Amy Denim's Blog, page 3
April 12, 2015
Top 5 tips on how to have more time to write
There’s a lot of work to being a writer besides, you know, writing. You’ve got to market, promo, be on social media, file your taxes, (find all the receipts you’ve been saving to file your taxes), send something to your critique partner or beta readers, go to writers group meetings, take craft classes and don’t 
forget to READ. Ack! It can be really overwhelming.
How in the world are we supposed to get all that done and pump out a kick-buns manuscript?
Coffee Breaks.
Yep, you read that right. The key to getting taking control of your writing career is – no, not more caffeine, but taking ten to fifteen minute breaks in your writing flurry to let your brain have a break and get your ‘work’ done at the same time.
My first few years of writing I flailed around quite a bit. (Don’t we all.) One year, I’m pretty sure I wrote more words on social media than I did in my current WIP. Woops. Another year, I finished half of four different manuscripts. Not good. I always felt like I didn’t have enough time to write, and there were so many other things I needed to learn or get done if I wanted to have a successful writing career. Ugh.
I knew if I wanted to really make a go of being a full-time writer I needed to focus, stay motivated and get a whole lot more words on the page. My struggles led me to develop a completely new strategy.
I didn’t develop this idea overnight. In fact, it took me two years to really embrace the idea that I really could take care of the business side of being a writer and actually write. But once I started talking with some of my other author friends about what I was thinking and doing they were all very interested in trying it out too. Their enthusiasm inspired me to put all my ideas into business books for writers, and the Coffee Break Guides for Writers were born.
Now, I’m living the dream, getting to write and talk about writing with other writers. So as you continue to read on, hear my voice in your head in a very excited (and slightly nerdy) tone.
Amy’s top five tips to taking control of your writing career
Take Career Coffee Breaks
When you sit down to write, it’s a good idea to take a brain break, get up from your desk, grab a drink and stretch at least once an hour. When you do that, take a few minutes of your break to check in on your favorite social media platform, write a section of your business plan or you know, actually read for enjoyment. By the time you’ve finished your coffee (or Mountain Dew or Earl Grey) fifteen minutes or so later, you’ve done a great job on your task it’s time to get back to writing.
Pick one thing to be a rock star at today
If you know you need to build your online platform choose one social media platform to be on today and be good at it. If you haven’t written your business plan yet, and it’s looming over you making growling noises, pick one little section, like say, your marketing plan for the next book, and write it. Then tomorrow you can tick something else off your list of to dos. One step on a journey of thousand miles and all that.
Focus by having a plan
It’s so easy to scroll through your Facebook newsfeed, get lost in research or spend hours tracking your daily sales, author rank and royalties on that pretty spreadsheet that has become your life (that’s not just me, right?) and the next thing you know it’s two o’clock in the morning and you’ve only written twelve words today because you got lost in a time space continuum (called the internet) for the last five hours Phew!
Well, you’re going to whittle that down to fifteen minutes, set a timer if you have to. Know what you want to work on during your coffee breaks before you open your WIP. If you’re having a social media coffee break use the power of three. Three scrolls through to see what’s going on with your friends/followers/fans, three replies/comments and three posts or shares, and make three friends.
Do what you like to do and outsource the rest
If you don’t like doing a certain aspect of the writer biz, like say, promo or taxes, don’t force yourself to do those things. I’m not saying ignore and don’t take care of your career, but focus on what you’re good at or like to do and find someone to help you with what you can’t stand doing.
For example, I hear from writers all the time that they hate Facebook or Goodreads or Twitter or some other social media network. If you throw up a little bit in your mouth at the thought of tweeting then don’t. Find what you like and do that. You like to write, maybe blogging is your thing. Same goes for all the aspects of the biz. If you hate it, you won’t do it anyway and then you’ll just feel guilty.
Use your resources wisely
This goes along really well with number four. None of us know how or like to do everything to do with having a writing career, so find somebody who does and make friends. I only know the basics of building a website, but my good friend Diane over at Novel Website Designs does. But Diane, oh, she struggles with social media. So we trade. Every once in a while we get together for coffee and she helps me with my websites and I train her on how to enjoy being on social media and build her platform.
We all develop different skill sets in this line of business. I’ll bet you’re good at something. Yes, you are. If you’re a writer, you’re a reader. So offer to trade beta reading with someone in your local writers that is awesomesauce at promo for some marketing tips.
Start with these ideas and if you want more, check out The Coffee Break Guide to Social Media for Writers: How To Be Successful on Social Media and Still Have Time to Write and The Coffee Break Guide to Business Plans for Writers: The Step-By-Step Guide to Taking Control of Your Career.
Do you have questions about the Coffee Break Mentality? I’m happy to answer questions on social media or business plans too!
Happy Writing,
–A
Amy Denim
The post Top 5 tips on how to have more time to write appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
April 10, 2015
Five Reasons you need an author’s business plan
Five Reasons you need an author’s business plan
I love talking the business of being a writer, which is, of course, why I write books about it!
The second book in my series of business books for writers, Coffee Break Guides, The Coffee Break Guide to Business Plans for Writers: The Step-By-Step Guide to Taking Control of Your Writing Career came about when I started out to write my own business plan.
Why would an author need a business plan? I’m glad you asked. *wink*
You are a business. No, really.
The second you made the decision to get your work published you became a business. Unless you truly are just writing for yourself, your grandma, and your dog and don’t plan to ever sell your work, than welcome to the publishing industry. It’s big business. We may write for years and years before getting published, and it could be years after that before you actually make any money from your efforts, but every business has a start-up phase. No, we aren’t a traditional business that goes to the bank to get an SBA loan that required a spreadsheet-filled tome. But applying for funding is only one small part of why you might want a plan. What that means is that you, writer, don’t need a boring traditional business plan. Because you’re in a creative industry, you get to create a right-brain business plan. Yay!
Keep the taxman happy.
Okay, you’re on board with the whole “I’m a business” thing now, right? Right. And what do businesses do? They file business taxes. *cue scary slasher movie music*
The IRS has a really “interesting” page on their website with questions to help you determine if your writing is classified as a hobby or a business. Having a business plan can help you answer “yes, I’m a business” to five out of the eight questions. Here’s an example:
The IRS: Does the time and effort put into the activity indicate an intention to make a profit?
Your Business Plan: Why, yes. Just look at my word count/time tracker, my detailed ten-year goals plan, my budget, my marketing plan, and my competitive analysis.
(All the resources listed in that answer are available as templates you can download at www.coffeebreaksocialmedia.com/books/resources.)
I really, really, really recommend you get yourself an accountant to help you file your taxes, especially if it’s the first year you’re going to file for your business. It will cost a little bit more than say, buying TurboTax, but not too much. And in the end, it’s totally worth it when you avoid (or win) the audit game.
Keep yourself accountable.
I have manuscript ADD. A shiny new idea for a book easily steals my attention from my current work in progress. Instead of Ritalin, I have a business plan to keep me on task. And if I use that plan to hold me accountable, at the end of the year I’ll have three beautiful manuscripts completed instead of twelve half –finished, semi-plotted, next best-sellers waiting for me to find the time and dedication to write them. An important part of any business plan is a production schedule. If you’re traditionally published you already know that publishing waits for no (wo)man. If you don’t turn your next book in on time, you’re book’s release day could get pushed anywhere from a month to two years! If you haven’t sold or published a book yet, it’s a great idea to get into the habit of creating deadlines for yourself and keeping to them to practice up. You won’t need Jiminy Cricket to keep you on task. Always let your business plan be your guide.
Increase your productivity.
Accountability and productivity are totally BFFs. I know when I first started writing seriously I had grand goals (and they were all over the place – see the previous comment about ADD.) But did I achieve them? Not even close. Why? Because I hadn’t written them down and didn’t really keep track of what I had to do, or what I had actually gotten done. When you create a business plan those things you need to be successful become much more real (and easier to keep track of.). If you laminate that sucker and put it up on your wall/mirror in your bathroom/mobile above your bed you’ll be able to check items off as you complete them. How great would it feel at the end of the year to know you actually accomplished your career goals? Yeah, that’s right. It feels party on, excellent.
Measure your success.
Have you ever told someone you’re a writer and have him or her ask you how it’s going? What was your answer? Anything like, “Umm. It’s good.” But did you really know? I didn’t used to. How do you measure your success? I know a great way. Create a business plan and at the end of the year evaluate how you did. (You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?) The great thing about creating your own goals, budgets, and evaluations is you get to decide what success means to you. The Coffee Break Guide to Business Plans for Writers can help you make those decisions and even has a whole section on evaluating yourself at the end of the year. The next time someone asks you how your writing career is going you can answer with a resounding “amazeballs!”
What do five these reasons for having a business plan mean when you put them all together? It’s about you taking control of your writing career. Really successful businesses have really strong business plans. Really successful authors do too. I encourage you to become the writer you really want to be, to realize your dreams this year, be it to publish your first book or become a NYT best-selling author. And let a business plan help you do it. Make your writing year ROCK!
Feel free to drop a comment with any questions or comments about creating your own business plan.
Happy Writing,
–A
Amy Denim
The post Five Reasons you need an author’s business plan appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
January 20, 2015
Do you need the Coffee Break Business Plans Workshop?
Now Available on Audible & Amazon
Have I got the class for you!
This February, I’m teaching The Coffee Break Business Plan class for Colorado Romance Writers. It’s online and any writer (whether you write romance or any other genre) can join.
It’s only $25. Sign up today!
Here’s the course description and the link to sign up.
http://crw-rwa.ning.com/page/crwonlin...
The Coffee Break Business Plan
Instructor: Amy Denim
Dates: February 2 – February 27, 2015 — 4 weeks
Classroom: Foothills
Classifications: Intermediate to Advanced Students, Professional Series Workshop, Writing as a Business, Organization, Marketing, Promotions, Publicity, Social Media, Publishing, Industry
Description: When you first started writing all you thought you needed was a good story, the right words and the time to write. But there is so much more to a writing career than putting words on the page. Having a business plan is a big part of moving your writing from being a hobby to a profession. But who has the time to sit down and write a report-style tome filled with scary numbers and boring mission statements? This hands-on workshop will help you complete a business plan for your creative brain on your coffee breaks and will get you motivated and taking control of your career.
*** Jump on this class now, because normally, I charge $60 and hour for business plan consulting, so this is a great deal.***
Hope to talk to you all in February online!
–Amy Denim
The post Do you need the Coffee Break Business Plans Workshop? appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
November 29, 2014
Five tips to promo your book on social media
Today we’re talking about how to tell people about your book, new book release, event, etc, without being an irritating spammer.
Here are 5 tips to do that effectively:
You donât have to be shy about promoting when you do it the right way.
Here are five tips that I’ve found work really well.
1. Remember to sound human and authentic â  People want to be spoken to sincerely. Feel free to be casual and comfortable with your fans. Get excited. I’m a big fan of using words like Yay! and Woot!
2. Focus on the benefit of your book for your readers - You donât necessarily need to ask people to buy from you; instead, talk about whatâs in it for them. Think about using part of your book blurb. Try starting out with the line: If you like…
and then fill in the blanks.
If you like paranormal teenage zombie romance then I Love You for Your Brains is the book for you!
People are always looking for read alikes – Try using books like yours to give readers an idea of why they’ll like your book.
Have you been looking for a new book like Fifty Shades of Grey but with a plus-size heroine? Try out Curvy Temptation.
OR
Would you like to read Teen Wolf meet Queer as Folk? Here’s your book –>The Boy and His Wolf
Also, try using a branded link that you can track. I’m a big fan of Bitly.
3. Don’t repeat your message a million trillion times
It’s totally okay to post your book promo more than once. Different people are on at different times of the day and with the decline in Facebook’s organic  views not everyone you want to see the info about your new book will see it. So go ahead post a few times, but I don’t mean once an hour every hour for a week.
4. Don’t just sell, provide value and be engaging
Give readers a taste of the book with some excerpts, tell them why you wrote this book, give some down and dirty on a favorite character. Don’t just sell the experience and feelings by being engaging with your posts. Remember would in real life.
5. The 10 to 1 rule
Just because you’re pimping out your book right now doesn’t mean you should halt all other social media posts. For every one promo you should still be putting out another nine that aren’t promo. Keep up with the funny cat videos and other fun stuff you do on a regular basis, just throw some of your promo posts in with it.
Got more suggestions and ideas for making social media successful?
Leave them in the comments, let’s start a discussion. I’m always happy to hear from other writers and readers and we can all learn from each other.
Happy Writing,
–Amy
The post Five tips to promo your book on social media appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
November 22, 2014
Five Tips easy for using Social Media Successfully
In The Coffee Break Guide to Social Media for Writers I talk about how the core of social media is to actually be social. But how do you do that in the age of automation and spam?
Here are five tips to social media success:
1. Posts that actually provide real value.
If you write about historical romance than I’d bet a bunch of your fans are interested in…drumroll please…history. Same goes for any and all genres. Add some posts to your social media routine about something cool or interesting that you found when researching your book. Pictures, links to articles (especially if you’ve blogged about it), videos or anything else your readers will also think is cool and interesting. That’s adding value.
For a great example check out Coreene Callahan. She writes paranormal books about dragons. Part of her social media routine is to post cool pictures of dragons and I’m in love with her Dragon Tip Tuesdays. A great example of providing value to her fans.
2. Engage with others and Build meaningful relationships
Yes, yes and yes. This. Whichever social media platform you’re on you should actually be social. Reply to someone’s tweet, comment on their Facebook post, comment on their blog, share their YouTube video and tag them in your post about it so they know you’re engaging with them.
Make friends with people, even if you’ll never meet them in real life. Other writers and fans can become lifelong friends and proponents of you and your books.
3. Act the way you would act in a real life situation
It’s easy to get all up on your soapbox when you’re hiding behind a keyboard and monitor. If you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, don’t say it on social media.
That leads nicely into the next tip.
4. Don’t be an annoying spammer
When you meet someone in real life do you say “Buy my book!” as soon as you meet them? Or do you ask them to buy your book a hundred times? That would be really weird, so don’t think that’s okay to do on social media either.
Would you say “Nice to meet you, check out my book on Amazon – here’s the link.”
Umm, again, that would be weird unless you were at some sort of awesome book speed dating event.
But, when you meet someone in real life and you’re getting to know each other of course you would and should mention that you’ve written a book.
Yes, tell people you’ve written a book and where they can get it, but do it at the appropriate times.
5. Don’t spend too much time on social media
We all know it can be a serious time suck. Don’t let it. Set a timer, stick to the rule of three (three scrolls through the feed, three engagements, three posts). If you spend a coffee break or two actually engaging with people and putting up valuable posts you’ll be golden.
Have any other great tips?
I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment or start a discussion. We can really learn a lot from each other.
Happy Writing,
–Amy
The post Five Tips easy for using Social Media Successfully appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
November 9, 2014
A Whole menu of Coffee Break Guides for Self-Publishing
Hey writer friends, welcome to Self-Pubber Sunday.
Today I’m talking about book trailers and how to save money.
Whether you’re self-publishing or tradionally, book trailers are a fun way to get some notice for your books, but man can they be expensive. If you try to do it yourself it can take almost as long as writing the book. Ugh.
Here’s my Coffee Break Tip of the day – Get a short book trailer made on Fiverr.
Fiverr is this great website where people offer services and products for $5. The best Fiverrs also have additional services and add-ons for more money, but that can really make your stuff stand out. I had this nice little video made for the Coffee Break Guides on Fiverr. Cost me five bucks and it was ready in just two days.
Su-weet. More time to write and only a tiny investment.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
If you get a book trailer made on Fiverr, share your link here so I can check it out!
Happy Writing,
–Amy
The post A Whole menu of Coffee Break Guides for Self-Publishing appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
November 6, 2014
Hurray! The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing is finally here!
It was a long haul and even though I self-publish my own books, it took a truckload of research, but it’s finally here. I’m so excited to announce the launch of the third release in my line of business books for authors -
The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing:Â The Step-by-Step Guide to Successfully Writing, Publishing, and Promoting Your Own Books
Available Now in Ebook and Print
Do you want to publish your own book?
Good, you should!
Whether you’re an experienced author dipping your toes into self-publishing or you’re working on your debut novel this guide can help you.
You’ll learn
What it takes to write the book (and finish it!)
Everything to you need to get ready before you publish from your book description to formatting to developing your author platform
How to have a great launch day without the stress
What to do after you push publish to keep your sales going
Plus get access to special resources to make your publishing business a success!
The Coffee Break Guide to Self-Publishing is on sale now at the introductory launch price of 50% off. Buy it today and start your career as a published author.
Available now on Amazon
The post Hurray! The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing is finally here! appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
November 2, 2014
A book cover is worth a hundred thousand words
In The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing one of the topics I jumped on my soap box about was book covers.
Here’s my main point – Don’t do them yourself. Please.
People actually do judge a book by it’s cover, so you want yours to be the best it can be. That means hiring a professional to design it.
It will cost you anywhere from five dollars (if you use someone on Fiverr) to thousands of dollars (if you use someone like Chip Kidd.)
Who is Chip Kidd and why would you want to use him? Well, first of all you can’t unless you’re a Big 5/6 publisher. But, if you had the money and the company, you would definitely want him to design your book’s cover. He’s devoted his life to doing exactly that.
In 2012 he presented a hilarious, and yet very serious, TedTalk about designing book covers.
Do you really want to know what makes a great cover?
Watch this:
Even though he gets a little cranky about ebooks, his points about graphic design and typography 101 are fascinating. The way he is able to give you a sense of the story though his use of pictures and how they all fit together is brilliant.
A great graphic designer might be able to do the same for your book.
Happy writing,
–Amy Denim
The post A book cover is worth a hundred thousand words appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
October 18, 2014
#TwitterFiction – I just might try it
Twitter.
Love it or hate it, Twitter is a very popular place for superfans to stalk, uh, find their favorite authors.
I have lots of fun in the land of 140 characters because I’m an instant gratifaction kind of girl, and (hopefully) I can actually talk to people.
What can an author do on Twitter?
I talk all about in one of the chapters in The Coffee Break Guide to Social Media.
Here’s a few ideas for you.
Announce your upcoming or latest book.
Have a Tweet Chat with fans.
Post pictures of your inspirations (aka hot cowboys)
Ask research questions
Find writing buddies (Try #1k1hr. #amwriting and #NanoWrimo)
Make friends
Write stories
Wait, what was that last one? Write stories? On Twitter?
Sure, why not? I hadn’t thought of it until I watched a Ted Talk by cool Twitter dude, Andrew Fitzgerald.
If you’re bored with the same old @s and #s, watch this and see if you don’t get inspired to write some #TwitterFiction
I love the idea of creating a Twitter account for a character or specifically to tell stories. Would you do it?
Happy writing,
–Amy Denim
The post #TwitterFiction – I just might try it appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
October 13, 2014
Pre-order The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing!
The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing! Ta-da!
(You can tell how excited I am based on the number of exclamation points!)
Available November 2015
Do you want to publish your own book?
Good, you should!
Whether you’re an experienced author dipping your toes into self-publishing or you’re working on your debut novel this guide can help you.
You’ll learn :
What it takes to write the book (and finish it!)
Everything to you need to get ready before you publish from your book description to formatting to developing your author platform
How to have a great launch day without the stress
What to do after you push publish to keep your sales going
Plus get access to special resources to make your publishing business a success!
The Coffee Break Guide to Self-Publishing is on sale now at the introductory Pre-Order price of 50% off. Buy it today and start your career as a published author.
It’s available for pre-order on Amazon now. Just click on the picture to be taken straight to Amazon.
I’m offering a special bonus for my readers.
If you pre-order the book (now until November 3rd), I will give you a free audio version of The Coffee Break Guide to Social Media for Writers. Â All you have to do is email me a copy of your reciept from Amazon. Send it to Amy (at) AmyDenim (dot) com with the subject line – I pre-ordered!
Happy reading (and listening),
–Amy Denim
The post Pre-order The Coffee Break Guide to Self Publishing! appeared first on Coffee Break Publishing.
