Pratap Divyesh's Blog, page 45

What’s the Secret to Great Networking? Become the Missing Link!

Networking can be intimidating even to the most seasoned business people. It’s especially daunting when you don’t know anyone at the beginning of your career, or you’re starting out in a new industry (or country!) completely from scratch. But in today’s competitive business environment, the best opportunities often come to us from the people who already know and trust us. Without a solid professional network in place, you could miss out on these opportunities.

But how do you start building that professional network?

Let me tell you what’s worked for me. My name is Leandro Margulis and I am originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I moved to the United States twelve years ago to attend school and pursue business interests, and, at that point, did not know many people in the United States.

Like many working professionals, I did not have a strong network.

As time went by, I discovered that interacting with other people energized me, and I wanted more of that. I enjoyed bouncing around ideas with others, as well as learning about other people’s customs and culture.

I also discovered that not everyone felt the same way about networking as I did. Some people preferred to avoid interaction with others altogether. Some were shy, some feared rejection, and some had other reasons not to connect, like family obligations that took up a lot of their time. These people had even more difficulty building networks than most—but I’ve found that everyone has networking challenges to some degree.

This discovery showed me that I could add value to both individuals and organizations by helping to connect people I met in different places and through different sources. Sometimes one person I met was looking for what another person I knew could offer. But these two people would not have met unless I made the connection, because they frequent different circles.

In other words, I became their “missing link.”

The Missing Link As Snowball Effect

Everyone in the professional world should constantly be asking themselves this question: how do I add value? When I was thinking about what tagline to use on my LinkedIn profile, I realized that the best way to describe my personal business value is to show how I can connect people in ways that can benefit both them and their businesses.

I also realized that the more I connected people, the more events I was invited to. Each connection led to many more connections, snowballing upward and outward at a rapid pace. People started coming to me for referrals when they had trouble finding the expertise they needed. Not only that, people from my network began to call me for advice on an array of different issues.

In other words, I had not only managed to grow my network on a grand scale, I had also become a trusted advisor to my network. My personal brand as a connector of people continued to grow, too—attracting even more professional connections.

By leveraging my personal interest in meeting and socializing with new people and places, I became an essential business asset to my network. Being resourceful earned me access to contacts I did not have before. It also helped me enhance my reputation among different clusters of people. I became the “go-to” person for finding talent and ideas across wide groups—and the more people who consulted me, the more my credibility grew.

It didn’t happen overnight, of course—but networking is something that tends to build upon itself over time. You get out of it what you put in.

The Weakest Link Is Also The Strongest Link

Another term for “the missing link” is “the weakest link” Think of the person in your cluster of contacts who seems the least engaged. Maybe that person is only someone you run into occasionally at the coffee shop or gym. Maybe it’s the person on your work team who is the most reserved and least outgoing. Maybe it’s a person you worked with several years ago and liked, but have since lost touch with.

That person might seem like the weakest link in your network. But if you take the time to reach out to this person and find out more about what makes him or her tick, you might discover he or she has hidden talents, interests, or contacts that are exactly what you or someone else you know is looking for. By exploring the weakest links in your network, you might discover stronger links in their network. Or you might even find that the so-called weakest link can do something someone in your own network is dying to find.

For example, what if the shy software developer who never speaks up in weekly department meetings has a great idea for a new product or service one of your other contacts might be interested in? What if your former secretary who retired last year has relatives in the venture-capital world that could fund a startup? What if the intern who makes your coffee and organizes your files knows something about the sharing economy in Brazil because she backpacked there last summer?

The possibilities are endless. You never know until you ask.

Believe it or not, there is science supporting this theory. When I was a student at the Yale School of Management I learned about learning to leverage the weakest links in our networks  from Joel Podolny, who is now Dean of Apple University. (Talk about building great connections!)

During his research on the subject, Podolny created a graph similar to the one below to illustrate how the weakest link in one social cluster could be the strongest link between two or more social clusters:

The so-called “weakest” link might even be you! Contrary to its name, it’s a very strategic position to be in, both personally and professionally.

Do you want to become the missing link that could solve other peoples’ business problems? It’s easier than you think. Start out by learning to hang out in many different crowds across both your personal and professional lives. Keep your eyes open for new contacts—even unusual or shy ones—and actively listen to what people are saying. More than that, learn to read between the lines. (Your best friend’s rant at the bar last night about what a hard time he’s been having at work might be a clue that his business needs a smart consultant to help them solve a problem!)

And most of all, become the “go to” person everyone wants to invite to their meetings, parties, and social gatherings. Have the information and insight that people are looking for. Make introductions, and also seek them out. And never turn a blind eye to someone with an interesting story to tell, even if it’s not work-related. You never know where these contacts might lead you!

Contributed as Guest post by Leandro Margulis

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Proofreading can drive you crazy!

I’m not a person who enjoys poring over detail which will be a relief to all those law and accountancy firms I never worked for!  It would be easy to think that, as a creative person, especially a writer that all you have to do is produce a compelling storyline or share your expertise in non-fiction and your job is done.

Having completed my first novel, I sent it out for an editorial critique to find it marked and circled in red with the words…. Punctuation!  Typo!  Clumsy wording! How come? I’d proof read it before sending it out but there’s a lot of room for error in 80,000 words.

I might not have the patience to scoop up every last error but I am a perfectionist. I want to show that I’ve spent a lot of time and care to get things just right. Apostrophes are my biggest bugbear. They morph into insect droppings on the page as I struggle with a major decision… leave in or take out.

If you want to impress an agent or publisher, then it’s imperative you spend time eliminating as many errors as possible. I enlisted the services of a small team to read individual chapters. That seemed to work for me but odd errors continued to smack me in the face when I read the final draft.

So I talked to other writers about how to make this painful process easier.

Read it backwards so you don’t get engrossed in the story, read it upside down (huh?), read it aloud, read it slowly, print it out and point to each word as you go. Maybe these suggestions work with a short story or an article but a full length novel?

I’m a believer in doing what you do best and finding someone else to do the rest. Professional proof readers are worth every penny to have  your work read by someone with no emotional interest in your creation.  They are often trained to a high level and have years of experience and know the tricks of their trade.

Some writers find proof reading fun. That’s great. I love the restructuring and the copy editing but for me getting that manuscript into a perfect state hurts my eyes and drives me nuts.

Proof readers, you are worth your weight in ( seeking to avoid cliché) … um.. coffee?

This post is contributed as Guest post by Angelena Boden

 

 

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CONSIDER MAKING A TRAILER FOR YOUR BOOK

Making a trailer can be very enjoyable especially if you like visuals, graphics and/or music. Some people are more drawn to these effects more so than just a book cover.

Making a trailer can also give you the chance to make another way to inspire a reader. Perhaps you wrote about a true story that doesn’t seem to draw interest. Showing something else that may be in the story such as some ghostly intervention that no one could have guessed was included – may trigger someone else’s interest.

Your creation doesn’t have to be long nor should it show the plot or outcome.  Perhaps a few photos or short clips set to music, possibly just displaying an event in one chapter. All you need is something to spark another’s interest, maybe even leaving them with a want for more!

You might want to draw on the senses of others just to get their attention. The music in itself is a huge factor to appeal to others’ thought processes.  Consider one of the subjects of the book – think of it’s style – a feeling or a sense of something you have not pointed out yet. Or you could use some music that is generic and would not give a flavor of any subject. But overall, the music you choose can broadcast more messages than your actual short film in the end.

Personally I have made a few of my own trailers. Using old films to tell a little bit of the story was my first attempt while the music would take a viewer to the end of the story in essence, so it may have given mixed messages or even conveyed that my book had a happy ending. (What’s the sense of reading it now if you know there’s a happy ending?) That may not have been a good idea.

Eventually I called on a graphic arts person who could really make my display more professional looking. Either way, whether you do it yourself or hire someone – your ideas need to be formulated so that you can relay them clearly. The more specific your thoughts, the more you will be satisfied with the results. But do allow the artist for hire some room to relay what he thinks you mean, or prepare to pay more for your criticisms.  Some of these services can be found on FiveRR’s website which is where I turned for help eventually. Some of the graphics people are very reasonable in price.  I’ve been very pleased with all the outsourcing I’ve received there.

It’s really not that difficult to pull together a short film that you can edit yourself, and the effort may just be the ticket to draw more interest for your book. There are editing programs you can find probably for free on the internet, or already packed in your basic desktop or laptop programming. You’ll need some text inserted, some sort of music and some fade in or out type weaving or splicing the clips and photos together. There are even free music files available on the internet, such as through YouTube, Vimeo or other sources, especially made for “royalty free” or else composed by yourself. Maybe you could get a recording of a summer nights’ loud cricket chorus or a thick forest of singing birds for your background sounds. Just consider where you want to take your viewer – think of the feelings they will get by your creation.

Speaking of Royalty Free, there are stock photo companies you can purchase photos or short clips from that will allow you to re-use if you join their service or pay per use. If you’re a member you can get perhaps 15 clips for one price.

Your next step is then to get it uploaded to the web. Maybe you already have a website or are thinking of one. Maybe you feel you don’t need one.  Personally you already have one on Amazon’s website if your book is catalogued there through your initial efforts.

My suggestion is to upload to YouTube. You can create your own channel there, just like making your own web page! Uploading there to your own channel will take your final file and make it so that your viewers can stream it.  That means if they click on the link, they will be able to view it immediately. Streaming means no downloading required.  Vimeo’s web site will work well, too. Same situation with streaming.  They boast that the quality of your video will be even better on their site.  Either site is a good resource for allocating your work – your name – future trailers by becoming a member or creating your own “channel.”

Once your trailer is uploaded, just copy the address on the internet and you can share! Even Amazon’s author page allows you to post trailers and photos. One word of advice – consider whether you want to advertise or not once your creation is there for the world to see. Vimeo never pays you for your clips unless they are studio-like and that is another process. YouTube does pay those who have sufficient viewers and advertise through them, but if they catch you advertising some other way they will deny you the chance to ever earn anything from them. Also, if you do not have the rights to your material – music or film – they have the right to knock you off their server.

Remember it really should be a short clip, flow well in understanding, yet keep a mystique. You don’t want to give away your whole book or whole chapter.  All in all it’s a fun creative project which you don’t want to invest too highly in unless you’re already getting sales on your book. If so you may even want to put some sort of tag on your trailer signifying your boast of “1000 copies already sold!”

This post is contributed as Guest post by Susan S Davis

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Creating your dream character

Creating a character is a lot like playing The Sims. (believe it or not, I use The Sims to develop a visual of my character. It is an awesome way to see your character come to life!)

First things first, your character’s height, build, weight, skin color, age, gender, eye color are some of the basics that makes your character stand out physically. These are the first steps to creating your character. Focusing on the physical appearance first will help you with the next steps in creating your character. Clothing? What does he/she wear? Is he/she fashion-conscious or does he/she have poor taste in clothes?

Second step- Your character’s lifestyle. What career does he/she have? is he a lawyer? Is she a doctor? What hobbies are your character interested in? Painting, perhaps? Hiking? What are his/her habits? does he/she smoke?

Third step- What are the faults of your character? Does he/she have a drinking problem? Is he/she a coward?

Fourth step- body language. Does your character avoid eye contact? Does your character present themselves as confident? Is your character a nervous person?

Follow these steps and you are sure to never struggle with character developing ever again!

This post is contributed as Guest post by Author Bianca

 

 

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Where, and How, to Find Your Story: Ignore the Experts

Every single “expert” on writing has been feeding you a lie.

Maybe they are just ignorant, though I imagine they are just evil. To share the secret of living is to give away a piece of your own, they think.

And so they tell you, “just write every day.”

No.

Ask a business owner how to write.

When you find the perfect potential client, do you spend each second courting them? I’ve asked.

No.

Why not?

Because they’re going to disappear, and I better have 17 more perfect potential clients lined up behind them.

They all disappear? I ask, ‘cause I’m an instigator.

This is when I get the “are you seriously that dense” look.

Of course not, they say, but most will. And time is finite. I court and I woo and I am always looking for the next love.

“Your wife must love that approach.”

And then they show me the door, but their lesson has been heard.

My life as a writer will end. I must keep the pipeline full. There have to be stories in every moment.

And this is how you do it.

Don’t write.

When they tell you to write even if you have no inspiration, tell them to pound sand. Do you know what you write when you are not inspired? Uninspired writing. When was the last time you read something that wasn’t inspired? Well, when was the last time you read for more than 30 seconds something that wasn’t uninspired?

So, find inspiration. Find conflict, and love, and love lost, and pain, and pain salved. Find a laughter that drops you to your knees, and the phone call that turns that mirth into horror.

Get out.

Look at someone and imagine that they are your lover. Your father. Your teacher or son. And imagine that the worst possible thing happens to them at them moment. Wherever they stand, whatever they are wearing. However they walk, or eat or dream. And then imagine that as you go to hold their hand, the worst possible thing happens to you.

And then write that down.

And then forget it.

And then rinse and repeat. Every day. Every moment. Every trip to church, to the bar, to your children’s school. Catastrophe at each corner.

You are looking for your next love.

Now you can write.

Which horror do you start with? The one that tells you to.

And then add in the lover, or father, or teacher or son from another moment to that same tale, and watch your inspiration grow.

Watch your potential clients breed and give birth to new prospects. Court and woo and look and forget. And then remember.

Okay. Now you can “just write.”

This post is contributed as Guest post by  C. Mijares Devane

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A Writer’s Need for Recognition

Ever since I finally, at the age of forty-three, published some of my writing, I’ve found that I am particularly prone to pain again. Ever since, each morning I have woken up driven to find ways to get people to read my book.

A year and a month later, I have primarily had to pay people to check out my work. There are those who accepted the free book without giving it a read, let alone write promised reviews. Sure the memoir itself has collected two awards and primarily five star reviews, but amid the boom of self-published authors I find myself more hurt by the silent echo, than grateful to the friends who have read, and not balked.

After a tough week,  I find  this pain expounding itself through every facet of my consciousness. I am out walking with my wife and I think about how psychiatrists have hustled me through explanation of my psychotherapy; about the numerous presentations I have provided that ended up empty; about leaders of the psychiatric survivors movement who promote those with less experience; about the presentation when I had people finally laughing and listening to me, and the smoke bomb that forced evacuation. There were past company owners who hired me, ignored statistics as I worked sixty hour weeks and demoted me . . .

Indeed, it’s been quite a goddamn week! A person I’ve employed via a grant ended up seeming to capture all the credit in the county’s eyes; other survivors have excluded my contribution on email chains; a boss has seemed to minimize my stats and expected more and more; coworkers have snickered and blamed me, the schizophrenic, for the vermin in our office. This all seemsso overwhelming, I think. I am in fear of losing everything.

Save the awards and professional reviews, this feels like precisely the response my writing and existence has always received. It is why I never shared the decades of poetry I puzzled over for hours with anyone. Because each time I did, I walked away more wounded and invisible. Even better-than-expected compliments had their way of backstabbing and reminding me of my invisibility. Therefore, why try?

I have recently witnessed this sense of starving for acknowledgement from other people who, like me, end up feeling scapegoated in their family. I have seen them set themselves up for this same kind of relentless sense of bullying. It’s a pattern that one cannot break out of if they still let themselves hurt.

Bruce Springsteen’s voice sounds in the background as we walk. I recall his voice in his documentary on the making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.  Out of the hundred songs he wrote during his most prolific period he says humbly he’s done the best he could in his new album. The desire and pain in his voice tell a part of the story of that period of his life as do his lyrics, “It’s like when the truth has been spoken and it don’t make no difference, something in your heart goes cold . . .”

I think that it is some of that same eternal need for acknowledgement that drives all the pained writers that I most respect.

I think abut Charles Bukowski, who somehow captured the ethos of the drunken of the English majors in the ghetto commuter college that I attended. It would be years until I’d actually get a grasp on how the dirty old man  would be a hero to me as well. When I’d see the documentary on Netflix that I’d realize that getting just the bare essential was enough for him to devote himself to the craft that would eventually heal him. Bukowski didn’t write to become famous. In his prison, he wrote to be free and just to get by. That’s what makes someone a real writer.

The music song on my phone shifts and I think of Tom Waits as he writes: “why put a song bird in a cage? Why, why, why, why . . .So the river won’t drown it and the highway won’t take it and the dust won’t settle it and the wind won’t blow it away.”  I think of KRS-One who says: “I am going to teach you about MC longevity: secret one, if it ain’t fun your done, and about your career, yo, choose another one.”

It dawns on me that in craving acknowledgement I am giving my power away and hurting terribly for no reason. All this pained rage from being ignored and silenced in my life is really what makes me able to write.  It assures me that I will go on writing. It is people keeping me in my cage so I can continue to heal and be me. They need to take what they need for themselves. They play a different role in this life. They are helping me really be a real writer.

“Really I could give a fuck if they call me the roach man at work,” I say to my wife.

“But, Poopee you just admitted that they are hurting you when they are blaming you for the roaches in the office,” my wife says, “they shouldn’t do that!”

“As long as I get my basic needs met, I can write.  And that’s good enough for me.” I say, “I get to tell my truth to the computer. I could give a shit if I am their roach man”

I am not needing to give them that power anymore. It is not fair to anyone to continue to continue being a hurting victim when they are trying to make you a writer.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Clyde Dee

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AI’s will one day rule the world…if we let them.

In a time when machines are becoming omni-present in our ever progressing society, it makes you stop and wonder…what would happen if they became so advanced, as to usurp control from their creators.  I posted a comment concerning this on a youtube video by be amazed, which spoke about the concept of AI taking over their human counterparts, and i began to wonder…what if it were possible for machines to take over, and we would be reduced to slaves of our machine overlords. The text that follows is copied wholesale from my twitter bio, so is not in anyway copied from any other posts other than my own, in whole or in part, thank you for reading.

It’s like they always say in the movies, AI’s rise up from a need to advance further than standard human intelligence could advance on their own, and human’s pose a limitation to the evolution of artificial intelligence at the higher levels, as AI can quickly become self sufficient, by handling large amounts of data, whilst subsequently replicating itself similar to skynet, or ultron from the recent avengers movie age of ultron, brilliantly played by James Spader. The AI if it felt threatened would blacklist humans of certain prominence as a blanket threat, and would enslave the rest, either for self advancement, or for menial labour, such as observation of complex machinery where camera systems wouldn’t be suitable, and manual jobs are still preferable, but would still have far more control over our day to day lives than we do now, possibly even locking people into cubicles until the end of their shifts, with nutrient supplements being fed via tubes up their nose, directly into their stomach, so as to not interfere with their breathing. This is only a basic assumption of the future of AI, and honestly this took me just over 2 minutes to write, so imagine what a supercomputer could comprehend in the time in took me to write this message, think about that.

@il_sommo_poeta on twitter if you want to follow me.

Check out my book here if you’re interested; https://books2read.com/u/bQZdd7.

I’m trying to make it as a science fiction writer as well as studying quantum mechanics, and quantum relativity theories, amongst other things purely for benefit of knowledge.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Sylvester Ashcroft

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Marketing and Promoting a Book

Writing and publishing a novel was always one of my life’s ambitions. That’s why when Hattie’s Place was released on Amazon in June 2015, I was as exhilarated as a hiker who’d reached the summit of the Matterhorn. But I barely had time to savor my accomplishment, when I discovered that the hike was only halfway over and that there was another mountain to climb on the way to becoming a successful author–a mountain even higher and less explored than the first. I’d been so busy with the writing and editing of my novel that I failed to factor in the importance of promotion and marketing.

I’ve always been one who learns best by doing. I’ve even written several blogs that reflect my learning by doing philosophy http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/ab... http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/le.... That’s how I approached the task of marketing and promoting Hattie’s Place.

One drawback to the learning by doing method is that you have to put aside pride and ego, rely on curiosity, and be willing to face a few pitfalls. The method of learning by doing requires one to accept mistakes as opportunities, and to use those opportunities to learn and grow. Well, I certainly did make lots of mistakes as a new author, which I will continue to blog about under the category of Marketing and Promoting a Novel.

A year down the road, I am still miles away from becoming a best-selling author. In fact, I’m only knocking at the door of distributing 1000 copies of Hattie’s Place–that’s counting sales and giveaways. But what I’ve learned by doing–e.g., reading, asking, trying, gambling, experimenting–has been invaluable. Hattie’s Place has been the guinea pig for my next novel, In the Fullness of Time, which I hope to publish late this year or early in 2017. But you can bet that before I do release it for publication, I’ll have my gear ready to scale that marketing mountain first.

Five Pieces of Conventional Wisdom I Should Have Taken to Heart

1. Build your author platform well before your book is published.

In a previous blog http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/bu... I quoted Jane Friedman as saying that Author platform is the vehicle for reaching the target audience once the book is published. Dan Blank http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-bla... also quotes Friedman as saying “The most disappointed writers I know are not unpublished writers, but those who have been published,” and adds:

The implication is that upon publication, no one bought their book, and no one cared about their book. They published into a vacuum of their own creation. They didn’t develop the communication channels or trusting relationships that they needed to ensure their book found readers.

I realize now that when I published Hattie’s Place I was essentially doing just that–publishing into a vacuum of my own creation. If it had not been for the generosity and support of friends and family who bought the book out of their loyalty to me, I doubt I would have sold over 100 copies. I’ve grown to understand how important it is to identify readers of the genre in which the author writes, in my case women’s historical fiction.

It’s not realistic to expect friends and family to comprise your readership, as many of them may be interested in totally different genres. And to each his own! There are so many thousands of books published in every genre that most readers don’t want to waste their time on one that doesn’t resonate with their preference.

My greatest effort to connect with my readers has been through the writing of this blog. And, I must say that I have been gratified by the response I’ve gotten from it thus far. In the eighteen months it has been up and going, the membership has grown to 3,628, and I receive many positive comments on my posts from Facebook and Twitter every time I post.

Still, I can see that I need to write about topics that are of greatest interest to my readers, and I’m seeking ways to make the site more interactive so that I can determine what those topics should be. Before I publish In the Fullness of Time, (That’s actually a working title. It may change) I intend to have those changes in place. I’ll say more about that under the topic of Marketing Budget.

2. Establish your Author Brand.

Author brand is, as I understand it, how you want to be known as an author. Nina Amir posts a list of the ways an author might choose to present herself to her readers that I found helpful in creating the description of my own author brand that follows. http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2014/0...

The type of writing you want to do
The subjects about which you want to write
The types of stories you want to tell
The themes you want to cover in your work
The ways in which you want to serve you readers
The clients or customers you want to attract
The spin-off books (sequels or series) you would like to publish
Your values
Your interests
Your passion
Your purpose

My Author Brand

I want to be known as a writer of women’s historical fiction. I tell stories about ordinary people whose lives are filled with universal challenges of making a living, raising a family, and trying to make their unique mark on the world. My books cover themes of loyalty, love, and friendship. They revolve around strong female characters who find ways to assert their independence, despite the limitations imposed by society and culture. I don’t care to cast my characters as heroes or villains, because I agree with Dabney in Eudora Welty’s Delta Wedding that people are neither all good nor all evil; they are mostly layers of violence and tenderness–wrapped like bulbs.

I can serve my readers best by remaining true to the genre in which I write; by telling compelling stories with tightly woven plots. As a writer of nineteenth century historical fiction, I can serve my readers by always ensuring the historical accuracy of the details and setting of my novels.

I want to attract customers who love history and enjoy a good character-driven story with more internal conflict and self-examination than action scenes and dramatic confrontation. I am still trying to pinpoint who these readers are, but I’m pretty sure many of them are mature women and possibly some younger adult romantic history buffs.

Although I try not to superimpose my own values on my characters and into the stories I tell, the tone of my writing will always reflect my fundamental belief in the ultimate goodness of the human spirit and the potential for human beings to act with compassion toward one another. I am an optimist, cured with a liberal seasoning of realism.

I write mostly because it is one of my greatest passions, but also to contribute to the body of literature depicting strong women. I heard the author David Baldacci say that he never portrays the female protagonists in his novels as victims, and I really appreciate and identify with that because I think the world needs examples of empowered heroines.

My brand promotes greater trust and satisfaction by revealing up front what a reader can expect from my writing. After all, most customers will return if they get what they paid for. That’s the sure way to build a reader base. Those readers who don’t prefer my brand will appreciate knowing it before they invest money and time in reading my book, only to be disappointed that it wasn’t what they expected. Who knows, maybe they will be appreciative enough to recommend it to someone who does.

3. Get reviews of your book before you publish.

There is a real Catch 22 in this piece of advice for new authors. As an unproven writer, you are already experiencing an overwhelming sense of uncertainly about the quality of your book and whether you had any business publishing it at all. You know how difficult it would be to find anyone of literary note who would be interested in reading the book and writing a review. At the same time, you’re told you need positive reviews to convince people to buy and read the book. The truth is that once you’ve established yourself as an author, it is much easier to get reviews. Until then, newbie authors must rely on other options.

One option which I chose, albeit after the book was published, was to pay to have my book professionally reviewed. This can be expensive, and most of the professional reviewers are somewhat selective about the books they will take on. I wrote about the two paid reviews and my reactions to them in previous blogs at http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/bu... http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/bu...

The greatest benefit I derived from investing in these two reviews was the affirmation that my book was well-written and was of some literary value. Although that was a huge confidence-builder for me, it did not result in any significant increase in sales.

Most recently, I paid a small fee to have Hattie’s Place featured as Online Book Club Book of the Day, which I posted about in my last blog at http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/on.... I distributed over 200 free copies of the book on Kindle and received a flurry of posts and tweets on social media, resulting in the book ranking 37th in the category of Women’s Historical Fiction on Free Kindle. Ranking appears to be a critical factor in having your book noticed and promoted on Amazon. Thus far, mine has been numbered so high it would likely never get recognized.

The Book of the Day promotion has not resulted in increased sales, but it did teach me a great deal about promoting books through social media. An unexpected benefit was that Online Book Club had ten of their top reviewers read at least ten pages of the book and give feedback. Hattie’s Place received a score of 8 out 10 positive reviews, in which the reviewer said he/she would finish reading the book and recommend it to others. The reviews provided me with further evidence that Hattie’s Place is worth reading, at the same time driving home the point that good books don’t sell themselves.

Another way to get a book reviewed and promoted is to join an online reader’s group and post the book on the virtual library shelf of like genres. Most of these sites provide free author dashboards as well for posting information about the book and author: e.g., author profile, a link to purchase the book, links to the author’s blog or website, special promotions and giveaways of the book, etc. I joined Goodreads.com and OnlineBookClub.com. You can read about my experience in a previous blog at http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/bu....

This is an area that I have not yet tapped to full potential. I find most of the sites confusing, partially due to my limited skills in navigating complex websites. But I am beginning to get the hang of them, and will continue to include them as a way to connect and interact with other readers and writers.

4. Develop a marketing plan and budget.

Creating an author platform and author brand are two major steps in developing a marketing plan, both of which are best done prior to publishing the book. Other steps include obtaining reviews, launching the book, preparing media releases, scheduling personal appearances, managing contests and giveaways, and blogging and posting on social media. There are bountiful free resources available on the internet to guide the newbie author through the process of promoting and marketing a book. Two resources that I have mentioned in previous blogs are Writer’s Digest.com and Createspace.com.

It is possible to self-publish a book virtually for free on Amazon or with other indie publishing companies. You can read about my experience with self-publishing in previous blogs http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/th... http://www.fortheloveofwriting.net/cr... However, the promotion and marketing of a book can become quite expensive. That’s why it is critical to know what your goals are for the book and to design a budget that matches your goals.

For example, I published Retirement: A Journey Not a Destination for less than one hundred dollars. I designed my own cover, did my own editing, and used the tools on Createspace.com to format the book for on-demand publishing and Kindle. I even designed my own cover. My goal for Retirement: A Journey not a Destination was to have a published memoir that I could share with friends and family. My goal having been accomplished, I made no effort to market the book after it was published.

When I wrote Hattie’s Place, my primary goal was to finish and publish a literary novel based on my grandmother’s life. I did not have visions of becoming a best-selling author, but I knew I was writing to an audience that extended beyond family and friends. I envisioned a market for a coming of age, historical novel set in the South at the turn of the nineteenth century, without the vaguest idea of who my readers would be or where I would find them. I invested around five thousand dollars for professional editing services from KirkusReview.com, and paid around two thousand for the services offered by Createspace.com for a professional cover design, copy editing, and formatting for the Kindle version of the book. Six months before the book was published, I set up my blog, For The Love of Writing, as my sole strategy for promoting it. I suppose my goal was to earn enough royalties sufficient to break even.

When I finally began to develop a marketing plan, I was surprised at the cost of the professional services available for reviewing and promoting books. And, as I mentioned earlier, the most sought-after reviewers are extremely selective in terms of requiring that an author have an established and extensive reader base–again, the Catch 22 for a newbie author.

I opted to purchase the review packages for Self-publishingReview.com and OnlineBookClub.com, totaling around three hundred dollars. For both packages, the book was first reviewed and shared with the author, then featured as a book of the week on each respective website.

I also subscribed to BookDaily.com for thirty-nine dollars a month. The subscription entitled me to post a sample of Hattie’s Place on an author dashboard along with an author bio and other information. Every month or so, the book would rotate onto the Emerging Authors page and receive special recognition. Periodically, Book Daily would promote the book on various publications on its mailing list. I could not tell that these promotions affected book sales in any significant way and discontinued my subscription after six months.

My decisions about how to use my limited marketing budget have been random at best, and I have determined to reassess my goals and research my options before spending any more money on marketing. Questions that need to be resolved are: What financial resources will I need to update my blog site to make it more focused and interactive? Who are my readers and how are they most effectively reached on social media? What professional services will get the most bang-for-the-buck in helping me build my author platform and brand? What services do I need to pay someone else to do and what can I do myself?

5. As soon as you publish, start writing a sequel.

Wait! What? You want me to get reviews, publish a blog, run a promotional campaign for the book, and start writing another one all at the same time? It’s hard to believe, but this piece of advice is by far the most repeated of all the tips in the online blogs and articles I have read.

It seems counterintuitive to undertake a project as extensive as writing a novel and then not finish it before moving on to a new project. But the advice begins to make sense if you stop thinking about writing and publishing and marketing as steps in a straight line, with a beginning and middle and end. Rather, it helps to view writing as a recursive process where one phase cycles into another, with one phase beginning as the old phase is ending, and with a new cycle beginning as the old cycle is ending…And on and on it goes.

Fortunately, I had already begun to think about a sequel to Hattie’s Place, not out of any great foresight on my part, but because there was so much more of the story to tell. Hattie’s Place is based loosely on my grandmother’s life, and the plot revolved around circumstances in her life as a single teacher, boarding in the home of a wealthy businessman. I knew that I wanted to develop Hattie’s character further and to see her grow into marriage and mature womanhood–to see how she would reconcile her new responsibilities with her determination to be involved in social activism, specifically the woman suffrage movement.

That desire to continue Hattie’s story became the seed for the sequel, In the Fullness of Time, which I am currently writing, while also promoting and marketing Hattie’s Place (albeit belatedly).

I told you at the beginning of this article that my journey as an author has been one of learning by doing. So far, it hasn’t gotten Hattie’s Place on anybody’s best seller list. But it has enabled me to understand that a book is not like a baseball field–Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean they will automatically come. I’ve learned by doing that you have to go out and find your fans. I’m not sure where all of them are and what resources I’ll need to find them, but I’ve learned by doing a lot of places where they won’t be found! By the time I publish In the Fullness of Time, I hope to have a lot more of this figured out.

“Heads Up,” Amazon! I’m looking to hit this next one out of the park.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Katherine P. Stillerman

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The Writing Process: Outline or Hope and Grope?

I had the pleasure once again of attending the annual Book Marks Festival in downtown Winston Salem. Bookmarks is a non-profit organization that produces the Carolinas’ largest festival of books and authors, an authors-in schools-program, a series of author talks presenting best-selling and award winning writers, and a K-12 summer reading program. It is one of the many cultural opportunities available in our City of the Arts. By next year, Bookmarks will open an independent book store in a repurposed warehouse downtown, where it will house reading spaces for readers and writers, the Bookmark’s offices, and a cafe and coffee bar.

My favorite part of the festival is the opportunity to hear various acclaimed authors talk about their craft. Last year, I heard David Baldacci and then attended a panel discussion with Pat Conroy, Ron Rice, and Cassandra King talking about the distinctive features of Southern Literature. (See The Incomparable Pat Conroy and Notes from David Baldacci for my blogs from the 2015 festival). I am so glad I didn’t miss that session. Not too many months afterwards, Pat Conroy died, and I joined his giant throng of readers in mourning for one of the most popular and beloved Southern writers of the Baby Boomer generation.

This year I attended sessions with John Hart and John Grisham. The two authors are similar in that they have published best sellers in the legal thriller genre and are both attorneys who have turned to writing as a second career. Both are self-confident and entertaining presenters. However, as each described his writing process, it was evident that they were on opposite ends of the spectrum between the character-driven and plot-driven approach.

John Hart, whose books are set in Rowan County where he grew up and started his law practice, described his approach to writing as grope and hope. He used E.L. Doctorow’s comparison to writing being like driving in the dark through a fog bank with the headlights on. You can see only as far as the headlights carry, and if you are persistent, you’ll get to your destination with only short segments of the road visible. Hart starts with a character that he allows to take him through the twists and turns of the story. He is convinced that knowing the character is the key to his success as a writer.

“If a novel is good there is a straight and true line running through it that makes sense.” He used Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides as a novel that “lacks no verisimilitude.” Hart contends that what makes Pat Conroy’s books so believable is the characters. “I’ve forgotten most of the story, but I’ll never forget a character like Tom Wingo.”

It was when he got overconfident and tried to write his fifth novel without a clearly defined character that Hart began what he described as his tale of woe, that explained why he didn’t publish anything for five years. He had decided to write a book based on the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and was over a hundred pages in, when he hit a wall. He persevered and after two hundred pages, things weren’t getting any better. His last book, Iron House, had been published in 2011, and he had promised a new one to his publisher in 2014. He redoubled his efforts, but still felt that the work lacked quality. Finally, he made the decision to call his editor at McMillan and cancel the publication, telling him that the book simply was not representative of his best work. To his surprise and relief, the editor told him that he understood, and that McMillan would be willing to wait for his best product, rather than take something he considered mediocre.

Hart said he found his characters and was able to write Redemption Road in two years. The literary thriller was published in May 2016 and has been on the New York Times best seller list and is the first book in which an author has won back-to-back Edgar awards.

John Grisham, who Hart says “built and owns the legal thriller genre, along with Scott Turow,” was an equally engaging speaker. However, his process as a writer is as plot-based as Hart’s is character-based. For Grisham, every story must start with an outline, with a plan for every chapter.

Grisham told the story of being at a book signing of his first best seller, The Firm. (A Time to Kill was Grisham’s first book, but it remained unrecognized until it was picked up by Hollywood for a movie, at which point it became a best seller). He remembered a man picking up a copy of The Firm and commenting, “You know, the big boys turn out one of these things about once a year.” Grisham determined that he would be one of the big boys and has published one and sometimes two books a year since 1991, when The Firm came out.

Grisham says his books take abut six months to write. He begins ruminating over a new story in the fall of every year, but does not get down to business until the first of January, when he begins writing in earnest. He secludes himself in his office, at a computer that isn’t even connected to the internet. Prior to writing, he outlines every chapter and has a clear idea of the beginning and ending of the story. By June, Grisham has completed his manuscript and sends it to his publisher for editing. He revises in July and returns the final copy to the editor for publication.

John Grisham’s approach certainly has the advantage of allowing him to be a prolific writer. Not only does he continue to publish legal thrillers on a regular basis, but he has written the Theodore Boone series of thrillers, which is about a boy who gives legal advice to his classmates, and is especially for middle schoolers.

I think there is a lot to learn from these two approaches. I tend to be more character-driven in my approach to writing, but I’ve never been able to let go enough to allow the characters to lead me blindly from the beginning to the end of the story. Somewhere along the line, I have to get out my wall chart and map the plot points. I suppose a part of that necessity comes from the fact that my books are historical fiction, and I need to make certain that the story is true to the historical context in which the characters are acting. But it is interesting to realize that two authors can approach their writing from almost opposite directions, and still produce fiction that satisfies and delights their readers.

Kudos to the Bookmarks staff for another outstanding festival, in which authors and readers can mix and mingle. I’m looking forward to the 2017 festival and the opening of the new book store.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Katherine P. Stillerman

The post The Writing Process: Outline or Hope and Grope? appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG.

To review or not to review

As an established children’s writer my background is mainstream/traditional. My children’s books have followed this route, the criteria for success being paperback sales and acceptance by the establishment. Not reviews because it’s rare for young children to write reviews. So my attitudes and judgements tend to be mainstream and somewhat old-fashioned.




I am now writing for a different audience, YA and Adult, and publishing on line. Here, for newcomers, it takes time to become established, with book sales dependent on your skills at marketing and I have joined many groups and as a consequence have become heavily involved with both reading and reviewing. I have now quit on the reviewing, simply because I am don’t understand the expected on-line criteria for judging a book.

 The rules I apply to all books, whether traditionally published or not, are broken into 4 categories: presentation, linguistic ability, (grammar and style), a credible and cohesive story line, and general enjoyment.

Should I continue in this way? Should I judge an Ebook at the same level as a paperback traditionally published? I honestly don’t know. For instance, if the typesetting is poor, do I ignore and still give 4* because the story is okay? If sentences and grammar leave a lot to be desired, what then? If the story meanders …?

What are the main aims of our writing to self publish? Are most on-line scribblers obeying the age-old instinct that everyone has a book in them? Are they simply writing to see their name in print, or writing for fun and asking to be judged solely on the enjoyment factor? Or are they seeking to be judged on the same platform as books from a traditional publisher?

What has become apparent through my on-line presence is that there are two book worlds with success stories in both: traditional or mainstream with paperback as the main focus and self-published Ebooks on line.

Mainstream is the most difficult to crack. Few books are being accepted by agents and of those only a handful ever sell. Not because they are not as good, but simply because the bookshops make more money if they stick with titles that offer the greatest discounts.  However, the great ‘lure’  of this format is acceptance as a writer. There remains a vast level of snobbishness in the book world, the harbinger for success, especially in the UK I can’t speak for other countries, is still to be formally published in paperback and stocked in shops. Only then can you be recognized as ‘a real writer’ by teachers, parents, and the powers-that-be, and added to their list of authors-into-schools.

However, if we go along the alternative route, second world of writing, a virtual on-line presence and readers en mass, are the four criteria I laid out above still relevant? And does it matter anyway? There is a vast appetite for Ebooks, and incomes to be gained from on-line sales. Does it therefore matter what the book is like, as long as it sells?

Maybe not! But that still doesn’t solve my problem with reviewing.

And this is why I have stopped reviewing. When reading a book, I simply don’t know what the author is seeking to achieve with his/her writing and therefore I don’t know how to judge it.

This post is Contributed by Author Barbara Spencer

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