R. Frederick Riddle's Blog, page 37

Do You Desire to be an Independent Author?

Every week
I deal with different subjects in this blog. I also post my blog to my Facebook
page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld. This
week I am taking a look at Do You Desire to be an Independent Author?

Independence.

Below is an excerpt from my book TR
Independent Books Guide to Writing:

This is one of the most common motivational
factors in anyone’s arsenal.

We have an inner desire to be independent,
to be free to do our own thing. Think of a baby or young child, they often have
an “I’d rather do it myself” attitude that needs to be broken. Hopefully it
will be tamed rather than merely broken.

TIP: The desire to be independent can lead to bad decisions, but it can also lead to great decision making!

Example

Shortly after my first novel was published I began to see the
advantages of self-publishing. Although the publisher did an excellent job on
my book and even offered marketing tools for me to use at attractive prices, I
was the one expected to do the work.

This is true of most writers unless they are famous in their own right
or have an agent. But for those of us relatively unknown and not having an
agent, it is a true experience.

I had the desire to do it myself, but lacked the knowhow. As time
passed others (publishers) still published my books and collected money in the
process.

But the day came when I decided to make the jump.

Application

My wife and I are a team. Up until recently I wrote the books and she
critiqued them. But then her own desire to write began to surface. And it
wasn’t to merely copy me but to establish her own writing career in her own
genre.

In the summer of 2014 I took her out to eat at the Big M Supper Club
(better known as McDonald’s). As you can see I didn’t spare any expense.

I had an idea I wanted to share with her. For eleven years I had an independent online bookstore. And it had enjoyed success up until we moved to Florida to take care of her mother. The care of her mother who had Alzheimer’s became a full-time job thus requiring the closing of the store. The store was gone but the idea of having independence never died.

What was my new
idea?

In short, I wanted share the new idea of the two of us forming a new
business with her as the President (she has an MBA) and myself serving as the
Vice President. I prayed to God before presenting this idea because I didn’t
know how she’d react. She’d always been supportive of my writing career but
would she support getting involved this way?

But Teresa jumped at it. She had long wanted her own business. Even
within the bookstore she’d had a division devoted to creating and selling
cards. The concept of having a business in partnership with me was the spark
that was needed.

We decided upon T&R Independent Books because ‘T’ would stand for
Teresa, while ‘R’ would stand for Ronald, Independent marked us as unique, and
books obviously referred to our product. T&R Independent Books represented
everything we wanted to be as writers!

I learned at this time that she also wanted to write novels. I was
delighted. That meant our new company would have two authors providing the
merchandise to be sold. So we formed the company. Then happy days, right? Not
exactly. Like any new business we had growing pains, which in this case
involved an unexpected heart attack.

But we persevered and worked our way through the whole experience. At
first our efforts were directed in getting the company organized and ready to
do business. By the summer of 2016 we had published two books (nonfiction and a
novel). And since then we have continued to work to publish new books and
Teresa (aka Tess) began seriously working on her debut novel.

Whatever success God sends our way the formation of T&R
Independent Books marked us as entrepreneurs.

And now we’ve added TR Writing Services. This endeavor is for the
purpose of helping writers like you. At one time we thought of starting an
academy but this book pretty well covers that need. But how about a low cost
service that enables the beginning or struggling author to get their book crafted
with good grammar, spelling, book cover, and published. These kinds of services
are usually expensive but we decided to offer a service that most people could
afford. So on February 11, 2019 TR Writing Services was launched.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), or Black Death (Book Four), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or ePub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also co-founder
and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

Ron’s Tuesday’s Tip: Researching the Net

Welcome to Ron’s Tuesday’s Tip. Every Tuesday I will share a tip with
you. This week is about:Researching the Net.

What is Researching the Net?

That’s a term referring to the idea of
searching for information on the internet. Almost everyone does it, but are
they doing it right.

Let’s look at the pitfalls first.

Unfortunately, there are a great many
pitfalls on the net that you need to be aware of. One of the biggest is ‘fake
news’.

There is fake news on both sides of
the political landscape. However most of it is on the left side. Still, you
need to be aware that there is fake news no matter your political persuasion.
It used to be that you could you one of the many ‘fact checkers’ to verify
facts. I’ve done that in the past.

But these days you have to be careful
even of fact checkers. Why? Because so many of them try to hide their true bias
behind words like non-partisan or neutral or something like that. The truth is
that everyone has a bias. Knowing the bias of the person who is rendering an
opinion on something is helpful to you. It enables you to evaluate their
opinion.

Follow the old adage that says,
‘follow the money’. Another tool is to examine their record, which way do they
usually lean?

Does that mean not to use fact
checkers? No. It means know and understand where they are coming from, then
consider their opinions.

What about Scams?

Another pitfall is the abundance of scam artists. They create URLs that look real but may just be a scam. Or worse, they could be Trojan horses. So be careful.

Your best bet is to use websites that
you know are reliable. If you must use a website that you don’t really know,
compare the information with other reliable resources.

How do you find Reliable Resources?

Chances are you already know a few
resources that you believe are reliable. That’s a good place to begin.

But assuming you have none to begin
with you will need to grow a library of reliable resources. When I first
started writing I didn’t know what I could and couldn’t trust on the internet.
But I did have reference books that I trusted. Since my books related to the
Bible, I also had trustworthy Bible Commentaries. That is where I started. I
compared the trusted material that I had with the material I found through
Google Search. Over time I built a record of trusted sites.

So, what is Researching the Net?

Basically, it is using Google or some
other search engine to search for information. Novels are fiction, but you want
them to be based on as much fact as possible. This is true in writing novels based
on history (Biblical or secular) and Speculative (or Science Fiction). That’s
right, speculative fiction deals with the future, yet to be believable they
need facts (like the latest in scientific discoveries). When writing about
current events you also need facts.

In other words, research is virtually
always needed.

Additional Advice.

What I have found to be helpful is
that when I find an article or webpage that is loaded with information it is
best to use the Select All command and copy everything to a Word page. Later I
can highlight the relevant material and maybe discover more than I was
searching for in the first place. That way I always have information available on
my computer that I can look up whenever needed.

Searching the internet is one of the
easier things you can do. Just be careful.

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or ePub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

Friday News : Use Your Life Experiences

Welcome to Friday News. Every Friday I share news with you; primarily
about writing and sometimes about life in general. This week it is about:Use
Your Life Experiences.

Have you ever heard the statement, Everyone has a book within them? Generally speaking that statement refers to the fact that we all have experiences of one sort or another. We are the expert on those experiences and thereby can write about them with authority!

Let’s Take It
Another Step

Why stop at
writing a single book. I don’t know you but I will say this with some
confidence: You have a plethora of experiences! (How’d you like that big word
plethora. It simply means ‘a lot’.)

When writing a book of any type (fiction or nonfiction) you often bring your own experiences to bear, sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously. What I am talking about today is to intentionally and consciously use your experiences.

I write
speculative fiction which involves space travel, planets, and plenty of scientific
marvels. Yet I’ve never been on a spaceship, nor been to another planet, nor
have a science degree. So how can that be using my experiences?

Because I’m
writing about human beings.

One thing about
humans is that our experiences can take place within a great number of
circumstances. Our experience may be in dealing with a difficult problem, with
difficult people, or dealing with success.

When I write I try to become the character I am writing about. But I still retain my own identity and experiences. And I sometimes add those experiences to the character’s experience. Having done that, I now have a shared experience although in different situations. This enables me to not only connect with the character but to influence the character’s reaction to the experience.

I also write
Bible based novels, historical novels. Again, my experiences are not exactly
like the historical figure’s experience, but I can add my experience or at
least dive into that character’s experience. Again, this enables me to bring
out the character’s response in a more meaningful way.

It gives me a chance to explore the character deeper, developing his or her attitudes, personalities, and much more. And it gives the reader a chance to relate more to the character.

That sounds
hard.

At first it is
hard. But it is as they say, practice makes perfect. The more you involve
yourself into your story the more natural it will be. The key is that when
writing, especially writing fiction, don’t be afraid of involving yourself.

Another way of
understanding this is to ‘become the character’. Immerse yourself into him or
her. And it doesn’t have to be one character. In the beginning, you will
probably focus only on the primary character. But as your confidence grows you
might consider expanding to other supporting characters.

Just remember
that the primary character should be the one that you develop to the highest
degree. That’s the one who should dominate and, therefore, the one you identify
with the most.

Here’s an experiment.

Take one of your
favorite books and read it again. Then take your favorite character in the book
and write down the things you know about him or her. Chances are you will see a
lot of things about that character or the experiences that character lives
through that you identify with. That is not an accident. I believe the author
either intentionally or unintentionally lent his or her own experiences to the
character thereby creating a character you could relate too.

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or Epub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition, he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are
featured. To reply to any blog you have the option of commenting on a blog
and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may
also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

Friday News : A New Business Website

Welcome to Friday News. Every Friday I share news with you; primarily
about writing and sometimes about life in general. This week it is about:A
New Business Website.

Today is a big
day for T & R Independent Books. For years (since 2014) our website has
been attached to Godaddy hosting. It has been a good relationship, but the time
for change has come.

Why the
Change?

Good question,
considering my statement above. There are several reasons why I made the
change, but first let me tell you what didn’t occur.

It Wasn’t Godaddy’s
fault!

Like I said it
has been a good relationship. However, they recently made a change in their
hosting software. Previously they’d made a change and I’ve been learning to make
maximum use of the new formats.

It is obviously
powerful, but it is requiring more learning time than I currently have
available due to family health issues and more. Now they’ve made another change
which may or may not involve additional learning. And they did increase the
cost slightly.

I Want a
Tighter Fit.

Currently I am
active on the website, with my blog (R Frederick Riddle Blog), Facebook, and
other social media. While Godaddy’s websites do allow for a blog, my blog is
already on WordPress. And it is doing fine.

Instead of
having a potential viewer who first lands on the website have to go to my blog
tab, click on that and be linked to my blog, the blog will now be a click away
from the website. That’s a plus for my readers. In other words, it is a tighter
fit!

A Slight
Discomfort.

While I’m high
on Godaddy and recommend it to everyone, I did have some discomfort with the
appearance of my website. As I was still in the learning stage of their system,
I may not have used all the tools available properly. In any case, I just wasn’t
comfortable with the look and feel of the site.

The Timing Was
Right.

As the person
responsible for the IT Management and the Company Finances I always look for ways
of cutting costs. By making the switch from Godaddy hosting to WordPress
hosting I saved money. That is always a big plus!

But the timing
was also right because of our recent addition of TR Writing Services. With the
switch I have been able to create a more in-depth view of this business
enabling viewers to get a better view of it. Since we are upfront in our
literature about pricing I wanted potential customers to see what we do and the
cost of what we offer!

I don’t know
about you, but I hate to visit a website or landing page and have to scroll to
the last page to find out the cost. My time is too valuable to read the entire
pitch only to discover I don’t like the price. We are upfront.

I’ve also been
to websites that tell you a great deal about their products and services but
require you to contact them to discover the price. I’m sure they believe that every
customer is unique, but there are better ways to present your work than
requiring you to contact them. Our Writing Service presents a Bronze, Silver,
Gold, and Platinum plan. And I believe our costs are lower than the norm. We
are proud of that and want you to know.

It is possible I
could have accomplished that using Godaddy, but I accomplished that goal within
a single day using the WordPress site.

How Do We Access
It?

If you are
currently on the blog (since you’re reading this that is probably correct),
then you’ll notice a “MENU” on the upper right corner of the header. Click on
there and the menu will open revealing the TR Independent Books menu. Click on
whatever menu item you want.

That’s it! Simple, right?

If you are elsewhere and want to go directly to TR Independent Books, there are two ways you can go. The first is to go to the old site (tr-indbkstore.com) and be redirected to the new site. The second is simply go to https://rfrederickriddleblog.com/tr-independent-books/.

Will this
change affect the costs of your service?

No. Your costs remain the same. As noted above we keep our pricing low. Our most expensive service costs less than $900 (see TR Writing Service for You). That is the Platinum which includes the e-book service.

What do I do if interested in your service?

You follow directions below:

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or Epub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition, he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are
featured. To reply to any blog you have the option of commenting on a blog
and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may
also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

I Need Your Help!

For a variety of reasons I have begun working on a new website for our T & R Independent Books. The current website is located at tr-indbkstore.com. It has served us for awhile now.

The new site is right here at rfrederickriddleblog.com. I have been working on it and would like to know your opinion.

The purpose of this effort is a general feeling of discomfort with the current site, plus a desire to cut costs. Using WordPress as the home for my blog and my website brings everything under one roof.

Please give me your comments.

Ron’s Tuesday Tip: Consistent Characters

Welcome to Ron’s Tuesday Tips. Every Tuesday I share writing tips with
you. Usually it is about writing, publishing, or marketing. Occasionally it is
on other matters. This week it is
about:Consistent Characters.

Years ago, when I was getting reviews
for a novel I’d written one young man decided he wanted to review it. He
indicated he was a Christian and interested in Christian fiction. I sent him a
copy of the book and he later wrote a negative review. As a general rule, a
writer should never challenge a reviewer. And I didn’t, but I sure wanted to do
so!

Why? Because it was negative?

No, because of the following.

This young man didn’t really read the
book. Instead he skipped his way partway through it and then never finished the
book. Yet, he took it upon himself to write a negative review after first
admitting he never read it through.

What caused the negative report?

Before answering that let me tell you
about the book. It was a novel based on Biblical events in the Book of Genesis.
Many of the characters had the same name. For example, there was Enoch and
Enoch. The first Enoch was a son of Cain; the second Enoch was a prophet who
walked with God and was translated. There were other same-named people.

Because the reviewer skipped through
the story he arrived at sections where for example it talked of Enoch walking
with God while earlier had shown Cain’s son Enoch badly. He assumed it was the
same person when in fact they were two different persons.

As a commonsense rule it is good to avoid characters having the same name, but when dealing with historical figures that is not always possible. I did my best to clarify who was who but I never imagined a reviewer, let alone a reader, skipping through the book.

Sometime later this person wanted to
review another of my books. I had to reject him and I told him why. He
apologized, but I didn’t trust him to do an honest review.

So, what’s the point?

The point is that this reviewer
perceived inconsistencies in the characters of my story. And his complaint
would have been correct if it was one character and not two characters. The
personalities of the two Enoch’s were completely different!

A greater point is that if you are
writing a novel, always try to keep your characters separate and unique. They
are allowed to change, but the reader needs to observe the change, especially
if the character’s nature changes from bad to good, or good to bad!

Sudden changes are like thunderbolts.
They jar the reader. Now if that’s your intent they go with it. Most likely it
wasn’t your intent.

How do I avoid clashes?

It’s not that hard. If you have two or
more characters with the same name you can always change the name of one or the
other. If they are historical, then you need to provide some kind of
characteristic that identifies one of them. For example, one could stutter. When
dealing with historical figures your liberty isn’t as strong as with fictional.
But you can still differentiate using clothing, speech, habits, or some other
unique characteristic to separate one character from the other. The differences
can be multiple or just one.

But Characters are not the only places
for consistency.

For instance, let’s say that your
story surrounds a person who lives in a tent. It suddenly changes to a home and
later on in the story changes back to a tent. All without explanation. This is
another jolt to your reader’s experience.

How about conversation? If you are not
careful it is possible to have the wrong person saying the wrong things. This,
by the way, is a strong argument for edits by you or someone else. Conversational
inconsistencies are also harder to pick up. I doubt that any software can pick
up verbal inconsistencies. This requires actual reading of the text.

How bad can inconsistencies be?

I related above about a negative
review simply because a careless reviewer thought there were inconsistencies.
That negative review didn’t really hurt me, but it could have. If the
inconsistencies were real just think of the impact that man’s review would have
had. And it is possible that those people who followed him may have reacted by
not buying my book.

In conclusion.

Do your edits! Whether you personally
edit or hire a professional editor, editing must be done! That’s the only way
you can illuminate potential problems that can turn readers away.

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or Epub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition, he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

Consistent Characters

Welcome to Ron’s Tuesday Tips. Every Tuesday I share writing tips with
you. Usually it is about writing, publishing, or marketing. Occasionally it is
on other matters. This week it is
about:Consistent Characters.

Years ago, when I was getting reviews
for a novel I’d written one young man decided he wanted to review it. He
indicated he was a Christian and interested in Christian fiction. I sent him a
copy of the book and he later wrote a negative review. As a general rule, a
writer should never challenge a reviewer. And I didn’t, but I sure wanted to do
so!

Why? Because it was negative?

No, because of the following.

This young man didn’t really read the
book. Instead he skipped his way partway through it and then never finished the
book. Yet, he took it upon himself to write a negative review after first
admitting he never read it through.

What caused the negative report?

Before answering that let me tell you
about the book. It was a novel based on Biblical events in the Book of Genesis.
Many of the characters had the same name. For example, there was Enoch and
Enoch. The first Enoch was a son of Cain; the second Enoch was a prophet who
walked with God and was translated. There were other same-named people.

Because the reviewer skipped through
the story he arrived at sections where for example it talked of Enoch walking
with God while earlier had shown Cain’s son Enoch badly. He assumed it was the
same person when in fact they were two different persons.

As a commonsense rule it is good to avoid characters having the same name, but when dealing with historical figures that is not always possible. I did my best to clarify who was who but I never imagined a reviewer, let alone a reader, skipping through the book.

Sometime later this person wanted to
review another of my books. I had to reject him and I told him why. He
apologized, but I didn’t trust him to do an honest review.

So, what’s the point?

The point is that this reviewer
perceived inconsistencies in the characters of my story. And his complaint
would have been correct if it was one character and not two characters. The
personalities of the two Enoch’s were completely different!

A greater point is that if you are
writing a novel, always try to keep your characters separate and unique. They
are allowed to change, but the reader needs to observe the change, especially
if the character’s nature changes from bad to good, or good to bad!

Sudden changes are like thunderbolts.
They jar the reader. Now if that’s your intent they go with it. Most likely it
wasn’t your intent.

How do I avoid clashes?

It’s not that hard. If you have two or
more characters with the same name you can always change the name of one or the
other. If they are historical, then you need to provide some kind of
characteristic that identifies one of them. For example, one could stutter. When
dealing with historical figures your liberty isn’t as strong as with fictional.
But you can still differentiate using clothing, speech, habits, or some other
unique characteristic to separate one character from the other. The differences
can be multiple or just one.

But Characters are not the only places
for consistency.

For instance, let’s say that your
story surrounds a person who lives in a tent. It suddenly changes to a home and
later on in the story changes back to a tent. All without explanation. This is
another jolt to your reader’s experience.

How about conversation? If you are not
careful it is possible to have the wrong person saying the wrong things. This,
by the way, is a strong argument for edits by you or someone else. Conversational
inconsistencies are also harder to pick up. I doubt that any software can pick
up verbal inconsistencies. This requires actual reading of the text.

How bad can inconsistencies be?

I related above about a negative
review simply because a careless reviewer thought there were inconsistencies.
That negative review didn’t really hurt me, but it could have. If the
inconsistencies were real just think of the impact that man’s review would have
had. And it is possible that those people who followed him may have reacted by
not buying my book.

In conclusion.

Do your edits! Whether you personally
edit or hire a professional editor, editing must be done! That’s the only way
you can illuminate potential problems that can turn readers away.

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or Epub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition, he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

Ron’s Tuesday Tip: Do I Need An Agent?

Welcome to Ron’s Tuesday’s Tip. Every Tuesday I will share a tip with you. This week is about: Do I Need An Agent?

The following is
based on So You Want To Write?

When I first
began writing the need of having an agent quickly became a question that needed
an answer. My first response was ‘Of course’. But, as you will see, my answer
changed.

Since my answer
was ‘Of course’, I proceeded to look for an agent. At first I didn’t know what
I was looking for in an agent or why I needed one. Thus, began my education.

But there was one
thing I knew. I had the internet available and could research the subject. I
began digging.

One of the first
things I needed to know was what genre I was writing. It turned out to be
historical fiction. From that little bit of knowledge I now knew that if I was
to get an agent her or she must work in the historical fiction arena.

The next step was
to learn what do agents do on behalf of the writer?

Searching through
the internet I learned there are three things they do.

Find and submit to them
the author’s manuscript.Negotiate contracts.Distribute money
(royalties, etc.)

Sounds relatively
easy doesn’t it? But I soon discovered some interesting facts:

Finding an agent in my
genre is time consumingIt requires knowing what
you needNot every agent is
accepting new clientsMy book needed to pass
their approvalSeeking a publisher in
more productiveBeing a publisher is
better yet!

In addition, I discovered that a growing
number of publishers ‘require’ you to have an agent! They won’t look at your manuscript unless there is an agent!

It was shortly after I discovered this that I
decided to go self-publishing. It was a major move; virtually a first step
toward independence. Later I would take another step away from Self-Publishing
and toward Indie Publishing that would change my life!

My going with a Self-Publisher quickly dispelled some of the misinformation I had acquired. For example, having an agent wasn’t required. You could have one, but you didn’t need to have one.

In my case I thought it wise to continue
looking for an agent. But this proved hard and boring. I eventually found an
agent I like and I submitted my book to her only to get a rejection letter
stating that she didn’t work in my particular genre. Bummer!

The truths I learned here were:

It can take months to
find the right agentThat agent may not want
you.Agents are not required
for self-publishing

So I went with a self-publisher and learned
that although there is more freedom than in traditional publisher, the
self-publisher still had control of all the tools and most of the profits.
Plus, you had to pay them upfront!

One advantage of the self-publisher is that
they will help you market your book. They may provide you marketing tools for a
small fee. But another truth is that no matter what publisher you have you will
do most of the marketing.

This all leads to a question: Can you benefit from an agent?

The answer is yes. They have the expertise and
the experience to get things done. So, there is value in getting an agent.

However, I opted out. Instantly I became
Author, Publisher, and Marketer! Which means that I had the added responsibility
that agents normally handle, which is quite a chore.

What Should I Look
For In An Agent?

Ultimately you make that call. Discover your genre or genres, learn
their characteristics, and search for agents in that genre. No matter what, I
think you should consider it. But you should explore the world of agents. You
might find one you like.

And remember that going alone, especially Independent, requires you to
do the work of an agent!

That said, I believe that going Indie is the best way to go. Yes, you
work hard but the rewards are greater also! As an Indie you have a lot of
responsibilities, but you also have greater possibilities. As an Indie you can
hire companies to help you with certain aspects of your business, such as TR Writing
Services (see below). So you are not alone!

For information
on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or ePub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

The Impact of Research

Welcome to Friday. Every Friday I share information with you. Usually
it is about writing, publishing, or marketing. Occasionally it is on other
matters. This week it is about:The Impact of Research.

When writing
it is always good to do research.

In today’s blog I want to show the
importance of doing your diligence in researching background material. I am currently
writing a new novel, World of Jacob, and another one, World of Joseph,
is close behind. I will use these two novels to demonstrate why I am so adamant
about doing research.

I have been writing since 2003, so I’ve
gained some experience. I have found that the more research I do the better my
writing becomes. In the case of these two novels I came across relatively new
research that I believe finally settles the debate between differing views on
the dates of the Jewish people being in Egypt. There are two schools of thought
on the subject. Some people favor the ‘Early’ date and others the ‘Late’ date.
Almost all of this is related to Jacob/Joseph’s entry into Egypt and the
Exodus.

For some time, research has pointed to
1446 BC for the Exodus. There’s just too much evidence to seriously consider
another date. The controversy has centered on when the Jews entered Egypt.

As I believe in a literal interpretation
of the Bible, I reject the ‘Late’ date scenario as it puts events contrary to a
literal understanding of the Bible. But being a careful student, I examined the
claims made anyhow.

So why is this important?

To answer that we need to understand
the problem. Egyptian chronology can, at best, be described as a mess. Without bogging
you down with a detailed history of Egypt, I’ll cover just a few important
facts.

The previously accepted chronology was
based upon a priest by the name of Manetho, who developed a history of the
pharaohs. Traditional Egyptian Chronology is based on this history and has been
considered indisputable until recently. As a result it has been used to attack
and dismiss Bible Chronology.

Over time it has been seen that pharaohs did not rule chronologically. There is an Upper Egypt (south) and a Lower Egypt (north). These two regions or nations were ruled by their own pharaohs; a fact that complicates history. Why? Because they ruled at the same time and overlapped time frames. Manetho never expected his history to be considered chronological. He simply identified the pharaoh and their rule.

Since the beginning of the 21st
Century evidence has grown that the Traditional Chronology was and is wrong and
therefore unreliable. This demonstrates why, from a secular point of view,
history needs to be looked at from the Bible view. Of course, that is anathema
to many scholars.

But when experts take this view (using
the Bible as the reliable source) the result has been enlightening. Answers in
Genesis (AIG) has articles on this subject that are worth pursuing just for the
scientific truths revealed. This study settles many of the ‘Early’ and ‘Late’
issues.

The answer to the question above is
that Egypt’s history impacted the Jewish people and a correct view of Egypt and
the Jewish history in the land is very revealing. As an author of novels based
on history, it has been very important for me to get the correct background
just so I can have names, dates, and events accurately depicted. Confusion over
dates made that very difficult in my earliest books. In fact, I’m thinking of
updating previous books to reflect the now more reliable information.

As for my two novels the debates that
muddied the waters were centered on who the pharaoh was during Jacob’s time and
who did the Egyptian history point to as Joseph. Based on my research I have
identified the pharaoh as Sosestris I and that Joseph was the Vizier known as Mentuhotep.
When you read the history you easily see why it is believed that Joseph and Mentuhotep
are the same person.

The result for me as a writer is to
make my stories more believable and understandable. Further, I believe a well-researched
book is more enjoyable to read.

Is this the typical result of research?

For me it has been. My book Perished:
The World That Was benefitted from research and the book World of Noah
and the Ark benefitted particularly well. In that second book I was able to
discover modern research into the ark’s possible construction and design! So,
yes, it is very helpful as long as you are careful about the resources you use.

For anything dealing with the Bible
you can’t go wrong with AIG. And there are other resources equally reliable.

Research even helps with Speculative Fiction.

Last year I started writing Speculative
Fiction (my definition is it is Science Fiction minus the Little Green Men). In
this case, I needed to research current and future scientific tools, weapons,
spaceships, etc. It didn’t hurt that I am aware of Star Trek and Star Wars. You
can get ideas from there as well.

But again, you need a foundation built
with research. Some of that research will be based on current and future facts.

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or Epub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition, he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

Do I Need An Agent?

Welcome to Ron’s Tuesday’s Tip. Every Tuesday I will share a tip with you. This week is about: Do I Need An Agent?

The following is
based on So You Want To Write?

When I first
began writing the need of having an agent quickly became a question that needed
an answer. My first response was ‘Of course’. But, as you will see, my answer
changed.

Since my answer
was ‘Of course’, I proceeded to look for an agent. At first I didn’t know what
I was looking for in an agent or why I needed one. Thus, began my education.

But there was one
thing I knew. I had the internet available and could research the subject. I
began digging.

One of the first
things I needed to know was what genre I was writing. It turned out to be
historical fiction. From that little bit of knowledge I now knew that if I was
to get an agent her or she must work in the historical fiction arena.

The next step was
to learn what do agents do on behalf of the writer?

Searching through
the internet I learned there are three things they do.

Find and submit to them
the author’s manuscript.Negotiate contracts.Distribute money
(royalties, etc.)

Sounds relatively
easy doesn’t it? But I soon discovered some interesting facts:

Finding an agent in my
genre is time consumingIt requires knowing what
you needNot every agent is
accepting new clientsMy book needed to pass
their approvalSeeking a publisher in
more productiveBeing a publisher is
better yet!

In addition, I discovered that a growing
number of publishers ‘require’ you to have an agent! They won’t look at your manuscript unless there is an agent!

It was shortly after I discovered this that I
decided to go self-publishing. It was a major move; virtually a first step
toward independence. Later I would take another step away from Self-Publishing
and toward Indie Publishing that would change my life!

My going with a Self-Publisher quickly dispelled some of the misinformation I had acquired. For example, having an agent wasn’t required. You could have one, but you didn’t need to have one.

In my case I thought it wise to continue
looking for an agent. But this proved hard and boring. I eventually found an
agent I like and I submitted my book to her only to get a rejection letter
stating that she didn’t work in my particular genre. Bummer!

The truths I learned here were:

It can take months to
find the right agentThat agent may not want
you.Agents are not required
for self-publishing

So I went with a self-publisher and learned
that although there is more freedom than in traditional publisher, the
self-publisher still had control of all the tools and most of the profits.
Plus, you had to pay them upfront!

One advantage of the self-publisher is that
they will help you market your book. They may provide you marketing tools for a
small fee. But another truth is that no matter what publisher you have you will
do most of the marketing.

This all leads to a question: Can you benefit from an agent?

The answer is yes. They have the expertise and
the experience to get things done. So, there is value in getting an agent.

However, I opted out. Instantly I became
Author, Publisher, and Marketer! Which means that I had the added responsibility
that agents normally handle, which is quite a chore.

What Should I Look
For In An Agent?

Ultimately you make that call. Discover your genre or genres, learn
their characteristics, and search for agents in that genre. No matter what, I
think you should consider it. But you should explore the world of agents. You
might find one you like.

And remember that going alone, especially Independent, requires you to
do the work of an agent!

That said, I believe that going Indie is the best way to go. Yes, you
work hard but the rewards are greater also! As an Indie you have a lot of
responsibilities, but you also have greater possibilities. As an Indie you can
hire companies to help you with certain aspects of your business, such as TR Writing
Services (see below). So you are not alone!

For information
on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com.
We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on
our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am
always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was
(Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem
(Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task
Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of
I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an
appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email
make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy
(PDF or ePub).

 – – – – – – –

R Frederick
Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing
Services providing help to struggling and/or new
authors to write and publish their books. In addition he is the author of
several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative
Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also
co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the
option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.