Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Kindle Vella (New): Amazon Publishes Your Serial Fiction

Kindle Vella: does this new service offer benefits for authors?

(Important… Please be aware that that my opinion is based solely what I’ve read about the new service and my experiences with short and serial fiction; I haven’t used Kindle Vella.)

Will this new service succeed?

Amazon launches services (such as Kindle Worlds for fan fiction) then shutters them if they don’t make enough money. So this new venture means that Amazon knows that serials sell; it’s attempting to profit from them.

Amazon shuttered Kindle Worlds after five years, so everything depends on whether readers use Kindle Vella in sufficient numbers for Amazon to see good profits.

Readers to one side. Does Kindle Vella offer benefits for authors?

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Create Content For Fiction And Nonfiction: 3 Weird Ways To Get Ideas

Ideas are everywhere. But if you’re a new writer, you worry about freshness, and originality. You need NEW ideas, don’t you?

Well… Completely “new” ideas may not be possible, nor even desirable. No one knows everything, so an idea may be new to you, but stale or derivative.

In commercial fiction, new ideas which flout genre conventions aren’t desirable at all. You need to be aware of genre conventions; every genre has them. When you step outside those conventions readers not only won’t buy your novel, you’ll also get nasty comments in reviews.

For example, recently an author asked me why her romance novel isn’t selling. She was outraged: “my beta readers love it!” Unfortunately, no beta reader told her that romance readers hate cheating heroines; they want escapism—that’s what they’re paying for.

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Serial Fiction: 3 Quick Tips To Start Writing Today

Today, many TV programs are serials. Sometimes they’re delivered in weekly episodes. Alternatively, the complete program is made available for viewers who like to binge.

Serial fiction questions: there are no rules

You make the decisions when you’re writing serial fiction.

Although I commonly write serials in ten episodes of 5,000 to 8,000 words, there’s no rule which says that you need to write ten. You may choose to write yours in three parts—go ahead!

Alternatively, if you want to write a dozen episodes or thirty, it’s up to you—and readers.

Recently a student asked: “is it OK to keep writing? I’m not ready to let go of the characters yet. I’ve got some great ideas. Will readers be annoyed? I promised them 12 parts… What if I write 20?”

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Content Marketing: Here Comes The Holiday Sales Season - Copywriter Angela Booth

Within eight weeks, you’ll not only have prepared marketing strategies and plans for your primary products, you’ll have at least one solid month’s worth of content ready to release. Easy peasy, right?

Relax. There’s no need to panic, but it’s time to get your holiday season content marketing under way.

Your content marketing strategy for the holidays

Consider a three-step process: strategy; planning; and execution. Although it’s useful consider each step discretely, in practice you’ll keep strategizing, planning and executing until next January.

In years past, you could lay out a marketing strategy and follow it with a minor tweak or three. Nowadays, with restrictions and lockdowns and who-knows-what, you need to be alert and ready not merely with a Plan B, but with Plans C, D, and E.

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Content Creation Made Easy: Use This Secret To End The Struggle Today - Copywriter Angela Booth

Start by taking a step back. Yes, you can force yourself to write—but burnout is real. Take a break, even if it’s only for 24 hours. You need to assess what’s happening and take stock.

Struggling with content creation? Questions

To assess your situation, you need to know what’s happening. Here are some questions you can ask; you can develop your own.

A big tip: at this point, you need QUESTIONS, rather than answers. Many questions will resolve themselves when you ask them, because an answer becomes obvious.

Questions you might ask:

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Writing Fiction? Two Writing Strategies To Try

Writing fiction: high concept and emotion

I decided that my two strategies for writing fiction could be: to develop high concept ideas, and to think more about emotion in my fiction.

“High concept” ideas for writing fiction: what are they?

“High concept” comes from the world of screenwriting.

I define high concept ideas as those ideas which are instant attention grabbers. Often they include a genre trope. These ideas are easy to identify: check the blurbs of bestselling books.

Currently I’m on a Loretta Chase reading kick; I adore her novels. From the blurb of her novel A Duke in Shining Armor:

“A Runaway Bride… Lady Olympia Hightower finds herself sneaking out the chapel window, in a mad, attempt to escape her glorious future as a duchess.”

(“Runaway bride” is a popular trope in romance novels and movies.)

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Book Marketing For Cheap: Save On Promotions

Social media sells: market others, and your own books

To market your books successfully on social media, be aware that it takes time. You need to consistently use a network and build your connections. If you’re consistent, you will sell more books. Several authors in our group love Instagram.

Look on developing your social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook et al) as a longterm book marketing strategy.

The larger your social media account grows on a network, the bigger your influence.

Both before and after your following grows, promote others. Many will reciprocate and will promote your book. One of our authors experienced a huge surge in sales when an influencer mentioned his book.

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Content Marketing, SEO And Websites: 4 Practical Tips To Make Sales - Copywriter Angela Booth

In today’s business world, powerful strategies like content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) help websites to get found and make sales.

Neither is magic.

To use the two strategies above, you need a foundation: you need to know what you’re selling and to whom you’re selling it. You’re relying on the search engines to get found by those who want to buy from you.

Using advertising? Advertising boosts your content marketing and SEO strategies. So, when you stop buying ads, you keep your rankings.

Content marketing and SEO: myths and lies

Not only do I work with marketing clients each day, I also work with freelance writers. I spend a lot of time online. Myths about content marketing and SEO abound, so do outright lies. To combat the lies, you need a basic understanding of how the search engines work.

Let’s look at the tips.

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6 Unexpected Benefits From 20 Years Of Blogging - Copywriter Angela Booth

My theory: too many demands from others over which you have little control lead to creative stress. If you don’t realize what’s happening, you’ll suffer burnout.

My colleagues agreed. One said: “that’s why the writing I do for myself is so important. It’s for me, and it’s a creative safety valve.”

So, that’s the first benefit of blogging: it eases stress, if you’re using it as a creative outlet.

Let’s look at the benefits.

1. “Personal” content creation minimizes stress and nurtures you

If you’re creating content and blogging, creating something for yourself (blogs, self-publishing) helps you to minimize stress.

Your creative self is your “silent partner” in creativity. Whether you think of it as your subconscious mind or creative self, this inner drive baulks at compulsion. It’s happy to be creative on demand, but only if you nurture a creative niche that’s all your own.

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Book Marketing and Publicity Services For Authors - Copywriter Angela Booth

In today’s publishing environment, with millions of books available on Amazon’s Kindle store, as well as at other online retailers, it’s an immense challenge for authors to be noticed.

Books are published only to vanish, with few if any sales. A new author’s publishing venture, which began with confidence and high hopes, is crushed.

Publicity helps authors to become visible. It can be the first step in launching a new book. Angela believes it’s essential today.

Book publicity a vital step in marketing, and essential to sell books today

Angela says: “No author can survive today without support. Bestsellers hire marketers. They also create street teams to promote books via word of mouth. New authors don’t have the funds to do this.”

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Book Marketing: 4 Tips To Get Free Publicity For Your Book - Copywriter Angela Booth

Let’s state the obvious: the more people who hear about your book, the more people will buy it.

Here’s the best-ever tip to sell more books: focus on free publicity.

Newspapers and magazines are faint shadows of what they used to be. So, when looking for free publicity, focus directly on readers, as well as on influencers, such as: bloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, and other social media people with big followings.

Here are some tips.

1. Write at least one news release: it’s the gift that keeps on giving

Should you write and publish a news release?

You should—and more than one.

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Fiction Author: 3 Easy Tips To Develop Your Characters’ Motivation

It’s much easier to write fiction when your characters are motivated

Why do your characters do what they do? One reason: they’re motivated. “Motivation” is defined as “a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.” That’s well and good, but when you write fiction, aim to take your characters a step beyond normal motivation.

We’re all motivated for one reason or another.

Consider your own motivations. Why do you go to work? One reason might be that you need to pay your bills. It’s strong motivation, but it’s not life and death motivation. If you lose your job you can get another one.

When you motivate your characters, aim for deep motivation — give your characters strong motivation so that they’ll fight for what they want.

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Content Creation: SEO For Beginners And Latest SEO News - Copywriter Angela Booth

Before we get into content creation and SEO news, consider this BIG tip for freelance writers for writing content as well as doing SEO research. Search engine optimization is a huge and complex field. Therefore, comprehensive SEO research to write a single webpage can take hours. It’s essential to charge for this research time.

Freelancer writer? Beware… SEO takes time. Charge for your time

I’ve often worked with writers who spend three hours on SEO research for a client before writing a piece of content which took an hour. Since “research” is amorphous, they didn’t know how long their research would take, so they didn’t add research-time into their quote.

Please, to repeat because it’s important: always charge for your research time.

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Do More With Journaling - Copywriter Angela Booth

Your journal is a no-risk environment. You can write and draw anything you choose. It’s relaxing and enhances your creativity.

You may be wondering, what should I write in my journal?

The type of journal you use is up to you. You may keep several journals for various purposes, or one journal for everything.

What type of journal?

If you wish, you can create a therapeutic journal. Also called a therapy journal, this type of journal helps you to understand yourself and your motivations; it helps you to work through problems and challenges in all areas of your life.

Your therapy journal can help you to get what you want—once you know what you truly want. As I point out in The Journaling Habit: Achieve Your Goals And Change Your Life In Just Ten Minutes A Day:

… mostly we don’t know what we want. You can make a case for saying that if you knew what you wanted, you’d already have it.

Let’s look at some types of journals which might help your writing career.

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Start Writing Your Novel: 4 Scrivener Tips To Make It Easy

Get a handle on your book with “this is a story about”

You’ve brainstormed ideas for novels, and decide to develop one idea further. Get a handle on it by starting a sentence with: “this is a story about…” and write ONE sentence.

An example: “This is a story about a Regency widow who’s using her inheritance to give her three daughters a season: unfortunately, none of the daughters want one.”

You can and probably will change your sentence later. It’s just meant to ensure that you lay out a basic situation, characters, and a basic conflict.

3. Keep EVERYTHING related to your novel in Scrivener

Here’s the best tip for using Scrivener. When you’re working on a novel, keep everything related to the novel in Scrivener. The text for your book goes into the Draft folder, because that’s the only folder which is compiled.

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