Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Book Journaling: Make Writing Easier And More Fun

Before I started journaling each book, I had problems finishing what I’d started. Usually I got somewhere around chapter three — and stopped. The plot had become boring. The characters were irritating.

Then I read an article about Sue Grafton, who said:

“I write a journal for each of the novels. I usually keep the journals about 50 pages long, and create as many as I need.”

That struck me as a brilliant idea. I’ve been journaling each book, and not only do I finish the books, the writing goes more smoothly too.

via peneloperedmont.com

Book Marketing Research: Sell More Books, Starting Today

Something of which to be aware: marketing is all-encompassing. Promotion (what most people mean when they talk about “marketing”) is just a part of marketing.

Marketing also includes: assessing your books regularly (do the covers and blurbs appeal to your audience?); your books’ prices (it is time to switch to KDP Select?); your books’ availability on various retailers, as well as their formats (should you consider audio?)

Without book marketing research, you’re in the dark, and your promotions will be much less effective than they could be.

Book marketing: focus on minutes, rather than hours

When I’m coaching self-publishing authors in book marketing, I encourage them to experiment and discover short activities they enjoy.

If an author enjoys reading, so we might look at ways in which he could combine book marketing with his reading.

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Plan, Write, And Publish Serial Fiction In Four Weeks

Discover how to write serial fiction (a serial isn’t a longish novel)

Authors publish serials with varying degrees of success. A less experienced author simply chops up a novel into parts, then publishes the parts. This exercise is rarely successful.

Savvy authors know that while their serial has an overarching plot, each episode also needs to be a satisfying read on its own, even if it does conclude with a cliffhanger.

Plan, Write, And Publish Serial Fiction In Four Weeks is a master class in writing serial fiction. It’s structured as a four week program. Each week has exercises.

You can take longer than four weeks to complete the program, or you can zoom through it. Either way, when you’ve completed the class you’ll be well on the way to publishing and promoting your own serials.

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Write Your Novel: 2 Success Tips For Series

You’ve written a novel. You can’t stop thinking about one of the characters. Or perhaps readers tell you that they want to know more about a character.

You feel that the character has potential, and you’re wondering whether you should create a series featuring this character.

Vital: Ask yourself whether you enjoy the character.

A popular author once told me that she hated the main character of one of her series so much that she returned her advance to the publisher, rather than write the next novel. “I couldn’t face it. Every time I thought about him I felt physically ill.”

Let’s look at the tips.

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Write Fiction: 3 Tips To Create Page-Turning Suspense

2. Delay, delay, delay! Delay in every scene

Anticipation builds suspense. You need to delay, and delay some more, to build the reader’s anticipation, and suspense. Delay revealing information which closes an open loop.

The more you can delay, without annoying the reader, the better. For example, let’s say you’re writing a thriller in which your main character’s daughter is kidnapped. The daughter’s boyfriend has disappeared. Is he involved in the kidnapping? You may decide that he isn’t, but you don’t reveal that for four chapters.

3. Opportunities: look for opportunities to add suspense

You’ll find, as I have, that when you look for ways to add suspense, it’s simple to add it in every scene.

An easy open loop, and a great way to add suspense, is to use the “ticking clock” device. You can make this a major device in your novel. In the kidnapping story for example, the kidnappers could demand a ransom — your hero has 48 hours to find the ransom money.

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Freelance Career: 2 Essential Tips You Can Use Today

If you can write a coherent email message, you’ll do well. The demand for freelance writers has never been higher than it is today. And competent writers have never been more needed. Much of the content on the web is uninspiring, to say the least.

Diligence and persistence will help you to build an amazing career, with endless opportunities.

Of course there are pitfalls. I coach and advise many writers. One of the biggest challenges is a writer’s self-doubt. This invasive and insidious tendency poisons your career. Few writers recognize it as SELF-doubt… It’s self-inflicted and masked by anxiety and over-thinking, which engender procrastination.

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B2B Content: 2 Tips To Make It Interesting, Useful, And Reader-Worthy

No matter what the topic, someone needs that content. As content creators, it’s up to us to make it interesting, initially, for ourselves.

If the content bores us, we can fix it.

Here’s how. To make content interesting, become interested in the topic.

Try putting yourself into the readers’ situation. If you wanted to know more about X, what would you want to know? Why would you want the information?

That said, there’s a BIG challenge. If we don’t understand an industry, we need to realize it will take more work to get an initial grounding in it. Factor this research phase into your quote for the client. Sometimes, it’s just too much effort; offer advice to the client to help him to find someone who knows the industry.

OK, with that out of the way, let’s look at B2B content.

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Book Marketing On Pinterest: 4 Tips To Sell Your Books

One author was adamant: social media, she said, is a waste of time if you want to sell books. “You need to advertise,” she said. “Big authors and publishers spend thousands every month.”

However, the authors who’d used social media for a while, said that they did sell more books when they used social media.

I liked this author’s comment: “Nothing works all the time. I’ve wasted a lot of money on advertising and I’m sure I’ve wasted a lot of time on social media too.”

She’s right. Nothing works all the time. Nor does it work equally well for everyone.

As a marketer, I know that marketing is all about the touchpoints. (Touchpoints are contacts or interactions.) The more often a reader sees your name, or the title of your book, the more likely it is that he’ll look further… In this case, familiarity breeds interest.

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Bored? 2 Quick Writing Tips You Can Use Today

“I’m bored with content marketing,” the self-publishing author confessed. “I need some better ideas.”

Everyone gets bored, me included, but if you’re running a small business, you need to market. In a sense, marketing is easier for writers and authors; writing and developing ideas is what we do.

In another sense, I completely understand this author. After a few hours of writing, the last thing you want to do is write more.

So how do you get a fresh burst of excitement and energy?

Content marketing: get fresh ideas

A fresh idea inspires you, and inspiration delivers energy, even when you’re bored.

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Blog Content: 4 Simple Ways To Find Blogging Ideas

Curiosity will motivate you: follow your interests

What are you curious about? Curiosity is a powerful motivator. Get curious. Explore—offline, as well as online.

Be aware however that while it’s great to be curious, set limits. And of course, don’t forget what you’re supposed to be doing, which is finding blog post ideas.

4. Advertising: who’s selling what in your industry?

Who’s advertising what in your industry? Why? Check the advertisers’ sites for their press releases to find new stories you can cover on your blog.

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Social Media Marketing Services

No excuses. You must market on social media

Yes, I know… It’s HARD, because it takes time. And energy.

For me, too.

An example. I established my Twitter profile, @angee, in the internet dark ages… Well, in April 2007. That’s a LONG time ago in internet years. My primary Pinterest profile is a little younger, but it has 7K followers… Big yawn, right, who cares?

Well, I don’t care either.

Despite the fact that I spend time on social media. Time I often consider an indulgence, frankly. Because I want results, just as you do.

Here’s the thing.

It’s all about the touch points. (A “touch point” is simply anytime someone sees your name and makes a connection of some kind, before, after, or during a sale. )

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Mind Mapping For Writers And Authors: Apps To Inspire You

Of course I’m all for app developers making an income from their hard work. However the pendulum seems to have swung from “hey, try this it’s FREE”, to “pay a monthly subscription, or go away…”

(BTW, if you’re not using mind maps, they’re excellent tools for writers.)

Intuitive mind maps: get inspired with visual tools

Not sure how to use mind mapping? In How To Outline Your Writing: 3 Easy Tricks You Need Today, I discussed intuitive mind maps:

… kick your rational mind out of the way when you’re creating an intuitive mind map. Write your topic in the center of a sheet of paper, then cluster words or phrases around that central topic… without thinking about it.

Intuitive maps help you to create “mud”: the raw materials of your writing.

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Your Short Fiction Formula: The Easiest-Ever Writing Process (Workshop)

Self-publishing sales: are yours dwindling?

Are you happy with your self-publishing sales? Many authors struggle. The cost of advertising is high: they lose money.

The answer? Savvy authors use short fiction (short stories and novellas) to generate sales and income quickly.

A short story of 5,000 words can make more money than a 60,000 word novel.

In addition to sales, a short story or novella provides an excellent introduction to your books—and to you as an author. The more short stories you write, the more readers you gain.

Are you a new author, who’s wondering if self-publishing is worth it?

In a word, yes. It is.

There’s a learning curve, naturally, especially if you’re attempting fiction.

You can shorten the learning process considerably if you start by writing and publishing short stories, rather than publishing a novel. The skills and confidence you develop will make writing your first novel a pleasure, instead of torture.

An aside: try writing fiction, even if you’re a new author. Here’s why: fiction outsells nonfiction on the Kindle Store by a factor of 6 to 1.

via www.angelaswritingclasses.com

New Author: Have You Written A “Good” Short Story? (Or Novel?)

Writing fiction is both an art and a craft. As with all art, it arouses emotions. Some readers may not like the emotions you made them feel. That’s OK. Be content that you made them feel at all — it’s a wonderful achievement.

New author? Satisfy yourself

When you’re writing fiction, especially if you’re a new author, satisfy yourself. If the story you get onto the computer screen satisfies you, it will satisfy readers.

Try this. Ask someone who likes the kind of fiction (the genre) in which you’re writing to read your short story.

You aren’t asking for a critique, nor do you want your reader to proofread the story. That is, you don’t want to know that you made a typo, or whatever. All you want to know is whether the story is entertaining. If the reader’s not entertained, can he tell you where in the story he got turned off, so to speak — where did he get bored?

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Plotting Fiction: The Inciting Incident (no turning back)

The inciting incident — there’s no turning back

When you’re writing fiction, the inciting incident sets the stage for the story question. It’s a plot twist: after the twist, there’s no turning back. In a novel, this twist happens after the Setup phase of your novel; around the 25% point.

In Bob’s story, the inciting incident occurs when he takes the money to his wife’s oncologist and pays for his wife’s treatment.

The money’s gone; Bob’s in trouble.

The big difference between a novel and novella: establish the story question early

Let’s say you’re writing a novella of 20,000 words. Would you plan your first plot twist at 5,000 words? (The 25% mark is the end of the Setup phase.)

You could do.

However, I suggest you don’t. The sooner you create the inciting incident and the story question, the better. Reader-curiosity is your biggest weapon: use it.

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