Writers On The Move: marketing

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Increase Your Odds of Publication

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

We prize and value our books. They are permanent and have our names on the spine of the book and the front and back cover. Within the writing community, it is a myth that you are not a writer if you don’t publish a book.

If you’ve written a Christian book, then you need to get a copy of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace by Sarah Bolme. This book is packed with a wide range of information and resources. As someone who has been in the Christian market for many years as an author and editor, I appreciated the honest and forthright information in this book. Here’s some details Bolme mentions in her introduction:

• Almost half of the books published today are self-published.

• The average self-published book sells between 40 and 200 copies.

• These poor sales are often because the author doesn’t know how to effectively market.

Bolme writes, “When promoting the Kingdom of God, getting books into people’s hands is God’s business. All you can do is what you know to do. Do that and ask God to bless your feeble efforts. After all, if he can feed over 5,000 people with two small fish and five little loaves of bread, He can multiply your marketing efforts to reach thousands of people, if that is His desire. Marketing and selling books are not a sprint; it is a marathon. Too many authors give up too quickly when they do not see immediate results.”

Publishing in magazines is an underused route for authors to reach readers. As a former magazine editor, I understand the power of reaching the audience. With one article, I have reached millions of people. When you write for periodicals, it builds your reputation as a writer with the editors. Also, through magazine writing, you increase your confidence to write for publication and your ability to meet target lengths and deadlines. There are many benefits when you write for magazines.

The bulk of my magazine writing is done on assignment. How do you get an assignment? You can get an assignment when you write a query letter which is targeted to a particular audience and publication.

Which magazines do you read on a consistent basis? Your familiarity with these publications and the types of articles that they publish gives you some needed background. Pull out the magazines that come into your home. Next organize several months from the same publication. Then study the contents. What types of articles do they publish? How-to articles? Personal Experience?

After you have studied the publications, write the publication for their writers’ guidelines. Almost every magazine has guidelines for their authors. You can also use Google to find these guidelines online. Or use The Christian Writers Market Guide by Steve Laube. This guide is a critical tool if you are going to write for the Christian marketplace. After reading through the guidelines, you will have some additional information. Does the publication accept query letters or prefer full manuscripts? Some magazines have a query only system. This means that you have to write a query letter (one page) and get a letter of request from the editor, before sending the full manuscript. Other publications do not look at query letters but only completed manuscripts.

What’s a query letter? Entire books have been written on this topic and one of the best is How to Write Irresistible Query Letters by Lisa Collier Cool (Writer’s Digest Books). A query is a single-page letter which sells your story idea. It has a four-paragraph formula. The first paragraph is a creative beginning for your article. You don’t write the entire article—only the first paragraph which captures the reader’s interest. The purpose of this first paragraph is simply to capture the editor’s attention. Editors are involved in a multitude of tasks. Reading query letters is often done at the end of the day, late at night or in a carpool on the way home. It must be interesting.

The second paragraph of a query includes the main points of how you will approach the article. The third paragraph gives your personal qualifications for this topic and your writing credits (if any). It basically answers the question regarding your expertise which provides the basis for the article.

The final paragraph outlines timelines and deadlines. When could you deliver the article? Make sure you give yourself enough writing time. For example, your query could say you will deliver the completed article “three weeks from assignment”). In addition, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope and mention you look forward to their reply. When I send my pitch, I often send it to as many as ten different publications at the same time.

Within the magazine business, there is an on-going discussion about simultaneous submissions (where you send the same finished article to several publications). If you submit the same work to many different publications at the same time, you may end up on the blacklist of authors. Each publication has a list of people that are blackballed. You don’t want to be on that list. Also, each publication has a list of authors they use regularly and call with ideas. Your goal is to get on the list of regular contributors.

A simultaneous query is not the same as a finished article. Go ahead and query several magazines at the same time on the same topic if you think you can write several different articles on the same subject. One magazine may ask for 500 words on the topic while another may approach it from an entirely different viewpoint and ask for 2,000 words. Your illustrations and information will be considerably different. If you send it to 10 magazines, you may get 10 rejections. On the other hand, perhaps you will get an acceptance or two, or at least a request to see the entire article on speculation. “On speculation” means that the editor is not under obligation to purchase your article if it doesn’t meet the periodical’s standards or expectations.

No one gets magazine assignments just thinking about it. As a writer, you have to take action and regularly pitch your ideas to editors and write query letters. Then when you get an assignment, write an excellent article and submit it on or ahead of the deadline. As you learn to write a query letter and take consistent action, you will increase your odds of publication and get published in magazines.

Tweetable:

There is an underused route to reach readers—magazines. In this article, thisprolific writer and editor provides the details to increase your odds ofpublication. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Where Is The Easy Part of Publishing?

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

Like an imaginary airline named “EasyJet,” I meet many authors who are looking for the easy aspects of publishing. I’m going to give you the truth upfront: it doesn’t exist. After being in this business for years, each aspect of this work contains aspects where your book can crash and not succeed. The unfortunate fact is many of these details are outside of anything the author can control. But don’t worry. In this article, I’m going to give you some insights and resources for your publishing journey--in particular follow my links in my bio at the end.

In the last ten years, the publishing world has changed. In the past, self-publishing was the poor stepsister to traditional publishing. These self-made titles often looked poor and were not accepted in libraries or bookstores. As book production has improved, this attitude is shifting. There are still poorly made self-published books and the average self-published title sells less than 200 copies during the lifetime of the book.

My bent in this area is to get the largest distribution and produce the best book you can produce. It’s why I continue to encourage authors to create a book proposal and work with traditional publishers as well as explore other models like Morgan James Publishing (where I’ve worked for over ten years).

While there are many ways and companies to help you create your book, at the end of the day, the key question relates to sales of that book. Is it selling? Are people buying it on a consistent basis? Are you as the author promoting your book consistently? One of the best ways to learn about publishing is to consistently read how-to books about writing or marketing. As you read these books and take action from the information, you will grow as a writer. I’ve got stacks of these types of books that I read.

Books that last and continue to sell in the market are rare. Traditional publishers are known to be fickle in this area. I have seen it when I’ve worked inside publishing houses (not Morgan James). You work hard to get a book published and into the market, then for whatever reason it does not sell, then a publishing executive writes a letter to the author or literary agent and takes the book out of print.

New Books Need Reviews

Several weeks ago, I was skimming on Facebook and noticed one of my author friends was talking about a new book. I wrote this friend and offered to review her book. She was going to ask her publisher to send me a book. I promptly pressed on to something else and almost forgot about it. Then the review copy arrived this week. I’m eager to write a few words of review to help my friend.

The publisher launched this book on March 1st. As a part of my process of getting ready to review this book, I checked the book page on Amazon. Nine days after the launch, it looked like my review was going to be the first one. There were no reviews for this book. Reviews are important to every author because they are social proof that readers love your book. It’s why I work as an author to ask others to review my book and also review books for others on Amazon and Goodreads.

I emailed my author friend about her lack of reviews. Now this author has sold thousands of copies of some of her other books. She has a full-time job—not as an author. Despite her years in publishing, I found her response interesting. Her email blamed the lack of effort on the marketing department of her publisher.

One of the best ways for you to take responsibility is to create your own marketing plans. Whether you self-publish or have a traditional publisher to get your book into the bookstore, these plans are important. Whether your book is launching soon or has been out for a while, you need to be creating and executing your own marketing plans.

A marketing plan from the author is a key element in every book proposal. The proposal is your business plan. If you have such a plan, are you taking action to execute it? Does your plan need adjustment and updating?

It Takes Author Activity to Sell Books

Before I began working inside a book publishing house, I had written more than 50 nonfiction books, ranging from children to adult books. I have only self-published one book and in general worked through traditional publishers.

However, I was unaware of the financial production numbers for nonfiction books and I found it shocking—and something critical for potential authors to understand. The author never sees these figures for their books as the publisher doesn’t reveal them throughout the contract negotiation process. A publisher will produce these financial calculations as simply a part of good business practices. As an author, understanding these numbers helped me see publishing as a business. Authors have huge amounts of time and emotional investment in their words. When I saw these production numbers, I understood that the publisher, not the author, has the largest out-of-pocket cash investment in a book.

Inside the publisher, the editor will gather a sales projection about how many copies the sales department believes they can sell of your title the first year. That sales figure will be used to calculate the production costs of ink, paper and binding for various amounts of printing (5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 copies). As the initial print number is raised, the cost per book decreases.

You may ask, “So why not print a large volume each time?” The answer is, if the publisher prints a large number of copies, then he has to store those copies in their warehouse (read cost and expense), plus make sure they actually sell those copies within a year’s time frame. The cost of tying up financial resources in storing and warehousing books that aren’t selling is large. Also the federal government taxes publishers on each copy in storage. These tax rules have forced publishers to think long and hard about how many copies of each book to print.

Inside my former publisher, we calculated the overall printing details of the book (paperback with general publishing look or hardcover with jacket) and the number of books to print before offering a book contract. In short, publishers pour a great deal of work into their books and financial projections before they call you and offer a book contract. Understanding this process helps you see some of the reasons it takes such a long time for an author to receive a publishing contract.

Many writers focus only on the creative aspects of writing a book and getting it published, but the executives inside a publishing house are businesspeople who want to sell books and turn a profit at the end of the day. It’s a delicate balance between creating the best possible product and assuring that each product has the best opportunity to sell on the market and reach the target audience.

Tweetable:

Many authors on the publishing journey, wonder, “Where is the easy part of publishing?” This prolific writere and editor gives authors the honest answer and resources. (ClickToTweet)

Don’t Depend 100% on Your Publisher

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

In 2007, America’s Publicist Rick Frishman invited me to participate on the faculty of MegaBook Marketing University in Los Angeles, California. At that time, I was running a small literary agency and representing authors in Scottsdale, Arizona. Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul was leading this event. Besides meeting with authors who pitched their books, I attended every single session of the event and took notes. Throughout these sessions, I learned that traditional publishers are skilled at making beautiful books with well-designed covers and interiors. Book publishers also know how to get the books inside the bookstore and available to the public.

My first book, a children’s picture book for David C. Cook, was published in 1992. Since then I had written over 50 books with traditional publishers, received a couple of six-figure advances yet most of my books had negative royalty statements. A little known but important publishing fact is ninety percent of nonfiction books never earn back their advance. All my books are nonfiction.

While I loved writing books, I did very little promotion for my work. I had a small website (www.terrywhalin.com) but I had not blogged and had no social media presence or email list or consistent and on-going connections to my readers. I believed because I was working with traditional publishers, receiving an advance against my royalties (sometimes thousands of dollars) that my books were going to be selling. I had fallen for the myth that my publisher was going to promote and sell my book.

During MegaBook Marketing University, I learned a key truth about publishing: publishers know how to make beautiful books and get them into bookstores, yet these actions are only one part of the process. The other key element (mostly up to the author) is actually selling the book to the consumer. Attending MegaBook Marketing University transformed my life. I could no longer assume the responsibility for selling my books would be in the hands of the publisher (or someone else besides me). I made a decision to change and take action.

Every writer needs to be able to tell stories and create an excellent book manuscript. The writing is a foundational skill for every writer. If you don’t have this writing skill, a developmental editor, ghostwriter, co-author or any other person in this role can help you create an engaging book. But marketing and selling yoiur book requires a different set of skills. . The good news is: every writer can learn to market their book.

Writers are looking for a simple formula to sell books. If such a formula existed, then publishers would use this method and every book would make a lot of money. In fact, some unexpected books are hits while some well-written books do not get purchased. One of the keys to selling books is building relationships. John Kremer, the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Book says marketing is about building relationships with your readers.

Consider your reader or target audience. How much detail do you know about them? Where do they live? Where do they shop? What other books do they read? Are they active in book clubs? What are their needs and how can you write material that will meet those needs? Can you answer these and other audience questions?

One of the most effective tools for every book author is to create their own email list. As an author, you control your email list including what you say and how often you use the list. While not everyone looks at Facebook or a website or Twitter, most people open and read their email. If you email too frequently, they might not open your email or they might unsubscribe. When an author has an email list and uses it properly, it is the best way for them to reach their readers. If you are a brand-new author, how to you start a list and use it effectively?

As an author, you take control of what you can for your book. You cannot depend on your publisher to sell your book. You have the greatest passion for your book, so you need to show that passion and create an email list and different ways to connect with your readers.

Tweetable:

This prolific author and editor was lulled into depending 100% on his publisher to sell books. He learned this publishing myth the hard way. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Do You Know Your Competition?

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Over decades, I’ve reviewed thousands of book submissions (no exaggeration). Many proposals are missing the competition section. It’s common for them to write, “This topic is unique and has no competition.” When editors and agents see such a statement, many of them will stop reading and reject the project. Others will roll their eyes in a look that says, “Not again.”

When someone says there is no competition, they are not considering the larger sense of the book market. Every book has competition in the marketplace. It's the responsibility of the writer to understand and describe that competition in their book proposal. It is not the responsibility of your editor or literary agent to create this competition but the author’s responsibility who should intimately know their topic and area of expertise.

I often encourage authors to visualize their book inside a brick and mortar bookstore. Which section does your book appear? What other books are in tht section? Those books are your competition and competitive titles. In this section, you list the titles with a brief description and tell how your book is different. I encourage you to carefully select your words because you are not slamming or downplaying those other books. Instead you are emphasizing how your book is different.

Publishers need this information throughout the internal process within publishing houses. For one publisher, when they complete their internal paperwork to secure a book contract for an author, they are required to list the ISBNs of competitive titles.

Some of you are familiar with Book Proposals That Sell. In the final pages of this book, I include a sample of one of my book proposals which sold for a six-figure advance. This proposal is exactly what was submitted to the various publishers. The missing ingredient in my proposal (despite its success) is the lack of specific competitive titles. I wrote that proposal almost twenty years ago and in today's market it would need to have those competitive titles before it would go out into the marketplace. Hopefully I’ve learned (and continue to learn) a few things about book proposal creation over the last few years.

When I started as an acquisitions editor, the president of the company (no longer there) sat down and went through the various topic areas where I would be acquiring books. One of these areas was parenting books. I raised a question about this area since within several miles of our offices was a major marketing force in this area of parenting called Focus on the Family. “Oh yes, Terry, we will continue to publish parenting books,” he said with passion. “Marriages continue to fall apart in record numbers and children are leaving the church in droves.” With my marching orders, I continued to acquire parenting books but silently I wondered whether a book can solve those two explicit issues about the family.

Each week Publishers Weekly tackles a different area of the market. Sometimes they cover parenting books which is highly competitive with loads of successful titles in print. The article gives a rundown of several forthcoming parenting books. Here’s what is interesting to me (and hopefully for you): Notice the sub-categories for each title in the article: publisher, first printing, target audience, author's credentials, why the book is needed, and what distinguishes it from the competition. The final four categories are what every author needs to include in their book proposal when it is submitted to a literary agent or an editor.

The actual language for the competition section is tricky. The author needs to point out the competition and how their book takes a different slant on the subject or deeper or some improvement--without slamming the competitive title. Why? Because the publisher of that competitive title may be the perfect location for your book. You don’t want to offend that publisher with how you've written about their title. Like many aspects of the publishing world, when you write your competition section, it calls for education, understanding and some sense of diplomacy because the relationship will often be the distinction.

Every author needs to create a proposal for their book--even if you self-publish because this document is your business plan for your book and has important elements for every author to understand and convene to their readers.

Do you include the “my book is unique” in your proposal or do you include a competition section? Let me know in the comments below.

W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written for over 50 magazines and more than 60 books with traditional publishers. His latest book for writers is Book Proposals That $ell (the revised edition) released to online and brick and mortar bookstores. Jim Cox, Editor-in-Chief at Midwest Book Review wrote, “If you only have time to read one ’how to’ guide to getting published, whether it be traditional publishing or self-publishing, “Book Proposals That Sell” is that one DIY instructional book.” You can get a free Book Proposal Checklist on the site. He lives in Colorado and has over 190,000 twitter followers.

Tweetable:

Do you know your competition? According to this prolific author and editor, every author should know their competition as a part of their business plan--even if they self-publish. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Unique Holidays: Don't See Anything You Like? Create Your Own

Writers and authors need to always be marketing! That means, developing a platform, such as a blog, podcast, or video series, and spending time on social media. So many places ... but how do we find new things to post?

News, interviews, trivia, lists posts, and essays make for great content. But one of the best places to spark creative ideas is holiday calendars. Yes, traditional holidays work too. But I am a fan of creating content around unique holidays, like those found on HolidayInsights.com.

For instance, for writers, there's National Tell A Story Day on April 27, National Punctuation Day is September 24, and National Novel Writing Month is November. There's actually a whole list of writer holidays.

Plus, there's The Nibble for food holidays, On-this-day.com to identify special days that relate to your books and/or business, and Positively Woof's Pet Holiday Calendar for those with a pet ... or pet-centric themes in the life or businesses.

Once you find your holiday ...

1. Brainstorm Content Ideas

2. Write your text

3. Gather images

4. Construct your posts

5. Release

6. Rinse and repeat

7. Be sure to keep a content calendar to track all of your ideas

While there are menus of holiday possibilities everywhere, what happens when you can't find a holiday that meets your needs? Simple. Create your own. That's what I did!

Let's go back to National Novel Writing Month. As we approached November, I found myself wanting to commit to some sort of monthly challenge, but didn't have the time for NaNoWriMo.

I asked myself what I wanted to do more of in November. The answer: Dance! And #DaEvDaNo - Dance Every Day in November - was born.

First, I checked Twitter to research the hashtag. I created an image.

Then, I put up a post on LinkedIn and started Tweeting about it.

When creating or tagging onto existing holidays, the trick is to keep things simple. You don't need to overcomplicate things to come up with amazing content! You just need to do it.

Looking for new ways to put yourself out there? Uplevel your creativity and share your spin on an existing celebration ... or create one of your own!

* * *

What's your ideal unique holiday? ANd how do you use it to support your business? Please share in the comments.

* * *

Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning and Achieving Your Goals and founder of the D*E*B METHOD, which is her system for goal-setting simplified. A writer, editor, and project catalyst, Deb works with entrepreneurs, executives, and creatives to set goals and manage their projects through one-on-one coaching, workshops, and online support. She is also the author of Write On Blogging and Purple Pencil Adventures; founder of Write On Online; Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Women's National Book Association; host of the #GoalChat Twitter Chat, #GoalChatLive on Facebook and LinkedIn, and The DEB Show podcast. She speaks on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Resolutions You Can Keep

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

We are nearing the end of 2020 and what a strange year on many fronts. I will be glad to turn the calendar page for 2021. As a writer, what I like to do is think about the year ahead and make plans. Years ago I used to make resolutions but most of them were broken before we reached February. Now I make resolutions which I can keep.

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? If you are like me, you have goals, dreams and plans for the New Year. I encourage you to write down these resolutions or plans or goals. You want to make them specific actions so you can hold yourself (or your partner can hold you) accountable to carry them out.

Over 25 years ago in 11 days I wrote a diet book by Carole Lewis called First Place. I took such a crazy writing deadline because the publisher was determined to have the book inside the bookstores for January. If you look at bestseller lists, often in January there will be several diet books about losing weight. In our overweight society, many people resolve to lose some pounds in the New Year. They begin with such great resolve and commitment.

To become a proactive author, I want to suggest several resolutions or goals that you can keep throughout the months ahead. I encourage you to use these ideas to create your own goals. Make sure you make each one specific, measurable and action oriented.

1. Plan to consistently talk with others about your books or products. As the author, you should take the primary responsibility to market and tell other people about your books. There are dozens of tools and ways to do it. Your method should be a way that serves other people (helps them) and doesn’t pound them with “buy me” messages. The “buy me” message is a turn off and the service to others is an attraction. Can you take your book and create a teleseminar or take chapters from your book and turn them into magazine articles or blog posts?

2. Resolve to Persevere. Are you trying to publish something which is getting rejected? You are in good company. Just check out this article from bestselling novelist James Scott Bell called Rejecting Rejection. Possibly you have not made the right connection to get your work published. Are you consistently submitting your work? Often when I ask writers about this detail, I find they haven’t been consistently working on getting their book pitch to the right editor at the right time and the right place. I don’t believe that I’m a great writer. I work hard at improving my storytelling and writing—yet I am persistent and preserve. I’m determined to a fault. Nurture this quality in your own life in the weeks and months ahead.

3. Resolve to take better care of yourself. Over the last few years, I’ve worked hard at getting more consistent sleep, taking a daily multiple vitamins and a commitment to regular exercise. Also I attempt to watch my weight and eating patterns to be in balance. Am I perfect? No, but I continue to consistently work at these elements and build regular patterns into my life. With a pandemic this year, my weight increased but several months ago my wife and I began changing our eating patterns and working on weight loss. Currently I'm at my lowest weight in over 20 years and my blood pressure has lowered and other health benefits. It's all part of my resolution to take better care of myself and something I encourage you to do too. Your goal will be different for your lifestyle and situation but do consider this area of your life.

4. Resolve to learn a new skill then practice it repeatedly. Maybe you want to develop your storytelling skills. Or maybe you can learn from a how-to book or take an online training. I use all of these methods to keep growing in my abilities and skills.

5. Resolve to do more writing. It takes more than a resolution to increase your writing. You need a plan. Do it consistently and set a reasonable word count then do it day after day. No little elves come out and write your words. You have to sit in your chair, get your fingers moving on the keyboard and do it.

6. Resolve to do more reading. Writers are readers. Read widely and varied types of books. I read but also learn from listening to audiobooks.

I’m expecting great things will happen in the coming months. How about you? Are you setting goals and moving in this direction? Take action today. As you look at the new year, are you creating resolutions you can keep? Let me know in the comments below.

This article is my final post for the year for Writers on the Move. I want to wish all of you a tremendous holiday season and Happy New Year. May you enjoy the season and have special things happen in your life and writing.

Tweetable:

How do you make resolutions you can keep? Get ideas here for your writing from this prolific editor and writer. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. His work contact information is on the bottom of the second page (follow this link). He has written for over 50 magazines and more than 60 books with traditional publishers. His latest book for writers is 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed. Get this book for only $10 + free shipping and over $200 in bonuses. One of Terry's most popular free ebooks is Straight Talk From the Editor, 18 Keys to a Rejection-Proof Submission. He lives in Colorado and has 190,000 twitter followers.

Tips For Success

Tips for Success: Descriptive Writing by Deborah Lyn Stanley

Descriptive details make your stories and articles successful. But you must promote your work. Get your work in magazines, post online, or write the book or script you’ve been envisioning!

I’m reading The Story Cure by Dinty W. Moore. Chapter 2 presents beginnings that work and those that don’t. For today’s readers, we need to start strong and get to it. Dive into the story without lengthy flourish but not stiff hard-as-rock description. Dinty also cautions against awkward similes, and lengthy exposition that makes for taking a nap.

In addition, Rebecca McClanahan talks about descriptive writing denoting an atmosphere beneath our stories, poems, or essays. The language of description shapes the tone, and points to an underlying theme, the depth of the subject. Descriptive writing creates mood. There is so much more to our writing than scene, characters, dialogue, figures of speech, senses, mood and POV. Let’s call it atmosphere. How we pull a message all together matters; our delivery matters and effects how our readership can or cannot receive our message.

Sounds complicated, so how we proceed? I suggest, write your message from your heart first. Make it personable. As you polish the draft, consider the tips and techniques offered here to help polish your piece. For example, maybe the overall tone, voice inflection and body language, doesn’t support the theme or premise of the essay. You’ll want to make changes to align the tone with the theme.

Scenes bring the reader a firsthand view of the action. Exposition describes the what and the why. Using scenes, exposition, and telling shape the narrative. Blend and balance for delightful reading.
Readers want personable, well-written works they relate to, and find beneficial. Let’s give them our best shot.

Do you have words from your basket to share with us? Please add your favorites as you share on social media. We’d enjoy seeing them! Don’t have favorites yet? Consider sensory adjectives, strong verbs, and nouns from online lists or Thesaurus.
Nouns List: https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-the-most-important-english-nouns-4087688
Strong Verb List: http://boyden8la.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/9/7/21975608/strong_verbs.pdf

Book List:
•   The Story Cure, a Book Doctor’s Pain-Free Guide to Finishing Your Novel or Memoir, by Dinty W. Moore
•   Word Painting, by Rebecca McClanahan

Earlier Post links in this series—Descriptive Writing for Fiction and Non-Fiction:
Write Strong:   http://www.writersonthemove.com/2020/10/tips-to-make-characters-real-write.html
Tips for Balancing Action and Exposition: https://www.writersonthemove.com/2020/11/tips-for-balancing-action-exposition.html

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.

Visit her writer’s website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/

Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/

Available on Amazon --- Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God’s Love https://www.amazon.com/author/deborahlynstanley

Facebook: Deborah Lyn Stanley, Writer https://www.facebook.com/deborahlynwriter/?modal=admin_todo_tour

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Author Swag: Make it Meaningful

Have Fun Creating your Swag

One of the activities I've enjoyed most while publishing my first book, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, has been to create “swag”—little giveaway items to remind readers of my book. Author swag can come in many forms, from bookmarks, keychains, bags, to stickers, and more. The key is to think up items that you’re comfortable with, that are affordable, and most important, that reflect YOU and the subject matter of your books.

Get Started: Check Out What Fellow Authors Do
Let’s face it, we writers are voyeurs. We study people, events, situations, many times without even realizing it. So, attending book signings is a golden opportunity to study how authors conduct them and also, who their readers are. The two most recent book launches I attended, prior to covid-19 of course, took place in book stores, by successful, traditionally-published children’s authors. One had no hoopla. No poster, no candy, no business cards, no slides or polished presentation, and not enough books (much to her chagrin). But, being well-known in our community and also across the U.S., she attracted a good crowd; she told us the history behind her latest book, her fifth, with vast knowledge and terrific wit. At the end, while attendees stood in line waiting for her to sign our books, I was impressed with how personable she was with each person. We left having had a fun, satisfying experience. I decided that most likely she had enough experience to know that much of what a new author might think you need at a book signing is just fluff, and what counts is that readers get to meet the author and obtain her signature in their books.

The other book signing was when YA author Ransom Riggs blew into town to promote his latest book, The Conference of the Birds (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children). No one could miss his visit--his van with art for this book displayed all over it, was parked in front of Barnes & Noble. The crowd was large, full of excited young adults, and only one not-so-young woman dressed in costume, I presumed, as Miss Peregrine, which I enjoyed seeing immensely. There was the Ransom Riggs Tour Sweepstakes that many participated in and got to go to a private room, which stirred up excitement in the crowd. There were tattoos you could have pressed on your cheek, your arm; there was a giant cardboard façade decorated with “peculiar” Riggs' lore that you could stand behind for photos. Ransom Riggs presented himself with little fanfare and spent time telling us about himself, his family, and answering questions. I enjoyed myself and learned a lot about the presentation of a book signing.

But What Do Book Signings have to do with Author Swag?
After studying articles about swag and giving some thought about how to present my platform, I came up with some ideas, buoyed by what I had learned from the book signings, and observing other authors. As I researched the feasibility of each type of swag, I decided against bookmarks and stickers almost immediately. I have bookmarks and stickers from other authors. They live in a place I pass by every day on my bulletin board, and which I haven’t noticed since I first got them. That gave me the idea that I wanted my swag to have more meaning. To be noticed. To be useful. And most important, for children to have fun with at my personal appearances. Children can stamp stamps, stick stickers, and wear tattoos. Here is what I came up with:

Business cards: I ordered 500 to begin, at Staples, and used the logo, “Linda Wilson: Children’s Mystery Writer,” and symbol of a dragonfly from Secret in the Stars, created by Danika Corrall, designer of my website and illustrator for my second book, Secret in the Mist.

Post cards: I had two types of post cards, twenty-five each, made at Staples; one of the book cover, and the other titled, “Bee’s Needs: 7 Ways You Can Help;” which is related to honey and beehives, which are part of the Secret in the Stars story.

Stickers: Stickers displaying the logo turned out to be expensive, especially custom cutout stickers. Instead, I purchased Mrs. Grossman’s stickers, mainly of animals that appear in my stories: dog paws, galloping horses, hummingbirds, dragonflies, crafty cats and bees, to name a few. Purchased from https://mrsgdemo.myshopify.com.

Stamps: Stamps for my use in my promo materials and also for children to have fun with at my book signings. I purchased one 3”x3” stamp, which is the image for this post, a large stamp pad, and two smaller stamps and stamp pads for the fridge pads, which I put together myself. RubberStamps.net

Fridge pads: On my fridge are two fridge pads from two different companies, that consist of the companies’ business cards and “To Do” pads, stuck on the fridge with a magnetic. Purchasing these pads ready-made was out of the question—too cost prohibitive. So, I purchased a 50-pack of self-adhesive magnetic business cards from Amazon, and a pack of 3x3” post-its. I glue a business card to the magnetic card (using the self-adhesive side), split the post-it block in half, and attach the half post-it block to the magnetic business card with cross-weave or any kind of strong tape. I stamped the first post-it page with my special stamp, shown above.

Please note: As another reflection of Abi, the main character in my story, I had the words, “You are part of my world . . . forever,” the last words in the book, written below Abi’s image on the large stamp, to send the message to each of my readers that they are now part of Abi's world and she'll never forget them.

Tattoos: I plan to buy play tattoos so my readers can have fun putting them on.

Last and Most Fun of all: Giving Away Your Swag
I’ve had a lot of fun with my swag. When my book first came out, I knew everyone who bought it: my friends and family! I had an assembly line going. Each person who purchased my book received a fridge pad, a postage-stamped postcard, a thank you note, and the envelope decorated with a sticker or two. I’m looking forward to the day when I can have in-person book signings and make school visits, so my readers can have fun with my swag.

My main resource for learning about author swag: https://www.janefriedman.com/book-swag/

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 150 articles for adults and children, and several short stories for children. She has recently become editor of the New Mexico SCBWI chapter newsletter, and is working on several projects for children. Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, Linda's first book, is available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/author/lindawilsonchildrensauthor. The next book in the Abi Wunder series, Secret in the Mist, will be available soon. Follow Linda on https://www.lindawilsonauthor.com