Rob Bignell's Blog, page 206
August 10, 2018
3 Ways Authors Can Sell More Books on Pinterest
��� Utilize Pinterest to generate book sales
��� How to best use hashtags on Pinterest
��� Best time to promote your book on Pinterest
��� BONUS: Don't like Pinterest? Use Instagram to promote your books
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 9, 2018
How to Market Your Book: 7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Yo...
How to Market Your Book: 7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Your Book shows how to develop a strategy that will get articles about your self-published book in newspapers, magazines, on radio and television programs, posted on blogs, and linked to on websites, while landing you book signings and readings, all at virtually no cost.
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August 8, 2018
Up to Date vs. Up-to-Date ��� When to Hyphenate?
A general 
rule for hyphenation is that phrases used as an adverb do not use hyphens while phrases used an adjective do. Such is the case with up to date vs. up-to-date.
Up to date is an adverb phrase meaning that something was brought current. For example, Our supervisor required us to bring our accounts reports up to date. It does not take hyphens.
Up-to-date is an adjective phrase that means something includes the most recent information. To wit, Molly���s up-to-date history textbook includes the results of the last presidential election. It needs hyphens.
Knowing whether or not you need hyphens is simply a matter of determining which word the phrase modifies. In the first example given here, up to date modifies brings, which is a verb, so you have an adverb phrase and no hyphens. For the second example, up-to-date modifies textbook, which is a noun, so you have an adjective phrase and hyphens.
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 7, 2018
5 Awesome SF Novum Writing Prompts
Science 
fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a ���reality��� in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as ���The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life��� or ���The government outlaws books.��� The author then asks ���What if?��� exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.
Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture ��� that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating ��� a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance ��� still doesn���t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.
To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:
Augmented reality
What if we wore glasses and an earpiece that overlaid computer-generated images and audio over what we see and hear in reality? For example, if trying to find a building on a city street, arrows projected onto our field of vision shows which way to go?
Contextual commerce
What if your appliances could make purchases for you based on an analysis of your likes and habits? For example, when your milk is about to expire, your refrigerator orders new milk for you ��� using the specific brand and fat percentage you prefer.
Epigenetics
What if a class of jobs that turns targeted genes on or off were common? Such drugs could be used to treat cancer and various genetic diseases.
Snagging space junk
What if robotic spacecraft were launched to remove space junk from Earth orbit? What would be the best ���capture mechanisms��� to pick up the debris ��� harpoons, nets, robotic arms or tentacles?
Solar surfing
What if a super-reflective material were developed that allowed our spacecraft to get extremely close to the sun���s surface? How would this change our understanding of the sun and allow for colonization of Mercury?
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 6, 2018
11 Tips to Help You Avoid Telling Writing
��� Show, don���t tell!
��� Be aware of which dramatic mode you���re using
��� Avoid a big info dump
��� How to get rid of info dumps
��� Avoid ���As you know��� Syndrome
��� How to show rather than tell
��� Think of your story as a stage production
��� To eliminate exposition in story, "film it"
��� Embedding exposition into your story
��� When exposition is necessary in a story
��� What if I edit out too much exposition?
��� BONUS: ���No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.��� - Lewis Carroll
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 5, 2018
5 Quotes about Writing as Self-Discovery
���Writers 
are the exorcists of their own demons.��� - Mario Vargas Llosa
���There is nothing more mine than my writing.��� - Fran Lebowitz
���Writing is both mask and unveiling.��� - E.B. White
���A book is a suicide postponed.��� - Emil Cioran
���I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I���m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.��� - Joan Didion
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 4, 2018
Every success story begins with a dream. If you dream of...
Every success story begins with a dream. If you dream of being a professional, published author, that success story requires believing in yourself and in knowing that your efforts will lead to triumph. Read the motivational blog entry this quotation came from by clicking on the quote card.
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 3, 2018
9 Ways Authors Can Sell More Books on Goodreads
��� How to leverage Goodreads for book promotions
��� Expand your reach with Goodreads giveaway
��� Seven ways to promote your book on Goodreads
��� BONUS: ���In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential.���
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August 2, 2018
7 Tips To Make You A Better Nonfiction Writer
��� Why you must research your nonfiction book
��� Where to research info for your nonfiction book
��� How to conduct an interview for book research
��� Keep research notes for your book organized
��� Enhance book with sidebars, breakout boxes
��� Place hyperlinks in your nonfiction ebook
��� Create an index for your nonfiction book
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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August 1, 2018
Unsportsmanlike grammar: Touch Base vs. Touch Bases
In baseball, 
after hitting the ball the batter has to touch each of the four bases to score. If he misses a base and keeps running, he must go back to that base before advancing. Runners who miss a base usually are an easy out for the opposing team.
From this simple sports rule arises two widely used verbal phases ��� touch base and touch bases. One of the phrases is considered standard and gets writers a figurative score; the other phrase is certain to garner an out, though.
Touch base is the correct phrase to use. It means to ���quick check with someone,��� as in Let me quick touch base with Kevin before sending the email.
Touch bases might be correct in baseball, but it doesn���t really work when you mean to say ���quick check with someone.��� If you wrote ���I need to touch bases with some people,��� that would mean you need to check in multiple times with multiple people rather than you first need to check in with several people.
Two other incorrect variants of the verbal phrase also are misheard versions ��� touch basis and touching basis. Neither makes much sense though each may sound right.
Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.
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