Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Plotting Made Simple: The One-Hour Plotting Strategy

Plotting: start with one or two characters

Over the years I developed a simple plotting method: start with a character, with a BIG problem. Once you have a character-creation template, you can create a new character in a minute or two. You can do this over and over again, until your plot (in any genre) is populated with likable characters readers love, and which will do all the heavy-lifting of plotting for you.

At last — a plotting strategy which doesn’t feel like plotting.

Why the one-hour plotting strategy is fun

When pantsing (that is, writing without a plot or an outline) goes well, it’s fun. You’re just telling yourself stories. Each day is exciting: you constantly surprise yourself, because you have no idea where your novel’s headed.

via www.angelabooth.com

Get Them Now: 3 Free Templates For Fiction And Nonfiction

Make Writing Easier: 3 Free Templates For Fiction And Nonfiction

Do you wish you could make writing easier?

You can, with the right template.

Make writing easier: 3 templates for fiction and nonfiction

Although some writing days are fun, many are torture.

Templates make writing easier, because a template can provide both a starting point, as well as a checklist.

Your free download includes three templates, for:

• Short stories;

• Novels;

• Nonfiction books.

via www.angelabooth.com

The Horror: The Inevitable Crumbling Away Of Books

The destruction is inevitable. Depending on how a book was made and how it’s been stored, embrittlement can happen in as little as 30 to 100 years. Already, books have been lost, and the methods of preservation are too limited, time-consuming, and expensive to address the scale of the problem. Mass deacidification, where an alkaline neutralizing agent is introduced via a spray or solution applied to paper, once seemed like the golden solution; but while it can be used to prevent slightly acidified paper from deteriorating, it doesn’t reverse the effects of prior damage. The fallback is digitization—a fancy way to say mass-scanning, and the most used method of saving the content of a text, but not the book itself. In an article about the Library of Congress’ digitization efforts, Kyle Chayka reports that it would take literally decades of scanning to preserve the institution’s over 160 million object collection. At our existing technology’s current scanning pace, preserving the prints and photographs division alone would take about 300 years.

via lithub.com

h/t to Passive Guy.

What treasures will be lost?

Blogging: Want To Start A Blog Which Makes Money?

Other readers asked how to start a blog which makes money.

The answer depends on what you’re doing, and what your goals are for that.

• Do you want your blog to market your business, so that you make more sales?
• Alternatively, do you want to create a blog which will become a business in itself? (What will you sell?)

Of course there are 1001 reasons to create a blog, but whatever your reasons, it’s essential that you know why before you start. Unless you know what you want your blog to do, and set some clear goals, you may not make any money at all.

via www.angelabooth.com

I've had lots of questions about blogging. Here's how to plan your blog.

Wish You Could Create A FAST Website For Free?

While social media networks like Facebook are a lot of fun, they’re restrictive. What if you just want a simple itty bitty website to promote your latest book, or your freelance offerings?

You don’t have time to buy a domain name, get hosting and so on — nor do you want to spend money — you just want an URL you can promote FAST.

Currently I’m building a complete new website here after nuking my original “name” website, online since 1998. Starting afresh is a lot of fun, and yes — it’s work, but I’m a little geeky, so I love it.

I’ve had questions from readers who want publish something online fast. And free.

via www.angelabooth.com

For the past weeks, since I've been revamping my "name" website, I've had questions about creating a fast and simple site.

Hope the above ideas inspire you. :-)

5 Keys to Creating an (Almost) Daily Writing Habit & Getting Your Book Done! - WritingSpirit Blog

4. Write FIRST!

How often do you find yourself saying, “I’ll write as soon as I finish … (the dishes, my favorite TV show, organizing my desk, etc., etc., ad infinitum)” And how often does the day slip by without you doing any writing (or very little)?

There’s only one way to answer both of the above questions with “never,” (or at least “rarely”), and that is to Write First!

• Let the dishes sit in the sink for an hour… Write First!
• Record your favorite TV show… Write First!
• Let the piles of paper on your desk grow a little taller… Write First!

When you Write First! your world not only doesn’t fall apart, it usually goes better. It goes better because you feel good about yourself, and your writing. It goes better because things get done in the time you have. It’s one of those weird truisms that the less time you have to get something done, the more focused and productive you become. So, don’t be afraid to Write First!

via blog.writingspirit.com

Excellent advice, no matter what kind of writing you do.

Traditional Publishing: Agency Clauses (Oh, the horror...)

Agency Clauses

An agency clause may be inserted into a publishing contract between an author and a publisher. In essence, a typical agency clause provides that the agent may receive royalty payments on behalf of the author and has authority to act in the name of the author with respect to the contract.

Here’s an example:

All sums of money due to the Author under this Agreement shall be paid to the Author’s agent, Annie Agent, of 321 Applesauce Avenue, New York, NY 10023, U.S.A. (hereinafter called “the Agent”) and receipt by the Agent shall be a good and valid discharge of all such indebtedness and the Agent is hereby empowered by the Author to act on the Author’s behalf in all matters arising in any way out of this Agreement.   For services rendered and to be rendered the Author does hereby irrevocably assign and transfer to the Agent the sum of 15% (fifteen percent) as an agency coupled with an interest out of all monies due and coming due to and for the account of the Author under this Agreement.

via www.thepassivevoice.com

Have you been offered a contract by a traditional publisher? 

If you're a newbie author: beware. Neither your agent nor your publisher is your friend. You're doing business.

Agency clauses like the one above are especially egregious, but you're sure to find several nasty gotchas in any so-called "standard" publishing contract. Read your contract several times. You've got to keep your own best interests in mind. My motto for contracts: if in doubt, strike it out.

Read the above post from Passive Guy and save it. 

To repeat: neither your agent nor your publisher is your friend. You're doing business.

Here's an excellent article on the realities of publishing.

Hat tip to Passive Guy.

Avoid This BIG Self-Publishing Pitfall

Self-publishing: get visible — you’ll build your audience one reader at a time

A few years ago I read a study which stated that authors who headed bestseller lists year after year had published at least 47 books… and many of those books were in series.

Writing in series made the authors more visible.

You could write 47 books, couldn’t you? And write in series too?

Here’s the point of series publishing and self-publishing: readers. If readers like your novels, they want more than one to read. Voracious readers (like me) will read every book in a series.

“But what if I get bored with the series?” one author asked.

“Write something else. You can write standalones, of course. But aim for series. Tie as many of your novels and novellas together as you can,” I suggested.

Currently I’m reading the latest book in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series. The series is up to Book 15 and I’ve read them all. Perhaps you’re this kind of reader as well: you adore finding a new series in which you can lose yourself.

Let’s look at three reasons to write series fiction.

via www.angelabooth.com

 

Big Bills Looming Over The Holidays? Get Hustling

Are you a publisher or a ghostwriter?

Over the past 20 years I’ve developed hundreds (literally) of blogs. It used to be simple: choose a topic and monetization options (affiliate products or advertising), then start the blog on a free platform to check for traction. Traffic and income? If yes, develop a WordPress site, if no, forget the idea.

Today, we’ve got a huge glut of content. This means that you need a great idea for a blog as well as ways to build an audience fast. You also need stuff to sell. Preferably an affiliate product which is new and “hot” — something which 10,000 affiliates aren’t already promoting.

Yes, you can still create a blog AND earn money for the holidays with a blogging side hustle. However, create a PLAN first. Yes, I know, I’m always nattering about planning — that’s because it’s important. Holiday sales are ramping up this month. (October.)

via www.angelabooth.com

What If You Can't Get Anything Done? Try This Simple Trick

Do two minutes of a task you can’t face

On days when I have a stack of projects (or chores at home) I spend two minutes several. This means that I get to cross them off the day’s task list so that the list doesn’t seem as overwhelming.

Two minutes on work tasks — sometimes you end up doing half an hour

At work, you might have half a dozen projects in the pipeline for which you’re responsible, and several more projects to which you’re contributing.

via peneloperedmont.com

Do you have an endless task list?

If you want to take a step to mastering it, try this simple strategy. I've tried it; it works.

Writing Success: 3 Tips To Make It Easier

If you’ve ever asked: “Why is writing so hard?” chances are that you’re looking at writing as just one thing.

Writing isn’t just one thing. Many elements go into a successful writing career, and some of the elements have (shocker) nothing to do with writing.

Writers develop bad habits which become engrained. For example, content creation has become commodified. If you check the freelance marketplaces, the bids are low. Buyers are used to cheap content, which is fine, because it’s a huge, global marketplace…

BUT writers have become used to creating cheap content too, and this is harmful. Cheap, junk content sets you onto a hamster wheel of churning out content. You’re not to blame. We’re living in a junk content world.

Junk content is everywhere. Strive to improve your skills and target higher-paying clients. You’ll need to educate your clients, because content buyers are used to ultra-cheap content: show them the benefits of good content, targeted to their audience.

Junk content and other pitfalls aside, consider tracking your writing output.

Track your output and publishing (no matter what kind of “publishing” you do)

Try scheduling a daily and weekly review, and ask yourself: “What did I write today? How many words did I write this week?”

The benefits of writing faster:

• You’ll make more sales. Not only will you be able to take on more clients, but you’ll also be able to do more marketing for your writing services and products like books;
• You’ll be more creative when you’re more productive — ideas come when you’re writing;
• You’ll become more confident. Your confidence will attract more clients and will help you to make more sales; and finally…
• You’ll enjoy writing more. It will be fun, rather than a chore.

Let’s look at some tips to help you to become a successful writer.

1. Keep track, so you avoid the “busy, busy” trap

Set deadlines. Track your words every day.

Over the years, I’ve learned that if I don’t track my word counts carefully, whole days can go by when I’m “busy”, but accomplish nothing of importance.

2. Task list shenanigans: chunking is your friend

“Writing” isn’t one thing. It’s many things:

• Idea generation and development;
• Research for current projects and upcoming projects;
• Creating titles and other copywriting tasks;
• Drafting;
• Revision;
• Final editing;
• Publication in one form or another, whether you publish a book or a blog post, or send the final draft of a project to a client.

Chunk down each project into tasks.

If you add “write a book” as a task in your calendar, it seems intimidating. Small tasks, none of which take longer than 30 minutes, are much less intimidating:

• Brainstorm chapter titles;
• Write the outline of a scene;
• Check cover design;
• Revise Chapter 1, etc.

3. Take time: relax, and be patient with yourself

It’s impossible to be creative if you’re stressed.

Moreover, writing is an iterative process. You write something today, and expand on it tomorrow. Or you get a better idea tomorrow.

When writing seems difficult, it’s because you’re trying to do too many things at once, or you’ve missed steps in the process.

Chunk your projects. Take time and track your output.

You’ll be a success — and you’ll have fun with your writing too.

Self-Publishing Secrets: Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days

Want to sell more — easily? You can boost your Kindle sales FAST with our new program, Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days: Your Blueprint For Success.

The program’s powerful, practical, and tested. You’ll get results too. Use the strategy to increase your sales — you need a mix of long and short fiction to appeal to today’s readers.

How many novellas would you write if you could write a novella in seven days? Would your novellas boost your sales?

Naked WordPress: Create Starter Content For Your Writer's Website

I’ve been talking about WordPress in the newsletter, specifically setting up my “name” website, angelabooth.com.

The site’s been online for 20 years and rather than starting with a site audit and a new theme, I wanted to start afresh with NEW everything.

Several readers asked what they should do first when they had a new installation of WordPress.

My preference is to install my favorite plugins. Then I create some starter content.

Naked WordPress: you need “starter” content

When you install the WordPress script, the result is a stripped down and naked version of WordPress. You need some content so that you can visualize how you want to set up your pages and your blog. 

If you like, you can generate some Lorem Ipsum dummy text for a couple of blog posts and a couple of pages, but I like to kickoff with real blog posts. Once you’ve got some starter content, you can manipulate the look of the site.

You can:

• Create footers and sidebars;
• Menus;
• Your own ecommerce store;
• Image sliders;
• Sign up areas;
• Etc.

What you create is up what you -- decide what want to achieve from your website, and you'll be able to create it with WordPress.

Perhaps you want to create a shop area where clients can buy services instantly. If you do, look for a theme which integrates WooCommerce: this will enable you to sell services. WooCommerce is popular because it's made by Automattic, the developers who develop WordPress, so there's less chance that the plugin will suddenly be out of date and stop working. If you want to sell products, you can do that with WooCommerce too.

A reader asked whether WordPress is suitable for non-techies. Yes, it is. In its latest incarnation, WordPress includes the Gutenberg editor, which is a breeze to use -- you just start writing, and your blog post looks just the way it will look when you publish. If you need real technical help, you can hire help on sites like Fiverr quite inexpensively.

Have fun creating your writer's website. :-)

Want To Write A Bestseller? Write HOT Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Word for word, mystery authors earn more than authors of most other genres, including romance.

Check out our new report, “Write Your Bestseller: Write HOT Mystery, Thriller & Suspense”. You’ll discover how, why, and what types of mystery fiction are selling today, and how to develop a mystery writing career.

New In The Newsletter: Get Visible To Sell More

What kind of website?

Do you need a website?

If you’re just starting out as a writer or author, no. Websites take time and energy, so focus on writing. On the other hand, if you’re a professional, then yes, you do need a website.

There are endless ways you can create a website; some ways are free. We won’t go into your options for a site because it depends on the kind of site you want: 

• Want a one or two page quickie site? Use a template-based website builder like Squarespace or Wix;

• Need a powerful website that will grow with you? Use WordPress: buy web hosting and install the WordPress script; the WordPress script is free. Most hosts today have one-click WordPress installs.

If you decide on WordPress, you’ve another challenge. 

DIY or hire a designer? I won’t get into the pros and cons of WordPress designers here, because our focus is on visibility, and making your website sell. Site design will help you to sell, but you need to know what you want. Designers are focused on the appearance of your website, rather than its function.

From now on, I’ll be talking about making a WordPress website sell. However you can use the general ideas no matter what kind of site you have.

via angelabooth.substack.com

5 Ways Sell More Books, Even If You Only Have Ten Minutes

A writing student complained that his recently-published book had only sold a few copies.

“What marketing are you doing?” I asked.

He told me that he’d bought advertising, built an email list, was running a giveaway… I congratulated him on his excellent efforts.

“When should I give up?” he asked. “It’s obvious that I’ll never sell any books. Why am I wasting my time?”

“Who’s in charge?”

I pointed out that self-publishing is a business. And as with any business, marketing is ongoing. A business always markets, through the good times and the bad times. Finally, I asked him “who’s in charge of your business?”

Most writers have a touch of Cinderella syndrome. We want to be discovered. We imagine that there’s just ONE thing we could do and we’d never, ever, have to market again… :-)

Fact: you need to be visible. (We’re currently talking about visibility in the newsletter.)

I suggested to my student that he’s in charge of his business. Moreover, he’s the marketing director.

He responded that he had no time to market.

That’s OK. I don’t know any writers who “have time” to market. We do it anyway, even if it’s only for five or ten minutes a day.

Here’s why a few minutes count. It’s because all the marketing you do is cumulative. (Remember, visibility.)

When you have no time, find ten minutes, even if you’re posting to your blog via your phone, while you’re sitting in your car. Everyone has ten minutes a day. Plan to use those minutes efficiently.

Here are some ideas of ways to sell more books, even if you only have ten minutes.

1. Write a collection of tweets

Please stop thinking (and saying) that “social media doesn’t work”. Give it a try for THREE MONTHS.

And yes, I’m shouting. Most of your marketing efforts will bear fruit in three months. So, write a collection of tweets.

Tweet them, over the next week.

2. Snap a photo of your book’s cover and post it to Instagram

Many authors use Instagram, because it sells books.

From How to Promote Your Book On Instagram:

Believe it or not, Instagram is one of the best social media platforms. It can be a perfect place for your marketing strategy and book promotion.

You can do a lot in ten minutes.

Post another photo tomorrow.

3. Create a new Pinterest board (my favorite)

I choose my marketing venues based solely on what I enjoy. Please try doing that, because when you use a social network you enjoy, you’ll find time to do it. I love Pinterest, so I find time to rummage through it.

Take ten minutes a create a Pinterest board: use your book’s title as the name of your board.

4. Find an interesting character from your novel and blog about him

Tell your readers about your inspiration for the character.

If you’ve got a deleted scene or two, post snippets from the scene — you can do that in ten minutes.

5. Get social: retweet, repost, comment

Social media is social, above all. So retweet others’ tweets; follow people. Mention other authors in your blog posts. Post comments on blog articles you enjoy.

You should be able to retweet several authors in your genre in ten minutes.

Ten minutes to get visible (remember, it takes three months)

Make your own “ten minute” list.

Then take ten minutes a day. You can do it, and when you do, you’ll sell more books. Have fun. :-)

Resources to help you to sell more books

 

Want to sell more books? Write short stories with Amazon Short Reads

Amazon has two categories for short ebooks. They are: Kindle Short Reads and Kindle Short Stories. You’ll learn how to make money with these two categories in this eye-opening report.

After you read the report, you may well decide that your income will benefit when you write SHORT ebooks, both fiction and nonfiction. Get started NOW.

How To Plot: 3 Steps To Make Plotting Fiction Simple And Fun

Stuck on plotting? At least once a week I get a call from a current or former student who’s stuck on plotting.

You can get unstuck quickly: focus on your characters, because your plot is what your characters do.

Your plot is what your characters DO

However, you can’t follow your characters around during an ordinary day when they get up, go to work, come home, etc. and expect people to read your story.

Consider that when it’s used as an adjective, “novel” means interesting: new, unusual: this gives you a hint that your novel mustn’t be boring. When you’re writing fiction, you’re writing about people with problems, so create people with problems. When they act to solve their problems they’ll plot for you.

Let’s look at some steps to make plotting simple.

1. Plot: create a character with a BIG problem

Creating characters is simple — and it’s fun, too.

Here’s my favorite character-creation template to make it super-simple:

• Name

• Age

• Occupation

• Attribute

• Primary external problem

Fill in the information without thinking about it too much — do it now.

Without any thought at all, I came up with:

• Name: Rosemary Wilson

• Age: 21

• Occupation: Florist

• Attribute: Ambitious

• Primary external problem: she delivers flowers to a house with a dead woman on the front porch. She realizes that the woman is her ex’s fiancée.

Does poor Rosemary have a problem? She might have. What if it turns out that the fiancée got her fired, and that she and the fiancée had a loud public argument?

2. Tell the reader: “who, what, and why”

Create your character and give him/ her a problem, and make it a BIG problem.

You’ve got your WHO. In our example, the WHO is Rosemary Wilson. We’ve also got a WHAT — the dead woman. Now we need a WHY.

Why’s the woman dead? Who killed her?

(Thanks to Debra Dixon for Who, What, and Why, from her book GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. )

3. Conflict happens with people, so create more people

To discover your WHY, create another character.

In the first 25% of your fiction, you’re in the setup phase of your novel, novella, or short story. You can create as many characters as you need. (You can remove them later if you don’t need them, or consolidate characters if you wish.)

When you create characters, remember conflict — don’t create a bunch of people who all get along. Follow the character creation template above, and give them ALL problems. Other characters’ problems may develop into a subplot or two.

Give your characters the freedom to grow your plot

Fiction is about people with problems; plotting is much easier when you let your characters do it.

So give your characters the freedom to plot for you...

Self-Publishing Secrets: Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days

Want to sell more -- easily? You can boost your Kindle sales FAST with our new program, Write And Sell A Novella In 7 Days: Your Blueprint For Success.

The program’s powerful, practical, and tested. You’ll get results too. Use the strategy to increase your sales — you need a mix of long and short fiction to appeal to today’s readers.

How many novellas would you write if you could write a novella in seven days? Would your novellas boost your sales?