Rob Bignell's Blog, page 241

Five Great Quotations Answering ��Why Write?��

��I write to give myself strength.�� - Joss Whedon

��All writing is about the same thing; it's about dying, about the brief flicker of time we have here.�� - Mordecai Richler

��We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.�� - Nikki Giovanni

��I write novels because there is something I don't understand in reality.�� - Manuel Puig

��I lived to write, and wrote to live.�� - Samuel Rogers

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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Published on August 20, 2017 07:27

4 Articles That Will Inspire You To Write More

�� Walk for creativity
�� Every word I write is another stroke that takes me to the shore of a completed book
�� Ask key questions
�� What are your intentions?
�� BONUS: ��By writing much, one learns to write well.�� Robert Southey

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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Published on August 19, 2017 09:47

3 Tips for Promoting Your Book on Radio, TV

�� Promote your book with radio interviews
�� Promote your book with television interview
�� How to land a television or radio interview

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.

Amazon.com Widgets

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Published on August 18, 2017 07:40

Be careful of fee-for-publishing companies

Some authors dislike Amazon��s corporate dominance of the self-publishing market. Others find intimidating the formatting, cover design and uploading aspects of self-publishing and so seek a package that will handle all of that for them. Fee-for-publishing companies have arisen to fulfill those needs.

Such companies are exactly what they��re called �� they��ll publish your book for you so long as you pay a fee. You can find their advertisements scattered across social media for writers.

So are they worth it? The short answer almost always is ��no.��

There are several reasons why you should take a good look at any fee-for-publishing company before contracting its services. To begin, most offer their services at inflated fees. Many freelance editors and cover designers (not to mention CreateSpace itself) can deliver better services for far less money. These companies are relying upon your distaste for Amazon (which is free to use, by the way) or your fears of the self-publishing process to rationalize their excessive fees.

Most also require that you purchase your book in bulk. Reputable print on demand companies such as CreateSpace or Smashwords never force you to buy copies of your paperback or ebook for using their services. And while you should have some additional copies of your paperback around for marketing purposes (such as selling at book readings), you almost never need to warehouse boxes of them as many fee-for-publishing companies want you to.

In addition, you often can��t change your book unless you��ve used the company��s full suite of services ��without paying additional money, that is. So, if you notice a typo on page 23 but only went with the company��s formatting service and not its cover design service, you��re out of luck. Author-friendly print on demand services should allow you to correct such typos and reupload your book at no extra cost.

Lastly, many offer limited upload options, such as only to Kindle. You almost certainly want to print a paperback as well, however, and probably offer your title on iBook, Nook, and Kobo as well, to maximize sales potential by being available to more readers.

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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Published on August 17, 2017 09:33

15 Commonly Confused Words/Spellings

�� Alot�� vs. A lot vs. Allot
�� Do��s and don��ts vs. dos and donts
�� Peak vs. peek vs. pique
�� Who vs. that
�� Wrap up vs. wrapup vs. wrap-up

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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Published on August 16, 2017 06:00

4 Writing Prompts: Fear of Failure

Good stories center on the clashing of characters�� goals and motivations. Sometimes a character��s goals and motivations arise upon achieving his dreams. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on the motivation of dreams.

Man vs. nature
What if a child is sent on a nature-oriented rite of passage but fears failing it? What is the source of his fear? What are the consequences if he fails?

Man vs. society
Our main character fears not being able to fit into a society that is always becoming but never ��is��; that is, the society is in a constant state of transformation thanks to demographic trends, fads, economic cycles, and more. Why does the protagonist want to fit in and how does he attempt to do so? What does he ultimately decide about his effort to fit in �� is it a fool��s errand or is the effort itself worth the attempt?

Man vs. God(s)
As a man nears death (due to old age, a serious injury, or on the eve of a wartime battle his side is certain to lose), he fears that there is no significance and meaning to life. Can he find it before passing? How?

Man vs. himself
Our main character, after much study, achieves an honor (promoted to be an officer, given his chef��s hat, earns an MBA, etc.) and then is assigned/hired to fix a problem (command a broken unit of men, save a fancy restaurant, lead a floundering company, etc.) that he quickly realizes may be beyond his skills and abilities. How does our main character persevere and, despite his self-doubt (and the doubt of many others), succeed?

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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Published on August 15, 2017 06:00

7 Tips on Writing Your Story��s Ending

�� Descend the mountain with falling action
�� Three potential ways to end your story
�� Make final words of your story count
�� Twist endings best avoided in storytelling
�� Always involve main character in story ending
�� Should you write a happy or an unhappy ending?
�� Ways to end a story that��ll make readers happy

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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Published on August 14, 2017 06:00

Five Great Quotations about the Craft of Writing

��Description begins in the writer��s imagination, but should finish in the reader��s.�� - Stephen King

��If you get the landscape right, the characters will step out of it, and they��ll be in the right place.�� - Annie Proulx

��Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing ... Life is profound in its simplicity.�� - Charles Bukowski

��Why say ��very beautiful��? ��Beautiful�� is enough. - James Joyce

��Crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader by either the author or the people in the tale.�� - Mark Twain

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.

Amazon.com Widgets

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Published on August 13, 2017 06:00

Motivation and Encouragement for Writers

�� I��m just happy to write
�� Every page counts
�� Every writing session teaches me something
�� Take a risk
�� Make your book��s cover
�� New location
�� BONUS: ��The only reason for being a professional writer is that you just can��t help it. - Leo Rosten

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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