Come out the Gates Fast

In track and field competitors are coached to "come out the gates fast". What that means is to get an early lead or start strong. Writers need to do the same thing. There is nothing worse than having a really good book to share with the world and being unprepared to start strong on your launch date. There are a few things you can do to ensure a great start...

Start simple: We all know that you need to start with a well-written book that has been professionally edited and has a professional cover. You don't want to throw some art work together or have "your friend" who loves to read check it for editing mistakes. Invest early and reap benefits later.

Ask early: Any author with a plan will work on obtaining advanced reviews. You can do this in online groups, from friends and previous readers or request advanced reviews on social media sites, your mailing list or celebrities.

Budget: Every marketing plan has to have a well thought out budget. Here are just a few ideas of what you might want to include:

• Budget for paperbacks ( giveaways increase exposure )
• Marketing budget
• Editing and/or design expenses (BC's/promo items/cover art)

Plan: Prepare a list of "to-do" items and a checklist to figure out what you need to complete

30-60 days prior to launching your book consider the following list:

• CREATE BOOK TRAILER (make sure it is captivating)
• SCHEDULE A BLOG TOUR  (organize your online presence)
• SCHEDULE IN-PERSON EVENTS (at local bookstores or other locales)
• SELECT ADVERTISEMENTS  (stick to your budget)
• CONTACT MEDIA   (shoot for the stars)
• REQUEST REVIEWS   (ebooks and paperback reviewers)
• CONTACT BOOK CLUBS   (past contacts and potential book clubs)

Don't forget to have fun with it and start strong...Finish strong too!

RL Taylor is an award-winning fiction author with five novels released to date. His newest writing venture is a series of non-fiction books on style, etiquette and self-improvement for men and women who want to help the men in their life. 

Click here for a free copy of The Gentlemen's Code which Esquire.com featured as recommended reading.

Web: http://www.livelikegentlemen.com

Fiction: http://www.rltayloronline.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rltheauthor

Protagonist PLANNING YOUR NEXT STORY: PART 5

Protagonist   PLANNING YOUR NEXT STORY: PART 5

Subjects we’ve covered are: PREMISE, the PLOT POINTS andCOMPLICATIONS, SCENES, the MEATY5 (story’s heart).

Today you will discover who your PROTAGONIST is. You may think you know him/her, but when you finish with today’s questions, he/she will feel like your best friend.

For those who might not know, the protagonist (protag) is the one about whom the story is told; he/she/it solves the problem. The protag doesn’t have to be the ‘good guy’. You can have a bad protag, as long as the story is ABOUT that character and they are the one facing and solving the problem (remember, no conflict/problem=no story).

So, you probably have some idea who your protag is at this point in the story development. But you may not know enough INNER DETAIL about him/her to keep them from becoming a flat character. Here are some ways to get to know the character.

Complete a Character Worksheet. There are tons of these available online or you can email me and I’ll send you some I use.

List 10 of the worst things that could happen to the character. How does he/she respond?

For example, Rayna is captured by the Peacers at age 13. She thought she was ‘safe’ from having to go to the Gestortium. But an evil lady turned her in out of revenge. What does Rayna do? She recalls her father always telling her to “Be invisible.” So she goes along, but watches for her chances to escape.

Next list 10 of the best things and how the character responds.

What are the character’s Internal Conflict? We all have it. Sometimes out internal conflict becomes so overwhelming we can hardly function—and some can’t function so they get sent to prison or a mental facility or check out with drugs/alcohol/sex/shopping. So, what conflicts does your character deal with besides the ones thrown at them in the story?

For Rayna:

Who is she?

Why is her hair red, eyes green?

Why are these taboo in society?

Why can’t she love Trae and express that love openly?

Of course, being a young teen, she has many more issues, but you get the idea. Keep brainstorming EVERY POSSIBLE conflict you can think of from all aspects of the character’s life. Some of them may NEVER be used in the story, but it helps you know them better.

Which of the character’s viewpoints change throughout the story and in what way? The protag MUST grow throughout the story or they become flat, like a paperdoll. So, decide what the character is supposed to learn and how and why. It’s called Character Arc and is similar to the Story Arc but for the protag. Ask him/her—let them tell you.

Mine: Rayna starts out quiet, subdued, listening to Da’s “Be invisible” as a result of living with taboo features. But as the bully pushes, she has to begin standing up for herself then her friends. Finally, she is pushed too far and decides that being invisible may not be the best answer for her.

Lastly, answer these questions:

What is his/her greatest weakness? Who is he/she hurting?

What does the character want? Need?

What does he/she know at the beginning? Middle? End?

What is he/she wrong about at the beginning?

What will he/she learn at the end?

Next month, your Protagonist’s Backstory.

Thanks to K.M. Weiland’s Outlining Your Novel

Rebecca Ryals Russell, a fourth-generation Floridian, was born in Gainesville, grew up in Ft Lauderdale then lived in Orlando and Jacksonville with her Irish husband and four children. Due to the sudden death of Rebecca's mother, they moved to Wellborn, near Lake City, to care for her father, moving into his Victorian home built in 1909. After teaching Middle Graders for fourteen years she retired and began writing the story idea which had been brewing for thirty years.  Within six months she wrote the first three books of each series, YA Seraphym Wars and MG Stardust Warriors. The world she created has generated numerous other story ideas including two current works in progress, SageBorn Chronicles based on various mythologies of the world and aimed at the lower Middle Grade reader and Saving Innocence, another MG series set on Dracwald and involving dragons and Majikals. She is finishing a YA Dystopian Romance which has been a NaNoWriMo project for three years. She loves reading YA Fantasy, Horror and Sci Fi as well as watching movies.  Read more about Rebecca and her WIPs as well as how to buy books in her various series at http://rryalsrussell.com  You may email her at vigorios7@gmail.com

On Capitalizing Articles, The Beatles, and Why Authors Might Want to Avoid Wikipedia

I feel compelled to share with you (again) my feelings about Wikipedia. This time my take on the big Wiki is a little more wideranging. Now it's about Wikipedia, the Beatles, editing, and your book. My inspiration is an article The Wall Street Journal. Not too long ago, it ran a full-page feature story on the—in my opinion—idiocy-factor of Wikipedia.

But let me back up. In the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter I suggested that authors might install themselves on Wikipedia. Sometimes we need a dose of good marketing fun. Imagine feeling as if our author selves had made it sufficiently to be listed in an encyclopedia! I also thought it might give our self images a boost. And, of course, our credibility. I listed myself right after my first novel was published and it was a ball. I have a journalism background, so I was very careful to use strict journalistic ethical standards, avoid adjectives and adverbs, etc. To make a long story short, it didn't work out so well. You can read the sordid details in the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) where I revised my recommendation.

These days I suggest that writers only attempt using Wikipedia as part of their branding campaign if they have a bona fide publisher (by Wikipedia standards and it's anyone's guess what those standards might be!)who will do it for them and if they are not sensitive writerly types. In other words, you might enjoy it more if you have a really thick skin.

Then along comes The Journal article that tells about the very long running disagreement between Wikipedia "editors" on whether or not The Beatles should be "the Beatles" or "The Beatles." They have apparently been disputing this monumental punctuation and marketing choice issue, a debate "playing out behind the scenes" where apparently most of their debates are carried out which says something about their editorial transparency.

The Journal notes that Wikipedia has some 85,000 active editors "defined as those who record at least five edits per month." And they talk (and argue!) using a little edit link at the top of each page. According to The Journal, one editor claims it is getting worse because of "an overabundance of testosterone running around the pages." (About 90% of Wikipedia's editors are male and a huge percentage—more than half—of those editors say they've been in an argument with other editors in the last few months. And the arguments were on monumental issues like whether or not an image of cow tipping portrays this activity of rural youth appropriately. And, of course, on the Beatles issue.

I'm open to the idea that disagreement may in the long run lead to the accuracy of entries. In fact, that's the whole idea behind Wikipedia—that the truth (and full story) of any issue will eventually filter to the top and the dregs will filter away.

But that testosterone thing? Let's—to avoid argument over terms—call it authoritarianism or cases of terminal self-righteousness. It keeps those very things from happening, to say nothing of wasting time that would be unacceptable if the market place if those "editors" were being paid a salary or by the hour. Of if they had been selected on the basis of expertise rather than frequency.

What the Beatles issue boils down to is a style choice. (To learn more about style choices you may want to refer to my blog on editing at http://thefrugaleditor.blogspot.comor to The Frugal Editor at http://budurl.com/thefrugaleditor or Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies by June Casagrande at http://budurl/grammarsnobs). And to branding.

If The Beatles wanted to use a capital "T" as they did on Ringo's drum and other advertising, then that branding should be honored when their name is used. That is their name. We all get to choose the names of our businesses, books, or bands and we get to choose how to capitalize them. The New York Times uses the "The" as part of their name and it's capped to indicate that. So does The Wall Street Journal. But that's rare. Most newspapers don't.

Perhaps Wikipedia needs firmer guidelines for their "editors." Perhaps those guidelines should include choosing a reliable style choice manual like Chicago Manual of Style (http://budurl.com/ChicMan) for their editors to follow.

Perhaps Wikipedia should have some guidelines for who they accept as editors apart from how often they contribute. Or separate out those who line edit from those who contribute content. And maybe requiring some editing experience would be a good idea. I mean, it wouldn't hurt this site to pay some writers or editors for their expertise.

These guys, maybe including the 10% of them who are women, need some reigning in when they hold power over which authors are acceptable to be included in their online encyclopedia—or which editors get to hold sway over the Beatles' brand. Of course, because of the disagreement, Wikipedia could just ban The Beatles from their book! They've been known to do that to authors.

Note: Sometimes you see "The Beatles" in this little rant. Sometimes you don't. That's because in my personal style book, I cap the "The" when I'm referring to the actual titles of the band and don't when I'm referring to something that belongs to The Beatles like their brand. Sometimes the choice is hard to make. I don't think it's worth getting into a frenzy over.

So now you know all about the relationship between Wikipedia, The Beatles, Marketing, Branding, and Punctuation. You know why authors might want to avoid such dilemmas altogether.

~Submitted my multi award-winning poet, author and book marketer Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Learn more about her at http://howtodoitfrugally.com.
 

4 Tips to an Effective Subscriber Opt in Email Box

You’re an author. You have a book published or self-published, or you’re in the process of writing a book or ebook.

If this is the case, you no doubt have a website set up. If not, you’ll need to get one up as soon as possible.

With a website in place, you’ll want to promote what you have to offer by bringing traffic to the site. You can do this through article marketing.

So, far so good.

But, what do you do with the visitors who come to your site? Will a one-time visitor buy what you’re offering?

First time visitors most likely will not buy what you’re offering, so you need to grab that visitor to be sure she returns and so you can develop a relationship with her.

To grab a visitor, you need to get that visitor’s email address, with permission of course. Having the email address allows you to send weekly (or more often) newsletters or information emails. To get an email address onto your subscriber list, you will need a subscriber opt in box.

Well, let me backtrack a moment. First, you need to have an email service, such as iContact or Aweber. The email service you choose will have the tools for you to create a subscriber list and opt in box.

Okay, so now you have a website and you have the code to an opt in box that will go on your site. You’re right on track.

Now the question is: where do you put the opt in box?

4 Tips to an Effective Subscriber Opt in Emzil Box

1. Research shows that opt ins must be readily visible upon landing on the page and should be located on the upper right-hand side of the page.

2. Some studies also show that an orange colored opt-in box coverts better than other colors. I’m not sure about that though. But, you can easily test it out by changing the color of your opt in. If you’re not afraid to tweak the HTML code to your opt in, go into it and change the code for the background color.

You can check out the two sites below to get an idea of what color codes are and what’s available:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colornames.asp
http://www.colorpicker.com/

You might also do an online search for “color codes.”

3. Let the visitor know his email address is secure. Make sure you have wording, either below your opt in box or adjacent to it, that assures the visitor his email address is safe and secure.

4. Along with having your opt in on your website, for higher conversion you should create a separate opt in landing page.

There you have it: Four simple tips to create a more effective email address list opt in box. 

If you'd like even more email marketing tips that will show you exactly how to create and build your subscriber list, check out:

 EMAIL MARKETING RIGHT V2

~~~~~

Karen Cioffi
Award-Winning Author, Children's Ghostwriter, Rewriter, Coach
Author-Writer Online Platform Instructor

~~~~~

MORE ON BOOK MARKETING

Email List - 10 Giveaway Freebies to Get Readers to Opt-in
What is an Author Platform and How Do You Create It?
Kindle Select – What Works and What Doesn’t

Join our mailing list (top right top sidebar).

Stealing Writing Time - Where to Find Time When You Don’t Have Any Extra

Stealing Time - Where to Find Time When You Don’t Have Any Extra

Guest Post by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

I know you can’t really steal time. In fact, if you could, I would steal it, put it in some big boxes up in my attic, then pull a little out on busy days.

My life consists of a full-time job, a husband, two small kids, and writing. I should give myself the job title of “round-the-clock juggler.” And I know I’m not alone.

Since writing is such an important part of my life, I have to find ways to make it priority without ignoring responsibilities. In an ideal world, I’d write 6 hours a day, uninterrupted. But since that isn’t going to happen in the foreseeable future, I improvise by stealing time where I can.

Waiting Time

Wait for the right time to steal. Instead of getting frustrated that the doctor is running 20 minutes late, you can be thankful for the bonus writing time, if you prepare ahead of time. No matter what your lot in life, I know you have waiting time—at doctor’s offices, pick-up times for kids’ practices, when you’re getting your hair colored. I always carry a bag with a current project. Sometimes it’s hard for me to get big chunks of writing time while I’m waiting. However, these are great times to edit or brainstorm.

Planning Time

Stealing doesn’t always involve the act itself. Sometimes you have to plan to steal. Since I spend some of my waking hours cooking, doing dishes, or cleaning (though I swear I do the bare minimum), sometimes those mundane tasks are good planning time. While it’s not always intentional, these are times I work out writing problems in my brain. That plot issue I can’t fix while staring at the computer screen will often occur to me while I’m chopping an onion.

Other people find walking or gardening good tasks that work the body and loosen the writing brain.

Then when you actually get screen time, you can pound out the problem.

Wee Hours

People don’t usually steal in broad daylight. I write best when the rest of the world is asleep, or at least the people in my little world are asleep. Some people are late night writers. I’m an early morning writer. Even an hour before the rest of the house gets up can provide me with prime writing time. An hour a day adds up.

Plan Your Escape

If you are going to steal, you have to have a getaway plan. While, you might not be able to escape very often, even once a month is great. Plan a time to go to a coffee shop or a local library for a few hours. But plan ahead. Know before you leave exactly what the task is at hand. If you don’t know, you are liable to surf the internet instead of tackling those chapter revisions.

Stealing time happens in small increments. If you can figure out a way to grab ten minutes here, half-hour there, a couple of hours on a weekend, then you will make progress in your writing. Don’t wait until you can steal a whole weekend for your writing. Start now—chipping away at the moments you can find in the life you already have. 

Marcie Flinchum Atkins steals time to write in between her day job and her life with her family. She has an M.A. and and M.F.A. in children’s literature from Hollins University and blogs about making time to write at: http://www.marcieatkins.com/blog

MORE ON WRITING

Building a Writer’s Portfolio
Freelance Writing Work – The Possibilities
How to Write a Novel – Start with a Novel Outline

The Tent Pole Structure

The tent pole structure described by Linda Sue Park during one of her presentations at the Highlights Foundation Workshop, Books that Rise Above, is the focus of part three in this series.



Here's how Linda Sue explained being immediate and providing back story at the same time, a process she describes as the Tent Pole Structure. Begin by placing your finger at the bottom of the tent pole and tracing it to the top. That's the the action and dialogue, the backbone of your story. While proceeding upward go back and forth, leaking your back story in dribs and drabs.The base of the tent pole where you first placed your finger is the middle of your story, the strongest part. That's where your story begins. It's how you hook your reader. Action and dialogue move your story forward. But what does Linda Sue mean by back story?

Find the back story in a conversation Amy and Dan are having in Chapter 1 of Linda Sue's book, The 39 Clues: Storm Warning:

                "Jamaica was the last place anyone ever saw or heard of her," Amy said.
                She had already researched Ann Bonny online. "So that's where we should
                start looking."
                "But--" Dan stopped, trying desperately to think of a way around Amy's
                reasoning. She was good at this stuff, at seeing the big picture. He was more
                a detail guy, and right now he was very interested in one particular detail
                about the Bahamas.

 

Back story reveals only what is needed. It is intimate and personal. A drib of character description here, a drab of setting there.Woven seamlessly into the action and dialogue in the above excerpt are background, thought, and characterization. A lot of work gets done in few words.

Parting thoughts: Linda Sue suggested telling your story to your best friend. Get your story down then ground it. Have passion for your story and characters. What I took away: I'd heard this process called "weaving" a story in the past. I understood what that meant but hadn't mastered it. Something clicked for me during Linda Sue's explanation at the workshop. The technique suddenly became clear. I've been applying the tent pole structure ever since.

If you would like to read past posts in this series, please visit:

Part One: Two Ways to Hook and Keep Your Reader
Part Two: Nouns Need to be Concrete and Appear More than Once

For biosketches of Linda Sue Park and Patricia Lee Gauch, please visit:

http://www.lindasuepark.com/bio/biography.html

http://patricialeegauch.com/?page_id=99

Next month:  Leonard Marcus: Maurice Sendak as Storyteller and Artist

In future posts: A link to the complete list of "Books that Rise Above" will appear at the end of this series.

Sources: Park, Linda Sue. The 39 Clues: Storm Warning. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print; Photo: U.S. Military Pup Tent; Diagram by author.

Labels: Parts of speech, children's writing workshop, Highlights Foundation, writing, writing tips


 

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 40 articles for children and adults, six stories for children, and is in the final editing stages of her first book, a mystery story for 7-10 year olds. Follow Linda on Facebook.

Stake Your Claim

From time to time, we all need encouragement and recognition of our accomplishments. It gives us that extra boost to believe we are good writers and we have something to offer.

But, not all writers necessarily have that kind of support. We want people to be happy for us; our family or friends. You might not get the reactions you were hoping for.

Christina Katz, author of the best seller Writer Mama, says in her recently published e-book, Write For Regional Parenting Publications, "There is really one key person who should be happy about your writing career success and that person is you.”

There comes a time in your writing career when you have to come to terms with this truth so you don't slow down or give up. Decide to be happy with your successes even if no one else is.

Over the years, I have found times when I had to set a stake in the ground of something I knew to be true - never to waver again. And being personally happy about my successes has been one of those stakes.

This is going to look differently for each of us. But the one place where we all start, is believing you have something to offer. It means your passion should not be tampered with. Tweaked, yes. But if we find that fire being quenched because no one seems to encourage you or appreciate your successes, you will become discouraged and perhaps give up.

It took me awhile to grasp believing in myself. It seemed like arrogance, but it's not. It's simply knowing what you can do well and doing it. Once that is established, you are tied to this truth and will be firmly established.

Stake your claim to you. There are no disqualifications! If you are writing, it's because you love to write. Inside of you there is something people want to read. 
  
~~~

Photo credit:  cobaltfish / Foter / CC BY-SA

While homeschooling the last of her 8 children, Kathleen Moulton rediscovered her love of writing. She enjoys writing magazine articles and is recently published in NextStepU. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at When It Hurts - http://kathleenmoulton.com/