Riley Adams's Blog, page 93
February 19, 2017
Making a Living Writing: Ten Tips
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Is it possible to make a living writing?
It definitely is…but if only it were easier!
Hope you’ll hop over to Anne R. Allen’s blog where I’ll outline ten tips for making a living as a writer .
Photo via Visual Hunt
The post Making a Living Writing: Ten Tips appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.
February 18, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous
Mystery Thriller Week Begins Today: Online Calendar of Events: @MTW_2017
Authors: Think Twice Before Paying to Exhibit at Book Expo (BEA): @JaneFriedman
Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting
7 Debut Novelists on Their 2017 Resolutions: @knownemily
What is your creative intention? @DanBlank
Plan a Sustainable Year for Your Writing Life: @annkroeker
Setting more effective goals: @Writerology
5 Steps to More Achievable Goals: @jeffelk
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration
Author and Reporter @TamaraLush Boards Amtrak for Continent-Wide Residency: @Porter_Anderson
Top 10 Ways To Beat Insecurity (At Least Temporarily!): @10MinNovelists
A Challenge to Writers: The Balance Between Dreaming and Working @AnnieNeugebauer
‘You get an idea and… it just grows’ – interview with @Roz_Morris
3 Ways for Writers to Use Deadlines: @astoryofmemory
5 Habits To Spark Your Creativity in 2017: @cathysbaker
Want More Creative Breakthroughs? A Step-by-Step Guide: @ahhensel @foxcabane @JudahThinks
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Quotes
How To Become a Good Writer: 50 Quotes From The Greats: @WritetoDone
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers
10 Things Every Reader Should Do in 2017: @Gabino_Iglesias
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing
How to trigger your writing routine: @Eva_Bec
How To Fit Writing Into Your Time-Crunched Life: @10MinNovelists
How To Carve Out Time For Writing Without Losing Sleep: @ThePaigeDuke
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
How to Keep Writing When You Feel Inadequate: @Chef_BoyarDEJI
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly
The ABCs of Becoming a Super-Productive Writer: @CSLakin
The Pomodoro Technique and Productive Writing Time: @JessDarb
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
Why Won’t (Insert Name Here) Read My Book? @SheerHubris
3 Things You Can’t Teach About Writing: @colleen_m_story
The Writer Workout: 11 Minutes Keeping Your Word Count High and Your Calories Low: by It’s a Writer Thing
The Genreless Freedom—and Subsequent Power—of Journals: @jrc2666
Best Ways to Stay Protected Online as a Self-Employed Author: @thomas_milva
Tell them you Love Them to the Wall and Back with Game of Thrones Valentines Cards: by Stubby the Rocket
Famous Literary Relationships from Best to Worst: @knownemily
10 Reasons to Stay Home & Write This Valentine’s Day: @ProWritingAid
Writing a Book You’re Scared No One Will Understand: @losapala
4 Things Every Writer Thinks While Working on a Book: @JonAcuff
Staring into the Soundless Dark: On the Trouble Lurking in Poets’ Bedrooms: by Andrew Kay @The_Millions
8 Tips for Staying Safe Online: @EdieMelson
Coping with negativity: @DanBlank
Genres / Fantasy
6 Forms of Transit That Can Replace the Mount: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants
Genres / Memoir
A Memoir Editor Answers Questions: @DiercksDuke
Genres / Mystery
Well-meaning advice in crime fiction: @mkinberg
Legislators in crime fiction: @mkinberg
Non-verbal communication as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg
Plotting A Blockbuster Thriller: @Chris_Kokoski
Genres / Non-Fiction
5 Tips To Rescue Your Failed Nonfiction Ebook: @angee
Genres / Poetry
US Poet Laureates and the Presidents They Served Under: @DanielleMohlman @My_poetic_side
I Will Not Be Able to Write When I Am Dead: @StacySzymaszek @poetrynews
Genres / Romance
What Romance Fiction Can Accomplish: @maxwellcathy @lithub
How to Write Realistic Relationships (video): @Ava_Jae
Top 6 Fictional Couples: @NatePhilbrick
A roundup of posts on how to write intimate scenes: @RomanceUniv
Hot spots: writing love scenes: by Minal Hajratwala @TheWriterMag
How to Write Swoon: @sjaejones
Genres / Short Stories
How to Use Short Stories to Improve Your Writing Career: @crisfreese
Promo / Blogging
4 Ways to Close a Blog Post: @Margo_L_Dill
Maximize your blog’s visual appeal by using widgets: @pokercubster
3 Social-Sharing Tricks to Optimize Your Next Blog Post: @aliciarades
Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting
The Fastest Way To Make All Your Descriptions Better: @Chris_Kokoski
Why your book descriptions don’t look right: @HollowLandsBook
Promo / Book Reviews
Honesty, Likability and Book Reviews: @MarinaSofia8
Promo / Miscellaneous
Use Content Marketing To Sell More Books: @pamelaiwilson
Promo / Platforms
Platform Building-Is It Really Necessary? @wordsbyandylee
Promo / Social Media Tips
5 Questions to Ask Before Joining a New Social Media Network: @a3forme @susanrstilwell
Publishing / Miscellaneous
A Comparison of Audio Book Distributors– ACX, Author’s Republic and Scribl: @TahliaNewland
The most important book elements for reader appeal: @EvaNatiello
10 Trends in Publishing Every Author Needs to Know in 2017: @WrittenWordM
From Novel to Virtual Reality Film: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
The NY Times wants to save itself by becoming like Netflix: @PassiveVoiceBlg @HeyHeyESJ @gabrielsnyder
Publishing / News / Amazon
Is Amazon Exclusivity Right for You? @robkroese @JaneFriedman
Publishing / News / International Publishing
France, China, South Africa, Canada, USA Lead London Book Fair Intl. Award Shortlist: @Porter_Anderson
Ukraine Enacts a Winter Ban on Book Imports From Russia: by Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives
Trade Show Notes: LBF Hosts Fair Use Debate; BookExpo Announces Author-Speakers: @Porter_Anderson
The AWP Goes to Washington With Focus on Lit in a Political Society: @Porter_Anderson
Showcase Offers £7,500 in International Commissions; Nigeria’s Cassava Signs W/ Consortium: @Porter_Anderson
A closer look at serialized fiction startup Radish: @Porter_Anderson @radish_fiction
Thieves Nab More Than $2.5 Million Worth of Rare Books in London Heist: by Jake Rossen @mental_floss
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches
Reach beyond tropes when pitching your book: @JaneLebak
Publishing / Process / Book Design
Book Cover Design: How indie authors can do it best: @ReedsyHQ
Book Cover Design: What To Consider Before Hiring A Designer: @MsBessieBell
6 Tips to Create Book Covers that Sell Books: @LyndaRYoung @TheIWSG
A Complete Guide and Resources for Choosing Your Book Cover Font: @publishdrive
Writing Craft / Beginnings
Crafting a Powerful Set-Up: @beccapuglisi
Real Life Diagnostics: Is This Short Prologue Working? @Janice_Hardy
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
How to Prevent Your Characters from All Sounding the Same: @LouiseMarley @WomenWriters
Develop your characters by getting to know them: @jasonbougger
Creating Characters We Want To Have Coffee With: @RachelHauck
Writing Craft / Common Mistakes
The Basics of Show Don’t Tell: @JulieEshbaugh
Writing Craft / Diversity
A resource for writers wanting to write books with more diverse characters: from Writing With Color
Writing Craft / Endings
Not all story endings are meant to satisfy: @tobyshmoby
Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film
Using the Modern Love Podcast to Teach Narrative Writing: @nytimes
6 Cinematic Techniques to Apply to Your Novel Right Now: @CSLakin
“Things Learned From Watching ‘La La Land’ : by Lance Morgan @GoIntoTheStory
Pixar’s Inside Out and the Literature of Interiority: @GabbyBellot @ElectricLit
5 Fantasy Books That Ignore Genre Boundaries: @MichaelSwanwick
The Tropes of ‘Supernatural’: @woodwardkaren
10 Politically Subversive Novels Veiled in Absurdism: @chris_shultz81
The Many Bad Moms of Charles Dickens: @RVoronaCote
11 Classics of the New Gothic Canon: by Emily Fridlund @lithub
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
5 Tips for Telling Prequel Stories: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants
How to Make a Good Story Excellent: 9 Tips: @nownovel
Handling inner monologue: @p2p_editor
Supporting Characters in Your Real Life: @SPressfield
7 Keys to Writing Excellence: by Fae Rowen
5 Signs You Treat Your Reader Like an Idiot: @WritingWordBlog
Using a narrator character to create a mythic story: @AlexSokoloff
Selecting the Right Sentence Structure for the Right Emotion: @SeptCFawkes
Social Issues in Your Stories: 3 Strategies for Doing it Right: @tobywneal
Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting
The Keys to Creating Great Twists: @readstevenjames @MTW_2017
Story Structure and The Hollywood Formula: @woodwardkaren
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
3 Errors in Using Parentheses: @writing_tips
3 More Sentences Lacking One Word to Be Correct: @writing_tips
Writing Craft / Revision
12 Contemporary Writers on How They Revise: @knownemily
Why we should put drafts aside for a time after finishing: @Roz_Morris
How To Edit Your Book Using the Layers Process: @SukhiJutla
7 Tips to Bring Your Words to Life: @LisaTener
Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques
5 Questions to Ask Beta Readers When They Critique Your Manuscript: @SaraL_Writer
How is a writer like a surgeon? @nevalalee
Writing Craft / Tension
Shaping Story Conflict: @Lindasclare
5 Surefire Ways To Raise The Stakes Of Your Story: @ClaireABradshaw
5 Levers to Create Suspenseful Scenes: @GraemeRodaughan for @JordonMGreene @MTW_2017
Uncategorized
Top Time Savers for Writing – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I rely on a lot of time savers to help me…
Twitterific Writing Links – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig A weekly roundup of the best writing links …
Writing Conferences and Festivals – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve been to a variety of different…
17 Things Indie Authors can Share on Social Media in 2017: @Bookgal
The top writing links of the week are on Twitterific:
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February 16, 2017
Top Time Savers for Book Production
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
This is the third post in my series on how writers can save time. You can find the first post here (on social media), and the second post here (on saving time writing).
If you plan on having only a single book or just a couple of books, you probably can just skip the information I’m sharing today. This is more for those of us who have either multiple series or many books or both. It’s the nitty-gritty of book production–the tedious inputting of data into the retail and distributor sites.
By keeping track of the data we use over and over again, we can not only make our process go a lot quicker, we can also make sure it’s consistent. Although it does take some time to compile these lists, sometimes we have to spend time to save it.
Here are some examples:
Backmatter: It’s the stuff that goes in the back of every book. For a while I was creating backmatter for each book separately and losing tons of time in the process. Now I’ve got a formatted backmatter section saved and ready to go. It includes my ‘about the author,’ a newsletter signup pitch, ‘other works,’ where to connect with me, a thank-you/please review, and book extras. This is just the standard content I put in the backs of every book. For some books, I’ll also add an author’s note specific to the writing of that particular book..but at least I’ve already got the backmatter written.
You may also want to have one book list for Amazon (using Amazon links–and I understand that they don’t allow affiliate links in the backmatter) and one for everyone else (and linked to each book page on your website).
Metadata: It’s very important that we keep metadata consistent, for better search engine optimization. It’s there to help readers find our books and if we’re inconsistent in our metadata, the search engines don’t realize we’re talking about the same term (is the series ‘A Nancy Drew Mystery’? Or ‘The Nancy Drew Mysteries’? Or ‘Nancy Drew Mysteries’?) Keeping track of all the metadata we use is a quick way to make sure we’re keeping our metadata the same across the board. This post from last year lists some helpful tools to help track metadata (and what we should be tracking).
ISBNs: If you use them, you’ll want to keep track of which book format has what ISBN. This tends to come up repeatedly and each time I would be pulling up Bowker to see what the ISBN for a Kindle format book written years ago was. It’s much easier to keep the information in a spreadsheet or a list. Joel Friedlander offers a free ISBN Logbook.
Keywords: This is not to say that we shouldn’t keep testing and tweaking our keywords. But if you publish multiple books a year in a variety of formats at various retailers and distributors, having a keyword list handy can save a tremendous amount of time.
Covers: This may seem like an odd tip, but get them in advance. If your designer is popular, get them way in advance. Otherwise, you may end up delaying publication of your book until your designer can work you in. I usually have my covers made for me several books ahead.
Distributors: I wrote an entire post on this recently. It’s important that we keep track of which aggregator (Smashwords, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, StreetLib, etc.) is distributing what title where (Overdrive, Google Play, Apple, Nook, etc.). Otherwise we end up with duplicate listings at retail sites.
Newsletter template on MailChimp: It took me a while to come up with a newsletter design that I liked. Once I did, I saved it as a template on MailChimp. Now, whenever I send out a newsletter, I just rearrange and edit parts of the body of the template. It’s saved me a tremendous amount of time and gives my newsletters a consistent look.
What have I missed? What kinds of things do you do to save time with book production?
Top time savers for book production:
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February 12, 2017
Writing Conferences and Festivals
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’ve been to a variety of different conferences over the years and tried to get the most out of each experience. Sometimes I had a better time than others, but I invariably learned something.
Types of conferences:
In-person writing conferences are where I’m usually in my element. There I meet and talk with different writers, learn more about the craft, and hear more about the latest promo techniques.
Online writing conferences can also be incredibly useful. What’s more, you don’t even have to leave your house (which is wonderful! I’ve even been speaker at some of these events from the comfort of my own home). My favorite is the Indie Author Fringe conference, which runs online at several points throughout the year. This year it will be held March 18, June 3rd, and October 14th. The best part is that it’s free and has experts in a variety of different writing-related areas. More information here and see the event archives here:
London Book Fair Fringe
Book Expo America Fringe
Frankfurt Book Fair Fringe
For the first time, I’m actually part of a reader-facing online mystery conference this week (which is why this topic was on my mind when I wrote the post). It’s Mystery Thriller Week: If you’re a mystery writer or reader or are just interested in seeing how a fan festival could work online, take a look here. It’s designed to bring readers, book bloggers, and mystery writers together online. I’ve got a few posts scheduled to run this week (they’ll show up in my Twitterific this Sunday), but here are a couple of links in advance: My interview with Michelle Dragalin and “Three Ways for Writers to Use Deadlines” (which will go live at noon EST today). My books are also getting reviewed by different bloggers. This will be a yearly event, so if you’re a mystery writer, make a note to contact the organizers so that you can participate next year.
Book Festivals: The ones that probably make me the most uncomfortable are the ones that have me sitting at a table, hawking my books. I’m not much of a hawker. In fact, the last time I was at an event like this, I left my table and wandered around the building to see everyone else’s books and to meet other writers. Although I’m not really a shy person, I can be very shy around readers. I know…leaving my table wasn’t the right way to sell books. Now I’m aware that this is not the kind of event I need to attend. That’s also something important for writers to know–what is the type of conference or festival that’s more valuable for them?
That’s not to say that reader-facing events aren’t incredibly valuable. They can be. I think the most successful and rewarding ones, though, incorporate several different elements–speakers/panels of speakers, signings, and awards. For my genre, the Malice Domestic conference comes to mind. That event combines all the above elements and the organizers even call it a ‘fun fan’ convention. Readers leave with lots of freebies and the writers all get buzz from the conference.
Here is a list from Sarah Nicolas at Book Riot of US ‘reader audience festivals’ for 2017.
Getting the most from a writing conference
Writing conferences can be exhausting, especially for introverts. Carefully choose the sessions you want to attend and be sure to take notes. Bring your laptop into the sessions to take notes (you won’t be the only one). Consider making arrangements with other attending writers before the conference so you’ll have someone to have lunch or drinks with (my temptation is always to retreat to my hotel room, but that’s not the best approach). And remember to bring business cards with you, for staying in touch.
Getting the most from a ‘fan’ conference
As a past attendee at Malice Domestic, I know that readers are definitely expecting to bring home books and swag (and I will caution you that ‘swag’, judging from the laugh attacks my kids have had, apparently means something different to US teenagers, so use the word with caution around that particular audience).
I gave away potholders with pigs on them at my last reader-facing conference, since I had the Memphis BBQ series to promote at the time. Swag is expensive, but I’ll admit I’m a lot more comfortable interacting with readers at conferences if I have something in my hands to give away. So that’s my big piece of advice: have swag. Or really, even just candy. :)
My second bit of advice would be to have a ready response to the questions “what are your books about?” and “what are you working on now?”
More resources:
A post from writer Jeannie Lin on whether or not to have swag.
And a post from Robin Rivera on 7 Tips for Better Book Swag
Where to find conferences
Sometimes it’s best to start out small (and cheap) and then work your way up to a more expensive, bigger conference. Here are listings of conferences of all sizes (some are online):
Insecure Writers Support Group (also includes retreats and seminars)
AWP (which also has a way to filter your search)
Have you attended any conferences? What type is your favorite? Any tips that I’ve missed?
Tips and Resources for Attending and Finding Writing Conferences:
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Photo credit: eltpics via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC
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February 11, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
Business / Miscellaneous
Make Wise Investments In Your Author Business @cksyme
Rules for Writers @Janet_Reid
6 Easy Ways to Re-use Your Story Ideas @v3rbolatry
Creativity and Inspiration / Careers in Writing and Day Jobs
The Unpredictable Nature of a Writing Career @Ava_Jae
Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting
Writing Goals: Are They Set Up for Us to Win? @JamiGold
Jumpstarting our 2017 writing goals @Wordstrumpet
Writing Goals 2017: Schedule @GoIntoTheStory
7 Debut Novelists on Their 2017 Resolutions @knownemily
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration
Author and Reporter @TamaraLush Boards Amtrak for Continent-Wide Residency @Porter_Anderson
Top 10 Ways To Beat Insecurity (At Least Temporarily!) @10MinNovelists
Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation
How Writers Can Benefit from Zero-Base Strategies @CSLakin
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing
Writing Habits, Routines and Productivity @lornafaith
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / When to write
6 Ways to Squeeze More Hours Into Your Day @woodwardkaren
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
5 Ways to Spark Connections with Your Story @frenchphoenix
Creativity and Inspiration / Success
5 qualities of a brilliant story @Roz_Morris
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
Image and Back-up Your Computer @WordDreams
Travel Tips for Writers @Victoria_Noe
When Writing Becomes Just Another Lifestyle Good (on MFA programs) @lithub
Writers: Judge Yourself By Your Own Standards @KateMColby
Highly Intelligent People Are Less Satisfied By Friendships @sarahshmee
10 Ways Art Can Improve Your Writing @OilandMarble
Detach Yourself From Everybody @SPressfield
10 Novels Perfect for Virtual Reality @SignatureReads
Why Won’t (Insert Name Here) Read My Book? @SheerHubris
Genres / Fantasy
Tips for Writing Magic Scenes @RayneHall
Genres / Horror
Horror and Social Conflict @FANGORIA
Genres / Literary Fiction
The Best Literary Fiction Blogs and Websites @JaneFriedman
Genres / Miscellaneous
The Science Fantasy Genre @HunterEmkay
5 Tips to Write Travel Stories @JSchedneck
Genres / Mystery
Crime fiction: When Characters are Pushed Too Far @mkinberg
Writing the Crime Scene @repokempt
Well-meaning advice in crime fiction @mkinberg
Genres / Non-Fiction
5 Tips To Rescue Your Failed Nonfiction Ebook @angee
Genres / Picture Books
Top 10 Trends in Reading and Book Apps for Children @elisayuste
Writing for Children @KarenCV
Genres / Poetry
51 Immigrant Poets @My_poetic_side
20 Best Tips for Poets @robertleebrewer
Genres / Romance
3 Essential Elements to Crafting Believable Romance @CSLakin
Genres / Science Fiction
5 Failed Animal Companions @mythcreants
Genres / Screenwriting
How to Begin Writing Your First Screenplay @woodwardkaren
Shaun Of The Dead Story Structure @ozzywood
Award-Winning Screenwriter on Challenges & Success in Screenwriting @flyingwrestler
Writing a Dramatic Script: 5 Key Techniques: by Scott McConnell
Genres / Short Stories
How to Use Short Stories to Improve Your Writing Career @crisfreese
Promo / Blogging
How to Write the First Paragraph of Your Blog Post @Margo_L_Dill
How to Quit the Struggle Scheduling Blog Posts @MarshaIngrao
Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting
The Fastest Way To Make All Your Descriptions Better @Chris_Kokoski
Promo / Book Reviews
4 Things You Should Know About Book Review Blogs @BritMcGinnis
Honesty, Likability and Book Reviews @MarinaSofia8
Promo / Miscellaneous
How Market a Creative Course @HelloMorganTimm
Hitting the Reboot Button @crazyauthorgirl
How To Take The Perfect Author Photo @standoutbooks
Book Marketing: How to Get Feedback @Jefficus
Plan Your Book Launch Around a Goal @cksyme
10 Tips To Up Your Book Marketing Skills Right Now @BadRedheadMedia
The right way to save your book’s Amazon sales page link @sandrabeckwith
Promo / Platforms
Building a Platform to Land a Book Deal @JaneFriedman
Platform Building-Is It Really Necessary? @wordsbyandylee
Promo / Social Media Tips
7-Step Checklist to Refresh Your LinkedIn Profile @SMExaminer
5 Reasons Why a Writer Should Stay On Social Media @mharoldpage
Facebook 101 for authors @sandrabeckwith
Publishing / Miscellaneous
Most Women In Publishing Don’t Have The Luxury Of Being Unlikable @EmilyGould
Freedom of Expression: Authors Guild Teams With LitNet in ‘Not Normal Times’ @Porter_Anderson
Anthologies: Great Opportunities for New Writers, But Beware Scams: @annerallen
A Comparison of Audio Book Distributors– ACX, Author’s Republic and Scribl @TahliaNewland
The most important book elements for reader appeal @EvaNatiello
Publishing / News / Amazon
Is Amazon Exclusivity Right for You? @robkroese @JaneFriedman
Publishing / News / International Publishing
Canada’s Shelfie, formerly BitLit, Is Shutting Down Its Service @HudPeter @Porter_Anderson
@OpenRoadMedia Acquires Iconic Titles; De Gruyter Reorganizes Its Open Access Division @Porter_Anderson
‘@BookNet_Canada’s 2016 Snapshot @Porter_Anderson
Scholastic’s Kids & Family Reading Report @Porter_Anderson
France, China, South Africa, Canada, USA Lead London Book Fair Intl. Award Shortlist @Porter_Anderson
Ukraine Enacts a Winter Ban on Book Imports From Russia @pubperspectives
Trade Show Notes: LBF Hosts Fair Use Debate; BookExpo Announces Author-Speakers @Porter_Anderson
Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches
Reach beyond tropes when pitching your book @JaneLebak
Publishing / Process / Book Design
A Complete Guide to 3D Book Covers @publishdrive
Book Cover Design: How self-publishing authors can do it best @ReedsyHQ
Writing Craft / Beginnings
Opening paragraphs don’t have to be exciting @TheAtlantic
Finding the Sweet Starting Spot for Your Story @beccapuglisi
Crafting a Powerful Set-Up @beccapuglisi
Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists
5 Reasons Your Antagonist Deserves To Win @Chris_Kokoski
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
The importance of character resolve @p2p_editor
Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: Finding a Life-Long Partner @beccapuglisi
Creating Character Images That Work @DDFalvo
Writing Craft / Common Mistakes
How to Fix Your Novel (If It’s Too Short, Slow-Paced, or Tells Not Shows) @mharoldpage
Common Writing Mistakes to Avoid @AJHumpage
Writing Craft / Devices / Repetition
How to Write More Meaningful Symbolism @millie_ho
Writing Craft / Dialogue
How to Write Dialogue in a Story @nownovel
Want Better Characters? Get Rid of the Dialogue @Janice_Hardy
Should Dialogue Stand Alone? @ProWritingAid
Writing Craft / Diversity
A resource for writers wanting to write books with more diverse characters: from Writing With Color
Writing Craft / Endings
Not all story endings are meant to satisfy @tobyshmoby
Writing Craft / Humor
Give Your Characters a Sense of Humor @RMFWriters
Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film
5 Recent Books That Can’t Stop Producing Alternate Timelines: by Stubby the Rocket
Want to be an artist? Watch ‘Groundhog Day’ @austinkleon
Screenwriting: Great Scene: “The Silence of the Lambs” @GoIntoTheStory
3 Ways Reading Will Make You a Better Writer @charityscraig
Using the Modern Love Podcast to Teach Narrative Writing @nytimes
6 Cinematic Techniques to Apply to Your Novel Right Now @CSLakin
“Things Learned From Watching ‘La La Land’ @GoIntoTheStory
Writing Craft / Literary Devices
How to Use Symbolism To Elevate Your Storytelling @AngelaAckerman
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
3 Word Documents That Will Help You Write Your Novel @BrynDonovan
What To Do When You Can’t Let Go Of The Story Of Your Heart @tessaemilyhall
Regional Cues & Clues to Enhance Your Story @TMRadcliffe
Killing Off Characters @SPressfield
What Will Help Me Write a Book? 7 Steps @nownovel
Depicting Child Characters @mythcreants
How to Choose a Book Idea @thecreativepenn
Writing Craft / POV
Multiple Main Characters in Your Story? 3 Tips @JerryBJenkins
Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting
Video on Story Structure… and Why It May Not Be What You Think It Is @storyfix
Writing the Building Blocks of a Page-Turner @allisonmaruska
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
Homophones: Affect vs Effect @WritingForward
Proof Reading: Catching Wrong-Word Errors @WritersDigest
A battle with grammar barbarians @pubcoach
Is using semi-colons pretentious? @emma_darwin
5 Cases of Insufficient Punctuation @writing_tips
Writing Craft / Revision
12 Contemporary Writers on How They Revise @knownemily
Why we should put drafts aside for a time after finishing @Roz_Morris
How To Edit Your Book Using the Layers Process @SukhiJutla
Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques
When They Don’t Understand Your Stories @jameslrubart
Writing Craft / Series
When (And How) To Split Your Story Into A Series @kj_bags
Writing Craft / Tension
Using Characters’ Apology Language to Create and Resolve Tension @MarcyKennedy
Writing Tools / Apps
5 Ways to Organize Your Novel Using Scrivener @lornafaith
Writing Tools / Miscellaneous
Apps, Tools & Plugins for Indie Authors @CaballoFrances
Writing Tools / Resources
100 Best Writing Websites @thewritelife
The 21 Best News Roundups for Self-Publishing Authors @ReedsyHQ
The top writing links of the week are on Twitterific:
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February 9, 2017
Top Time Savers for Writing
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I rely on a lot of time savers to help me stay productive. I’ve spoken to writers before who’ve asked me how long I spend writing each day. I usually spend no more than thirty minutes writing, but that thirty minutes is enough for me to publish 2-3 books a year and get a head start on another.
I think it’s because of those time saving tricks. Not everyone wants to be a faster writer or needs to be a faster writer. If you’re someone who is already trying to increase your writing speed, here are the things that work for me. Some of them help me stay on track and fight distraction. Some of them are memory crutches that help cut my revision times dramatically.
Here’s my most general tip, but probably the one that works the best: write the genre you know best. I think at this point that I could write cozies in my sleep. I know how they tick,: the pacing, the way the characters arc, how the mysteries come together to form a solution.
Second most general tip: write in series. When you’ve gone through the investment of time and trouble creating a world and characters that live there, you may as well create more adventures for those characters in that world. The time saving is huge.
My tips for each writing session:
Time your sessions and then take breaks. If you’re as easily distracted and restless as I am, try the Pomodoro method. Actually, even if you’re not easily distracted, give it a go. I keep reading more and more how important it is to keep moving and writing is incredibly sedentary. I adjust Pomodoro to fit my needs better: since my writing sessions are short, I’ll have a 15 minute writing session followed by a 5-7 minute break (usually I’ll do something active but productive and mindless during those few minutes…fold the laundry, empty or load the dishwasher, push the vacuum around).
Write the book description first. I frequently write the book description as early as a year before writing the book. One reason I do this is to stay ahead with my cover designer (I commission covers that far out so I can stay current on her calendar). Another reason is that it’s easiest to have the whole, global point of your story before I get into it. When I write a book and get deep into the words, I can barely see the forest for the trees. Copywriting before writing helps take care of the promo writing, helps me promote the book on my site far before its written, and helps me stay on point when I actually start writing the book.
Think about the story before opening the laptop. As I’m getting ready and coming downstairs, I’m already putting myself back in the story world. I’m remembering what I wrote the previous day and where I wanted to go. By the time I open my laptop, I’m ready to go.
Use mini-outlines to bookmark your spot. But, on the days where I don’t even remember what I wrote the day before (sadly, these days happen all too often), I have mini-outlines to lead the way. At the end of each writing session, I write 1 sentence explaining where I left off and 1 sentence reminding myself what I want to accomplish in my next scene. Don’t overthink this part–it can be really general. Mine sound like “Myrtle finished talking to Suzy Suspect and is sitting at the diner with Sidekick Miles hashing out what they’ve learned so far.”
Write straight through without editing or inserting chapter breaks. This doesn’t work for every writer, but it definitely works for me. If I edit as I go, it’s hard to get myself out of left-brained mode back into right-brained, creative mode. And thinking about chapter breaks or other bits of formatting works the same way.
When running behind, work at a place that has no wifi (harder and harder to do). This was easier to do even as few as four years ago. Now I have to actually pass by cows in my car to find a place that doesn’t have wifi floating around (I do live in a city, so your mileage may vary). Or, if you trust yourself, go to a public place and just don’t log into their wifi network.
When writing more than one series (and alternating writing books for them, as most of us do): when finishing a book in Series A, outline the next book in Series A before moving over to write a book in Series B. I mentioned this recently, but it’s worth another mention. I save so much time doing this. My head is still in the same story world when I create the outline and it goes incredibly fast…usually several days for a thoughtful outline. I’m always dying to move on to the other series, but I’ve learned to just put myself on a leash. It’s worth it.
Use a series bible. Got lots of details? You may have more than you think. Unless you want your supporting character with the cat allergy ending up as a proud cat owner (yes, this has happened to me), mark the detail in a Word doc for future use. It may not sound like much of a time saver, but you’ll not only check it again and again, you’ll save sooo much time in revision work.
Back up the book. The importance of this can’t be overstated. If you spend 2 minutes a day backing up, you won’t have to spend 3-6 months rewriting the entire book from scratch. And 2 minutes is all it takes to pull it to a thumbdrive/USB (I have one on my keychain), upload it to Google Docs or One Drive, or even email it to yourself.
This is what works for me…what works for you?
Last week’s time savers were on social media. Read that post here.
Top time-saving tips for writing:
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February 5, 2017
Better Images for Social Media Sharing
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
For a long time I was oddly resistant to rethinking the way I approached images on my blog.
I knew there was a better way than the method I was using, but I didn’t want to find the time to figure it all out. I also am terrible at design. Additionally, I didn’t really see what the big deal was, although I kept reading that better use of images can help us in terms of sharing. Images can give a post more views, especially on platforms like Facebook.
I finally got the memo when Twitter suddenly got more visual. I also noticed that when I’d share links on Twitter, if the image on the writer’s post was optimized, it would automatically share the image with the text of the tweet.
I have a feeling that my process here is slightly convoluted, but I’ll share it anyway, along with resources that I know of to make better blog (and other platform) images.
Finding an image:
There have been plenty of cases where bloggers have been the subjects of lawsuits for using images on their blogs. Using Creative Commons photos or images that you’ve purchased is vital.
Right now, I’m hooked on Visual Hunt. I can search a wide variety of permission-free images there and can copy-paste the attribution for the image easily. I download the image to my computer.
Other places I’ve used in the past for permission-free images are MorgueFile and Death to the Stock Photo (which sends you ‘photo packs’ every month to download). Frances Caballo shares other good ideas in her post “Blogging Got You Down? Follow These 6 Steps.”
Designing the image (putting text on the image, etc.)
Once I have my image, I open up Designfeed, the free design program I’m using now. I also like Canva for creating images, but the thing I prefer about Designfeed is the fact that I can choose the size I’d like to download–and the app lists the sizes to make it easy: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Designfeed also has a free image search. The only thing I had reservations about was the fact that I had no idea who to attribute the images to or whether the images were genuinely copyright-free. That’s why I take the extra step of using Visual Hunt. I upload the image to Designfeed, add my text, and download the resulting image in the size that’s best for the platform (I think the Facebook size works best for WordPress, fyi).
Compressing the finished product
Since the end product is a pretty large image, I compress it using the free tool compressor.io . It doesn’t result in a lower-quality image or a smaller image, but a much smaller file size in terms of kilobytes used. This helps keep my blog’s load time shorter.
Uploading to the blog/platform
Finally, I upload the image to WordPress, using the large size. I make sure to give photo attribution at the bottom of the post. When I load the image, I’m sure to include alt text to help visually impaired readers as well as for SEO purposes (more on alt text from Yoast and Google guru Matt Cutts).
That’s how I do it. How about you? What tools do you use to include images on your blog posts or social media? What’s your favorite place to find images?
How to Create Better Images for Social Media Sharing:
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February 4, 2017
Twitterific Writing Links
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.
Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.
Business / Miscellaneous
Make Wise Investments In Your Author Business @cksyme
Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous
Should You Attend Writers’ Conferences? @shanagalen @pronoun
Creativity and Inspiration / Careers in Writing and Day Jobs
Being a Sports Writer @delduduit
Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting
5 successful authors on daily word count goals @pintipdunn
7 Writing Resolutions to Finish Your Story this Year @nownovel
Writing Goals @JamiGold
Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration
How Writers Can Find Inspiration in Music: by Scott Preston
Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation
How Writers Can Benefit from Zero-Base Strategies @CSLakin
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing
Get Your Story in Hand Using Shorthand @CSLakin
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / When to write
2 Exercises to Maximize Your Creativity First Thing in the Morning @ToddBrison
How to Balance Your Job and Writing @_phoebe_quinn
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block
7 Writing Session Savers for When It’s a Slog @Wordstrumpet
Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly
The Pareto principle in creative writing @Peter_Rey_
Creativity and Inspiration / Success
How to improve your the quality of your work @pubcoach
7 Ways Positive Thinking Can Help You Be a Better Writer @woodwardkaren
5 Steps to Writing a Bestseller @WritersDigest
5 qualities of a brilliant story @Roz_Morris
Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life
Writer, Heal Thyself @womenonwriting
22 Ways To Speed Up Your Computer @WordDreams
Image and Back-up Your Computer @WordDreams
Genres / Miscellaneous
The Science Fantasy Genre @HunterEmkay
Genres / Literary Fiction
The Best Literary Fiction Blogs and Websites @JaneFriedman
Genres / Mystery
Auctions in crime fiction @mkinberg
Crime Writing @LeeLofland
Crime fiction @mkinberg
Genres / Picture Books
Top 10 Trends in Reading and Book Apps for Children @elisayuste
Genres / Poetry
4 Poetry Chapbook Strategies @WritersDigest
On the poetics of post-privacy @anne_boyer
Genres / Screenwriting
How to Begin Writing Your First Screenplay @woodwardkaren
Genres / Short Stories
10 Tips For Writing Short Stories That Sell @thecreativepenn
Promo / Miscellaneous
Amazon’s New Pre-Order Policies Give Authors More Flexibility @RJCrayton
Is Your Book Book Club Material? Ask A Book Club @WomenWriters
8 Book Marketing Mistakes Authors Need to Ban @ReedsyHQ
How Market a Creative Course @HelloMorganTimm
Hitting the Reboot Button @crazyauthorgirl
How To Take The Perfect Author Photo @standoutbooks
Promo / Ads
Using Amazon KDP Ads to Sell Your Ebook on Amazon @JaneFriedman
Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting
Mind Map Your Way to the Perfect Book Title @Writerology
Promo / Book Reviews
Embrace Criticism, But Be True To Yourself @WomenWriters
Promo / Newsletters
Start Engaging Your Email List @cksyme
How to do a newsletter swap to reach more readers (and sell more books) @Creativindie
Promo / Social Media Tips
5 Social Media Resolutions to Grow Your Platform in 2017 @EJWenstrom
Instagram for Writers @thecreativepenn
7-Step Checklist to Refresh Your LinkedIn Profile @SMExaminer
Promo / Websites
How To Best Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO @BadRedheadMedia
Publishing / Miscellaneous
6 lessons from debuting a novel @Ava_Jae
6 skills for authors to hone @ShanDitty
Publishing / News / International Publishing
Industry Notes @Porter_Anderson
Frankfurt Book Fair Releases Facts and Figures from 2016 @Porter_Anderson
German Publishers Assocation Cheers EC Pressure on Amazon: @Porter_Anderson
Canada’s Shelfie, formerly BitLit, Is Shutting Down Its Service @HudPeter @Porter_Anderson
@OpenRoadMedia Acquires Iconic Titles; De Gruyter Reorganizes Its Open Access Division @Porter_Anderson
‘@BookNet_Canada’s 2016 Snapshot @Porter_Anderson
Publishing / Process / Book Design
A Complete Guide to 3D Book Covers @publishdrive
Publishing / Process / ISBNs
Should you buy an ISBN? @Jason_Matthews
Publishing / Process / Translation
English-language writers who succeed abroad @richardlea
Writing Craft / Miscellaneous
How to Use Internal Dialogue Effectively in Your Fiction @ESimsAuthor
Writing”street fighting”: from How to Fight Write
7 signs your writing is professional @pubcoach
Tips for Weaving Romance into Your Novel @CSLakin
How to avoid cliché by using clichés: by Scott Preston
3 Word Documents That Will Help You Write Your Novel @BrynDonovan
What To Do When You Can’t Let Go Of The Story Of Your Heart @tessaemilyhall
Writing Craft / Beginnings
First Chapters @annerallen
Opening paragraphs don’t have to be exciting @TheAtlantic
Writing Craft / Characters / Development
Rival Archetypes for Your Novel @CSLakin
Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists
The Importance of The Unlikable Heroine: by Clare Legrand
Writing Craft / Common Mistakes
5 Things an Author Did Wrong In Her (First) Novel @GillianMAuthor
Writing Craft / Dialogue
How to Write Dialogue in a Story @nownovel
Writing Craft / Diversity
What Counts As Transgender Literature? @GabbyBellot @lithub
Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story
Why Backstory Is Better Than Flashback @JerryBJenkins
Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film
8 Novels and Stories Inspired by Real Works of Art @TobiasCarroll
5 Recent Books That Can’t Stop Producing Alternate Timelines: by Stubby the Rocket
Want to be an artist? Watch ‘Groundhog Day’ @austinkleon
Writing Craft / Literary Devices
Literary Style in Storytelling @WritingForward
Writing Craft / Pacing
6 Quick Tips For Writing Gripping Scenes @WritersEdit
Writing Craft / POV
Choosing Your Story’s Perspective @mythcreants
Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting
Hitting Your Novel’s Milestones @Lindasclare
How A Timeline Helps You Plot A Novel @Writers_Write
Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar
5 Cases of a Missing Hyphen @writing_tips
Homophones @WritingForward
Proof Reading @WritersDigest
Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques
How to choose beta readers @Peter_Rey_
Writing Craft / Settings and Description
Top 10 Ways To Describe An Object In Your Novel And Why It Matters @10MinNovelists
Story Vision vs. Reader Experience @Lindasclare
Writing Tools / Resources
Writing and Publishing Resources from @ReedsyHQ
The top writing links of the week are on Twitterific:
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February 2, 2017
Top Time Savers for Social Media and Blogging
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
The biggest complaint I hear from writers is that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all that we need to do.
Tasks facing writers include reading publishing-related news, doing research, promoting, updating websites and social media…on top of working on our books.
And most everyone is doing the above in addition to a day job, parenting, or caregiving.
It’s a lot, for sure. The only thing that I can recommend is that we save time where we can.
With that in mind, I’m sharing my own biggest ways of saving time. With these methods I give myself more time to do…whatever. It could be more time to write, more time to do housework/cook/run errands, more time to spend with my family.
I started to include all of my tips in one post, but realized it was far too long for a post. I’ve divided them up by category: social media and blogging, writing, book production, and general tips. I’ll run this series on Fridays for the next month.
Social Media
It’s commonly referred to as a time suck and it certainly can be. For this reason, I keep myself off of social media as much as I can. If I spent as much time on Twitter as I appear to, I’d never get anything done.
I schedule social media shares. There’s a whole line of thought against doing this that revolves around the fact that this is a less-authentic approach to social media. I get that, but I only think it’s applicable if you’re spamming everyone with your book release. I’m sharing helpful information and resources for writers, and at 12-15 shares a day, I’d rather not pop on Twitter each time I do so.
My favorite tool is Hootsuite for wrangling social media. I use the pro version, but only because I use their bulk upload feature. The free version works well. You can schedule shares for the week on nearly every social media platform you’d like (Instagram is oddly resistant to this, but there are other ways to schedule to Instagram).
You can also configure Hootsuite to track certain keywords for you (helpful if you’re researching a book or trying to learn a new promo approach). You click “add a stream” and then click the “keyword” tab to set this up.
Twitter lists: This one is platform specific. I think a lot of people miss the point about Twitter and come away feeling frustrated. It’s most helpful purpose is as a means to share information. And you can configure it to share what you find most helpful by using Twitter lists.
Click on your profile picture, then click ‘lists.’ In the sidebar on the right, you’ll see ‘create new list.’ Then you can add people or organizations that you follow.
Instead of looking at your home screen for Twitter, go to your lists to monitor what you’ve found to be your most helpful follows. I have one that’s for writers and industry pros who post interesting information. I have several lists that I subscribe to that originated with others (this is a nice shortcut–just subscribe to some other writer’s list). I also have a private one that helps me follow events at my child’s high school. You never have to go to your crazy, spammy, headache-inducing home screen again, if you don’t want to.
Sharing blog posts: I automatically share my blog posts on both Twitter and Facebook. For Facebook, I use the “Facebook Auto Publish” plugin for WordPress and for Twitter, I use Hootsuite. Otherwise, I tend to forget to share my posts to a wider audience.
Writing blog posts: I found that I don’t really have the time to sit down at the computer and think up a blog post the day before running it. The brainstorming just eats up too much of my time. I’ve found that it’s better if I take a longer period of time and carefully plan my posts for at least the next month (the schedule can always be altered for guest posts or for a post that’s more time-sensitive).
Reading blog posts:
I curate links for writers, so I read a lot of blogs. But you may find an RSS reader helpful for many reasons–maybe you want an organized format to follow publishing news or writing craft news or even to get recipes from cooking blogs. An RSS feed reader (I use Feedly) helps with this.
Feedly is free to use and you can divide your feeds by category (writing related, publishing related, publishing news…and even personal: parenting blogs, recipe blogs, etc.) . To add a specific blog to your feed reader, you can either add content from inside the feed reader (by web address or keyword) or you can add it by clicking on the RSS feed button on the blog you’re interested in adding (for instance, I’ve got the orange RSS feed button as the first button on my ‘subscribe’ section on the top right sidebar on this page). It’s a helpful way to visit blogs of writers you follow as well as an organized and quick way to access information and resources.
How do you save time on social media or as a blogger? What have I missed?
Top time-savers for social media and blogging
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January 29, 2017
Tracking Our Books’ Distributors
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