Quick Links: Strengthen Your Writing with Rhetorical Devices

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Are you a little iffy on your rhetorical devices and want to add a little spice to your writing, no matter the genre? Jamie Gold has got you covered by helping you learn more about these literary tools and how you can use them to enhance your writing.

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Strengthen Your Writing with Rhetorical Devices

by Jami Gold on June 30, 2016

toolkit-lite-plus-icon_myuiqpuu_lSome in the literary community assume that genre writers don’t care about the deeper aspects of writing craft. While it’s true that literary fiction is more well-known for its use of figurative and lyrical language, genre fiction can use the same literary tools.

Now, if you’re anything like me, and your English or grammar instruction was less than ideal, you might not be familiar with the term rhetorical devices. I certainly wasn’t.

When I first heard the term, I assumed it had something to do with arguing or making a point, like a rhetorical question. Eh, in a way, I wasn’t too far off. But once I did learn about them, I quickly became aware of how using rhetorical devices can strengthen our writing—even if we’re writing genre stories. *grin*

What Are Rhetorical Devices?
Rhetorical devices are simply ways to use language to affect our audience. We probably use several of these methods without realizing there are other similar tools sitting right alongside them in the literary toolbox.

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Quick Links: Finding Your Audience Part Two – Think Long Term & Build Relationships

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This is the second article in Angela Quarles’ series on finding an audience, hosted at Fiction University. She has some great points about being genuine and building a connection instead of bombarding people.

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Finding Your Audience Part Two – Think Long Term & Build Relationships

By Angela Quarles, @AngelaQuarles

Thursday, June 30

People sitting in an audiencePart of the Indie Author Series

In last month’s post, I talked about the pre-release steps you can take to find your audience. Today, I’m tackling finding your audience after your book’s launch.

Lessons to learn from non-fiction writers

As you’ve probably already noticed, it’s easier to find articles on this topic for non-fiction writers because their book’s subject helps direct them on where to find their audience. Plus, there are clear strategies one can take to build a platform. The challenge is slightly different for us, but I think it’ll be helpful to understand a little why it’s easier (not easy, but relatively easier) for them so that we can find the right approach.

Why is it easier for them? Non-fiction writers can go to where their audience is, since humans are great at organizing around shared interests and goals. If their non-fiction book is about grooming long-haired dogs, they can search out forums and blogs and podcasts on the subject. They can also set themselves up as subject matter experts by creating their own platform through the internet and through speaking engagements.

Think beyond sales

I think most writers worry about finding their audience because they’re staring at the barely moving needle on their sales dashboard. So most will go about it by thinking the solution is to blast their book anywhere and everywhere on social media. That will make people buy it, right? Or they think that’s the only way, and they hate even the thought of it, so they bypass looking at it in any other angle. Instead, they hope that if they put their best book out there, the writing will speak for itself and the audience will eventually come.

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In The News – Indie Authors to Finally See their Books on B&N Shelves

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In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

This should be filed under about effing time, if it works out. I have been rooting for B&N to become competitive with Amazon and Apple. The more choices authors and readers have, the better. But B&N continually steps on their own feet.  There are quality based caveats on an indie author having their titles in the store,  which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But will B&N manage to make good this time? Head on over to Good eReader for the full story.

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Indie Authors to Finally See their Books on B&N Shelves

June 28, 2016 By Mercy Pilkington

barnes_nobleAbout three years ago, then-VP, Digital Content and GM of Barnes and Noble’s Nook Press division Theresa Horner sat down with GoodEReader at the Frankfurt Book Fair to discuss the state of the company, namely its self-publishing option and its ebook self-publishing platform. She posed the question as to what it would take to effectively compete with Amazon. Our response–which was not at all tongue in cheek–was for the retailer to stop banning indie authors’ books from brick-and-mortar stores. If Nook Press had developed a viable print-on-demand option and then told authors there was even a possibility of seeing their titles in their local bookstore on the condition that they pulled their books from Amazon’s exclusive KDP Select program, authors would have jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, that didn’t come to pass and Theresa Horner is no longer with the company. The concept of opening the doors–and the shelves–to great self-published titles fell by the wayside.

Since that time, B&N has announced two print-on-demand options, both of which fell far short of meeting indie authors’ and small press publishers’ needs. One was to simply allow the upload and creation of print editions for what basically amounted to collectors’ editions and gift giving. The books were not listed for sale through B&N, and there was a significant upfront charge to produce them–unlike CreateSpace, just to name one example, that charges nothing to produce a print book then takes a portion of the sales price after it distributes the book to Amazon. Even though the Nook Press print option also included the choice to create a hardcover edition, there was no help in selling the print titles.

Read the full post on Good eReader

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Quick Links: Turning Losing into Winning: The Kindle Scout Experience

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Have you heard of Amazon’s Kindle Scout program? I love it! Authors submit their titles to the program in hopes of winning a publishing contract through Amazon. Users vote on the different titles and if a book that they nominated is selected, they get a free copy.

But even if you are not selected for a publishing contract, authors can still win. The people that voted for you are notified when the book goes on sale at Amazon. I have purchased titles this way because I didn’t want to miss out on the story.  Melissa Bowersock at Indies Unlimited has all the details.

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Turning Losing into Winning: The Kindle Scout Experience

Melissa Bowersock

Posted on

kscoutWhen I finished my latest book, Finding Travis, a time travel story, I sent it out to beta readers and prepared to self-publish as I always do. But then a friend began broadcasting the news that she had entered her latest book in the Kindle Scout program and was looking for nominations. I remembered that another friend had entered his book in the program months ago, and had won the coveted publishing contract with Amazon. Because I really, really liked this new book of mine, and because I had built up quite a decent fan base, I decided to try Kindle Scout for myself.

The Kindle Scout campaign is a two-pronged deal. Amazon evaluates the book on its own merit, but they also look at the number of nominations a book receives from potential readers. Because Amazon doesn’t ever tell us how it writes its algorithms or how it decides what’s a winning book and what isn’t, it’s hard to know exactly how to go after the win. The only things that were in my control were (1) writing a good book; and (2) getting as many people as possible to nominate the book. So that’s what I did.

Some people might balk at the idea of nominating a book they haven’t read. I totally understand. However, Kindle Scout creates a landing page for each book and includes the cover, a short blurb, and the first chapter as a sample for voters to read. Readers can then decide for themselves if they feel the book is a winner, or they might simply go on the author’s past performance.

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Editor’s Note: Traveling For A Few Days

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76_roo_crossingHi! I am going to be traveling for a few days but I will be back as soon as I land and can find wifi!  I will be going across the international dateline and I am horrible at time change, but I should be back online by sometime Monday(ish?).

Thank you so much for visiting and supporting Publetariat!

Loves!

Paula

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Quick Links: What is the Kindle “Delivery Cost” and How Does it Affect Me?

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If you upload your eBook to Amazon you will be faced with a “delivery cost” which is based on the digital size of your manuscript. Thanks to RJ Crayton at Indies Unlimited for going into detail about this cost. Just so you know, there are ways to shrink the file size, so if you end up with a big enough delivery cost you might want to talk to someone about reducing the file size.

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What is the Kindle “Delivery Cost” and How Does it Affect Me?

Author RJ CraytonPosted on June 27, 2016

CostsFor those new to Kindle publishing, questions often arise about the Kindle delivery cost. Some people aren’t sure what it is, who it affects, and if there’s a way to make it go away. Today, I’m going to give a quick overview of the fee and what it means to authors.

What is the fee? It’s the amount of money Amazon charges you to deliver a book to customers. The amount is determined by the size of your book and is based on a dollar per megabyte rate. You can find the exact rates here. However, I’ll offer up the rates for the four largest English-speaking markets. The US, Australia, and Canada are $0.15/MB in their countries’ respective currency; and the UK is £0.10/MB.

Will the fee be expensive? That depends on the kind of book you’ve got. Most books that are primarily text will come in under a megabyte. However, once you start adding images to your books, you will really increase the file size and start incurring a large delivery fee. So, if you’re selling a photo book, a cookbook, a comic, a children’s picture book, or anything that’s image heavy, you could end up with a large delivery fee.

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Quick Link: What Authors Should Know About OCR

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OCR or optical character recognition is when someone scans text and uses a computer program to recognize and pull the text from the scan. This is very important to know if you have created an eBook from an older manuscript because OCR is notorious for having issues. At Digital Book World, explains.

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What Authors Should Know About OCR

By: Ben Denckla | June 27, 2016

Typewritten manuscripts are especially difficult for OCR
Typewritten manuscripts are especially difficult for OCR

Expert publishing blog opinions are solely those of the blogger and not necessarily endorsed by DBW.

If you published a book before 2008, its ebook edition was probably created using optical character recognition (OCR). And if your ebook was created using OCR, it probably has typos in it. That’s the bad news.

The good news: you don’t have to accept this situation.

What’s special about the year 2008? Nothing, really. I just chose 2008 because the first Kindle came out in late 2007. So 2008 is the earliest year I can imagine a significant number of publishers adopting a single-source workflow: a workflow in which the ebook is created from the same files used to create the paper book. For example, nowadays Adobe InDesign can create an ebook and a paper book (well, a PDF) from the same file. A single-source workflow avoids OCR and OCR-caused typos. It doesn’t avoid all problems, but it goes a long way toward making higher-quality ebooks.

Many publishers continued to use OCR for books published more recently than 2008. On the other hand, commendably, some publishers used single-source workflows for books published before 2008. Since files may be available for books published as long ago as the 1970s, single-source workflows are possible (though unlikely) for books published while Jeff Bezos was still a child.

The bottom line for authors is this: regardless of its year of paper publication, ask your publisher whether OCR was used to create the ebook edition of your book.

If OCR was used, your ebook probably has typos in it. It was probably spellchecked, but not carefully. The whole conversion, including spellchecking, was probably outsourced to inexpensive workers who, even if their English skills were good, were probably working under severe time constraints. And even the most careful spellchecking, as you know, is no substitute for good old proofreading. Your ebook was almost certainly not proofread.

So what can you do?

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Quick Link: A Tale of Two Writers

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I have to admit I am more pantser than plotter, but I do actuality-sort-of have a general outline. I will run story arcs in my head and organize them before I write. That said I am a big believer in learning the dynamics of good story telling, and a massive believer in lots of editing. So while Larry Brooks’ post at Kill Zone seemed a bit biased towards plotters, the real take away is that it is important to learn the essentials, because you may write it but there is no guarantee anyone will read it.

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A Tale of Two Writers

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Larry Brooks

Guess which one is the evil one?
Guess which one is the evil one?

Adam and Brent (who go by A and B, respectively here in analogy-land). Both have a novel in their heads. Both have big dreams for their books. Both can write sentences that would make the ghosts of Hemingway and John Updike exchange high fives.

Which is why they became writers in the first place.  The reason many of us took up that sword.

Adam

Adam’s book is about a guy who loves a woman who doesn’t love him back. That’s all he knows about it when he sits down to write. It’ll come to him. He trusts his gut and the creative process, which is isn’t sure how to explain, because someone told him it is not describable. He’s not really sure why he trusts his gut, but he does.

He’s never read a craft book (other than that damn Story Engineering, which suggests there is actually a wrong way and a better way to structure a story, based on the forces of story that always apply, for better or worse, so screw that…) or been to a writing workshop. But he’s hung out on online forums full of writers who have, who sound like they know what’s up, none of whom have sold anything but are self-published because, as if they could be if they wanted to be, quoting all kinds of folks who say publishing is dead anyhow. These same folks have all read On Writing and hey, if Stephen King can write a novel out of the right side of his head, so can they. And him. Besides, he once saw a DVD based on a Nicholas Sparks novel and he;s pretty sure he can do better.

Adam believes that if you just write, no matter what you write, everything will turn out fine.

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Quick Link: How To Write 50,000 Words In A Month With Grant Faulkner

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NaNoWriMo is just around the corner so this post/podcast is quite timely. Those who Nano are already familiar with Grant Faulker, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, so how cool is it that The Creative Penn interviewed him! Got any NaNoWRiMo survival tips?

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How To Write 50,000 Words In A Month With Grant Faulkner

June 27, 2016 by Joanna Penn

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month
Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo changed my writing life in 2009 when I wrote the first few thousand words of what eventually became Stone of Fire. Writing a speedy first draft without self-censoring is still what I aim for with my books, and in today’s show I discuss how it can be done with Grant Faulkner.

In the intro, I discuss the potential impact of the UK Brexit decision on traditional publishing, and on indie authors. Plus, my latest book, The Successful Author Mindset, launches this week and will be available in ebook, print, workbook, and audiobook editions.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Grant Faulkner is a novelist and flash fiction writer, the Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and the co-founder of 100WordStory.org.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

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Quick Link: The Right First Impression by Virginia Heath

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I am thrilled and overwhelmed over my reading choices these days, just like everyone else. So to narrow down my tr pile I will go ahead and start a couple of pages. You will be lucky if your potential readers give your story that much. So having a really good start is important to hook your reader and keep them going. At Romance University, Virginia Heath talks about how to make the right first impressions.

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The Right First Impression by Virginia Heath

Posted On June 27, 2016

The Yuri Gagarin monument. He was the first in space and never boring.
The Yuri Gagarin monument. He was the first man in space and never boring.

Sometimes, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression, and that adage applies to the beginning of your story. Virginia Heath returns to talk about elements that factor into a line that will grab and keep a reader’s attention. 

Welcome back, Virginia! 

‘Jack Markham, lately christened the Earl of Braxton, brought his horse to a stop on the brow of the hill just as the first rays of the sun burnt through the hazy mist of the early…’ Zzzzzzzzzzz sorry I nodded off there!

Those were the uninspiring first lines of my doomed, never-to-be-published first attempt at a historical romance novel. If the reader had a convenient pair of matchsticks at the ready to prop open their drooping eyes, the story then went into a great deal of description about the fictitious place he happened to be riding in. I think the story actually started somewhere around page five. Five wasted pages where I should have hooked my reader and made them want to continue reading my book. I’ve come a long way since then.

My dreary beginning aside, there have been some cracking first lines in literature. “All children, except one, grow up.” I read J M Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ from cover to cover when I was eight. He had me from the first evocative sentence. Even at that young age, his words hooked me and dragged me into his world. The concept of one boy remaining a child forever was beyond appealing. Since then, there have been certain opening lines which I will never forget. They all come from my favourite books, but there is one which I love more than all of the others combined. “Being dead didn’t make Jack Mercy less of a son of a bitch. One week of dead didn’t offset sixty-eight years of living mean.” These words were written by Nora Roberts in ‘Montana Sky’, the very first book of hers I read and consistently at number one on my top ten list.

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Quick Link: Breaking Funny

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I happen to have a very dry sense of humor but I love books that make me laugh. Even the ones with groaners – Piers Anthony I am looking at you. Ann Garvin guest posts at Writer Unboxed on why humor is important to a good story and has some helpful tips on how you can incorporate more humor into yours.

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Breaking Funny

It is a fact that humor is good for what ails you.
It is a fact that humor is good for what ails you.

June 26, 2016
We’re so pleased Ann Garvin has stopped by Writer Unboxed today! Ann is the co-founder of The Fifth Semester, ‘where writers are mentored from inspiration to publication.’ She is the author of the forthcoming book I LIKE YOU JUST FINE WHEN YOU’RE NOT AROUND and the founder of Tall Poppy Writers. You can learn more about Ann on her website, and by following her on Twitter.

Want to write funny but don’t think you’re funny? Ann has something to say about that.

Breaking Funny

I’ve been teaching writing for a long time now and I often hear some version of this statement, “I’m not funny so I don’t even try to write humor into my books,” or “My books are about very dark topics and I’m not sure humor would fit in the story line.”

I think the response to both of these statements is to try to infuse humor, even if you aren’t naturally funny, even if you are writing about very, very difficult topics. Here’s why.

I’m going to borrow from my history as a nurse and a conversation I had with a male physician about labor pain. He said, “I’ve never been in labor, but I did have a kidney stone once and I hear the intensity is similar to that of having a baby.” I was both pleased that he was trying to understand but also irritated, as any woman might be when a man compares a microscopic piece of crust to an eight-pound human, but that’s a fight for another day.

Since I’ve had both a kidney stone and two babies I’m going to prove him wrong and work to sell you on trying comedy in the worst of situations.

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Quick Links: First Chapter Blues: Tips and Fixes

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I love what Ruth Harris has to say about rewriting the first chapter once you get the story done. By then your story has settled down and is more cohesive. So then the first chapter needs a serious re-look.  She has a bunch more tips, so head on over to Anne R Allen‘s blog and check it out. How do you manage unruly first chapters?

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First Chapter Blues: Tips and Fixes

June 26, 2016 by Ruth Harris

All the hoping and wishing won't make it better.
All the hoping and wishing won’t make it better.

Someone waves a gun in the first sentence.

In the second sentence, Jim (or is it Jill?) is walking his (or is it her?) dog in the rain.

In the third paragraph, the dog gets loose, runs into the middle of a movie set where the handsomest/most beautiful/most famous movie star in the world falls instantly in love with the owner of the toy poodle/doberman pinscher/golden retriever.

In the last paragraph, Jim (or is it Jill?) is tied up in a cellar. She or he is getting fired/laid by his/her billionaire boss. Or s/he is in the kitchen making cupcakes. Or driving a Ferrari on the Grand Corniche while some people (good guys? bad guys?) are going somewhere in a truck/tank/bus/boat/private jet.

So what is this? A mystery? A thriller? A cozy? A romance? Urban fantasy?

Who the hell knows?

Certainly not the reader who by now is gone, girl, gone.

Basically, what we have here is a mess.

Of course I exaggerate but, based on a recent random reading of “Look Inside” samples, I didn’t completely make this up, either.

Your first chapter needs to be seductive, enticing, compelling and coherent. Getting it right is crucial—and it’s not easy.

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Author Tools – Scrivener for iOS Means You Can Write Your Zombie Novel Anywhere

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Author Tools – things to help you get your writing done

Hey Scrivener fans and owners of an iPhone or iPad, NanoWriMo is coming soon and the new release of Scrivener for iOS is great news!  Hopefully, there will be an android version soon – hint hint Keith Blount! You might be thinking that writing on your phone is crazy but I know that when I am in the midst of Nano I write everywhere I can, which means on my phone, cause every little word counts towards the 50K goal! Anyways, David Pierce has the scoop at Wired.

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Scrivener for iOS Means You Can Write Your Zombie Novel Anywhere

By David Pierce Gear   07.20.16

Scrivener
Scrivener

Every November for the last 17 years, thousands of people have participated in National Novel Writing Month, which is more commonly and less pronounceably known as NaNoWriMo. In 2015, 431,626 people signed up to try and write 50,000 words in a single month. One guy apparently wrote more than a million.

NaNoWriMo has been very good to Keith Blount. Blount is the creator and primary developer of Scrivener, an app made specifically for writers wrangling huge word counts. Scrivener’s first public launch came via the NaNoWriMo forums in 2005, and now Blount and his company, Literature and Latte, sponsor a camp for aspiring novelists every year. A huge group of writers, at all levels of acclaim and wealth and prolificness, rely on Scrivener to do their work on Macs and PCs. And today, after years of development and even more years of user requests, Scrivener’s also available for the iPhone and iPad.

Read the full post (and get the free worksheet!) on Wired

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October 8, 2016 is Indie Author Day!

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Publetariat was started as a movement to celebrate and champion the indie author. So we are very happy to support Indie Author day, October 8, 2016.

self-e_indieauthorday_logo_tshirt-01-e1462823856596During the Inaugural Indie Author Day on October 8, 2016, libraries from all across North America will host their own local author events with the support of the Indie Author Day team. In addition to these local programs, each library’s indie community will come together for an hour-long digital gathering at 2 pm Eastern featuring Q&A with writers, agents and other industry leaders. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity for libraries and authors to connect on both local and global levels!

Check to see if there is a library near you hosting events or if that doesn’t work for you they are having a webcast, open to all, at 2 pm Eastern Time.

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Quick Link: I Lost $6,500 on My Last Book Launch: Details, final tally, lessons learned

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Poor Linda Formichelli! She had a horrible experience launching her last book, but was gracious enough to share her experiences at Renegade Writer Press. Be careful out there!

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I Lost $6,500 on My Last Book Launch: Details, final tally, lessons learned

Linda Formichelli

Be careful out there!
Be careful out there!

Hello, Renegades! You may remember that I started a series of posts on the work and expenses that have gone into writing and publishing my new book, How to Do It All: The Revolutionary Plan to Create a Full, Meaningful Life — While Only Occasionally Wanting to Poke Your Eyes Out With a Sharpie.

I promised to follow up with a final accounting and to let you know if all the work and expense was worth it. That’s what you’re reading now.

In short, I’ll tell you that the book cover designer, interior layout designer, and proofreader were all 100% worth the cost. They all delivered on what they promised in their contracts.

The launch team that constituted the bulk of my expenses ($6,500 of the $10,000 spent)? That’s another story. I learned a lot of hard lessons from this, and hope you will, too, as I’m passionate about helping writers and want to make sure no other self-publisher has to go through what I experienced.

Some key information to remember as you read this: How to Do It All is a nonfiction self-help title aimed at a female audience between the ages of 20-60.

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