Andrew Cormier's Blog, page 5

Event Reminder: Book Signing

Hi everyone!

Just a friendly reminder: I have a book signing this Saturday, June 7th, from 10am-3pm in Hudson, NH at the Rodgers Memorial Library next to the high school. I have copies for sale at $10 and a few limited edition copies as well. The library has a number of local authors who will all be there, as well as a day of activities planned that include cupcakes and children’s events. Hope to see you there!

If you cannot attend please show your support anyway! You can best do this by actually purchasing a copy of The Great Deceiver on Amazon. It is a much better way to assist and support me than by just saying “good luck on your book” or “congratulations on your book.” These are fundamentally nice, but these well-wishes don’t put food on the table. It’s no different from raising funds for orphans at a bike-riding event, if I am trying to raise funding, and you just say “I hope your ride goes well,” and do nothing about it, than you haven’t really done anything substantial to help the orphans.

Besides, for $10 my book is an amazing deal. Even not on sale, it is still the best book sale around! You will wonder how you ever lived without reading it. I am the real-thing and I am as good a writer as anyone alive today, and much better than most.

-Andy

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Best book sale 50% off

GREAT SALE – SUMMER BONANZA – 50% off my novel on Smashwords with coupon code HS52Y  – valid through June 10th. Get it as an ebook in multiple formats through their site for only $1.50 https://www.smashwords.com/

This could be the best book sale of the summer. It is certainly one of the best deals you are going to find for a very good and newly released ebook. If you are looking for a cheap ebook that you can purchase at a discount, this 50% off sale is right up your alley!

I could add even more promotional jingo…and I will! For half off the retail price, it isn’t a free ebook, but it is as close to a free ebook as you can find! This is the ebook on sale value you have been waiting for. It might even be the best book sale ever! Of all time! Act now, before this incredible offer expires!

 

Once again, that coupon code is: HS52Y    – enter it at the time of checkout to receive your discount on The Great Deceiver by Andrew Cormier

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New google+ profile

Hi all,

I activated my Google+ finally. The link to it is right here.  Feel free to add me.

 

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7 Ways how to Promote your Book

Because it is nearly impossible to deal with Literary Agents and large publishing houses, many people nowadays are self-publishing. This includes me. Even having experience with publishers and agents, for years I was told things like “we are only taking referrals from existing clients, or existing clients right now.”

It doesn’t matter how good your book and writing may be (trust me, I know). They just can’t be bothered with you and it is as much luck as it is who you know. These people will hardly give you a fair shake.

So what alternatives are there? If you self-publish you will need to do all the promoting and marketing yourself. It is a nightmare. Unless you get lucky as well, your book will likely sit on Amazon or another retailer site along with a quarter million other self published books, and will most likely not sell any. or just a few.

Here are 7 ways how to promote your book:

1. Network with other authors and groups. It is critical that you get book reviews for your book, likes on your Facebook and Amazon pages (mine are listed here, please like them too: Amazon and Facebook).  Many sites such as Goodreads will get you some notice, and allow you to do review swaps with other authors. There are also good Facebook Groups for this purpose. Many of them are closed and have criteria to follow, but you can meet a lot of like-minded authors of varying skill, and at least have a chance to get your name out there. Even a few sales are better than none. One of the groups I belong to is Book Review Depot. You can apply for membership there, and it is free.

2. Reach out to local papers, libraries, or newsletters. You may not hear anything back at all, or you may be met with skepticism as I was. People will generally think that because you are local, and a nobody, that no one will care or that you can’t write well. This is a total load of sh@t. Pardon my language. But I have been very frustrated in the past dealing with clowns who think they know everything. Just because you are not well known yet doesn’t mean you won’t be someday, and it certainly is no reflection on how well you can write. Everyone has to start somewhere. Just make sure you be polite to everyone you deal with, as you never know when they’ll come back in the future and you may be able to do some sort of business with them later.

3. Offer promotions. I know it feels awful to list a book for just $.99 or for free after you spent months or years (hopefully not longer) writing it. There are few pains worse than the feeling of working hard and not seeing any results. Don’t fear, you’re not a loser because of it. You just have bad luck, and a terrible market to contend with. To help offset these, if you do regular promotions, often on holidays or long weekends, you may generate some sales. The goal at first isn’t always to make money, either: it’s to get your name out there. Once people know you and how talents you are, they will buy your book if it’s good. Then you can jack the price up on them.

4. Start a blog. Link it to other blogs. Link it to other sites. Make sure you have relevant content. Drive people to your website. You see this aggressive writing style? It is because I am serious about doing this and not just making it up as I go. If you want to get your visibility enhanced on Google and Amazon and other websites, or reach people who otherwise wouldn’t know about you, a blog is a great way to do it.

5. Post links everywhere. This sounds crazy, but I do it. I go into various other websites and blogs, and I post links to my official website (which you are looking at), my Amazon Author Page, my Facebook Page, and my Goodreads profile. The more you link to various things, the greater your odds of showing up in searches becomes. Worst case someone complains like ‘Hey man, that doesn’t go here, you’re a jerk” and they take your post down. Best case, who knows? Maybe someone famous sees it and your work gets catapulted into the next dimension and you end up buying all the lobster you can eat.

6. Use relevant keywords. This can be hard to do. What is your book about? Is it historical fiction about the Civil War? Some keyword ideas could be: Abraham Lincoln, The Civil War, the Union, Gettysburg, and so on. If you put the right genre for your book on Amazon (and it should have fiction>historical you don’t need to use that as the keywords. Amazon is smart enough to know that. It is also smart enough to know your work falls under “Books” so typing in “Books about the civil war” as a key-phrase probably isn’t going to help your cause. To go along with this, check Google Analytics for common search terms and see what types of words people are actually looking for. It does you no good to have a cool phrase in place if no one is ever typing that into a browser.

7. Get reviews. It doesn’t matter how you get them, but you’re going to want them. Don’t do anything illegal! Just offer to swap reviews with people or maybe pay for a professional review. If the professional says your book is lousy, take his word for it and think about editing it some more, he most likely knows what he is talking about. More reviews will help your book to sell and helps to reassure wary customers that your book is indeed worth purchasing.

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Add a book to favorites

Hi everyone, just a friendly reminder: please go to my Andrew Cormier Author Page on Amazon and like me on there. Doing so helps promote my book online and really makes  a big difference. Here is the link: Amazon Andrew Cormier Author Page

Also, please visit Barnes and Noble’s website and add my book to your favorites list. The link for it is right here: Andrew Cormier, The Great Deceiver on Barnes and Noble

On Barnes and Nobles website, the customer favorites list is a sortable field. When customers go to search for books, they can “add a book to favorites” and it forms a list. The books you add on here show up in searches. This helps to increase author visibility and promotes sales when customers browse for books. Here is a screenshot of where to find that option since it isn’t immediately noticeable, I have highlighted the list in yellow.

Barnes and Noble add to favorites

If you liked this guide, and whether you are another author browsing for tips to sell books, or you are a fan of mine, please add my books to your list, and I also wish you luck in your own books sales.

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10 Easy Quick Tips to Improve Your Writing

Want to be a better, more proficient writer? Here are 10 Easy Quick Tips to Improve Your Writing from Author Andrew Cormier

1. Use creative sentences.

If you’re writing in the first person, don’t start every sentence with I. For example: I went to the mall. I then bought a gray shirt. I later decided to get ice-cream and that’s when the terrorists attacked. Change this kind of thing up more to avoid sounding boring. It helps to re-arrange your sentence structure and use a variety of simple, compound or complex sentences. In the above example, just arranging a few words differently makes a huge impact:  I went to the mall. While there, I bought a gray shirt. Later, as I decided to get ice-cream, the terrorists attacked.   – Obviously if we were seriously writing this into a story it would have a ton more detail, but you can see where the below example reads much better than the one above, just with a few, easy adjustments. To go along with this, also vary the length of your sentences and move keywords around to the start or end. Notice how in both examples I had attacked at the end? It isn’t hidden in the rest of the thought.

2. Pick the right word for the right moment.

Every word has specific uses. I recommend using a thesaurus or dictionary if a sentence or paragraph sounds bland. You can spice up your writing and make it stand out by playing “word detective.” Instead of saying “I felt so empty inside” maybe change it to  “I was devoid of all emotion.” You then want to add more descriptors to increase the impact, “I was devoid of all emotion. My mind was like a blank slate and I stared listlessly at the rubble that had once been my house.” You want readers to form an emotional connection to your writing. The best way to do this is through “the best” word choice. I say “the best” and not “proper” because I believe there is always a best-fit when choosing a specific descriptor.

3. Remove extra words.

As you write, maybe you just type like a madman (or woman) and let the thoughts come out. I recommend this. However, go back and edit your work. In my own writing I have found way too many, unnecessary words. You can trim down your writing by deleting them and it will flow better.

4. Read aloud to yourself as you edit.

I do this every time I edit my work. There are times when you think something sounds good in your head, but when you reread it aloud, you realize it doesn’t jive. There is a connection between your ears, eyes, and brain, and you want to have your writing work on all levels. Often, your brain will expect a certain word to appear based on how we commonly speak to one another. For example, say you toss in a noun like superciliousness (our guests’ behavior bordered on superciliousness) when you should have just said “our guests were rude jerks.”  Or maybe you have a number of sentences that read fine, but they make you pause and stutter as you go through them aloud. If you notice your writing gives you pause, it will likely do so for your readers as well. Go back and adjust it.

5. Proofread your work.

I shouldn’t even have to say this. Yet I do. Even the best writers make mistakes: form instead of from, though instead of thought, happening instead of happen. These type of errors will murder your manuscript and they are easy to overlook. Your eyes begin to see what you anticipate to be there. This is especially true if you have been working on your manuscript for a long time and have read it half a dozen times or more. You know what should be there, and you overlook what is actually there. I recommend giving it to a friend, neighbor, family member, teacher (especially English or Lit), or someone else who can offer an objective view. They will be glad to point out your mistakes (trust me, people love to find fault). The number one reason I think manuscripts get rejected (besides being boring or hitting the wrong agent), is that writers whip something together, finally get it done, and say “yes, I’m done!” Then they just mail it out and neglect to give it a serious double-check….or even quadruple check. I proofread and edited The Great Deceiver five times and I still caught mistakes, even with three other people helping me.

6. Use a spell checker, dictionary, and other tools at your disposal.

We live in the post-industrial age. When people used to write, they couldn’t afford to make typos. Imagine having to redo an entire manuscript by hand! We have the luxury of clicking a simple button. This will catch many mistakes and it is crucial to at least give it a once-over with a spell checker. To go along with this theme, also try a grammar checking program, dictionary, thesaurus, and any other convenient, modern tools that can help improve your work and save you time. I don’t advise using these as crutches or fail-safes, but they do come in handy.

7. Say what you mean to say.

Sometimes it’s best to just say what things are. Is the car the same one that you had always dreamed of? Maybe it’s best to just state it as such. Here is another illustration: “The old, grizzled sea-captain was like a towering monster. He reminded me of a bear, and possessed a furious temper.” This sounds okay, but maybe it’s better just to say what he is, and not what he is like: “The old, grizzled sea-captain was a bear of a man. He was a towering monster. His temper was furious. He was best not provoked.”  Often, I see people go out of their way to add extra descriptions to certain things when they aren’t needed. There are times when it is great to do so, but why beat around the bush?

8.  Have a solid grasp of the language you are writing.

This applies to any language, though I will only mention English (since I only write in it). You need to understand when to use “An” instead of “A,” or when to use “their, they’re or there.” If you don’t know this kind of stuff, you really need to make an effort to learn it. You may need to take a professional class or seminar. There are people who understand the English language, and how to write it, and there are people who can’t (or don’t).  Semicolons, colons, apostrophes, and the like all have their uses. If you name your book “An Guide to a Authors’ Paradise”, any good agent or publisher is going to call his friends over to his desk to share a laugh at your expense, and then throw it in the trash.  If you also don’t know what a double-negative is, you’ll want to learn about them as well. One famous example is in Pink Floyd’s The Wall:  “We don’t need no education.” Hence we do need education. To be grammatically correct it should actually read, “We don’t need any education.”

9. Use creative analogies, metaphors, and personification.

With a little practice, you can come up with some really cool analogies. As long as they are done right, and make sense, these adjustments will add considerable character to your work. The pencil wasn’t as sharp as a dagger, but for your purposes, maybe it is. Perhaps the president’s pen literally didn’t save the world, but the words he wrote with it on the peace treaty did. Was it really hot outside? Or was going outside like living on the surface of Venus? Sometimes it is easier to incorporate these improvements after you get your initial thoughts on paper. I have often revisited my writing and noticed ideas that could be revised or expanded upon.

10. Structure your ideas.

There is a good reason that the ending of most books is the best part: skilled authors know how to structure their work so it draws you in when it is supposed to. You may have the best conclusion to your book in the history of the universe, but you need to be able to arrange it in a way that readers can understand. It is my belief that there is a structure to every sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, and ultimately novel. A good outline will help you form your writing. You don’t want to accidentally put all of your awesome moments into the middle of your book and have the rest fall flat. One of the saddest things I see as a writer, which pertains to other people’s writing, is that they have a really good idea, but they don’t pull it off and fail to flush it out in a way that is interesting. Much of this has to do with the structure of their novel. I have read books with tons of promise, only to find they stayed monotone throughout the whole novel. Yes, the book ended, but it never felt like a real ending. I felt cheated. You don’t want your readers to come away feeling like you’ve left something out; or worse: there wasn’t really anything there to start with.

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Amazing, good book review of The Great Deceiver – 5 star review

I just received a very thorough, good book review of The Great Deceiver by fellow author Kyle Scott. He was so methodical and detailed that I wanted to post his review here as well, and also say thanks for doing so. Here is what Mr. Scott had to say:

Having never read, (at least to my knowledge), a work of ‘speculative fiction before reading this one, I was genuinely unsure what I would make of it.Suffice to say I enjoyed every minute. Cormier has crafted an easily accessible yet thoughtful work that explores a great many facets of the human condition, from love and loss, to redemption and damnation…literally.

I don’t want to spoil any of the books many strange and highly immersive twists and turns, but I will say that the novel is something of a genre-crosser, blending elements of fantasy, spirituality, horror and biography to create an engaging, thoughtful and often vivid depiction of one mans self-proclaimed journey from good to evil.

The tone of the book is a sombre one, (though not devoid of moments of humor and self-awareness), that goes about its task of exploring the nature of evil, and our interpretation of it, with a serious, thoughtful focus; though the work balances its ideas and philosophies on its subject matter with a mainstream sensibility that saves it from ever falling into pretension.

It can, in fact, be read as a straightforward work of fantasy fiction and lose none of its energy or message – theses enough wild imagination here to hold the attention of any reader, and the world(s) created by Cormier are hugely fun to explore.

The only small issue I had with The Great Deceiver was that the dialogue occasionally fell flat during the early chapters, and could use a little more naturalism, but that minor issue is resolved quickly when our ‘hero’ makes a life-altering choice and finds himself somewhere none of us would want to end up.

To summarize, with such a genre hopping, freewheeling style, I can happily recommend this book to anyone. Andrew Cormier has the chops and the vision to go all the way, and his strange metaphysical adventure is well worth your time.

Check it out.

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How to Create a Digital Table of Contents / Digital TOC

Are you wondering how to create a digital table of contents or Digital TOC for your eBook? Do you ask yourself, why do I need one of those, what is it, and what benefits do I receive from doing extra work?

Here is the reason you want your eBook to have a digital table of contents: many retailers, including Barnes and Noble, will NOT post your eBook for sale without one.

What is a digital table of contents? It is a series of internal hyperlinks within a book that let a reader jump to points in that book. It makes sense to do this at the start of chapters, appendices, the author bio, and such forth.

How do you create a digital TOC? No worries, my friends, I will explain (for Word, sorry non MS Word users).

1. Create your bookmarks first. The bookmarks reference specific locations in documents. I will show you an example:

Chapter One: How to Create a Bookmark

chapter one body text here. this is where the actual chapter text goes.

- let’s say I want my readers to be able to jump to my chapter one title, listed above. I need to scroll to that place in my document (which should be at the start of chapter one, above the chapter body text), and highlight the entire line with my mouse.

2. With the title highlighted, go to Insert>Bookmark

3. Type a name for your bookmark (I like to name mine after the chapter name or number, so one, two, etc). Click add.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 for as many bookmarks as you will be adding in the document. Get them all done first. It makes the next part easier.

5. Once you have highlighted every place you want to bookmark, and have created the bookmarks to go with them, you need to create links that readers can click which will jump them to these locations within your document.  This is best done in your actual Table of Contents. Here is our below example:

Chapter One: How to Create a Bookmark

Chapter Two: How to Create a Hyperlink

Chapter Three: The Importance of Good Hygiene

-Now, to create the hyperlink, first highlight all the text for your chapter one. Then go to Insert>Hyperlink (or hit CTRL+K with it highlighted).

6. The next menu will say “Link to.” Select “place in the document” since you are linking it to a place within your document.

7. Select “one” (or whatever it is you called your bookmark for chapter one). Hit OK.

8. Repeat steps 5-7 until all your links are created.

That is it! I recommend testing your hyperlinks before you submit it to make sure they work correctly.
Congratulations, you’ve created your Digital Table of Contents and can now begin getting your Ebook into retailers around the globe.

 

 

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10 Common Writing Mistakes That New Writers Make

I see a lot of very good writing. In contrast, I see a lot of terrible writing. The sad part is, much of the bad writing I see is due to a lack of experience. New writers make common writing mistakes as surely as old carpets get worn where everyone walks on them. These common writing mistakes become easier to correct as you learn to look for them. I have created this generic guide with the intent to provide some fast, easy tips that you can implement right away to improve your writing. Here are the biggest problems I see when I read amateur work:

1. Telling instead of showing:

A good narrative is important. However, show me what is going on. Don’t say, “Bob went to the store, he got milk, he went home. When he arrived, he found his wife cheating on him with the neighbor.” This is “telling” the story. Somethings you may want to glance over or they will take forever to put down. Other things, like this example could perhaps be better integrated into the storyline as dialogue. For example: It would be much better presented as, “Oh man,” Bob said as he opened the refrigerator door, “We’re out of milk AGAIN?” He heard his wife shout at him from upstairs, “Go get some more, honey, and pickup a carton of cigarettes while you’re at it.” Bob sighed. He yelled back upstairs to his wife, “Okay, I’ll be back in forty five minutes. I have to run across town anyway.” Getting in his car, Bob turned on the ignition. His Chrysler LeBaron roared to life.  ……. etc     – hopefully this illustrates a much more powerful message than simply stating facts. Readers get bored with facts quickly, especially as they relate to numbers and measurements. Unless you’re writing a math book, you’re not writing a math book. You’re writing a creative story.

2. Misuse of verb tense:

It is common for many people to write as they speak. In doing so, there are a number of mistakes that are made. Part of this is due to the English language being so complicated (this guide is intended for American English, I apologize to anyone who is writing or using another language). When speaking English, it is common for many people to use incorrect verbiage. Here is an example: “I walked to the movies and I was seeing a friend.” In this case, “was seeing” should be “saw”. Both walked and saw and past tense.

 3. Over-writing:

This is the tendency to restate the same thing too many times. This means you say something than say it a different way. It means you make a point and then you reiterate your point with additional points.  You see how it gets redundant? New writers tend to put way too much emphasis on tying to drive points home.

4. Repetitive word use:

Synonyms are your friends. Whenever I add a page or two, I reread them multiple times. By doing this, it is easier to see if I used the word “endure” 3 times in a short period. I always play a game I call “word detective” when I edit my manuscripts. I hunt down overused words and eliminate them with their best possible alternative. Instead of three uses of “endure,” maybe it’s better to have one instance of “put up with,” and another of, “tolerated.” The same thing goes for figures of speech or phrases. Readers will notice if you use a specific phrase too much. It does you no favors to say, “Later in the day, the rogue leopard was captured,” and then 2 paragraphs later have another that starts with, “Later in the day, we went to the zoo.”

5. Continuity Problems:

Mike has a long, red beard, and hates to wear hats; you made this evident in chapter one. In chapter five, he suddenly has a white beard and wears a fez all the time. Or, maybe Karen’s blouse is burgundy in one paragraph. She goes into the kitchen and it’s magically emerald green. These types of mistakes happen, and they are more frequent in a longer novel (especially if you’ve put it down for a while then picked it back up again). They are easy to fix with good editing, but if you don’t correct them your story is going to look ridiculous.

6. Characters acting poorly:

By this, I mean they are bad actors. You give one character a nervous tic, but forget to keep this consistent. Or, maybe they speak or think a certain way, but they suddenly flip to a different style. Is grandpa a grizzled civil war veteran? It is your job to keep him that way unless he is undergoing a personality change. When he speaks or acts, the things that he does need to conform to his character. You may not think like an eight year old, but eight year old Sally from the playground in your novel does. She shouldn’t come across as some sort of genius unless that’s her character. It is of equal importance that she  comes across as feminine (unless she’s a tomboy). It can often be very difficult as a male to hop into the female mind, or vice versa, but you have to make the effort. You get the point.

7. Annoying your readers:

I’ve probably already done that in this post. Anyway, don’t withhold information from your readers unless you have to. That will turn people right off.  It is important to recognize that what your character knows and what you know are two different things. However, don’t intentionally leave out key information. As an example: a beautiful, blonde comes home from grocery shopping. Suddenly, there is a stranger in her apartment. She was followed all along!  You need to mention some hint of this stranger beforehand, perhaps in the grocery store. There is no reason to leave it out, and it looks terrible to suddenly have this unexpected event just happen for the convenience of telling your story.

8. Introducing Plot Devices and not using them:

Certain objects in writing are powerful. They carry enormous weight. If you mention there is always a gun on the living room coffee table, it has to be used. Readers will be expecting that gun to shoot someone at some point. My rule of thumb is never bring up a gun without the intent to have a character use it. The same goes for any weapon. If you mention a character that is a master knife thrower, readers want to see him throwing knives. If he has a sudden career change, resorts to baking, retires, and never throws a knife at anyone, readers will feel misled. It is critical that you know what your plot devices are and how to properly utilize them. Nothing in a novel should bee haphazardly.

9. Shifting Viewpoints:

Also called the point of view. Don’t write chapter one in the third person then write chapter two in the first person. Prior to writing your story, you should consider the number of characters, the importance of each one, the timeline the story is told in, and how best to relay this to your readers. Pick a point of view and stick with it. Contrary to what some people say, there is no “best” POV choice for any particular genre. Although there may be a best choice for your novel, or for your own style, as long as you pull it off well, the point of view you pick will work. The instant I see this error in a manuscript, I put it down because I am aggravated with it. Any publisher, literary agent, or editor will probably do the same.

10. Use of Cliches:

I know the word cliche is supposed to have an accent mark over the e and I left it out. I can’t figure out how to add it in WordPress. Please forgive me. We all know what cliches are: commonly used phrases. Need examples? “Ace in the hole,” “dead as a doornail,” “between a rock and a hard place,” “birds of a feather” (also “a bird in the hand” or “the birds and the bees”), “leaps  and bounds,” “knock your socks off,” and so forth. Do not use these. Ever. Unless you are making fun of them, or referencing them. I urge you to think of your own creative analogies and metaphors in place of these common ones. It looks very hackish if your writing has cliches in it.

 

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How long should a chapter be?

This blog post is in response to an associate. Whenever people find out I wrote a book (or multiple books), I often hear them say “I want to do that” or “I wish I could do that.”

I always like to help out when I can. I’m not the world’s leading guru in book writing, or the best author in the world, but I do know a few things. My years of experience certainly give my opinion and ideas some merit. One thing I have been asked on a number of occasions involves chapter writing tips.

Here is one common question:  How long should I make a chapter in my book? (or how long should a chapter be?)

The answer I would suggest: As long as it needs to be. If you formulate an outline, as I have mentioned in prior posts, you will know what the purpose of each and every chapter in your book is. A book has a flow to it. It isn’t just a static bunch of words. Books have a logical introduction, body, and conclusion, with peaks and valleys. I think of story writing as a curved line in a graph. It should look something like this:

 

Note how the colors and graph show a higher level of excitement peaking at appropriate times. This isn’t set in stone, and I am not saying the middle of a book should be slow or boring: far from it. I do believe that any novel needs high and low points, because they balance one another out.

It may help to think of chapters as condensed books. They also should have a flow like the chart displayed above. Some chapters, may be much more linear, however. It may be a very good idea to have them do nothing but build in intensity until they leave the reader on edge, waiting to see what the next chapter will bring. Hit some high points, and determine ahead of time what those high points are going to be, then ease your reader back down to Earth. If you start to think of each chapter as a mini-book, you may find it easier to generate content.

Another suggestion that I learned the hard way is related to formatting. What do I mean by that? Well, if you’re like me, you just hop onto Microsoft Word (I still use Word 2003 since I’m set in my ways. I’m not as bad as George R.R. Martin typing in DOS, but I’m almost as bad), and you simply start typing your book or story. Well that is fundamentally good of you, and it is good you are working hard on your story, in the publishing industry, there are a number of standardized formats for book sizes.  These are known as Trim Sizes. The most common are as follows:

5″ x 8″(popular for trade paperbacks)

5.06″ x 7.81″

5.25″ x 8″

5.5″ x 8.5″

6″ x 9″ (one of the most popular book sizes)

6.14″ x 9.21″

6.69″ x 9.61″

7″ x 10″

7.44″ x 9.69″

7.5″ x 9.25″

8″ x 10″

8.25″ x 6″

8.25″ x 8.25″

8.5″ x 11″ (letter sized, often the default in Word)

8.5″ x 8.5″

Why do I bring this up? Because it helps to determine approximately what size you want your book to be when printed. If you don’t think you have a lot of content, you’ll want to go smaller so it will fill it up and look more like a book. If you have a ton of content, make it larger so it doesn’t become incredibly thick.

This relates to chapter length for one HUGE reason: you will know exactly how many pages are in your chapters if you have it formatted to size first. Formatting your book is not hard to do. Here is how you do it: Pick a size above. Write it down where you will remember it. Now, go into Word (or whatever word processor you use). You want to adjust the page size to match the numbers you wrote down a moment ago. To do this in Word, go to File>Page Setup   – Click the ‘paper’ tab. In the drop-down menu at the top, choose “custom size.” Now, type the inches into the width and height boxes. Voila! You are formatted. You can then adjust your margins or page header and footer as you like.

I also recommend typing in size 12 font, double-spaced. By starting out this way, it will give you a very realistic idea for the length of your chapters. You can then tailor the size to fit your writing style as you go. I hope this has been helpful.

In closing this post, here are some do’s and dont’s of chapter writing (in my opinion):

DO make them long enough that they actually tell something. It doesn’t make sense to have a chapter per page. That will distract or disorient readers.

DON’T make them long just for the sake of doing it. If you are trying to force chapters to certain lengths you are going to frustrate yourself and your readers. Let the book flow naturally.

DO have a logical start and end to a chapter. Chapters should be cohesive and work together. Leave your reader wanting more.

DON’T try to force chapters to be a specific length. Say what you need to say. When you realize you can add no more to a specific section, know when to stop and move on.

DO be flexible. Maybe you can move chapters around as you need to. If something you’re doing isn’t working, try something new.

 

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