Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "editing"
A-Z of Self-publishing & Writing tips: D-F
Welcome to the second instalment of my series, in which I highlight a few things I have learnt over the years about the self-publishing journey.
I hope the series will be useful to aspiring writers and those who are having a hard time navigating their way through the often confusing self-publishing process.
The first part of the series was featured on author K.B. Walker's blog: A-C Writing and Self-publishing tips
So here we go:
D
Dialogue & Description:
There is a view that you should not include too much dialogue in your fiction. This is a view that, frankly, I don't believe in. I write character-driven fiction that contains a lot of dialogue, and I like it that way. When I'm reading books, I also like a lot of dialogue; when it's done correctly, it helps move the action along and also entertains more than a paragraph of prose ever could. That said, you should not include too much dialogue to the exclusion of other description. I think that description in a novel is also an important part of it. I really believe that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to how much dialogue and how much description you include in a novel, the important thing is that you write in a way that makes it easy for the reader. Writers will find their own style, and some will include a lot of description, some more dialogue. Where there is more description than dialogue in a novel, it can result in a slower paced book. Books with more dialogue are often quicker to read.
The important points when constructing dialogue in a novel, are as follows:
1. Make it clear who is speaking. So, for example, where there are two men talking to each other, if you say 'he said' a few times, this could result in confusion. Perhaps, have one of the men mention the name of the other within the dialogue once or twice, or mention the name of one of the men, e.g. 'said James.'
2. Vary the writing, i.e. don't keep saying, 'he said', or 'she said' every time a character finishes speaking. Add other things, like, 'he swept his hand through his hair as he spoke', or 'she avoided his eyes'. In this way you are 'showing' your reader what the characters are doing as they're speaking. An example:
One way of doing it:
'How much is this vase?' asked John.
'Fifty pounds,' answered Bobby.
'That's expensive for a vase.'
'It's rare... an antique,' said Bobby.
Another way:
John picked up a blue vase with a floral design.'How much does this cost?' He asked.
Bobby eyed him up and down as if trying to work out how much he could afford to pay. He narrowed his eyes and said, 'That's fifty pounds.'
John's eyes widened. 'That's expensive for a vase.'
'It's rare... an antique,' said Bobby as he wiped a stain from the top of the shop counter, avoiding John's stare.
Okay, so that's a basic unedited paragraph, but I hope it highlights what I mean about trying to make the dialogue interesting.
3. Make the dialogue realistic; i.e. if your story is set in a certain part of the country where people have an accent and a certain way of saying things, you should really include that within the dialogue.
I do know of writers who have done quite well writing a whole short story only using dialogue and nothing else. So, it is doable. I suppose the point I really want to make is that you should never listen to anyone who says there are hard and fast rules for this type of thing; as with any creative pursuit, use your own intuition, and make sure you feel happy with the writing you are putting out there.
Digital publishing:
Any new writers would be forgiven for being confused by all the various ways you can publish e-books online. This is very much the digital age when it comes to publishing. More e-books are sold than print books these days, so if you are serious about your writing you do need to consider having your books available in digital form as well as print.
There are number of sites available for publishing your books as e-books. Some of them are listed below:
1. Amazon Kindle - probably the most popular, and most widely read. I sell the majority of my e-books via Amazon Kindle. It's relatively easy to upload your books onto Kindle yourself and you don't even need an ISBN number to do that. Your book will be available more or less worldwide and at a price you choose. I don't think any serious writer can get away with not publishing their books on Kindle.
2. Smashwords.com - This is a great site for indie writers. It allows you to upload your book and it will be converted into most digital formats, so it's available for download to most (if not all) e-readers.
3. Barnes and Noble (B&N) - Nook. This is also a popular reading device. If you publish through Smashwords, your book will be available through B&N. Or, you can upload to B&N directly (although when I last looked at that you can only upload directly if you have a US address or bank account).
4. iBookstore - the iPad is becoming more an more popular. Uploading your books onto the iBookstore can be done direct. I am told that if you produce a document on Pages (on a Mac) you can convert it into ePub and upload very easily onto the iBookstore. I haven't tried that yet, and believe there may be some restrictions for anyone outside the US trying to publish on there. I did get a few of my books converted free by Lulu.com, so they appear on the iBookstore.
E
Editing
This is a biggie. Ignore this at your peril.
You MUST make sure that before you publish a book of any type, it has been edited, and in most cases this means that someone other than the author has looked through it with a fine-toothed comb.
By 'someone', I mean someone who has knowledge of grammar, spelling, syntax.
I can't stress how important that is.
In the past few years, I have read hundreds of indie books, and about 98% of them have had problems associated with the fact that a good editor was not used... It's frustrating. I know that when you're a writer starting out you will be very keen to publish your work. You will love it, you will feel accomplished when you write a whole novel, you'll show it to a friend or two, maybe your mum and dad, they will all tell you it's great. Then you publish... then you learn. This is the road most authors take on the journey. We all make mistakes.
I can give an example from my own publishing journey. I know that I published Coincidences too soon. I should have sat on the story, re-read it, edited it, and waited until it was perfect, but I was keen to publish and a less-than-perfect version is out there in hardback. My second edition is as near as what I would say is perfect (in my opinion), but my reviews from the older version are still there on Amazon, and will live with me. The first version was good, but not great. We should all be aiming for great books before we publish them. At the time I published Coincidences the first time, I was sure it was perfect and would become a best-seller, but that was over 12 years ago and I have learnt so much since then. There is a lesson in that to aspiring writers: just because you think your book is the best thing since sliced bread, it may not be :)
In conclusion, it's okay, and not the end of the world, if you've published a less-than-perfect book, but we must always be striving for perfection, so either do what I did with Coincidences and rewrite it until you're happy with it, or try to edit your work before your publish it to avoid all that.
Try and use an editor who comes recommended by someone else. With my soon-to-be-released novel, Haunted, I used the editing services of Susan Helene Gottfried. I am quite confident with my writing by this stage of my writing life, but I spent so many months editing Coincidences that I wanted to hand over the hard part of the publishing process to someone else. I'm glad I did, because I now have someone's comments on my book that will make me think from the perspective of a reader when polishing my work.
It's also important to have proof-readers. But I can deal with that subject in a later part of this series.
F
Formatting
This follows on nicely from the part above about digital publishing.
Self-published writers are expected to wear many hats. They are artists, writers, entertainers, now marketers and editors, and the digital age has required them to be able to be computer-literate and format their books into a version that can be accepted on e-book seller sites.
There are guidelines that you can follow on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords and other sites that will enable you to upload books yourself to the sites. I found I was limited with what I could do as I have a Mac computer and until recently most sites were not very user-friendly for Macs. I was lucky enough to have a good author friend who helped me with formatting. I won't mention her name in case she's inundated with requests for help LOL.
Formatting is a big issue in publishing. I read a lot of Kindle books and notice that most of them have formatting issues. This is partly due to the fact that the book is being converted from one file type to another. It can also be due to the fact that Microsoft Word is quite a basic software system not capable of functioning well for this type of usage (an IT expert told me this.)
There is help and there are resources you can find on the Internet if you find that you are stuck and need help with formatting.
If you want to go it alone, self-published without using another company but just require formatting help, I would recommend, eBookBuilders: https://digitalebookformatting.wordpr... I am told that this company will produce the best quality formatted ebooks for your requirements. I am probably going to use the company for my next e-book. It would be peace of mind to know that the product I am publishing will be the best it can be.
Facebook
One of the features I have recently started using on Facebook is the Author Fan Page. So, I've set up a page separate from my own personal page, and use that for promoting my books. I think all authors should have a fan page. It makes sense, because then you can post personal stuff on your own page and project a more professional image on your Author Page. It's quite easy to set up the page. You go to your 'home' page and click on 'Pages' then there should be a link for 'start a new page', or something like that. You build the page as you would your normal Facebook page.
I found that getting people to 'Like' the page can be a struggle, but I was invited to a Facebook Event yesterday, where people were swapping 'Likes' and it was very successful. I ended up with 315 'Likes' of my page. When people 'Like' your page, they will see whatever you post in their news feed. So, the more 'Likes' you have, the better.
Friendly
I'm just going to tag this on the end because I believe that now we are in the e-publishing world we are all much more accessible on the Internet. A big part of what we do as self-published writers is marketing. That's marketing of our book, but also be aware that you are also marketing yourself as a brand name. It's important that you are friendly in your approach to readers and fellow indie authors. There is nothing more off-putting than an author who obviously just wants to sell you his or her book, but just as obviously, doesn't want to know anything about you...
Get to know your readers and have a circle of fellow writers that you can chat with. Writing is a lonely business, but with the advent of the Internet and all the various social networking sites, it can also be a lot of fun.
That brings me onto another word: Fun You should have fun as a self-published writer, enjoy what you are doing and this will come across to others. If you are not happy, you should perhaps not be self-published. Being a self-published writer is hard work, it's something that won't bring immediate results, and there are many things that can drag you down. This is another reason why it's important to have fellow authors you can chat to.
Here's another F word: Forum Join a writers'/readers' forum, liked Bestsellerbound.com, that I mentioned in my last post (Under B).
Look out for my next post in this series. Coming soon...
I hope the series will be useful to aspiring writers and those who are having a hard time navigating their way through the often confusing self-publishing process.
The first part of the series was featured on author K.B. Walker's blog: A-C Writing and Self-publishing tips
So here we go:
D
Dialogue & Description:
There is a view that you should not include too much dialogue in your fiction. This is a view that, frankly, I don't believe in. I write character-driven fiction that contains a lot of dialogue, and I like it that way. When I'm reading books, I also like a lot of dialogue; when it's done correctly, it helps move the action along and also entertains more than a paragraph of prose ever could. That said, you should not include too much dialogue to the exclusion of other description. I think that description in a novel is also an important part of it. I really believe that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to how much dialogue and how much description you include in a novel, the important thing is that you write in a way that makes it easy for the reader. Writers will find their own style, and some will include a lot of description, some more dialogue. Where there is more description than dialogue in a novel, it can result in a slower paced book. Books with more dialogue are often quicker to read.
The important points when constructing dialogue in a novel, are as follows:
1. Make it clear who is speaking. So, for example, where there are two men talking to each other, if you say 'he said' a few times, this could result in confusion. Perhaps, have one of the men mention the name of the other within the dialogue once or twice, or mention the name of one of the men, e.g. 'said James.'
2. Vary the writing, i.e. don't keep saying, 'he said', or 'she said' every time a character finishes speaking. Add other things, like, 'he swept his hand through his hair as he spoke', or 'she avoided his eyes'. In this way you are 'showing' your reader what the characters are doing as they're speaking. An example:
One way of doing it:
'How much is this vase?' asked John.
'Fifty pounds,' answered Bobby.
'That's expensive for a vase.'
'It's rare... an antique,' said Bobby.
Another way:
John picked up a blue vase with a floral design.'How much does this cost?' He asked.
Bobby eyed him up and down as if trying to work out how much he could afford to pay. He narrowed his eyes and said, 'That's fifty pounds.'
John's eyes widened. 'That's expensive for a vase.'
'It's rare... an antique,' said Bobby as he wiped a stain from the top of the shop counter, avoiding John's stare.
Okay, so that's a basic unedited paragraph, but I hope it highlights what I mean about trying to make the dialogue interesting.
3. Make the dialogue realistic; i.e. if your story is set in a certain part of the country where people have an accent and a certain way of saying things, you should really include that within the dialogue.
I do know of writers who have done quite well writing a whole short story only using dialogue and nothing else. So, it is doable. I suppose the point I really want to make is that you should never listen to anyone who says there are hard and fast rules for this type of thing; as with any creative pursuit, use your own intuition, and make sure you feel happy with the writing you are putting out there.
Digital publishing:
Any new writers would be forgiven for being confused by all the various ways you can publish e-books online. This is very much the digital age when it comes to publishing. More e-books are sold than print books these days, so if you are serious about your writing you do need to consider having your books available in digital form as well as print.
There are number of sites available for publishing your books as e-books. Some of them are listed below:
1. Amazon Kindle - probably the most popular, and most widely read. I sell the majority of my e-books via Amazon Kindle. It's relatively easy to upload your books onto Kindle yourself and you don't even need an ISBN number to do that. Your book will be available more or less worldwide and at a price you choose. I don't think any serious writer can get away with not publishing their books on Kindle.
2. Smashwords.com - This is a great site for indie writers. It allows you to upload your book and it will be converted into most digital formats, so it's available for download to most (if not all) e-readers.
3. Barnes and Noble (B&N) - Nook. This is also a popular reading device. If you publish through Smashwords, your book will be available through B&N. Or, you can upload to B&N directly (although when I last looked at that you can only upload directly if you have a US address or bank account).
4. iBookstore - the iPad is becoming more an more popular. Uploading your books onto the iBookstore can be done direct. I am told that if you produce a document on Pages (on a Mac) you can convert it into ePub and upload very easily onto the iBookstore. I haven't tried that yet, and believe there may be some restrictions for anyone outside the US trying to publish on there. I did get a few of my books converted free by Lulu.com, so they appear on the iBookstore.
E
Editing
This is a biggie. Ignore this at your peril.
You MUST make sure that before you publish a book of any type, it has been edited, and in most cases this means that someone other than the author has looked through it with a fine-toothed comb.
By 'someone', I mean someone who has knowledge of grammar, spelling, syntax.
I can't stress how important that is.
In the past few years, I have read hundreds of indie books, and about 98% of them have had problems associated with the fact that a good editor was not used... It's frustrating. I know that when you're a writer starting out you will be very keen to publish your work. You will love it, you will feel accomplished when you write a whole novel, you'll show it to a friend or two, maybe your mum and dad, they will all tell you it's great. Then you publish... then you learn. This is the road most authors take on the journey. We all make mistakes.
I can give an example from my own publishing journey. I know that I published Coincidences too soon. I should have sat on the story, re-read it, edited it, and waited until it was perfect, but I was keen to publish and a less-than-perfect version is out there in hardback. My second edition is as near as what I would say is perfect (in my opinion), but my reviews from the older version are still there on Amazon, and will live with me. The first version was good, but not great. We should all be aiming for great books before we publish them. At the time I published Coincidences the first time, I was sure it was perfect and would become a best-seller, but that was over 12 years ago and I have learnt so much since then. There is a lesson in that to aspiring writers: just because you think your book is the best thing since sliced bread, it may not be :)
In conclusion, it's okay, and not the end of the world, if you've published a less-than-perfect book, but we must always be striving for perfection, so either do what I did with Coincidences and rewrite it until you're happy with it, or try to edit your work before your publish it to avoid all that.
Try and use an editor who comes recommended by someone else. With my soon-to-be-released novel, Haunted, I used the editing services of Susan Helene Gottfried. I am quite confident with my writing by this stage of my writing life, but I spent so many months editing Coincidences that I wanted to hand over the hard part of the publishing process to someone else. I'm glad I did, because I now have someone's comments on my book that will make me think from the perspective of a reader when polishing my work.
It's also important to have proof-readers. But I can deal with that subject in a later part of this series.
F
Formatting
This follows on nicely from the part above about digital publishing.
Self-published writers are expected to wear many hats. They are artists, writers, entertainers, now marketers and editors, and the digital age has required them to be able to be computer-literate and format their books into a version that can be accepted on e-book seller sites.
There are guidelines that you can follow on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords and other sites that will enable you to upload books yourself to the sites. I found I was limited with what I could do as I have a Mac computer and until recently most sites were not very user-friendly for Macs. I was lucky enough to have a good author friend who helped me with formatting. I won't mention her name in case she's inundated with requests for help LOL.
Formatting is a big issue in publishing. I read a lot of Kindle books and notice that most of them have formatting issues. This is partly due to the fact that the book is being converted from one file type to another. It can also be due to the fact that Microsoft Word is quite a basic software system not capable of functioning well for this type of usage (an IT expert told me this.)
There is help and there are resources you can find on the Internet if you find that you are stuck and need help with formatting.
If you want to go it alone, self-published without using another company but just require formatting help, I would recommend, eBookBuilders: https://digitalebookformatting.wordpr... I am told that this company will produce the best quality formatted ebooks for your requirements. I am probably going to use the company for my next e-book. It would be peace of mind to know that the product I am publishing will be the best it can be.
One of the features I have recently started using on Facebook is the Author Fan Page. So, I've set up a page separate from my own personal page, and use that for promoting my books. I think all authors should have a fan page. It makes sense, because then you can post personal stuff on your own page and project a more professional image on your Author Page. It's quite easy to set up the page. You go to your 'home' page and click on 'Pages' then there should be a link for 'start a new page', or something like that. You build the page as you would your normal Facebook page.
I found that getting people to 'Like' the page can be a struggle, but I was invited to a Facebook Event yesterday, where people were swapping 'Likes' and it was very successful. I ended up with 315 'Likes' of my page. When people 'Like' your page, they will see whatever you post in their news feed. So, the more 'Likes' you have, the better.
Friendly
I'm just going to tag this on the end because I believe that now we are in the e-publishing world we are all much more accessible on the Internet. A big part of what we do as self-published writers is marketing. That's marketing of our book, but also be aware that you are also marketing yourself as a brand name. It's important that you are friendly in your approach to readers and fellow indie authors. There is nothing more off-putting than an author who obviously just wants to sell you his or her book, but just as obviously, doesn't want to know anything about you...
Get to know your readers and have a circle of fellow writers that you can chat with. Writing is a lonely business, but with the advent of the Internet and all the various social networking sites, it can also be a lot of fun.
That brings me onto another word: Fun You should have fun as a self-published writer, enjoy what you are doing and this will come across to others. If you are not happy, you should perhaps not be self-published. Being a self-published writer is hard work, it's something that won't bring immediate results, and there are many things that can drag you down. This is another reason why it's important to have fellow authors you can chat to.
Here's another F word: Forum Join a writers'/readers' forum, liked Bestsellerbound.com, that I mentioned in my last post (Under B).
Look out for my next post in this series. Coming soon...
Haunted is the Featured New Release at the West of Mars blog!
Haunted is the Featured New Release on West of Mars.
West of Mars is the website for Rock & Roll fiction author, Susan Helene Gottfried. Susan helped me with the editing for Haunted.
You can find out all about Susan's editing services here: http://westofmars.com/susans-editing-...
Follow this link to see the Featured New Release post, and find out what song makes me think of my book: http://westofmars.com/featured-new-bo...
West of Mars is the website for Rock & Roll fiction author, Susan Helene Gottfried. Susan helped me with the editing for Haunted.
You can find out all about Susan's editing services here: http://westofmars.com/susans-editing-...
Follow this link to see the Featured New Release post, and find out what song makes me think of my book: http://westofmars.com/featured-new-bo...
A-Z of Self-publishing and writing tips: Q - S
Continuing with my series of writing and self-publishing tips, today I will be dealing with a few common mistakes writers make in their manuscripts and also giving you a list of resources for writers and readers.
Q
Quotes, quotation marks
It doesn't matter whether you use single or double quotation marks for dialogue. Double quotes are more common in American English, whereas in the UK we tend to use single quotes for dialogue. The thing to note is that where you use double quotes for dialogue, you should use single quotes when you have speech within speech, and vice versa.
An example:
'Margery said she would be coming to tea; I asked her what time and she said, "See you at four".'
"Margery said she would be coming to tea; I asked her what time and she said, 'See you at four'."
Quotation marks are often used wrongly to emphasise a word in a sentence, when italics should be used instead, e.g.:
The meal was "delicious".
Italics should be used for emphasis:
The meal was delicious.
The reason I say that this usage is incorrect in this case is because the accepted use for quotation marks in prose (when not relating to the word itself) is for irony. So for example, in the above sentence by saying "delicious" in quotes, one might assume that the narrator didn't really like the meal.
You can use quotes to single out certain words in a sentence when the emphasis is on the word itself, e.g.
If you wanted to single out the word, 'horse' in a sentence, it is acceptable to use the quotes as I have just done.
Have I confused you enough yet? Good.
Who said writing was easy?
Another other thing I want to say about quotes is that the general rule is, where you use double quotes for speech, you should use single for highlighting other words. An example:
'Where are you going?' asked Jessica.
I wanted to tell her I was going home; I was tired, and needed to sleep. To be honest, I didn't really know where "home" was.
Question marks
Incorrect use of question marks. Another common mistake. I used to do it quite a lot which is why I'm an expert. (Having said that, I still do it quite a lot in my first drafts... )
Question marks should only be used at the end of a sentence when a direct question has been asked.
How are you?
Where are you?
Are you sure you know how to use question marks?
Some examples of inappropriate use of question marks:
It was possible Duncan was feeling the same way about it?
If he went to bed now, he might not be able to sleep?
Perhaps Matthew would ask her out?
I've also noticed a common usage of question marks in the wrong part of the sentence. For example:
Would he end up alone; someone once told him he might?
(Yes, that sort of mistake happens a lot!)
Would he end up alone? Someone once told him he might.
Much better, see?
So, we just need to think a bit more about where the question mark should be in the sentence.
R
Reviews
I could probably write a whole book just dedicated to these little things that mean a lot and then again don't mean much at all... Reviews... can't live with them, can't live without them.
For readers:
A heartfelt plea:
Please, please, please, WRITE A REVIEW IF YOU LOVE/LIKE A BOOK. IT MEANS A LOT, WHICH IS WHY I AM TYPING IN CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!!
If you don't love/like a book... be kind!! I cannot stress that enough. There will be things we don't like about a book, and I am all for free speech, BUT there is always something to like/love about even a rubbish book. DO NOT give a 1 star review unless you can back it up with a REAL reason. If a book has offended your soul, you can give a 1 star review... I have done so in the past. Otherwise BE KIND. Do you know how many months... if not years... of a writer's life is spent writing a book? They have written something AND had the courage to let others read it. That alone should warrant a bit of respect. No matter what a writer tells you, our books are personal to us. Most of my fiction contains stuff from my personal life which is fictionalised. Writers are often sensitive souls and may use their writing as a way of trying to comprehend the world we live in. DO NOT write a review without thinking about what you are writing. By all means, if you notice something the writer could have done better, point it out. Many of my more 'critical' reviews have pointed the way for me to become a better writer. HAVE A HEART when you're writing a review as most authors (especially independent authors who are just starting out) will read your review and WILL take it to heart.
Most writers will admit that their first book is not their best work, but having someone completely tear it apart in a review does no one any good. A writer improves with each book he or she writes. A little encouragement can go a long way.
Whenever I read a book that I don't like much, I try to point out the good and bad aspects in my review. If I honestly cannot give 3, 4, or 5 stars, I won't review it.
Be honest with your reviews. Even if you have a few negative things to say (among the nice things!!) the writer will thank you. Maybe not immediately, but later when they are more experienced.
A final and important point is -- your review does not have to be a masterpiece. It can be one or two lines saying what you liked about the book. You do not have to rehash the whole storyline in a review; in fact, I don't like the reviews that give away too much of the story. Be brief but say what you want to say. Why you think others should read the book. And, yes, say what you didn't like about it, that will help the writer; but try to be kind.
For Writers:
The best advice if you want to stay sane is DO NOT read the reviews. But most writers are curious creatures. Curiosity is one of the things that fuels our creativity. We cannot help but read the reviews, word for word... and then we concentrate on the negative parts of the review and start to cry... yes, I've been there a few times.
As you get more experienced as a writer, the bad reviews will not faze you as much (hopefully because you will have many good reviews to balance them out). I read a great piece of advice recently; it goes something like: one third of the audience will love your work, one third will be indifferent, and one third will hate it.
This puts things in perspective. If you have lots of bad reviews you're just not reaching the right audience.
Reviews are needed because the more reviews you have, the more sales you get; that's just the way it goes. Readers will be more likely to buy a book with 1000 reviews than one that only has 10. It seems more popular.
Whenever you're feeling down about a 1 star review, go and check out your favourite bestselling author's Amazon page; you'll see that even the big names get lots of 1 star reviews.
Finally, and probably the most important thing: a review is only ONE person's opinion. It doesn't mean your book is fantastic or rubbish. It means the book is fantastic or rubbish in THAT person's OPINION.
NEVER think that your work is that great that it should only ever get 5 star reviews... you are fooling yourself.
Resources for writers
We all know it's important for writers to make use of companies/websites that can help to perfect and promote our work. Here is a list of useful sites I have found and would recommend:
E-Book Formatting:
eBookBuilders: http://www.e-bookbuilders.com/
This is an e-book formatting company that will format your book as an epub and Kindle/mobi. I used the company for the kindle version of my novel Haunted, and was very pleased with the professional looking results, and the speedy service.
Ellie Mendez: http://www.ebook-format.com/
When I was looking for someone to format my book Coincidences for Smashwords I found Ellie via a fellow author, Susan Buchanan. eBookBuilders don't do Word formatting and Smashwords only accept .doc files, so I used Ellie's service for formatting. I was very pleased with quick and professional service, and the results!
Proofreading:
Proofread Julia: http://www.facebook.com/ProofreaderJulia
I usually use fellow writers for proofreading/beta reading, but have recently been introduced to Julia, who does this for a living, and she is good because I have read a book that she proofread You Wish... by Terry Tyler. She is in fact, Terry's sister. I am thinking of using her services for my next book. It's always good to have professional results.
Editing:
West of Mars: whttp://westofmars.com/susans-editing-...
Author Susan Helene Gottfried offer an editing service. I used her for my book, Haunted, and was pleased with the results.
Other editors that have been recommended to me by other authors are:
Dionne Lister http://dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.c...
Robert Helle: https://twitter.com/cubfan0217
All of the above services have reasonable rates, and it's definitely worth spending a bit of money to make sure you have a professional product.
Websites that are good for promotion:
BestsellerBound Recommends: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...
This is a blog started by Darcia Helle, which I contribute to and help to maintain, along with author J. Michael Radcliffe.
If you're an indie author and would like to be featured, check our our submissions page and rules here: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...
Celebrating Authors:
This site is similar to BestsellerBound blog; indie authors can choose from a list of promotional opportunities: http://celebratingauthors.blogspot.co...
World Literary Cafe: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/
This site does everything from promoting free Kindle books to interviews, and has special features; for example, there is a #WLCTwitterFollows group where you list your Twitter name and then people from the writing community follow you on Twitter & you follow back. A good way to build up a following.
Also, don't forget that doing interviews on your fellow authors' blogs is also good for promotion. As are giveaways (mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this series).
Review sites:
Orchard Book Club: http://www.facebook.com/OrchardBookClub
http://orchardbookclub.wordpress.com/
Juniper Grove: http://www.junipergrove.net/
BestsellerBound Recommends has a list of reviewers: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...
The above review sites are also great places for readers to find new authors and books.
S
Spelling
Please don't only rely on spellcheck on your PC. It will not pick up words that can be spelt in different ways, e.g. there, their, they're, may have been used wrongly or you may have used 'if' instead of 'is'. Just because a word is correctly spelt, it doesn't mean there are no errors in the document. Again, this is where a good proofreader can come in handy.
Show Vs Tell/Storytelling
One of the most common things that editors complain about is how much 'telling' instead of 'showing' there is in a book.
Telling would be e.g.
Adam used to work for a supermarket. He worked long hours. Never came home until late in the evening. His wife didn't like that. She always used to complain at him. Nagging. He hated the nagging.
Showing this would be, for example:
Adam turned his key in the front door.
'Where have you been?' asked Jodie, frowning. Her arms crossed in front of her showed that she was not happy.
'I've been at work.'
'You're always working! How long do bloody supermarkets stay open these days?'
'It's a twenty-four hour store.' Adam pushed past her and walked into the living room.
As you can see, there is more action in showing as opposed to telling, and readers prefer something that will help them imagine the story.
Having said that, I believe there is a place for both showing and telling in a good novel. Finding the balance is the tricky bit.
I find that my first drafts are always full of telling. This is because I believe in getting the story down on paper as quickly as I can. I then take my time to edit. I look for scenes that can be developed from the 'telling'. It's all part of the editing process.
Where there is too much 'telling' in a book, it often makes the reader feel dissatisfied. It make me (as a writer) feel that the book could have been improved if more time had been taken to develop the scenes.
Smashwords
Smashwords.com is a site where indie writers can publish an e-book so that readers can download from the site in any e-book format they choose. I think it's a great site and believe that many readers haven't heard of it. It tends to be only indie authors that use the site, which is a pity because there are lots of bargain books and fabulous reads on the site.
For writers, you can also choose to publish the book so that it's distributed by Smashwords to Barnes & Noble, Sony, iBookstore, and other sites.
If you're an author outside the US, you will need to submit tax details to avoid the withholding tax (much in the same way as Amazon KDP).
************************************************************************************
I hope you'll find the above tips and recommendations useful.
Thanks for reading.
Q
Quotes, quotation marks
It doesn't matter whether you use single or double quotation marks for dialogue. Double quotes are more common in American English, whereas in the UK we tend to use single quotes for dialogue. The thing to note is that where you use double quotes for dialogue, you should use single quotes when you have speech within speech, and vice versa.
An example:
'Margery said she would be coming to tea; I asked her what time and she said, "See you at four".'
"Margery said she would be coming to tea; I asked her what time and she said, 'See you at four'."
Quotation marks are often used wrongly to emphasise a word in a sentence, when italics should be used instead, e.g.:
The meal was "delicious".
Italics should be used for emphasis:
The meal was delicious.
The reason I say that this usage is incorrect in this case is because the accepted use for quotation marks in prose (when not relating to the word itself) is for irony. So for example, in the above sentence by saying "delicious" in quotes, one might assume that the narrator didn't really like the meal.
You can use quotes to single out certain words in a sentence when the emphasis is on the word itself, e.g.
If you wanted to single out the word, 'horse' in a sentence, it is acceptable to use the quotes as I have just done.
Have I confused you enough yet? Good.
Who said writing was easy?
Another other thing I want to say about quotes is that the general rule is, where you use double quotes for speech, you should use single for highlighting other words. An example:
'Where are you going?' asked Jessica.
I wanted to tell her I was going home; I was tired, and needed to sleep. To be honest, I didn't really know where "home" was.
Question marks
Incorrect use of question marks. Another common mistake. I used to do it quite a lot which is why I'm an expert. (Having said that, I still do it quite a lot in my first drafts... )
Question marks should only be used at the end of a sentence when a direct question has been asked.
How are you?
Where are you?
Are you sure you know how to use question marks?
Some examples of inappropriate use of question marks:
It was possible Duncan was feeling the same way about it?
If he went to bed now, he might not be able to sleep?
Perhaps Matthew would ask her out?
I've also noticed a common usage of question marks in the wrong part of the sentence. For example:
Would he end up alone; someone once told him he might?
(Yes, that sort of mistake happens a lot!)
Would he end up alone? Someone once told him he might.
Much better, see?
So, we just need to think a bit more about where the question mark should be in the sentence.
R
Reviews
I could probably write a whole book just dedicated to these little things that mean a lot and then again don't mean much at all... Reviews... can't live with them, can't live without them.
For readers:
A heartfelt plea:
Please, please, please, WRITE A REVIEW IF YOU LOVE/LIKE A BOOK. IT MEANS A LOT, WHICH IS WHY I AM TYPING IN CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!!
If you don't love/like a book... be kind!! I cannot stress that enough. There will be things we don't like about a book, and I am all for free speech, BUT there is always something to like/love about even a rubbish book. DO NOT give a 1 star review unless you can back it up with a REAL reason. If a book has offended your soul, you can give a 1 star review... I have done so in the past. Otherwise BE KIND. Do you know how many months... if not years... of a writer's life is spent writing a book? They have written something AND had the courage to let others read it. That alone should warrant a bit of respect. No matter what a writer tells you, our books are personal to us. Most of my fiction contains stuff from my personal life which is fictionalised. Writers are often sensitive souls and may use their writing as a way of trying to comprehend the world we live in. DO NOT write a review without thinking about what you are writing. By all means, if you notice something the writer could have done better, point it out. Many of my more 'critical' reviews have pointed the way for me to become a better writer. HAVE A HEART when you're writing a review as most authors (especially independent authors who are just starting out) will read your review and WILL take it to heart.
Most writers will admit that their first book is not their best work, but having someone completely tear it apart in a review does no one any good. A writer improves with each book he or she writes. A little encouragement can go a long way.
Whenever I read a book that I don't like much, I try to point out the good and bad aspects in my review. If I honestly cannot give 3, 4, or 5 stars, I won't review it.
Be honest with your reviews. Even if you have a few negative things to say (among the nice things!!) the writer will thank you. Maybe not immediately, but later when they are more experienced.
A final and important point is -- your review does not have to be a masterpiece. It can be one or two lines saying what you liked about the book. You do not have to rehash the whole storyline in a review; in fact, I don't like the reviews that give away too much of the story. Be brief but say what you want to say. Why you think others should read the book. And, yes, say what you didn't like about it, that will help the writer; but try to be kind.
For Writers:
The best advice if you want to stay sane is DO NOT read the reviews. But most writers are curious creatures. Curiosity is one of the things that fuels our creativity. We cannot help but read the reviews, word for word... and then we concentrate on the negative parts of the review and start to cry... yes, I've been there a few times.
As you get more experienced as a writer, the bad reviews will not faze you as much (hopefully because you will have many good reviews to balance them out). I read a great piece of advice recently; it goes something like: one third of the audience will love your work, one third will be indifferent, and one third will hate it.
This puts things in perspective. If you have lots of bad reviews you're just not reaching the right audience.
Reviews are needed because the more reviews you have, the more sales you get; that's just the way it goes. Readers will be more likely to buy a book with 1000 reviews than one that only has 10. It seems more popular.
Whenever you're feeling down about a 1 star review, go and check out your favourite bestselling author's Amazon page; you'll see that even the big names get lots of 1 star reviews.
Finally, and probably the most important thing: a review is only ONE person's opinion. It doesn't mean your book is fantastic or rubbish. It means the book is fantastic or rubbish in THAT person's OPINION.
NEVER think that your work is that great that it should only ever get 5 star reviews... you are fooling yourself.
Resources for writers
We all know it's important for writers to make use of companies/websites that can help to perfect and promote our work. Here is a list of useful sites I have found and would recommend:
E-Book Formatting:
eBookBuilders: http://www.e-bookbuilders.com/
This is an e-book formatting company that will format your book as an epub and Kindle/mobi. I used the company for the kindle version of my novel Haunted, and was very pleased with the professional looking results, and the speedy service.
Ellie Mendez: http://www.ebook-format.com/
When I was looking for someone to format my book Coincidences for Smashwords I found Ellie via a fellow author, Susan Buchanan. eBookBuilders don't do Word formatting and Smashwords only accept .doc files, so I used Ellie's service for formatting. I was very pleased with quick and professional service, and the results!
Proofreading:
Proofread Julia: http://www.facebook.com/ProofreaderJulia
I usually use fellow writers for proofreading/beta reading, but have recently been introduced to Julia, who does this for a living, and she is good because I have read a book that she proofread You Wish... by Terry Tyler. She is in fact, Terry's sister. I am thinking of using her services for my next book. It's always good to have professional results.
Editing:
West of Mars: whttp://westofmars.com/susans-editing-...
Author Susan Helene Gottfried offer an editing service. I used her for my book, Haunted, and was pleased with the results.
Other editors that have been recommended to me by other authors are:
Dionne Lister http://dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.c...
Robert Helle: https://twitter.com/cubfan0217
All of the above services have reasonable rates, and it's definitely worth spending a bit of money to make sure you have a professional product.
Websites that are good for promotion:
BestsellerBound Recommends: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...
This is a blog started by Darcia Helle, which I contribute to and help to maintain, along with author J. Michael Radcliffe.
If you're an indie author and would like to be featured, check our our submissions page and rules here: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...
Celebrating Authors:
This site is similar to BestsellerBound blog; indie authors can choose from a list of promotional opportunities: http://celebratingauthors.blogspot.co...
World Literary Cafe: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/
This site does everything from promoting free Kindle books to interviews, and has special features; for example, there is a #WLCTwitterFollows group where you list your Twitter name and then people from the writing community follow you on Twitter & you follow back. A good way to build up a following.
Also, don't forget that doing interviews on your fellow authors' blogs is also good for promotion. As are giveaways (mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this series).
Review sites:
Orchard Book Club: http://www.facebook.com/OrchardBookClub
http://orchardbookclub.wordpress.com/
Juniper Grove: http://www.junipergrove.net/
BestsellerBound Recommends has a list of reviewers: http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerb...
The above review sites are also great places for readers to find new authors and books.
S
Spelling
Please don't only rely on spellcheck on your PC. It will not pick up words that can be spelt in different ways, e.g. there, their, they're, may have been used wrongly or you may have used 'if' instead of 'is'. Just because a word is correctly spelt, it doesn't mean there are no errors in the document. Again, this is where a good proofreader can come in handy.
Show Vs Tell/Storytelling
One of the most common things that editors complain about is how much 'telling' instead of 'showing' there is in a book.
Telling would be e.g.
Adam used to work for a supermarket. He worked long hours. Never came home until late in the evening. His wife didn't like that. She always used to complain at him. Nagging. He hated the nagging.
Showing this would be, for example:
Adam turned his key in the front door.
'Where have you been?' asked Jodie, frowning. Her arms crossed in front of her showed that she was not happy.
'I've been at work.'
'You're always working! How long do bloody supermarkets stay open these days?'
'It's a twenty-four hour store.' Adam pushed past her and walked into the living room.
As you can see, there is more action in showing as opposed to telling, and readers prefer something that will help them imagine the story.
Having said that, I believe there is a place for both showing and telling in a good novel. Finding the balance is the tricky bit.
I find that my first drafts are always full of telling. This is because I believe in getting the story down on paper as quickly as I can. I then take my time to edit. I look for scenes that can be developed from the 'telling'. It's all part of the editing process.
Where there is too much 'telling' in a book, it often makes the reader feel dissatisfied. It make me (as a writer) feel that the book could have been improved if more time had been taken to develop the scenes.
Smashwords
Smashwords.com is a site where indie writers can publish an e-book so that readers can download from the site in any e-book format they choose. I think it's a great site and believe that many readers haven't heard of it. It tends to be only indie authors that use the site, which is a pity because there are lots of bargain books and fabulous reads on the site.
For writers, you can also choose to publish the book so that it's distributed by Smashwords to Barnes & Noble, Sony, iBookstore, and other sites.
If you're an author outside the US, you will need to submit tax details to avoid the withholding tax (much in the same way as Amazon KDP).
************************************************************************************
I hope you'll find the above tips and recommendations useful.
Thanks for reading.
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: "Literary Values"
One of the panel discussions at the recent TLC conference was about literary values. How has the digital age changed literary values?
A definition that was put forward of 'literary fiction' was: writing that uses language in an interesting way, re-invents language in a way, challenges the world. I think a quote from author Hilary Mantel was that literary fiction provides us with "news from the world".
There was a lively panel discussion on this subject. There definitely seem to be two camps: those who think self-published writers should be burned at the stake, and those who welcome the innovation and change that has been forthcoming from the diversity and wealth of new fiction and non-fiction flooding the market with the digital revolution.
Personally, I think this an exciting time for literature in general, and if we as self-published authors make the most of it we can enhance the publishing industry.
One important point that was raised was that with the ease of self-publishing, it is very easy for writers to publish 'too quickly'. I agree with this. You can write a story today and upload it onto Amazon Kindle tomorrow. In most cases that story will be in need of editing.
Editing is such an important part of the publishing process. New writers often don't appreciate how important it is. It's an easy trap to fall into: new writers are keen to publish their masterpieces to the world, but it is so important to hold back, take time to make sure the work is as perfect as it can be before it's published. The reason self-published writers are getting a bad reputation is because of those who are too eager to push the button and publish.
I am strong supporter of independent writers and I know there is a wealth of talent out there. But--and it's a big BUT--lots of authors cut corners when it comes to editing and this leads to all of us getting a bad name.
For example, one of the panel members at the conference, Andrew Franklin, of Profile Books, stated that the "overwhelming majority" of self-published books are "rubbish". He said being a self published writer is like standing naked in the pitch dark. He said a "miniscule number" of self-published writers will break out and succeed. He called the self-publishing world "deeply corrupted", referring to how it's possible to buy Facebook 'likes' and friends. He said to compare self-published books to traditionally published books, is like comparing Alcopops to good quality wine. While I totally disagree with all of that and feel he went a bit too far, worryingly I can see why he said it.
I read a lot of independently published books because I want to support indie authors, but some of the books make me wonder if writers are taking themselves seriously. There is no excuse for publishing a sub-standard book. If you're a traditional publisher or a self-published author, you must make sure your product is the best it can be before you publish it.
The e-book and digital age is a great opportunity for talented authors and authors who care about their craft, who care about the future of literature, to carve a niche for themselves in an industry that was once beyond their reach. It makes no sense to bring down the industry by letting standards drop. All writers should get their books professionally edited and proofread before publishing. Anything less leaves the door open for critics such as Andrew Franklin to make such sweeping and derogatory remarks about self-published books.
I don't know how many times I have repeated myself about this issue, but it is an ongoing one. People can forgive maybe the odd typo in a 200 page book, but where you find a typo on each page or every other page, it is really off-putting. From my own experience of reading lots of indie books I do know that more writers are investing in an editor these days because I am finding less editorial issues. I hope that somehow the message is getting across to people that it's unacceptable to call yourself a writer and yet produce a book riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.
The message is: take your time and make sure you edit your work, get feedback from a proofreader or beta readers.
One of the other points that was brought up by editor Toby Lichtig in this panel discussion, that I agree with, was that in the old days of publishing there were gatekeepers i.e. editors who would decide whether a piece of work was ready to be published. With the ease of self-publishing, the gatekeepers are no longer there. This not only means that people can publish whenever they want, easily, but it means that writers are not being challenged to improve themselves.
Writers can only become better at their craft when there is criticism of their work. They are then forced to try harder, push themselves further. One of the concerns raised in the panel discussion is that with this ease of publishing writers won't be taking the time to develop their craft.
The other side to this argument is that perhaps what readers want from fiction is changing, perhaps the old 'literary values' are no longer a prerequisite. Maybe I am just a dinosaur holding pre-historic views about the need for good editing in fiction.
An example is the growth of fan fiction.
Fan fiction, for those who are not familiar with the term is where readers will go onto various forums/websites that have been set up to enable them to make up stories using their favourite characters from fiction. Probably the most famous recent example of where something like this made an impact is the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series. That series started off as fan fiction on a fan fiction forum, where the Twilight characters were used to create a new story. That went on to be published by a major publishing house and sold millions.
Fan fiction is on the rise, whether we like it or not. The 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series, is an example, in my opinion, of traditional publishers letting 'literary values' slide in favour of making money from a popular fad. I haven't read (and have no desire to read) the series, but from what I have heard, it was badly edited, if indeed it was edited at all. One panel member, editor Sally O-J, made a good point that perhaps if it had gone to a good editor it would not have sold as many copies as it did. It was the flaws that maybe made it popular. An editor may have changed it and it would not have been what the readers of that particular fan fiction wanted.
So, we can see that it's not only self-published authors who sometimes skimp on editing, but why is it always self-published authors who are blamed for this lack of standards? Makes you think, doesn't it?
The panel discussion highlighted that literary values are changing. Most fan fiction, it was stated, leans towards the Erotica genre.
Sally O-J said that it is worth looking at fan fiction to see what people like reading. Trends seem to go out into the world from these fan fiction websites.
'Literary fiction' as a genre does not appear to be at the forefront of this new digital age, and I don't think that is only down to self-published authors. Readers are voting with their feet. One of the most popular genres at the moment is crime, and with the rise in fan fiction, Erotica and Fantasy fiction are more popular.
The panel discussed the new Kindle Worlds product. This allows readers and writers to publish fan fiction and get paid for it. Ready made characters from popular fiction of the past can be utilised to create new stories.
I'm on the fence about that really. As a writer I like to create my own characters so Kindle Worlds doesn't appeal to me at all. But with the success of 'Fifty Shades' this is obviously a market Amazon want to tap into. There's undeniably a large readership for this type of thing.
To sum up, I would say that there is still a divide between traditional publishers and self-publishers, with strong attitudes held by each side. The tone of the debate made me realise that there are still some in the traditionally published world that will never accept indie authors. However, it seems that the boundaries are blurring with the likes of E.L. James being published by a large publishing house, and fan fiction becoming more acceptable as a product with 'Kindle Worlds'.
Literary values are changing, it seems, but one good thing that seems to have come out of the new digital age is that more people than ever before seem to be picking up books, or e-readers, and reading. That has to be a good thing, right?
A definition that was put forward of 'literary fiction' was: writing that uses language in an interesting way, re-invents language in a way, challenges the world. I think a quote from author Hilary Mantel was that literary fiction provides us with "news from the world".
There was a lively panel discussion on this subject. There definitely seem to be two camps: those who think self-published writers should be burned at the stake, and those who welcome the innovation and change that has been forthcoming from the diversity and wealth of new fiction and non-fiction flooding the market with the digital revolution.
Personally, I think this an exciting time for literature in general, and if we as self-published authors make the most of it we can enhance the publishing industry.
One important point that was raised was that with the ease of self-publishing, it is very easy for writers to publish 'too quickly'. I agree with this. You can write a story today and upload it onto Amazon Kindle tomorrow. In most cases that story will be in need of editing.
Editing is such an important part of the publishing process. New writers often don't appreciate how important it is. It's an easy trap to fall into: new writers are keen to publish their masterpieces to the world, but it is so important to hold back, take time to make sure the work is as perfect as it can be before it's published. The reason self-published writers are getting a bad reputation is because of those who are too eager to push the button and publish.
I am strong supporter of independent writers and I know there is a wealth of talent out there. But--and it's a big BUT--lots of authors cut corners when it comes to editing and this leads to all of us getting a bad name.
For example, one of the panel members at the conference, Andrew Franklin, of Profile Books, stated that the "overwhelming majority" of self-published books are "rubbish". He said being a self published writer is like standing naked in the pitch dark. He said a "miniscule number" of self-published writers will break out and succeed. He called the self-publishing world "deeply corrupted", referring to how it's possible to buy Facebook 'likes' and friends. He said to compare self-published books to traditionally published books, is like comparing Alcopops to good quality wine. While I totally disagree with all of that and feel he went a bit too far, worryingly I can see why he said it.
I read a lot of independently published books because I want to support indie authors, but some of the books make me wonder if writers are taking themselves seriously. There is no excuse for publishing a sub-standard book. If you're a traditional publisher or a self-published author, you must make sure your product is the best it can be before you publish it.
The e-book and digital age is a great opportunity for talented authors and authors who care about their craft, who care about the future of literature, to carve a niche for themselves in an industry that was once beyond their reach. It makes no sense to bring down the industry by letting standards drop. All writers should get their books professionally edited and proofread before publishing. Anything less leaves the door open for critics such as Andrew Franklin to make such sweeping and derogatory remarks about self-published books.
I don't know how many times I have repeated myself about this issue, but it is an ongoing one. People can forgive maybe the odd typo in a 200 page book, but where you find a typo on each page or every other page, it is really off-putting. From my own experience of reading lots of indie books I do know that more writers are investing in an editor these days because I am finding less editorial issues. I hope that somehow the message is getting across to people that it's unacceptable to call yourself a writer and yet produce a book riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.
The message is: take your time and make sure you edit your work, get feedback from a proofreader or beta readers.
One of the other points that was brought up by editor Toby Lichtig in this panel discussion, that I agree with, was that in the old days of publishing there were gatekeepers i.e. editors who would decide whether a piece of work was ready to be published. With the ease of self-publishing, the gatekeepers are no longer there. This not only means that people can publish whenever they want, easily, but it means that writers are not being challenged to improve themselves.
Writers can only become better at their craft when there is criticism of their work. They are then forced to try harder, push themselves further. One of the concerns raised in the panel discussion is that with this ease of publishing writers won't be taking the time to develop their craft.
The other side to this argument is that perhaps what readers want from fiction is changing, perhaps the old 'literary values' are no longer a prerequisite. Maybe I am just a dinosaur holding pre-historic views about the need for good editing in fiction.
An example is the growth of fan fiction.
Fan fiction, for those who are not familiar with the term is where readers will go onto various forums/websites that have been set up to enable them to make up stories using their favourite characters from fiction. Probably the most famous recent example of where something like this made an impact is the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series. That series started off as fan fiction on a fan fiction forum, where the Twilight characters were used to create a new story. That went on to be published by a major publishing house and sold millions.
Fan fiction is on the rise, whether we like it or not. The 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series, is an example, in my opinion, of traditional publishers letting 'literary values' slide in favour of making money from a popular fad. I haven't read (and have no desire to read) the series, but from what I have heard, it was badly edited, if indeed it was edited at all. One panel member, editor Sally O-J, made a good point that perhaps if it had gone to a good editor it would not have sold as many copies as it did. It was the flaws that maybe made it popular. An editor may have changed it and it would not have been what the readers of that particular fan fiction wanted.
So, we can see that it's not only self-published authors who sometimes skimp on editing, but why is it always self-published authors who are blamed for this lack of standards? Makes you think, doesn't it?
The panel discussion highlighted that literary values are changing. Most fan fiction, it was stated, leans towards the Erotica genre.
Sally O-J said that it is worth looking at fan fiction to see what people like reading. Trends seem to go out into the world from these fan fiction websites.
'Literary fiction' as a genre does not appear to be at the forefront of this new digital age, and I don't think that is only down to self-published authors. Readers are voting with their feet. One of the most popular genres at the moment is crime, and with the rise in fan fiction, Erotica and Fantasy fiction are more popular.
The panel discussed the new Kindle Worlds product. This allows readers and writers to publish fan fiction and get paid for it. Ready made characters from popular fiction of the past can be utilised to create new stories.
I'm on the fence about that really. As a writer I like to create my own characters so Kindle Worlds doesn't appeal to me at all. But with the success of 'Fifty Shades' this is obviously a market Amazon want to tap into. There's undeniably a large readership for this type of thing.
To sum up, I would say that there is still a divide between traditional publishers and self-publishers, with strong attitudes held by each side. The tone of the debate made me realise that there are still some in the traditionally published world that will never accept indie authors. However, it seems that the boundaries are blurring with the likes of E.L. James being published by a large publishing house, and fan fiction becoming more acceptable as a product with 'Kindle Worlds'.
Literary values are changing, it seems, but one good thing that seems to have come out of the new digital age is that more people than ever before seem to be picking up books, or e-readers, and reading. That has to be a good thing, right?
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: 5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing (Part I)
At the recent TLC Conference in London, there was a Digital Masterclass on the 'Five Key Stages of Self-Publishing', in association with SfEP (Society for Editors and Proofreaders) and ALLi (The Alliance of Independent Authors).
I'm going to split this into two separate blog posts because there was a lot of information given.
**********
Dr Alison Baverstock, Course Leader for MA Publishing at Kingston University, made the following points:
1. Take care
It's very easy to self-publish a manuscript and the sites that you upload to won't check the content, the quality of the product.
She warned that negative responses to books can hurt and be damaging for a writer.
2. Think about the objectives.
There are many different formats you can publish in. Consider the flexibility of formats.
3. Think of an e-book as a scroll.
A digital book is flowing text. A reader can change the font and font size, as well as line spacing.
She went on to say that there is no restriction on the length of an e-book. With e-books, she says there is a much more level playing field between indie and traditionally published books because no one can really tell who published it.
She says it's best to make e-books widely available.
4. You don't have to do it on your own.
There are various supports out there. Guides to formatting.
On Smashwords.com, for example, there is a free style guide.
She mentioned BookFlower a website where you can easily format your books on your own.
There was a demonstration of that website, and it does seem very easy to use to convert a document into an ePub.
Dr Baverstock also recommended the book Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should, by David Gaughran.
She also recommended Jutoh.com
She gave a few tips for effective distribution:
The aim is to drive traffic to your book. Social media is useful. She recommends trying one thing at a time; changing one variable at a time to see what works and keep a record to learn from.
In regard to the question as to how much to charge for an e-book, she stated that we often underestimate how much people are willing to pay. The presentation of the book is important. We should not look at price in isolation. There are other factors that influence the decision to buy a book.
5. Gain vital market information
Whether you're self-published or published by a traditional publishing house, authors need to get involved in media/marketing. Publishers have become more reliant on authors for this.
Wendy Toole, Chair of the SfEP, stressed the importance of editing.
She said that at least 2 of the following should be done before publishing:
1. Get a manuscript assessment/critique
2. Developmental/structural editing
3. Copy edting
4. Proofreading
She said that it's best to use SfEP members, and also recommended TLC's services. She said you could also use someone who has been personally recommended to you by another author whose books are well-edited.
It was also stated that it's best to get your manuscript into the best shape possible before sending to an editor as this will save time and expense.
***********
In Part II of this part of the series, I will tell you what the speakers said about cover design and font type, and also pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
I'm going to split this into two separate blog posts because there was a lot of information given.
**********
Dr Alison Baverstock, Course Leader for MA Publishing at Kingston University, made the following points:
1. Take care
It's very easy to self-publish a manuscript and the sites that you upload to won't check the content, the quality of the product.
She warned that negative responses to books can hurt and be damaging for a writer.
2. Think about the objectives.
There are many different formats you can publish in. Consider the flexibility of formats.
3. Think of an e-book as a scroll.
A digital book is flowing text. A reader can change the font and font size, as well as line spacing.
She went on to say that there is no restriction on the length of an e-book. With e-books, she says there is a much more level playing field between indie and traditionally published books because no one can really tell who published it.
She says it's best to make e-books widely available.
4. You don't have to do it on your own.
There are various supports out there. Guides to formatting.
On Smashwords.com, for example, there is a free style guide.
She mentioned BookFlower a website where you can easily format your books on your own.
There was a demonstration of that website, and it does seem very easy to use to convert a document into an ePub.
Dr Baverstock also recommended the book Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should, by David Gaughran.
She also recommended Jutoh.com
She gave a few tips for effective distribution:
The aim is to drive traffic to your book. Social media is useful. She recommends trying one thing at a time; changing one variable at a time to see what works and keep a record to learn from.
In regard to the question as to how much to charge for an e-book, she stated that we often underestimate how much people are willing to pay. The presentation of the book is important. We should not look at price in isolation. There are other factors that influence the decision to buy a book.
5. Gain vital market information
Whether you're self-published or published by a traditional publishing house, authors need to get involved in media/marketing. Publishers have become more reliant on authors for this.
Wendy Toole, Chair of the SfEP, stressed the importance of editing.
She said that at least 2 of the following should be done before publishing:
1. Get a manuscript assessment/critique
2. Developmental/structural editing
3. Copy edting
4. Proofreading
She said that it's best to use SfEP members, and also recommended TLC's services. She said you could also use someone who has been personally recommended to you by another author whose books are well-edited.
It was also stated that it's best to get your manuscript into the best shape possible before sending to an editor as this will save time and expense.
***********
In Part II of this part of the series, I will tell you what the speakers said about cover design and font type, and also pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
Writing Goals 2014
This is the time of year for planning ahead.
Having a few goals to aim for is always worthwhile. It's a great thing for writers to do as it provides a bit of motivation and helps put things into perspective.
My writing goals for 2014 are:
1. To publish my short story collection, Far Away In Time. This is with beta readers at the moment. Having heard back from 4 of my readers, I am reasonably confident that it can be published soon as they didn't find any major errors. By March I hope to have that available for Kindle at least. It will eventually also be available in paperback. I'll be doing a cover reveal for that book shortly.
2. To publish the second edition of my novel 'A Time to Tell'. I ended my contract with the original publisher of that book mainly because I want all my books published in the same way; it's easier for me to have some sort of control that way. I want to re-launch it with a new cover. The cover has been designed by Kat of Aeternum Designs. It looks great and I'm looking forward to revealing that soon.
I am editing the book before re-release. That is going slowly because I have a day job and about 100 other commitments. I'm hoping it will be ready to go to a proofreader in a month or so.
3. I have been approached with an idea for a collaborative project and hope to be working with an author and another creative on a collection of short stories sometime this year.
4. I'm hoping to find time to work on my new novel, currently titled 'Illusion' - I'm sure that title will change.
That's about it, but this time last year I didn't have plans for my collection "3", so anything can happen!
Having a few goals to aim for is always worthwhile. It's a great thing for writers to do as it provides a bit of motivation and helps put things into perspective.
My writing goals for 2014 are:
1. To publish my short story collection, Far Away In Time. This is with beta readers at the moment. Having heard back from 4 of my readers, I am reasonably confident that it can be published soon as they didn't find any major errors. By March I hope to have that available for Kindle at least. It will eventually also be available in paperback. I'll be doing a cover reveal for that book shortly.
2. To publish the second edition of my novel 'A Time to Tell'. I ended my contract with the original publisher of that book mainly because I want all my books published in the same way; it's easier for me to have some sort of control that way. I want to re-launch it with a new cover. The cover has been designed by Kat of Aeternum Designs. It looks great and I'm looking forward to revealing that soon.
I am editing the book before re-release. That is going slowly because I have a day job and about 100 other commitments. I'm hoping it will be ready to go to a proofreader in a month or so.
3. I have been approached with an idea for a collaborative project and hope to be working with an author and another creative on a collection of short stories sometime this year.
4. I'm hoping to find time to work on my new novel, currently titled 'Illusion' - I'm sure that title will change.
That's about it, but this time last year I didn't have plans for my collection "3", so anything can happen!
My Writing Process Blog Tour
I was invited to take part in this blog tour by Susan Buchanan.
You can check out Susan's blog about her writing process here: http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/...
The idea of this blog tour is to introduce readers to new authors. I have been asked to answer 4 questions about my writing process and then tag three more authors to take part.
Here are my answers to the questions:
What am I working on?
I'm working on a new collection of short stories in collaboration with another author
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I don't believe in genres
Why do I write what I do?
Because I always have ideas popping into my head for stories that beg to be written
How does my writing process work?
Haphazardly. I usually start off with an idea for a story and work from there, without a plan, which leads to lots of continuity issues that need to be resolved during the editing process.
The first draft for me is always about getting the story down on paper (I tend to write my first drafts with pen and paper rather than on a keyboard). The first drafts are invariably very bad - the grammar is atrocious, spelling questionable, and the storyline usually needs a lot of work.
Then I edit, by adding and taking bits away. Then I read over it a couple of times. The next step is sending it to beta-readers to let me know what they think and tell me if they spot any mistakes.
Then the real fun (that's sarcasm) begins. I read the book over and over replacing words that are repetitive, like 'that', 'she', 'her', 'seem', 'look', etc., and taking out words that are not really needed, like 'very' or 'just'.
Finally, I try to find words to replace the more common words... with the use of a thesaurus, just to add a few more unusual words to give the book a bit of substance. I play about with sentences and add and take away words. I delete any sentences that don't really add to the story.
My editing process takes much longer than the actual writing, and involves late nights, coffee, angst, and grumpiness.
Then, when I'm done, I send to a proofreader to check for any typos. Things you can't spot easily for yourself in your own writing are words that can be spelt different like 'their' and 'there'. It's amazing how easy it is for us to use the wrong word even though we know what the right word should be. These sorts of errors are missed in a spell check on the computer. Hence the importance of proofreaders.
The thing about reading over our own work is that we tend to skim read after we've read it over 100 times because we just read what we think we know is there. Simple typo errors are easily missed. A fresh eye is needed to spot errors.
I can also guarantee that even after a thorough edit and proofread there will still be one or two errors that slip through the net.
Who said writing was easy, hey?
****
The authors I have tagged for this blog tour:
Next week, my fellow authors Darcia Helle, J. Michael Radcliffe will be revealing their writing process and then later Julie Elizabeth Powell will also take part (she's unwell at the moment, but will post her blog as soon as she can).
If you're on Twitter, you can follow the various blogs in this tour by searching for the hashtag #MyWritingProcess
Here a few details of the upcoming authors on the tour and their blogs:
Darcia Helle
Suspense, random blood spatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia's days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else's mind.
Join Darcia in her fictional world: http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com
The characters await you.
Link to the blog: http://www.quietfurybooks.com/blog
J. Michael Radcliffe
An avid reader of science fiction and fantasy novels all his life, Michael Radcliffe is the author of the 'Beyond the Veil' series of fantasy novels and short stories. He lives in rural Kentucky with his family and their six cats. His writing partner and muse is a small dragon statuette named Idris, who spends the evenings advising Michael on all things magical, and supervising his writing.
Link to the blog:
http://michaelradcliffe.wordpress.com/
Julie Elizabeth Powell(pen):
Julie says: "Hello everyone. If you haven't guessed by now I have a passion for words and have thirteen books published in a variety of genres...all thanks to Lulu and Kindle, much hard work and sleepless nights. I like to challenge my writing, hence the diversity, but fantasy will always be my favourite because there are no rules, and I never want to stick to other people’s formulas or ideas of what is acceptable.
"My eldest daughter has flown the nest and is married to a man who doesn't mind his mother-in-law though my son is still fluffing his feathers. My middle child is off on a mysterious adventure, the like of which I can only guess...and tried to do so in my first book, Gone. I love to read and am looking for ways to double time so to indulge in the mysterious and wonderful and delicious and strange...my favourite kind of story. Writing is my passion, though I enjoy creating handcrafted cards, jewellery making, scrapbooking and dabbling in encaustic art whenever I can. Oh yes, I used to teach or mark exam papers but now concentrate on writing and enjoying my new life, which materialised, as if by a miracle. Though still dislike all those necessary domestic chores that would, for me, be included in the Rings of Hell! That's it. Thank you to anyone who reads my books...enjoy the flight!
Oh yes, sometimes I think I must be an alien because I see things differently – maybe that’s why I’ve never fitted into the ‘way things should be’."
Link to the blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
You can check out Susan's blog about her writing process here: http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/...
The idea of this blog tour is to introduce readers to new authors. I have been asked to answer 4 questions about my writing process and then tag three more authors to take part.
Here are my answers to the questions:
What am I working on?
I'm working on a new collection of short stories in collaboration with another author
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I don't believe in genres
Why do I write what I do?
Because I always have ideas popping into my head for stories that beg to be written
How does my writing process work?
Haphazardly. I usually start off with an idea for a story and work from there, without a plan, which leads to lots of continuity issues that need to be resolved during the editing process.
The first draft for me is always about getting the story down on paper (I tend to write my first drafts with pen and paper rather than on a keyboard). The first drafts are invariably very bad - the grammar is atrocious, spelling questionable, and the storyline usually needs a lot of work.
Then I edit, by adding and taking bits away. Then I read over it a couple of times. The next step is sending it to beta-readers to let me know what they think and tell me if they spot any mistakes.
Then the real fun (that's sarcasm) begins. I read the book over and over replacing words that are repetitive, like 'that', 'she', 'her', 'seem', 'look', etc., and taking out words that are not really needed, like 'very' or 'just'.
Finally, I try to find words to replace the more common words... with the use of a thesaurus, just to add a few more unusual words to give the book a bit of substance. I play about with sentences and add and take away words. I delete any sentences that don't really add to the story.
My editing process takes much longer than the actual writing, and involves late nights, coffee, angst, and grumpiness.
Then, when I'm done, I send to a proofreader to check for any typos. Things you can't spot easily for yourself in your own writing are words that can be spelt different like 'their' and 'there'. It's amazing how easy it is for us to use the wrong word even though we know what the right word should be. These sorts of errors are missed in a spell check on the computer. Hence the importance of proofreaders.
The thing about reading over our own work is that we tend to skim read after we've read it over 100 times because we just read what we think we know is there. Simple typo errors are easily missed. A fresh eye is needed to spot errors.
I can also guarantee that even after a thorough edit and proofread there will still be one or two errors that slip through the net.
Who said writing was easy, hey?
****
The authors I have tagged for this blog tour:
Next week, my fellow authors Darcia Helle, J. Michael Radcliffe will be revealing their writing process and then later Julie Elizabeth Powell will also take part (she's unwell at the moment, but will post her blog as soon as she can).
If you're on Twitter, you can follow the various blogs in this tour by searching for the hashtag #MyWritingProcess
Here a few details of the upcoming authors on the tour and their blogs:
Darcia Helle
Suspense, random blood spatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia's days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else's mind.
Join Darcia in her fictional world: http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com
The characters await you.
Link to the blog: http://www.quietfurybooks.com/blog
J. Michael Radcliffe
An avid reader of science fiction and fantasy novels all his life, Michael Radcliffe is the author of the 'Beyond the Veil' series of fantasy novels and short stories. He lives in rural Kentucky with his family and their six cats. His writing partner and muse is a small dragon statuette named Idris, who spends the evenings advising Michael on all things magical, and supervising his writing.
Link to the blog:
http://michaelradcliffe.wordpress.com/
Julie Elizabeth Powell(pen):
Julie says: "Hello everyone. If you haven't guessed by now I have a passion for words and have thirteen books published in a variety of genres...all thanks to Lulu and Kindle, much hard work and sleepless nights. I like to challenge my writing, hence the diversity, but fantasy will always be my favourite because there are no rules, and I never want to stick to other people’s formulas or ideas of what is acceptable.
"My eldest daughter has flown the nest and is married to a man who doesn't mind his mother-in-law though my son is still fluffing his feathers. My middle child is off on a mysterious adventure, the like of which I can only guess...and tried to do so in my first book, Gone. I love to read and am looking for ways to double time so to indulge in the mysterious and wonderful and delicious and strange...my favourite kind of story. Writing is my passion, though I enjoy creating handcrafted cards, jewellery making, scrapbooking and dabbling in encaustic art whenever I can. Oh yes, I used to teach or mark exam papers but now concentrate on writing and enjoying my new life, which materialised, as if by a miracle. Though still dislike all those necessary domestic chores that would, for me, be included in the Rings of Hell! That's it. Thank you to anyone who reads my books...enjoy the flight!
Oh yes, sometimes I think I must be an alien because I see things differently – maybe that’s why I’ve never fitted into the ‘way things should be’."
Link to the blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Interview with Jennifer Lane
I've met hundreds of talented authors over the years. Many of them have become great friends. It's been a while since I've interviewed authors on my blog, so I thought it would be nice to have a series of interviews here and maybe introduce you to some writers you've never heard of. They'll be sharing their experiences about writing, editing, publishing, etc. I hope you'll find some new favourite authors through this series.
My first guest is Jennifer Lane. I met Jen online when I was part of the BestsellerBound community of writers.
INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER LANE
Do you have a day job or write full time?
I’m a psychologist/author (psycho author).
Ha, ha!
I love my day job as a therapist and my night job as an author is damn fun, too! I combine the two by writing therapy scenes in my novels.
I'm sure you hear some interesting stories!
Tell us about your latest book
My latest book is Spiked (Blocked #3), the conclusion to my college sports romance trilogy. Singer-songwriter Mateo crushes on speedy swimmer Jessica. The release date is October 1, 2016.
How long did it take you to write your last book?
It typically takes me 9 months to write a book.
Do you do your own editing or use a professional? Anyone you’d recommend?
Hands down I recommend professional editing. It’s totally worth the cost because I believe it’s impossible to edit our own writing. I’ve been lucky to work with the same editor for six novels and one novella: Jessica Royer Ocken. She has greatly improved my writing. Less adverb abuse and more tightness.
What are some of the pros/cons of being an indie author?
I went with a small publisher for my first four novels and I’m grateful for their tutelage. But I adore the autonomy of self-publishing. I’m quite impatient so it’s a relief to establish my own timeline for publication, and I enjoy the creative freedoms.
Who does your cover design? Is there anyone you’d recommend?
My book designer is Coreen Montagna. I love her covers and her interior design. She’s great at formatting, too!
When writing a novel or story, do you think word count is important? If so, what is the ideal length?
My first novels were epic stories around 200,000 words. Wow, I guess I had a LOT to say!
That's a lot of words!
Editing helped pare them down but they were still too bloated. I like 100,000 words for an adult novel but I believe Young Adult and New Adult should be shorter. I aim for 80,000 words in my New Adult sports romances.
Do you have any advice for writers as to how to deal with bad reviews?
I have too much experience in this area. Form a private group of trusted authors to vent to now and then. Step away from the computer and do not respond to bad reviews. Look up your absolute favorite book—one you think is brilliant—and read the negative reviews. Mind-blowing! Also, remember your experience as a reader—sometimes you feel let disappointed and angry about the author’s choices. No book can please every reader.
Great advice, Jen! Thanks for joining me here, and good luck with the launch of "Spiked"!
****************************
You can sign up for Jen's newsletter here: http://tinyurl.com/z4bnlxg
Author Bio:
Get psyched for romance with psychologist/author (psycho author) Jennifer Lane! By day she’s a therapist, and by night she’s a writer. She can’t decide which is more fun.
Jen adores creating sporty heroines and hot heroes in her college sport romances. Volleyball wonder Lucia Ramirez found her love match in Blocked despite the glaring political spotlight aimed on her family. In Aced, the second book in the Blocked series, it’s her brother Alejandro’s turn to get lucky in love. Next up is Spiked (Blocked #3) in October of 2016.
A swimmer and volleyball player in college, Jen writes swimming-based romances as well: Streamline, a military mystery, and the free New Adult novella Swim Recruit.
Stories of redemption interest Jen the most, especially the healing power of love. She is also the author of The Conduct Series, a romantic-suspense trilogy that includes With Good Behavior, Bad Behavior, and On Best Behavior.
Ultimately, whether writing or reading, Jen loves stories that make her laugh and cry. In her spare time she enjoys exercising, attending book club, and visiting her sisters in Chicago and Hilton Head.
Author links:
Website: http://jenniferlanebooks.blogspot.co.uk/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Lane/e...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenLaneBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenLanebooks
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/jenlanebooks/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenlanebooks/
My first guest is Jennifer Lane. I met Jen online when I was part of the BestsellerBound community of writers.
INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER LANE
Do you have a day job or write full time?
I’m a psychologist/author (psycho author).
Ha, ha!
I love my day job as a therapist and my night job as an author is damn fun, too! I combine the two by writing therapy scenes in my novels.
I'm sure you hear some interesting stories!
Tell us about your latest book
My latest book is Spiked (Blocked #3), the conclusion to my college sports romance trilogy. Singer-songwriter Mateo crushes on speedy swimmer Jessica. The release date is October 1, 2016.
How long did it take you to write your last book?
It typically takes me 9 months to write a book.
Do you do your own editing or use a professional? Anyone you’d recommend?
Hands down I recommend professional editing. It’s totally worth the cost because I believe it’s impossible to edit our own writing. I’ve been lucky to work with the same editor for six novels and one novella: Jessica Royer Ocken. She has greatly improved my writing. Less adverb abuse and more tightness.
What are some of the pros/cons of being an indie author?
I went with a small publisher for my first four novels and I’m grateful for their tutelage. But I adore the autonomy of self-publishing. I’m quite impatient so it’s a relief to establish my own timeline for publication, and I enjoy the creative freedoms.
Who does your cover design? Is there anyone you’d recommend?
My book designer is Coreen Montagna. I love her covers and her interior design. She’s great at formatting, too!
When writing a novel or story, do you think word count is important? If so, what is the ideal length?
My first novels were epic stories around 200,000 words. Wow, I guess I had a LOT to say!
That's a lot of words!
Editing helped pare them down but they were still too bloated. I like 100,000 words for an adult novel but I believe Young Adult and New Adult should be shorter. I aim for 80,000 words in my New Adult sports romances.
Do you have any advice for writers as to how to deal with bad reviews?
I have too much experience in this area. Form a private group of trusted authors to vent to now and then. Step away from the computer and do not respond to bad reviews. Look up your absolute favorite book—one you think is brilliant—and read the negative reviews. Mind-blowing! Also, remember your experience as a reader—sometimes you feel let disappointed and angry about the author’s choices. No book can please every reader.
Great advice, Jen! Thanks for joining me here, and good luck with the launch of "Spiked"!
****************************
You can sign up for Jen's newsletter here: http://tinyurl.com/z4bnlxg
Author Bio:
Get psyched for romance with psychologist/author (psycho author) Jennifer Lane! By day she’s a therapist, and by night she’s a writer. She can’t decide which is more fun.
Jen adores creating sporty heroines and hot heroes in her college sport romances. Volleyball wonder Lucia Ramirez found her love match in Blocked despite the glaring political spotlight aimed on her family. In Aced, the second book in the Blocked series, it’s her brother Alejandro’s turn to get lucky in love. Next up is Spiked (Blocked #3) in October of 2016.
A swimmer and volleyball player in college, Jen writes swimming-based romances as well: Streamline, a military mystery, and the free New Adult novella Swim Recruit.
Stories of redemption interest Jen the most, especially the healing power of love. She is also the author of The Conduct Series, a romantic-suspense trilogy that includes With Good Behavior, Bad Behavior, and On Best Behavior.
Ultimately, whether writing or reading, Jen loves stories that make her laugh and cry. In her spare time she enjoys exercising, attending book club, and visiting her sisters in Chicago and Hilton Head.
Author links:
Website: http://jenniferlanebooks.blogspot.co.uk/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Lane/e...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenLaneBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenLanebooks
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/jenlanebooks/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenlanebooks/
