Month: June 2010

Getting Back On Track As A Writer

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It’s been a bit challenging lately to keep things in some semblance of order. The balance of different tasks has been difficult to maintain. In other words, I’ve felt overwhelmed and confused. All writers feel this way at one time or another. Even someone who prides themselves on being organized and on top of things can slip into this position, given the right set of circumstances. For me, the trouble started when I was trying to make things better.

By making things better, I mean that I was trying to improve my writing productivity, while also making serious changes to how I organize my days. It’s been an all-out change revolution.

Unfortunately, I think I tried to do too much at a time. When you’re dealing with the process of putting words on the page, struggling to make coherent thoughts and ideas take appropriate shape, it is important to have some stable point of reference. Now this anchor may be anything. It could be how much time you spend on the work, the time of day you’ve established as "writing time," or it could be the type of writing you do at different points. Now, if you’re working one a single, massive project like me, there isn’t much time to get tossed about by different subject matter. Instead, you may find that the weight of that single work itself is enough to collapse on top of you when you let procrastination drop on top of you.

In The Mix

Right now, I have a book that is taking up the majority of my time writing. This alone is enough to occupy every stray creative thought I have. But, that’s not all I’ve been doing. I’ve been looking at submissions for my small publishing company, I’ve been contemplating another book, I’ve been attempting to organize my thoughts regarding different aspects of business development. Meanwhile, I’ve also been dealing with more domestic duties like training a child to use the toilet. Fantastic stuff, let me tell you. (I’m glad he’s finally making strides in that department, let me tell you!)

I know what some of you must be thinking. Why are you letting all this stuff pile up at once? There’s no need to get drawn into so much at once. Honestly, you should cut out this stuff or do something more to manage you time and delegate things when you can. You know what, I couldn’t agree more. I should have a plan in motion.

Yet, the act of planning has been a source of confusion and agitation – needless agitation I’m sure.  So what is my plan for getting back on track? How do I do it?

Back On The Track

Yes, it is a very good question. Simply put, I have to put things on pause long enough to truly evaluate what is most important and then do a wee bit more prioritizing.  That simple act would go a long way to curbing the force of this relentless confusion and weariness. Setting proper priorities is a tough step when you’ve let things coalesce into a whirlpool of chaotic thoughts and ideas. It takes time to remove the debris and see what’s waiting beneath.

This process will take me a while. Part of the process for me will also involve being more present on this blog. I’ve become lax in my posting and I would like to stop that. I want my readers to have a reason to receive my blogs in their in-boxes. I also hope that my renewed presence here will give me the opportunity to bring in new readers. I have much to say about the business of writing and publishing. I want to take the opportunity to voice some of my ideas and talk to you, the readers, about some of my plans.

That, at least, is one idea I will make good on. The other priority for me is getting that book done to the best of my ability. There is a lot at stake. It will also be a wonderful milestone for me. Wish me luck, folks!

 

This is a cross-posting from Shaun C. Kilgore‘s site.

Right On Schedule, Amazon Changes the Arithmetic of Publishing By Launching 70 Percent Royalty Option for Kindle Digital Text Platform

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Right on schedule, Amazon followed through today on the promise it made in January to offer a direct 70 per cent royalty option to authors and publishers who use the company’s Kindle Digital Text Platform.

As we said here when Amazon made its initial announcement January 20, the effective doubling of direct author royalties is "a move that is likely to bring dramatic changes in the way that authors and publishers view their ebook publishing options."

The 70 percent royalty option will also have an enormously beneficial effect for Kindle owners and other Kindle content customers, in part because it will further accelerate the velocity with which new content comes to the Kindle Store. Equally important, the conditions upon which eligibility for the 70 percent royalty option is based will be a powerful force in organizing Kindle content prices into a mandatory $2.99 to $9.99 price range and setting a maximum price ration of 4:5 between a qualifying Kindle book and "the lowest list price for the physical book."

How big a change is the new royalty option? It’s more than just a matter of upgrading DTP royalties from their previous 35 percent level, although that’s nothing to sneeze at. Instead, Amazon vice president of Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti suggested in the January 20 press release, it has the potential, for authors and indie publishers, to transform the economics of trying to earn a living by writing and publishing:

"Today, authors often receive royalties in the range of 7 to 15 percent of the list price that publishers set for their physical books, or 25 percent of the net that publishers receive from retailers for their digital books. We’re excited that the new 70 percent royalty option for the Kindle Digital Text Platform will help us pay authors higher royalties when readers choose their books." 

The stunning arithmetic involved here is bound to get the attention of well-established authors who have plenty of choices when it comes to publishing their books, because all of those choices, at present, involve far lower per-unit compensation. As always, the point where the rubber hits the road in these equations involves the number of units that becomes the multiplier for per-unit royalty rates, and more than a few mid-list as well as bestselling authors are likely to get out their pencils and try to calculate how important their publishers are in generating book sales.

In an interview last week on Len Edgerly’s The Kindle Chronicles podcast, Grandinetti directly questioned the roles both of publishers and of Amazon and its retail competitors as intermediaries in the changing worlds of publishing and bookselling:

"Any of us in this business, publishers and retailers, aren’t that necessary. Really the only things that you need are an author and someone interested in his or her work, and all of us in the middle have to figure out how to add value between those two parties….

"We’ve long said that part of our work is to become a more efficient retailer, a more efficient intermediary between suppliers, publishers, authors, and cusrtomers and I think we’re reasonably well known for working hard to lower prices for customers. But if we think about authors as our customers, then making it easier and more feasible for an author to sustain a living writing is a great way to make our store better and to grow our business, so taking some of the efficiency that digital book publishing affords us and passing some of that efficiency back on to authors is a really great way to let digital publishing and digital bookselling drive a better customer experience.

"There are myriad examples out there of authors how self publishing allows them to earn a better income at their craft. We’re happy to take advantage of it but I don’t think we’ll be the only ones. That’s just going to happen as the book business shifts more and more to digital," said Grandinetti.

Under this new royalty structure, no DTP author with an understanding of the rules and of simple price-demand elasticity would ever price a book between $10 and $25, and few authors with any confidence in their product would ever price a book below $2.99. (This royalty structure does not yet apply to larger corporate publishers under the agency model, but they may create pricing trends that could affect all publishers, and Amazon has shown an interest in publisher parity and may try to move gradually in the future to bring larger publisher contracts into conformity with this structure.)

Here’s how royalties would play out at various price points, assuming a net delivery cost of 6 cents per unit:

Retail     Royalty      Net      Royalty
Price        Pct.       Delivery
                                 Cost
$0.99    35.00%    $0.00    $0.35
$1.99    35.00%    $0.00    $0.70
$2.99    70.00%    $0.06    $2.03
$3.99    70.00%    $0.06    $2.73
$4.99    70.00%    $0.06    $3.43
$5.99    70.00%    $0.06    $4.13
$6.99    70.00%    $0.06    $4.83
$7.99    70.00%    $0.06    $5.53
$8.99    70.00%    $0.06    $6.23
$9.99    70.00%    $0.06    $6.93
$10.99    35.00%    $0.00   $3.85
$11.99    35.00%    $0.00   $4.20
$12.99    35.00%    $0.00   $4.55
$13.99    35.00%    $0.00   $4.90
$14.99    35.00%    $0.00   $5.25
$19.99    35.00%    $0.00   $7.00
$24.99    35.00%    $0.00   $8.75
$29.99    35.00%    $0.00   $10.50

Here’s the guts of the Amazon press release this morning:

—————————————————————————————–

70 Percent Royalty Option for Kindle Digital Text Platform Now Available
Starting today, authors and publishers can earn more royalties from every Kindle book sold

SEATTLE, Jun 30, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that the 70 percent royalty option that enables authors and publishers who use the Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) to earn a larger share of revenue from each Kindle book they sell is now available. For each book sold from the Kindle Store for Kindle, Kindle DX, or one of the Kindle apps for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac and Android phones, authors and publishers who choose the new 70 percent royalty option will receive 70 percent of the list price, net of delivery costs.

Delivery costs are based on file size, and pricing is set at $0.15/MB. At today’s median DTP file size of 368KB, delivery costs would be less than $0.06 per unit sold. For example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option. This new option, first announced in January 2010, will be in addition to and will not replace the existing DTP standard royalty option.

In addition to the 70 percent royalty option, Amazon also announced improvements in DTP such as a more intuitive "Bookshelf" feature and a simplified two-step process for publishing. These features make it more convenient for authors and publishers to publish using DTP.

"We’re excited about the launch of the 70 percent royalty option and user experience enhancements in DTP because they enable authors and publishers to conveniently offer more content to Kindle customers and to make more money from the books they sell," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content.

DTP authors and publishers are now able to select the royalty option that best meets their needs. Books from authors and publishers who choose the 70 percent royalty option will have access to all the same features and be subject to all the same requirements as books receiving the standard royalty rate. In addition, to qualify for the 70 percent royalty option, books must satisfy the following set of requirements:

 

  • The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99.
     
  • The list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest list price for the physical book.
     
  • The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights.
     
  • The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
     
  • Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices.
     
  • The 70 percent royalty option is for in-copyright works and is unavailable for works published before 1923 (a.k.a. public domain books). The 70 percent royalty option is currently only available for books sold to United States customers.

DTP is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets anyone upload and format their books for sale in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore). To learn more about the Kindle Digital Text Platform, visit http://dtp.amazon.com or e-mail dtp-support@amazon.com.

 

This is a cross-posting from Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation Daily.

Deaf With Belief

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There’s a story I once read, one of those email stories that get forwarded multiple times, about a group of frogs.  Each frog is doing its best to race to the top of a high tower, but one by one they drop off as they begin to hear others declaring, “What pain!!! They’ll never make it!” One little frog, though, just keeps hopping.

Higher and higher he climbs, until finally he reaches the top. Later one of the frogs who had dropped off asked the little frog his secret, to which he replies…

 
he is deaf.
 
I know another story, one I think most people are familiar with, about a little train that believed he could make it over an enormous hill. Turns out he was right. He could, and did, make it up and over that hill.
 
If you follow the line of thought from both of these stories you’ll begin to understand what it takes to be a successful Independent Author. In a world where consensus is the norm (and if you don’t think that’s true, then just watch what you do the next time you’re caught in a “highway swarm” as  Brian Ahearn of Influence People was), doing something that’s considered different is usually warned against — strongly. To be an Independent Author you have to be deaf to the “warnings.” I’ve found in most cases it’s best to just smile and nod, then move forward with your own plan.
 
Being an Independent Author takes a strong belief in your book, in what you have to offer, in you. There’s a lot of helpful information available to anyone who decides to self-publish, but it won’t do you any good if you self-doubt right along with it. While you won’t have to deal with a rejection letter from a traditional publisher and you will have complete control over every aspect of your book, those are only a few boulders removed from the giant hill an Independent Author must climb. The good news is that it can be climbed.
 
After you’re atop the self-publishing tower, after you’ve climbed the Independent Author hill, you can shout ”I knew I could!” on The Road to Writing.

 

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road to Writing.

Top 10 Audio Transcripts on Writing, Publishing Options, Book Marketing And More

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Recently, The Creative Penn podcast hit 50 episodes – that’s over 25 hours of free listening for you on Writing, Publishing Options, and Book Marketing from so many experts in their fields. (You can subscribe here on iTunes or check out the backlist here)

If you are confused about podcasting, they are just audio files you can play on an mp3 player like an iPod or play direct on your computer. So you can download them directly, or subscribe for free.
 
I love doing the podcast because I learn so much and it also helps so many listeners. Here’s a recent tweet from @IronMan1176
“Every writer needs to be following @thecreativepenn. The most instructional and inpsirational podcasts EVER.”
I also love consuming podcasts because it’s a great way to learn while doing other things (chores, cooking, exercise). But I know some people prefer reading so I have now got selected podcasts transcribed so you can read all about key topics.
 
Click on the links below to get the audio mp3 or the transcript (or both!). All audios are mp3 so you can listen easily on iPods and the transcripts are all PDF that are on Scribd so you can also share them on Facebook or Twitter. Remember, there are loads more free audios in these categories, so check the backlist for your educational pleasure!
 
On Writing
 
On Publishing Options
Book Design with Joel Friedlander, from TheBookDesigner.com => Transcript
 
On Book Promotion and Marketing

 

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

Yeah! Reviews On Amazon

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Well, three book reviews anyway. That’s a start.

Two years ago in June, I published 16 books on Create Space Publishing owned by Amazon. I started out to publish one book and found the process so easy I decided to publish all my books. My thought was that if I was going to promote one book I might as well promote all 16 at the same time. The books are different genre so I had a better chance of finding buyers. They are sold on Amazon which doesn’t mean much for an unknown author unless I’m willing to work at getting some attention placed on my books.

Correct key search words help book buyers to come across a list of books to choose from with best sales at the top and mine at the bottom. However, I’ve noticed my Amish books are creeping up in the list Amish, because they sell. Buyers haven’t left reviews, but I had the feeling they liked my books because the number of sales kept increasing for all three Amish books. So I asked people I knew that bought my books and buyers from ebay to give me reviews. I can’t review my own books where buyers are allowed so at the bottom of each of my Amazon book pages is a list of community discussions. I started a new discussion so I could talk about each of my books and submitted all the reviews I had.

This month to my surprise, a buyer bought one of my Amish books (A Promise Is A Promise) and left a review. She liked the book but thought I was too descriptive. She advised I should watch the use of adjectives. First time I’ve had a semi negative review from anyone. I could have let that go, but I wanted this reviewer to have a good opinion of me as a writer. Besides that, I was thrilled by the fact someone had finally taken the time to leave a review so I responded back to her in the community discussion that I was glad to finally see someone review one of my books and thanked her. She softened her next response by saying the amount of adjectives I used wasn’t going to stop her from buying another one of my books. She liked my Amish stories.

Her second response made me feel a better but I was wishing I had another review that could top that first one. I lucked out. Recently, I joined Book Marketing Network. I searched through the groups to seek information that would help me with marketing and found Charlie Courtland’s post about doing free reviews. Charlie is author of Dandelions In The Garden. She hosts the site http://www.bitsybling.wordpress.com where she gives her review of each book she reads and rates them up to five stars. If you want an opinion on the books she reads, check out her site.

I emailed Charlie about doing a review of A Promise Is A Promise the first book in my Nurse Hal series. She replied she’d be glad to and I could send the book PDF, ebook or in print. I emailed back that I’d like to send her a book. She wondered about the cost, but I wanted her to see the book in the form I sold it complete with cover. Writing isn’t everything. It helps to have an attractive package (cover).

Charlie told me she was a content, thematic, style and overall impression reviewer. She focuses on the positive and intended to include a few "flaws" because she wants each reader to decide if these are important or will dampen their reading experience. That statement, uncertain author that I am, made me somewhat nervous. I was trying to balance out a flawed review on Amazon and hoped for a new one that was more positive.

I asked for Charlie’s review because she puts them on Amazon (which is what I needed) and Goodread which I joined some time back. Charlie must be a fast reader. She goes through many books and gives a review on Goodreads and her website. Here is Charlie’s review for A Promise Is A Promise-Nurse Hal Among The Amish (ISBN 0982459505) which came back in a few days.

Gems: Growing up in the Mid West I loved the style and tone of the story and scenery. No purple prose or overly nostalgic descriptions, but rather a simple and honest portrayal of daily life. Each character is original and thoughtfully developed. I whole-heartedly enjoyed this Amish tale and believed the contrast between the Plain and English, but also how it is possible to live together with understand, honesty and acceptance. The story is not overtly religious but rather focuses on the complexities of relationships and because of this drew me into the Lapp family.

FLAWS: This is not truly a flaw because I loved how the author wrote the story, but if a reader is looking for more action or twist based on a typical ‘mystery’ experience, you may be slightly disappointed. The family secret isn’t so surprising, nor is it terribly shocking, but from the point of view of the Amish it is understandably shameful. I see this as a story about living up to a person’s word and good old fashion romance and values.

Bitsy’s Rating: 4 out of five stars.

I responded with thanks for such a great review. Charlie’s response was –

I really enjoyed the book. I missed the characters after I stopped reading. It was refreshing to read a different type of novel and I could relate since I grew up in farm county in Michigan. I realize I write with a Mid Western accent. I love the ‘voice’. I like the authentic language because it gives depth and thematic power to the story and characters.

Charlie is a personable lady that is easy to correspond with. I’ve enjoyed our emails and a positive look at my work from someone that doesn’t know me. My family and friends were complimentary from the start when they read my books. At first that was enough to keep me writing though not enough to keep me from worrying I might not be as good a writer as I was being told. When my books started selling on ebay, I needed to know if I was giving the buyers their money’s worth. I had personal email contact with each customer so I asked for reviews. The positive reviews came back as well as buyers buying more of my books because they like my stories. Since I put my contact information in each book package, I’ve sold books through my email to these same customers. That makes me more profit when I don’t have ebay’s deduction tacked on. Now I get emails from buyers (dare I say fans) wanting me to hurry up and finish the next book. That’s given me confidence that I’m doing all right as an author.

I started a new thread Two New Amish Books on Kindle to advertise. The discussion was picked up and carried on from there. Once people participate and the amount of discussions multiply a book advertising is lost several pages back quickly so has to be repeated to get attention from others. I didn’t go back to advertise again. It looks like buyers have found me now. I checked the email box so when a new message is left in the discussion group the email is sent to me and I can keep track of what is going on. That tells me many Amazon buyers got my advertising mailed to them, too. Problem is getting inundated by Amazon emails, because the discussion groups are popular. I was just about to delete myself from the four discussions I’ve been following when someone wrote about a couple of web sites that list many mystery writers and their books. I’m going to check them out and let you know about that next week.

On MyEntre.Net.com I wrote in my blog about wanting reviews. A helpful comment was join http://www.librarything.com for a member giveaway of my books. I do belong to that website, but I wasn’t familiar with the review process. I can give away a certain number of books to other members. People request to get them. The website determines which members get the books. Then the people who read the books have to give reviews.

I haven’t tried Library Thing for reviews yet, but the next Amish book I publish, hopefully by the end of the year, I’ll be ready for another round of reviews and this site will be my next option.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Blurb To Publish Book on Friendly Fire Incident in Afghanistan

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Blurb, a DIY self-publishing service, has announced the publication of one of its most significant titles ever. From July 29th, Boots on the Ground by Dusk, a book written by Mary Tillman with Narda Zacchino, shares the story of US Army Ranger Pat Tillman’s life and a family’s unrelenting efforts to uncover the truth about his death in Afghanistan after he was killed by his fellow soldiers in a friendly fire incident.

 
In a controversial and deeply personal memoir, Mary Tillman shares the story of her son Pat Tillman’s life and death. having given up a professional football career, Pat Tillman joined the Army Rangers after 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York. In 2004, Pat was shot and killed in Afghanistan in a friendly fire gun battle. Yet the story told by the government was quite different. Mary documents her family’s crusade to uncover the truth and expose the cover-up of Pat’s death orchestrated by senior military officials.
 
The Tillman family’s efforts to expose the military-led cover-up that followed Pat tillman’s death, a cover-up the family’s research shows was led by General Stanley McChrystal, is cited in Rolling Stone’s recent piece, ‘The Runaway General.’
 
Boots on the Ground by Dusk will be released in paperback several weeks before the release on August 20 of the film The Tillman Story, a documentary by acclaimed director Amir Bar-Lev. The film features candid interviews with Pat’s fellow soldiers and his family. It chronicles Pat’s story and reveals startling details about the military’s propaganda machine. The film is narrated by Josh Brolin. The Weinstein Company is distributing the film.
 
Readers who purchase the book will be supporting The Pat Tillman Foundation. As part of the Blurb for Good program, for every book sold, Blurb will donate $1 to the Foundation, which provides resources and educational support to veterans, active service members and their dependants.
 
Boots on the Ground by Dusk was first published in hardcover in 2008 by Modern Times, an imprint of Rodale. Leigh Haber, now a consultant for Blurb, edited the hardcover book and helped Mary team up with Blurb for the paperback printing. The literary agent managing the project is Steve Wasserman.

 

This is a reprint from Mick Rooney‘s POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing.

Point of View Demystified

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Listen to a PODCAST of this article. 

I recently sought to hire an editor for my MANUSCRIPT and found many of them willing to offer a CHAPTER length sample edit. One came back with the notation I had a Point of View error on page one.

 
How in the world did I miss a POV error on the first page? *shakes head – roll eyes*
 
If nothing else, the experience taught me two things. Editors are a necessity, and POV errors are easy to miss. With that said, I thought I’d pen an article on POV and share it with you.
 
Let’s first try to understand what POV is. In a sound bite, it’s who’s telling the story. POV is nothing more than the writer’s method for presenting narrative. See, it’s not all that mysterious, though mistakes are evidently difficult to catch.
 
The first aspect of Point of View to understand is each POV has its advantages, disadvantages and typical uses. My focus for this article will be the three most common uses of POV.
 
The three major types are:
 
First Person POV – the writer tells the story
Second Person POV – the writer gives advice
Third Person POV – the major character or characters tell the story
 
Third Person POV has three subdivisions and they are:
 
Limited
Omniscient
Objective
 
Let’s take a look at First Person POV.
 
First Person has the writer, or narrator, tell the story. In effect, the author speaks to his readers. This POV is told in either present or past POV.
 
It is most often used when one authors a book about ones’ personal experiences or opinions. You’ll see the writer using the pronouns I, me, my, mine, we, our and ours. It does fit into fiction, but is widely used in memoirs.
 
Second Person POV
 
Think of this as an instruction manual with extensive use of the pronoun, “you.” This POV is rarely used in fiction as it simply tells the reader what the characters are doing and what they see. A weakness is it provides only limited access to creativity though a strength is it grabs the reader’s attention. It can also exist in past and present forms.
 
Third Person POV, where a character or characters tell the story, has three subtypes and we’ll discover each of these in time. It’s the primary POV utilized in fiction.
 
Third Person – Omniscient POV
 
Third Person Omniscient POV has all the major characters in your novel tell the story. What is nice about this POV is the freedom it affords. The author can tell the reader everyone’s motivations and their thoughts. It allows the writer to give or withhold information at will.
 
The difficulties of this POV lie in lack of control and its potentially cumbersome nature. If you aren’t careful and you show too much of what’s inside every character’s head, the reader receives an overabundance of information and can become frustrated if your POV loses cohesion.
 
To overcome this drawback, ensure consistency in your POV and have only one person at a time tell the story. It’s also important to eliminate any information that is not pertinent to the story. Have each chapter focus on one individual to eliminate “head-hopping,” which is jumping from one character’s POV to another within chapters.
 
Third Person – Limited POV
 
Third Person Limited POV is perhaps the easiest to utilize and most popular when writing novels. Here the author writes from a single person’s vision throughout the entire book. In third person POV, you’ll see pronouns such as she, he, her, him, hers, his, it, its, they, them, theirs.
 
The disadvantages come with the writer’s limitation as to who sees what. The character who tells the story cannot get into the head of another to read his thoughts. He can only surmise what the other guy thinks by their facial expressions, actions and such. It’s also very easy to shift out of this POV.
 
Third Person Objective POV
 
In this POV, the author only tells his readers what happens by way of action or dialogue. Their characters’ feelings or thoughts are never revealed. It’s not the most effective POV for fiction.
 
The secret to POV is to learn what type works well for your writing style and genre.
 
Now, who wishes to share a POV issue they’ve faced?
 
I hope you know by now, I wish for you only best-sellers.

 

This is a reprint from C. Patrick Shulze‘s Author of Born to be Brothers blog.

The Right (And Wrong) Way To Use Facebook Tags

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Facebook tags are a powerful tool that let you cross-promote with others on Facebook by placing a clickable "tag" within your status update.

To create a tag in a status update, type the @ symbol and begin to type the name of the person, group or page that you want to tag. For example, if you want to tag me, start typing @Dana. As you start to type my name, Facebook will display a list of your connections whose names contain the letters "dana", and then you choose the right person from the list shown.

In the example below, I am typing a note in my Facebook status update, posting a link to an article written by my friend Tony Eldridge. Notice that as I begin to type "@to" a list of friends whose names contain the letters "to" pops up.

FacebookTonyList 
As I continue typing the word "@tony", his name will appear on the list and I’ll click on it to select it. This will create a blue, clickable hyperlink to Tony’s Facebook profile. Here’s what my finished post looks like on my Facebook wall.

Tony3
Now, here’s the really cool part. This same entry will also appear on Tony’s profile wall. With this tag, I have given Tony exposure to my own friends by linking to his profile in my status update, and I have also gotten exposure to his friends through the entry on his wall.

Below is an excellent example of cross-promotion and tagging by Lynn Serafinn:

SpiritAuthorsTag
Rather than just reposting a resource link that I had posted online, Lynn added her own comments and inserted three different tags: her Spririt Authors fan page, my profile, and my Savvy Book Marketing group. Each of the tags is highlighted in blue and is a clickable hyperlink. This message appeared on the wall of all three of the tagged pages.

Now, let’s talk about some of the wrong ways to use tags. One breach of etiquette is using tags to place blatantly promotional messages on other people’s profiles or pages.

Tags in photos can also be a problem. Sometimes Facebook users tag a bunch of people as appearing in a photo that’s posted on Facebook, even though those people aren’t actually in the photo. Also, there are apparently some applications that will create a collage photo from a bunch of your Facebook friends and tag those people. The really annoying thing is that each time one of the people tagged in the photo "comments" on the photo, you will get notified via Facebook’s direct message system.

Used strategically, tags can be a great way to cross-promote with others on Facebook. Just be sure to use them in ways that are constructive.
 

 

This is a reprint from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.

Are You Scrooge McDuck?

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Scrooge McDuck couldn’t get enough of what he thought he wanted. He was never happy with what he had.

No matter how much money and things he collected, he always wanted more. Sound familiar?

[Editor’s note: strong language after the jump]

 
Even if you’re not a materialistic, greedy bastard, you want more from your writing career. But what’s so bad about that? It’s ambitious, right? For some, we want our writing to be our career, and so ambition and wanting more is a catalyst for that success we envision.
 
Writing makes me happy. I am likely not talented enough to see my writing rise above most other independent writers’ work and so I must accept that the term career does not signify the end of my day job. So logically, my objective then is to write for my own sanity, and when I choose to make it public, the bonus feature is to receive accolades and critique from other trusted peers–writers, friends, strangers–who take the time to read my work.
So that should be enough, right? RIGHT?
 
Sometimes I feel like Scrooge McDuck, who always wants more out of the words I put on paper. I struggle as the victim of the competitive spirit of the little industrious writing community, even despite my fiercely independent status. I want to earn more fans and readers. I want people to love my work and discuss it. I want Focus Features to come knocking to make films of my stories.
 
And then I feel shame. I should be pleased and content with having the ability to write what I can.
Oh fuck that.
 
[picture credit: Walt Disney Company, all rights reserved]

 

This is a cross-posting from Lenox Parker’s Eat My Book.

iPads and Kindles: It's Not Either/Or, and Millions Will Own Both

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With apologies to Soren Kierkegaard and fanboys everywhere, we do not have have to make an either-or choice between the Kindle and the iPad. It’s not Ford vs. Chevy, Celtics vs. Lakers, or Beatles or Stones.

You can have both, and you can love both.

I have both, and I love both.

The day before the Kindle was launched in November 2007, you could have asked 100 people if they wanted a dedicated ereader and none of them would have said yes. Amazon has now sold about 4 million Kindles, and people are buying Kindle books every day and reading them on Kindles, PCs, Macs, BlackBerrys, and, yes, all the i-devices from Apple.

Before Apple announced the iPad, tablet computers were a total non-starter. Now Apple has announced that it sold 3 million iPads globally in its first 80 days.

Now that Amazon has reduced the price of the Kindle to $189, it is easy to see what the future holds. The Kindle, because of catalog, connectivity, and convenience, is the best dedicated ereader. The iPad is well on the way to being the best device for everything else.

Within the next two years, the installed base of Kindles will be over 10 million. For the iPad, the installed base will surpass 25 million. For the iPhone and the iPod Touch, it will surpass 200 million.

And there will be at least 5 million serious readers who own both an iPad and a Kindle.

And there will be entire landfills devoted to laptops and netbooks.

 

This is a reprint from Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation Daily.

Extending Smashwords' Functionality

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This winter past I spent a fair bit of time thinking about how best to finish the editing process of my short story collection, The Year of the Elm. In particular I considered a number of possible proofreading solutions in order to track down as many typos and errors as possible. Along with hiring an editor, doing the work myself, or using a service like Bite-Sized Edits, I came up with what I thought might be a way to merge the inherent functionality of Smashwords with the goal of open-source proofreading.

In an exchange of emails, Smashwords CEO Mark Coker graciously helped me refine the idea in a manner consistent with the Smashwords TOS, which states that only finished works can be published through the site:
9d. You further warrant the book represents a complete work:
• this is not a work-in-progress
• the uploaded file is not a partial sample or sample chapter, or is not a collection of sample chapters
• the uploaded book represents a complete story with a beginning, middle and end
Because any work (fiction or nonfiction) that is ready for proofreading should be finished in every other respect, the proofreading process falls into a gray area relative to this requirement. For that reason, I need to stress that the proofing I am talking about is just that: a final attempt to track down typos and other miscellaneous errors after the entire work has been written, revised, edited and checked by as many eyes as possible. A work that has errors on every page, or obvious mistakes in abundance, is in need of copy editing, and is not what I would deem a finished work.  
 
As Mr. Coker pointed out, the final, last-ditch proofing that any work goes through is already part of a transitional process in the traditional publishing industry. Whether referred to as advance reading copies (ARC’s) or uncorrected proofs, these pre-release versions of the final product serve useful marketing and fact-checking functions.
 
As I thought, Smashwords is perfectly positioned to replicate these functions with electronic works. Mr. Coker explains:
The reason we have a rule of “only finished works” is that we don’t want Smashwords to be viewed as a place where you post works in progress to gain feedback. There are dozens of writing communities that already do an excellent job of this. We’re for finished works that are ready for readers and distribution.
However, you have an interesting situation here. This is really for advance marketing, with the side benefit of crowd sourcing typo discovery.
 
Your book is essentially and advance reading copy, also commonly referred to as an “uncorrected proof.” Its what publishers would send out for reviewers as an ARC. Why don’t you label it as such. Above the title, add the words (centered):
 

ADVANCE READING COPY – NOT FOR SALE
ON SALE DATE: JANUARY XX 2010

 

 
After you publish it at Smashwords, go to your Dashboard’s Channel Manager and opt it out of the distribution channels (this is optional. Just understand that the day the book goes on sale, it’ll take the retailers up to several weeks to catch up and apply the new price).
As originally conceived, my plan involved putting the final draft (galley/proof) of The Year of the Elm on Smashwords for free, then asking readers to let me know if they found any typos, mistakes, etc. The idea was to crowd-source the proofing process by giving early-adopters a chance to read the whole work for free. After the proofreading period I would then price and publish the work. (I briefly toyed with the idea of providing a reward of some kind to people who found mistakes, but decided against it because of the record-keeping involved.)
 
Mr. Coker expanded on my plan, and added a number of ways in which Smashwords’ functionality (including coupons) could be utilized:
In your promotion, let your readers know it’s for advance promotion purposes only. Maybe say something like, “As with all ARCs and uncorrected proofs, the book is complete but you may find typos. If you find a typo, please report them to me. I’ll mail a free signed printed copy to anyone who discover a typo.” (or whatever spiff you want to offer readers. It could also be something as simple as recognition on your blog, or a coupon code to download the book for free upon official publication)
 
As you discover and correct typos, you can go back to your Dashboard and click “upload new version.”
Throughout the ARC period, anyone who downloads the book will automatically have access to the most recent version. People can download the free version without registering.
 
Once you arrive at your official “in print date” you can assign a price to it. Once the book is purchased, they’ll have access to the most recent version plus future updates, if any.
The best extension of Smashwords’ functionality would probably lean more toward the ARC, precisely because any last-ditch proofing should flow from the fact that the work has already been heavily edited and otherwise completed in every respect. In such situations the ARC can be used as a marketing vehicle for engaging readers and reviewers, while also providing an opportunity to catch unlikely typos along the way.
 
The traditional publishing work flow, including the editing and marketing process, still makes sense. What’s needed now are tools that individual authors can use to replicate and facilitate this process as much as possible, thereby allowing authors to bypass the political and economic roadblocks that dominate decision making in traditional publishing houses. The inherent ability of Smashwords to facilitate galleys and ARC’s is just another indicator that e-books and self-publishing are maturing, and will inevitably take hold across the breadth of the publishing industry.

 

This is a cross-posting from Mark Barrett‘s Ditchwalk.

PayLoadz

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I am publishing an ebook. I seriously considered using PayLoadz.com — until I read this post on Jonathan Coulton’s blog.

I strongly advise anyone thinking of using PayLoadz to read these posts first and then decide. I decided not to use them.

Visit: www.jonathancoulton.com/2007/08/22/e-junkie-vs-payloa.

 

Review of Editor's Lexicon

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Last week Rebecca Hargreaves, a blogger I follow, asked her readers whether or not she should take an advanced writing class. This post and the lively comments that ensued got me to thinking about how a writer trains to be a successful writer.

As an academic who went through eleven years of post secondary education to become a professional historian, I have always been bemused by the thought that I could become a professional fiction writer without even one college level writing class, yet I suspect my serious lack of formal training is not unusual.

I did take a college extension novel writing class over 20 years ago when I started the first draft of Maids of Misfortune, and I did find the class useful because it taught me how to find agents, write query letters, and generally what to expect in negotiating the landscape of traditional publishing. In addition, the main assignment was to write the conclusion of your proposed novel, and this initial scene remained a beacon, drawing me on, as I wrote the first draft over the next few years.
 
But for me, my formal training in the craft of writing fiction came from my writer’s critique group, the two agents who worked with me, the comments from editors who reviewed my work, and the books I have read about writing. I have read books about the writing life, about writing dialog, about writing mysteries, about plotting and punctuation, but I had never before read a book that does the following, which is why I would like to highly recommend, The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists by Sarah Cypher(Glyd-Evans Press, 2010, 80 pps,$9.95 list price.)
 
This delightful guide by Sarah Cypher, a writer and professional book editor, is designed to improve the critiquing process by providing definitions and examples of common terms editors use to describe the strengths and weaknesses of a piece of fiction.
 
For example, if an author gets back a manuscript with the comment on a section that “the pacing of this scene lacked tension, and could be improved by increasing the stakes,” she could look up these three terms in the index of The Editor’s Lexicon and read clear and concise definitions of each term. She would also see well-chosen, and often amusing, examples-either a piece of writing that demonstrated the term, or a comment an editor or reviewer might make.
 
How I wish The Editor’s Lexicon had existed when I had started fiction. I was familiar with the specialized terminology of academic writing (thesis, evidence, topic sentences, etc), but when I started getting comments on my work from agents and editors, I frequently didn’t know quite what they were asking of me. I remember struggling to understand point of view, or the admonition to cut back on my exposition (historical non-fiction writing is primarily exposition!) This handy book would have shortened my learning curve considerably.
 
In addition, the organization of The Editor’s Lexicon means it can be used as a short primer on the basic elements of fiction writing. Cypher lists the terms under five sections (premise, theme, voice, plot, character), and if you read through the terms under each section you learn a great deal about each element and the general craft of writing. I even found this useful as a refresher as I began to outline my second mystery.
 
Finally, the Editor’s Lexicon would have improved the effectiveness of my writer’s group, particularly during the years when the group had writers with a wide range of experience and skill, because a common language would have helped us provide more objective and useful comments on each other’s manuscripts.
 
While The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists  will be most helpful to new writers, because it provides such an accessible introduction to fiction writing and the terms editors use, I believe it will become an important tool for any writer or teacher of writing, self-taught or academically trained, who wants to improve her craft.

This is a cross-posting from M. Louisa Locke‘s The Front Parlor.

Blogging the Tortoise Way

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I don’t think there is anyone who would disagree that blogging on a regular basis is a must to gain a solid reader base. If you want to be noticed you have to get the attention of not just people, but the internet spiders, especially those of Google. The question, however, is how often should you blog?

 
The vast majority, I think, would say that you absolutely must blog everyday. Their reasoning? Usually it’s an assumption that everyone prefers having their email inbox glutted with “great” new posts on a daily basis. Or it’s all about increasing your Google rank. Or both.
 
While blogging daily will increase your Google rank, unless it is of very high quality, a daily blog (even just on weekdays) can be seen as a nuisance to your readers — and a major stress factor for you, especially if you’re a highly sensitive person. I strongly disagree with the thought that it’s a wonderful idea to blog on a daily basis, from both a writer’s and a reader’s standpoint.
 
From a reader’s view, I have enough emails to wade through that the daily blogs, unless they’re amazing, simply get deleted with nothing more than a quick scan. Those that come on a weekly or monthly basis I’m more likely to take the time to read because I believe that person really took the time to produce something of high quality. (It’s a judgement call, I know, but I just haven’t seen enough fantastic daily posts to believe otherwise.)
 
As a writer, a daily blog puts strain on an already tight schedule. For me, blogging isn’t just sitting down to write whatever pops into my head. There is a lot of research to be done for a quality blog. Not to mention a large amount of time actually crafting and editing it. After all, a “quality” blog gives useful information and makes sure the reader has ready access to helpful sites. If all I wanted to do was give a quick tip, I’d use Twitter.
 
One such advocate of daily blogging is Gary Smailes of BubbleCow. Gary says in his post Why (And How) Writers Should Blog Every Day, “If you are looking to build a platform then it all comes down to priorities. If you are going to build an online presence then you need to develop a voice and audience. The more you push, the louder your voice becomes.”
 
If you’re an HSP like me, then pushing and speaking louder is almost the antithesis of who you are. I’m sorry, Mr. Smailes, but there are other ways of making yourself heard.
 
Basic networking can be done via social media or face-to-face and you don’t have to shout to do it. Building a network, and a following, does not have to happen overnight. Trying to stretch yourself beyond what you can naturally do and without the needed downtime, something non-HSPs do on a regular basis, will only make a highly sensitive person overwhelmed. I know from personal experience that trying to market myself the way “everyone else does it” or, worse, the way “everyone else says I should do it” only gave me wicked heartburn and a lot of cranky days from lack of sleep. It didn’t improve my following at all.
 
What has worked is crafting quality weekly blogs and networking the old-fashioned way. As a highly sensitive person, I find I absolutely must be creative — and slow — in building my platform. I may not win a lot of readers today, but over time I’m positive I can entice many on The Road to Writing.
 
BTW: This post took 1 hour 15 minutes to write and edit. That time does not include research on the topic of blogging.

 

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road to Writing.

6 Common Publishing and Marketing Mistakes

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In [this] guest post [which originally appeared on The Savvy Book Marketer], Mark Coker, founder of ebook publisher Smashwords, shares some of the most common mistakes that he sees authors make in publishing and marketing.

The most common ebook publishing mistakes that I see are:

1.  Sloppy editing:  Although Smashwords makes it fast, easy and free to publish an ebook, we don’t make it easy to write a great book.  Many indie authors rush their books to market before the book has been properly edited or proofread.  I can’t underscore the importance of good editing.  Every book benefits from the unforgiving eye of an independent editor and proofreader. 

2.  Sloppy book covers:  Some authors, after investing a lifetime in writing their book, invest under five minutes to create a quality book cover. If a picture tells a thousand words, an ugly book cover image tells the book buyer, “don’t click here.” Good ebook cover design services can be had for under $40, so why sell yourself short? 

3.  Failure to understand that ebooks are formatted differently:  Some authors, especially those with years of professional publishing experience, have a difficultly making the transition from print design to ebook design. With ebooks, simpler formatting and layout actually improves the value of your book to the reader. If authors obsess over making their ebook look like an exact facsimile of their print book, they invariably cause themselves great frustration, and ultimately release their book in fewer formats or worse, they damage the reading experience.

Common book marketing mistakes include:

1.  Late to market:  If an author waits until their book is published to start their marketing, they’re too late. Authors should build their marketing platforms early, before they’ve even put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard. Marketing should be a career-long endeavor.

2.  Failure to make marketing a daily priority:  Every author needs to realize they are competing against millions of other authors for the limited eyeshare of readers. Authors should spend a minimum of one hour a day to make themselves and their work more visible to readers.  Online social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and message board forums not only make this easy, but rewarding as well. At the end of every day, authors should ask themselves, “what did I do today to build my platform, and what will I do tomorrow?”

3.  Spamming social network followers:  Bookselling has always been about word of mouth, and nothing catalyzes an author’s marketing campaigns like a good social networking presence. If you can cultivate hundreds or thousands of followers on Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter, and you can motivate them to care passionately about your success, then you have a powerful marketing tool at your disposal. But don’t spam your followers with a constant barrage of “buy my book” messages because they will tune you out.  Instead, enter into a two-way relationship with them.  Contribute value to your online communities. Participate. Pay it forward. The value of your network is not how many books they will buy, but how, as your advocates, they will spark the word of mouth necessary for true book success.

I encourage all authors to download Mark’s free Smashwords Book Marketing Guide for some terrific book promotion tips. For information about publishing ebooks through Smashwords, see  How to Publish at Smashwords. You can follow @MarkCoker on Twitter. And don’t miss my interview with Mark: How to Make Your Books Available in Multiple Ebook Formats.
 

 

This is a cross-posting from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.