Seeing all the swapping of guest blogging, and submitting questions to author Greta van der Rol for an author interview, has me seriously considering inviting guest bloggers. I can think of four fellow writers I would like to ask, and that's just off the top of my head. I even have vague ideas for what I would like to ask them to blog about. I just lack the courage. I'm sure that one night soon I'll have a couple of drinks and think, "To hell with it! The worst that can happen is they say no!" and I'll shoot off some emails or DMs. Alcoholism is bad, kids. But losing a few of your inhibitions isn't always a bad thing.
My writing goals this week are as follows: I want to finish the final round of pre-beta'd edits of Cowboy, finish the interview questions for my artist friend Kelsey and get those to her, and start the blog post series on self-publishing. I also want to work up a few more elevator pitches and pick out at least two more lines from Cass Gets Her Kicks to make my Twitter promotion slightly more successful. I would really love to see at least one Smashwords book page hit a day. (By the way, coupon code TS42L is good for another three days!)
Setting reasonable goals and taking baby steps are probably my top two tips for being productive.
Speaking of baby steps, my baby took two steps last night. The kid can walk, she just won't. She did the same thing when she was learning to crawl. And when she learned to roll over. She has it so good, what with being carried all over whenever she wants, that I can't really blame her.
Just before bed last night, I tweeted about wanting a vacation. I may queue some posts and take a few days off from the computer in the near future. This morning, I signed up for Hootsuite. Automating promotion-only tweets is, of course, a bad idea, but I'm hoping I can figure out how to use it and automate several days' worth of personal and professional tweets. That way, I won't feel guilty when I do take a few days off.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Blog Roundup: September 5 - 11, 2011
This week, I discovered Avery Olive, an author with a name I think is too cool for words. I enjoyed the tips posts on naming characters and editing because I thought they were both concise and useful. Even if you're familiar with the points brought up, it's worth it to revisit the tips in someone else's voice.
I don't know if I've mentioned the Erotic Romance blog before, but it's worth checking out for up-to-date information on the erotic and romance publishing industry/ies. There's no bullshit over there, something I find quite refreshing.
Rik Davnall's post on marketing is worth recommending again. I found it very useful.
I'm a big fan of learning things no one told you. James Killick's post on five things writing experts won't tell you is a good example of why. Particularly the second, third, and fourth things catch me up. In the process of editing chapter one of my current WIP, I found several lines that made me stop and smile because they were just so me. If I always followed the rules, I would have deleted them--and killed any originality I might have.
Rob On Writing's post about being needles in a stack of needles just reinforces what I've been telling myself all week: just keep working. Any day I get over ten blog hits or one hit on my book page at Smashwords is a good day as far as I'm concerned.
Sirra did her post on standard manuscript format! Go read it!
Ciara Ballintyne posted on the etiquette of self-promotion on Twitter. I think her list is more along the lines of things not to do rather than a question of etiquette, but it's worth reading regardless.
I don't know if I've mentioned the Erotic Romance blog before, but it's worth checking out for up-to-date information on the erotic and romance publishing industry/ies. There's no bullshit over there, something I find quite refreshing.
Rik Davnall's post on marketing is worth recommending again. I found it very useful.
I'm a big fan of learning things no one told you. James Killick's post on five things writing experts won't tell you is a good example of why. Particularly the second, third, and fourth things catch me up. In the process of editing chapter one of my current WIP, I found several lines that made me stop and smile because they were just so me. If I always followed the rules, I would have deleted them--and killed any originality I might have.
Rob On Writing's post about being needles in a stack of needles just reinforces what I've been telling myself all week: just keep working. Any day I get over ten blog hits or one hit on my book page at Smashwords is a good day as far as I'm concerned.
Sirra did her post on standard manuscript format! Go read it!
Ciara Ballintyne posted on the etiquette of self-promotion on Twitter. I think her list is more along the lines of things not to do rather than a question of etiquette, but it's worth reading regardless.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
SitRep Saturday: The Cowboy Next Door
All right, I know it's late, but that's not because I've been slacking. I actually have productivity to report.
This week, I finished the first and the cursory second round of edits. Then I got so sick of looking at it that I sent it off to five beta readers. It's with them now, and most of them have promised to have it back by next Friday or so, so now it's a waiting game. I'll do another round of edits on my own before I go over their notes, but we're getting close!
I also have to finish up the "bonus" chapter, write the "back cover" summary, and work up the layout. I'm not too worried. Formatting was kind of a breeze last time (a time-consuming breeze, but a breeze nonetheless) and I made it into the Smashwords premium catalog on my second try.
This week, I finished the first and the cursory second round of edits. Then I got so sick of looking at it that I sent it off to five beta readers. It's with them now, and most of them have promised to have it back by next Friday or so, so now it's a waiting game. I'll do another round of edits on my own before I go over their notes, but we're getting close!
I also have to finish up the "bonus" chapter, write the "back cover" summary, and work up the layout. I'm not too worried. Formatting was kind of a breeze last time (a time-consuming breeze, but a breeze nonetheless) and I made it into the Smashwords premium catalog on my second try.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Free Books!
You know what's awesome about ereaders? Free books! For those of us who have debilitating book-buying habits, being able to download free electronic books is one of the very best things about having an ereader. Well, it is for me. Once a month, I hit up the Kindle Top 100 Free list and I go download-crazy. I have a bunch of books I haven't read yet, but it's nice to have that stockpile. (So I'm preparing for the apocalypse. An apocalypse in which I still have electricity to charge my Kindle.) I don't worry about being stuck with nothing to read.
That might be something I actually worry about. Maybe.
Anyway, there are more places online that offer free books legally.
That might be something I actually worry about. Maybe.
Anyway, there are more places online that offer free books legally.
- Smashwords is a great place to get free original books.
- Have a NOOK? Get your free books at Barnes & Noble.
- Project Gutenberg is the go-to site for free public domain books.
- Feedbooks.com offers both public domain and original free books.
- ManyBooks.net boasts 29,000 free books.
- The sci-fi/fantasy publisher Baen offers some free titles from some of their top authors. (Like Aaron Allston and Elizabeth Moon, huzzah!)
- The Mobile Read forums have a wiki page dedicated to free books where you can find a ton of resources.
You weren't planning to be productive or anything this weekend, were you? I hope not.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Throwing Things In Elevators
An elevator pitch is a concise summary of what you're selling. Everyone from entrepreneurs to potential dates uses them and I've seen them discussed several times by authors talking about self-promotion. In fact, I most recently read about them in this blog post by Rik Davnall.
Self-promotion is something I struggle with. It's not that I don't want to sell copies of my book. I do! I just don't want to annoy people into ignoring me. I've come across so many overly aggressive self-promoters and they don't make me want to buy their books or read their blogs. They make me want to ignore them. So I do. That's not good for them and there's a chance I'm missing out on something great, so it's not good for me, either.
I've been working on my elevator pitches. Especially as I draw closer to finishing my next story, I want to get into the habit of self-promoting. I have no problem tweeting and Facebooking links to my blog posts, and that earned me to 421 hits last month. (I want to make it to 500 this month.) Getting links out there works. When I posted the link to my website on that local classifieds site, I got seventy hits on the ad, ten hits on my site, three hits on my blog, and one book sale. To me, that's not bad. It's a solid start.
But it's just that. A start. I'm in this for the long haul. I have to start implementing what I learn. And that means using elevator pitches.
So far, these are the ones I have for Cass Gets Her Kicks:
Self-promotion is something I struggle with. It's not that I don't want to sell copies of my book. I do! I just don't want to annoy people into ignoring me. I've come across so many overly aggressive self-promoters and they don't make me want to buy their books or read their blogs. They make me want to ignore them. So I do. That's not good for them and there's a chance I'm missing out on something great, so it's not good for me, either.
I've been working on my elevator pitches. Especially as I draw closer to finishing my next story, I want to get into the habit of self-promoting. I have no problem tweeting and Facebooking links to my blog posts, and that earned me to 421 hits last month. (I want to make it to 500 this month.) Getting links out there works. When I posted the link to my website on that local classifieds site, I got seventy hits on the ad, ten hits on my site, three hits on my blog, and one book sale. To me, that's not bad. It's a solid start.
But it's just that. A start. I'm in this for the long haul. I have to start implementing what I learn. And that means using elevator pitches.
So far, these are the ones I have for Cass Gets Her Kicks:
Like road trips? Like classic cars? Like sex? Then you might like Cass Gets Her Kicks. Just 99 cents from [insert bookseller here, followed by link].
Cass Gets Her Kicks received its first five-star review on Smashwords!
Plain old Cass with the widening ass of rapidly-approaching middle age was Cass With the Great Ass to this man-child?They're not bad, but they could be better. And I definitely need more of them.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Blog Post That Is Not A Blog Post
So I'll come out and confess here that I'm kind of having a rough day (the baby didn't fall asleep until the husband woke up, the weather is weird, and we were supposed to have dinner guests who canceled at the last minute) and blogging is the last thing I really want to be doing. However, I want to make it to 500 blog hits this month and that won't happen unless I actually, you know, blog.
This is where the "now with 100% more filler" tag comes in.
Last night, I opened up a new word processor file (I don't use MS Word, I use Open Office--I do plan to post about it at some point) and wrote up some meta on Lilah Thompson, my heroine from the current WIP. Because I've been editing line-by-line, I've lost sight of the big picture. I needed to step back and look at it. I also needed to work out Lilah's motivation. She's not exactly the most likable character (I'm hoping she comes off sort of like Scarlett O'Hara, a character I always thought was unlikable but still appealing), but I don't think it's necessary for a heroine to be a likable character. After all, not everyone is a likable person. I do hope that readers can identify with her, which to me is more important.
Meta is telling in the way that the actual story is showing. It isn't ever meant to be shared, but it can be very useful. I write meta for original characters when I'm having a difficult time sticking to their characterization (characterization is something I'm fabulous at--when I write fanfiction; I struggle when I write original fiction, mostly because character-building is something I have to work at) or when I'm having trouble with the evolution of a character.
Knowing that no one is going to read it is liberating. Knowing that it's a useful tool for helping me focus and settling my brain makes me want to do it.
Lilah has her reasons for doing what she does, and I explored those. She gets her happy ending, but not before she makes a mess of everything. I think her situation is something most of us can identify with. We may not have dead spouses or high school sweethearts who waited for us, we may not have distant-but-loving fathers and sweet-but-demanding mothers, but I think that most people will understand Lilah.
I like this story. Which is good, because if I don't like it, how can I expect anyone else to like it? I like the emotional conflict Lilah feels and I like the physical manifestation of the Clay/Lilah conflict. I like that I got to write humor (the book cover is a result of the funniest scene in the story, I think) and that I got to write banter. Cass's story was sex with minor character development; Lilah's story is character development with sex thrown in for fun.
Now all I have to do is finish the second editing pass and send it off to beta readers and, maybe, advance readers.
This is where the "now with 100% more filler" tag comes in.
Last night, I opened up a new word processor file (I don't use MS Word, I use Open Office--I do plan to post about it at some point) and wrote up some meta on Lilah Thompson, my heroine from the current WIP. Because I've been editing line-by-line, I've lost sight of the big picture. I needed to step back and look at it. I also needed to work out Lilah's motivation. She's not exactly the most likable character (I'm hoping she comes off sort of like Scarlett O'Hara, a character I always thought was unlikable but still appealing), but I don't think it's necessary for a heroine to be a likable character. After all, not everyone is a likable person. I do hope that readers can identify with her, which to me is more important.
Meta is telling in the way that the actual story is showing. It isn't ever meant to be shared, but it can be very useful. I write meta for original characters when I'm having a difficult time sticking to their characterization (characterization is something I'm fabulous at--when I write fanfiction; I struggle when I write original fiction, mostly because character-building is something I have to work at) or when I'm having trouble with the evolution of a character.
Knowing that no one is going to read it is liberating. Knowing that it's a useful tool for helping me focus and settling my brain makes me want to do it.
Lilah has her reasons for doing what she does, and I explored those. She gets her happy ending, but not before she makes a mess of everything. I think her situation is something most of us can identify with. We may not have dead spouses or high school sweethearts who waited for us, we may not have distant-but-loving fathers and sweet-but-demanding mothers, but I think that most people will understand Lilah.
I like this story. Which is good, because if I don't like it, how can I expect anyone else to like it? I like the emotional conflict Lilah feels and I like the physical manifestation of the Clay/Lilah conflict. I like that I got to write humor (the book cover is a result of the funniest scene in the story, I think) and that I got to write banter. Cass's story was sex with minor character development; Lilah's story is character development with sex thrown in for fun.
Now all I have to do is finish the second editing pass and send it off to beta readers and, maybe, advance readers.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Monday Miscellany
My Plug Your Book post is still open and my indiereleaseparty email is still accepting messages. I figure I'll give this venture another week before I make any decisions.
Last night, I finally made it into chapter four of editing! I've realized that it will definitely need another pass, which is cool, but I'm still hoping to send it off to beta readers by the end of the week. If you're interested in an advance reader copy of a short (roughly 15,000 words) romance, please let me know, either in a comment here or an email.
I'm almost halfway done with The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy by Greta van der Rol and I. am. in. love. The last time I read a non-Star Wars book that hooked me so completely was Elizabeth Moon's Once A Hero. The worldbuilding is masterful, the characters are wonderful (and the author does not succumb to the impulse to make them Mary Sue and Gary Stu), the mystery is exciting, and--in my opinion, the best part--the action sequences are just perfect! As if all of that wasn't awesome enough, the sex is great, too! Seriously. I keep having full-on fangirl attacks.
Today, I'm baking bread and dinner rolls. It's cool enough and I felt like it, so I figured, why not?
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Blog Roundup: August 29 - September 4, 2011
My crush on Chuck Wendig just keeps getting bigger. He had two fantastic posts this week. "25 Things You Should Know About Self-Publishing" is part of his "25" series and, of course, is full of good points to get your brain working. "Making Sense of Ninety-Nine Cents" is about the $0.99 price and how to use it.
Last week, I posted about ebook covers. This week, The Passive Voice had a post on terrible covers and asked if they could kill book sales. (Yes. Yes, they can.)
Greta van der Rol wrote about building better websites. It went up as a companion piece to her post on what she hates about websites. If you have a site, it's worth checking out what people dislike. You want people to visit your site and stick around, not click back home because they're frustrated. (Even though it's old, I'm going to suggest this post, too, because book covers are apparently Theme Of The Week in my world.)
James Killick blogged about how to build a loyal Twitter following. I particularly agree with not block-tweeting for Follow Friday. I like it when the people I follow tell me why they think I should follow someone else, too.
The question of how much self-promotion is too much is addressed in this Keystrokes & Word Counts post. Self-promotion is something I struggle with. Oh, I have no problem sharing a link a day to whichever blog post I've just put up, but that's because I try to write posts I think will be helpful to others. Promoting my book... that's something else.
A new blog launched this week, and I can't pick just one post to link to. I liked the first one, the one on clichés, the one about Stephen King, the one about not being a dick on Twitter, and the one about bestsellers. Just go read it. It looks really promising.
Sirra posted another roundup of her #writetips from Twitter. You should listen to her. She's smart. Also, she's kind of stabby, so... yeah. (I understand she's considering a post on manuscript format. I hope she does one. Apparently, double spaces after a period are only standard in academic writing.)
A new cover was reviewed over at Your Cover Uncovered. Check it out and absorb some knowledge! Or possibly I mean wisdom. Maybe I mean both.
Last week, I posted about ebook covers. This week, The Passive Voice had a post on terrible covers and asked if they could kill book sales. (Yes. Yes, they can.)
Greta van der Rol wrote about building better websites. It went up as a companion piece to her post on what she hates about websites. If you have a site, it's worth checking out what people dislike. You want people to visit your site and stick around, not click back home because they're frustrated. (Even though it's old, I'm going to suggest this post, too, because book covers are apparently Theme Of The Week in my world.)
James Killick blogged about how to build a loyal Twitter following. I particularly agree with not block-tweeting for Follow Friday. I like it when the people I follow tell me why they think I should follow someone else, too.
The question of how much self-promotion is too much is addressed in this Keystrokes & Word Counts post. Self-promotion is something I struggle with. Oh, I have no problem sharing a link a day to whichever blog post I've just put up, but that's because I try to write posts I think will be helpful to others. Promoting my book... that's something else.
A new blog launched this week, and I can't pick just one post to link to. I liked the first one, the one on clichés, the one about Stephen King, the one about not being a dick on Twitter, and the one about bestsellers. Just go read it. It looks really promising.
Sirra posted another roundup of her #writetips from Twitter. You should listen to her. She's smart. Also, she's kind of stabby, so... yeah. (I understand she's considering a post on manuscript format. I hope she does one. Apparently, double spaces after a period are only standard in academic writing.)
A new cover was reviewed over at Your Cover Uncovered. Check it out and absorb some knowledge! Or possibly I mean wisdom. Maybe I mean both.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)