Christopher D. Schmitz's Blog, page 58

Writers Must Avoid Copulation

Noooo… not that kind of copulation! I read a great article recently about the Copula: “the connecting link between subject and predicate of a proposition.” It is the bane of all green writers out there and especially notorious among indie/self-published authors. A copula is usually when you use a form of “to be” in your writing: was, is, will be, was, were, had been, became, was, was being, was. I just hate “was” so badly.

If there is any single piece of writing advice I could ever give it is this: reduce passive verbs to no more than one per three pages. It’s hard, especially if you write nonfiction. A passive verb is the functional equivalent to the one second rest between weightlifting reps. But don’t fall into it–tighten those sentences up.

This really is the worst thing an author could do and I’ve spent years trying to reduce my own tendencies towards it. I edited a piece for a person on absolutewrite‘s forum last year with a LBL (line by line crtique) and had no choice but tell them they needed to scrap the whole thing and go write five new works between 500-2500 words with the intent of honing their skill at editing, style, and removing “was” and passive verbs. The forums erupted with hate for me, like I was some grammatical Prince Joffrey (never let your close friends be your final editors unless you want to be lied to). I highlighted the passive verbs in the first four sentences and did the math: 27 verbs (one sentence was a really long) and 21 of them were passive!

The first response by another critiquer after I explained why this is a problem and how to fix it? “That’s not what passive voice means!” I copied/pasted/posted the definition and muttered “millennials” under my breath. Needless to say, I don’t spend much time on AW anymore.

Anyway, here’s why we need to fix this: if indie authors are going to get any respect, we’ve got to drum out poor writing–that means begging with, pleading with, or murdering the worst offenders who are dragging down the quality quotient in the self-publishing world. I just might be in favor of eugenics when it comes to this topic. That’s how important it is.

Here’s a great article about “copula spiders” that helps people see them for the scourge and terror that they are: http://woodwardpress.com/2016/04/04/the-case-of-the-copula-overdose/

Free Fiction Tuesday

Here’s another superhero story for you to get your eyes on. Superable tells the story of a girl who discovers she is a time traveler after a “sexy and sarcastic” superhero tells her so. While still trying to make friends at her new school, Audrey must navigate a path filled with heroes, villains, the space-time continuum, loyalty, a killer organization, and flirty guys with dreamy eyes. “What would drive you to rip a hole in all of time and space?”

I know, I know… its a YA with obvious gratuitous romance. But come on! It’s got a super interesting premise (pun intended). Read the story at the below link:

https://www.wattpad.com/29510377-superable-synopsis

Author Interview: Caleb Wygal

I caught up recently with Caleb Wygal through a writing group online and asked him about his new book, coming out at the end of the month: Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure.

Tell me what your book is about.

A three-hundred year old mystery from one of the world’s most notorious pirates, an unsolved murder from 1982, and a treasure map uncovered by museum archivist Darwin Trickett leads to the adventure of a lifetime for two friends which could lead to fame and fortune, or to their deaths. Using a blend of real events and settings from the past fused with a modern murder mystery, Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure takes readers on a believable quest where they will want to take a shovel to the various locales depicted to see if it is real.

What book/movie/etc. is it comparable to?

This novel is greatly influenced by the writings of Clive Cussler with his Dirk Pitt and Fargo series’ in mind, particularly Atlantis Found and The Kingdom.

Where can readers go for more?

Currently, I am offering a free download of my last novel, A Murder In Concord, when readers submit a proof of purchase. You can find more details about this promotion here. Also, if you pre-order from Black Rose Writing by April 27, 2016 readers can save 10% with the promo code PREORDER2016 at checkout.

Readers can find me at my website, calebwygal.com, on Twitter @calebwygal, or Like my Facebook Page.

State of Writing

Feeling pretty good this week about my progress. I got another entire edit in on a novel after a beta read (plus a new beta who will read both novel WIPs). I also wrote like 6 new pieces for John in the John meaning I’m more than half-way done.

While I work on cover art and other stuff, I’m getting excited for those couple releases and I’m itching to get back into Fear in a Land Without Shadow and complete part 2 (of 3) over the next couple months

5 More Things Successful Indie Authors Do

As promised, here are some more things successful indie authors do which I stole from: http://insights.bookbub.com/book-marketing-ideas/

Almost everything on the list is gold–these are the things (between the lists) that I either think are most important or need most to implement in my own life.

Here are the next top 5 (and incidentally, regarding the first one, this blog was written at least 1 week ago):

Pre-schedule social media content. Doing social media marketing doesn’t mean spending all day online. Use tools like Buffer, TweetDeck, or Hootsuite to schedule your day’s or week’s social media content in advance. This will free up your time for writing and other marketing efforts.

Run a fan art contest. Get fans to upload their designs of one of your characters or a scene from your book on your blog or Facebook page — or have them share it using a hashtag on Instagram or Twitter. Choose a winner to receive a prize (and then get permission to use that fan art in your marketing).

Run a participation contest on Facebook. Have fans share your post, comment on a post, or like a post for a chance to win a free signed copy of your book or a gift card, and cross-promote the contest on Twitter, Instagram, and any other social channel where you have a presence.

Make each social media post visual. Tweets with images get 150% more retweets, and Facebook posts with images account for 87% of total interactions. Instead of text-only updates, include an image photo of the book’s cover or a teaser quote. This will encourage fans to click, share, or like. Tools and image libraries like Canva, Shutterstock, and iStockphoto can help.

Partner with other authors to run themed promotions. For example, if your publishing imprint or group of friends has three fantasy books featuring fae, coordinate price promotions, themed blog posts, and social media parties. Packaging these books promotionally helps each book gain exposure across the other authors’ platforms.

Free Fiction Tuesday

I wanted to jump back into the normal swing of things with a story of my own: the next installment of Dekker’s Dozen. I’d intended to button it up my run on superhero stories with one of my own, and then I went through my old records and discovered Shadows of the Superhero was never published… I had an offer on it but the publisher wanted some revisions… I guess I never did them and returned the story. Oops. So it gave me a chance to revise and query someone new… eight years later. Anyhow, here’s the next in my sci-fi

https://www.wattpad.com/242810653-dekker%27s-dozen-the-last-watchmen-salvaged

State of Writing

I find myself writing less and less as I do more and more promo for stories I have written and published. I wish I knew a publicist… who worked for free… and brings me coffee.

While I met my goal last week (finish rewrite of Dekker’s Dozen) I dropped the ball again on my nonfiction. I’ll catch up again and get two pieces in for next week. I do think that John in the John has great potential, but I might shorten it and exclude the other pieces submitted by other authors simply because I haven’t seen a single submission in weeks for it. Instead of a daily devotional book, I think I will make a weekly reader with my own content. I can do multiple versions over a couple years and keep the multi-author collection for either New Testament in the John, Gospels in the John, or The Bible in the John.

Here is what I’m thinking about putting together as a series (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the website at http://johninthejohn.my-free.website)…

John in the John 4thQ 2016

Luke in the John 2017

Gospels in the John 2017/2018

New Testament in the John 2018/2019

Old Testament in the John

The Bible in the John

Celebrities in the John (in the early stages, I was able to secure some verbal commitments from a few “celebrity Christians” including famous athletes, media personalities, etc. this edition might be fun to stick somewhere within the lineup as an exclusive.)

One thing is certain, I need to get some more original content down or I’m going to go nuts. Promo is fun (sometimes), but I’d much rather be creating something new. Back to Writing!

More Things Successful Indie Authors Do

I’ve been running this in a series, and this is the final list, most of which was taken from “98 Book Marketing Ideas That Can Help Authors Increase Sales.” This list is not a “Top 5” but rather a concentrated list relevant to marketing and actually selling books. It’s perhaps a little more business focused than writer focused, but these things are important. If your writing goals are to establish this as your career, then you should be mindful of this and act as if writing is a business.

Build and manage your platform well. Okay, this one is mine—I didn’t swipe it from the original list. Here’s the deal with online platforms—if you only use it to promote your books it is doomed to fail, fall, and help birth Skynet. Stop destroying humanity. Use platforms properly. I’ve had to axe sooo many people from twitter and other media because I only ever see one thing from them, usually several times a day: buy my book (with a graphic of a poorly designed cover and copy/pasted blurb which fails to connect.) Use media to connect to readers, not push your agenda; only push your books in about 10% of posts. If you want an example of someone who’s mastered this, check out https://twitter.com/BrianRathbone

Create an author website. Your site should be a marketing tool that serves as the hub of all your online activity, from blogging to selling books to emailing a newsletter to participating in social media. Use a platform like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix to easily build a site.

Continue publishing new books. Nothing sells backlist like frontlist! Continually publishing new books will help you garner a wider audience that will be interested in your other books.

Measure the ROI of your campaigns. Analyze your return on investment for each campaign so you know what worked and what didn’t. Crunching numbers might not be as fun as writing your next masterpiece, but wasting money on campaigns that don’t work isn’t fun either.

Coordinate your marketing efforts in a single week. Bestseller lists are based on the number of units sold in a single week. Target a single list so you can optimize for its cycle. Focusing all your marketing efforts, including price promotions, social media campaigns, and emails to your mailing list in a single week can help boost your book on that list.

Run targeted social media ads. Sites like Facebook and Twitter let you target ads to a fine-tuned audience based on preferences users have expressed on those social platforms. This lets you advertise the discount to people interested in similar books or genres.

Submit a post to Buzzfeed. Write a clever or funny tie-in to your book. The article you write can either be entirely about your book, a “which character are you” quiz, or a listicle indirectly related. For example, a romance author can write a post on “10 Sizzling Beaches to Read Steamy Romances On” and incorporate her book into the post.

Write and syndicate a press release. Create an informational press release announcing your new book. Link to both the new release product page and your own website for SEO purposes. Use a free press release distribution service to syndicate your press release to news websites and blogs.

Create a permafree gateway book. For example, the first book in a series can be permafree as a gateway to the rest of your series — BookBub readers are 10x more likely to click on a book that’s offered for free than a discounted book.

 

Here is a link to that original article http://insights.bookbub.com/book-marketing-ideas/

Free Fiction Tuesday

Continuing with our theme of superheros, I came across this very fun book. I know what you might be thinking: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was an awful movie… and you’d be right (the book was fun, but I think you had to be a horny teenage boy with a blood fetish to appreciate the atrocity that the movie was)… I mean, I could be wrong… but rather than argue the point you could just go and read this book. It’s got everything a person could want: superheros, Jane Austin, and an author who looks like a young Val Kilmer.

Pride and Prejudice and Superheros

Monday Recommendation

I’ve been talking about releasing this book for a long time–over the last couple of weeks I’ve fidgeted with Amazon’s systems and creation wizards and finalized my nonfiction book over the weekend–I know I have a deep and unyielding love for fiction… but as I look around, I also have a love of nonfiction, too!

Please Download the kindle version of my book: Here!