Month: October 2011

My Guide to Surviving NaNoWriMo

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Tonight, with NaNoWriMo just a three short weeks away, we offer those of you who intend to participate some tips and motivation. This post, by Cameron Chapman, originally appeared on her site on 10/11/11 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

NaNoWriMo officially starts in less than three weeks! I’ll be participating again, this time hopefully finishing up the third and fourth books of The Steam and Steel Chronicles. I feel like I’ve finally got some plot issues tied up in my head, so I can move forward with it. The thing is, when I wrote the first two books last year (for NaNoWriMo), I didn’t really have an overall story arc in mind. I just sort of threw everything in there and waited to see what stuck.

So now I’ve got all these potential plot threads that need to be tied up in the third and fourth books (I’m thinking those will finish the story, though I’m also planning a short story or two that will take place between books one and two). I’m not one to just let things go unanswered, and I want to make sure that things people liked in the first two books are featured again in the third and fourth books, without being shoehorned in. I’ve got them all figured out now, though, so I’m eager to get writing again!

But I wanted to put together a guide for surviving (and even winning) NaNoWriMo. I’m hoping it will be useful whether you’re a NaNo veteran or a first-timer.

1. Make sure you’re passionate about your story

This is key. If you’re not really, really into your story, you will very quickly get sick of it. Trust me. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. And I’ve lost because of it. So the first thing to make sure of is that you’re absolutely, positively in LOVE with your story.

2. Use the forums

The NaNoWriMo website has great forums. They are insanely active during October and November, so be sure to use them. If you get stuck, head on over to the Plot Doctoring section. If you’re tearing your hair out, visit NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul. And be sure to check out the tips in Reaching 50,000!

3. Don’t be afraid to suck

First drafts often suck, but NaNoWriMo first drafts have the potential to suck a lot more, because of the insane time constraints. So give yourself permission to suck. You can fix it in December.

4. Turn OFF your internal editor

This can be one of the hardest things to do, but it’s vital. Turn off your internal editor. In fact, don’t just turn it off, banish it to the basement for the duration of November. Tell it you’ll give it lots to do in December and January as a trade-off.

5. Use Write or Die

Write or Die is probably the most useful tool you can use during the month of November. Set yourself a time limit (tight, but not insanely tight). Then write. Your computer will start giving you nasty looks if you stop typing, and if you set it to kamikaze mode, it will even delete your words if you don’t reach your goal. This was my secret weapon last year, and I’m eternally grateful to it. Without Write or Die, I can almost guarantee I would not have made my word count goals. In fact, I think this year I’ll purchase the desktop version (it’s only $10) to show my appreciation.

6. Play dirty

There are a few times in life when playing dirty should be applauded. NaNoWriMo is one of those times. Forget about contractions. In fact, do a search for apostrophes in your document and eliminate contractions (instead of “don’t” it should be “do not”, etc.). Make yourself a list of the contractions you’ve replaced, so that way you can easily go back and re-contractionate (yep, totally just made that word up) them when you’re done. Other ways of playing dirty include having your characters tell completely mundane stories just to eat up word count, adding tons of adverbs you can eliminate later, quoting poems, song lyrics or other written works, and creating characters who are naturally verbose. If you’re worried about creating a draft that’s going to be a huge pain to edit because of all this crap, just set off anything you think you’ll want to eliminate at a later date in [brackets].

The goal here is to keep up your momentum. Dirty tricks like this can work wonders to keep your morale high and keep you on track. That’s the important thing to do here. You need to stay motivated to finish, and if you see yourself falling behind, you’re going to get discouraged. It’s better to complete your 50,000 words and win and feel motivated even though in actuality you only have 30,000 usable words than to get discouraged at 25,000 words and give up entirely. If nothing else, you’ll have a novella in the end.

7. Write often

I work more than full time. I’m often putting in well over 40 hours a week, and my “day job” is writing. That means I can be left with little creativity at the end of the day. So rather than leaving all of my writing to the end of the day, I write in bits and pieces throughout the day. I’ll head on over to Write or Die whenever I need a break, set myself a word count goal of 400-500 words, and a 10-15 minute time limit, and write. If I do that just 3-4 times a day, I’ve met my word count goal. Other days, if my schedule was a bit more relaxed, I’d spend an hour writing first thing in the morning, before starting any of my other work. By switching back and forth between those two schedules, I was able to reach my goal without too much struggle.

8. Write more when you can

If you’re in the U.S., there’s one major holiday during the month of November: Thanksgiving. There are also a number of weekends. And sometimes, life pops up and requires you to take a day off. NaNoWriMo requires you to write an average of 1,667 words per day, every day, for 30 days. It can seem like a huge hurdle if you miss a day, as it means you have to write even more every day after that. So instead, I try to write more from day one. I aim for 2,000 words a day, and on that schedule I would reach the goal by the 25th of November, giving me 5 days off. Some days, I might even hit 3-4k words. The first year I did NaNo, I reached the 50k goal by about the 15th of November, and had 95k words in 33 days. Now that I’m working more than full time, though, that kind of pace is less realistic for me.

So, do you have any other tips for surviving NaNoWriMo? Questions I can answer? Please feel free to comment!

 

Cameron Chapman writes regularly for Mashable, Smashing Magazine and Noupe. Her published works include the Steam and Steel Chronicles (Aboard the Unstoppable Aerostat Fenris and The Great Healion Race) and Hold My Hand. 

Cheri Lasota on NaNoWriMO

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This post, consisting of an introduction from Hannah Warren followed by a guest blog post from Cheri Lasota (aka StirlingEditor) originally appeared on Hannah Warren’s site on 10/11/11.

A bunch of us writer folk are extra-extra sharpening our pens, giving our butts long dress rehearsals in our office chairs, scratching our heads for luminous ideas, pumping the creative fluid through our veins or doing much weirder stuff, because… because … it’s almost 1 November. No, not because All Hallows is on the calendar but because of NaNoWriMo, acronym for National Novel Writing Month.

 

Wiki: “National Novel Writing Month is an annual internet-based creative writing project which challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel in one month. The project started in July 1999 with just 21 participants, but by the 2010 event over 200,000 people took part – writing a total of over 2.8 billion words. Writers wishing to participate first register on the project’s website, where they can post profiles and information about their novels, including synopsis and excerpts. Word counts are validated on the site, with writers submitting a copy of their novel for automatic counting. Municipal leaders and regional forums help connect local writers with one another for holding writing events and to provide encouragement.”

Ok. Gulp.

I’m taking part for the first time this year *scratches head again* because I’ve heard many great stories of friends who participated and went on to publish their novels. I need to dive more deeply into my second book Prior to You and get over a severe form of procrastination. Hope it will give me the necessary kick up the bum.

A laurelled NNWM veteran is my American friend Cheri Lasota, editor, published author, filmmaker, composer and ski patroller (among others) and she kindly offered a repost of the blog she wrote last year on this phenomenon of pouring 50,000 words on paper in the course of 30 days.

Apart from information on the pros and cons of NanoWriMo, this is also a call-up to post your Nano name in the comment section below so we can make a buddy list and cheer each other through the month of November.

National Novel Writing Month: A Rebuttal

by StirlingEditor on December 8, 2010

On Nov. 2, 2010, Salon​.com Co-​​Founder Laura Miller wrote a scathing review of National Novel Writing Month. I came across this arti­cle, iron­i­cally, in one of the forums on the NaNoWriMo web­site. The Salon arti­cle touched off a firestorm of contro­versy, and I must say, it def­i­nitely helped me define my own thoughts on the matter.

I’ve long cred­ited National Novel Writing Month with sav­ing my writ­ing career from dying a slow, painful death. I still hold to that now that I’ve won for the first time in five years of participation. Why did it take so long? I am a long-​​time fic­tion edi­tor, and frankly, it’s damned hard to shut up my crit­i­cal editor’s brain so that my shy cre­ative side can finally whis­per its ideas to me. NaNoWriMo’s insane goal of 50,000 words in one month made it impos­si­ble for me to stop and edit myself. I’m a deadline-​​oriented writer. And it is the same for many oth­ers. NaNoWriMo helps us to focus. That was cer­tainly the case for me, and I applaud any­one who even attempts this colos­sal feat.

 

Read the rest of the post on Hannah Warren’s site. If you’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, be sure to list your NaNoWriMo username in the comments section of the post on Hannah Warren’s site.

Book Marketing: The Foreword, Preface, And Introduction As Powerful Marketing Tools

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The Self-Publisher’s Mantra
Yes, a book’s foreword, preface, and introduction are different. And each has a different purpose. But each has the same goal: To . . .
1. Make an emotional connection with the reader, which will . . .
2. Build credibility for the book’s author and the book, which will . . .
3. Sell more books. Period.
This is the mantra that we self-publishers must always keep in mind for everything we create. Everything, without exception.

Powerful Marketing Tools
It is imperative that the self-publisher always remember that these three book sections are a very powerful marketing tool for the author and the book. These three sections must make an emotional connection with the reader. They must help the reader develop an affinity, and intellectual attraction, to the writer. They must build a desire within the reader a need to hear what the author wants to say.  All three sections will be a major factor in helping the reader to decide whether they should buy the book or not. Therefore, a lot of time, effort, planning, and designing must be applied to the foreword, preface, and introduction.

When Should Each Section Be Written?
The preface and introduction of a book should be written before the book is written. The foreword should be written when the book is almost complete. Creating the preface and introduction beforehand will help the author establish in her own mind what she is trying to accomplish in the book. Therefore, when writing the book, the preface and introduction will help the author stay on course with the book’s mission. Of course, they can be edited and adjusted as the book develops or if the mission changes. But by writing them before writing the main part of the book, they will act as a basic guideline for the author as the book develops.

Help And Guidance For The Foreword’s Author
And don’t forget, the person that writes the book’s foreword will certainly be using and relying on both the preface and introduction to guide them when writing the foreword. Therefore, you will need the preface and introduction to make an emotional and intellectual connection with the foreword’s author, as well as showing and telling them about your credentials. You are trying to convince the foreword’s author that you are the right person to be writing this book. In the preface and introduction you are basically telling them how you want the book to be viewed.

Conclusion
Do not underestimate the power of the foreword, preface, and introduction to help make your book get noticed, purchased, and read. Making money from selling books is a simple numbers game. Sell more books, make more money. But as self-publishers, we want more than money. We want to create an amazing book, and build our credibility in our expertise, and have many readers benefit from our book. Creating an amazing foreword, preface, and introduction will help us achieve all of this.

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

Amazon to Book Publishers: Welcome to the Jungle, Baby

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This article, by Mathew Ingram, originally appeared on gigaom on 10/10/11.

Amazon isn’t happy just disrupting the book-publishing world by promoting self-publishing via the Kindle platform or launching a rumored “Netflix for books,”  it seems. The giant online retailer — which recently unveiled its iPad competitor, the Kindle Fire, and also dropped the price of its lowest-priced Kindle, bringing it even closer to being free — is also busy signing up popular authors for its own Amazon publishing imprint. And those it’s signing up are becoming evangelists for the company as an alternative to the “legacy publishing” industry, including the latest addition: thriller writer Barry Eisler. Publishers are now in direct competition not just with the Kindle, but with Amazon itself.

 

Eisler, a former CIA operative turned author, has been one of the most prominent examples of self-publishing, along with fellow writers J.A. Konrath and young-adult author Amanda Hocking — who made more than two million dollars by publishing her own books via the Kindle marketplace (often charging as little as 99 cents for them) before signing a $2-million deal with a traditional publisher earlier this year. Eisler also got the publishing industry’s attention in a big way when he turned down a $500,000 advance for two books with St. Martin’s Press in March, and said that he was going to self-publish his new novel instead.

Amazon deal offered “best of both worlds”

Instead of doing that, however, Eisler has signed a deal with Amazon’s in-house Thomas and Mercer imprint. In an interview with National Public Radio, the author said that after he announced his intention to turn down the St. Martin’s deal and self-publish – a decision he discussed at the time in a conversation with fellow writer J.A. Konrath — Amazon approached him with an offer of what he calls a “hybrid deal, the best of both worlds.” The online giant agreed to publish an e-book version of the novel as soon as it was completed, and then follow that up with a paperback edition.

In the NPR interview, Eisler — several of whose books have become New York Times  bestsellers after being marketed and published by traditional agencies — says he has come to the conclusion that mainstream publishers simply aren’t as efficient or as useful to authors as they used to be, now that there are other options:

To say that publishers really care passionately about books as though they are concerned about what’s better for the world … I’m sure when they look in the mirror they feel that way. But in fact, what they care about is preserving their own position, perks and profit — that’s just what establishment players come to do over time.

 

Read the rest of the article on gigaom.

The 10 Types of Writers’ Block (and How to Overcome Them)

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This article, by Charlie Jane Anders, originally appeared on io9 on 10/6/11.

Writer’s Block. It sounds like a fearsome condition, a creative blockage. The end of invention. But what is it, really?

Part of why Writer’s Block sounds so dreadful and insurmountable is the fact that nobody ever takes it apart. People lump several different types of creative problems into one broad category. In fact, there’s no such thing as "Writer’s Block," and treating a broad range of creative slowdowns as a single ailment just creates something monolithic and huge. Each type of creative slowdown has a different cause — and thus, a different solution.

 

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the terrifying mystique of Writer’s Block, it’s better to take it apart and understand it — and then conquer it. Here are 10 types of Writer’s Block and how to overcome each type.

1. You can’t come up with an idea.
This is the kind where you literally have a blank page and you keep typing and erasing, or just staring at the screen until Angry Birds calls to you. You literally can’t even get started because you have no clue what to write about, or what story you want to tell. You’re stopped before you even start.

There are two pieces of good news for anyone in this situation: 1) Ideas are dime a dozen, and it’s not that hard to get the idea pump primed. Execution is harder — of which more in a minute. 2) This is the kind of creative stoppage where all of the typical "do a writing exercise"-type stuff actually works. Do a ton of exercises, in fact. Try imagining what it would be like if a major incident in your life had turned out way differently. Try writing some fanfic, just to use existing characters as "training wheels." Try writing a scene where someone dies and someone else falls in love, even if it doesn’t turn into a story. Think of something or someone that pisses you off, and write a totally mean satire or character assassination. (You’ll revise it later, so don’t worry about writing something libelous at this stage.) Etc. etc. This is the easiest problem to solve.

2. You have a ton of ideas but can’t commit to any of them, and they all peter out.
Now this is slightly harder. Even this problem can take a few different forms — there’s the ideas that you lose interest in after a few paragraphs, and then there’s the idea that you thought was a novel, but it’s actually a short story. (More about that here.) The thing is, ideas are dime a dozen — but ideas that get your creative juices flowing are a lot rarer. Oftentimes, the coolest or most interesting ideas are the ones that peter out fastest, and the dumbest ideas are the ones that just get your motor revving like crazy. It’s annoying, but can you do?

My own experience is that usually, you end up having to throw all those ideas out. If they’re not getting any traction, they’re not getting any traction. Save them in a file, come back to them a year or ten later, and maybe you’ll suddenly know how to tackle them. You’ll have more experience and a different mindset then. It’s possible someone with more stubbornness could make one of those idea work right away, but probably not — the reason you can’t get anywhere with any of them is because they’re just not letting you tell the story you really want to tell, down in the murky subconscious.

The good news? Usually when I’m faced with the "too many ideas, none of them works" problem, I’m a few days away from coming up with the idea that does work, like gangbusters. Your mind is working in overdrive, and it’s close to hitting the jackpot.
 

Read the rest of the post, which includes 8 more ideas for tackling writer’s block, on io9.

The Fallacy of Yog’s Law in the Self-Publishing World

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This post, by John Hartness, originally appeared on his site on 8/18/11 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

Blame Kris Rusch and her excellent blog for this post. Kris writes one of the best business of writing blogs out there, and if you desire a career in this business and aren’t reading her stuff, you’re probably missing opportunities. But anyway, that’s irrelevant here, except that she mentioned Yog’s Law in a recent post, and it inspired this rant. So…sorry about that

 

Yog’s Law, simply put, states that “money flows to the writer.” Traditional publishing companies and writers use this anthem to decry shady business practices by vanity presses and unethical agents, and in those cases it is very valid. If an agent charges a “reading fee” to look at your manuscript, they’re not a real agent, they’re a scam artist getting paid to read books. Agents get paid to sell books. When you make money, your agent makes money. Same as a sports agent or an actor’s agent. None of these people get a thin dime if their client isn’t working. That’s one reason agents have more than one client — so they don’t starve!

And the statement used to be just as valid in the publishing world. Unscrupulous vanity presses trying to pass themselves off as legitimate publishers would come up with fees for all sorts of things that publishers typically do for their authors for free, like editing, layout, formatting, cover art, etc. These are red flags when dealing with a publisher – if they want you to pay for these things, and you’re an author, then you’re not dealing with a publisher, you’re dealing with a crook.

But the world is different now. I say that a lot, because we’re living in the flippin’ future, people! Seriously, my cell phone has more computing power than the machines that put men on the moon! So the world is different, and the usual laws don’t always apply in the same ways.

Or do they?

Does Yog’s Law still apply just as firmly as it used to?

Yes. But in the case of a self-published author it’s important to understand that sometimes the PUBLISHER has to spend money so that the WRITER can make money.

And those people often inhabit the same body. That’s where the wicket gets all sticky. As a self-published author, or even someone just reading about and paying attention to self-publishing, you need to understand that there are times when you wear the writer hat, and times when you wear the publisher hat. When I’m ripping apart Return to Eden: Genesis next month, I’ll be wearing my writer hat. When I just paid a guy to redo all the covers for my Black Knight Chronicles books, I was wearing my publisher hat.

Yes, money should flow towards the writer. But sometimes the publisher has to pay for things. And those two roles may be fulfilled by the same person. So whenever you hear someone toss around “money flows towards the writer” just understand that they haven’t thought through the fact that sometimes you’re the writer, collecting the coins, and sometimes you’re the publisher, spending them.

 

 

The Death of Bookstores?

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This post, by L. Anne Carrington, originally appeared on her The Book Shelf blog on 10/9/11, and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

With Borders closing its doors after 40 years in business in addition to other major bookstore chains either downsizing locations and/or closing altogether, many can’t help but wonder if the era of brick-and-mortar bookstores are joining the Walkman, Windows 95 and vinyl records in becoming things of the past.

It was bound to happen once books – from classic to present-day titles – became available on devices such as Kindle, iPhones, and others made for downloading electronic reader versions of various books. Colleges are now offering online textbooks for their students; hence, there won’t be many physical textbooks being ‘bought back’ by college bookstores once the terms end as it was in my day.

Ereaders can’t take all the blame, though. Sites such as Amazon make book browsing and purchasing a lot more convenient, and many times, favorite books can be bought for a cheaper price than the neighborhood bookstore.

While Kindles and Nooks are wonderful gadgets, they don’t have the feel and smell that a good hardcover (or even paperback) offers. Ereaders are lightweight, but there’s something about turning pages of a chilling mystery novel while cuddled under a large down comforter by the fire on a stormy night. I also wouldn’t recommend using a Nook to read in the bathtub, and Kindles are hard to dog-ear pages.

There is some good news, however. Half Price Books continues to do well, as are some smaller, independent bookstores. For those who really enjoy nostalgia with their reading, nothing beats a weekend afternoon in the local vintage bookstore – the best place to find out-of-print favorites.

A fellow book aficionado told me about an independent book store in Houston that’s perfect for crime buffs: Murder by the Book.

Bookstores also offer a social aspect that all the web sites and ereaders in the world will never compensate. When was the last time you discussed a great new book with a total stranger standing side by side a Nook? Does an aroma of exotic house blend of coffee come from an iPad? There’s also nothing like chatting up the sales staff while they ring your purchases, especially if it’s something they too have read. Kind of difficult to do the latter making an Amazon purchase, isn’t it?

What would happen if every bookstore in the world closed and actual books stopped being printed? Not only would there be a lot of devastated printed book buffs, but also publishers taking a large hit (and some already have). Many say there’s nothing more delightful than sitting and getting lost in a book, and I have to agree. Ereaders just don’t offer the same effect, no matter what anyone says.

Kind of like video killed the radio star, ereaders and other technology may kill the traditional bookstore…

 

Edits Ahoy! Are You Onboard?

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This post, by Kimberly Hitchens, founder of Booknook.biz, originally appeared on the Crime Fiction Collective site on 10/4/11, and is reprinted here in its entirety with that site’s permission.

For those of you who’ve missed the latest, Amazon initially yanked and wirelessly replaced, and then removed entirely from sale, a book (Neal Stephenson’s Reamde) after a reader posted a scathing, virulent review of the errors she found in the book. Her review, calling for a 75% price refund, said in part: 

 
 
“This level of carelessness is inexcusable on economic grounds. I’d expect to find format errors and mangled content in a pirated ebook, not in a $17 Kindle edition. When I purchase an ebook at a price point so close to the print version, the publisher rakes in far more profit than from a print title. To then turn around and offer shoddy, incomplete text in that pricey Kindle title shows an arrogant disregard for economics, the reader, and the distribution channel.”
 
Click here to read the entire review, which is worth reading, in my opinion. The Awl reports that Amazon had, as of Thursday morning, gone so far as to remove the title, which was #36 in books overall, #6 in SciFi on Kindle and #4 in print/audio. Clearly, a significant financial decision by HarperCollins.
 
Now, normally, I’d just report this as an odd bit of news, and not dwell on it; but two other things have happened this month that are related to this. Which makes me think that this shan’t be an isolated incident, and we in the biz need to pay closer attention to what we write, publish and produce. The two events are:
 
  • First, one of our top authors received a letter from Amazon, informing him/her that "During a quality assurance review of your title, we have found the following issue(s): Typo/formatting issues exist that may have been caused by an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) problem. An example is mentioned below:
    "Don’t forger that" should be "Don’t forget that"

    Whereupon Amazon then advised him or her to: "Please look for the same kind of errors throughout and make the necessary corrections to the title before republishing it." (Italic emphasis added). The interesting part is that this book wasn’t scanned, nor OCR’d; and it was professionally edited more than once. Amazon only provided the one instance of an “error.”

  • Another client, having crafted some rather unique content, had deliberately written scenes that were incoherent, to represent a protagonist in a comatose state. Amazon flatly yanked the title after customer complaints about the unreadability of the text.
What this tells me is that Amazon, having purged innumerable over-represented PD (Public Domain) titles, and every PLR (so-called, "Private Label Rights") book they could find, have decided that they are going to tackle the issue that everyone’s been talking about: 

Curation

Which means one thing: Real Editing. Not Word’s built-in spellchecker; not your Mom; real editors with real experience. Here at Booknook, we like the Twin Lizzies; Elisabeth Hallett and Elizabeth Lyon. Elisabeth Hallett, (Email here) specializes in line editing, as well as proofing and copyediting; Elizabeth Lyon (website here) is a freelance editor with more than 60 books under her belt, and can assist you with revisions and developmental editing, in addition to line editing services.
 
I know that this has been a long (and NOT funny!) first column for me (originally appearing on September 30th, 2011, in our Booknook.biz newsletter), but the import of these events should not be overlooked. Lastly: learn to use Track Changes (if you use Word), or its equivalent in WordPerfect or Open Office. I am really surprised at how many authors don’t know how to use it, or mistake tracked changes for Word’s built-in spellchecker, but it’s a simple tool, and one that can help you work competently with an Editor. A good editor can work faster in track changes than without it; if you know how to use it, it will save you money, not only in editing hours and in the number of revisions you’ll end up paying for, post-production, in ebooks that you create, but also in keeping your book from being nuked by Amazon and badly reviewed, which will cost you sales.

Publetariat Interviews Sean Platt About Platform, The Writing Life, And Serialized Novels

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Many Publetarians may be familiar with Sean Platt as the Writer Dad, Ghostwriter Dad, or through the Collective Inkwell site. In addition to those endeavors, Sean is also an author. In this interview, I talk to Sean about his many irons in the fire and his latest experiment: a serialized novel entitled Yesterday’s Gone.

Sean, you’re the man behind Writer Dad, Ghostwriter Dad, and Collective Inkwell. Can you share a little about each site?

First off, April thanks for having me. It’s great to be here!

And that’s a great first question. In three years online, I don’t think anyone’s ever asked it before!

Writer dad was my original home on the web, the site I started before I had any clue what I was doing. It was an outlet, a conduit, a way for me to nurture my online voice and connect with an audience.

I’d only recently started writing when I bought the domain. But even three years ago it was clear to see what was happening with the publishing industry. I didn’t want a traditional contract, but that meant I had a lot of work to do as far as building a base. So Writer Dad was born from a desire to establish my own audience.

Attention was easy enough to get, but it was impossible to make any money with a site where I mostly talked about life and family. I had no advertising, and wasn’t willing to, despite my traffic. It seemed too incongruent with what I was trying to do. But I had to something since I was bleeding badly, having closed a successful business to follow my dream of becoming a writer.

Ghostwriter Dad was the solution to the problem, the site I started to capitalize on the name brand I had established for myself with Writer Dad, but with a built-in mechanism to make it easy to trade my time for money. I figured it would be simple enough to slip ghost in front of writer and trade a reasonable fee to keep my name off the byline, product, sales page, or whatever I was producing.

David Wright and I started Collective Inkwell around the same time as Ghostwriter Dad. Originally the site was designed to draw design and copy business, but we ended up mostly writing about creativity and the creative writing process. This was a BIG mistake, though we didn’t realize it at the time. Turns out you can’t really market your services as a writer when writers are your target audience. Seems super obvious when staring in the rearview, but it’s a common mistake a ton of writers make, ourselves included.

Collective Inkwell is now our publishing imprint, and home for all the work Dave and I do together. We’ll be re-launching the site soon as a a hub for self-publishing news and interviews, along with behind the scenes peeks at everything we’re going through ourselves during our own publishing process.

Should be a ton of fun. So far this year our teeny-tiny imprint has published six titles, including the full our horror novel, Available Darkness, and the full season of Yesterday’s Gone.

Your career in writing started out with copywriting and ghostwriting, but this year you’ve ventured into publishing your own full-length fiction and nonfiction as well. What prompted you to start publishing your own full-length works?

My intent was always to be an author and publisher, long before I ever registered my first domain. Copywriting and ghostwriting were a means to an end, a way to pay the bills until the sea change that would eliminate the gatekeepers and help authors like me and you get easily heard was complete.

I didn’t really see that happening until 2013 of the earliest, 2014 more likely, and was totally blown away last January when I saw numbers pouring in from writers like Konrath, Hocking, and Locke, doing exactly what I wanted to do (and was doing for others already!).

From that moment forward, it was game over. David and I completely shifted our business, and I started to break free from the work-for-hire hamster wheel.

I love my experience ghostwriting and copywriting. I’ve written everything. Sales letters, auto responders, blog posts, wedding vows, speeches, fiction. You name it, I’ve written it. I love knowing my fluency is strong enough to write pretty much anything that lands on my desk, but the articulate strength born from copywriting and persuasion techniques have helped Dave and I to design Yesterday’s Gone more like scripted serialized television, filled with open loops and awesome cliffhangers that make the viewer, or in this case the reader, salivate over what may happen next, more than a traditional novel.

I enjoy writing copy, and ghostwriting for others, but it reached a saturation point where I was fatigued by seeing other people reap success for words that came from inside me. You only want to be Cyrano for so long.

Your most recent writing project is a serialized novel entitled Yesterday’s Gone. Why have you and your writing partner elected to release this work in installments?

Dave and I love serialized TV.  LOST, Dexter, Walking Dead, etc. But beyond that, we were tired of the slog of writing a single title at a time, then surrendering to the “hope and pray model.”

When we looked to others in self-publishing who were moving the units we’re looking to move, they’ve all published multiple titles. Konrath has his entire back catalog, Hocking is cranking hers out, and Locke had 5 Donavan Creed books before he even started his marketing!

We wanted to establish a heavy presence on Kindle by Christmas, but knew there was no way we could publish multiple titles with the quality we expect from ourselves, and that our readers have come to expect from us. Serializing a large story by writing it all out at once, then breaking it apart, exactly like they do with television, was what made most sense to us.

Have you found any particular creative challenges in working with the serialized approach?

In many ways, this is much, much easier than writing a regular book. A regular book, begins and ends, and if done well has a “hero’s journey” and solid story structure sprinkled through the pages in between. Our fiction, like the television it’s modeled after, takes a “season” approach. That means every episode leads into the next, and the finale leads into the first episode of our followup season.

People love watching television this way, but we believe the market will love buying and enjoying their e-content this way, too.

How about in more practical terms: what kinds of business considerations have gone into this book?

The business of the book follows a simple, classic model. Dave and I want to give the first episode away for free, or as close to it as we can get. We’ll publish the “pilot” for $.99 on Amazon, then make it available for free on Smashwords and hope Amazon price matches. People will buy the first episode, or download it for free, then if they love it they’ll want the next in the series.

This should also help us get a more qualified buyer for the entire season, meaning our reviews will be better and our links are more likely to get spread around. Of course, this is all contingent on creating something of quality that people really, really love. You can’t expect to throw anything on Kindle and have it do well. That doesn’t work now and it never ever will.

Our model is simple: the pilot is free or $.99, episodes 2-6 are $1.99, and the full season is $4.99.

We’re happy with our work getting read regardless, but were happiest when people download the full season, not only because they’ll get to enjoy the complete work as it was written and intended to be read, but because it’s where all the profit is ($3.50 versus $.30) for us as writers and publishers.

You are co-authoring the book with another author, David Wright. How does your collaborative process work, in terms of the actual writing?

I can’t imagine doing creative writing with anyone else and having it turn out nearly as fluid as it is when writing with David. We’ve been writing partners for three years, and have exchanged countless pages between us. Just as I’ve been a ghostwriter for many people, Dave’s been a ghostwriter for me, making my copy cleaner, and always helping to me to sound smarter than I actually am!

Specifically, with Yesterday’s Gone, it’s been a tremendously fun process. We started with the premise, agreeing that there would be six different POV’s and that we would each start by writing three. I wrote mine for the first episode and he wrote his, then we blended them together in a single narrative. This worked extremely well, both creatively and for overall efficiency, so it was how we divided the writing duties for the remainder of the project as well.

Admittedly, I’ve had a much easier time. My job was to write my chapters, and go over his. But Dave had to go over mine, assemble everything so it had the best possible flow, edit everything together, insert dates and times, then make sure we don’t have any snafus, like the one we had in the pilot where a guy in handcuffs tries to take off his shirt!

Yesterday’s Gone is being published exclusively as an ebook at this point. Do you think the rising popularity of ebooks could lead more authors to explore the serialization option?

Absolutely. It just seems smart. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s not being done more already, but I’m also thankful we’re early, before the market is flooded. Having said that, I believe there is and always will be plenty of room. As long as you publish a quality product that puts your reader first, and you take the time required to do it right, rather than seeing Kindle as a gold rush, and you work furiously to develop an engaged audience, even if that means falling down 341 times and standing up 342, you will eventually succeed.

Do you have any plans to publish the book as a single volume after the last installment has been released?

The entire season will be available as a print book, but that’s more of a marketing decision than one motivated by profit. If readers want to enjoy a print version, we want them to have it, yet so few of our sales are coming from print, across all our titles, it’s not enough to justify a print run on single episodes.

How are you approaching marketing for the book?

I spent the last couple of years as a ghostwriter, helping others market their finished products, but it’s always been within established networks. This round I have no list to lean on, so we’re going grassroots, trying to hit around 100 or so blogs in the next three months, and hoping influencers notice us.

After a while, I’ll start my round of emails. But I’m trying to avoid any cold emailing. I’d like people to find Yesterday’s Gone on their own, because I feel as though the growth will be more organic. Beyond that, I wrestle around 300 emails a day myself, and understand the deluge. I don’t want to be a yappy puppy adding to anyone else’s inbox triage.

Most authors and writers are familiar with the challenge of finding the time, energy and quiet focus they need to write. With all you have going on, the sites, the books, and being a family man to boot, how do find enough hours in the day to get everything done?

I can’t take credit for that. I have an amazing support team, an absolutely wonderful and impossibly patient wife, who handles all the household heavy lifting so I can make all this happen, and a remarkable team. Not just my partner Dave, but my other partners Tracy O’Connor,  Danny Cooper, and my wife, Cindy, who have helped me with everything I’ve needed to get this project off the ground. Of course, it helps that I write fast, but it’s definitely not enough!


I’d love for any readers interested in Yesterday’s Gone to download the pilot for .99, or just go ahead and get the entire awesome season for $4.99, which you’ll probably want to do after reading the pilot anyway.

But fair warning: if you don’t like serials like LOST and writers like Stephen King, you probably won’t like reading Yesterday’s Gone. But if you like stuff that starts awesome, and then is awesome on every page until the WTF? cliffhanger ending, you’ll totally dig Yesterday’s Gone!

We also have a special insider’s club where we’ll be sending readers exclusive content and behind the scenes stuff. It’s a great place to be if you’re a writer interested in the publishing process and would like to tag along and get free sneak peaks at how it’s all going.

Click here if you want to be a “goner” and get the exclusive episode with the shocking ending.

Thanks so much for having me, April. It’s been fun!

 

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Sean Platt is an author, publisher and creative entrepreneur. Follow him on Twitter.  Please share this post on Facebook or Twitter!

The New World of Publishing: Traditional Publishers Are Getting What They Deserve

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This post, by Dean Wesley Smith, originally appeared on his site on 10/3/11.

A beginning note: This post came about because lately I’ve been getting the writer-as-center-of-the-universe questions a great deal. Writers believe that when they send in a manuscript to an editor, it is the only manuscript on the desk. Writers believe that when they take on an agent, they are the agent’s only client. Writers believe that their advance is the only money publishers will spend on their book. That sort of silliness, which drove the writing of this post. Keep that in mind when reading this. Thanks!

Traditional Publishers Caused Agents to Become Publishers.

Let me simply say that traditional publishers deserve what they are getting.

And my question is this to traditional publishers:

WHY WOULD YOU DEAL WITH AN AGENT WHO IS YOUR COMPETITOR?

Why not just cut off those agencies and go direct to the writers?

Too simple, right? Too logical. Too much of a logical, good-business solution for publishing, I know. Sigh.

But even with traditional publishers being continually stupid, agents as publishers just won’t work. And today, in Publisher’s Marketplace, we saw that clearly once again.

Let me explain this as best as I can.

The History

Over a decade ago traditional publishers, in a cost-cutting measure, decided that slush piles did not serve them well. So someone, somewhere (more than likely in Pocket Books, since this sort of started in the Star Trek department) decided that publishers could outsource the slush pile to agents.

In other words, give up control of the pipeline to the original product that they depended on. Yeah, that was smart business.

The publishers did this by simply putting in their guidelines that instead of no unsolicited manuscripts, they wouldn’t accept unagented manuscripts. One simple word changed the job of agents.

 

Read the rest of the post on Dean Wesley Smith’s site.

An Aspect Of The Amazon-Apple Battle The Tech World Doesn’t Care Much About

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This post, by Mike Shatzkin, originally appeared on his The Shatzkin Files blog on The Idea Logical Company site on 10/2/11.

Almost two years ago, I wrote a post which continues to be one of the most-read in the history of this blog, the point of which was that the business model disruption (called “agency”) prompted by the iPad would have more impact on the ebook ecosystem than the device itself. I’m happy to repeat that statement today because I think events have proven that hunch to be correct.

 

This week Amazon announced their new tablet, the Kindle Fire. (Mine’s on order. I gave the original Kindle I had to my wife, who still uses it. I also own an iPad but never read books on it. As everybody who reads this blog regularly knows, my ebook consumption is all iPhone, largely purchased through the Kindle store, sometimes through Nook, Kobo, or Google, but never through iBookstore.)

The Kindle Fire announcement has unleashed a spate of stories in the tech press about the battle between Apple and Amazon. Who knows what Apple’s rejoinder will be, but it would seem that Fire offers much more than half of what an iPad delivers to a media consumer for much less than half the price and about two-thirds the weight. It appears it will fit in the hip pocket of a man’s suit jacket. That sounds like a competitive formula. It already was for Nook Color, and Amazon seems, at least for the moment, to have done them one better.

Books are not the central focus of this Amazon-Apple battle even from Amazon’s point of view and they are certainly are not from Apple’s. Apple is a device company and their content offerings, and their control of their content offerings, are intended to reinforce the unique experience their devices deliver. Amazon certainly knows from their Kindle experience that offering the right device can propel content sales and secure the content customers’ business (a lesson B&N has both learned and demonstrated quite successfully with Nook as well). The Fire is as much about video content as it is about books.

Amazon wants to acquire its book content with the ability to control the selling price so they can continue to burnish their reputation as the lowest-cost provider and exploit other advantages that their huge customer base and extraordinarily deep pockets provide them. Apple wants a margin-guaranteed commercial model that also assures them that they won’t be embarrassed by having their customers see the same content for a lower price elsewhere.

Apple assumed they’d be able to move the most devices and, with price neutrality, create enough advantages to their device owners to shop in the device’s “home” store to satisfy their competitive requirements. That is, Apple’s content-selling strategy was to maximize their market share among their own device owners. They do nothing to move the content onto other companies’ devices.

But in the book business, we look at these two titans in a different way because they force publishing into managing two completely different commercial models simultaneously. That’s not something most of the tech community has paid any attention to in the prolific “Amazon versus Apple” commentary following the Kindle Fire announcement. But it reinforces the point made in the post from two years ago: the fact that Amazon and Apple have different approaches to acquiring and pricing content offerngs is the most important aspect of the battle between them to the book publishing community. Who “wins”, as in “who sells the most devices?” (or even “who sells the most ebooks?”), is really quite secondary since both are significant and neither is going away.

 

Read the rest of the post on The Shatzkin Files.

Drive

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This post, by Michael D. Britton, originally appeared on his site on 10/3/11.

DRIVE – you won’t get far without it

There are lots of essential ingredients to achieving success in a fiction writing career.

Talent (or skill) is certainly key – but a gift for writing, alone, will not get you there.

Some may say “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” Sure, connections are important – and part of building your career involves doing the work to build those connections and personal networks. But again, knowing the right people is not enough.

Others say you just need to have luck. Leaving your career up to chance is not a plan for success. I know of one successful writer who has been known to say, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

In other words, you need to have determination. Persistence. Patience. Faith.

In a word – DRIVE.

That drive is what motivates you to write every day. To finish every short story or novel you start. To submit every work for sale to a publisher who can buy it. To keep it submitted until it sells. (If that list looks familiar, see my previous post on Heinlein’s Rules).

Or, you can opt for the non-traditional route, and take the leap to publishing it yourself using tools like Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords.  All of these things require drive.  (More on becoming a publisher in a future post.)

Drive also pushes a writer to improve his craft through learning and practice, and through accepting valid constructive criticism from trusted sources (your First Readers, and mentors who are further along in their careers than you are).

That takes humility.

How is my DRIVE translated to the written page? By setting goals and meeting them.

For example, two years ago, my goals involved maintaining a writing “streak.” It consisted of the following:

 

Read the rest of the post on Michael D. Britton’s site.

Conflux 7 – A Quick Report

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I’m supposed to be on holiday for the rest of this week, but I just wanted to post a quick report on Conflux 7, which happened this past long weekend. Conflux is the Canberra-based annual Fantasy and Science Fiction convention, and it holds a special place in my heart. I love the vibe of this particular con, always friendly and open. It lived up to that rep once again.

 

There were many highlights for me. The Angry Robot launch was excellent and well attended. Kaaron Warren and Joanne Anderton were there to launch their books, Mistification and Debris. Trent Jamieson was there in spirit, though not in person, as his new book, Roil, was also included in the launch. Kaaron’s daughter made angry robot cupcakes for the event, which looked great and tasted better:

angry robot cupcake Conflux 7 a quick report

The official opening ceremony followed that, MCd by the incomparable Jack Dann. There’s no one quite like Jack Dann, for which we should probably all be thankful, but he’s a great guy and loads of fun. He’s one of the good guys and opened the con with great enthusiasm.

Following the opening ceremony was the official launch of the new CSFG Publishing anthology, Winds Of Change. That book includes my story, Dream Shadow. There were a staggering fifteen contributing authors and artists at the convention, so a mass signing table was set up and we all sat down to sign for people buying the book. It sold really well – my signing hand was fully a-cramped by the end. Here’s a shot of the mass signing – you can spot me by my terrible posture:

winds launch Conflux 7 a quick report

Quite a night, involving lots of beer, and that was only the first evening.

Other personal highlights for me included the Evil Overlord panel, on the subject of the Best Getaway Vehicle for an Evil Overlord. I was moderating that panel, with Laura E Goodin, Kathleen Jennings and Phil Berrie. We started by discussing some of our ideas, then I opened the floor to the audience. Lots of suggestions were made and discussed, a long list was whittled to a short list and a final vote decided that the ideal getaway vehicle was a Monkey-style flying cloud. I’m pleased to say that was my original suggestion. Not only that, the incredibly talented Kathleen Jennings illustrated the winner. Here’s me with The Duck Lord:

duck lord Conflux 7 a quick report

I’m honoured to have that very drawing hanging on the wall of my study right now.

I enjoyed the Paths To Publishing panel I was on, along with Cat Sparks, Nicole Murphy and Natalie Costa-Bir. That was one of those panels where I got to share my own experience and learn a lot at the same time – always the best kind in my mind.

Right after that panel, due to a bit of a SNAFU, the Guests Of Honour gathered for their Q&A panel, but there was no MC present. I stepped up and got to wrangle the audience for questions for four very cool people – awesome author Kim Westwood, editor extraordinaire Natalie Costa-Bir, and artists Lewis Morley and Marilyn Pride. Hearing them talk about their processes and projects, and where they’re headed next was very interesting. Here’s a pic of that panel:

goh qa Conflux 7 a quick report

L to R: Lewis Morley, Marilyn Pride, Natalie Costa-Bir, Kim Westwood and me (last minute ring-in MC)

From that panel I went directly to one about the influence of heavy metal music on SF, and SF’s influence on it. The panel consisted of myself, Tracey O’Hara and Joanne Anderton. We also talked about the influence of extreme music on us and our writing. It was a great panel, very interesting and vibrant, and I think everyone there, including the three of us, left with a list of new bands to check out. Here’s that panel:

metal in sf Conflux 7 a quick report

L to R: Tracey O’Hara, me, Joanne Anderton

I attended several other items as an audience member too. Probably the highlights for me were Kim Westwood’s Guest Of Honour speech, the panel on short story writing (with Kim Westwood, Jack Dann, Kaaron Warren, Helen Stubbs and Cat Sparks), the panel on why we love the dark and macabre in our art (with Andrew J McKiernan, Kaaron Warren and Kyla Ward), and a reading by Kaaron Warren of a new short story, which resulted in a very interesting discussion afterwards, talking about the themes of the story. I’d love to see more of that at cons, and I’d love the opportunity to read one of my short stories to a group and have a discussion about it afterwards. I also really enjoyed the Historical Banquet on Saturday night, a 1929 Zeppelin themed dinner. Well done Gillian Polack for that one. Of course, I did loads more stuff, but it’s all swirling in the misty pseudo-memory that is my post-con brain right now.

Just reading over that, I look like a right Kaaron Warren fanboi. And you know what? I am. Not only that, Kaaron was kind enough to put me up over the weekend and make me coffee and bacon sandwiches. She’s absolutely lovely in every way and an incredible talent. I’m honoured to call her my friend. In fact, here’s a pic of three of my favourite SF ladies and me:

fave ladies Conflux 7 a quick report

L to R: Jodi Cleghorn, Kaaron Warren, me, Joanne Anderton

It was also great to hang out with Cat Sparks and Rob Hood for the weekend, who were also staying at Kaaron’s. And that’s a fine example of the kind of SF community we have in Australia, and around the world. The F&SF community takes care of each other and every con is just an excuse to catch up with good friends and hopefully make some new ones.

The only downside to the con was that on Sunday night some junkie fuckknuckle smashed out the window of my car, bled all over it and stole a bunch of my stuff. He also smashed windows and stole stuff from at least seven other cars in the street. So that sucks the big one, but it’s not enough to spoil a good con.

Conflux was great, as it always is, and I can’t wait for the next one.

I’ve only posted a handful of pics, as those are all I’ve managed to pilfer thus far. I’ll post links to other photos from the con when I find some. If you have any, please drop a link in the comments. Also, if you were there, share your favourite moments in the comments too.

Oh, and one last thing. There was a person there who asked me a few times to have a chat about short story markets. I kept telling her that I would find five minutes for a chat about it, yet I never did! I’m sorry – if you’re reading, drop me an email.

 

This is a reprint from Alan Baxter‘s The Word.

A Self-Publisher’s Guide to Computer Data Backup

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Protecting your computer’s data files is something every self-publisher must know about and deal with before it is too late. It is not a complicated or expensive process. It can be as simple as having an external hard drive and using cloud storage. No special knowledge or fancy equipment is needed. And, the process is very easy to automate. It is essential that you keep the back-up process simple and automatic. It is also essential to create multiple copies, on-site, and off-site. Here is a run-down of how we do this in our office.

Using An External Drive For Data Backup

We started out using one external hard drive in our office. This is the most basic and easiest way to protect your data that is located on your internal hard drive. A brand-name 3TB hard drive is now $120. Make sure that you purchase a hard drive larger than you currently need. But don’t overbuy. Right now this 3TB has a good price. As time goes on, the larger hard drives will drop in price too. Another reason not to over-buy is that hard drives don’t last forever. Purchase only what you need now, and then upgrade with a newer and larger unit when you need it. We purchased an external USB hard drive that is only 5 inches x 7 inches x 1.5 inches. This small size gives you an easy way to put the hard drive into your safe, or safety deposit box, or take it with you on your working vacation.

Using Multiple External Drives For Data Backup

We now use multiple external hard drives. They are installed together and they work as one unit within a storage array box. This way we can store a large amount of data on multiple drives that are all stored within one small, desk-top box. Even if one or two drives fail, we would still have several more still working. Again, only purchase a big-name storage array box and big-name external hard drive to put into it.

Using Cloud Storage For Data Backup

Storing your data online is called "cloud storage". You should consider using cloud storage because it is a safe and simple way to store your files away from your office – where they can’t be stolen from your office, lost, or burned up in a fire. There are many cloud storage companies, and all are easy to find on the internet. Many offer 2GB or 5GB of free storage. There are also many reviews and comparisons of the different services on the internet. Some companies will even automatically backup your data to an external hard drive and, at the same time, also to the cloud. Play it safe and pick one of the big-name cloud storage companies to deal with for your business.

How Do I Find A Cloud Storage Company?

There are many cloud storage companies, and all are easy to find on the internet. There are many reviews and comparisons of the different services on the internet. Some will even automatically backup your data to an external hard drive and also to the cloud. Play it safe and pick one of the big-name companies to deal with.

Isn’t Backing Up To The Cloud Risky?

Your data will be stored in an encrypted format when it is backed up to the cloud at the storage company, which should prevent a hacker from easily accessing your information. If you require a greater level of security, you can use your own private encryption key to further reduce possible exposure to data intrusion. The likelihood of a server like Apple’s, or Amazon’s, or Google’s going down is far less than the possibility that your own hard drive or local backup will fail.

Working Away From Home/Office

If you are away from your home/business computer, and using your laptop, email yourself the document that you are working on. Also save it to your laptop’s internal hard drive, and to your flash drive. A good general rule is that you should never keep extremely sensitive data on your laptop. Keep it on your flash drive and on the cloud. We keep several flash drives with us when on vacation – and keep them in our pockets for safe-keeping. Flash drives are very inexpensive – so buy and use several. We purchased 3 brand-name 8GB flash dives for under $20.

Should I Encrypt My Hard Drives?

For most purposes, encryption of your computer or hard drive is not necessary. Encryption is only necessary for extremely sensitive data – like your patients’ medical records. If you encrypt a backup, you will add unneeded complexity to a process that is designed to simplify and preserve fast access to your information. With this added complexity comes the increased probability of a problem. Therefore, the chance that you lose access to your backed-up data goes up. Do yourself a favor and make sure that you understand when and why you might need to encrypt your backups and think about how you’ll guarantee that will you have access to your encryption password when it counts. Data encryption will cost you too much time, money, and aggravation.

What Computer Data Should I Backup?

At the very least, you need to back up everything except software applications. Any data that is necessary for the operation of your business must be copied. Most software is easy to replace, and generally not too expensive.

What About Our Websites, Blogs, Mailing Lists, and Online Publications?

All of these are absolutely essential to keep your self-publishing business going and thriving. Fortunately, every one of them already has a built-in backup. We keep multiple backup copies on multiple hard drives here in our office, and also on the cloud. All of our websites and blogs are also backed-up by the hosting company. Our hosting company also sends us a backup copy by email. Our mailing lists are kept at an online mailing list company. The list can easily be downloaded from the mailing list company. We also keep a copy of it on our computers and hard drives. All of our online publications (ebooks and edocuments) also have full copies with the companies that sell our publications.

Conclusion

By having a simple backup plan that utilizes both online data backup and multiple external hard drives, you’re providing yourself with foolproof security for when your computer’s hard drive crashes, or your system is ruined in a fire or flood. Don’t risk losing your important files forever when you can quickly and inexpensively avoid that mess with a tripled-up data backup plan. And never forget: do not put all of your trust in one method over the other. Internal hard drives, external hard drives, and flash drives can fail. Even your cloud storage company can fail – go out of business, be hacked, or their software on your computer can fail.

 

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

 

What's the Most Important Thing on an Author Website?

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The book! It seems obvious, right?  But you’d be amazed at how hard it is to find information about the author’s book on some sites.

It’s fine to have other content on your author website or blog, but make sure that it’s really easy to find a description of your book and a link directly to a place where customers can buy the book.

Recently I visited the website of an author who had written a book on a topic that I have an interest in, but I could find no description of the book. I clicked on the link that said the book was available on Amazon and landed on Amazon’s home page. No, I did not make the effort to search out the book on Amazon, having already gotten a poor impression.

It’s helpful to look at your site through the eyes of a visitor who has never been there before.

    * What’s the first thing you see when you land on the site?

    * Is there a book cover visible on the home page and other pages? If your website is a blog, it’s easy to display your book cover in the sidebar, along with a link to the book description or purchase page. You can see a book cover and links to my books in the sidebar of this site under the heading "Book Marketing Guides".

    * Is there an obvious link to somewhere people can learn more about the book? From your main navigation menu, you could place a link that says something like "About the Book," "My Books" or "Buy the Book". On this site, the link says "Resources".

    * Is the book description compelling enough to motivate buyers?

    * Have you listed quotes from book reviews in the book description, to demonstrate that others find your book valuable or entertaining?

    * Is there a direct link to your book’s page on Amazon or some other place the book can be purchased? Check the links and make sure they work properly.

Don’t make it difficult for visitors to your website to learn about your book and buy it! Make sure your website does a good job of selling your book.

Oh, and you can find descriptions of all of my books here.

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