Riley Adams's Blog, page 124

Reedsy: a Marketplace for Indie Writers

Note from Elizabeth: Several years ago, when I took the self-publishing plunge, the scariest part of the process for me was making an investment in my writing without the promise of a payout.  What’s more, at the time, it was a sort of wild west of providers. Connecting with a cover designer or a freelance editor or a solid formatter was a word-of-mouth process…and if someone had good word-of-mouth, they were totally booked.

Ricardo Fayet reached out to me last July about what he called a “curated self-publishing marketplace” and wanted to know if I’d chat with him on the phone about his start-up and a little on my thoughts of what self-publishing authors would find useful.

Reedsy is now available to authors as a tool to find professionals for our books.   What’s more, it’s currently free for authors.  (And, as a note, I’m not associated with Reedsy in any way aside from a beta view of the marketplace.)

Presenting Reedsy: where authors meet the best publishing professionals

by Ricardo Fayet, @RicardoFayet, @ReedsyHQ

“The fast-growing self-publishing environment is attracting all kinds of start-ups and companies that intend to serve authors. However, most of them seem to aim at the periphery of what authors really need, which in my opinion, is primarily editors and cover designers.” – Joanna Penn

Joanna absolutely hit the nail on the head, and I started Reedsy to properly and completely address this gap in today’s self-publishing marketplace.

The seismic shift in our industry toward indie book production means that some of the best editors and designers around are now working freelance. These professionals are approaching the business of books with sky-high standards and, in some cases, industry experience that first-time authors will find invaluable. The best editors and designers out there do not struggle to find work, and they certainly don’t dignify bargain-basement bidding marketplaces like Elance or Odesk with their presence.

In so many ways, these professionals are the unsung heroes of the self-publishing revolution. They’re the ones who transform “this thing you’ve kinda been working on” into a bona fide novel. And now that indies are “running with the big dogs”, this kind of work is practically invaluable.

So how is an indie author meant to find the kind of high-level freelancers she needs to make her book spectacular?

Enter Reedsy.

We’ve assembled a tightly curated marketplace of the best editors, proofreaders, illustrators and designers in the world. From over 3000 applications received since last year, we have hand-picked about 200 of them to create a Reedsy profile, where they list their genre specialisation, work experience, portfolio, etc. Authors can browse the marketplace according to their needs and genre, then select up to 5 freelancers to ask for a sample (for editing) and a quote.

We at Reedsy like to think of ourselves as much more than a marketplace or intermediary. We are a technology company at heart (take a look at our gorgeous interface, and you’ll see what I mean). We’re using our tech resources to make authors’ and freelancers’ lives easier. We’re adding value to collaborations through a built-in a set of cloud-based project management tools that range in purpose from the aforementioned quoting/sampling system to messaging, file-sharing and versioning, and multi-currency payment capacities. All of that in one place, designed with intuitive use in mind.

As vetted freelancers keep joining our network on a daily basis, we’re preparing some nice surprises for the next few months: we’ll be adding publicists, and vetting them incredibly carefully. We’ll also be releasing some exciting author profiles (aggregating Amazon, Goodreads and blogging platform information). Finally, we’re working on a brand new writing and editing tool that we’re confident will dramatically improve the way authors and editors work together.

So that’s Reedsy–quite simply, the best place for authors to meet freelance publishing professionals. Oh, and one last thing: for now, Reedsy is 100% free to authors.

Check us out here and let us know if you have any questions here.

Ricardo is an avid reader and startup enthusiast who has been studying the publishing industry with curious eyes for several years. He co-founded Reedsy with the ambition to make a difference in the publishing world.

The post Reedsy: a Marketplace for Indie Writers appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

5 Key Plot Points:  http://ow.ly/GKiuY  @shauntagrimes

3 Things that Surprised an Agent About Publishing:  http://ow.ly/GKiv0 @RachelLKent

Most Common Writing Mistakes: Describing Character Movements:  http://ow.ly/GKiv5 @KMWeiland

Make 2015 your year to write:  http://ow.ly/GKiv7 @jennaavery       

ScriptLab: 1st 10 pages of Jaws: http://ow.ly/GKiva

You Can Boost Your Creativity By Looking At Art:  http://ow.ly/GK6vg  @SFGate

ISBNs: CreateSpace freebie or own ISBN? Pros and cons:  http://ow.ly/GKivd @Roz_Morris

Verb Mistakes: Irregular Verbs Bind, Grind, Find:  http://ow.ly/GLTAq @writing_tips

How to Make Good Grammar Part of Our Daily Life :  http://ow.ly/GLSZa @WritingForward

Why spunky heroines need to fight back. http://ow.ly/GLTAt @raynehall

Overcome Your Book Doubts By Asking Why: http://ow.ly/GLTAv  @jennienash

Top 10 writing duos:  http://ow.ly/GLTAw @guardianbooks

11 Ways to Become a Better Writer (Without Writing):  http://ow.ly/GLTAx @rachellegardner

Writing Your Main Character – Have You Seen This Man? http://ow.ly/GLTAA @drewyanno

10 Thoughts: Writing About Sex in YA Fiction & Otherwise:  http://ow.ly/GLTAD @CarrieMesrobian

Online Presence: Pros, Perils and Possibilities:  http://ow.ly/GLTAE @AngelaSlatter @thewritplatform

How to Nail Your Character’s Personality:  http://ow.ly/GLTAK @MaryVeeWriter

After launching a book:  http://ow.ly/GLTAN  @writerplatform

Four Tips on What NOT to Say (or Pitch or Do) to Get Your Book Reviewed:  http://ow.ly/GLTAQ @bookgal

Creating the visual world of your story:  http://ow.ly/GQq7A @ToniMcGeeCausey

Whose for Inanimate Objects? http://ow.ly/GQq7B @epbure

4 Hidden Habit Skills:  http://ow.ly/GQq7E  @sfwa

Past Tense v. Present Tense:  http://ow.ly/GQq7H @lindasclare

The best SF right now is happening in comics:  http://ow.ly/GQq7K @verge @A_Webster

Haven’t Finished Reading that Bestseller? You’re Not Alone:  http://ow.ly/GQq7L @pubperspectives

Writing A Critique: Reading Critically:  http://ow.ly/GKiuW @woodwardkaren

Writers and Editors on their Literary Resolutions:  http://ow.ly/GKiuU @ElectricLit

12-Steps to Self-Editing:  http://ow.ly/GKiuS @AnthonyEhlers

Mark Coker’s (Smashwords) Publishing Predictions for 2015:  http://ow.ly/GKiuP @markcoker

5 Ways to Move a Story Forward in Time:  http://ow.ly/GKiuN @UncommonYA

How To Tighten Up Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/GHeDh  @murdertakestime

General Tips and Resources for Writing and Publishing Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/GHeDf @bookbuzzr

Worksheets for Writers :  http://ow.ly/GHeDa @jamigold

3 Secrets of Transmitting Naked Emotions:  http://ow.ly/GHeD8 @writetodone

Tips for Managing Time as a Writer:  http://ow.ly/GHeD4  @Kariss_Lynch

Using Sensory Details to Enrich Your Story:  http://ow.ly/GHeD0 @brandedkristen

Openings, Hooks, and Breaking Rules:  http://ow.ly/GHeCW  @DavidBCoe

11 Shades Of Evil:  http://ow.ly/GHeCS from Mark Rigney

Dealing with Burnout:  http://ow.ly/GHeCN @AuthorKeller

Are Dark characters unlikable? http://ow.ly/GHeCM from Uchiha Sasuke

5 Literary Agents Who Blog About Query Writing:  http://ow.ly/GHeCJ @ShariLopatin

Not All Royalties Are Treated Equally:  http://ow.ly/GHeCG @author_sullivan

Ring Out the Old: Self Publishing Trends in 2014:  http://ow.ly/GHeCC @OrnaRoss

A closer look at crowdfunding:  http://ow.ly/GZf4l @Porter_Anderson @futurebook

How to make Wattpad work for you as an author:  http://ow.ly/GG7KN from The Indie Writer’s Guide

For newbies–how to become a novelist:  http://ow.ly/GG7KL @Katiewriting

Tone: Is your Romance Sensual or Intellectual? http://ow.ly/GG7KK @fictionnotes

7 “Be”-Attitudes of Finding Your Agent:  http://ow.ly/GG7KJ @jennybent

Can Being Tired Make Us Better Writers?  http://ow.ly/GG7KH @kristenlambtx

30 Writing eBooks for 99 Cents Each:  http://ow.ly/GXhPf @JanetBoyer

Writing for a blog vs writing for a book:  http://ow.ly/GG7KF @Roz_Morris

The New World of Writing: Pulp Speed:  http://ow.ly/GG7KE @deanwesleysmith

The elements of setting:  http://ow.ly/GG7KD @nownovel

Using Google Plus to rank higher on Google search:  http://ow.ly/GG7KC @Derek_Haines

Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Wake Up Scene Work? http://ow.ly/GG7KB @janice_hardy

1st Wed. of Each Month: Insecure Writer’s Support Group:  http://ow.ly/GVA27 . Resources for writers. @alexjcavanaugh

How to Use a Blog Editorial Calendar:  http://ow.ly/GG7Kz  @sueannedunlevie

What Not To Write: –10 Things To Avoid:  http://ow.ly/GG7KG @selfpubreview

The Inside-Out Character Development Model: http://ow.ly/GEvFD @DaxMacGregor

500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing:  http://ow.ly/GEvFB @mhgonchar @nytimeslearning

Thoughts On 500 Consecutive Days of Writing:  http://ow.ly/GEvFz @jamietr

What does an editor cost? http://ow.ly/GEvFx  @blogbooktours

Do good characters inevitably make for bad fiction?  http://ow.ly/GEvFw @guardianbooks and Stuart Kelly

Need to Get Over It? Write about It:  http://ow.ly/GEvFv @writeabook

Tips for decluttering and backing up work:  http://ow.ly/GEvFt @annerallen

Behind Book Categories on Amazon: http://ow.ly/GEvFs @bookgal

15 Reading and Writing Communities to  Boost Your Platform:  http://ow.ly/GEvFr @ericaverrillo

Improve Your Promo Through Peer Collaboration:  http://ow.ly/GEvFo @storyrally

Bling, Cra-cra, Swag: Banished Words:  http://ow.ly/GSdC1 @Porter_Anderson @ThoughtCatalog

How Can Stillness Help Writers?  http://ow.ly/GEvFh @TEDTalks @galleycat

An Answer to the Novel’s Detractors:  http://ow.ly/GEvFE @adellewaldman @newyorker

Hashtag Dos and Don’ts:  http://ow.ly/GEvFk @bookgal

Transmedia Storytelling: ‘Inanimate Alice’,Kate Pullinger’s digital novel, is still young  http://ow.ly/GLenZ @Porter_Anderson

20 Ways to Become a More Productive Writer:  http://ow.ly/GxIwU @ninaamir

Adjectives with a different masculine and feminine form in English:  http://ow.ly/GxIwO from The Virtual Linguist

Observations from Years of Curating Content for Writers:  http://ow.ly/GQqei

General tips for writing a synopsis:  http://ow.ly/GxIwK from Jessica Faust

Tips For The Unknown Screenwriter:  http://ow.ly/GxIwE and http://ow.ly/GxIwF @scriptgods

Midlife crises in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/GxIwD @mkinberg

Paying it Forward and Asking for Help:   http://ow.ly/GxIww from Laurie Calkhoven

Alternative Endings as inspiration:  http://ow.ly/GxIws @NJFarmScribe

Books and blogs to help authors maintain a business mindset:  http://ow.ly/GxIwq @rachellegardner

Stop Perfectionism with MVPs:  http://ow.ly/GxIwm @99u @AllisonStadd

Readers Prefer Books Written by Authors of Their Own Gender: http://ow.ly/GxIwg  @passivevoiceblg

Great Writing Is Humble:  http://ow.ly/GxIw9 @theatlantic @joefassler

Blurb: a self-pub dream team? http://ow.ly/GLegI @Porter_Anderson

Making a fresh start–in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/GNEIj @mkinberg

12 Ways to Create a Mailing List That Will Sell Books:  http://ow.ly/GxIw6 @bookgal

Music For Writers: Florent Ghys and ‘Télévision’: http://ow.ly/GLdZ2 @Porter_Anderson

Writing a Protagonist Both Unique and Universal: http://ow.ly/GuecF @KMWeiland

6 Tips for Beating Post-Partum Book Depression: http://ow.ly/Gudci @MartinaABoone

3 Steps for Making Copy Edits Less Dramatic: http://ow.ly/Guecz @Michelleule

Work With Your Strengths, Not Against Them:  http://ow.ly/Guecw @TheBizIntrovert

Conquering 6 enemies of deep POV:  http://ow.ly/Guecu from ZoeyRPH

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Tracking Trivia by Using a Series Bible

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It’s trivia that trips me up in my series…seemingly trivial throwaway lines that I make in books and then promptly forget.

The more books we have in a series, the more important tracking the trivia becomes.  It’s easy to lose track of tiny details when your mind is on the big picture of your plot.

It’s the kind of detail that you use to fill a character or a setting in a little bit.  A recurring character has nice teeth.  Drives a Buick.  Is allergic to cats.  Lost his mother in his twenties.

One character’s glasses have been a disaster. The character started out looking, in my head, like Donald Rumsfield with his rimless glasses.  Those glasses at some point transformed to wire-rimmed glasses in the series.  When I noticed this, I just kept it consistent with the most recent mention of the glasses and thought to myself that if a reader noticed, I’d tell her the character had gotten a different pair.  No one has contacted me about the detail.

However, a reader wrote me on Wattpad recently to ask about my protagonist’s grandson’s age. This is that reader I’ve written about before who knows my characters very well.  In one book, this grandson has no teeth and is eating baby food.  In another, he speaks two-word sentences. So which is it?  I told the reader that I’d aged Jack but kept the other characters about the same age (because I have no plans on aging my octogenarian sleuth).  And then I got out my series bible and made some more notes.

I think it’s the readers who binge-read who catch these things the most.  The ones who just finished  book three a week ago, book four a couple of days ago, and are now reading your book five.

It’s not only the self-pubbed books, either. It’s the trad pubbed ones. The occasional very slight inaccuracy that wasn’t caught by an editor.  But the kind of thing that can yank a reader out of our story.

For the self-pubbed books, if I catch a problem, I’ll go back into the document, correct it, and then republish.  For the trad-published…I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that I’m the only one who notices. And cringe a little.

These are my personal best practices for preventing the problem:

Reread any books written before a series bible was created.  Make notes on any recurring character or setting or any continuing plotline on a master document for the series.

Divide the notes up by characters, setting, and subplot to make referencing easier.

Add notes as I go to the master document for every new book I write.  If I make any changes in the edits, change them on the master doc.

Document the source of the reference.  I abbreviate the book titles where the reference appears.  [Crazy Dan poked his grizzled head out the door, a scowl on his leathery, stubble-covered features.  “You again!”  (DS).  A wild, mangy beard and shaggy gray hair.  (PDD)]

Make any style notes, as well, to add to the document.  So it’s the Bradley Bugle newspaper, not The Bradley Bugle.

Make changes to the text of anything I’ve self-pubbed that displays inconsistencies.

Make a copy of the master document to have in the same folder as the new work-in-progress for the series. Keep a copy on the cloud, as well (for me, this is Google Drive, which I can access on my phone), in case I’m working on paper somewhere and need the file as reference.

Things I  track:

Setting details.  The color of a house, the name of the character’s street, the favorite hangout for the characters, what type of food their favorite restaurant serves, the character’s living room. Population of the town.

Character habits or details:  Early riser.  Kills houseplants.  Subscribes to the newspaper.  Peanut allergy.  Cries at weddings.  Scrapbooks.  Reads nonfiction only.  Likes jazz.  Attends church. Exercises daily. Eats junk food. Smokes. Drives a minivan.

Character description:  Wears glasses (and type/color of frame), never wears flats, blue eyes, gray hair, fondness for bowties, age, height.

Character beliefs:  Political leanings, spiritual beliefs, attitudes toward family or spouse.

Continuing subplots: A character’s health issue, a character’s relationship with another character, a character’s issues with his work or his family.

Another nice thing about these series bibles–it helps me see where I need to fill in a character a little more.  Am I using the same words or details to describe a character for each book?  This is one way I can spot this problem.

These little details can really get out of control over the course of a series.  Do you use a series bible?  What kinds of things do you track?

The post Tracking Trivia by Using a Series Bible appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Observations from Years of Curating Content for Writers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Since 2009, I’ve been adding blogs to my RSS reader and curating and sharing the best content that I could find for writers. That content resides on the Writers Knowledge Base (which is a free and searchable resource for writers with over 30,000 links on it).

In that time, I’ve seen a lot of blog posts. A lot of things have puzzled me, delighted me, and frustrated me. Some of this is random but I’m sharing it in the hopes that it can help some writers here or that maybe I could hear y’all’s take on these things too. Am I the only one who’s seen or experienced this stuff?

White letters and black backgrounds hurt middle aged eyes. The number of sites…even professional publishing sites and highly-regarded authors…that use this theme is extraordinary.   Unfortunately, fellow mystery writers are especially fond of white on black. For some, though, white letters on black isn’t mysterious…it’s painful. Because one blog’s content is ordinarily sound, I take the time to copy-paste it onto Word docs so that I can read it before curating it. But I regret the extra time it takes out of my day.

Tumblr posts aren’t fun to share. I have both a profound respect for the content on Tumblr and a profound dislike of Tumblr’s interface and platform. I can list a dozen examples of anonymous or semi-anonymous (first name only) writers there. This makes attributing credit for the writers’ work difficult… actually, I dislike LiveJournal for the same reasons.  Hootlet doesn’t pick up blog titles there and I use Hootlet as a tool to share links. Google + won’t show any of Tumblr’s images because of some formatting glitch.  It’s difficult to navigate within a site there. It would be wonderful if all these excellent writers would move to a more professional, better-formatted platform…perhaps one that showcases them, their writing, their names, and their covers.

Twitter traffic picks up over the holidays.  I always schedule heavily during Easter, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, in particular.  Are people lonely?  Stressed from family visits?  It seems they tend to turn to apps. This makes me a little sad. One year (2010 maybe?) I scheduled a break for myself on Twitter for much of December. My announcement was met by angry emails and DMs on Twitter… and not from folks who simply didn’t celebrate the holidays…from people who somehow relied on links as an important part of their day. The realization of the number of people who needed some form of distraction around that time of year has made me change my approach.  Now I tweet more during the holidays.

Partial RSS feeds make reading blog posts much more time consuming and frustrating. And RSS feeds with poor titles and poor lead sentences mean that I don’t click over. Basically, if a reader is interested enough in our blog to subscribe to its feed, they’re saying that they’d like to read our content and would prefer to read it through an RSS feed reader (like Feedly). Creating an extra step is inconvenient for subscribers. If the worth of the content isn’t obvious, it’s too much of a time gamble to open it to skim it.  Summary/partial views can be changed to full view through the WordPress admin window under settings/reading or through Feedburner).  The only reason I can think of why a blogger might want a partial is if their site contains ads (because RSS means decreased page views).  If we really want RSS subscribers to visit our site, we could give them incentives in our posts to drop by—by linking to other content on our site, for instance.  Some people seem concerned that full views mean their content will be scraped by pirate sites.  This may happen. But, to me, it’s worth the risk instead of potentially alienating subscribers. If you want the best of both worlds,  “Partial RSS Feed vs. Full Feed”  on the Blog Maven blog by Jeni Elliott has helpful suggestions at the end of the post.

Group bloggers and attribution. Many group bloggers may have no idea how they’re cheating themselves out of recognition or potential sales.  Every week I’ll see a post on a group blog that has no byline and no link to the author’s online home base.

Repetitive Titles. Most popular title for blog posts I’ve seen: “What’s in a Name?”  I’m trying to come up with an estimate and I want to say that I’ve seen at least a hundred or more blog posts with that title (all, obviously, on naming characters).  Many blog post titles, in general, don’t adequately hook potential readers or hint at worthy content to follow.

Self pub may rule, but trad pub draws more eyeballs. Most popular tweets of the year…they’re always on agents. No matter what’s changed, no matter how independent the author population has become…agents still apparently have the power to fascinate somehow. I know that whenever I schedule a tweet with the word “agent” in it, the tweet will have the most click-through traffic for the day.

Blogs without author names are surprisingly frequent. There are many sites where the authors don’t provide their last names.  To me, this seems to indicate the insecurity of so many writers.  How will they sell their books when the time comes to sell?  Maybe it’s best to pick a pen name and then have the full pen name on the site. After all, blogging is branding, ultimately, for many of us.

Disappearing blogs. An oddly recurring event—when a writer suddenly moves to another website or changes the design of their existing website…the site frequently goes dormant in two months. So exhausted with dealing with design or so intimidated by the professional appearance of their site that they can’t produce content for it any longer?

Some takeaways:

When creating a blog, consider readability as a factor for its design.

Consider the blogging platform itself and whether sharing content is easy for our readers.  Consider whether attribution is even possible (is our name or pen name prominently displayed?  Can a reader easily find us online…Twitter? Facebook? An email address?)

Consider allowing our RSS feed to include the entire text of the post instead of a portion. Or, if we only allow a portion to show, make sure our titles and the first couple of post sentences are stellar.

This, to me, is so important that I’m going to say it again, even though I’m repeating myself. If the purpose of the blog is for branding or as a platform, make sure your name or your pen name is easy to locate. A full name. Or a full pseudonym. Some sort of name.

When participating in a group blog or as a guest poster, make sure our contributions count.  Put a short bio with links in the post footer or at least make sure we have a byline under the post title.

Consider using titles that accurately describe our content.

Have you noticed any of these issues online…or do you notice them but they don’t bother you much?  Have you done any checkups on your blog to see if you could improve it in basic ways (blog titles, your bio, etc?)

The post Observations from Years of Curating Content for Writers appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

How to Amp Up Tension and Drama:  http://ow.ly/GoiSr @writersdigest

More New Year’s Resolutions for Writers:  http://ow.ly/GoiSu  @KeithCronin

Track Changes – Advanced:  http://ow.ly/GoiSx  @Savage_Woman    

For writers with disabilities: chrome extensions:  http://ow.ly/GoiSB from Fix Your Writing Habits

What Your Writer’s Resume Says About Your Chances for Recognition:  http://ow.ly/GoiSE  @SharonBially

On Trunking Novels:  http://ow.ly/GoiSI @ava_jae

10 Things to Consider Before Writing a Novel:  http://ow.ly/GoiSM @rogerdcolby

Writing Dystopian Fiction: 7 Tips:  http://ow.ly/GoiSR @R_D_Vincent

Crime Fiction: Fingerprinting in Adverse Conditions:  http://ow.ly/GoiSV from Dick Warrington

Do You Need an MFA? 3 Important Elements to Replicate On Your Own:  http://ow.ly/GoiDO @inkhat

Pros/Cons of Writing NA Contemporary Romance:  http://ow.ly/GoiSX @ava_jae

5 Ways to Help Writers Show and Not Tell:  http://ow.ly/GoiT0 @writers_write

Myth:  I Have To Sell Books Quickly | http://ow.ly/Guece @deanwesleysmith

8 “Moments” to Deliver to Your Readers… And 1 to Hope For: http://ow.ly/Guech @storyfix

10 Anti-Screenwriting Tips for Beginners:  http://ow.ly/Guecj @TheScriptLab

Helpful writing tools: http://ow.ly/Guecl @angelaackerman

10 Ways to Promote Your Book on Your Blog:  http://ow.ly/Guecn @writetodone

Integrating Libraries and Bookstores:  http://ow.ly/Guecr @deminlit

3 Simple Steps to Becoming a Writer:  http://ow.ly/Gl0l4 @joebunting

A publicist answers questions for writers:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kZ @McKinneyPR

5 Writing Lessons from a Vocal Coach:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kV  @kcraftwriter

Strategic Daydreaming in 3 Easy Steps:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kR @pepperbasham

8 Words to Seek and Destroy in Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kN from Late Night Novel Writing

Crime writing: all about sealed files:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kK @writingpiazza @FionaQuinnBooks

Tricky Prepositions:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kG @writers_write

Talents and Skills Thesaurus Entry: Knowledge of Explosives:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kB @beccapuglisi

5 Ways To Improve Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/Gl0kz from LuAnn Schindler

Words that describe a voice: http://ow.ly/Gl0ku @writers_write

What Dungeons and Dragons Teaches About Story Conflict:  http://ow.ly/Gl0ks @lanceschaubert

Why We Should Read Our Work Out Loud:  http://ow.ly/Gl0ko @womenonwriting from Sue Bradford Edwards

5 Writing Resolutions to Avoid in 2015:  http://ow.ly/Gl5WC @NathanielTower

The 2 Most Common Templates for Developing Characters:  http://ow.ly/Gl5Wx @plotwhisperer

Do an End of Year Wrap Up:  http://ow.ly/Gl5Ws @djeanquarles

Self-Pub Books Can Create Multiple Streams of Revenue:  http://ow.ly/Gl5Wm @kathleengage

Imagining Your Finished Book:  http://ow.ly/Gl5Wg @writeabook

Principles of Story Structure using “Gone Girl” as a Lab: http://ow.ly/Gl5W8 @storyfix

The graying of mystery readers and connecting with a younger demographic:  http://ow.ly/GFMnD @Porter_Anderson @thoughtcatalog

7 Questions to Transform Your Writing in the New Year:  http://ow.ly/Gl5W2 @jennienash

The Lost Art of Free Time: http://ow.ly/Gl5eG @RealLifeE

47 percent of mystery readers are 55 and older: http://ow.ly/GFu6j @ThoughtCatalog @Porter_Anderson

6 Ways to Resuscitate Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/Gl5VV @ZZoccolante

Why We Shouldn’t Bother with Resolutions This Year:  http://ow.ly/Gl5VG @jeffgoins

How to reach readers via your library:  http://ow.ly/Gl5VA @IndieAuthorALLi

Music For Writers: Donnacha Dennehys New Chapbook: http://ow.ly/GvoLJ @Porter_Anderson

Simplify the New Year’s Resolution Process: Reflect, Select, Remove: http://ow.ly/Gl5VM @jkglei

If Strangers Talked to Everybody like They Talk to Writers: http://ow.ly/GdWgz @ElectricLit @TheLincoln #TopTweets2014

Presence on the Page: What It Is, and What It Isn’t: http://ow.ly/GdWgy @manzanitafire #TopTweets2014

Top 10 Storytelling Cliches Writers Should Stop Using: http://ow.ly/GdWgu @robwhart #TopTweets2014

36 writing tips from Stephen King: http://ow.ly/GdWgt @whynotbooks #TopTweets2014

5 Ways to Create Conflict in Your Story: http://ow.ly/GdWgs @screencrafting #TopTweets2014

10 rules for writers: http://ow.ly/GdWgp @latimes #TopTweets2014

Listen to Your Readers: http://ow.ly/GdWgl @birgitte_rasine #TopTweets2014

How to Fail at Being a Writer http://ow.ly/GdWgk @Kelsye #TopTweets2014

10 Things You Don’t Need (To Be A Writer): http://ow.ly/GdWgi @DelilahSDawson #TopTweets2014

Ebook Pricing: Why 99 Cents Might Be a Mistake: http://ow.ly/GdWgh @GoblinWriter #TopTweets2014

7 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Self-Publishing Company: http://ow.ly/GdWga @HelenSedwick #TopTweets2014

5 Essential Questions to Ask When Writing Your Protagonist: http://ow.ly/GdWg6 @bridgetmcnulty #TopTweets2014

How To Tell Readers What Characters Don’t Want To Show:  http://ow.ly/GdWgf  @angelaackerman #TopTweets2014

Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language: http://ow.ly/GdVAY @Writers_Write #TopTweets2014

How 1 Agent Reads Slush: 3 Lessons for Writers: http://ow.ly/GdVAX @carlywatters #TopTweets2014

7 Lessons Learned from Half a Year of Writing Every Day: http://ow.ly/GdVAV @jamietr #TopTweets2014

10 Famous Writers Who Hated Writing: http://ow.ly/GdVAT @huffpost #TopTweets2014

Plotting With Yes or No Questions: http://ow.ly/GdVAR @Janice_Hardy #TopTweets2014

5 Tips for Running a Writers’ Circle: http://ow.ly/GdVAQ @standoutbooks @btmargins #TopTweets2014

Writing a Strong Book Description: http://ow.ly/GdVAN @sabsky #TopTweets2014

What Do Agents Like to See When They Google Writers? http://ow.ly/GdVAK @carlywatters #TopTweets2014

8 Most Common Editing Errors In Self-Published Books: http://ow.ly/GdVAD @selfpubreview #TopTweets2014

How to Write a Novel Synopsis: 5 Tips: http://ow.ly/GdVyt@ChuckSambuchino #TopTweets2014

Scriptwriting–Christopher Nolan on Memento: http://ow.ly/GdVAy @LaFamiliaFilm #TopTweets2014

Michael Crichton’s Method for Plotting Out a Story: http://ow.ly/GdVAF #TopTweets2014

What If Literary Agents Don’t Want Your Novel? http://ow.ly/GdVys @EmilyWenstrom #TopTweets2014

#FutureChat recap: 2015 Digital Publishing Predictions:  http://ow.ly/Gug1C @Porter_Anderson @TheFutureBook

How to Make Book Reviews Work Harder:  http://ow.ly/Ghrj1 @wherewriterswin

Write What You’re Willing To Learn:  http://ow.ly/GhriU @TamaraGirardi

100 Words for Facial Expressions:  http://ow.ly/GhriP @writing_tips

Persistence in Selling Your Manuscript:  http://ow.ly/GhriL @carynmcgill

9 Must-Haves for a High-Performing Book Launch Page: http://ow.ly/GhriG @writerplatform

Connect with Your Creative Writer:  http://ow.ly/GhriA @thinksimplenow

How to Scare the Heck Out of Your Readers:  http://ow.ly/Ghriu @PhilAthans

Personal essays–what the ‘personal’ should be:  http://ow.ly/Ghriq @MeredithResnick

The role of supporting characters:  http://ow.ly/GhoTM @writers_write

The Art of Writing Snappy Dialogue:  http://ow.ly/GhpCj @raynehall

Self-Promotion: About As Fun As Bathing In Hot Wax:  http://ow.ly/Ghrij @ChristaDesir

How to Avoid Writing an Unnecessary Scene:  http://ow.ly/Ghrie @KMWeiland

HarperCollins’ Holiday Pop-Up Bookstore: An Innovation-Driven Environment  http://ow.ly/Gug0K @Porter_Anderson

Tailoring Your Cast of Characters To Your Protagonist:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5B @woodwardkaren

11 Things To Do As A Writer In 2015:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5z @bang2write

Plotting the Non-Plot-Driven Novel:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5y  @DonMaass

The 12 Question Fiction Writing Conflict Test:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5x @writers_write

Character Writing Prompts:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5u  @Margo_L_Dill

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Creating a Production Plan for the Year—Some Thoughts

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Happy 2015!  Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.  I’m back into the swing of things and have been working on this year’s production plan for my books.

I’m not so much a fan of resolutions.  I’d rather see my goals laid out on a to-do list or on a calendar as deadlines. That’s why I use a very simple production plan each year. If you’d like to do the same, here are my tips for getting started or for honing your list.

Keep the plan visible.  I use the free Google calendar for my plan.  That means that it’s on my phone, which, as a mom, is always on my person.  My calendar is set up to email me my daily agenda.  Not only will I have the item itself on the calendar (deadline for finishing mystery, e.g.), but I’ll also have the rest of the year’s deadlines in the event description so that I can always see the big picture. Not be overwhelmed by the big picture, though, because I know it’s all meted out on the calendar.

Output: First of all, I keep my yearly goal attainable.  There’s nothing like setting the bar too high.  So know yourself, know your output. If it’s completely reasonable to expect yourself to write a page a day, then set your goal for a finished book in 2015.  If it’s reasonable to expect several pages a day, set it higher.

Know your abilities. Know what you want or need to outsource. I completely understand the desire to keep costs down for a self-published project.  But it’s also important to know our limitations.  Do we have a design background and can learn how to make great covers that will help sell our books?  Great. But if we don’t, that research time might be better spent in finding a good cover designer. Which leads me to…

Know what you need to learn.  If you need to research book designers or formatters (I do maintain a free list, if you need help getting started), or website design, or even research extensively for the book you’re writing…add those things onto your calendar.  Break tasks into smaller steps to make them less intimidating.

Know your order of events for production.  Mine runs like this:  Contact book designer and have a date for a cover conference (this is first because my cover artist gets booked very quickly). Write book by X deadline. Write cover copy, in case the book designer conference date is prior to my completion of the book.   Edit.  Send book to beta reader while I’m editing.   Make sure I’m on freelance editor’s calendar, if it’s a self-pub book.  Edit using revision suggestions from beta and editor.  Contact formatter and send him text file and cover files and book extras.  Your order of events might need to be slightly different.  Maybe it’s your editor who is hard to book and you need to reserve him or her before you even finish your first draft.  Maybe you have several beta readers or you format your own copy.

Know what you want to do/have time to do for promo.  I used to be on every platform there was (although I never really could get the hang of Tumblr…).  Now I’ve realized that it’s best to limit myself to the platforms I enjoy most so that I’ll actually stay engaged.  Whatever you want or feel you need to do for promo, stick it on your production schedule in manageable bites.  This might be have a Goodreads giveaway or this might be send out a newsletter when book launches.

The production plan helps me in three ways.  One, it reminds me that this is a business.  I have a plan and I’m sticking to it as much as I can.  Second, it keeps me from being completely overwhelmed by the upcoming year.  Third, it keeps me from forgetting any part of the process…and believe me, I’ve forgotten parts before.  If you forget, for instance, to contact your cover designer, your launch could be delayed by a month or more, if your designer stays booked.

The point of a production plan is definitely not to create more stress.  This would be primarily for writers who feel the need to impose more order and possibly more personal accountability, into the process.  It’s really to make the goals manageable and actionable by its simplicity. It has the added benefit of making us plan and figure out what we want from ourselves and our writing for the year.

Have you thought about your goals for 2015?  Do you ever write up production plans?

The post Creating a Production Plan for the Year—Some Thoughts appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays so far.  I know I said I wouldn’t be blogging, but I couldn’t resist posting the last Twitterific for 2014.  See you again in 2015. 

How To Keep Pace After NaNo:  http://ow.ly/GdiSD @novelpublicity

Reactive and proactive protagonists:  http://ow.ly/GdiSF from Fix Your Writing Habits

7 Ways to Write Better (That Have Nothing to Do With Writing):  http://ow.ly/GdiSH @NanciPanuccio

Unwrap The Truth For Your Creative Loved Ones:  http://ow.ly/GufPP @Porter_Anderson @ThoughtCatalog

Tips for Critiquing Other Writers’ Work:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5l @WritingForward

Amazon’s No. 1 reviewer:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5o  @billy_baker

Developing a Writing Plan:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5p @writersdigest

5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Writing Time: http://ow.ly/GdZ5s @kellyjamesenger

Farther versus Further:  http://ow.ly/GdYLk  @Savage_Woman

4 Fatal Flaws of a Romantic Hero:  http://ow.ly/GdZ5t @jassydejong

Character Development in Storytelling:  http://ow.ly/GdiSB @scriptmag  @paulalandry

How To Choose A Main Character:  http://ow.ly/GdiSy @HeatherJacksonW

Preview up the upcoming #DBW15 conference:  http://ow.ly/Gugeh @Porter_Anderson

Nonfiction Writing: How to Make More Money: http://ow.ly/GdiSw @ninaamir

Things Writers Do to Irritate Readers:  http://ow.ly/GdiSt @brrbach

Dialogue practice and revision:  http://ow.ly/GdiSq from the Commander Scribbles blog

The Melodrama Dilemma:  http://ow.ly/GdiSm @kid_lit

Is 3rd-Person the Right Point of View for You? http://ow.ly/GdiSk @monicamclark

Tips for Catching Typos in Your Own Work:  http://ow.ly/GdiSi @JodieRennerEd

Social Media the Second Time Around: Tips:  http://ow.ly/GdiSg @jaelmchenry

Character Skills and Talents: Organization:  http://ow.ly/Gco92 @angelaackerman

22 Commonly Confused Adjectives:  http://ow.ly/Gco8W @writers_write

Cool Tools for Writers:  http://ow.ly/Gco8U  @Diana_Hurwitz

Tropes Vs. Cliches: A Storyteller’s Guide:  http://ow.ly/Gco8S @bang2write

How to Start in the Middle:  http://ow.ly/GcnNB @lindasclare

Taking responsibility for knowing language well:  http://ow.ly/Gco8O @Porter_Anderson

How To Use The Senses To Show And Not Tell:  http://ow.ly/Gco8M @writers_write

Must Your Hero Have A Story-Level Goal? http://ow.ly/Gco8J @scriptmag  @IvoRaza

7 Effective Ways to Grow Your Email List: http://ow.ly/Gco8G @blogherald

Want to Launch Your Book With a Bang?  You Need This. http://ow.ly/Gco8E  @writerplatform

How to Write an Amazing Short Story:  http://ow.ly/Gco8C

8 Ways to Mentally Squash Rejection Letters:  http://ow.ly/Gco8y @lekicn

4 Secrets Writers Won’t Tell You About Themselves:  http://ow.ly/Gco8Z @LoriHatcher2

The art of the metaphor:  http://ow.ly/GaaL5 @TED_ED and Jane Hirshfield

6 ways to create satisfying scene endings:  http://ow.ly/GaaX7 @writers_write

Writing or Wrestling?  http://ow.ly/GaaX5  @BigChiefTablet

Build Your Author Platform: 7 Ways to Start From Scratch:  http://ow.ly/Ga8Qu @brooke_warner

Creative prompts and other tips to help start a story:  http://ow.ly/GaaX3 from WriteWorld

Can you write scenes that feel the fear?  http://ow.ly/GaaX2  @RayneHall

Protagonist’s Personality Considerations:  http://ow.ly/GaaX1 @glencstrathy

Characters of Color and Urban Fantasy Roles:  http://ow.ly/GaaWY from Writing With Color

15 Things Successful Writers Never Say:  http://ow.ly/GaaWW @EdieMelson

How to Get 90% of Your Work Done Before Lunch:  http://ow.ly/GaaWV @99u @AllisonStadd

Should a pantser really outline a novel?  http://ow.ly/GaaWT @JoelDCanfield @SueColetta1

The One Twitter List You Should Be Keeping: http://ow.ly/GaaWQ @Catrambo

Never Visited a Place? You Can Still Write About It:  http://ow.ly/G8fJO @fictionnotes

Tools for writing: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 first impressions:  http://ow.ly/G8fJK @mstibbe

3 Ways to Turn Email Subscribers Into Social Fans: http://ow.ly/G8fJI @smexaminer

7 Email Marketing Secrets Every Fiction Writer Should Know:  http://ow.ly/G8fJG @storyrally

Midwifing A Story: The Trusted Reader:  http://ow.ly/G8fJC @DeborahJRoss

Benefits to outlining:  http://ow.ly/G8fJw @KMWeiland

Essentials For the Writer’s Skill-Toolbox:  http://ow.ly/G8fJs  @MaryVeeWriter

3 anti-social skills to improve your writing (TED Talk):  http://ow.ly/G8fJp

11 steps to writing a scene:  http://ow.ly/G8fJn from WriteWorld

7 Essentials Every Author Needs to Know About Twitter: http://ow.ly/G8fJg @kristenlambtx

Edit Your Self-Published Book In 8 Steps:  http://ow.ly/G8fJd  @selfpubreview

Author Skype Visit: What 1 Writer Learned, What She’d Do Differently Next Time:  http://ow.ly/G8fJk @inkyelbows

Using OneNote Like It Was 1987:  http://ow.ly/G84sr @JennyHansenCA

When The Action Goes Too Far:  http://ow.ly/G84sm  @Peculiar

Book Cover Design And Entrepreneurship: http://ow.ly/G84sj  @creativindie

7 ways to write a plot outline:  http://ow.ly/G84sh @nownovel

10 Dollar Store Gift Ideas for The Writer on Your List:  http://ow.ly/G84sf  @AineGreaney

Using the Novel Journal for Writing Breakthroughs:  http://ow.ly/G84sc @jamesscottbell

Bring the Hero’s Journey / Monomyth to Life with these Storyboards: http://ow.ly/G84sa  @StoryboardThat

Small Publishers: 3 Steps to Finding the Perfect One For You:  http://ow.ly/G84s6 @JulieMusil

3 simple ways to market your published fiction: http://ow.ly/G84s4 @netraptor01

3 Tricks to Surviving a Public Speaking Event:  http://ow.ly/G84rY  @RachelAmphlett

7 Practical Gifts for the Starving Artist:  http://ow.ly/Gl0oZ @HeatherJacksonW

What To Do Once The Screenplay Is Written:  http://ow.ly/G84rU @raindance

A Writer’s Guide To Holiday Travel:  http://ow.ly/G84rQ  @SarahAllenBooks

“…the book and the web page are converging.”  http://ow.ly/GhdVo @Porter_Anderson @MirabilisDave  and  Sherisse Hawkins”

Character Development Checklist – 13 Points To Consider:  http://ow.ly/G4oxj @writers_write

Why Amazon Reviews Just Aren’t Enough:  http://ow.ly/G4oxf @selfpubreview

Preparing for Release Month:  http://ow.ly/G4ox9 @KateBrauning

5 Tips for Editing Literary Works in Translation:  http://ow.ly/G4ox5 @pubperspectives

22 Tricks That Can Make Anyone A Keyboard Ninja http://ow.ly/G4owZ from Lifehack

How Good is Your Story’s Title? http://ow.ly/G4owU @shalvatzis

How To Write A Compelling Underdog in Your Screenplay:  http://ow.ly/G4owP @TheScriptLab

How’s your blog doing? Top 5 things to measure and why:  http://ow.ly/GhowR @RobinHoughton

How to Remain True to the Art of Writing and Still Be in the Business: http://ow.ly/G2kgK @MarthaRCarr

Holiday treats should be handled with caution in the world of crime fiction: http://ow.ly/GhdIZ @mkinberg

Create Interest on Your Website With a Protagonist Resume: http://ow.ly/G4owt  @SouthrnWritrMag

5 Ways to Vet a Publication: http://ow.ly/G4owE  @AineGreaney

Living the stuff of novels: the ghostwriter’s lot:  http://ow.ly/G4owL @Roz_Morris

What Makes a Story’s Black Moment a Black Moment?  http://ow.ly/G4owz @jamigold

When Writing Doesn’t Make You Bleed:  http://ow.ly/FZtfx @Laura_the_Wise

How Authors Can Work Together to Achieve Success:  http://ow.ly/FZtfu @MarcyKennedy

5 Tips for Editing Literary Works in Translation:  http://ow.ly/FZtfo @pubperspectives

Use Daily Rewards to Break Creative Blocks:  http://ow.ly/FZtfg @99u

Broaden your Color Vocabulary: http://ow.ly/FZtf7 @ingridsundberg @yapip19

Twitter Etiquette:  http://ow.ly/FZtf1 @sueannedunlevie

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Blogging Break Until January 1

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays.   I’m taking a break from blogging until January 1 to allow me time to visit with family and friends.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

The post Blogging Break Until January 1 appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

How’s your blog doing? Top 5 things to measure and why

by Robin Houghton, @RobinHoughton

Are you a blogger who likes to stay on top of blog statistics? Do you regularly check which sites are sending you traffic, or which posts are the most popular? Do the stats affect the decisions you make about your blog?

For professional bloggers, monitoring the numbers is crucial – they need to know what’s working in order to do more of the same, and not waste time on blog posts and blog content that isn’t ultimately earning them money.

However, not everyone takes a systematic approach to measuring their blog’s performance.  Most of us get excited to see visitor numbers rise, or a particular post get a lot of comments. Positive statistics can be encouraging. But monitoring the stats can easily become either addictive (checking too often and stressing about it) or overwhelming (what to do with all these numbers, and what do they mean?)

Blogging platforms come with their own proprietary stats. And if you have Google Analytics installed, you could spend all day crunching the numbers and building pie charts. But it’s good to remember that “not everything that can be counted, counts”. If you’re a blogger who wants to build and maintain a readership, but would rather not spend too long analyzing the stats, it pays to know which numbers are worth monitoring, and which are less significant.

1) Visitor numbers

Most blog stats packages will tell you numbers of both Views and Visitors. The one to take note of is Visitors, which corresponds to unique visits. Don’t feel you have to measure up to some perfect number. The thing to do is to monitor these numbers over time. You want them to be rising generally, month on month or year on year. If you have a spike in numbers, look to see what caused it – maybe your blog post was shared by someone influential on social media and generated a load of clicks, or maybe your blog was mentioned on a big media site or in the national press. Quiet days or even weeks are normal. But if Visitor numbers are trending down, that’s when you might wonder why. Have you been blogging less frequently? Gone off topic? How could your blog be more engaging?

 

 

The new style WordPress stats page separates Views from Visitors on different tabs, whereas in the old style shows them together, which I think is actually clearer.

 

2) Referrers

When visitors arrive at your blog via a link from another blog or website those sites are recorded as ‘Referrers’. Look for any patterns. Does Facebook or Twitter send a lot of traffic? It’s a sign your blog posts are being shared there, which in itself is a sign of endorsement. It’s also a good indicator of where your readers (and potential readers) hang out. If you see another blog or site regularly referring visitors, find out more about that site – it could be a blog you should read or comment on. It may even be a potential blogging buddy.

3) Top Posts & Pages

This tells you what content people are attracted to. If you notice particular types of blog posts always do well,  for example, ‘how to’ posts with lots of screen shots, you might want to produce more like that. However, this isn’t the same as ‘most commented on’. Just because a page or post gets a high number of visitors, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s your most engaging content.

Knowing which of your posts are the most commented on can help identify popular topics. You might also want to highlight your most popular posts as ‘sticky’, as a way of guiding new visitors to your best content.

4) Most-Commented-on Posts or Pages

In WordPress, go to ‘Comments – By Posts & Pages’ to see a list of your most commented-on content. High numbers of comments is a good indication of content that readers enjoy (or maybe find contentious) and discussions they want to participate in. Commenting requires time and energy, more so than just ‘liking’ a post. Plus, motivated commenters often become subscribers. Knowing which posts are generating the most interest and discussion helps you decide what to blog about, if you ever have that problem!

5) Subscribers

Of course, we all want blog subscribers, because it makes it all feel worthwhile. But, as with visitor numbers, look at this over time and don’t worry about reaching unrealistic goals. Quality counts, not quantity. From the point of view of capturing the genuinely interested folks, you’d do better to monitor the growth of your email list. Unlike a blog, email allows you to ‘push’ messages to your fans, should you wish to do that occasionally.

Once you’re focused on the stats that are the most meaningful, you might want to set yourself a schedule for monitoring, so that you don’t spend too long on it. If you’re posting once or twice a week, there shouldn’t be any need to check the stats more than once a week, maybe even less often. The trick is to enjoy your blogging, learn from the numbers but not become a slave to them.

 

Robin Houghton has over two decades of experience in marketing and communications, formerly with Nike, then running her own business Eggbox Marketing since 2002 specialising in online. She now works primarily with writers and publishing industry professionals to help them make the best use of social media. Robin writes blogs on social media and poetry and has been a guest blogger for a number of sites including Social Media Today and MarketingProfs. She is a published poet and a commercial copywriter for web and print, and an experienced trainer and conference speaker. Her first book ‘Blogging for Creatives’ was a best-seller and resulted in two more commissions, ‘Blogging for Writers’ and forthcoming in 2015 ‘The Rules of Blogging (and How to Break Them)’, both published by Ilex in the UK and Writers Digest Books in the US.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/robinhoughton

LinkedIn:  http://uk.linkedin.com/in/robinhoughton

Social Media for Writers (blog and email newsletter) http://www.socialmediaforwriters.co.uk

Blogging for Writers – http://bloggingforwriters.info

Buy the book in the Writers Digest Shop:

http://www.writersdigestshop.com/blogging-for-writers-group

or on Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blogging-Writers-Authors-Build-Successful/dp/1781572135/

The post How’s your blog doing? Top 5 things to measure and why appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

How 1 writer outlines:  http://ow.ly/FUzlE from Nova Zero

Plot Driven or Character Driven? http://ow.ly/FUzlH by Shawn Coyne

5 Ways to Stay a Writer:  http://ow.ly/FUzlL @rogerdcolby

Pacing Tips: http://ow.ly/FUzlT @beccapuglisi               

An agent or editor who doesn’t love your book isn’t the right agent or editor for you:  http://ow.ly/FUzlZ @ava_jae

4 times to research:  http://ow.ly/FUzm4 from Kris Noel

Living the Creative Writing Lifestyle: http://ow.ly/FVsxl @melissadonovan

How to Avoid Alienating Readers:  http://ow.ly/FVsxo @Sarah_Nicolas

Keep it Consistent:  http://ow.ly/FVsxr @Shay_Goodman

5 Ways to Spot and Avoid Sketchy Editors and Publications:  http://ow.ly/FVsxu @AineGreaney

3 Tricks to Surviving a Public Speaking Event:  http://ow.ly/FVsxA @RachelAmphlett

What distinguishes pulp storytelling:  http://ow.ly/FVsxF @BishsBeat

Unlikely Sources of Writing Inspiration: Architecture Edition: http://ow.ly/FVsxI @Write_Tomorrow

4 Approaches for the First Chapter of Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/FVsxM @JeffGerke

10 Writing Tips from Ursula Le Guin:  http://ow.ly/FVsxP @joebunting

Using reversals in our novels: http://ow.ly/FVsxR @shalvatzis

The 5 “Bones” of Characterization:  http://ow.ly/FVsxT from The Writing Pirate

5 Lessons From Journalism School That Will Make You a Better Writer: http://ow.ly/FVsxY @tannernemkov

Avoid opening queries with hypothetical questions:  http://ow.ly/FZteF @behlerpublish

Neil Gaiman on the meaning of fairy tales:  http://ow.ly/FZteJ @woodgaby

The Secrets Behind Buried Dialogue:  http://ow.ly/FZteO  @lynnettelabelle

Tips and Tricks for Distraction-Free Writing:  http://ow.ly/FZteQ from Lifehack

Audiobooks For Indies:  http://ow.ly/FZteR @RSPPodcast

12 staples of modern sci-fi (with very old origins): http://ow.ly/FZteY  @EvanHoovler

The top 10 words invented by writers: http://ow.ly/FUzlu @Newdefiner

Tips for Pruning Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/GbxRj from Jack Smith

What is Really Necessary to Do Online? Authors Have Surprising Freedom: http://ow.ly/FUzln @fictionnotes

Conquering the Cliche:  http://ow.ly/FUzli @ashkrafton

2015 publishing predictions on #FutureChat at 11 ET, 4 GMT (now).  @Porter_Anderson

Cut back on character sighing:  http://ow.ly/FUzl8 @RayneHall

Narrowing Your Focus as a Writer:  http://ow.ly/FUzl4 from Terri Forehand

5 Creativity Myths:  http://ow.ly/FUzkX @Psych_Writer

5 Literary Gifts:  http://ow.ly/Ga8j7 @FinishedPages

What Every Author Website Needs: http://ow.ly/FSeoV@patricksamphire

A New Way To Find An Editor:  http://ow.ly/G8kfi @RicardoFayet @ReedsyHQ

How to Become a Micro-Pub, Step 1: Build a Website:  http://ow.ly/FSeoT @byondpapr

5 Digital Publishing Questions for Industry Insider @Janefriedman http://ow.ly/G8fVd

Indie Authors Lost In The Haystack?  http://ow.ly/FSeoS @roncallari

If You Don’t Own The Platform, You Don’t Control It Either: http://ow.ly/FSeoO @thDigitalReader

One Book In Which Gender Doesn’t Matter:  http://ow.ly/FSeoM @CassandraNeace

Children’s Books Should Be Scary:  http://ow.ly/FSeoK @shirklesxp

The Ultimate Gift Guide for Writers:  http://ow.ly/G8aO7 @jamigold

If you write nonfiction, when to think about self-pub: http://ow.ly/FSeoJ @thDigitalReader

12 Digital Publishing Tools the Experts Recommend:  http://ow.ly/FSdVR @DeniseWakeman

Best Non-Writing Tools for Writers:  http://ow.ly/FSeoH from Robert Morris

Why Writers Are Often Blind to Their Own Faults:  http://ow.ly/FSeoG @jodyhedlund

Creating an ePub file Using Scrivener + Dreamweaver + Sigil + Kindle Previewer:  http://ow.ly/FSeoE @angelaquarles

10 Elements of the Caper Mystery:  http://ow.ly/FSeoD from Sharon Arthur Moore

How to stop research becoming procrastination: http://ow.ly/FRwIZ  @chasharris

Book Promotion: Networking for Introverts:  http://ow.ly/FRvJQ  @novelexperienc3

How many Beta Readers do you need?  http://ow.ly/FRwIY @marthamconway

6 ways to write your title:  http://ow.ly/FRwIV @Amabaie

Adding More White Space To Your Life:  http://ow.ly/FRwIR @DanBlank

Tips for becoming an Amazon bestseller:  http://ow.ly/FRwIO @RobCubbon

Promo: Face to Face? Or Face to Screen? http://ow.ly/FRwIJ @hopeclark

Writing Faster… and keeping it good  http://ow.ly/FRwIH @jenniferlellis

Things to Know When Writing About Guns: http://ow.ly/FRwID @ChuckWendig

A Writer’s Cheat sheet to Plot and Structure:  http://ow.ly/FRwIP @mgherron

Report on Using Amazon’s Pre-Orders for a Debut Author: http://ow.ly/FRwfu @angelaquarles

How to Keep Writing Even When Life Is Tough–—3 Tips:  http://ow.ly/FRwIE @KMWeiland

@LondonBookFair’s April #DigiConf15 looking for multilingual  coverage: http://ow.ly/G0sYM  @Porter_Anderson

Simple Tricks to Unstick Your Story: The Domino Effect: http://ow.ly/FRmMM  @stdennard

Use Hangouts On Air to Grow Your Author Platform:  http://ow.ly/FRmMK @DeniseWakeman

Making a murder weapon vanish in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/FRmMI @mkinberg

How Can Stillness Help Writers? http://ow.ly/FRmMG from Maryann Yin @galleycat

Show versus Tell: Macro-, Micro-, and When to Use It http://ow.ly/FRmME  @stdennard

Crime fiction stats–disguising the murder as something else:  http://ow.ly/FRmMD @mkinberg

Screenwriting Like a Cinematographer:  http://ow.ly/FRmMB @scottwsmith_com

12 Top Writing Tips for Beginners: http://ow.ly/FRmMz @AlisonJack66 @IndieAuthorALLi

Consider Growing Your Platform with a Podcast:  http://ow.ly/FRmMx @THEJeffBrown

5 Writing Hacks Every Writer Must Know:  http://ow.ly/FRmMw @TomJCharles

Blind dates in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/FTKWz @mkinberg

The worst mistakes you can make in your story’s climax:  http://ow.ly/FRmMu @KMWeiland

If You’re Not Writing Persuasively, You’re Not Writing:  http://ow.ly/FRmMC @birgitte_rasine

Ranking eBook Publishers:  http://ow.ly/FRlMf @CCEkeke

3 Ways to Use Dramatic Irony:  http://ow.ly/FRlMd @galleycat

3 Vital Steps to Creating Your Protagonist: http://ow.ly/FRlMc @victoriamixon

Ebooks will outsell print by 2018, predicts PricewaterhouseCoopers:  http://ow.ly/FRlMb @chrisrobley

We All Need Mentors At Different Points In The Journey: http://ow.ly/FRlMa @thecreativepenn

On swag as a way to boost pre-sales:  http://ow.ly/FRlM9 @Wiseink

Crime fiction–does knowing a character will be a victim reduce reader investment? http://ow.ly/FRlM8 @mkinberg

Balancing Description and Avoiding Infodump:  http://ow.ly/FRlM6 @stdennard

Tips for Writing a Convincing Culprit:  http://ow.ly/FUilz  @HDemchick

On Working With a Writing Coach:  http://ow.ly/FRlM4 @cherylrwrites

5 Facts About KU and Making it Work for Us:  http://ow.ly/FRlM2 @bookgal

Where to Find a Great Book Cover Artist http://ow.ly/FTIk2 @alexjcavanaugh

Choosing Which Thoughts to Italicize:  http://ow.ly/FRlM1 @janice_hardy

Positive and Negative Motivation:  http://ow.ly/FRlLZ  @Kid_Lit

Story Openings: Tags, Traits and Tropes:  http://ow.ly/FQHTd @woodwardkaren

Don’t Do This: Wrong Ways to Try and Escape Your Deadbeat Publisher http://ow.ly/FQHP5 @victoriastrauss

How To Approach a Bookstore: Tips for Authors:  http://ow.ly/FQHJT @HollyBrady

‘Concept’ in story development:  http://ow.ly/FQHFc @ozzywood

The World of Stephen King, A to Z:  http://ow.ly/FQHFb @RollingStone @ZachDionne

On turning points: http://ow.ly/FQHFa from The Writing Cafe©

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