Angela Booth's Writing Blog

New Author? 3 Reasons To Write Mystery Fiction

If you’re a new author your novel can seem like a trackless wilderness when your inspiration wears off. (Sadly, it will.) However, when you’re writing a mystery novel, the writing becomes easier, because the crime forms the spine of your novel, or short story.

Suddenly, you have lots to write about. You have a story question: whodunnit? or why dunnit? As you develop your sleuth and crime, your trackless wildness develops pathways and oases.

So let’s look at three reasons for you to consider writing Mystery, Thriller & Suspense (MTS) fiction.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Mystery Fiction Genres: Win Loyal Readers, Make More Sales

One of the benefits of writing mystery fiction is that readers are immensely loyal. If they like a sleuth, they want more. This means that many mystery authors write series.

Some of these series run for years, with many novels. A reader who buys one book in a series, goes on to buy others. So, the Mystery, Thriller & Suspense genres offer wide scope for authors.

To help you to make the most of the opportunities in mystery fiction, we’ve just released: Write Your Bestseller: Write HOT Mystery, Thriller & Suspense.

A common question I receive is: what’s the difference between a mystery and a thriller?

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Writing To Sell: 3 Life-Saving Tips You Can Use Today

Deadlines loom for self-publishing authors, as well as for freelancers writing for clients. Once you’ve set up an Amazon pre-order, it’s a non-negotiable deadline.

Writing to sell: avoid not-writing stress

Writing can be stressful, but not-writing is even more stressful. We’ve talked about procrastination; you’re avoiding short-term discomfort — but that leads to long-term pain.

My favorite acronym: DDT (Do, Don’t Think) helps many writers to be more productive. As Nike says — just do it.

Try these tips. They may just save your life (or at least, your sanity), if you’re writing to sell.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

3 Genre Fiction Tips: Write What Sells Today (Location, Location)

Whatever you’re writing, knowing and showing your genre/ category is essential, because you’re orienting readers — they know what they’re getting.

Readers know what they’re getting with genre fiction

We all need to know what we’re getting, up front.

Imagine you’re hungry. You wander down the street. You see a store front with a sign saying “Food.” A curtain covers the window so you can’t see inside. Sniffing tells you nothing. Are they selling groceries? Or is this a restaurant?

Glancing across the road, you spot a large sign saying “Hamburgers.”

Do you open the “Food” door, or scoot across the road? A hamburger will eliminate your hunger pangs, so that’s where you go. Thai food would be better, but at least you know what you’re getting with “Hamburger.”

“Genre” in fiction is its category. It’s a label which tells readers what they’re getting.

Perhaps you’re in a similar position to my friend whose novels aren’t selling. To help you to make sales, clearly identify your book as genre fiction, and the genre itself.

Let’s look at some tips to help you to identify genres and improve your sales.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Business Musings: Patreon, Copyright, And Personal Choice

Patreon’s Terms of Use has a possible rights grab buried in them. This is the relevant passage:

By posting content to Patreon you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, distribute, perform, publicly display or prepare derivative works of your content. The purpose of this license is to allow us to operate Patreon, promote Patreon and promote your content on Patreon. We are not trying to steal your content or use it in an exploitative way.

Now realize that contracts need to be read in their entirety, and this is just one paragraph. But the first sentence of this paragraph gave me pause when I first read it years ago, and clearly it upset PG as well.

That sentence at the end of the paragraph? Technically, it’s not theft if you sign away the copyright. So that “steal” thing is kind of a misdirection.

And here’s another point: Even though the FAQ and Patreon’s home page contradict the rights grab, the grab is in the Terms of Use. The reassurances aren’t.

Since I’ve worked in publishing for decades, I learned the difference between language in a contract—which the Terms of Use is, whether we like it or not—and reassurances from the company. Language in a contract can be enforced relatively easily. Reassurances are usually just that: a nice pat on the head accompanied by a don’t worry your pretty little head, sweetie.

via kriswrites.com

Uh oh... bad news. To repeat -- BAD news.
I've never felt comfortable with Patreon; I heard about their potential rights grab a while back.
"We are not trying to steal your content..." OK, I really truly believe that. (Heavy sarcasm.)
They may not be trying to steal it right now, but they've opened the door to doing it at any time they choose.
If you decide to use Patreon PLEASE be aware of this language.

Writing Process: 3 Ways To Streamline Your Process And Sell More

Your writing process: build habits

Your writing success depends on your habits:

Your writing success is mostly a matter of habit. A little luck doesn’t hurt, but without effective habits, any success will be short-lived.

It’s worth reading the above article for the ten most effective habits for writers.

As a commercial writer, your writing process involves three things:

• Developing ideas;
• Managing your creativity; and
• Drafting.

via www.justwriteabook.com

Top 10 Most Effective Habits for Every Writer To Develop TODAY

1. Writing daily

“Writing daily” should be an obvious habit for a writer. However, building a writing habit requires that you build a writing process which works for you. I spent many years without a defined process. This led to stress, much procrastination, self-doubt, and many missed opportunities.

I didn’t write as much as I could have written. You’re a writer, so your writing comes first every day.

Here’s the thing about daily writing: it will make you happy. Your happiness is your success. Whether you’re making $5,000 a year from your writing, or $500,000, your happiness is the true gauge of your success.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Bundling Profits: Increase Your Ebook Income Effortlessly, Starting Today — Angela Booth's Online Writing Classes and Programs

 Newbie or veteran: you can increase your income painlessly when you publish BUNDLES (collections of your ebooks)

We had a bundling craze a few years ago. Of course, the craze died, because few authors understood the true value of bundling.

After the craze died, savvy authors kept bundling, because they realized the benefits and enjoyed the profits.

Bundling your books into collections, and selling them as separate products, means that:

* You'll make extra income, without writing more;

* You'll gain visibility as an author. Bundling lets you target NEW audiences;

* You'll sell more copies of all your books.

via www.angelaswritingclasses.com

Check it out now; the offering ends in 24 hours.

Kindle Short Reads: Take Advantage Of Amazon’s Secret Categories

Do you wish you could sell more books? Whether you’ve written one book or many, every author wants to see his sales climb higher.

That can seem like a faint hope because today self-publishing is more competitive than ever. Hundreds of thousands of books are published each year. Moreover, strategies which once worked (like “free”) aren’t as useful as they were.

The upside of today’s publishing environment however is that savvy authors have an avalanche of information which they can use to sell more books. A little research on Amazon’s top seller lists and Amazon’s categories shows you what’s selling.

I’ve shared a couple of those strategies, namely Kindle Short Reads, and bundling, recently. These strategies are powerful, inexpensive to implement, and practical, whether you’re a new author or are an established pro.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Get Motivated: 3 Powerful Tips To Finish Your Book

Will you ever become sufficiently motivated to finish your book?

Here’s something to keep in mind. Inspiration and motivation build while you’re writing — not when you’re thinking about writing.

Convinced that you’ve tried everything and will never finish?

You’ll get motivated when you build-in consequences

Try creating consequences for yourself. When carrots don’t work, a stick can make all the difference.

Let’s look at how you can build your motivation when you build in some consequences for non-performance.

via www.justwriteabook.com

Creativity: 4 Habits To Build Your Creative Inspiration

Instant creativity: can you be creative on demand?

Writers and other creative people need to be creative on demand. From our group’s experiences, it seems as though it’s easy to get out of the habit of creativity.

Here are four habits which may help to build your creativity again.

1. Do something creative every day

Bored with writing? Try something else. Creativity blossoms, because you’re activating the creative part of your brain.

via peneloperedmont.com

Fiction Tips: 3 Ways To Stop Telling, And Show Instead

Every author’s heard the writing tip: “show, don’t tell.”

Here’s what that means to authors: write in scenes:

When I’m working with my writing students who are frustrated because their novels aren’t selling, I encourage them to focus on their SCENES. Invariably, if you can write powerful scenes, you’ll write a powerful novel.

Let’s look at some fiction tips which will help you to SHOW.

1. Before you start writing, inspire yourself by imagining one scene

Bestselling authors write in scenes.

P.G. Wodehouse, my favorite author, wrote 96 books. He had a wonderful trick for developing his bestsellers: he started with ONE scene. He imagined the scene, and his characters and plot took shape from it.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Self-Publishing Success: A Simple Strategy Anyone Can Use

When I coach indie authors who aren’t happy with their sales, their backlist of titles tells you a great deal. Often there are one or two things the author can do immediately to generate sales.

With that done, the author is much happier and more confident. Then we can create a strategy the author can implement going forward.

A truly simple strategy for veteran self-publishers and newbies too

Bundling is one simple strategy I suggest to both veteran self-publishers as well as to new authors. I’ve used bundling in an ad hoc fashion over the past few years. My research for our new report ensured that going forward, I’ll be using it as a primary strategy.

It’s a strategy I commend to you, too. Why? Because it works.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Fiction Writing Tips For Beginners: Discover Your Plot

Fiction writing: plotting for beginners

Basically a plot in fiction is a series of events which are linked by cause and effect.

And yes, your fiction needs a plot. Plotless fiction isn’t satisfying to readers and it’s not much fun to write either.

If you’re convinced that the plotting fairy failed to bestow her gifts on you, that’s fine. Some authors love plots and outlines. Other authors would rather stick a fork in their eyeball than develop a rigid outline — I belong to this group.

In Fiction Writing Tips For Beginners: Create A Character, I shared my cavalier approach to plotting:

Once I have a main character, a BIG problem for the character, and an antagonist, I start writing. I’m a pantser, pretty much. That said, I rely on my intuition. Should some good ideas magically arrive, I might outline the major plot points (beats) of the novel.

via www.justwriteabook.com

Ghostwriting Fiction: 3 Tips To Help You To Sell

Ghostwriting fiction: is it worth it?

That’s the crux of ghostwriting, of course. You lose all rights in your words. When a novel you’ve written goes on to sell brilliantly, the “lost” income will make you wince.

Whether or not ghostwriting fiction is worth it depends on your situation. Quick cash may trump all other considerations.

Let’s look at some tips.

1. Write a hot-genre novel (or a serial) and sell it

You can write fiction for hire, or you can sell something you’ve written. This may be a novel you’ve published (as long as you own all the rights) or it may be a novel you’re currently writing.

Everything you write is an asset; as long as you own it, you can sell it.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com