Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "proper-names"
A-Z of Self-publishing and writing tips: N-P
I'm continuing my series with a few more self-publishing and writing tips that I hope you'll find handy.
N:
Names
One thing that is very common for writers when they first start out, is the need to use capital letters for everything. I've done it, and I've read lots of books by debut novelists that have the same issue.
You only need to use a capital letter at the start of a proper name, place name, or the brand name for something, or for a title. Obviously you use capital letters for days of the week, months of the year etc., but I find the most common errors are to do with misuse with words like mum and dad, aunt and uncle -- with these types of words you only need a capital letter where it's being used as a name. A few examples to hopefully make this clearer:
Where you don't need a capital letter:
Rachel's mum was doing the ironing.
Greg's dad was watching television.
My uncle came to visit.
The queen was in the parlour.
The king was in his counting house.
I went to university with him.
I have an appointment with the doctor.
Where a capital letter is needed:
"Are you doing the ironing, Mum?" asked Rachel. (Notice the word 'mum' is being used as a name.)
"What's on TV, Dad?"
"Thanks for visiting, Uncle Bob."
The ruler of the land was Queen Elizabeth.
For fifty years, King Henry had ruled.
I went to Middlesex University.
My appointment is with Doctor Green."
Another one is God. You always use capital G for God because it is a name, assuming you are using it for the one and only God. If you are talking of multiple gods, you don't need a capital letter. Again, when you're talking of the one and only God, you would also use capital letters when referring to Him, and use He and His, when you are talking about Him.
Hopefully, I haven't thoroughly confused you now.
NaNoWriMo
I have never actually taken part in this, but have been told by fellow writers that it's an excellent way to kickstart a new project, especially if you tend to procrastinate.
It means: National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a complete novel in a month. Some people (amazingly) do manage to do this. Others don't, but those that don't finish often say that they are pleased they took part as they now have the beginning of a novel and can continue to work on it. I am not an expert of NaNoWriMo, so I can't really add any more to this, except, here's a link to the website where you can find out more about it. It takes place every November:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
Networking
One of the most important things you can do as a self-published writer is network with fellow writers, readers, and people involved in the book-publishing industry in some way.
I have mentioned the forum, Bestsellerbound.com, where I am lucky enough to have met many supportive and talented independent writers. The great thing about having a support network is that you can get help when you need it, and two heads are better than one when it comes to finding ways to promote.
Find a writers group that you are happy with, and stay connected.
Twitter is also a great place to meet other writers, I have found (writers tend to follow fellow writers). I've also signed up to the World Literary Cafe Twitter Follows, here: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/, where you follow other Twitter users and they follow back. A good way to build a following, and network with other writers.
O:
Okay and OK
Many writers seem to be very confused about this word. I find variations, including ok, Ok, Okay... they are all wrong (except the last one if it's at the beginning of a sentence and needs the capital O.)
The only two correct ways of writing OK are:
OK and okay
OK????
P:
Podcasts
Increasingly, authors are using podcast interviews as a way to promote their work.
Two internet podcasts that I have appeared on are Tweep Nation, and Blue Bonnets, Bagpipes & Books.
I am still quite reluctant to agree to do podcast interviews, because I always get very nervous. However, if you like that sort of thing, I'd recommend the two podcasts listed above. There are many more similar opportunities if you search around the Internet.
Promotion
What are the best ways to promote? That is the million dollar question. I am not sure that there is a way to promote your books to make sure you get sales. The nearest I've got to success was when I did the last KDP Select free promotion of my book Coincidences. There is no doubt that the Amazon KDP Select programme increases the visibility of books on the Amazon website. However, I have found that the only way to be sure of lots of downloads is to promote using the free days. i.e. give your books away. I had about 14,000 downloads in my last free promotion. For about a month after the promotion the book was selling well, but it appears to have died down. I think because there are so many books on Amazon, and so many being given away free each day, in order for your book to be noticed it has to be quite high up in the bestselling lists. The free promotion goes some way to helping this, but after the promotion dies down, sales do too. The benefit of giving away so many free books though, is that when people read your book, if they like it, they will go on to buy more of your books. So, I suppose if you only have one book, I wouldn't recommend the KDP Select free promotion as a great way to advertise, but most writers have more than one book in them.
Even if you don't want to be part of the KDP Select programme, you can get your book listed free on Amazon. Author Darcia Helle has had great success from giving away one of her books free on Amazon, she continues to offer her first novel, Enemies and Playmates, free on Amazon and sales of her other books have taken off because of that. Again, this is only an option for those authors who have one or more books. The way to get your book listed free on Amazon without joining the KDP Select programme, is by listing it free on another site, e.g. Smashwords or Barnes and Noble, and then going to your book's page on Amazon and reporting the free book, by clicking the link that says: 'Tell us about a lower price'. There is no guarantee that Amazon will match the free price, but if you ask some of your readers and fellow authors to help out with reporting the free book to Amazon, there is more of a chance this will happen.
Proofreaders
I think I have already mentioned the importance of good proofreaders when preparing your book for publishing, when I was talking about Editing, in an earlier post in this series.
I will quickly mention it again, as it is so important. I would recommend that you have at least a handful of good proofreaders to check over your work for grammatical and typographical errors. There are things that your spellchecker won't pick up. For instance, where you use a word that sounds like another word e.g. their and there, it's a very common mistake to use the wrong one, not because you don't know the difference, but because the brain is a strange thing... You could accidentally have written "is" instead of "if", for example, or "of" instead of "off", "to" instead of "too". These are some of the most common mistakes I've noticed in writing. Proofreaders can often notice these things. One proofreader wouldn't notice all of them. I have found that when using 6 or 7 proofreaders they tend to find different errors, often completely missing those found by the other proofreaders, so I would never rely on just one person to check through the finished manuscript.
This leads me on to the next point I want to make:
Perfection
Although we must all strive for perfection in our writing, over the years, I have learnt that it is almost impossible to achieve it and you should not be too hard on yourself. Try to make sure that your book is error free; use an editor; proofreaders, and beta readers. Read it through yourself a few times, but realise that even after you've done all of this there will likely be 2 or 3 (if not more) typos. As a reader, I can forgive these, and I'm sure most readers can. What you don't want to produce is a book with a typo on every page, or every other page... that will frustrate your readers.
Pinterest
I'm going to quickly mention Pinterest. I have an account there and I know it's catching on, because there are P signs alongside the Google+ and FB and Twitter signs on many websites, so you can share things that you like to Pinterest.
On Pinterest, the idea is simple, you create 'Boards' containing things that you have found that are of interest on the Internet. For writers, you can use it to list your books, and links to your websites. There are also Boards that you can join where you can add your books, for example, I have joined a board called 'The World of Indie Authors' and there are links to books by many different authors.
I hope you have found some of the above helpful.
To see the other posts in this series, please follow the links below:
A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
G: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
H-J: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
K-M: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
N:
Names
One thing that is very common for writers when they first start out, is the need to use capital letters for everything. I've done it, and I've read lots of books by debut novelists that have the same issue.
You only need to use a capital letter at the start of a proper name, place name, or the brand name for something, or for a title. Obviously you use capital letters for days of the week, months of the year etc., but I find the most common errors are to do with misuse with words like mum and dad, aunt and uncle -- with these types of words you only need a capital letter where it's being used as a name. A few examples to hopefully make this clearer:
Where you don't need a capital letter:
Rachel's mum was doing the ironing.
Greg's dad was watching television.
My uncle came to visit.
The queen was in the parlour.
The king was in his counting house.
I went to university with him.
I have an appointment with the doctor.
Where a capital letter is needed:
"Are you doing the ironing, Mum?" asked Rachel. (Notice the word 'mum' is being used as a name.)
"What's on TV, Dad?"
"Thanks for visiting, Uncle Bob."
The ruler of the land was Queen Elizabeth.
For fifty years, King Henry had ruled.
I went to Middlesex University.
My appointment is with Doctor Green."
Another one is God. You always use capital G for God because it is a name, assuming you are using it for the one and only God. If you are talking of multiple gods, you don't need a capital letter. Again, when you're talking of the one and only God, you would also use capital letters when referring to Him, and use He and His, when you are talking about Him.
Hopefully, I haven't thoroughly confused you now.
NaNoWriMo
I have never actually taken part in this, but have been told by fellow writers that it's an excellent way to kickstart a new project, especially if you tend to procrastinate.
It means: National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a complete novel in a month. Some people (amazingly) do manage to do this. Others don't, but those that don't finish often say that they are pleased they took part as they now have the beginning of a novel and can continue to work on it. I am not an expert of NaNoWriMo, so I can't really add any more to this, except, here's a link to the website where you can find out more about it. It takes place every November:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
Networking
One of the most important things you can do as a self-published writer is network with fellow writers, readers, and people involved in the book-publishing industry in some way.
I have mentioned the forum, Bestsellerbound.com, where I am lucky enough to have met many supportive and talented independent writers. The great thing about having a support network is that you can get help when you need it, and two heads are better than one when it comes to finding ways to promote.
Find a writers group that you are happy with, and stay connected.
Twitter is also a great place to meet other writers, I have found (writers tend to follow fellow writers). I've also signed up to the World Literary Cafe Twitter Follows, here: http://www.worldlitcafe.com/, where you follow other Twitter users and they follow back. A good way to build a following, and network with other writers.
O:
Okay and OK
Many writers seem to be very confused about this word. I find variations, including ok, Ok, Okay... they are all wrong (except the last one if it's at the beginning of a sentence and needs the capital O.)
The only two correct ways of writing OK are:
OK and okay
OK????
P:
Podcasts
Increasingly, authors are using podcast interviews as a way to promote their work.
Two internet podcasts that I have appeared on are Tweep Nation, and Blue Bonnets, Bagpipes & Books.
I am still quite reluctant to agree to do podcast interviews, because I always get very nervous. However, if you like that sort of thing, I'd recommend the two podcasts listed above. There are many more similar opportunities if you search around the Internet.
Promotion
What are the best ways to promote? That is the million dollar question. I am not sure that there is a way to promote your books to make sure you get sales. The nearest I've got to success was when I did the last KDP Select free promotion of my book Coincidences. There is no doubt that the Amazon KDP Select programme increases the visibility of books on the Amazon website. However, I have found that the only way to be sure of lots of downloads is to promote using the free days. i.e. give your books away. I had about 14,000 downloads in my last free promotion. For about a month after the promotion the book was selling well, but it appears to have died down. I think because there are so many books on Amazon, and so many being given away free each day, in order for your book to be noticed it has to be quite high up in the bestselling lists. The free promotion goes some way to helping this, but after the promotion dies down, sales do too. The benefit of giving away so many free books though, is that when people read your book, if they like it, they will go on to buy more of your books. So, I suppose if you only have one book, I wouldn't recommend the KDP Select free promotion as a great way to advertise, but most writers have more than one book in them.
Even if you don't want to be part of the KDP Select programme, you can get your book listed free on Amazon. Author Darcia Helle has had great success from giving away one of her books free on Amazon, she continues to offer her first novel, Enemies and Playmates, free on Amazon and sales of her other books have taken off because of that. Again, this is only an option for those authors who have one or more books. The way to get your book listed free on Amazon without joining the KDP Select programme, is by listing it free on another site, e.g. Smashwords or Barnes and Noble, and then going to your book's page on Amazon and reporting the free book, by clicking the link that says: 'Tell us about a lower price'. There is no guarantee that Amazon will match the free price, but if you ask some of your readers and fellow authors to help out with reporting the free book to Amazon, there is more of a chance this will happen.
Proofreaders
I think I have already mentioned the importance of good proofreaders when preparing your book for publishing, when I was talking about Editing, in an earlier post in this series.
I will quickly mention it again, as it is so important. I would recommend that you have at least a handful of good proofreaders to check over your work for grammatical and typographical errors. There are things that your spellchecker won't pick up. For instance, where you use a word that sounds like another word e.g. their and there, it's a very common mistake to use the wrong one, not because you don't know the difference, but because the brain is a strange thing... You could accidentally have written "is" instead of "if", for example, or "of" instead of "off", "to" instead of "too". These are some of the most common mistakes I've noticed in writing. Proofreaders can often notice these things. One proofreader wouldn't notice all of them. I have found that when using 6 or 7 proofreaders they tend to find different errors, often completely missing those found by the other proofreaders, so I would never rely on just one person to check through the finished manuscript.
This leads me on to the next point I want to make:
Perfection
Although we must all strive for perfection in our writing, over the years, I have learnt that it is almost impossible to achieve it and you should not be too hard on yourself. Try to make sure that your book is error free; use an editor; proofreaders, and beta readers. Read it through yourself a few times, but realise that even after you've done all of this there will likely be 2 or 3 (if not more) typos. As a reader, I can forgive these, and I'm sure most readers can. What you don't want to produce is a book with a typo on every page, or every other page... that will frustrate your readers.
I'm going to quickly mention Pinterest. I have an account there and I know it's catching on, because there are P signs alongside the Google+ and FB and Twitter signs on many websites, so you can share things that you like to Pinterest.
On Pinterest, the idea is simple, you create 'Boards' containing things that you have found that are of interest on the Internet. For writers, you can use it to list your books, and links to your websites. There are also Boards that you can join where you can add your books, for example, I have joined a board called 'The World of Indie Authors' and there are links to books by many different authors.
I hope you have found some of the above helpful.
To see the other posts in this series, please follow the links below:
A-C: http://nutsandcrisps.wordpress.com/20...
D-F: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
G: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
H-J: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
K-M: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
