Peter Lopez Jr.'s Blog: Xulon Press Blog , page 22

A Pre-Writing Checklist for Fiction Writers

Hyping yourself up to write a book is a lot like getting in the right frame of mind to start a new workout routine. First, the determination takes hold. “I am going to start right now.” Then, self-doubt takes over. “I have no idea where to start.”

So, this is your crash course to the pre-writing process. Follow our checklist, and you’ll feel more confident and prepared when it comes time to start writing.

1. Develop your elevator pitch, also known as a premise.

Your premise should mention of your protagonist, his or her goal, and the situation that will keep the protagonist from reaching the end goal. If you’re really good, you’ll fit all of this into a maximum of one or two sentences.

To trim down your premise, read it aloud, and focus on any extraneous words or details you can omit while still getting your point across.

2. Decide on your target audience.

Knowing who you are writing your book for is a major step in the pre-writing process. Selecting “everyone” or even “woman of all ages” are both too broad of an audience. No matter how well you write—or the topic of your book—it’s not going to be for everyone.

Dial your target audience in as niche as you can. Once you do that, you won’t feel the need to write to make every single person in the world happy.

3. Map out an outline.

I realize not everyone works from a detailed outline. There is a reason the terms pantser and plotter exist in the writing world. Pantsers normally refers to people who don’t like planning. The truth is, even if you’re a pantser, you still have to have a loose idea of the direction you want your plot to follow. Take time to mull over where your protagonist is at the beginning of your novel and where you want him or her to be at the end of your book.

If you are a plotter, use this pre-writing time to fully develop your book’s outline, but also remain flexible enough as you write so you can pay attention to areas where you may need to pivot away from your initial outline.

4. Gather your tools.

Before you sit down to write, make sure you have all the necessary tools you’ll need for a smooth start. These tools can include a computer and installing Microsoft Word, or if you prefer to write your first draft on paper make sure you have the paper and writing tools you like.

5. Pull together your research and sources.

Do your research ahead of time to minimize research time when you should be writing. Decide on an organizing method for your research as well. If you have a lot of internet research, either print off your research and highlight the portions you want to use or you can save a web page as a PDF and use Adobe Acrobat’s highlighting tool. Then, save these PDFs somewhere on your computer that you can easily access.

If you are working on a nonfiction book or are adding Scriptures to your fiction story, it’s super important to keep your sources organized and enter each source into your manuscript as you write. So, having all your research and sources pulled and organized and highlighted makes this aspect of your writing a lot easier.

6. Develop your character profiles.

If you’re writing fiction and creating your own characters, you will want to fully develop your characters ahead of time. Character profile sheets can help with this, and are easy to find online, but here is the key information you want to develop for each character: appearance, age, and personality traits—positive and negative. On top of that, you’ll also want to note how each character is connected to your protagonist and how you want each character to end up at the end of your book.

7. Build your writing schedule.

Once you get yourself organized, at some point you actually need to write. So, create a writing schedule you can comfortably follow. If you creating a writing schedule that’s too strenuous, you’ll most likely fall off the wagon.

8. Set up your backup plan.

There is nothing worse than losing your work—no matter how many words you have on the page. So, before you get too far into your word count develop a backup plan for your files.

I personally keep a file saved to my desktop, but I also save a new backup in Dropbox every time I work on my file, and I email the newest version to myself every time I close my document. This way, I have one main file (the desktop version) and I save out to two places (Dropbox and email). Having two separate backups on top of your main document protects you from all angles.

Keep the filename simple of your manuscript document. An example is Book Title_Manuscript_6-1-2020.docx. By including the word “manuscript” in your filename, you give yourself a keyword to search for if you ever need to use a search function on your computer to find the file. Also, be sure to revise the date at the end of your filename each day you write. That will help you produce a versions’ log in your backup locations.

9.  Set your word count.

Now that you’ve decided you’re going to write a book, you know what you’re writing about, and you have all your preliminary research, you need to set a final word count to aim for. Here’s a guide to use:

Novel: 80,000–100,000 words
Novella: 10,000–40,000 words
Young Adult Novel: 40,000–80,000 words
Middle-Grade Book: 20,000–50,000 words
Children’s Books: 1,000–10,000 words
Picture Books: no more than 600 words
Nonfiction: about 60,000 words or less (check specific word count for your subgroup of nonfiction)
Short Story: no more than 10,000 words

10. Commit.

Now, the only part of your project left is to write!

 

Want to learn more about self-publishing your book? Call 1-866-381-2665 to speak with one of our publishing consultants. Struggling with self-doubt as a writer? Read How to Overcome Self-Doubt as a Writer.

The post A Pre-Writing Checklist for Fiction Writers appeared first on Xulon Press Blog, Christian Self-Publishing.

10 Literary Devices Defined

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If I had to guess, I’d say you probably haven’t heard the term “literary device” since high school English class. Well now that you’re writing a book it’s time for a refresher crash course.

Literary devices are styles or tools writers can use to enhance their stories. Some literary devices are meant to add a deeper intellectual level to your writing whereas others are meant to strengthen characters and your book’s theme.

If your writing feels a little flat, play around with the following 10 literary devices:

1. Allegory

A narrative type that helps writers communicate more than what appears to readers on the surface of the story–usually a moral lesson. Fables, such as The Ugly Duckling, would fall under allegory. They offer a deeper, hidden meaning that’s presented to readers through the telling of the story.

2. Alliteration

A series of words that all start with the same letter or sound. Personally, I love alliterations for book titles:

The Great Gatsby

Pride and Prejudice. 

3. Colloquialism

A casual, informal language that writers most often use to distinguish characters from each other. Colloquialism provides a more authentic conversation between characters in dialogue.

4. Exposition

Background information provided in a book’s narrative that helps readers understand what is happening. Exposition, description, and dialogue are the three basic writing elements needed in any book. Every other literary device should build off them.

5. Flashback

When the writer jumps back in time to share information with readers. Most often, flashbacks are used to share exposition and to build suspense.

6. Foreshadowing

Used when writers allude to events that haven’t yet taken place within the story. It’s an indication of an upcoming event in a story. Partial reveals and dropping hints throughout the story fall into foreshadowing. This literary device is also used to build suspense or create tension among characters.

7. Imagery

How most writers are able to show and not just tell readers what’s going on. Writers pull their readers into their writing by using descriptive language that paints scenes within readers’ minds.

8. Metaphors

Compares two things that are similar. This is one of the most commonly used literary devices in books. A simple metaphor example is:

The ocean was a raging bull during Hurricane Andrew.

9. Personification

When writers use human traits when describing objects that aren’t human. One example of personification is:

The moon played hide and seek with the clouds.

10. Point of view (POV)

Point of view refers to how the narration of every story is told. As a writer, you can use first, second, or third-person POV to tell your story. The POV you choose is very important.

First-Person POV: Tells the story from the protagonist’s view and is the most commonly used in writing.
Second-Person POV: This POV is hardly used in books. Second-person is not recommended for most writers. This is because the style employs the writer to speak directly to the reader. This can often make readers feel like the writer talks down to them or bosses them around.
Third-Person POV: The third-person POV can be done in third-person limited or third-person omniscient. If you use the limited POV your narrator only reveals the thoughts and feelings of one character at a time. On the other hand, omniscient POV means your narrator knows everything going on with all of your characters. With this POV they can reveal anything they want at any point.

 

Which literary device do you use most often in your writing? Did you know it was a literary device before you began using it? Share in the comments below!

The post 10 Literary Devices Defined appeared first on Xulon Press Blog, Christian Self-Publishing.

10 Words to Cut From Your Manuscript

Editing your own writing will never be the easiest part of the writing journey, but knowing what to look for can make the task a whole lot simpler. Working with the publishing company Xulon Press for a decade now has taught me a lot to say the least. A common mistake my editing eye has picked up on is what I like to call the use of filler words. Excessive use of these words elongates your manuscript but does not advance your story. 

As a rule of thumb, avoid using words that end in -ly, such as quickly, readily, suddenly, and more. These words are adverbs and can be replaced with strong, active verbs. Do a scan of each of your chapters and only look for words that end in -ly. When you spot one, read the full sentence. Then, delete the word that ends in -ly and rework the sentence to include a verb.

Here are 10 more words you can cut from your manuscript without a lot of rewriting:

Suddenly
Then
Very
Really
Just
Somehow
Seemed
Definitely
Was
Thing/things

When it comes to writing, the words listed above are filler words. They do not communicate important details to the reader or advance your story.

Want to do a cool exercise? Use the search function in your writing software—normally Ctrl-F in PCs and Command-F in Macs—and search for each of the words above. The search results will tell you how many times each word appears in your manuscript and will take you directly to each instance. By doing this, you can speed through reworking the sentences with these words.

Want to learn more about editing services we offer? Call 1-866-381-2665 to be connected directly to one of our publishing consultants or visit our website XulonPress.com for more information.

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Why Every Writer Needs a Business Plan

As you’ve probably noticed, there’s no such thing as “only being a writer” anymore. And while many writers might not want to handle the business side of things, to give yourself and your books the best chance of success, it’s a must. If you’re hoping to turn that passion for writing into a career, having a well thought out business plan in place will be essential. It’s time to overcome that idea that as an author your only job will be to write.

Whether you’re working towards a traditional publishing contract or self-publishing, a carefully crafted business plan can help you establish a plan of action as well as a guide for how you will administer your resources. What good is a goal without a well-timed action plan to get there? To aid in this, I’ve broken down the writers’ business plan into five sections: Mindset, Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Operations. I know, I know. It doesn’t sound very appealing. But that’s where the first step of your business plan comes into play—changing your mindset.

Mindset: Personal Development

When you’re ready to take writing seriously, you have to shift your mindset. You can’t think of writing as something you only do when you’re feeling inspired anymore, but something you do because you must. You’ve got a mission, stories you’re ready to tell. And you’re determined to get them out into the world and into readers’ hands.

Not everyone has a business mindset and there’s nothing wrong with that. But even as pure artists, you need to be clear about your goal and mission so you know when to choose option A over B. For example, some authors might price their books low at first to increase readership and author-awareness instead of profit. The idea behind it is to get the books into as many hands as possible first to help create the buzz. They know that, even if delayed, the profit will come after that. Guess what? Choices like that are called business decisions. And knowing when to make those calls will come when you train your brain to think more business-like.

This same mentality goes for traditionally published authors who want their agent or publisher to handle all business-related issues. If you have clear-set goals you’ll be better able to judge when and if your agent is steering you in a different direction than your vision.

The point is, no matter what kind of writer you are, you will need to make business decisions at some point. And that’s where having a business plan comes to play. A business plan, even just a basic one, can help recognize what’s important, your key goals, and design a timely action plan to get you from Point A to Point B with better chances of not getting sidetracked.

Finance: Investing in Yourself

Just like every business out there, you’ll need some start-up money to launch your business (that’s what we’re referring to your writing career from now on). I know everyone wants the writing to speak for itself, and while it can, you’ll still need to do some investment to get it out there. In this section of your business plan, you’ll need to create a publishing timeline, a budget to meet the timeline, and a savings plan. I’ve listed the major things you’ll want to invest in below.

Publishing

What most writers have been doing to get their work out there is self-publishing. Getting discovered out of the blue and having a publisher invest thousands of dollars in an unknown writer is just very rare and hard to accomplish in today’s time. The best way to get picked up is by self-publishing your book, creating a successful audience for yourself, and having an agent catch on to all the buzz around you. To know just how much you should be saving up for publishing click here to explore publishing packages. Don’t forget Xulon Press always offers interest-free payment plans to make publishing achievable for every budget!

Editing 

You know you’re going to need some level of editing for your manuscript before it’s published. So make sure to make a plan early on to begin saving up for a minimum of one round of editing at the “line-editing” level. Any full edit will be priced per word, so naturally the more words you have the more your edit will cost. If you’re wondering just how much you should be saving, take your estimated word count and visit our Editing Pricing Page, look over the editing plan you need, and simply multiply your word count with the cost-per-word listed on the website. For more tips on how to work with an editor, click here.

Marketing

Marketing is definitely an expense that should not be skipped over. After all, this is what creates awareness for your book as well as the demand. No business can function without some sort of marketing efforts. Plan to spend money on social media advertising, internet advertising, a press release, book events, and if needed book reviews. Explore some of the pricing for marketing services by clicking here to help set your budget for your book launch.

Marketing: Creating Your Brand, Awareness, and Demand.

Before you begin your business plan you have to define who you are, what you do, and why you do it. Establish your goals, your vision, your intentions, your plans—everything! Your brand should sum up everything that makes you a writer. Think of this as your elevator pitch. 

While you won’t market yourself in the same way as a big corporation, you do still have to brand yourself as a writer. You won’t be looking at creating a typical brand, but instead focusing on personality branding. You’re a unique human that thinks, acts, speaks, and writes in a certain way. You wear certain clothes and you’re attracted to certain colors. You have a unique eye and pay attention to certain things. What you’re defining here, is how to present yourself to the world. 

In the marketing section of your business plan you’ll be defining your brand, your target audience, and creating an action plan on how to acquire that audience. In other words, how to let your future readers know that you exist! The best way to do that in the 21st century is by establishing an online presence. If you’re not sure where to start, save the following blogs for a read:

Tips on how to establish an online presence: Social Media for Writers
Help in determining your target audience: Finding Your Target Audience.

Sales: Communicating Value

Marketing and sales go hand-in-hand. After you’ve established your brand, you’ll create awareness by establishing an online presence for your targeted audience. As you’re working on creating the author awareness you desire, you can start marketing your upcoming work. You’ll start documenting your writing process and sharing them with your followers, creating the demand for your upcoming book, blog, poem, etc. 

When your book is ready for launch you want to have that excitement already created. Even though your mission with writing might be bigger than just selling, selling is an essential part of every business. It’s what eventually can break or make a career as an author.

Operations: Servicing Customers

Everything that happens within a business to keep it running falls under operations. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. With the operations section of your marketing plan you’ll just want to make sure your readers are satisfied and your business is running as effectively as possible. You do this by sticking to an action plan and making sure you’re adjusting the business plan as needed. You need to stay up-to-date with trends and change with the market. It’s a fast-paced world and what may skyrocket your career one year might not have the same effect five years from now. 

 

To wrap up, I hope you see business plans don’t have to be just about numbers or sales projections. They can also be about defining who you are as an author and what you want for your dreams. Once you’re comfortable with knowing what you want, where you stand, and where you want to go, you’ll be unstoppable.

 

Don’t forget to share this blog if you found this read helpful!

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How to Eliminate Distractions When Writing

Even without COVID-19 taking up extra space in our thoughts and altering how we live, having focused and uninterrupted writing time is hard. So, throw in a global pandemic, and that can really tank your creativity. Here are 10 ways to eliminate distractions when writing, so you can have your most productive writing time yet!

1. Find a hideaway in your home.

Instead of trying to write at your dining room table or kitchen counter, find a nook in your home that’s not in plain sight and doesn’t put you in a high traffic pattern used by others in your home.

2. Ask family or roommates to respect your writing time.

The people you live with may not realize how important your writing time is to you, so take a few minutes to have a conversation with them about your goals and ask them not to bother you when you are writing.

3. Don’t surf the web.

The invention of computers is fantastic. The rabbit holes that come with Wi-Fi and instant access to the internet, however, are not so great for writing productivity. When it’s time to write, don’t take a detour to the internet for research. If you find a spot in your writing that needs more research, make a note to go back and do it later. Once you come out of your writing hole, it’s harder to get back in it.

4. Listen to sounds or music that help you focus.

These can help you quiet distractions around you and also quiet your mind as you write. We recommend:

White noise
ASMR
Classical music
Acoustic songs
Nature sounds

5. Silence your phone.

There’s nothing worse than a large group text getting lots of attention on your phone while you’re trying to write. Be sure to silence your phone, turn off notifications, or even leave it in another room while you write. That way, you can’t be tempted to read the latest updates from your friends or family during writing time.

6. Avoid writing in bed or in front of the TV.

Writing in bed will inevitably lead to you taking a nap when you should be dominating your word count. And there’s nothing more distracting than your favorite TV show coming on when you wanted to do a 30-minute writing sprint. Avoid your bed and the TV during writing time and see how much more focused your writing can be.

7. Make sure your space is comfortable.

Don’t pick an uncomfortable chair or space to write in. You’re going to be in that spot for long periods of time while writing your book and being uncomfortable won’t help. Choose a spot that is ergonomically comfortable, doesn’t create body fatigue, and isn’t so comfortable you want to fall asleep (like your bed).

8. Use headphones.

If you have trouble zoning out and tuning into your writing, try putting headphones on. Even if you don’t listen to anything, it may help you block out distracting sounds.

9. Go to the park with paper and a pen.

Sometimes, no matter how much we try, we can be easily distracted by the internet, our phones, and the people we live with. If you hit this point, grab a notepad and a pen, as well as your favorite beach chair, and head to the nearest park. Plant yourself under a shady tree and get some writing done.

10. Quiet your thoughts.

There are times when your distractions won’t come from your surroundings or the people around you. Instead, you could be distracted by stress or self-doubt floating around in your head. If this is the case for you, take a few minutes to pray and still your mind before you begin a writing session.

 

How do you cut out distractions while you write? Leave us a comment below!

The post How to Eliminate Distractions When Writing appeared first on Xulon Press Blog, Christian Self-Publishing.

Social Media for Writers

Having a social media presence is essential for all writers in the 21st century. Whether you write fiction, poetry, scripts, nonfiction or all of the above, social media can help boost your audience. Not to mention, having an established audience makes agents and publishers more likely to pick up your work. This is because you’ve already got a guaranteed audience to sell your books to. Even if you decide to go with self-publishing to have more creative control, you’ll still need to make sure you’re developing an audience.

Having a social media presence also gives readers somewhere to find out more information about you and your other work. New blogs, upcoming events, live Q&As, you name it. Possibilities are endless on social media.

Unfinished Book or Unpublished Authors

If you haven’t finished your book or it’s in progress you might be delaying building your social media presence. If this is you I’m here to tell you that you should be doing the exact opposite! If you haven’t published your book yet I would even say you have an advantage. You can build your presence and demand before your book even comes out. You have the power to build anticipation and get pre-orders going. The sooner you start, the bigger your audience will be by the time your work is ready.

“If I don’t have a book published what would attract a following?”

Well, you can start by writing blogs, providing book reviews, sharing writing tips, creative writing exercises, giveaways, etc. Trust me, the ideas of what to do on social media will keep flowing after you’ve fully submerged yourself in it. For more ideas you can also follow similar accounts for inspiration. See what others are doing and what’s working for them. And don’t be afraid to connect with them and ask for advice! This can result in some social media friends which can be very beneficial. For example, you can create writing challenges and tag your social media friends to try out the challenge! You could end up creating trends in the writing community and buzz around your account.

 

Now it’s time to talk about which social media platforms you should be on. Because let’s be honest, it seems like a new social media platform comes out every year. If you try to get on every single one of them it can easily get hard to keep track of. The more thinly you spread yourself, the less time you have to spend on each platform, and the harder it is to increase your following. As a writer, you should put your focus on recommended, select platforms. We’ve provided the breakdown below.

Social Media Platforms Every Writer Needs To Be On
Facebook

It’s safe to say most of us are on Facebook. No matter what you write, your market definitely exists there. Facebook has the largest audience of any social media site–that’s a lot of potential book buyers.

If you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to upgrade from a profile to a Facebook Page. This way readers can simply “like” your page to follow your content instead of sending a friend request. Having a page separate from a personal profile is key in having a professional edge. You do not want to mix your personal life with your business. After creating it, ask all of your Facebook friends to go like it. Facebook even allows you to send an invite for friends to go like a page.

This author page will be your official writer page where you can post about your work or anything that is happening in your genre or subject matter. With a Facebook Page, you have more control over the marketing aspect of your writing. You can also dictate whether your followers have the ability to post on your page or not.

Here’s an example of an author using Facebook effectively: Neil Gaiman

Instagram

Instagram is perfect for catching your readers’ attention. It has one of the highest engagement rates out there and with hashtags like #bookstagram, it’s easy to find like-minded people.

You’ll notice there are many authors on Instagram posting exciting and engaging content via pictures and stories. Simple quotes and creative pictures of their work are just a small part of them. Many Instagram authors also take wonderful photos of their inspirations in order to show their followers a peek into how the writing gets done. For instance, if you wrote a poem about an old tree, it would be cool to see a picture of that live oak you drew inspiration from.

In addition, this may be one of the best social media platforms to promote or get book reviews from. As you explore you’ll notice the growing success of book review accounts.

Here’s an example of an author using Instagram effectively: Rupi Kaur

Twitter

Twitter is a great way to show your knowledge and share information about your works in progress. It’s the perfect platform to offer commentaries on recent books, blogs, scripts, etc. As of right now, there are very few platforms anywhere more watched than Twitter–it’s a huge arena to exchange ideas and get your author brand out there.

Additionally, Twitter provides a fast-paced platform for you to pitch your writing. By limiting the number of characters that can be typed, Twitter encourages the elevator pitch format: Get your point out there and bring in followers–that simple.

Here’s an example of an author using Twitter effectively: J.K. Rowling

 

To summarize, Social media is a gold mine for showcasing your writing ability, building a following, and gaining exposure. In today’s world of digital connection, social media has the power to boost writers’ success. The platforms enhance the ability to reach far audiences by allowing a writer’s work to be immediately shared. Why is this so vital? The more people who read your work, the better exposure you gain. In this way, you can increase the potential to develop a larger, loyal following. If you are a writer looking to get noticed, inspired, or build an audience, you need to get on social media.

 

Need help setting up? Check out our Social Media Services to help you get started. If you need additional information about our book marketing products and services, please contact a Marketing Specialist at 1-866-381-2665. International callers may use 407-339-4217.

 

For more Social Media Marketing tips check out this blog

The post Social Media for Writers appeared first on Xulon Press Blog, Christian Self-Publishing.

How To Get Book Reviews

1⃣ Find your target audience.

This is the first and most important step. You can put every effort into marketing your book, although you might get some response, it will not be anywhere near successful if you’re not targeting the correct readers. What is or how do you find your target audience you may be wondering? In simple terms, a target audience just means breaking down who you believe your book’s audience is (demographics, location, and interests). For a full breakdown, check out our blog Finding Your Target Audience. 

2⃣ Find blogs with readers that fit your target audience.

Now that you know who your audience is you just need to find them. Let them know about your book. Obviously we’re here because we know book reviews can equal book sales–people want to know what all the buzz is about, right? A good way to get these is to find blogs with an audience that fits yours and pitch them your book. Try looking for microbloggers first as they’re more likely to be easier to get in touch with and actively looking for work to review. Plus, sometimes the smaller bloggers have the most dedicated following!

Additionally, before you get too ahead of yourself make sure to check that they’re interested first. Tell them about your book (maybe send them a few chapters?) and your audience and see if the blogger thinks it would be a good match with theirs. Consider sending them a free copy of your book in return for a review. 

3⃣ Ask followers to share their experience & re-share. 

The easiest way to get book reviews is to ask those around you! Ask your social media followers to write a post about their experience with your book and then share those posts on your own social media. Share it on your story as well as your page and ask your family, friends, and colleagues to share your posts. Don’t forget to ask them to participate in sharing their experience with the book as well.

5⃣ Is your book listed on Amazon?

Reach out to your book buyers and request for them to leave reviews on your book. If you have an Amazon account you’re in luck. They make it super easy to send an email right to their inbox requesting a review. Once they have shared a review, screenshot, and share, share share! And of course, tell your friends and family to share your post about the reviews. This encourages other readers to leave their thoughts on it too!

6⃣ Build a mailing list

It’s easier and more cost-efficient to acquire emails rather than addresses. For this reason, try to request an email every time there is a purchase of your book. Build an email list and create weekly newsletters with fun content to pull readers in, once you have their attention remind them to leave a review!

7⃣ Try a NetGalley Review Campaign

Let our staff add your book to NetGalley where thousands of reviewers, influencers, and decision-makers in the publishing industry have the ability to request a digital copy. Reviewers are encouraged to post their reviews to other important sites including Amazon, Goodreads, and to their own personal websites or blogs. Call our Marketing Specialist directly at 844-494-4944 if interested.

Have any helpful tips we didn’t mention? Share in the comments below!

Finding Your Target Audience (and why it’s so important).

If you’ve published or want to publish any work, whether it’s a novel, a blog, or an essay, you need to know your target audience. While it’s important to reach as many people as possible, and it often seems like focusing only on certain segments of the population is limiting, you need to be direct. We’ll go through the why that is, what it is, and how to go about it.

Why

You can put every effort into marketing your book, and although you might get some response, it will not be anywhere near as successful as it could be if you’re targeting the correct audience. In simple terms, a target audience is just breaking down who you believe your book’s audience is. It may sound like common sense that if you write a children’s book you’ll want to market it to children. And if you’re writing a youth novel you’ll want to target teenagers.  A cookbook will want to do the same with cooking enthusiasts, and so forth—You get the idea. But a lot of new writers actually don’t practice this.

It’s a bit naive to think that everyone will enjoy your book thus you should make your marketing efforts as general as possible. Advertising your book to the incorrect audience will be wasted effort, time, and not produce the desired results or reflect the true potential of your work. Now that you understand the why it’s important, let’s dive deeper into what it is and how you can figure out the ideal audience for your book.

What

A target audience can be as vague or as specific as you’d like. As you can imagine, the more specific, the more likely you are to get the results you want. Let’s take a look at children’s books. You might be thinking it’s as easy as just saying your target audience is children. In reality, two people could write a children’s book and have completely different target audiences.

Here is an example.

Person 1:

“My target audience is children between the ages of 8-12.  The topic is appropriate for both genders. My book incorporates a lot of American customs that would confuse readers from other countries. Therefore we’ll focus on initial advertising in U.S. elementary schools”.

Person 2:

“My children’s book is appropriate for kids 3-7 years of age. It’s fiction and can be easily understood by all cultures and genders. They’re easy rhymes that can be used to teach kids to read. Therefore, I should market to young parents and new grandparents in English-speaking countries”.

Now that you understand more of what a target audience is and why it’s important you may be wondering how to figure out the ideal target audience for your book. Let’s dive into it.

How

You can get as specific as you want with your target audience. The more you understand who your readers are, the more likely you are to get the results you want from your marketing efforts. If you’re struggling with figuring out who your target audience is, ask yourself these questions:

Demographics

What ages would enjoy reading my book?
Is it tailored to one gender more than the other? Which gender?
Is it easily understood by other cultures?




Location

Where are the potential readers located?
Does global, local, or country-specific targeting make sense?
Are my readers online, in bookstores, school libraries, etc? 


Behaviors and Interests

What reading style is trending within the age group (ebooks, audiobooks, etc)?
Where do my readers enjoy spending their time?
What hobbies or interests are common in my readers?

You’ll find knowing your audience is so helpful. If you know where your readers love spending time, let’s say a coffee shop, you can plan to do book events there. And now knowing their preferred reading format you can make sure you provide your book in that style. Knowing the age range as well is very beneficial because you can tailor your advertising to fit the most effective ways they respond to. The possibilities are endless once you understand your target audience.

Additionally, a great way to make sure your target audience stays as accurate as possible is by asking a reader to fill out a brief survey after purchasing your book. You can start the survey by asking how they heard about your book. This lets you know which of your marketing efforts are bringing in results. Finish it by asking them demographic questions (age, gender, etc) and their location (state or country).

 

Still feeling like you need help figuring out how to target the right audience? That’s where we come in. Consider our internet advertising services where we customize a target audience for your book and show the ad to 10,000+ potential customers.

The post Finding Your Target Audience (and why it’s so important). appeared first on Xulon Press Blog, Christian Self-Publishing.

How To Overcome Self-Doubt As A Writer

Sylvia Plath once said, “the worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” 

We all have a hopeful goal of an achievement we think will finally get rid of that self-doubt once and for all. “If I become a bestseller,” “If I sell out,” “If I get a positive review,” “If I win an award,” and on and on. But the truth is every writer has self-doubt. No success will ever fully eliminate that inner critic. Even author Stephen King once said, “I’m afraid of failing at whatever story I’m writing—that it won’t come up for me, or that I won’t be able to finish it.”

No one is safe from self-doubt, everyone experiences it. As you can see self-doubt is just part of the job of being a writer. One could even say it’s part of the creative process. Our responsibility as writers is to not let that little critic in our head cripple us and stop our work from reaching the public. Instead, we must learn to use it to improve our work and fuel our determination. Would you really want to be one of those writers whose work never saw the light of day until decades after they passed? Don’t let that be you.

If you have an inclination to be a writer but self-doubt is holding you back, try these 3 tips.
1. Find a good online platform to connect with other writers and gain support.

Joining a writing community is a great way to share and get support. Try joining a Facebook group, a local writing club, or a writing community on a forum or Tumblr.  Twitter is also a great platform. You can use hashtags to discover and follow hundreds of other writers. Your timeline will be filled with thoughts from writers all over the world where you can chime in and also share your own. This will make it easy to share frustrations, struggles, and connect with like-minded people.

2. Practice makes perfect.

Keep writing and never stop. Like any other skill, you can refine your writing skills. Try creative writing exercises to get those juices flowing.  Remember, no matter the success, there will always be room for improvement.

3. Read (a lot).

Reading great books is an exceptional way to get inspired. It also helps you continue to learn and develop your storytelling skills. Find new books to read, discover new authors, and get inspired.

These tips can all help, but the very first step to facing writers’ doubt is acknowledging you’re always going to have it. So finish your manuscript, publish your book, and get your words out into the world. Break through that self-doubt because your words are important and the world needs to hear your voice. You don’t know whose life you could change with your story, or how your words could impact someone’s life. Use fear as a driver, and not an obstacle. 

For more information about becoming a published author, click here.

Visit our blog for more creative living tips.

The post How To Overcome Self-Doubt As A Writer appeared first on Xulon Press Blog, Christian Self-Publishing.

Top 7 Book Publishing Industry Trends

The publishing world is never stagnant, so it can be hard to stay on top of the trends. We’ve made it a little easier for you by doing the research.

Top 7 Publishing Industry Trends Happening Right Now:
1. Audiobook sales are up.

If you’ve been thinking about converting your published book into an audiobook, now is a great time to do it. Audiobook sales are up, and we don’t see this trend going away any time soon. The audiobook format is great for readers on the go or those who want to multi-task. Where it would be impossible to read a book and complete some monotonous chores around the house, it’s completely possible to listen to an audiobook while doing those same chores.

2. Organic search is down.

What does this mean for your book? It basically means it has become harder for people to organically search and find your book in web browsers. The only way around this roadblock is to put a budget toward paid ads. Wherever you pay to have your ad displayed, your book advertisement will show up for users who visit that website or results page (if you use Google ads).

3. The eBook market is up.

The eBook market is a bit finicky, sometimes it’s up and sometimes it’s down. Right now, the eBook market is up. Remember though, just because the eBook market may be up, that doesn’t mean the print market is down. The two don’t always have a direct effect on each other.

4. Email lists are important.

If you haven’t already created an email subscriber sign-up form to place on your website, now is a great time to do so. Having an email list means you have an audience at your fingertips when you want to email them about a new blog post you’ve published on your website, a new event you’ll be signing books at, or the release date of your next book.

5. Authors need to actively promote their own books.

This one is true for both self-published and traditionally published authors. A lot of your book marketing is dependent on you. So, use social media regularly, launch a giveaway for your book, or do something else to actively market your book to readers.

6. Wide distribution is still dominating.

It’s so important to have as many versions of your book (hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook) available as possible. Your target readers won’t all read your book the same way, so you have to meet your readers where they are.

7. Bold typography, dimension, and movement are in for cover designs.

If you’ve perused a bookstore lately—online or in-store—you may have noticed there’s been a huge shift in cover design over the last year. Bold typography on a solid background or covers with dimension and movement are having a major moment in the spotlight. Bold typography is ruling nonfiction An example of this style is the new release, Designing Your Work Life. Multi-dimensional, movement-style designs are extremely popular in fiction, such as The Dutch House.

 

What trends have you recently noticed in publishing? Have you applied any specific trends to your current book project?

 

Learn more about writing and publishing your book by calling 1-866-381-2665 for a free 30-minute consultation with one of our Publishing Consultants.

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