Riley Adams's Blog, page 57

Releasing Two Books on the Same Day

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

What made me decide to launch two titles on the same day? Besides a touch of insanity?  I thought I might be able to pick up some exposure and sales for the first book in a new series if I released it at the same time as book 14 in an established series (Myrtle Clover).  I was a little leery of releasing an unknown book out of the blue after writing established series for so long (the last time I launched a new series was circa 2012…it’s been a while).

The easiest part was writing two books at once. The hardest was definitely revising two books at once and then releasing them.  My family has never complained about my writing getting in the way of our family time…until I decided on the dual release.  They were not fans! At one point in the process, I was working 12 hour days 7 days a week on revision and setting up pre-orders.

This is apparently an unpopular approach with writers, as well, since I was unable to find any tips online.  :)  There were tips on releasing an entire series at once, but not books in different series.

Pros of releasing two books at once:

You can  efficiently get two books launched with the same amount of promo effort as one.  I made one graphic promoting both pre-orders for Facebook and one to announce the releases on Instagram.  I pointed readers to a ‘coming soon’ page on my website that had information and buy-links for both books. I mentioned both books’ info in my reader newsletter.

If you release a new series alongside an older series, you can get some excellent exposure for the new series.  I wasn’t sure how to garner attention for the new series at first. When I allowed it to tag along on the older series’ release, sales spiked.  After all, there were readers looking out for the release in the older series. Some of them picked up both books.

I found that my sales for the new series rivaled the sales (sometimes even beat) the sales of book 14 in the other series.  Once the new series gained some traction,  it sometimes  beat out sales of the older series. Maybe because it’s easier to commit to a book one than a book 14 in a series?

Cons of releasing two books at once:

The set-up for the launches is intensive.  I go ‘wide’ with my books, so I had 5 or more dashboards up. I wanted both books to have a pre-order period, so I loaded them up about a month in advance. I ran into a couple of glitches at Amazon for both titles and keeping up with the glitches (while still wrangling the other business I was keeping up with…a couple of translation releases) was a challenge.

It’s easy to get confused.  Tip: make yourself a checklist.  During the pre-order period, I had a series of last-minute edits to come in (in stages) as well as ARC reader feedback.  Sometimes I couldn’t remember if I’d uploaded a revised manuscript to all the different portals or had been interrupted in the middle before I could.  Using  a checklist helped me to keep on top of it.

Last minute changes will be stressful.  See above.  :)  I made more last-minute  changes to the manuscripts than I usually do and it was a challenge to update documents for two books.

Next time:

I promised my family there wouldn’t be a next time. But…the fact of the matter is that it was a lucrative approach for me.  Since the new series is still so new, I’m trying a dual release again next month.

But this time, I’ll be sure to extend the pre-order period.  I could have used more time, for sure. And I might alternate days for working on a project (upload everything for series A on one day and series B for another).  I’d thought it’d be easier to upload everything for both series when I had all my dashboards open.  Instead, I think it messed me up a few times.

Has anyone else been crazy enough to launch two books at once?  Do you have any tips?

Pros and Cons of Releasing Two Books on the Same Day:
Click To Tweet

Photo on Visual Hunt

The post Releasing Two Books on the Same Day appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Writing Engaging Cozy Mystery Series Hooks: Tips and Tricks

by Ellen Jacobson, @Ellen_Jacobson

One of the quintessential hallmarks of a cozy mystery series is a hook such as the amateur sleuth’s hobby (knitting, quilting, gardening), profession (real estate agent, florist, archaeologist), place of business (library, bakery, antique shop), or setting (cruise ship, English village, campground). These recurring themes are an essential part of the series brand and keep readers coming back for more. They enjoy getting a peek into a world with which they may not be familiar or read about an activity that they already enjoy.

The hook for my Mollie McGhie cozy mysteries is sailing. The series is set at a marina in a small fictional town in Florida, my amateur sleuth and her hubby own a sailboat, and the characters in the books are involved in the local boating scene.

One of the challenges I face in writing this series is how to explain about sailing in a way that is, hopefully, fun and engaging to the reader who may not know anything about the subject without boring those folks who are experienced boaters.

I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned along the way. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on series hooks as a writer and/or reader in the comments below.

1 – Do your research

This goes without saying, but you should make sure that you know what you’re writing about. This doesn’t mean that you personally have to have knitted an afghan, sold a house, lived in an RV, owned a bookstore etc. After all, part of the fun of being a writer is putting your characters in situations you’ve never experienced yourself.

But it does mean that you need to do your research, whether that’s interviewing people, reading books, watching movies and TV shows, attending events related to the hook etc.

Even if you are familiar with your hook, you may still need to do some research. For example, even though I live aboard a sailboat, I’ve needed to ask my boating friends for their input on certain things such as the height of a catamaran and how long it takes epoxy to cure.

2 – Have one of your characters be a “newbie”

Now that you’ve done all your research, how do you weave it into your story without doing a mundane info-dump? In my first book, Murder at the Marina, I found it helpful to position my main character, Mollie, as a “newbie” to sailing. When her husband surprised her with a sailboat for their tenth wedding anniversary, she wasn’t impressed for two reasons: (1) she was hoping for diamonds and (2) she knew nothing about boats.

Because she was clueless about sailing, I could have her ask all the “dumb” questions about sailboats and have her express her confusion about boating terminology, equipment, operation etc. This enabled me to “explain” sailing to her (and the reader) through entertaining dialogue with various characters.

One of the things I’m finding more challenging as I progress through my series (I’m currently working on book #4) is the fact that Mollie isn’t a newbie anymore. She’s lived and worked on their boat for a while, she’s become part of the local community at the marina, and she’s taken part in local boating events. One of the tricks I’m trying out now is to have Mollie explain sailing to new “newbies.” It’s kind of amusing seeing how smug she can be at times and the fact that she surprises herself with how much she now knows.

3 – Use beta readers with a mix of knowledge about the hook

If you use beta readers, consider having some who have extensive experience with the hook and others who know nothing about it. My betas have really helped me with presenting accurate information about sailing in an interesting way that doesn’t go over non-sailors’ heads (or bore them to death).

4 – Keep it interesting

Cozy mysteries are supposed to be fun, lighthearted reads. They’re not meant to be technical guides or textbooks on your particular hook. One of the challenges as a writer is to select those tidbits which will be of interest to your reader, not cram in everything you know about the subject.

For example, I’ve done minor repairs on our marine toilet. I can imagine writing a funny scene where Mollie does something similar, but I certainly wouldn’t go into detail about what types of  tools she would need, the step-by-step procedure for connecting the hoses to the holding tank, or what the stock numbers are for the replacement parts. First of all that would be really boring. Second of all, too much detail about toilets is pretty gross.

Instead, I try to write about things that non-boaters might find fascinating in order to provide them with a peek into a different kind of lifestyle. Things like communicating with your partner through hand signals when you’re dropping the anchor, participating in a sailing race, or what it’s like to climb up and down a ladder multiple times of day when you’re in the boatyard.

What about you—what kinds of series hooks do you like reading and/or writing about? What makes them interesting?

Want to know more about cozy mystery hooks? Check out what Elizabeth has to say:

Developing a Cozy Series: Hook

Cozy Mystery Hooks

Ellen Jacobson is the author of the Mollie McGhie Cozy Sailing Mystery series. She lives aboard a sailboat with her husband and an imaginary cat named Simon. You find out more on her website and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Get a FREE copy of her latest release—Robbery at the Roller Derby, a prequel novella—by signing up to her newsletter. Alternatively, you can get the ebook for 99c/99p at your favorite retailer or pick up the paperback edition.

4 Tips and Tricks for Cozy Mystery Hooks from @Ellen__Jacobson :
Click To Tweet

Photo credit: Matts__Pics on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

The post Writing Engaging Cozy Mystery Series Hooks: Tips and Tricks 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 50,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

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.

Business / Miscellaneous

How to Establish a Long-Term Writing Career: Insight From Two Literary Agents: @sangeeta_editor @JaneFriedman
Content Warnings: How and What to Include? @JamiGold

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Frankfurter Buchmesse Announces 2019 Film Awards Shortlists: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair @pubperspectives
German Book Prize Releases Its 2019 Shortlist: ‘Generational Shift’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Richard Charkin: An Ode to @Book_Fair (His 47th): @pubperspectives
Frankfurt’s Publishing Perspectives Talks: Climate, Women’s Leadership, Blockchain: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair @posth
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Releases Its Longlist: @Porter_Anderson @thedscprize These authors and more: @chillakiles @devislaskar @fbhutto @JamilJanKochai @MirzaWaheed @writernzaman @rajkamaljha

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels

5 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Novel: @MegLaTorre

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

3 Things to Evaluate as We Move into Fall: @EricaVetsch @SKRViLL

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Writing to Prompts: @DeniseCCovey @TheIWSG

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Quotes

12 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes for Writers and About Writing: @robertleebrewer @WritersDigest

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

We’ll Always Have Paris: On the Enduring Appeal of Ex-Pat Lit: @elliottholt @lithub
5 Books that Give Voice to Artificial Intelligence: @tansyrr @enoughsnark
How to Read Like a Writer: by Bucket Siler
Five Heroines Over the Age of Forty: @unamccormack @tordotcom
10 Debut Novels Nobody Reads Anymore—But Should: @knownemily @lithub
7 Novels About Struggling to Make Ends Meet: @Madeli63 @ElectricLit
Kuala Lumpur Noir: by Paul French @CrimeReads
Public Thinker: Leah Price on Books, Book Tech, and Book Tattoos: @mervatim @LeahAtWhatPrice @PublicBooks

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Get More Done By Giving Yourself Less Time: @jamesscottbell @killzoneauthors
10 Ways Writers Can Utilize Their Time: @sherrinda

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

The Myth of Author Multitasking: @mybookshepherd
Writing While Parenting: @PGGalalis
The Horror, The Horror: Rereading Yourself: @AdamOPrice @The_Millions
Negotiating Social Privilege as a Writer: @cashewcutlet
12 Tips for the Best Writing Life Ever: @EdieMelson
8 Signs You Are Afraid of Writing: @teachrobotslove @LitReactor
About That ‘Writing Vacation’: @Porter_Anderson @WriterUnboxed

Genres / Fantasy

101 Fantasy Tropes For Writers: @ChrisLukeDean @Writers_Write

Genres / Horror

10 Quick Tips About Writing Horror: @Stevevolkwriter @Bang2write

Genres / Miscellaneous

“In Rural Noir, I Found Myself”: @CrimeReads @LauraSMcHugh
How To Figure Out The Genre Of Your Book: by Robert Wood @standoutbooks

Genres / Mystery

The Female Carries the Mystery: @SPressfield
Baby’s First Mystery Fiction: @mollsotov89 @CrimeReads
I talk cozy mysteries in this podcast with @PodcastWhythe : @lpoling
Cozy Mysteries: When Your Sleuth Figures Things Out:
How To Write A Cozy Mystery – 10 Essential Elements of Cozies: @LisaLatteBooks
3 Reasons Female Writers are Addicted to True Crime: @FinishedPages @womenonwriting
Writing a Legal Thriller: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Tips: by Ed Rucker @WritersDigest

Genres / Non-Fiction

11 Ways to Improve Your Nonfiction Writing: @NinaAmir
Using Personal Pronouns in Nonfiction Book Writing: by Melissa Drumm @TCKPublishing

Genres / Romance

Golden Tips from RWA 2019: by Fae Rowen

Genres / Science Fiction

How to Publish Your Science Fiction Novel: @robertleebrewer @WritersDigest

Genres / Screenwriting

Great Scene: “Up”: @GoIntoTheStory
10 Keys To Great Screenplay Endings: by Mark Sevi @CreativeScreen

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

How Great Amazon Book Descriptions Help Indie Authors Sell More Books: @Bookgal
Tips for a Great Amazon Book Description from @Bookgal :

Promo / Book Reviews

How to Get Book Reviews as a New Author: @MegLaTorre

Promo / Miscellaneous

5 Ways To Improve Your Marketing By Varying The Length Of Your Writing: by Robert Wood @standoutbooks

Promo / Newsletters

Create an Author Newsletter Before You’re Published: @EJWenstrom @DIYMFA

Promo / Platforms

Branding Checkup: @DebraEckerling

Promo / Pricing

Amazon’s Unwritten Print Pricing Rule: @JohnDoppler @IndieAuthorALLI

Promo / Social Media Tips

7 Mistakes to Avoid While Promoting Your Book on Social Media: @danielamcvick @shaylaleeraquel

Publishing / Miscellaneous

How to Launch Your Book: @JillWilliamson @GoTeenWriters
Forbidden Books From Around The World in 2019: from Global English Editing
Opinion: The Trials and Tribulations of DIY Audiobooks: @AndreneLow @IndieAuthorALLI
Jesseca Salky Opens New Agency; Wattpad Partners in Latin America: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
An Interview with Pro Lyricist Justine Perry: @justine_perry @mellamusic
Hearst Launches Two Book Imprints, Partners with PRH on Distribution: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / News / Amazon

Points, Counterpoints: The Publishers v. Audible Lawsuit Lines Are Drawn: @Porter_Anderson @devlinhartline @LoisABridges
Amazon Original Stories Buys Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro Stories: @Porter_Anderson @RealGDT @pubperspectives @AmazonPub

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Bologna Tours Rodari Show; Denmark’s UNSILO Signs Cambridge: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Jordanian Publishers’ Union’s Fathi Al Biss: A Need for ‘Better Interaction’: @Porter_Anderson
Kamila Shamsie’s Rescinded Nelly Sachs Prize Fuels Criticism: @Porter_Anderson @kamilashamsie @alisonflood @KristennEinars1
China Bestsellers for August: Back to School and Light Fiction: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
South Africa’s Snapplify Announces US$2 Million in New Capital: @Porter_Anderson @Snapplify @pubperspectives
Four Viewpoints Ahead of the First IPA Middle East Seminar in Amman: @Porter_Anderson @HugoSetzer @IntPublishers @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Why Writers Shouldn’t Query Self-Published Books: @MegLaTorre

Publishing / Process / Book Design

The Cover Two-Step: @MelindaVan

Publishing / Process / Contracts

What Writers Need to Know About Morality Clauses: @carrievmullins @ElectricLit

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

Persuasion and Your Story’s Moral Antagonist: @DonMaass

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

Translating the Hero’s Journey Into a Linear Plan: @susanjforest @sfwa

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

The Beginner’s Guide to Props – Using Them to Show Character: @sarahjrexford @A3writers
Quick Character Quiz: @KMcCaughrain

Writing Craft / Conflict

Inner Conflict That Sparks Readers’ Emotions: @LiveWriteThrive

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

How to Write Amazing Flashbacks: by Dana Isaacson @CareerAuthors

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Sue Monk Kidd’s 10 Most Helpful Writing Tips: @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

Assonance: Definition and Examples from Literature: @TCKPublishing

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Editor Roundtable: The Girl on the Train: by Leslie Watts @StoryGrid
What is “Gritty” Fiction? by T.L. Bodine
Make Room for Your Reader With an Interactive Reading Experience: @kcraftwriter @WriterUnboxed
Unusual Writing Tips: @aroomofmyown1 @WomenWriters
Six Common Forms of Bad Writing Advice: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants
How to Get the Most Out Of Your Characters: @AJHumpage
38 Americanisms the British Can’t Bloody Stand: by Gyles Brandreth @lithub
On Psychotherapists, Confessors and Other Narrative Conveniences: @emma_darwin
How to Evoke Reader Emotions With “Surprisingness”: @KMWeiland
Advice on Writing Thieves, Assassins, or Other Stealthy Characters: from A Thief’s War
4 Ways to Write a Better Novel: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

The 50 BEST Online Critique Circle to Take Your Writing to the Next Level: @ReedsyHQ

Writing Craft / Scenes / Conflict

Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Being Offered an Easy Way Out: @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Series

How to Write a Series: 5 Lessons Learned: @scalkins3

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Is It Better To Set Your Story In A Real or Fake Location? @StephMorrill

Writing Tools / Apps

Why Scrivener Is a Good Tool for Writers: by Rick Bettencourt @FloridaWriters1

Writing Tools / Resources

The 50 Best Writing Websites of 2019: @ReedsyHQ

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

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

How Great Amazon Book Descriptions Help Indie Authors Sell More Books

by Penny Sansevieri, @bookgal

The following is an excerpt from Penny Sansevieri’s newly released book, How to Sell Books by the Truckload on Amazon – 2020 Updated Edition! Learn how to turn Amazon into your 24/7 sales machine!  

Whether we’re talking about Amazon, or any other e-tailer, book descriptions are more important than most authors realize.

Too many times I’ll see blocks of text pulled from the back of the book. In theory, it’s not the worst idea. However, it may not be the greatest idea if your book description isn’t strong to begin with, or if the book details are just slapped up on Amazon—or Barnes & Noble, iTunes and so on—without giving an eye to things like spacing, bulleting, shorter paragraphs, and boldface.

In this section we’ll discuss some ideas about book descriptions specifically, and then review some tips you may want to consider in order to enhance your own book description for maximum effectiveness on Amazon.

Is Your Book Description Memorable Whether It’s Scanned or Read Word-for-Word?

Most people don’t read websites; they scan. The same is true for your book description. If you have huge blocks of text without any consideration for spacing, boldface, bulleted lists, short paragraphs, or some other form of highlighting that helps the reader scan, it’s unlikely to attract readers. When your description is visually and psychologically appealing, it invites the reader to delve in instead of click off.

Book design, meaning the actual font on the pages, adopts this strategy, too. By having wide margins (referred to as gutters in the book design world) and spacing, and, in nonfiction, bulleted lists and even boxed-in pieces to highlight particular text, you invite the reader to read instead of doing a quick scan and rushing on.

Our minds are image processors, not text processors, so huge pieces of text that fill a page overwhelm the mind and, in fact, slow down the processing time considerably.

When we’re looking at websites, our attention span is even shorter than it is while reading a book. Even sites like Amazon—where consumers go to buy, and often spend a lot of time comparing products and reading reviews—it’s important to keep in mind that most potential readers will move on if your description is too cumbersome.

How can you make your description more scan-friendly?

Headlines: The first sentence in the description should be a grabber, something that pulls the reader in. This text could also be an enthusiastic review quote or some other kind of endorsement, but regardless, it should be bolded. In the case of your Amazon book page, you could also use the “Amazon Orange” to set your headline apart from the rest of the text.
Paragraphs: Keep paragraphs short at 2-3 sentences max.
Bolding: You can boldface key text throughout the description. In fact, I recommend it. Just be sure you aren’t using boldface too much. Don’t highlight two or three sentences in bold, because it’ll have more impact if you do just one sentence or a few keyword strings.
Bullets or Numbers: If your book is nonfiction, it can be very effective to bullet or number as much of your information as possible. Take key points and the “here’s what you’ll learn” elements and put them into a bullet point/numbering section that’s easy to scan and visually appealing.

Use Code to Enhance Your Amazon Book Description and Headline

How do you spruce up the text styles within your book description? There are several types of code you can use to enhance your headline and description. Keep in mind that you can’t make these changes to your headline via Author Central; it all has to be done from the KDP Dashboard. Although this won’t affect your algorithm per se, it will help make your book description more visually appealing.

Here are some of the coding enhancers available:

Bolding: The text you want bolded
Italics: The text you want italicized
Headline: The text you want for a headline
Amazon Orange Headline: The text you want for a headline in Amazon Orange

You can add in numbered lists and bullet points, too.

Answering Readers’ Most Important Question: “What’s in It for Me?”

The biggest challenge authors face is writing a book description that effectively highlights the book’s benefits for readers. This matters whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, and it’s a crucial part of any book description.

Remember, with 4,500 books published every day in this country, you can’t afford to have a vague, meandering book description. You must state clearly why your book is the best one they can buy.

This leads us to the differences between fiction and nonfiction when it comes to book descriptions.

Nonfiction

First off, it’s probably very likely that whomever you’re targeting already owns a few titles similar to the one you just wrote. Then why on earth should they add yours to their collection?

While you’re powering through your book description, keep in mind that you’re likely serving a very cluttered market. You need to be precise and vividly clear about why your book matters. You should hook the reader from the first sentence, and remember to make a personal connection with the reader via the book description.

Nonfiction shoppers are more often than not looking for the solution to a problem. They’re not browsing for their next beach read. So your book description needs to zero in on what that problem likely is, plus they need to feel like you understand them, and they need to be convinced you’re the best person to help them work through it.

And if you’re a noted expert in your field, with accolades to back it up, work those in briefly, because in this day and age it truly does set you apart. So do reviews by other experts in your field or industry, but keep them short and sweet—excerpts of the best parts are plenty. Save your full bio and complete reviews for the other sections Amazon gives you.

Fiction

Fiction is a bit tougher, because it’s easy to reveal too much, or not quite enough. For this reason, I encourage you to focus on developing your elevator pitch (see below), because that’s going to be your cliffhanger, or your readers’ key interest point in the book. Every other piece of the story anchors to that.

When it comes to fiction, buyers have a lot of options, so be clear about what your book is about, and lead with the hook. Your opening sentence should be the best you’ve got—because it might be the only chance you get. And don’t confuse not giving it all away with being vague. If you’re vague, the potential reader won’t experience the emotional connection they need in order to make them want to find out more. So give them a story arc to latch onto and leave them needing more.

Keep movie trailers in mind while you’re writing your fiction description. They often do an outstanding job of giving enough of the story to get you hooked without revealing so much it prevents you from watching it.

Book descriptions, whether on Amazon, iTunes, or Barnes & Noble, are your sales pitch. Ultimately, descriptions will or won’t sell your book, so make sure yours is tightly written, exceptionally engaging, and most of all, turns a browse into a buy.

Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU. She was named one of the top influencers of 2019 by New York Metropolitan Magazine.

Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative Amazon Optimization programs as well as Social Media/Internet book marketing campaigns. She is the author of eighteen books, including How to Sell Your Books by the Truckload on Amazon, Revise and Re-Release Your Book, 5-Minute Book Marketing for Authors, and Red Hot Internet Publicity, which has been called the “leading guide to everything Internet.” 

AME has had dozens of books top bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal.

To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.com. 

Tips for a Great Amazon Book Description from @BookGal :
Click To Tweet

The post How Great Amazon Book Descriptions Help Indie Authors Sell More Books 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 50,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

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.

Business / Miscellaneous

Author Earnings: 1 Writer’s 2019 Breakdown Of Book Sales By Format, Genre, Vendor And Country: @thecreativepenn
Will I Have to Pay Back My Advance? @RachelleGardner

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

The UK’s Nonfiction Baillie Gifford Prize Announces a 2019 Longlist: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Words Without Borders September: Norway Carries Dreams to Frankfurt: @Porter_Anderson @wwborders @Book_Fair
US National Book Awards: 2019 Longlist in Young People’s Literature: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives @nationalbook
Rights Roundup: Frankfurt Pilgrims and Dreams in Hurricane Season: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair
Canada’s $75,000 Cundill Prize Names Its Shortlist in New York City: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

5 Ways to Boost Your Creativity with Color Walks: @colleen_m_story

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Looking for books to read when travelling? @pubcoach
6 Crime Books That Explore The Experience of Veterans: @siobhanster @CrimeReads
Parenthood Noir and The Rise of the Psychological Thriller: @stuartneville @CrimeReads
When the Narrator Doesn’t Get It: 10 Shades of Deception: @HallieEphron @CrimeReads

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

How to Stay Interested In Your Story Long Enough to Finish Writing It: @MegDowell

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Not Writing, Even Though You Want To? It Could Be ‘Defensive Failure’: by Daniella Balarezo @TED_ED

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Tips for Writing Better and Faster: @StephMorrill @GoTeenWriters

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

How to Recover From a Mistake When You’re Writing: @Peter_Rey_
How to combat your inner writing critic and stop worrying: @beprolifiko
Becoming a Full-Time Author: Three Mindset Shifts Every Writer Must Make: @PaganMalcolm @WritersDigest
Advice For Writers Who Are Also Caregivers: @TimSuddeth @EdieMelson
What to Do Before Writing Your Next Novel: @NYBookEditors
It’s Always in the Last Place You Look: @jaelmchenry @WriterUnboxed
The Half-Wild Muse: On Writers and Their Cats: @weedlit @lithub
What Contraception Meant to a Century of Women Writers: @jcfphillips @lithub
20 Author Photos: Then and Now: @knownemily @lithub
Why Writers Suffer from Hip Pain & How to Find Relief: @colleen_m_story
On NOT writing a “Grown-up” book: @dawnafinch

Genres / Fantasy

World-building: Creating a Credible Magic System: @JustinAttas
Things to Consider when Creating a Magic System: from The Dragon’s Den

Genres / Mystery

1 Writer’s New Thriller Writing Process: @alexadonne
Why Write Medieval Mysteries? by Priscilla Royal @CrimeReads

Genres / Poetry

Poetry Marketing on a Budget: @jessicacotten @IndieAuthorALLI

Genres / Romance

Inspirational Romance for Romance Writers: @TammyLoughAuthr @DIYMFA

Genres / Science Fiction

When Characters Meet Technology: @PhilAthans

Genres / Screenwriting

Action Writing in a Screenplay: @GoIntoTheStory

Promo / Blogging

How to Come Up With Blog Topics for Your Guest Posts: @SmartAuthors @BookWorksNYC

Promo / Book Reviews

The Fine Art of Asking for Reviews, Blurbs, and Anything Else: @FrugalBookPromo
How to Write a Fiction Book Review: @RomanceUniv @KelseyBrowning

Promo / Miscellaneous

Book Marketing: Content Marketing Strategy: @pamelaiwilson @thecreativepenn

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Navigating Changes In The Publishing Industry: @MikeShatzkin @thecreativepenn
OverDrive’s Rosato: The Arab World’s ‘Enormous Advantage’ in Libraries: @Porter_Anderson @IntPublishers @StevenRosato @OverDriveLibs
Australian University Presses Find a Following Off-Campus: By Andrea Hanke @pubperspectives
Interview: Star Watch Superstar Jennifer Baker of ‘Minorities in Publishing’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Poland Approves Reduction of Ebook VAT from 23 to 5 Percent: @jaroslawadamows @pubperspectives
Storytel Buys Finland’s Gummerus; Iceland’s Laxness Prize to McEwan: @Porter_Anderson @storytel @pubperspectives
Agent Piergiorgio Nicolazzini to Present New Novel by Luca D’Andrea: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Publishing Scotland Funds Translation for 14 Foreign Rights Titles: @Porter_Anderson @PublishScotland @pubperspectives
Syrian Journalist Zeina Yazigi on Book Publishing and Refugees: @Porter_Anderson @zyazigi @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Agent Spotlight Interview and Query Critique Giveaway: @MarloBerliner @NatalieIAguirre
An Agent on Querying Unfinished Novels: @Janet_Reid

Publishing / Process / Translation

A Work-Around for a Common Translation Issue on Babelcube:

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Writing Hooks for Your Books: How to Grab Readers’ Attention in Seconds: @adamcroft @IngramSpark
First Page Critique: No Tomorrows: @ClareLangleyH @killzoneauthors
Flog a Pro: Would You Pay to Turn the First Page of this Bestseller? @RayRhamey @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

The Secret to Crafting Believable Characters: @LiveWriteThrive @kristen_kieffer

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

Mine Your Emotions to Write Moving Fiction: @ADDerWORLD
When Telling, Not Showing, Emotion is the Right Choice: @LiveWriteThrive

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

Recipe For a Protagonist: @JustinAttas

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Show Don’t Tell Techniques You Can Steal from Famous Authors: @EvaDeverell

Writing Craft / Conflict

Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Losing a Bet: @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Drafts

What to Do After Finishing a First Draft: @nancyjcohen

Writing Craft / Hooks

How to Write a Hook by Baiting Your Reader With Questions: by Josalyn Chase @write_practice

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Making Your Book a Page-Turner: @rxena77
3 Tips for Writing Children from Lucia Tang @Reedsy:
The 3 Negative Arcs: @KMWeiland
Can Common Writing Advice Be Wrong? @JamiGold
Avoiding The Use of Clichés: @JoanHallWrites @StoryEmpire
Writers Beware: Micro-managing: @Lindasclare

Writing Craft / POV

More Techniques for Deep POV: @SarahSallyHamer @EdieMelson

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining

How to Outline a Novel: Outlining for All Tastes: @Roz_Morris @IngramSpark

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Using a Novel Planner: 7 Tips to Organize Your Story: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

The Birth of the Semicolon: @ceceliawatson @parisreview
‘Close’ Proximity, ‘End’ Result, and More Redundant Words to Delete From Your Writing: @BCDreyer

Writing Craft / Revision

How One Author Revises: @AuthorSAT

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

10 Kinds of Critique Groups that Can Drive You Bonkers: @annerallen

Writing Craft / Series

5 Reasons to Take the Series Writing Plunge: @VClinebarton @WomenWriters

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

10 Description Mistakes Writers Should Avoid At All Costs: @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Special Needs

How Can I Make My World Accommodating to Disabled People? @writing_alchemy @mythcreants

Writing Tools / Apps

More Apps and Tools for Authors: by Phil Stamper-Halpin @penguinrandom

Writing Tools / Resources

60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers: from Reference for Writers

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

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

Translation Hyphenation Issues on Babelcube

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is one of those posts that will only help a very specific group of writers, but I thought I’d throw it out there since the issue is one that I’ve struggled with for about a year.

I’m still working with the translation platform Babelcube, although I’m also working with a couple of other platforms,  as well (Tektime and BundleRabbit).  There are translators who prefer to work with Babelcube…knowing that the platform has its problems, but at least it’s something of a known entity.

This particular issue has to do with hyphenation at the ends of lines for paperback books.   The problem is that Adobe likes, naturally, to hyphenate as though the text’s language is English.  This, as you’d imagine, doesn’t work well for other languages…specifically, in my case, German and Spanish.  It may also not work in others, but I haven’t yet gotten any complaints about hyphenation in Portuguese.  The hyphenation is very distracting to readers.

There may be a way to turn off this automatic hyphenation (the Word files I’m uploading are from the translators and do not have this errant hyphenation) in Adobe, but I’ve yet to find a solution for doing so.

If you choose to use the Babelcube automatically-generated PDF instead of uploading your own for a paperback, you’ll  also encounter the problem.

After poking around online in forums and through blog posts, here’s what I’ve been able to come up with:

Download the Word file that Babelcube generates with the title page,  copyright page,  etc. (this is what Babelcube produces with the translator’s Word file).

Open up Calibre (a free program for ebook management. I use it a lot to proof ebook files, add metadata to files, etc.)

Click  ‘Add Books’ (top left) and upload the Word file

Click ‘Edit Metadata’ and add the info in.  Here I also click ‘remove cover’ (I don’t want an interior cover for my paperback).

Click Okay

Click ‘convert books’

Click ‘Heuristic Processing’

Click the box to ‘enable heuristic processing’

Uncheck each box except ‘ensure scene breaks are consistently formatted’ and ‘remove unnecessary hyphens’

Click Okay

Click ‘Convert Books’ again

Click on ‘Structure Detection’

Check the box next to ‘Remove First Image.’

Click Okay

Then click ‘Convert Books’ again (I know)

In the top right-hand corner, choose PDF in the drop-down box

Click Okay

The file will download and should be in good shape!

Some of these instructions may be unnecessary or duplicating things I’m doing in other steps. But because it works and it took me hours to even get to this point, I’m scared to try anything else, ha!

Are you getting your books translated? Run into any issues? Or have you had any problems with formatting for other projects and figured out a solution?

Translation Hyphenation Issue and Fix:
Click To Tweet

Photo on VisualHunt

The post Translation Hyphenation Issues on Babelcube appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

3 Tips for Writing Children

by Lucia Tang with @Reedsy

Let’s start with a note of clarification. This is a post for writing child characters, not for literal children hoping to write their own books. Still, any precocious, under-12 authors who happen to read it are more than welcome to weigh in with their expertise!

Actually, fiction as a whole could probably benefit from a little more young blood in its authorial ranks. When well-intentioned adults try to craft young characters, the result can easily tip into uncanny valley or ring jarringly false.

Have you ever read an otherwise great book filled with questionably written children? Maybe the main character’s 6-year-old babbled with a toddler’s slapdash grammar, or a 2-year-old did nothing but make oracular pronouncements, like a chubby-cheeked foreshadowing machine. Either way, it probably took you out of the story.

Don’t put your readers in that position. The children you write shouldn’t trample over their delicate suspension of disbelief — they should make the world you’ve built feel richer and more real. Follow these 3 tips, and you’ll be able to bring realistic, compelling young characters to life.

1. Do your homework— and accept that there’s going to be a bit of reading

If you were working on a book about Malawi, you’d start by doing some research. And you’d definitely feel obligated to  study up if you wanted to write historical fiction set in 1776.

So think of childhood as a foreign country — it certainly was a foreign time. But wait, you might say. Those authors have never been to Malawi or crashed a meeting of the Continental Congress; I’ve actually been a child. But don’t rely on your memories alone: every author, after all, has a childhood to look back on, and some still write less-than-convincing kids.

You can spend time observing and talking to children. Not every writer has kids they can press into service — or even a nephew than can borrow for an afternoon. If that’s your situation, read!

Developmental psychology might be helpful — especially if you’re decided to take on a child protagonist. But if you’re in a hurry (or only concerned with young supporting characters), take the time to read some well-regarded books aimed at the age group you’re hoping to depict. These stories will help you empathize with your characters, and let you learn from the depictions that resonate with the ultimate experts: kids themselves.

2. Pay special attention to dialogue

Shoddy dialogue might be the biggest symptom of poorly written children — it’s certainly one of the most glaring. From bizarre diction to improbably cutesy turns of phrase, making your kid characters speak strangely is a sure way to jar your reader out of the story.

Writers are often keen to make sure their fictive kids have age-appropriate vocabularies, but they end up overdoing it: they’re too restrictive with the words they put in their young characters’ mouths. Sure, an 8-year-old wouldn’t necessarily complain about the “fetid odor” of his dad’s favorite cheese, but would he really call it “yucky”?

While you’re watching out for improbable diction, also take the time to examine the conceptual basis behind what your child characters say. Does 10-year-old Joshua (or 2-year-old Khaleesi) know enough to ask that question? Are they naive enough to make that comment?

One final, but crucial,  note on dialogue: be sparing with your use of eye dialect, the nonstandard spelling that draws attention to a character’s idiosyncratic pronunciation. Children may not always pronounce words with strict correctitude, but a toddler who always complains about being “vewwy hungwy” will quickly grate on the reader’s nerves. There’s no need to make anyone talk like they’re doing a table read for Elmer Fudd — even if they’re barely out of diapers.

3. Always have the child’s interiority in mind

This tip will keep your child characters from coming across as nothing more than cutesy plot devices. Every time you write a scene with a child, figure out how they’re feeling and what’s going on in their head. That way, their actions will have an internal logic — and won’t be strictly subordinated to the needs of the plot.

Even if you’re not using a child as a POV character, it’s useful to write from your young characters’ perspectives, if only as an exercise. Say that your reporter protagonist, Rebecca, is taking a call from her editor. It’s a tense conversation, one she’s already put off for a few days. And now her 4-year-old, Ethan, is screaming in the background.

You’ve got a strong sense of how Rebecca feels in this scene. But what about Ethan? His motivations might be totally opaque to her — she can’t even tell if his shrieks are from joy or from rage, and let’s be honest, for a second she doesn’t even care. But they shouldn’t be opaque to you.

Try rewriting the scene from Ethan’s perspective. This exercise in empathy might just teach you something new about your characters — an insight that will bring a totally different dimension of your story to life.

Lucia Tang is a writer with  Reedsy , a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. Reedsy also provides tools to help authors write and format their books, as well as free courses and webinars on publishing. In Lucia’s spare time, she enjoys drinking cold brew and planning her historical fantasy novel.

3 Tips for Writing Children from Lucia Tang @Reedsy:
Click To Tweet

Photo on VisualHunt

The post 3 Tips for Writing Children 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 50,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

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.

Business / Miscellaneous

Copyediting Jobs: How to Estimate Hours and Pricing: @SubvCopyEd @JaneFriedman
How to Renegotiate a Freelance Writing Deadline: @TheJohnSoares

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

The British Academy Announces the 2019 Al-Rodhan Prize Shortlist: @Porter_Anderson
BookExpo Announces a Shorter Show for 2020 in New York City: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives @BookExpoAmerica
National Book Foundation Honors American Booksellers’ Oren Teicher: @Porter_Anderson
IPA’s Regional Events Expand: Bodour Al Qasimi on the Amman Seminar: @Porter_Anderson @Bodour @KristennEinars1
At Frankfurter Buchmesse: International Roma Writers Union Events: @Porter_Anderson @AmazonPub @Book_Fair

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels

How I Wrote My First Book: Don’t Do These 7 Things: @MichaelLaRonn

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

Checking in with your writing goals: @SusanNealYoga @EdieMelson

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Quotes

14 Shirley Jackson Quotes for Writers and About Writing: @robertleebrewer @WritersDigest

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Finding Book Recommendations Beyond the Usual: @JamiGold

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Writing During the Different Seasons of Your Life: @10minnovelist
The Busy Trap: @cathychall @womenonwriting
7 Innovative Journaling Techniques You’ll Want to Try: @writingthrulife
Smart use of your smartphone: @pubcoach
Do You Suffer from Imposter Syndrome? @FinishedPages @womenonwriting
Feeling Motivated to Write, But Too Exhausted to Create: @MegDowell
Where an Author’s Story Begins: @kcraftwriter
Switching To A Bullet Journal: @kwistent
Of Poetry and Pilgrimage: Queer Writers Staying Hopeful in Madrid: @anna_hundert @lithub
Building The Custom Notebook: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor
Why You Need to Celebrate Your Writing Journey: @NinaAmir
Writing and the Debut Author Experience: @ER_Ramzipoor @noelle_salazar
Writing/not writing: @maryhorner @womenonwriting
Key Ways to Rediscover your Writing “Fun Mojo”: @JordanDane @killzoneauthors
Misunderstanding Write What You Know: @HDemchick

Genres / Horror

Secrets and Mysteries and Their Importance to Horror: @timwaggoner

Genres / Mystery

Tips for Red Herrings in a Cozy Mystery:
50 Years Ago, Scooby Doo Was the Perfect, Weird, Hopeful Mystery Series 1969 Needed: @oldrutigliano @CrimeReads
How Scooby Doo Revived Gothic Storytelling for Generations of Kids: by Eleni Theodoropoulos @CrimeReads

Genres / Non-Fiction

5 Self-Publishing Mistakes Nonfiction Authors Need to Avoid: @NinaAmir

Genres / Picture Books

Want to Self-Publish a Rhyming Children’s Book? Read This First: @KarenCV

Genres / Poetry

Identifying Themes in Our Poems: @Sara_HeartStory @DIYMFA

Genres / Science Fiction

Science Fiction—More than Just Gizmos: @WriteMariaGrace @KristenLambTX

Genres / Young Adult

20 Mistakes to Avoid in YA Fiction and Romance: @writingandsuch

Promo / Ads

BookBub Ads – The FAQ: @DavidGaughran

Promo / Images

Embed Words in Your Photos for Discovery: by Lee Foster @JFbookman

Promo / Metadata

How to Self-Publish and Market a Book: Keywords: @hanque99 @TheIWSG

Promo / Miscellaneous

What all authors can learn from book marketing case studies: @sandrabeckwith
25+ Little-Known Hacks to Promote Your Book: @ReedsyHQ
5 Ways to Successfully Market Your Book: @createastorylov

Promo / Podcasts

Free tool for marketing your podcast on social media: @BirdsOAFpress

Promo / Social Media Tips

Why Social Media is a Death-Trap for Writers: @PSHoffmanAuthor
How to Run a Twitter Chat: by Tim Lewis @StonehamPress @IndieAuthorALLI

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Selling Your Books to an International Audience: @Bookgal @BookWorksNYC
How Publishers Distribute Books: @alexadonne
Industry Notes: AAP Flags Declining US Student Spending on Books: @Porter_Anderson @AmericanPublish
The UK’s Greystone Books Announces Issue-Driven Kids’ List: @Porter_Anderson @greystonebooks

Publishing / News / Amazon

IBPA Backs US Publishers Association in Objections to ‘Audible Captions’: @Porter_Anderson @angelabole @ibpa

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Industry Notes: Germany’s Voland & Quist Opens UK, Irish Distribution: @Porter_Anderson
Sharjah and Russia Sign Agreement at Moscow International Book Fair: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
BookNet Canada Issues Its First ‘State of Independent Bookselling’ Report: @Porter_Anderson
Open Road and Canada’s levelFILM Announce ‘The Lineup’ Deal: @Porter_Anderson @OpenRoadMedia @levelFILM
Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk Headlines Hay Festival in Peru: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches

Pitching Your Writing: Tips: @Lindasclare

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

How Do You Find a Literary Agent? @RachelleGardner

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Cover Design Terms You’ll Want to Know: by Mary Neighbour
The Perils of Designing a Cover for a Novel You Truly Love: by Oliver Munday @lithub

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

The Combined Book Exhibit and Author Scams: @DavidGaughran

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Nail a character’s first impression (Page critique): @NathanBransford

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

The 2 Heroic Arcs: @KMWeiland

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Help for Pantsers Through Character: @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Dialogue

How to Craft Engaging Dialogue Exchanges: by Peter Gelfan

Writing Craft / Endings

Writing the Ending: Tying Up All the Loose Ends: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Humor

Writing Tips: 7 Ways To Write Funnier Fiction: @brotzel_fiction @thecreativepenn

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

In The Spotlight: Shonda Rhimes’ Top 10 Writing Rules: by Alice Hayden @Bang2write
Advice for Writers from Ansel Adams: @hilarydavidson @CareerAuthors
Editor Roundtable: Lessons from the Film ‘Deep Impact’: by Leslie Watts @StoryGrid

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Writing Your Novel’s Middle: @Lindasclare
7 Tips to Writing Single Father Characters: @cyallowitz
A Manuscript Checklist: @HankPRyan @CareerAuthors
Learning How to Write Girls with Agency in Fiction: @estefsays @lithub
How Great Storytellers Put the “Meth” into “Method”: @KristenLambTX
6 Rules for Writing Realistic, Meaningful Gunfights: by Stephen Hunter @CrimeReads

Writing Craft / Pacing

How Do I Keep My Character-Driven Novel From Dragging? by Chris Winkle @mythcreants
Write a Page-Turner: Master the 7 Rules of the Cliffhanger: @RuthHarrisBooks

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Paragraphs and When to Break Them: from Writing Questions Answered
How to Use a Dash—in Fiction Writing: @SeptCFawkes
Nine Things You Didn’t Know About the Semicolon: @ceceliawatson @The_Millions

Writing Craft / Revision

Quick and Brilliant Revision Trick: @jamesagard
12 Tips to Edit a Story Draft into an Enjoyable Read: @ZoeMMcCarthy

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

Beta Readers: The Key To Improving Your Manuscript: @hanque99
How to deal with writing criticism: @jasonbougger

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

160+ Ways to Describe Weather: @WordDreams
How to Write Description Without Going Overboard: @Janice_Hardy
Novel Scene Description: @Kid_Lit

Writing Craft / Tension

Creating Tension at the Micro Level: @LiveWriteThrive

Writing Tools / Apps

How to Track a Scrivener Project with Metadata: @ph_solomon @StoryEmpire

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

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

Cozy Mysteries: Red Herrings

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Red herrings, or false leads, can add a lot to a mystery and serve different purposes.

How red herrings add to mysteries: 

They make the mystery more complex. They send the sleuth and reader off in different directions (maybe there was a false confession…someone protecting someone else, for instance).

They add length to the book.  If your mystery is too straightforward, you’re going to end up with a shorter mystery.

They keep the reader from figuring out the killer too early in the story.  Red herrings can be an argument, another body, or something that appears to be an important clue or lead. It can be an alibi that’s disproven.

They help make suspects more three-dimensional.  Maybe a character appears to be a good, well-respected person…but they’re actually really wicked.  Or maybe each suspect has a secret they’re desperately trying to keep from being made public (petty theft, an affair, etc.) and the reader is led to believe that the secret might be the murder.

They divert attention from actual clues.  If you’re laying a clue and immediately follow it with a red herring (especially a red herring that seems like a major clue), you can keep the clue from sticking out too much to the reader.

They can help hide the true motive for the crime(s).  You could imply through your red herrings that the murder was committed for revenge and then later reveal a different/true motive.

They make it easy to change course later if you want to switch the murderer’s identity.  This may sound like an onerous task, but if all the suspects have motive, means, and opportunity, it’s not so hard.  One of the red herrings simply becomes an actual clue.

They can help lead to a surprise ending. I like to have a really strong red herring near the end of the book so the reader believes they know the killer…and then change direction abruptly.

If you’re a mystery reader, have you ever been so diverted by a red herring that you picked the wrong suspect as the murderer?  For writers, do you have a tough time creating strong red herrings for savvy mystery readers?

Tips for Red Herrings in a Cozy Mystery
Click To Tweet

Photo credit: Onasill ~ Bill Badzo – – 64 Million Views – Thank on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

The post Cozy Mysteries: Red Herrings appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Beta Readers: The Key To Improving Your Manuscript

by Hank Quense,  @hanque99

The best way to improve your manuscript is to show it to other writers.  This article discusses the role of beta readers and it ends with a list of questions beta readers should answer.

One milestone in writing a book is reaching a point where you can hire a content editor to examine it.  However, content editors are expensive, perhaps prohibitively so.

An alternative to hiring a content editor is to recruit other writers and ask them to critique your work.  Critiquers are also called beta readers by some folks including me.

One mistake inexperienced writers often make is to ask family members to comment on the story.  Besides the potential for embarrassing the family members, these readers can offer no advice on how to improve the book unless they are also writers.

While some readers may have a good sense on what works for them, they don’t have the background to tell an author ‘why’ it didn’t work.  The reader may not like a character or may get turned off by the plot, but statements like that are too vague to be of much use to the author.  The author needs to hear why the character is not likable (too many bad habits perhaps).  As for the plot, there are many factors that can make it go awry.  These include: illogical developments, twists that aren’t properly developed and explained, irrational actions by the characters and many more.  If the author gets feedback from other writers on these factors, the author can take steps to fix the problems.

Beta readers will often agree to work on your story in return for you taking a look at their book.  Thus, it’s a quid pro quid arrangement.  An objective with beta readers is to have at least three of them work on your book.  Six would be a better number and a dozen is ideal.  This will give you a range of comments and opinions to look at.

The comments from the beta readers will identify problems that must be addressed.  If they do their job correctly, they will likely tear your book apart and that can be a painful process for the inexperienced author who probably thinks the work is already damn-near perfect.

Beta reader comments also present the author with a decision that has to be made: are the comments valid or not?  It is not unusual to come across an occasional comment that will not improve the book and can be safely ignored.  Other comments may actually dis-improve it if implemented..

It is the author’s responsibility to weigh the comments with an open mind and choose the ones that will make the manuscript stronger and better.  Oftentimes, this selection process will result in major revisions that must be incorporated into the book before the publishing process can move forward.  You certainly don’t want to send the unrevised manuscript to an editor and you certainly don’t want to spend time formatting a version that will have dramatic changes in it later on

This is why it is necessary to recruit and use beta readers as early as possible.

Ask the beta readers to return their comments within a month, a reasonable request unless they are in the middle of their own writing or publishing project.

I send my beta readers a list of questions I’d like them to answer after they finish reading the manuscript.  The questionnaire is listed here:

Please answer as many questions as you feel are relevant.  There is no need to answer ALL of the questions (unless you want to)

1: Did the story hold your interest from the very beginning?  If not, why not?

2: Did you get oriented fairly quickly at the beginning as to whose story it is, and where and when it’s taking place?  If not, why not?

3: Could you relate to the main character?  Did you feel her/his pain or excitement?

4: Did the setting interest you and did the descriptions seem vivid and real to you?

5: Was there a point at which you felt the story lagged or you became less than excited about finding out what was going to happen next?  Where, exactly?

6: Were there any parts that confused you?  Or even frustrated or annoyed you?  Which parts, and why?

7: Did you notice any discrepancies or inconsistencies in time sequences, places, character details, or other details?

8: Were the characters believable?  Are there any characters you think could be made more interesting or more likable?

9: Did you get confused about who’s who in the characters?  Were there too many characters to keep track of?  Too few?  Are any of the names of characters too similar?

10: Did the dialogue keep your interest and sound natural to you?  If not, whose dialogue did you think sounded artificial or not like that person would speak?

11: Did you feel there was too much description or exposition?  Not enough?  Maybe too much dialogue in parts?

12: Was there enough conflict, tension, and intrigue to keep your interest?

13: Was the ending satisfying?  Believable?

14:  Did you notice any obvious, repeating grammatical, spelling, punctuation or capitalization errors?  Examples?

15: Do you think the writing style suits the genre?  If not, why not?

16: Did I introduce too many characters in the first scene?

This list is based on https://writingcooperative.com/15-questions-to-send-beta-first-readers-please-steal-3ff9fa198b5

~ ~ ~

This article was taken from my new book, How to Self-publish and Market a Book.

Are you considering self-publishing your first book?  Naturally, you have questions and concerns.  This book has your answers.  It integrates both the publishing and the marketing to provide you with a complete project plan to market your book while you publish it.

It will be available on September 15, 2019.  Until then, the pre-order is on sale at $2.99, a 40% reduction.

The book is available at:

Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2Zbrx54

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/2Y2rewE

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/949789

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2ltLzbU

And other online book sellers

Hank Quense writes humorous and satirical sci-fi and fantasy stories.

He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles. He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject. He is currently working on a third Moxie novel that takes place in the Camelot era.

He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.

You can connect with Hank on his Amazon Author Page.

 

Author @Hanque99 Explains the Importance of Beta Readers:
Click To Tweet

Photo on Visualhunt.com

The post Beta Readers: The Key To Improving Your Manuscript appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.