Riley Adams's Blog, page 23

March 26, 2023

Make Your Cozy Easier to Read

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I have the luxury now of uninterrupted reading time, when I didn't as much when my kids were little. But I still notice that I have the ability to get characters and motives confused when I read mysteries. This is even during books I love and am putting a lot of focus into reading.

When you think about it, it makes sense. Mysteries are complex. There are a number of suspects populating the pages, along with recurring characters to keep track of. Throw in some clues and some red herrings and you might feel as if you need to take notes.

If you're writing cozies, though, there are some things you can do as a writer to help the readers out. After all, many readers are grabbing their reading time in carpool lines or during a few minutes before turning in for the day. I've even noticed that readers see what I'm doing and appreciate it: it's been mentioned during at least one of my Goodreads reviews.

Here are a few tips:

Be careful with character names. It's tough to keep track of new characters, especially if more than one of them has a name starting with the same letter. But also be careful with names that are similar that don't start with the same character: Tim and Jim, for instance.

There's a writer whose books I love, but I feel as if I've had to go through a marathon of concentration when reading her books. She'll often have one character who's sometimes referred to by a nickname. And, because they're police procedurals, the cops will often refer to a character by using a first name sometimes and a last name others. Try to avoid giving a character more than one name.

Use recaps to run through the suspects and their motives. This is probably the most helpful thing you can do for a reader. It's even better when done with a sidekick instead of as internal monologue. Have your sleuth go through the suspects one-by-one, mentioning motive, means, and opportunity as you go. It's not repetitive . . . it can really help. Have your sidekick ask the sleuth questions to further help it stick in readers' minds.

Reintroduce Characters. When a character has been offstage for a while, make a short reintroduction. It's easy to forget a character when you haven't been reading about them for thirty pages or more. Just give a quick, simple introduction to help readers place the character. (Jim, Marjorie's son, walked up to the group.)

Do you have trouble keeping track of characters when you're reading? As a writer, how do you make things easier on your readers?

Make Your Cozy Mystery Easier to Read:
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Published on March 26, 2023 21:04

March 25, 2023

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 65,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you're there, check out the Writer's Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on March 25, 2023 21:01

March 11, 2023

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Due to a busy week this week, I won't be posting again until next Sunday's Twitterific. Hope everyone has a great week!

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on March 11, 2023 21:05

March 5, 2023

Newsletters: Even Just at Releases

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Sending newsletters is a promo task that many writers either avoid or dread. Some writers don't even have signup links on their sites because they don't want the hassle of newsletter creation to take away from their writing time. Some writers start out strong with newsletters but then find them falling by the wayside as they end up too busy to send them. Others aren't really sure what to put in their newsletters at all.

I was one of those writers who froze at the thought of sending newsletters. Late on the bandwagon, I finally jumped in. I figured better late than never.

There's a lot of advice out there about the “right” way to send reader newsletters. Ultimately, for me, it's like reading articles on the “right” way to clean shower doors or ovens; it's honestly just better if you go ahead and clean the things instead of waiting until you can do it the right way.

With newsletters, it's also better to just jump in than worrying about composing the perfect email with the perfect lead magnet in the perfect way.

And forget worrying about newsletter open stats, especially if you're already concerned about the other aspects of the task. Later on, you can worry about culling your subscriber list.

When I'm asked to offer writers one piece of advice, it's inevitably to “set the bar low.” But it doesn't just apply to writing. It can apply to promo, too. Basically, it's better to do a little writing or a little promo than not doing anything at all.

I've slowly grown my email list, mostly organically. I have an email signup that's visible on my site. I don't have any fancy lead magnets, just a free book. I started late on the newsletter bandwagon, but have over 3700 subscribers and an open rate of 45%.

The biggest bit of advice that I consistently ignore is to send newsletters frequently. I just don't ascribe to that at all. Maybe I'm disappointing some readers who'd like to hear from me more often, but I'm also avoiding chasing off readers who just want to hear about the new release.

And that's when I send newsletters: when I have a new release. But, considering how often I launch books, I suppose that's fairly regularly.

So if you're like many writers who feel overwhelmed when thinking about your newsletter, my advice is not to overthink it. Instead, send it out when you've got a new release. Put that signup link on your website and see what happens.

Do you have a newsletter? How often do you send it out? If you don't have one, what's preventing you from starting one?

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Published on March 05, 2023 21:01

February 26, 2023

Betas, ARC Readers, and Critique Partners

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The pre-publication process can have a lot going on. For me, it often seems like a whirlwind of edits, pre-orders, and newsletters.

Part of that process is getting my book in the best possible shape it can be for readers upon release. To ensure this, I use a team of people to help me out.

I no longer use critique partners, although they were a big help to me when I was starting out. Whereas beta readers are readers, critique partners are other writers. That's the biggest difference. With a CP, you're also expected to help the other writer out with their own projects. When I had CPs, I was in a group that met locally in the Charlotte area. There were 4 other women and we met weekly and exchanged chapters. I will say one problem that I did notice with CPs is that it's sort of like playing tennis. You don't get a lot out of it if you're the best player or the worst.

I do use beta readers. These betas are some of my most avid readers. They usually ended up on my team because they reached out to tell me that they love my books . . . but that I've gotten something wrong. That's exactly the kind of reader I'm looking for to help me out. I want to hear all about my mistakes, whether they're typos, a character acting out of character, or inconsistencies in one particular book or in the series as a whole. I try to give my betas an edited copy of my manuscript (edited by my freelance editor). If I'm really short on time, I apologize and give them an unedited copy but ask them to focus more on the story and the big picture than any line editing work. I think it's very helpful to hear their thoughts on pacing and whether there were any confusing points during the story. I use 3-4 betas for every book (some have their favorite series, so I have different numbers for different books).

One quick point. While I use betas generally post-editing, newer writers might want to use them pre-editing. If betas find errors for free, that will save you on editing costs.

I also use ARC readers. An ARC is an advanced reader copy. I'm currently using 21 ARC readers. I usually set the book up for pre-order, then load my epub, PDF, and mobi files on Prolific Works (I also have Book Funnel, but I've been using Prolific Works practically since its inception. It's just a matter of old dog, new tricks for me.) I share a link for free copies to the ARC readers in their preferred format. The main job for my ARC readers is to leave an early review for the release. But I also ask them to please let me know of any errors they see. I love stomping those out before the book launches. And, often, they do email me to let me know of typos that somehow made it through the edits.

You can see why it feels a little like a whirlwind! But at the end of the process, I'm always confident I've got a pretty solid book for sale.

Do you use betas, CPs, or ARC readers? How does the process work for you? And thanks to Teresa for prompting this post!

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Published on February 26, 2023 21:01

February 25, 2023

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on February 25, 2023 21:01

February 19, 2023

Book Marketing. In Plain English.

by Hank Quense, @hanque99 A book marketing overview written in plain English not marketing doublespeak

A large part of the difficulty faced by new authors in trying to sell their book is the confusion caused by the bewildering terms used to describe marketing. The literature is written in doublespeak and technobabble. In this article, I’ll translate this stuff into English.

To begin, no one buys a book they never heard of. If you want to sell books, you have to tell people about the book. That’s called marketing.

However, this isn’t as simple as it may appear. Promoting your book to the general population is a huge waste of money because only a small sliver of this population will have an interest in your book. This sliver may be on the order of a half to one percent but that still represents a large number of potential book buyers.

So the marketing questions comes down to: How do you identify that sliver? and: How do I reach the people in the sliver? If, for instance, you wrote a romance novel, then your sliver is romance readers and you have to find where those readers are likely to be on the internet so you can launch ads and posts to tell them about your book. Naturally, you don’t want to post romance book ads on a site devoted to guns because most gun owners don’t belong to your romance sliver.

Let’s switch topics and talk about the modern day book sales process. In today’s world, you reach book buyers through the internet via posts in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. and by ads or promotions. In all cases these posts, ads, promotions, whatever contain a link. If someone sees the post, ad or promotion on a webpage it’s called an impression. If that someone is interested, they will click on the link and will be transferred to the book’s landing page (think Amazon here). This is called a click through. The landing page is where the sales magic takes place. Or not.

This sales process is depicted in the graphic.

It follows that your book’s landing page is the most important piece of marketing content you own. Almost all of your marketing activities will be aimed at getting people to visit that landing page via click throughs. However, visitors may still be skeptical because they never heard of the author (you!). That’s where your author platform comes in by providing your credentials as an author and a person. The author platform, in effect, surrounds and works with the landing page to convince the reader to buy the book. The landing page covers the book; the platform deals with the author.

To summarize, the fundamental book marketing plan consists of the following steps:

Identify your sliver of the population.

Find out how to reach that sliver.

Create a unique and attention-grabbing landing page.

Develop your author platform.

Launch your marketing campaigns.

Once the first four steps of the plan are completed, your marketing efforts (step 5) will have much higher chances of succeeding.

If you need help in developing this five step fundamental plan, contact Hank Quense at strangeworlds (at) hankquense (dot) com

If you’re looking for help with fiction writing, self-publishing or book marketing, check out the resources on https://writersarc.com

This link will display all my courses on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/user/hank-quense-2/

My website Writers & Authors Resource Center provides material relating to fiction writing, self-publishing and book marketing.

Image by Steve DiMatteo from Pixabay

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Published on February 19, 2023 21:01

February 18, 2023

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 68,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you're there, check out the Writer's Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

The Top Writing Links from the Last Week:
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Published on February 18, 2023 21:01

February 12, 2023

Amazon Author Page Updates

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Amazon has made its first updates to their author pages for quite a while. Fortunately, unlike many changes, they don't mean too much work on our part.

What they've gotten rid of:

They've tidied up the pages a bit. We no longer have the ability to link to our blog feeds, nor any photos or videos. I don't think it's as visually appealing, but it does make our books the most important things on the page.

What they've added:

Your most popular book is listed right at the top. This can be handy for new releases.

Book recommendations: yours and other authors. I got into my Author Central account prepared to write, but there was absolutely no writing or reviewing involved. There was a note at the top of the page notifying me about the feature:

You simply click on the link. It opens this screen:

Following that, it gives you the chance to recommend other books (maximum of 3). Again, no reviewing is needed, or even possible. They give you prompts like “if you like my books, you might like,” “a book I couldn't put down was,” and “a book that left an impression on me was.”

Even better, Amazon says they might email your followers with your picks:

It looks to me like the page is being optimized with the idea that we will try to get as many Amazon followers as possible (by posting our author link on social media, etc.)

What do you think of the changes? Have you updated your Author Central account lately?

Updates to Amazon Author Pages:
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Published on February 12, 2023 21:01

February 11, 2023

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

First up, an apology from me! Apparently, having work done on my site while I'm traveling is not a good combination, ha. I'm sorry last week's links didn't publish last Sunday, and for the various assorted chaos for subscribers as the site work triggered empty emails. I think we're back on track now (fingers crossed!) You'll see links from last week first and then links from the previous week next. Thanks, everyone!

Links shared from Jan. 29 through Feb. 4, 2023:

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on February 11, 2023 21:01

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