Blurb Etiquette

Guest Blogger: Mike Duran (@CerebralGrump ) One of the most uncomfortable realities of being a writer is asking for blurbs (a.k.a. endorsements). On the enjoyability meter, it ranks somewhere between Irritable Bowel Syndrome and having bamboo spikes driven under your toenails. Before my last novel The Telling released, I determined to aim high for endorsers. Nothing but “big names.” I contacted a dozen high-profile authors, most of whom I’d had personal contact with, about blurbing the book. When the publication deadline was reached, I had approximately… ZERO ENDORSEMENTS. Needless to say, the process was quite a let-down. For whatever reason, I am now in the weird position of having authors ask me for blurbs. Which kind of sucks. Don’t get me wrong, it is... [ Read More → ]

5 Ways Authors Can Use Pinterest as a Marketing Tool

Guest blogger: Erin MacPherson We’ve been talking about Pinterest as a marketing tool for authors (here and here) and today I want to get your creative juices flowing by telling you about some innovative approaches to Pinterest marketing. There are many more, so please share your ideas in the comments and we can turn this post into a great Pinterest resource for writers. Here are my favorite ideas: 1. Recruit a Guest Pinner I’ve used this strategy to great success for about six months now and it’s not only helped me to build my Pinterest boards up, but it’s also allowed me to have new, fresh content to share on my Facebook page each week. I love it. And it’s so easy! Invite another author/blogger/writer to pin on one of your existing boards (or a secret... [ Read More → ]

MyBookTable – A Better Way To Sell Your Books

http://www.rachellegardner.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Thomas-Umstattd-200x300.jpg This is a guest post from Thomas Umstattd (@ThomasUmstattd). Today he’s introducing a terrific new idea for authors that I thought you all should know about. * * * Most publishers require authors to have a website before they will publish them. The reasoning behind this is simple. The purpose of the website, for the publisher, is to sell books. The problem is that books can be really hard to sell on your website.     5  Problems With a “Books” Webpage Most authors add a “books” page to their website, listing all their books along with links to buy them on Amazon. It sounds like a simple solution but it often creates problems, such as: Bookstores get mad. Barnes & Noble gets ticked when excluded from the list. They have threatened to pull... [ Read More → ]

Don’t Think of Pinterest as Social Media

Guest Blogger: Erin MacPherson Grab a notepad and a pen and write this down: Now circle it, add a few stars or a few exclamation points or some bright purple glitter.  Anything it takes for you to convince yourself that it’s a very important note.  Now go hang it on your fridge right where you can see it. Of course, Pinterest is social media.  (Your little note is a total lie.) It’s quickly becoming one of the most popular and most-used social media tools.  In fact, it has been called a social commerce game changer and the best social modality to heat up your brand.  Pinterest is an important social media enterprise. But I’m asking you to push that thought aside.  Because when you start to think of Pinterest as social media, you fail to see Pinterest for what... [ Read More → ]

5 Surprises About Self Publishing

Guest Blogger: Jennie Nash (@jennienash) My first six books were all published by major New York houses, including Scribner, Simon & Schuster, Crown, and Berkley/Penguin. I adored my editors and their teams, but I was a midlist writer getting midlist attention, and the midlist was starting to feel like purgatory. For my seventh book, Perfect Red, a historical novel set in 1950’s New York, I decided to self publish. Why I made that decision is a story for another day, and how it turns out, economically-speaking, has yet to be determined. But a few revelations about the process have surprised the socks off me. Herewith, the top five: 1. I underestimated the weight of having the legitimacy of a traditional publisher. When I could say, “My third novel is being published by Penguin,”... [ Read More → ]

My Editor Wants Me to Change What??

Guest blogger: Richard Mabry, M.D. (@RichardMabry) I had delivered my latest manuscript to my publisher, and a few weeks later received my revision notes from the editor. I was, to put it mildly, caught off guard. The notes suggested some pretty big changes. As I read through them, I kept saying, “But that’s not what I had in mind.” I wondered why the editor wanted to rewrite my manuscript. Aren’t I the writer here? Isn’t my name on the book? I wasn’t happy. But after sitting with it a few more days… I noticed that my in-house editor, my substantive editor, and my beta reader (yes, my wife) had all made the same suggestion for the opening. Hmm. I started rewriting, and amazingly enough, it was all coming together.  By the time I’d reached... [ Read More → ]

Are You Ready for the Pain of Publishing?

Guest Blogger: Ed Cyzewski (@edcyzewski) “Publishing a book would be neat.” I hear that all of the time from people when I mention I’m an author. I rarely tell them what my experience of book publishing has actually been like—except for this one time. A friend was just starting to explore writing full time with the goal of publishing a book. “You’re serious?” I asked. “Definitely,” he replied. “Are you ready for two or three years of rejection?” I began. “It could happen. That’s how long it took me to get my first book deal. I’ve heard of successful authors being rejected thirty, fifty, or more times.” His eyes widened as I continued. “And then there’s the chance of a contract being cancelled—that’s happened to me and several friends. And... [ Read More → ]

Does Your Project Need Funding?

Guest Blogger: Caleb Jennings Breakey (@CalebBreakey) Imagine finding hundreds of people eager to read your book. Now—are you ready for this?—imagine those same people financially backing you to write it. Enter the crowdsourcing awesomeness of kickstarter.com, faithfunder.com, and indiegogo.com. These sites are funding platforms for creative projects. But their concept isn’t centered on folks just shanding you money—it’s centered on connecting you with people who want exactly what you’re creating. Like your work in progress. SIX WEEKS, $10,000 I started my Kickstarter campaign after learning that enthusiastic backers pledged $100,000,000 to projects in 2011, a 300-percent increase from the previous year. How amazing, I thought. People believing in what their artists believe... [ Read More → ]

7 Lessons from Advertising

Guest Blogger: Elizabeth Miller Wood (@ElizMillerWood) As an advertising copywriter, my job is to sell stuff using words. Regardless of what I’m selling—a product, a service, a destination—the copy strives for two goals: capture readers and compel them to take action. For the next few minutes, pretend you’ve got something to sell—in this case, your writing. You need to “sell” that agent on requesting your manuscript. You need to “sell” that reader on continuing to the next chapter. You need to “sell” your blog followers on coming back again. Here’s the catch: advertising copy allows very little word count. You have to sell your writing quickly and efficiently. This takes discipline! And discipline is a valuable skill for writers to hone. Here are seven lessons of... [ Read More → ]

Co-Authoring: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Guest Blogger: Frank Viola  (@FrankViola) I’m a firm believer in co-authoring. I’ve done it several times and I’d encourage other authors to do it. But like anything else that’s worthwhile, co-authoring has its challenges. It also has its dark side. Following is my brief overview of the benefits (the good), the challenges (the bad), and the frustrations (the ugly) of sharing a writing project with another mortal. The Good I don’t know about you, but I’m wired for networking and co-laboring. I love team-work and prefer joint projects over flying solo. So co-writing suits my personality. But even if you’re not wired like I am, here are some of the benefits I’ve discovered in co-writing: • You get to share the workload. If the project is large or daunting, this is a... [ Read More → ]

Enough with “Us vs. Them”

Guest Blogger: Aimee L. Salter (@AimeeLSalter) Historically the life of a writer was a solitary voyage. Until a writer made it, the wounds and fears of the writing life were largely navigated alone. Then along came the internet. Now even the most isolated writers have a community of millions at their fingertips. Where before authors might have been compared to the lonely hiker climbing a mountain, now we’re each tooting our horns in gridlocked traffic, awaiting our turn to crest the superhighway summit of publishing. We’re car pooling. Journeymen. Brothers at the wheel… Right? Well… sort of. I’ve been grinding gears on the writing superhighway for over three years now. Many, many things have changed in that time. Except one: the habit of writers deciding to bring... [ Read More → ]

4 Tips for Writing Your Personal Story

Guest Blogger: Dan Miller Recently at church I was introduced to a gentleman who insisted I take a copy of his brand-new book. Being a book guy, I opened it later that evening and began reading. It tells in graphic detail about a horrendous experience the author had at 10 years old that has continue to be the central defining theme of his life. As I was reading it, some points for authors came to mind: 1. Don’t assume that everything that has happened to you is interesting to everyone else. Why would something that is gross, violent, aberrant, or atrocious be interesting to someone else – other than as an unhealthy voyeur? In the age of Twitter and Facebook it’s easy to assume that people are interested in knowing you ate a Twinkie for breakfast – but frankly, I don’t believe... [ Read More → ]

13 Ways to Write with Urgency

Guest Blogger: Chad R. Allen (Editorial Director, Baker Books) @chadrallen We’ve all been there. You start reading a non-fiction book or a blog, and all is right with the world. But then as you get into it, something changes. It’s not holding your attention. In fact, the word “boring” comes to mind. One way to reduce boredom among your readers is to write with a sense of urgency. After all, if what you’re saying is not important, why write it? As I read your blog post or non-fiction book, I want to know that you want my attention. I want your writing to be like hands on my shoulders as you look me in the eyes and speak. It’s about taking my time seriously. It’s about believing what you say matters. Following are 13 ways to produce a sense of urgency in your non-fiction or... [ Read More → ]

5 Tips for Hiring a Blog Designer

Guest Blogger: Jean Huffman @huffman_jean I recently decided it was time to invest in a professionally-designed blogsite. So I hired someone I thought was a reputable designer. But I ended up with a half-finished, unusable site and recouped only half of my original investment. The second time through the process, I’ve done things differently. Here are some tips that may save you both heartache and money. 1) Count the cost. At the least, moving from a free site (such as Blogger or WordPress.com) requires the purchase of hosting from a host server and a domain name. (I would delay buying these items until a designer tells you which host server they prefer.) The cost of a designer’s services is actually optional. I have a quote from Linda Leigh Hargrove, writer and former web designer:... [ Read More → ]