Rob Bignell's Blog, page 289

Writing Inspiration: Read in your genre

Check out a book from the library or purchase one for your ereader. Make sure the book is from the genre you write in. Set aside 15 minutes every day to read it.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like St. Louis, Missouri, or a small town like Cheesequake, New Jersey, I can provide that second eye.

 

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Getting outside support
Editing tip: Learn some literary devices
Editor's latest book hits shelves

Follow social media etiquette during promos

When promoting your book via social media, you���ll want to make sure you���re observing the site���s ���social etiquette.��� Users of each site have unwritten standards of what is considered spamming, overt advertising, and poor taste. Rest assured, violate the rules and you undercut your ability to sell your title.

Each site���s standards differs slightly, and as with any social rules, some users are more offended than others. There are some general etiquette rules, however, that seem to cut across most social media. When promoting your book, you���re best not to:
��� Use ALL CAPS ��� They are very difficult to read, and many users will simply move on to another post or tweet.
��� Go nuts with the exclamation points ��� One will do.
��� Be coy ��� Mysteriously announcing that ���Something great is about to happen��� misses the point of what social media is all about, namely providing useful, interesting information in a quick manner.
��� Put down other writers ��� Every writer has a typo or two in their book. And the best way to bring attention to a repugnant idea is to point at it. 
��� Put down readers ��� Not every reader shares your taste. Remember, even negative publicity is good publicity, for there���s nothing worse than being ignored. 
��� Put down reviewers ��� Take the moral high road. You don���t need to stoop to the troll���s level to get attention for your book. 
��� Cut the self-pity ��� Rather than telling about how your writing is subpar, why not work on improving it? Besides, who would buy a book from a writer who says their writing stinks?

What general etiquette rules have you noticed in social media?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Boston, Massachusetts, or a small town like Boston, Georgia, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Go off the grid
Use hashtags to sell your book on Facebook
Add hashtags to your social media posts
Spell as you speak? Miniscule vs. minuscule
Five Great Quotations about Why We Write

Writing Inspiration: Time to work hard

Once you���ve reached a certain level of competence as a writer, you then must work hard to achieve your goals. For a writer, there���s nothing nuanced about hard work. It simply means showing up every day at the computer keyboard and actually writing. How many words or pages do you turn out per day, on average?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Minneapolis, Minnesota, or a small town like Nothing, Arizona, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Your writing process
Writing Inspiration: Be in right mindset
Writing Prompt: Have a sex change

Editing client publishes his first fantasy novella

A recent editing client of mine, Victor G. Espinosa, has published his first novella, ���Greyheart���.

The fantasy tells the story of Peter Antilys, Lord Commander of the royal army and veteran of countless battles, who has been tasked with protecting the fortified city of Greyheart from an enemy he's never faced before. Elves have been spotted leaving their forest territories for the first time in more than one hundred years, and all reports of their movement declare they are marching for war. Villages near the elven border are losing their inhabitants, scouts who venture out never return again, and anyone who has seen the elves and survived bear strange and grievous wounds.

Now Peter must prepare a city to stand against a foe they never thought they'd face, but will they outlast the onslaught? The book is available online.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Rochester, New York, or a small town like Beech Bottom, West Virginia, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Five Great Quotations about Pleasure of Writing
Three ebook formatting tips, part VII
Narrowing definitions: Aisle vs. isle

Writing Prompt: Random sentence

Suffering from writer���s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine.

To that end, try this tip: Take a fiction book off your shelf. Close your eyes, open the book to a random page, and press your finger against the center of that page. Open your eyes and read the sentence. Make that sentence the opening line of a freewrite that lasts for 15 minutes.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Seattle, Washington, or a small town like Uncertain, Texas, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Be in right mindset
Writing Prompt: Try something risky
Editing tip: Learn some literary devices

Three ebook formatting tips, Part VII

Ebooks follow different formatting rules than books printed on paper. That���s because a book made of ink on paper is a different platform for presenting information than a book made of digital bits on an electronic screen. Even though the same content (your book) is being presented, the platforms will need to be handled differently, just as certainly different production methods are used for a play presented on stage and on a television screen.

Because of that, there are a number of things you might do when formatting a paperback but never would do when constructing an ebook. Following are three tips about what to differently.

Return key
Don���t overclick the return key (aka enter key). Two clicks at the end of a paragraph ��� one to mark the paragraph���s end and one to create a blank space before the next paragraph ��� are sufficient. Any more than that will result in long stretches of white space in your ebook, which can lead to blank white pages that confuse readers, who wonder if your book is done.

Tables and charts
When self-publishing a nonfiction book, you probably will want to include tables of some sort. If writing a book about rock climbing, for example, you might include a list of the National Climbing Classification System. The problem with tables created in Microsoft Word is that they don���t resize well. In Word parlance, a table is a ���fixed format element.��� So if you create a table that is six inches wide, the text likely will be unreadable if you shrink it to fit on an ereader screen that���s only three inches wide. You have a couple of solutions. One option is to create the table only after you know the paperback���s size and then limiting the table���s size to those measurements. So if the ebook size ��� discounting the gutters and margins ��� is 3 inches wide by 4 inches tall, the table must be no larger than that. Doing this ensures there is no shrinking of the table at all, as it���s designed for the page or screen. A second option is to make the table a picture. This is useful if there���s no way to make the table fit the page���s actual size, usually because there are too many rows or columns in the table to make that viable. You still can create the table in Word. When finished, take a screenshot of it and then save the screenshot as a jpeg. You may need to do some cropping to make the screenshot show only the table.

Text boxes
Keep your ebook formatting as simple as possible by not using any text boxes. Such boxes can appear in odd places in the ebook, such as at the end of the book or pasted over other text. If you wish to use graphic elements, such as breakout boxes, convert the file to a jpeg and insert the photo into the text where you wish it to appear.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Syracuse, New York, or a small town like Hicks, Alabama, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Be in right mindset
Writing Prompt: Have a sex change
How to create bulleted lists in ebooks
Editor's latest book hits shelves

Five Great Quotations about What is a Writer

���Writing is something you do alone. It���s a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don't want to make eye contact while doing it.��� - John Green

���A writer - and, I believe, generally all persons - must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.��� - Jorge Luis Borges

���A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.��� - Richard Bach

���There is no singular thing that makes someone a writer, but there is one thing that makes someone a joke ��� talking about writing a book without doing any work.��� - Pat Walsh

���A writer is by nature, a dreamer - a conscious dreamer.��� - Carson McCullers

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Colorado Springs, Colorado, or a small town like Big Chimney, West Virginia, I can provide that second eye.

 

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Prompt: Incorporate real life
Don't smother writing with your red pen
Five Great Quotations about Books
Writing Prompt: Have a sex change
Writing Inspiration: Be in right mindset

Writing Inspiration: Revise and continue

Should you have an unfinished story or chapter, begin a 15-minute writing session by revising it. After five minutes of that editing, continue writing the story or chapter where you left off.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like San Antonio, Texas, or a small town like Toad Suck, Arkansas, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Don't worry about mechanics
Writing inspiration: Set a goal
Five Great Quotations about Books
Writing Inspiration: Revise and continue
Writing Inspiration: What are your goals?

Sell more ebooks by writing shorter ones

With ebooks making up an increasingly larger segment of all book sales, authors ought to consider writing shorter pieces that better match ebook readers��� habits.

Think of it this way: If you spent your life writing radio dramas and television suddenly came along, you couldn���t simply writer for the latter in the same way as you���ve always done. While many of the basic elements of storytelling would remain the same, different mediums require different techniques and approaches. For ebooks, that often means writing shorter pieces than you would for paperback.

Ebook readers, especially those buying nonfiction, generally want quick reads that are very focused on niche topics. The information needs to be provided concisely and in a digestible format. This means shorter books that are more tightly written. A 10,000-20,000-word range for an ebook usually is sufficient.

This actually can benefit authors by allowing them to write several books on a single general topic. Rather than write one large book that sells for 99 cents, authors can pen a dozen that each sells for 99 cents. This generally means more raw sales, and just as one of your books falls off a bestseller list you can release a follow-up and keep building your audience. In fact, such books can be marketed as a series, giving your titles more staying power.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Oakland, California, or a small town like Goobertown, Arkansas, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Three great ebook formatting tips, part II
Three ebook formatting tips, part IV
Three ebook formatting tips, part VI

Writing Inspiration: Explore then strive

Exploration is more important than striving, at least initially for a writer learning the craft. Productivity is only relevant in that you keep writing to grow and hone your skills. Once you���ve reached a certain level of competence, your short story, novel or nonfiction book will be publishable. What are the fundamental skills that a writer should possess? Do you have them? If not, how can you obtain them?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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. Whether you come from a big city like Phoenix, Arizona, or a small town like Last Chance, Idaho, I can provide that second eye.

<A HREF="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widg... Widgets</A>Related articles

Writing Inspiration: Were You Taught a Writing Process?
Writing inspiration: Set a goal
Writing Prompt: Try something risky