Category Archives: Writing Tips

Today’s Writing Tip

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Remember your main character needs to have a fatal flaw. It doesn’t have to be evil; it could be something like being too honest or outspoken. No one is perfect and to be convincing, your characters shouldn’t be, either. It’s their weaknesses that make them more endearing and real. They also build suspense, an essential ingredient for any story.

If you’re not sure what a character’s fatal flaw might be, take a close look at his or her strengths. Any trait that can be a strength can also be a weakness, if taken to the extreme. Obsessions, for example, can go either way, to a person’s advantage or detriment, depending on the situation. For example, being determined and not giving up can also result in beating the proverbial dead horse.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Other than a chosen few best-selling authors, the people making the most book-related money are those that offer promotion services, teach classes, or provide other publication help, such as cover design, formatting, and video trailer creation.

Unless you have unlimited resources, choose them wisely to make sure you get your money’s worth and a suitable ROI (return on investment). While any new endeavor requires a certain level of investment, it’s an easy trap to fall into where you’re putting out far more money than you’ll be able to recover for a long time. Making easy money by becoming an author is about as likely as becoming a famous singer or Hollywood star. The odds are not in your favor.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Social media presence is important for readers and fans to connect. However, you need to post engaging content to draw them in as opposed to only promoting your books. This is likely to be viewed as spam and lessen your popularity as opposed to boosting it. Giveaways, interesting blog posts, excerpts, and selling yourself as an interesting person are a few ways to draw them in.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Some author groups provide a variety of benefits including classes, tweet groups, review opportunities, online writing conferences, blog tours, interviews, and vetted author services providers. Two I can recommend are ASMSG (Author’s Social Media Support Group) and RRBC (Rave Reviews Book Club). Getting into ASMSG is free, but requires a recommendation from an existing member, which helps keep the membership focused on more experienced writers. Anyone can join RRBC by signing up on their website here. They charge a membership fee, but the more involved you get, the more benefits you’ll receive. If you decide to join, be sure to tell them I sent you!

Today’s Writing Tip

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There are numerous author groups which have a variety of excellent benefits. These are where you can find authors with whom you can do a beta swap or provide editorial reviews. There may be one in your local area where you can get together face-to-face with other authors. If not, there are several options online. One place to start is Linked-In, which has several author groups. Facebook has some as well. Make sure that any other groups of which you are a member, even if they don’t relate to writing, know that you are an author.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Networking with other authors is a must, especially with those who write in the same or similar genre. See them as allies, not competition. How many readers stick to books from only one author? However, they do tend toward certain genres. Your fans will appreciate learning about authors who write stories similar to your own.

Beta exchanges, promoting each other on your respective blogs, retweeting, Facebook posts, sharing marketing ideas, etc. are a few ways where you can help each other.

Today’s Writing Tip

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If you’re a new author, don’t expect readers to find your book as soon as it’s released. There are literally millions of books out there and you need to take action if you want anyone to find it. Think of it as being in a huge stadium, such as at the Super Bowl, and trying to get everyone to notice you. Then multiply this by a hundred or more!

This is where networking and book promotion is essential. You can start drawing attention to your work before its release by posting excerpts or updates on your progress to build reader anticipation. Once you have an established fan base it’s a lot easier.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Enhance the professional appearance of your book’s interior by using a glyph that relates to your story instead of asterisks for section breaks. There are many options in unicode and wingding fonts which are easier to use overall than a jpg file.

For example, multiple jpg files can be a nuisance for some print on demand establishments such as Ingram, where the pdf file needs to be distilled. Creating a pdf from a MS Word file reduces their resolution, so each one has to be replaced manually. If every section break is a jpg this would be a major pain!

Today’s Writing Tip

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It’s best to mark your section breaks with a few asterisks rather than simply rely on an extra space, which might not be noticeable on an electronic reading device. This is particularly important if you change the point of view with the next section, a significant amount of time has passed, or the scene location has changed. Every time you leave a reader confused enough that they have to go back and reread a previous section to figure out what’s going on you run the risk of losing them entirely.

Today’s Writing Tip

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If your book is loaded with characters, do your readers a favor by providing a dramatis personae, a fancy Latin term for a list of who and what the players are which you provide in the beginning of the story; a cast of characters, if you will.

Not all readers have a steel-trap memory that can keep track of too many people. This is another thing that can throw a reader out of a story, wondering or trying to remember who someone is. For ebooks, make sure this list is included in your table of contents so readers can get back to it easily for reference.