightly blue, clear filter. Moreso, use the same filters in your stories.
  • Use consistent fonts. When you’re posting a story, use the same colors and fonts. This way, people will recognize your brand.
  • Don’t post just one type of content. You should try to post photos, pictures, and videos. Take advantage of the full range of things you can put up. For example, you can post a photo of yourself holding your book. The next day, you can post a visually pleasing image of a word definition. Experiment with Instagram tools like IGTV, boomerangs, and stories.

Engage With The People Who Support You

As mentioned before, Instagram is a social platform. So, you need to keep people engaged in your content. You can do that by communicating with them through the social tools of Instagram.

For example, stories are a quintessential way to make people engage in your writing. You can show sneak peeks of your work, and anticipate posts. This way, you encourage people to click on your “Swipe Up” link and read your blog.

Don’t forget about the tags and hashtags. Try to learn SEO tactics: use pertinent hashtags that describe your work and add keywords in your caption.

Additionally, you can make a Q&A every couple of weeks. Your followers can ask questions about you and your work. So, people get to know the author behind the artistry.

Lastly, remember that you can increase your chances to stay relevant by posting regularly.

Try Marketing Methods

The business part of your work involves marketing. You may want to employ social media management strategies to invite more followers on your page.

The first method is to collaborate with other influencers. This way, you can mutually promote yourselves and grow your following. It’s a win-win situation, and you can come up with creative ways to collaborate. For example, you can work with other types of writers: creative authors, custom papers writers, or travel bloggers. You could create a series of Instagram stories where you ask each other questions and compare your work schedules.

The second method is to collaborate with brands because, after all, Instagram is an advertising platform. You can contact businesses and sign a deal: you promote them while they pay you. Also, the company can help with exposure if they have social media.

The third method is to advertise yourself. If you’d like to grow your following, consider paying for ads. This way, Instagram shows your posts on the feeds of potential followers. This technique is not cheap, but it’s effective, especially when you just started your account.

Conclusion

If you wish to promote your work with the help of Instagram, try to treat your work as a brand. Use a catchy name and write a good description. Next, write posts that tell your story. Don’t forget to put up photos regularly and to maintain your brand’s aesthetic. Lastly, engage with followers, other writers, and businesses.

Remember that even if you’re a comic book writer, a paper service freelancer, or a journalist, the world is your oyster. So, now that you know how to promote yourself, start posting.

Kurt Walker is a skilled freelancer and editor at a professional writer service in London. He is one of the many UK essay writers specialized in essay writing and assignment help. In his spare time, Kurt plays the guitar and takes his dog Shay for a walk.

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Writing to Market

We think of writing a book as an act of creative inspiration. The muse strikes and we strive to get the story down, get it right, and out to an audience.

If only it was that easy. Writing a good book is challenging. Most successful writers will tell you that selling a good book is even harder. 

On-line bookstores have opened the doors. The market is filled with diverse books from unique voices, offering a cornucopia of great writing to readers. The time has never been better to get your work out.

Getting your book out there requires know-how. While self-publishing authors have boundless opportunities, they undertake the journey alone. Back in traditional publishing days, it was a guided tour, aided by an agent and publisher. Without professionals in your corner, what is a self-publishing author to do? The answer is deceptively simple. The savvy self-publishing author gets informed and uses that knowledge to navigate the strange seas of on-line publishing.

“Writing to market” is a concept self-publishing authors need to understand. What does it mean? Finding out what books readers want to read and focusing on writing those. 

The idea might restrain an author’s freedom. It sounds like focusing on writing books that sell. Writing to market translates to increased sales. But there is more to it than that. 

These are five writing to market realities you need to understand before embarking on your self-publishing journey.

Do Your Homework

Have you been on Amazon lately? 

Do you know what book covers in your genre look like? Do you know how to price a novel? Have you read the book descriptions? This is a baseline of writing to market. You have to know the genre your books are competing in.

If you write science-fiction, you probably read a lot of that genre. The conventions should be familiar. Most authors don’t scrutinize deep enough. Just because you read in a genre doesn’t mean you understand what readers are looking for. Your reading habits can be deceptive. Perhaps you read more classic science-fiction. Perhaps your taste focuses primarily in one sub-genre.

Sampling a range of books in your genre is critical. Don’t rely on your reading habits. Discover the nuanced reading habits of your readers.

It’s About Reaching Readers

Forget sales or a moment. Translate a sale and positive review into what they really mean: signs of a satisfied reader.

I had a hard time understanding this. I believed a sale was the end goal. It’s not though. A sale and a positive review tells you the complete story. It says that the reader liked your cover and description enough to buy it. The review says they were happy. 

Authors need fans. I don’t just mean to boost ego, either. Authors need fans because when you do your job right, they go to bat for you. They like your posts, talk about your books to their friends. 

You want that.

Wait… I stand corrected. You need that. 

Ignoring Market Signals Leads To Frustration

Jumping into a publishing market that you know little about leads to a cycle of frustration. 

I thought of my first series, The Strange Air, as “paranormal mystery”. I liked to say it was a small town X-Files with a little horror thrown in for good measure.

But as I began marketing, I realized something. While “paranormal” and “mystery” were the accurate descriptions in my head they were ar from what the market thought. I ended up marketing my books with others that were not similar in any way. I promoted mine with books resembling Twilight with covers featuring naughty witches. 

While these are great books, they were nothing like mine. It took me a year (and a gigantic dent in my advertising budget) to figure out two things I could have learned earlier: my genre was limited and I didn’t know what to call it.

Writing To Market Saves Authors Money and Time

Marketing a book is expensive. If an author isn’t careful, they can spend thousands of dollars on the wrong cover, counter-intuitive marketing, and worthless reviews.

Once your book is out, you have crossed the first sea. Congratulations. Now comes the second, more dangerous stretch of water. Selling it. 

In today’s book market, in order to make money you need to spend money. These require investments of time and, of course, capital. Yes, you can sell books without a huge advertising budget. If that’s the case, however, you need a lot of time.

Advertising without knowing your book’s market like throwing darts… blindfolded… on the deck of a ship… in a storm. Your odds of hitting your target are slim.

The savvy self-publisher knows their market. They possess key data like who their readers are, where they gather, and how to give them what they want. 

Translation: they have a shortcut to effective book marketing.

Writing To Market Can Be Easy

Looking back on my first foray into self-publishing, I can see the forest for the trees. Success in any market will be as easy (or as difficult) as you choose to make it.

Spend time in the Kindle Store. Consider a wide range of successful, recently published books that look like yours. Look at what those authors did and emulate it. Yes, it’s OK. Really. Especially when it comes to marketing. Save breaking new ground for the page. Otherwise, do what works.

Read blogs and articles. Network with writers. Keep up with your genre on social media. Readers gather in tribes. They love talking about what they love. Meet them where they are.

Writing is hard enough on its own. Don’t make the business of writing any more frustrating or expensive than necessary. Before writing your book, or perhaps before publishing it, look at the market. Find out what readers want in your genre and be sure your book gives it to them.

Eric Mertz, writer

Erick Mertz is a ghostwriter and editor from Portland, Oregon. You can read more of his thoughts about the craft and business of writing at www.erickmertzwriting.com/. In addition to his role as a professional ghostwriter, he is also an author, self-publishing The Strange Air series of paranormal mysteries, a story world that blends elements of the X-Files and Unsolved Mysteries. When he is not writing, he enjoys a nice cold craft beer and a baseball game, a bit of travel, dungeon crawling with his board game group, and spending quality time with his wife and son.

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10 Best Marketing Books For Authors Ever Written

There are a lot of talented authors on the Best Writers Online and Online Writers Rating custom writing reviews platforms. There are a lot of talented authors we even don’t know about since they are not willing to show their creative results to the world.

However, do you know what is the difference between a talented writer and a successful writer? The successful writer does his best to market his creative offspring. Surely, you want to be successful and talented at the same time, so here is the list of the best marketing books that will help you with this task.

Online Marketing for Busy Authors: A Step-By-Step Guide by Fauzia Burke

According to the author, technology is the best thing available to authors in our time. Promotion and advertising have never been so easy and effective, unless, of course, you know what you are doing. The author of this book knows how to make you a popular online author, and is happy to share tips on creating landing pages, developing a social presence, and sending effective email newsletters. Plus, the book contains great time management tips to finish your new book on time.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.6 out of 5

Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins

A well-known saying states that the artist must be constantly hungry so that thoughts about how to earn his living stimulate creative impulses. The author of this book destroys this theory and proves that the best artist is the artist whose work is highly paid.

Regardless of whether you are painting in oil or writing a book, your work must be paid. And well paid. The author helps to accept this idea within oneself and find the first promotion strategies.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.6 out of 5

Sell Your Book Like Wildfire by Rob Eagar

This book one of the best marketing books that can be called a strategy for developing your brand. Each page is a step-by-step explanation of what you need to do to start a stream of conversations about you, and most importantly, what you need to do so that your book starts to be sold both in physical stores and online. The author offers a comprehensive strategy for your popularization, which will work under the main condition – your book should be really interesting and sought-after.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.5 out of 5

I Must Write My Book by Honoree Corder

How is this book interconnected with the marketing of your own one? Here is the most direct connection. In this book, the author teaches you to write consistently, purposefully, not to lose inspiration and motivation, to maintain clarity of thought and, moreover, to do it easily. As a result, you get a better product, and the better the product, the easier it is to market it.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.9 out of 5

Reader Magnets: Build Your Author Platform and Sell more Books on Kindle by Nick Stephenson

In this book, the author proposes a strategy that successfully mixes a creative approach, technology, and relationship management. Its formula for success is simple – give readers a lot of cool content for free, and at some point, they themselves will want to pay for your book. No false advertising and misleading marketing – only value, value and one more value.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.6 out of 5

Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl

This book received many rave reviews from writers who became best selling New York Times authors, and with the help of this book as well. The author puts your reader at the forefront and teaches you how to start a relationship, engage, build trust, and sell without causing feelings of irritation and imposition.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.5 out of 5

Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant

This book teaches writing and selling at the same time. Moreover, the authors prove that publication is not the most difficult part as many authors consider. Using the techniques described in this book, you can create a work for which publishers will fight with each other.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.7 out of 5

Write To Market by Chris Fox

This book is a pure marketing approach to writing yours. No, the author does not deny the need for creativity and an artistic approach but insists that before you write something, you need to analyze the market or the preferences of readers. This is the only way to create a sought after product and sell it.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.7 out of 5

How to Make a Living As a Writer by James Scott Bell

In this book, the author suggests turning your writing into a business because technology has given the best opportunity for this. This book is a collection of secrets on how to write well, not to lose inspiration, to sing more in less time, organize your business, and receive passive income from writing.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.7 out of 5

How to Write Copy That Sells: The Step-By-Step System for More Sales, to More Customers, More Often by Ray Edwards

This is a great book for those who not only make money by writing but also help others earn and sell more. If you are a freelance copywriter or owner of a business, open this book now. It will teach you how to write so that the sales of your product grow organically.

● Rating on Amazon – 4.6 out of 5

Do you know more books on authors’ marketing? We will kindly appreciate your suggestions, so feel free to post a comment and share it!

Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.