Samantha Combs's Blog, page 7
June 16, 2013
Queries and Loglines and Blurbs, Oh My! - Series Part Four: What the Heck is a Logline, Anyway?
The first time I went to a writer's conference, my head literally swum with all the buzz words being bandied about. At the time, my first book, Spellbound, was a much-handled manuscript, and two others were as well. It wasn't even a series book yet, a single standalone title. (See how much I didn't know back then?).
Anyway, I sat in on different workshops and found myself writing down all these words and catch phrases to look up later. Two I heard often, after I'd figured out "Query", was loglines and taglines. Elevator pitch came up as well. I nodded sagely every time I heard one, then rushed to a corner to google the damn thing. Even then, I thought the two were interchangeable, called something different maybe by different areas, like an East Coast-West Coast thing. So not the case.
So, in Part Four of this series, I want to dispel the rumors and misinformation. They are not the same. I know. I was shocked too. Then, embarrassed when I realized how many times I had misused the terms. Here are the proper Webster definitions:
Tagline: Web definitions A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising.
Logline:Web definitions The story in one active sentence, focusing on the concept, main character and main conflict. Ideally in 25 words or less..
My Take:
Tagline: You know how Amazon used to ask you to choose specific words to describe your books? Well, your publisher will still do this. These are the "tags" or words that will call up your book every time someone puts them in an internet search. Words such as YA, paranormal, witch, first love, and supernatural are all tag words that describe my first novel, Spellbound. And here's a HUGE tip: those tag words should appear in the description of your book in your query.
See how everything is annoyingly related? The good news is if you master one concept, you can master all.
The tag words integrate into the logline, which becomes part of your query from which you develop your blurb.
If you are new to the publishing industry, you will hastily learn that these processes are almost the only way a new novel from a new novelist, gets published for the first time. If you have been in the industry for awhile, you now know that these things are a necessary evil. Either way, you have to get your head around them.
Practice explaining your book to yourself in the mirror. What words are you punching? What words are you missing? Oftentimes, a compelling logline will actually appear on the very cover of your book. That was the case with my latest, The Deadlies. My logline:
At Holly Hills Academy, being rich and pretty can be deadly.
My publisher printed it right on the cover! Man, I better love it and be passionate about it. Happily, I am! And the first line of my query AND blurb just expanded on the idea:
When Calliope Flood catches the unwanted attention of the prettiest and most privileged girls at her new school, she learns they are possessed of more than just good ole’ Southern charm; they are also possessed by the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins.
From the tagline "rich and pretty" is echoed in the blurb with "prettiest and most privileged", and the deadly part is expanded upon with the idea of being possessed by the seven deadly sins.
So, here are my steadfast rules for Loglines:
Give the main character an epithet: vengeful divorcee, struggling aspiring writer, etc.Identify your main character's mission and what he stands to lose if he failsBrainstorm words and phrases that conjure up your personal idea of your bookPick 25-30 that sound the most compelling and rightNOW, pick 5-8 of those that sound even betterFashion a tight, 25-word pitch. THAT is your logline.Okay! Now get loggin'!
Anyway, I sat in on different workshops and found myself writing down all these words and catch phrases to look up later. Two I heard often, after I'd figured out "Query", was loglines and taglines. Elevator pitch came up as well. I nodded sagely every time I heard one, then rushed to a corner to google the damn thing. Even then, I thought the two were interchangeable, called something different maybe by different areas, like an East Coast-West Coast thing. So not the case.
So, in Part Four of this series, I want to dispel the rumors and misinformation. They are not the same. I know. I was shocked too. Then, embarrassed when I realized how many times I had misused the terms. Here are the proper Webster definitions:Tagline: Web definitions A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising.
Logline:Web definitions The story in one active sentence, focusing on the concept, main character and main conflict. Ideally in 25 words or less.. My Take:
Tagline: You know how Amazon used to ask you to choose specific words to describe your books? Well, your publisher will still do this. These are the "tags" or words that will call up your book every time someone puts them in an internet search. Words such as YA, paranormal, witch, first love, and supernatural are all tag words that describe my first novel, Spellbound. And here's a HUGE tip: those tag words should appear in the description of your book in your query.
See how everything is annoyingly related? The good news is if you master one concept, you can master all.
The tag words integrate into the logline, which becomes part of your query from which you develop your blurb.
If you are new to the publishing industry, you will hastily learn that these processes are almost the only way a new novel from a new novelist, gets published for the first time. If you have been in the industry for awhile, you now know that these things are a necessary evil. Either way, you have to get your head around them.
Practice explaining your book to yourself in the mirror. What words are you punching? What words are you missing? Oftentimes, a compelling logline will actually appear on the very cover of your book. That was the case with my latest, The Deadlies. My logline:
At Holly Hills Academy, being rich and pretty can be deadly.
My publisher printed it right on the cover! Man, I better love it and be passionate about it. Happily, I am! And the first line of my query AND blurb just expanded on the idea:
When Calliope Flood catches the unwanted attention of the prettiest and most privileged girls at her new school, she learns they are possessed of more than just good ole’ Southern charm; they are also possessed by the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins.
From the tagline "rich and pretty" is echoed in the blurb with "prettiest and most privileged", and the deadly part is expanded upon with the idea of being possessed by the seven deadly sins.
So, here are my steadfast rules for Loglines:
Give the main character an epithet: vengeful divorcee, struggling aspiring writer, etc.Identify your main character's mission and what he stands to lose if he failsBrainstorm words and phrases that conjure up your personal idea of your bookPick 25-30 that sound the most compelling and rightNOW, pick 5-8 of those that sound even betterFashion a tight, 25-word pitch. THAT is your logline.Okay! Now get loggin'!
June 12, 2013
Queries and Loglines and Blurbs, Oh My! - Series Part Three: Writer's Bio...Who Really Are You?
Your bio is the first time the agent you are querying is going to have a chance to know who you are. Hopefully by now, they have a great idea of your voice, from reading your hook. Now, you want to let them know about you. What you have written, published, and where. How passionate you are about your craft and why you are the perfect person to tell the story you have written.
But, what if you haven't been published before. Do you write a bio at all?
Absolutely!
Tell the agent what you are doing to hone your writing chops. Are you part of a writing or critique group? Attended a writer's conference recently, maybe even one at which the agent himself spoke? And why are you so right for your story? Is it a medical mystery and you are an emergency room nurse? These are all important morsels that begins to give the agent you are querying a face to go along with your voice. Your affiliations with groups and clubs also reinforces that writing is much more than a hobby for you.
If you have been published, tout your street cred! All publications are important, including novels, magazine articles or pieces, newspaper pieces, and anything available on the internet. Whatever is there for the agent to find in order to get a more developed sense of your writing style.
And finally, several author friends of mine, who are also multi-published, swear that by throwing in a personal tidbit, it makes their query stand out, among a sea of other queries. I don't always do that, but I will admit to it at least once. Above all, don't fabricate. The publishing industry is incredibly incestuous and by that, I mean that everyone in the industry knows everyone else. If you make something up, someone will know. And you would hate for that to be your potential agent-goddess.
Coming next: Who Should You Query?
But, what if you haven't been published before. Do you write a bio at all?
Absolutely!
Tell the agent what you are doing to hone your writing chops. Are you part of a writing or critique group? Attended a writer's conference recently, maybe even one at which the agent himself spoke? And why are you so right for your story? Is it a medical mystery and you are an emergency room nurse? These are all important morsels that begins to give the agent you are querying a face to go along with your voice. Your affiliations with groups and clubs also reinforces that writing is much more than a hobby for you.
If you have been published, tout your street cred! All publications are important, including novels, magazine articles or pieces, newspaper pieces, and anything available on the internet. Whatever is there for the agent to find in order to get a more developed sense of your writing style.
And finally, several author friends of mine, who are also multi-published, swear that by throwing in a personal tidbit, it makes their query stand out, among a sea of other queries. I don't always do that, but I will admit to it at least once. Above all, don't fabricate. The publishing industry is incredibly incestuous and by that, I mean that everyone in the industry knows everyone else. If you make something up, someone will know. And you would hate for that to be your potential agent-goddess.
Coming next: Who Should You Query?
June 9, 2013
Queries and Loglines and Blurbs, Oh My! - Series Part Two: The Four Pieces of The Hook
For some, writing a query is akin to taking cough medicine. You don't want to do it, but you have to, so you close your eyes and gag it down. The most prolific writers all say the same thing. Namely, that writing the book was tough, but the query was a killer. I know that's true. I have written nine queries and it never gets easier. But, you do get better at it. In my recent workshop, I gave away my own personal trade secrets for writing The Hook, the most critical part of your query, and the mini-synopsis.
My hook paragraphs always have the same four component:
MotivationConflictPlotStakes
Motivation - Who is the protagonist and what is their goal? Introduce the protag and what their story is. I do this one of three ways: either by giving the era and location (ex: Set in modern day New Hampshire -or- During the long, hot, summer of '65), setting up my main character (ex: Logan Daniels has always led a sheltered, predictable life in sleepy Lancaster, New Hampshire -or- High school as never been effortless for Juice Zander, and her sophomore year is no exception), or using a variation on the "when" formula, (ex: Following the death of his wife -or- While interviewing a drug-addicted celebrity)
Conflict - What is keeping the protagonist from achieving their goal? Introduce the big problem in your protag's life. Make certain to keep the focus on the protag and only identify key secondary players by the way they relate to the protag (ex: the teen's mother -or- a reluctant ex-husband, etc.)
Plot - How will the protagonist overcome this problem? The conflict should segue nicely to the actual plot. What's going to happen to your protag? Don't exercise your vocabulary chops here; be tight, concise, and just lay out the highlighted plot points.
Stakes - What happens if the protagonist fails and what choice(s) does the protagonist have the make to succeed? Here is where you have to make the agent or the reader care. If you don't do your job right, no one will care what happens to your protag. But, by all means, leave the reader hanging, ever so slightly. You absolutely want them to die if they don't find out what happens to your character.
Next up: Writing Your Bio...even if you've never been published!
My hook paragraphs always have the same four component:
MotivationConflictPlotStakes
Motivation - Who is the protagonist and what is their goal? Introduce the protag and what their story is. I do this one of three ways: either by giving the era and location (ex: Set in modern day New Hampshire -or- During the long, hot, summer of '65), setting up my main character (ex: Logan Daniels has always led a sheltered, predictable life in sleepy Lancaster, New Hampshire -or- High school as never been effortless for Juice Zander, and her sophomore year is no exception), or using a variation on the "when" formula, (ex: Following the death of his wife -or- While interviewing a drug-addicted celebrity)
Conflict - What is keeping the protagonist from achieving their goal? Introduce the big problem in your protag's life. Make certain to keep the focus on the protag and only identify key secondary players by the way they relate to the protag (ex: the teen's mother -or- a reluctant ex-husband, etc.)
Plot - How will the protagonist overcome this problem? The conflict should segue nicely to the actual plot. What's going to happen to your protag? Don't exercise your vocabulary chops here; be tight, concise, and just lay out the highlighted plot points.
Stakes - What happens if the protagonist fails and what choice(s) does the protagonist have the make to succeed? Here is where you have to make the agent or the reader care. If you don't do your job right, no one will care what happens to your protag. But, by all means, leave the reader hanging, ever so slightly. You absolutely want them to die if they don't find out what happens to your character.
Next up: Writing Your Bio...even if you've never been published!
June 6, 2013
Queries and Loglines and Blurbs, Oh My! Series Part One: What Exactly is a Query?
About two weeks ago, I taught a writer's workshop for my writing group, the Children's Book Writers of Los Angeles (CBW-LA) called
Queries and Loglines and Blurbs, Oh My!
I promised I would reproduce as much of the two-hour interactive class here on the bloggy. I invite you to follow along while I present the meat of the workshop in a series here on the bloggy with the same name. The first part of the talk is about queries.
WHAT IS A QUERY?
A query is, very simply, a single page letter to an agent, an editor, a publisher, a magazine, etc., that introduces you and your book to the recipient.
There are many formulas that have worked: this is mine.
Break the query into four paragraphs:
The IntroThe HookThe Mini-SynopsisThe Bio
In The Intro, you want to start with why you have chosen this particular agent/publisher/editor to query. Is there a personal connection? Same college? Same town? Have you read that he/she has asked for more middle grade/fantasy/techno-geek stories with animals and yours is exactly that? Or have you met or heard them speak at a conference. Make the first line as personal a connection as you can.
The Hook is harder. You want to capture the agent's attention, not bore her to death with details. Grab him from your first words by proving you are writing about something he has never seen before. Some of the best hooks I have written and read are one simple line. As an example, my most recent release is The Deadlies and this is the hook: At Holly Hills Academy, being rich and pretty can be deadly. The Hook also very often becomes your logline, which also helps birth your pitch. We'll go into both of those in an upcoming blog.
So, back to the mechanics of the query. With The Mini-Synopsis, you want to tell the main story arc of your novel about the main protagonist without giving away the farm. Remember two key points here: Agents love white space and brevity is key. White space means don't have cluttered, crowded paragraphs. And be as precise and tight as you can. If you can say what you need in 20 words, you can do it in 10. Focus on the journey of your main protag. You may have an amazing subplot, but when it comes to the query, subplots need not apply. Too many names, too many storylines, and you are too cluttered and clunky. Sleek and succinct is the name of the game. Edit, edit, edit, and trim the fat. Make that agent not be able to LIVE if they don't get their hands on your manuscript. Force that full request because you teased so convincingly.
Finally, The Bio is about you and one fact: why YOU are the perfect person to have written your story. You don't even have to have street cred or anything published at this point. If you aren't yet published, tell the agent about how you are committed to your passion. Attending conferences? Belong to a writer's or critique group? This is where that information can help.
Finally, in your closing, two rules are steadfast. ALWAYS thank the agent for their time, and ALWAYS mention that your completed manuscript is available on request. This proves you have a fully-written book, and also that your Momma raised you right. Both critically important to an agent and generally, in life.
Next blog will be about the components of The Hook. Hope you come on back!
WHAT IS A QUERY?
A query is, very simply, a single page letter to an agent, an editor, a publisher, a magazine, etc., that introduces you and your book to the recipient.
There are many formulas that have worked: this is mine.
Break the query into four paragraphs:
The IntroThe HookThe Mini-SynopsisThe Bio
In The Intro, you want to start with why you have chosen this particular agent/publisher/editor to query. Is there a personal connection? Same college? Same town? Have you read that he/she has asked for more middle grade/fantasy/techno-geek stories with animals and yours is exactly that? Or have you met or heard them speak at a conference. Make the first line as personal a connection as you can.
The Hook is harder. You want to capture the agent's attention, not bore her to death with details. Grab him from your first words by proving you are writing about something he has never seen before. Some of the best hooks I have written and read are one simple line. As an example, my most recent release is The Deadlies and this is the hook: At Holly Hills Academy, being rich and pretty can be deadly. The Hook also very often becomes your logline, which also helps birth your pitch. We'll go into both of those in an upcoming blog.
So, back to the mechanics of the query. With The Mini-Synopsis, you want to tell the main story arc of your novel about the main protagonist without giving away the farm. Remember two key points here: Agents love white space and brevity is key. White space means don't have cluttered, crowded paragraphs. And be as precise and tight as you can. If you can say what you need in 20 words, you can do it in 10. Focus on the journey of your main protag. You may have an amazing subplot, but when it comes to the query, subplots need not apply. Too many names, too many storylines, and you are too cluttered and clunky. Sleek and succinct is the name of the game. Edit, edit, edit, and trim the fat. Make that agent not be able to LIVE if they don't get their hands on your manuscript. Force that full request because you teased so convincingly.
Finally, The Bio is about you and one fact: why YOU are the perfect person to have written your story. You don't even have to have street cred or anything published at this point. If you aren't yet published, tell the agent about how you are committed to your passion. Attending conferences? Belong to a writer's or critique group? This is where that information can help.
Finally, in your closing, two rules are steadfast. ALWAYS thank the agent for their time, and ALWAYS mention that your completed manuscript is available on request. This proves you have a fully-written book, and also that your Momma raised you right. Both critically important to an agent and generally, in life.
Next blog will be about the components of The Hook. Hope you come on back!
June 2, 2013
What to do When You are Pirated - Sample DMCA Take-Down Notice
Some author friends of mine joke that you know you have written a winning story when it begins to show up on the pirate site. I don't laugh. As of this writing, my debut award-winning YA -paranormal, SPELLBOUND, has been pirated over 14,000 times. Really. 14,000 times. That means that if my book sells for the bank-breaking price of $2.99, and I receive 40% of the net proceeds, then roughly $11,000 dollars has been stolen from me.
If you are an author, you have seen many posts and blogs and articles on what can be done. The truth of the matter is that most of these pirate sites operate outside of the United States and therefore outside of any prosecutorial area. Additionally, pirating books is not considered a serious crime. Of course, when music was being pirated, musicians everywhere cried foul and succeeded in shutting down sites and getting teens and twenty-somethings arrested. And whenever you view a movie rental, the FIRST screen is about the serious repercussions of copying it. Whatever. Don't EVEN get me started.
So, what can you do? Admittedly, not much. Sorry, it sucks, but it's true. One thing that has worked reasonably well for me though, is the DMCA Notice.
A DMCA Notice is technically the Digital Millenium Copyright Act notice. It is sent, either by snail or email, to the administrator of the site offering your material. I have done it a number of times and been fairly successful. Usually, my books (yes, plural...they've stolen them all) are removed from the site within 48 hours. It won't cure the disease, but it will stop the flow of blood.
For your information, I am including one here. This one is from an awesome site I frequent called EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition. I highly recommend you go and visit here: http://epicorg.com/
Sample DMCA Take Down NoticeSend a letter like the following to make your claim:VIA eMail at ISPHosting[at]isp.comRe: Copyright ClaimTo the ISP Hosting Company:I am the copyright owner of the eBooks being infringed at:http://www.freeebooks.com/MyGreatNove... letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing material to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "expeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing material upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.Sincerely,/s/ Emily DickinsonEmail: hardworkingauthor[at]mybooks.comAfter the ISP receives the notice, it should remove the infringing materials.Infringements are much too common these days. Fortunately, there are tools to fight them. The DMCA takedown notice is one of the more powerful ones.
If you are an author, you have seen many posts and blogs and articles on what can be done. The truth of the matter is that most of these pirate sites operate outside of the United States and therefore outside of any prosecutorial area. Additionally, pirating books is not considered a serious crime. Of course, when music was being pirated, musicians everywhere cried foul and succeeded in shutting down sites and getting teens and twenty-somethings arrested. And whenever you view a movie rental, the FIRST screen is about the serious repercussions of copying it. Whatever. Don't EVEN get me started.
So, what can you do? Admittedly, not much. Sorry, it sucks, but it's true. One thing that has worked reasonably well for me though, is the DMCA Notice.
A DMCA Notice is technically the Digital Millenium Copyright Act notice. It is sent, either by snail or email, to the administrator of the site offering your material. I have done it a number of times and been fairly successful. Usually, my books (yes, plural...they've stolen them all) are removed from the site within 48 hours. It won't cure the disease, but it will stop the flow of blood.
For your information, I am including one here. This one is from an awesome site I frequent called EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition. I highly recommend you go and visit here: http://epicorg.com/
Sample DMCA Take Down NoticeSend a letter like the following to make your claim:VIA eMail at ISPHosting[at]isp.comRe: Copyright ClaimTo the ISP Hosting Company:I am the copyright owner of the eBooks being infringed at:http://www.freeebooks.com/MyGreatNove... letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing material to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "expeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing material upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder.Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.Sincerely,/s/ Emily DickinsonEmail: hardworkingauthor[at]mybooks.comAfter the ISP receives the notice, it should remove the infringing materials.Infringements are much too common these days. Fortunately, there are tools to fight them. The DMCA takedown notice is one of the more powerful ones.
June 1, 2013
100 Hashtags All Writers Should Know
I may have a good idea how Facebook operates (until they change the rules) and I am fairly comfortable on most of the other social networking sites, but I have to admit, Twitter still has me by the shorty hairs.
First of all, asking a novelist to condense down to 140 characters can come as quite a shock to the newbie. It may seem almost criminal. After all, aren't we paid by the word, in a sense? And hashtags? What the hell are those? But, now, having worked within the site for awhile now, I can see where there is tremendous value for the author, aspiring writer, anyone with a creative bent.
A brilliant author friend of mine posted this and I thought it was fab-u-lous. Try some of the hashtags. It was riveting reading. And a brief postscript if you still doubt the necessity of this abbreviated social networking site: the American Dialect Society just named "hashtag" as The Word for 2012. So, check these out. Courtesy of the Aerogramme Writer's Studio http://aerogrammestudio.com/
100 Twitter Hashtags Every Writer Should Know
Hashtags are one of the most important elements to successfully using Twitter to enhance your writing practice and profile. In fact, the importance of hashtags generally was recently demonstrated when the American Dialect Society recently named hashtag as the word of the year for 2012.Hashtags allow you to find new readers, connect with other writers who share your interests and to find out about new opportunities such as
writing competitions
. They can also help to raise your writing profile to attract interest from publishers and editors.You need to be smart when using hashtags – don’t over use them (never use more than 3 hashtags per tweet), be natural and never spam people. But when used selectively and cleverly, hashtags can be of great benefit to your writing career.Below are 100 #hashtags that every writer should know:Books and Reading Hashtags#Books
#BookWorm
#GreatReads
#IndieThursday
#MustRead
#Novel
#Paperbacks
#Storytelling
#WhatToReadBook Industry News and Publishing Tips Hashtags#AskAgent
#AskAuthor
#AskEditor
#BookMarket
#BookMarketing
#GetPublished
#IAN1 (Independent Author Network)
#IndiePub
#PromoTip
#Publishing
#SelfPublishing
#WriteTip
#WritingTipHashtags to Connect With Other Writers#1K1H (write one thousand words in one hour)
#AmWriting
#AmEditing
#AmRevising
#CopyWriting
#EditGoal
#Editing
#IndieAuthor
#MyWANA (writer’s community created by Kirsten Lamb)
#NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month is held every November)
#RomanceWriter
#ScriptChat
#WIP
#WordCount
#WriteChat
#WriteGoal
#WriteMotivation
#WritersLIfe
#WriterWednesday
#Writing
#WritingBlitz
#WritingPrompt
#WritersBlock
#WroteToday
#WWePublishing and eBooks#Amazon
#eBook
#BookBuzzr
#eReaders
#ePubChat
#iPad
#Kindle
#KindleBargain
#Kobo
#KPD (Kindle Publishing Direct)
#Nook
#Pubit
#SmashWords
#Sony
#WebficGenre and Specialty HashtagsFind readers and other writers who share your interests
#140Poem
#Crime
#Comedy
#DarkFantasy
#Dystopian
#Erotica
#HistFic
#Historical
#FaithLitChat
#KidLitChat
#Literature
#LitFic
#MemoirChat
#MGLit (middle grades literature)
#Mystery
#NonFiction
#Paranormal
#Poetry
#PoetryMonth (Each April in the USA)
#Romantic
#RomanticSuspence
#TrueStories
#ScienceFiction
#SciFiChat
#ShortStory
#SteamPunk
#Suspense
#UrbanFantasy
#WomensFiction
#YA
#YALitPromotion, Networking and Marketing Hashtags#99c (to offer or pick up an eBook bargain)
#AuthorRT
#BookGiveaway
#BookMarketing
#FollowFriday
#FreebieFriday
#FreeReads
#Novelines (to quote your own work)
First of all, asking a novelist to condense down to 140 characters can come as quite a shock to the newbie. It may seem almost criminal. After all, aren't we paid by the word, in a sense? And hashtags? What the hell are those? But, now, having worked within the site for awhile now, I can see where there is tremendous value for the author, aspiring writer, anyone with a creative bent.
A brilliant author friend of mine posted this and I thought it was fab-u-lous. Try some of the hashtags. It was riveting reading. And a brief postscript if you still doubt the necessity of this abbreviated social networking site: the American Dialect Society just named "hashtag" as The Word for 2012. So, check these out. Courtesy of the Aerogramme Writer's Studio http://aerogrammestudio.com/
100 Twitter Hashtags Every Writer Should Know
Hashtags are one of the most important elements to successfully using Twitter to enhance your writing practice and profile. In fact, the importance of hashtags generally was recently demonstrated when the American Dialect Society recently named hashtag as the word of the year for 2012.Hashtags allow you to find new readers, connect with other writers who share your interests and to find out about new opportunities such as
writing competitions
. They can also help to raise your writing profile to attract interest from publishers and editors.You need to be smart when using hashtags – don’t over use them (never use more than 3 hashtags per tweet), be natural and never spam people. But when used selectively and cleverly, hashtags can be of great benefit to your writing career.Below are 100 #hashtags that every writer should know:Books and Reading Hashtags#Books#BookWorm
#GreatReads
#IndieThursday
#MustRead
#Novel
#Paperbacks
#Storytelling
#WhatToReadBook Industry News and Publishing Tips Hashtags#AskAgent
#AskAuthor
#AskEditor
#BookMarket
#BookMarketing
#GetPublished
#IAN1 (Independent Author Network)
#IndiePub
#PromoTip
#Publishing
#SelfPublishing
#WriteTip
#WritingTipHashtags to Connect With Other Writers#1K1H (write one thousand words in one hour)
#AmWriting
#AmEditing
#AmRevising
#CopyWriting
#EditGoal
#Editing
#IndieAuthor
#MyWANA (writer’s community created by Kirsten Lamb)
#NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month is held every November)
#RomanceWriter
#ScriptChat
#WIP
#WordCount
#WriteChat
#WriteGoal
#WriteMotivation
#WritersLIfe
#WriterWednesday
#Writing
#WritingBlitz
#WritingPrompt
#WritersBlock
#WroteToday
#WWePublishing and eBooks#Amazon
#eBook
#BookBuzzr
#eReaders
#ePubChat
#iPad
#Kindle
#KindleBargain
#Kobo
#KPD (Kindle Publishing Direct)
#Nook
#Pubit
#SmashWords
#Sony
#WebficGenre and Specialty HashtagsFind readers and other writers who share your interests
#140Poem
#Crime
#Comedy
#DarkFantasy
#Dystopian
#Erotica
#HistFic
#Historical
#FaithLitChat
#KidLitChat
#Literature
#LitFic
#MemoirChat
#MGLit (middle grades literature)
#Mystery
#NonFiction
#Paranormal
#Poetry
#PoetryMonth (Each April in the USA)
#Romantic
#RomanticSuspence
#TrueStories
#ScienceFiction
#SciFiChat
#ShortStory
#SteamPunk
#Suspense
#UrbanFantasy
#WomensFiction
#YA
#YALitPromotion, Networking and Marketing Hashtags#99c (to offer or pick up an eBook bargain)
#AuthorRT
#BookGiveaway
#BookMarketing
#FollowFriday
#FreebieFriday
#FreeReads
#Novelines (to quote your own work)
May 7, 2013
Writers: Beware of Scammy Vanity Presses....a great article I'm reblogging
When I was first starting out, publishing was such a palpable dream, some nights I could barely breathe or sleep with the power of the desire. But, I never succumbed and paid a vanity press. You shouldn't either.
Following is an excellent article I am reblogging from David Gaughran. Please read the whole thing. It echoes my personal motto: Write, publish, and be informed!
The Author Exploitation BusinessPosted on May 4, 2013by davidgaughran
Writing is a glamorous occupation – at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It’s a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.Publishing is a screwed up business. The often labyrinthine path to success makes it much easier for those with nefarious intentions to scam the unsuspecting. But it doesn’t help that so many organizations who claim to help writers, to respect them, to assist them along the path to publication are actually screwing them over.Before the digital revolution made self-publishing viable on a wide scale, the dividing lines were easier to spot. Traditional publishers paid you if they wanted to buy the rights to your novel. Self-publishers were people who filled their garages with books and tried to hawk them at events. And vanity presses were the scammers, luring the unsuspecting with false promises and roundly condemned by self-publishers and traditional publishers alike.Today it’s very different. The scammy vanity presses are owned by traditional publishers who are marketing them as the “easy” way to self-publish – when it’s nothing more than a horrifically expensive and terribly ineffective way to publish your work, guaranteed to kill your book’s chance of success stone dead, while emptying your bank account in the process.Some of you might think: hey, it’s just business. Caveat emptor and all that. And don’t these people know how to use Google?That’s easy to say from our position of experience. Do you remember how naive you were at the start? Do you remember just how badly you wanted to get published? Do you remember the crushing grind of the query-go-round?I’m not surprised people get scammed. When you want something so badly, and you can’t seem to make progress towards that goal – no matter how hard you work – you start to go crazy. You get desperate.And it’s much harder to tell the scammers from the legitimate organizations when they are owned by the same people.Take Penguin-owned Author Solutions, one of the worst vanity presses out there. Here’s how they hoodwink inexperienced writers into using their horribly expensive service.If you Google a term like “find a publisher” the results are littered with sites like FindYourPublisher.com (which I’m not going to link to because that will help their SEO, but you can cut-and-paste that address).The website purports to be an independent resource, helping to pair you with the most suitable publishing company. Or as they put it:
Following is an excellent article I am reblogging from David Gaughran. Please read the whole thing. It echoes my personal motto: Write, publish, and be informed!
The Author Exploitation BusinessPosted on May 4, 2013by davidgaughran
Writing is a glamorous occupation – at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It’s a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.Publishing is a screwed up business. The often labyrinthine path to success makes it much easier for those with nefarious intentions to scam the unsuspecting. But it doesn’t help that so many organizations who claim to help writers, to respect them, to assist them along the path to publication are actually screwing them over.Before the digital revolution made self-publishing viable on a wide scale, the dividing lines were easier to spot. Traditional publishers paid you if they wanted to buy the rights to your novel. Self-publishers were people who filled their garages with books and tried to hawk them at events. And vanity presses were the scammers, luring the unsuspecting with false promises and roundly condemned by self-publishers and traditional publishers alike.Today it’s very different. The scammy vanity presses are owned by traditional publishers who are marketing them as the “easy” way to self-publish – when it’s nothing more than a horrifically expensive and terribly ineffective way to publish your work, guaranteed to kill your book’s chance of success stone dead, while emptying your bank account in the process.Some of you might think: hey, it’s just business. Caveat emptor and all that. And don’t these people know how to use Google?That’s easy to say from our position of experience. Do you remember how naive you were at the start? Do you remember just how badly you wanted to get published? Do you remember the crushing grind of the query-go-round?I’m not surprised people get scammed. When you want something so badly, and you can’t seem to make progress towards that goal – no matter how hard you work – you start to go crazy. You get desperate.And it’s much harder to tell the scammers from the legitimate organizations when they are owned by the same people.Take Penguin-owned Author Solutions, one of the worst vanity presses out there. Here’s how they hoodwink inexperienced writers into using their horribly expensive service.If you Google a term like “find a publisher” the results are littered with sites like FindYourPublisher.com (which I’m not going to link to because that will help their SEO, but you can cut-and-paste that address).The website purports to be an independent resource, helping to pair you with the most suitable publishing company. Or as they put it:dedicated to helping both first-time and experienced authors identify the most suitable indie book publishing company for their book. With the information you provide about your book and goals, FYP makes a recommendation as to which indie book publisher has the best publishing package to help you reach your publishing objectives.Below this message is an online questionnaire asking you about your book. When you have completed that and handed over your phone number, the site makes a recommendation based on your answers.Except the only companies recommended are Trafford, AuthorHouse, Xlibris, and iUniverse – all of which are scammy vanity presses, all owned by Author Solutions. And, fitting with the rest of the pattern, FindYourPublisher.com is just one of many (many!) such sites owned and operated by Author Solutions, purporting to make independent recommendations, but only recommending Author Solutions companies.I have sympathy for those hoodwinked by awful companies like Author Solutions. The dividing lines aren’t as obvious as they were. And inexperienced writers naively assume that a company like Penguin has their best interests at heart. Maybe it’s the cuddly logo.Newsflash: Penguin doesn’t care about writersWhen Penguin bought the world’s biggest vanity press for $116m last July, many people in the publishing business gave them a pass. They claimed that Penguin would clean up the cesspool. But instead Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss was given a seat on the Penguin board.A seat on the board!Emily Suess wrote an excellent guest post here back in February, detailing how the slick Author Solutions scam hadn’t changed one bit since the Penguin takeover.It’s now almost a year since Penguin bought the company (instead of buying, say, Goodreads, but I digress). It should be clear to everyone now that Penguin has no intention of changing Author Solutions’ scammy approach. In fact, .Penguin has been looking under the Author Solutions hood for 10 months now. Its conclusion was this: we can make this bigger. We can take this scam on the road and start exploiting writers all over the planet.And Penguin is still getting a pass for this crap.The Penguin OmertaThe makes no mention of the company being a universally reviled vanity press that has cheated 150,000 writers out of their savings.This is something I’ve been noticing for a while, and Publishers Weekly isn’t alone. The pieces in The Bookseller, GalleyCat, and Digital Book World also make no mention of the widespread criticism that Author Solutions has attracted, nor do they mention that the company is currently the subject of a class action suit for their deceptive practices.More disturbingly, my comment pointing this out appears to have been scrubbed from The Bookseller, is stuck in the moderation queue on Digital Book World’s piece (despiteexplicitly stating that they had posted it).The reaction at the London Book Fair was similar. No-one from traditional publishing wanted to talk about Penguin’s ownership of Author Solutions. No-one wants to talk about how a supposedly legitimate publisher now owns the most successful author scamming organization on the planet.These guys are probably taking their cue from the New York Times, who won’t mention anything remotely critical about Author Solutions, but are happy to spend lots of time showing them in a positive light (like here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).Writer BewareThe Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has done sterling work over the years warning writers away from people like Author Solutions both on their own site, and through their industry watchdog Writer Beware.However, I would love to see them go one step further.Remember those awful Random House digital-first imprints? Public pressure forced Random House to change the horribly one-sided terms it was offering writers. That result was achieved after Writer Beware blogged about it, SFWA president John Scalzi followed up, and SFWA itself threatened to de-list Random House as a qualifying market.What Author Solutions is doing to writers is far, far worse.Isn’t it time to do something about this? Isn’t it time to threaten to de-list Penguin as a qualifying market if they don’t clean up Author Solutions?Hands Up If You Don’t Own A Vanity PressThere’s only one problem with this approach. Where do you stop? Because you would have to threaten to do the same with all these guys too:1. Simon & Schuster hired Author Solutions to run their own scammy vanity press – Archway Publishing. If that wasn’t enough, they then offered a bounty to bloggers to lie about the company.2. Harper Collins-owned Thomas Nelson have their own crappy vanity operation called West Bow Press – also “powered” by Author Solutions.3. Harlequin, never afraid to turn down a penny, jumped in the game a few years ago. Author Solutions provided the white-label vanity operation for them.4. Showing that it’s not just the larger publishers, Hay House contracted Author Solutions to set up Balboa Press – another scammy, crappy, overpriced vanity press.If it was down to me, I would threaten to de-list all these guys until they cleaned house, but Penguin would be a good start, given they (a) it all comes back to Author Solutions, (b) Penguin owns Author Solutions, (c) Penguin has shown no interest in addressing concerns, and (d) Penguin is planning a massive expansion of the Author Solutions scam.Writers Digest & LuluI’m sure Digital Book World’s reluctance to mention the problems with Author Solutions has nothing to do with the fact that they are owned by F+W Media, which also owns yet another crappy vanity press – Abbot Press (which has some of the worst prices out there).In a refreshing change of pace, this crappy vanity press is not actually powered by Author Solutions. Abbot Press is a division of Writers Digest. Yes, that Writers Digest.If that catches you by surprise, I’m sorry to say that Writers Digest went over to the dark side a few years back, and now spam their subscribers with crap like this.I’m sure Author Solutions was disappointed to miss out on that deal but at least they can console themselves with the new partnership they struck with Lulu last month to provide premium (i.e. overpriced and ineffective) marketing services to Lulu customers.That’s right. Lulu made a deal with the devil.How Can We Fight Back?Penguin think they can continue to ride out the storm, ignoring the criticism and collecting their ill-gotten gains, but if we make enough noise, they will have to respond. That starts with sharing this post, or, even better, blogging about it yourself.But it also means reaching out to inexperienced writers and trying to steer them away from these crooks. We need to get the message out that self-publishing is not the impossible task it’s painted as. Sarah Woodbury has a helpful post on the basics here, and I have another here. Feel free to point newbies to them, or write your own.Each time you see an article talking about Author Solutions and not mentioning all the issues, comment underneath and call them on it. Even if the media don’t change their one-eyed approach, readers will see the comments.If you’re a member of a writers organization like SFWA, RWA, or MWA, ask what they are doing about Penguin. Ask them why they haven’t threatened to de-list Penguin. And keep pressing them! The SFWA (and the RWA) were really strong in response to Random House. We need the same from them again.150,000 writers have been screwed over already. I think that’s enough. Don’t you?CORRECTION: Abbott Press (the Writers Digest vanity press) shares the same address as Author Solutions so I think it’s safe to assume it’s being run by them. The packages are all quite similar, as is the marketing. Indeed, Emily Suess names Abbot Press as beingpowered by Author Solutions (scroll down to bottom). More profit for Penguin! Hooray!
April 25, 2013
How NOT to Start Your Story
This was just too good not to share. I stalk Chuck Sambuchino's blog, Writer Unboxed, with the religious fervor of a cult follower and today's blog was awesome. So often, I am asked how does one hook an agent? Of course, there is no one answer to that question, but Chuck wants to remind us all that there are several (or several DOZEN) no-nos when beginning your mega opus. I am sharing the highlights from his post from here. Please go to his blog, join and follow like me. I learn something new, literally, with every post. Here is today's literary life lesson:
Agents speak out about things that they do NOT like in the beginning of a novel, and what might turn them off immediately. These agents are from the A-list, people. Pay attention.
FALSE BEGINNINGS“I don’t like it when the main character dies at the end of Chapter 1. Why did I just spend all this time with this character? I feel cheated.”
- Cricket Freeman, The August Agency“I dislike opening scenes that you think are real, then the protagonist wakes up. It makes me feel cheated.”
- Laurie McLean, Foreword LiteraryIN SCIENCE FICTION“A sci-fi novel that spends the first two pages describing the strange landscape.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor LiteraryPROLOGUES“I’m not a fan of prologues, preferring to find myself in the midst of a moving plot on page 1 rather than being kept outside of it, or eased into it.”
- Michelle Andelman, Regal Literary“Most agents hate prologues. Just make the first chapter relevant and well written.”
- Andrea Brown, Andrea Brown Literary Agency“Prologues are usually a lazy way to give back-story chunks to the reader and can be handled with more finesse throughout the story. Damn the prologue, full speed ahead!”
- Laurie McLean, Foreword LiteraryEXPOSITION/DESCRIPTION“Perhaps my biggest pet peeve with an opening chapter is when an author features too much exposition – when they go beyond what is necessary for simply ‘setting the scene.’ I want to feel as if I’m in the hands of a master storyteller, and starting a story with long, flowery, overly-descriptive sentences (kind of like this one) makes the writer seem amateurish and the story contrived. Of course, an equally jarring beginning can be nearly as off-putting, and I hesitate to read on if I’m feeling disoriented by the fifth page. I enjoy when writers can find a good balance between exposition and mystery. Too much accounting always ruins the mystery of a novel, and the unknown is what propels us to read further.”
- Peter Miller, PMA Literary and Film Management“The [adjective] [adjective] sun rose in the [adjective] [adjective] sky, shedding its [adjective] light across the [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] land.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary“I dislike endless ‘laundry list’ character descriptions. For example: ‘She had eyes the color of a summer sky and long blonde hair that fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her petite nose was the perfect size for her heart-shaped face. Her azure dress—with the empire waist and long, tight sleeves—sported tiny pearl buttons down the bodice. Ivory lace peeked out of the hem in front, blah, blah.’ Who cares! Work it into the story.”
- Laurie McLean, Foreword LiterarySTARTING TOO SLOW“Characters that are moving around doing little things, but essentially nothing. Washing dishes & thinking, staring out the window & thinking, tying shoes, thinking.”
- Dan Lazar, Writers House“I don’t really like ‘first day of school’ beginnings, ‘from the beginning of time,’ or ‘once upon a time.’ Specifically, I dislike a Chapter 1 in which nothing happens.”
- Jessica Regel, Jean V. Naggar Literary AgencyIN CRIME FICTION“Someone squinting into the sunlight with a hangover in a crime novel. Good grief — been done a million times.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary
IN FANTASY“Cliché openings in fantasy can include an opening scene set in a battle (and my peeve is that I don’t know any of the characters yet so why should I care about this battle) or with a pastoral scene where the protagonist is gathering herbs (I didn’t realize how common this is).”
- Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary
VOICE“I know this may sound obvious, but too much ‘telling’ vs. ‘showing’ in the first chapter is a definite warning sign for me. The first chapter should present a compelling scene, not a road map for the rest of the book. The goal is to make the reader curious about your characters, fill their heads with questions that must be answered, not fill them in on exactly where, when, who and how.”
- Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect Agency“I hate reading purple prose – describing something so beautifully that has nothing to do with the actual story.”
- Cherry Weiner, Cherry Weiner Literary“A cheesy hook drives me nuts. They say ‘Open with a hook!’ to grab the reader. That’s true, but there’s a fine line between an intriguing hook and one that’s just silly. An example of a silly hook would be opening with a line of overtly sexual dialogue.”
- Daniel Lazar, Writers House“I don’t like an opening line that’s ‘My name is…,’ introducing the narrator to the reader so blatantly. There are far better ways in Chapter 1 to establish an instant connection between narrator and reader.”
- Michelle Andelman, Regal Literary“Sometimes a reasonably good writer will create an interesting character and describe him in a compelling way, but then he’ll turn out to be some unimportant bit player.”
- Ellen Pepus, Signature Literary AgencyIN ROMANCE“In romance, I can’t stand this scenario: A woman is awakened to find a strange man in her bedroom—and then automatically finds him attractive. I’m sorry, but if I awoke to a strange man in my bedroom, I’d be reaching for a weapon—not admiring the view.”
- Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency
IN A CHRISTIAN NOVEL“A rape scene in a Christian novel in the first chapter.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary
CHARACTERS AND BACKSTORY“I don’t like descriptions of the characters where writers make them too perfect. Heroines (and heroes) who are described physically as being virtually unflawed come across as unrelatable and boring. No ‘flowing, wind-swept golden locks’; no ‘eyes as blue as the sky’; no ‘willowy, perfect figures.’ ”
- Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency“Many writers express the character’s backstory before they get to the plot. Good writers will go back and cut that stuff out and get right to the plot. The character’s backstory stays with them—it’s in their DNA.”
- Adam Chromy, Movable Type Management“I’m turned off when a writer feels the need to fill in all the backstory before starting the story; a story that opens on the protagonist’s mental reflection of their situation is a red flag.”
- Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management“One of the biggest problems is the ‘information dump’ in the first few pages, where the author is trying to tell us everything we supposedly need to know to understand the story. Getting to know characters in a story is like getting to know people in real life. You find out their personality and details of their life over time.”
- Rachelle Gardner, Books & Such Literary
Agents speak out about things that they do NOT like in the beginning of a novel, and what might turn them off immediately. These agents are from the A-list, people. Pay attention.
FALSE BEGINNINGS“I don’t like it when the main character dies at the end of Chapter 1. Why did I just spend all this time with this character? I feel cheated.”
- Cricket Freeman, The August Agency“I dislike opening scenes that you think are real, then the protagonist wakes up. It makes me feel cheated.”
- Laurie McLean, Foreword LiteraryIN SCIENCE FICTION“A sci-fi novel that spends the first two pages describing the strange landscape.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor LiteraryPROLOGUES“I’m not a fan of prologues, preferring to find myself in the midst of a moving plot on page 1 rather than being kept outside of it, or eased into it.”
- Michelle Andelman, Regal Literary“Most agents hate prologues. Just make the first chapter relevant and well written.”
- Andrea Brown, Andrea Brown Literary Agency“Prologues are usually a lazy way to give back-story chunks to the reader and can be handled with more finesse throughout the story. Damn the prologue, full speed ahead!”
- Laurie McLean, Foreword LiteraryEXPOSITION/DESCRIPTION“Perhaps my biggest pet peeve with an opening chapter is when an author features too much exposition – when they go beyond what is necessary for simply ‘setting the scene.’ I want to feel as if I’m in the hands of a master storyteller, and starting a story with long, flowery, overly-descriptive sentences (kind of like this one) makes the writer seem amateurish and the story contrived. Of course, an equally jarring beginning can be nearly as off-putting, and I hesitate to read on if I’m feeling disoriented by the fifth page. I enjoy when writers can find a good balance between exposition and mystery. Too much accounting always ruins the mystery of a novel, and the unknown is what propels us to read further.”
- Peter Miller, PMA Literary and Film Management“The [adjective] [adjective] sun rose in the [adjective] [adjective] sky, shedding its [adjective] light across the [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] land.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary“I dislike endless ‘laundry list’ character descriptions. For example: ‘She had eyes the color of a summer sky and long blonde hair that fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her petite nose was the perfect size for her heart-shaped face. Her azure dress—with the empire waist and long, tight sleeves—sported tiny pearl buttons down the bodice. Ivory lace peeked out of the hem in front, blah, blah.’ Who cares! Work it into the story.”
- Laurie McLean, Foreword LiterarySTARTING TOO SLOW“Characters that are moving around doing little things, but essentially nothing. Washing dishes & thinking, staring out the window & thinking, tying shoes, thinking.”
- Dan Lazar, Writers House“I don’t really like ‘first day of school’ beginnings, ‘from the beginning of time,’ or ‘once upon a time.’ Specifically, I dislike a Chapter 1 in which nothing happens.”
- Jessica Regel, Jean V. Naggar Literary AgencyIN CRIME FICTION“Someone squinting into the sunlight with a hangover in a crime novel. Good grief — been done a million times.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary
IN FANTASY“Cliché openings in fantasy can include an opening scene set in a battle (and my peeve is that I don’t know any of the characters yet so why should I care about this battle) or with a pastoral scene where the protagonist is gathering herbs (I didn’t realize how common this is).”
- Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary
VOICE“I know this may sound obvious, but too much ‘telling’ vs. ‘showing’ in the first chapter is a definite warning sign for me. The first chapter should present a compelling scene, not a road map for the rest of the book. The goal is to make the reader curious about your characters, fill their heads with questions that must be answered, not fill them in on exactly where, when, who and how.”
- Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect Agency“I hate reading purple prose – describing something so beautifully that has nothing to do with the actual story.”
- Cherry Weiner, Cherry Weiner Literary“A cheesy hook drives me nuts. They say ‘Open with a hook!’ to grab the reader. That’s true, but there’s a fine line between an intriguing hook and one that’s just silly. An example of a silly hook would be opening with a line of overtly sexual dialogue.”
- Daniel Lazar, Writers House“I don’t like an opening line that’s ‘My name is…,’ introducing the narrator to the reader so blatantly. There are far better ways in Chapter 1 to establish an instant connection between narrator and reader.”
- Michelle Andelman, Regal Literary“Sometimes a reasonably good writer will create an interesting character and describe him in a compelling way, but then he’ll turn out to be some unimportant bit player.”
- Ellen Pepus, Signature Literary AgencyIN ROMANCE“In romance, I can’t stand this scenario: A woman is awakened to find a strange man in her bedroom—and then automatically finds him attractive. I’m sorry, but if I awoke to a strange man in my bedroom, I’d be reaching for a weapon—not admiring the view.”
- Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency
IN A CHRISTIAN NOVEL“A rape scene in a Christian novel in the first chapter.”
- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary
CHARACTERS AND BACKSTORY“I don’t like descriptions of the characters where writers make them too perfect. Heroines (and heroes) who are described physically as being virtually unflawed come across as unrelatable and boring. No ‘flowing, wind-swept golden locks’; no ‘eyes as blue as the sky’; no ‘willowy, perfect figures.’ ”
- Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency“Many writers express the character’s backstory before they get to the plot. Good writers will go back and cut that stuff out and get right to the plot. The character’s backstory stays with them—it’s in their DNA.”
- Adam Chromy, Movable Type Management“I’m turned off when a writer feels the need to fill in all the backstory before starting the story; a story that opens on the protagonist’s mental reflection of their situation is a red flag.”
- Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management“One of the biggest problems is the ‘information dump’ in the first few pages, where the author is trying to tell us everything we supposedly need to know to understand the story. Getting to know characters in a story is like getting to know people in real life. You find out their personality and details of their life over time.”
- Rachelle Gardner, Books & Such Literary
April 17, 2013
Davee Jones, author of Finding Love Under a Rock Spills It for the Bloggy
As I have told you all before, my new association with Sweet Cravings Publishing has exposed me to so many new friends, and wonderful authors. Davee Jones is one of them. She is also the first author I have met or featured who collaborates with her teen aged daughter. Which I think is the coolest thing!So, I am proud to introduce you to my new friend and fellow author, Davee Jones. Let's see what she has in her locker! (sorry. totally could not resist!)
What is the first book that you published? My first book published was, ironically, not the first book I wrote. On Ellicott Street – a feisty, loving, cougar romance novella- holds the honor of being my first published book. I wrote it during the World Series match up between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. During the games, writing was the perfect avenue to release my nerves. Finless, released second, was the result of years of blood, sweat, and tears. It’s a dark dance balancing between love, desire, and anger.
What is your latest? My latest release is my YA debut entitled Finding Love Under a Rock, written under my pseudonym, Allee Mae. However, my most recent adult release is Lovedust and Trailblazers, an erotic, ranch themed novel.
Who do you write for? I have the privilege to write for Secret Cravings and Sweet Cravings Publishing. This professional small house has the most efficient, supportive administrative staff and creative team I’ve ever been associated with.
Who is your ideal reader? My ideal reader allows me to take them to the edge of sanity, push limits, and support a sometimes simple protagonist just trying to get by in life. I have the same type characters in my explicit writing as well as my sweet or YA books-they just don’t use the “F” word or engage in overt sexuality. It doesn’t always take erotic descriptors of body parts/functions to get a point across. But, I will bring out the sexy when a mature story requires it. (wink)
FINDING LOVE UNDER A ROCK - The Critter Getter SeriesBlurb:Kalista Bristow and Leandra Lehigh moved to Oklahoma not just to attend nursing school, but, to find some adventure. When Leandra reads about the sport of “noodling”, she is literally “hooked’, and reserves top-notch guides, Caleb Chandler and Owen Guthrie, to give them a true southern experience.
Wading through the murky river, Kalista finds herself drawn to the handsome Caleb and his red-dirt good looks. He manages a few shy glances in her direction, intrigued by her tenacity. Could this cute city girl bring him out of his awkward insecurity when it comes to dating? However, thoughts of blossoming love move to the wayside as the girls find more than they bargained for under the surface of that shadowy river. They must rely on Caleb and Owen to keep them safe, all the while beginning to believe the mysterious legends the guys have been telling them are probably all true.
Excerpt:Kalista’s stomach churned nervously as her eyes darted around. Sunlight danced off the ripples in the water that their movements created. Is that us making those waves, or something just below the surface? “Crap, should I watch where I step?”“That’s sort of a problem. You can’t watch anywhere you move. So, you just better hope you make the right step.” Caleb said solemnly. “How far out do we have to go? The water is getting colder the further out we get. Besides, how can we get to the bank to get out if we do get into trouble?” Panic teemed in Kalista’s voice. “I don’t like water I can’t see into.”“Hey, roomie, calm down. Good grief, we haven’t even started yet.” Leandra finally sounded exasperated with Kalista’s irrational fear. “Would you just enjoy yourself and get over being a baby already? Not everything has to be a swimming pool with pristine water to be safe.” “Girls, girls, focus. You are both right in your own way. This is more than a simple excursion—it’s time we start paying attention to our surroundings.”“Okay, so, we need to be onewith the fish?” Leandra asked seriously as she peered down toward the water.Kalista rolled her eyes. “Sheesh Lea, as if you could see anything through this brown tinged river water.” She looked more closely, realizing how intent Leandra appeared. “You really are getting in tune with your aquatic side, aren’t you?”“We paid for this expedition so you’re darn right I’m getting in touch with my inner Ictalurus punctatus.”Owen furrowed his brow toward Leandra. “What the heck is an ictaluruhhh…icta…icta-walruses or whatever you just said?”“Owen, let me apologize for Leandra, leave it to the bookworm to use the scientific name for a channel catfish.” Kalista replied with amusement in her tone.“You knew what I meant when I said it. What’s that say about you?” Leandra shot back triumphantly.Caleb interjected into the banter. “Girls, we are actually not looking for Ictalurus punctatus. We are searching for Pylodictis olivari, a flathead catfish.”
Author Bio:
For my sweet side as Allee Mae- with my 13 y/o daughter, we combine to create fictional worlds with something for everyone. Whether exploring urban legends, the eerie paranormal, first loves, sweet romance, scary dreams, we take you away from the everyday.I have more adult content available as: Davee Jones began a career in the counseling field with her M.Ed. She then diversified and began work for the federal government. The dryness of the day to day assignments fostered the desire for her to do something more creative. Because writing was always a passion, she used every opportunity to journal and create fictional worlds with her words. She began writing short fiction and books, inspired by the events around her.
Now avidly writing, in the little spare time she has, she has several other books in progress. She has books that draw from eroticism, romance, suspense, drama, and sometimes comedy. A few of her books garner only one flame, but, others will secure all five flames in the heat index.
She lives with her husband and children, who inspire her every day to live life to the fullest, with no regrets. She thanks her mother and grandmother for such strong, independent, loving examples of the kind of woman she wants to be. Her favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Purchase links for sensual reads:1. http://www.amazon.com/Lovedust-and-Trailblazers-ebook/dp/B00ADVR4XW/ref=la_B0076AYW10_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1365601257&sr=1-1 Lovedust and Trailblazers available eBook and paperback2. http://www.amazon.com/Finless-ebook/dp/B007SNTKMQ/ref=la_B0076AYW10_1_2_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1365601257&sr=1-2 Finless available eBook and paperback3. http://www.amazon.com/On-Ellicott-Street-ebook/dp/B00768TDH0 On Ellicott Street eBookMy blogs: http://www.finless.blogspot.com/ and http://alleemaeauthor.wordpress.com/My twitter: @finlessbook https://twitter.com/finlessbook and @alleemaeauthor https://twitter.com/AlleeMaeAuthorMy Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/finless.book and http://www.facebook.com/alleemae.authorMy websites: http://www.amazon.com/Davee-Jones/e/B0076AYW10 and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/davee-jones and http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=products_all&filter_author=100My Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5781523.Davee_Jones and http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/18078385-allee-maeMy Video Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/user/finlessbook/videosFinding Love Under a Rock- Released TODAY! Wednesday, April 17http://store.sweetcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=4&products_id=157&zenid=d7ec1352d3d21827eb7ad0dd929566aeYA/Paranormal
April 15, 2013
Sherry Gloag from The Heart of Romance is on the Bloggy!
Before I was a published author for Secret Cravings Publishing, I was a newbie with Musa Publishing and even before that, I was a greenie with Astraea Press. I read Amanda Hocking's blog and learned she credited her popularity with bloggers. So I sought them out when I had my first release, Spellbound. One of the ones who welcomed me with open arms was Sherry Gloag. Little did I know we would both be published authors with the same Houses!
So, today I am so happy to showcase my longtime (in Facebook years, anyway) friend, Sherry Gloag. Her blog, The Heart of Romance, has been a must-stop for all my releases and it should be for yours. Learn a little more about her recent release from Sweet Cravings Publishing, No Job for a Woman.
No Job For a Woman ....by Author Sherry Gloag
Blurb: Deborah Stavely is determined to overcome the increasing harassment from her neighbour without
calling on her brother for help. So she is not pleased when Freddie intervenes and involves his friend, Julian Fanshaw.
Circumstances demand Julian and Deborah learn to work together and Julian dares to dream that he might gain the love of the only person he’s ever given his heart to.But will Deborah live long enough to discover that by releasing everything she values, she will gain everything her heart desires?Julian Fanshaw answers a call for help from his life-long friend Lord Worth to help keep his friend’s widowed sister, Deborah, safe from her increasingly vindictive neighbours. It doesn’t take long to realise him or Freddie long to realise the Grangers aren’t using her as a long-promised act of revenge against them; but are playing a deeper and far more sinister game of their own.
Excerpt: Julian Fanshaw ignored the other letters in front of him when he recognized one from his long-time friend Freddie Dalrymple, now Lord Worth. He broke the seal and scanned the single sheet with growing concern.
Julian, my friend, I am writing to implore you to put aside whatever plans you have in hand and to set out immediately to stay with us for an indeterminate period of time.
Thoroughly alarmed, Julian flipped the page in his hand to discover it had been dispatched more than a week ago.
If I bring to mind a certain student up at Oxford with us, and reveal that he and his wife are, and have been, my sister’s neighbors for several years, it will give you but an inkling of the root of my concern.It has come to my attention, due to the arrival of his brother upon the scene, and recent events concerning my sister, Deborah, I am persuaded you need not only to know what is happening here, but be on hand to assist in circumventing any consequences of actions taken against her. I have taken the liberty of gathering some friends together for a couple of shooting parties, thereby creating a reason for your presence.
Since his return from the Peninsular, Julian kept promising himself a trip to Worth’s Norfolk estate. Unfortunately in the last eighteen months, time and circumstances had worked against him.Casting the letter aside, Julian strode to the door and called for his butler.“I am leaving immediately for Norfolk. Please see that my bags are packed and have my horse ready within the hour.”“You do not intend to use your chaise, sir?”“No. I’ll ride, with a stop to visit Mr. Sewel. Arrange for Becket and French to follow me in the chaise with everything I’ll need for a month.”Not by so much as a flick of an eyelid did Thomas reveal he recognized the name of his master’s man of business.“Very good, sir.”
BIO
Multi-published author, Sherry Gloag is a transplanted Scot now living in the beautiful coastal countryside of Norfolk, England. She considers the surrounding countryside as extension of her own garden, to which she escapes when she needs "thinking time" and solitude to work out the plots for her next novel. While out walking she enjoys talking to her characters, as long as there are no other walkers close by.Apart from writing, Sherry enjoys gardening, walking, reading and cheerfully admits her books tend to take over most of the shelf and floor space in her workroom-cum-office. She also finds crystal craft work therapeutic.
As always, indie authors love to hear from fans, friends, and followers. Give her a shout!
My Website: http://www.sherrygloag.comMy Blog: http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/SherryGloagAuthor Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SherryGloag Amazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/buj6zj8
So, today I am so happy to showcase my longtime (in Facebook years, anyway) friend, Sherry Gloag. Her blog, The Heart of Romance, has been a must-stop for all my releases and it should be for yours. Learn a little more about her recent release from Sweet Cravings Publishing, No Job for a Woman.
No Job For a Woman ....by Author Sherry Gloag
Blurb: Deborah Stavely is determined to overcome the increasing harassment from her neighbour without
calling on her brother for help. So she is not pleased when Freddie intervenes and involves his friend, Julian Fanshaw. Circumstances demand Julian and Deborah learn to work together and Julian dares to dream that he might gain the love of the only person he’s ever given his heart to.But will Deborah live long enough to discover that by releasing everything she values, she will gain everything her heart desires?Julian Fanshaw answers a call for help from his life-long friend Lord Worth to help keep his friend’s widowed sister, Deborah, safe from her increasingly vindictive neighbours. It doesn’t take long to realise him or Freddie long to realise the Grangers aren’t using her as a long-promised act of revenge against them; but are playing a deeper and far more sinister game of their own.
Excerpt: Julian Fanshaw ignored the other letters in front of him when he recognized one from his long-time friend Freddie Dalrymple, now Lord Worth. He broke the seal and scanned the single sheet with growing concern.
Julian, my friend, I am writing to implore you to put aside whatever plans you have in hand and to set out immediately to stay with us for an indeterminate period of time.
Thoroughly alarmed, Julian flipped the page in his hand to discover it had been dispatched more than a week ago.
If I bring to mind a certain student up at Oxford with us, and reveal that he and his wife are, and have been, my sister’s neighbors for several years, it will give you but an inkling of the root of my concern.It has come to my attention, due to the arrival of his brother upon the scene, and recent events concerning my sister, Deborah, I am persuaded you need not only to know what is happening here, but be on hand to assist in circumventing any consequences of actions taken against her. I have taken the liberty of gathering some friends together for a couple of shooting parties, thereby creating a reason for your presence.
Since his return from the Peninsular, Julian kept promising himself a trip to Worth’s Norfolk estate. Unfortunately in the last eighteen months, time and circumstances had worked against him.Casting the letter aside, Julian strode to the door and called for his butler.“I am leaving immediately for Norfolk. Please see that my bags are packed and have my horse ready within the hour.”“You do not intend to use your chaise, sir?”“No. I’ll ride, with a stop to visit Mr. Sewel. Arrange for Becket and French to follow me in the chaise with everything I’ll need for a month.”Not by so much as a flick of an eyelid did Thomas reveal he recognized the name of his master’s man of business.“Very good, sir.”
BIOMulti-published author, Sherry Gloag is a transplanted Scot now living in the beautiful coastal countryside of Norfolk, England. She considers the surrounding countryside as extension of her own garden, to which she escapes when she needs "thinking time" and solitude to work out the plots for her next novel. While out walking she enjoys talking to her characters, as long as there are no other walkers close by.Apart from writing, Sherry enjoys gardening, walking, reading and cheerfully admits her books tend to take over most of the shelf and floor space in her workroom-cum-office. She also finds crystal craft work therapeutic.
As always, indie authors love to hear from fans, friends, and followers. Give her a shout!
My Website: http://www.sherrygloag.comMy Blog: http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/SherryGloagAuthor Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SherryGloag Amazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/buj6zj8
