[authorme] PUBLISHING NEW WRITERS, NOVEMBER, 2012

  • From: Bruce Cook <cookcomm@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: authorme@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 07:55:21 -0500

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============================================================

*In this issue...*
*"Musty" Writing, by Michaelbrent Collings

Dynamic Character, by Bruce L. Cook
*===========================================================

*"Musty Writing",by Michaelbrent Collings
*<michaelbrent@xxxxxxxxx> <michaelbrent@xxxxxxxxx>


When considering self-publishing on Kindle, there are four things you must
do ("Must"y writing – get it? Ha!)

They are like the mustard on my hot dog: a non-negotiable element. Without
it, you may as well not even try. 'Cause I won't bite.

Now, before I dive into what those elements are, I should probably tell you
how I know about them. So y'all know I've got street cred. And mad skillz
(part of having street cred is always spelling "skillz" with a z).

I've been writing for most of my life. I sold my first paying work when I
was fifteen. Going to college, I won a bunch of creative writing
scholarships and awards. Then I became a lawyer, where my job involved
mostly (wait for it!) writing.

Oh, yeah, and somewhere along the way I became a produced screenwriter,
member of the Writers Guild of America (which is statistically harder to do
than it is to become a professional baseball player), and a published
novelist. Throughout all this, I had a book that I really liked,
called RUN. And though I had done all the above, no book publisher would
touch RUN with a ten foot cattle prod. Largely, I suspect, because it was
very hard to figure out how to market it: it was a
sci-fi/suspense/horror/thriller/apocalyptic novel with romantic elements.
There is no shelf for that at Barnes & Noble.

But I believed in the book, dangit! So I researched around, and discovered
self-publishing through Amazon's Kindle service. I decided I didn't have
much to lose, sinceRUN was just sitting on a shelf anyway, so decided to
try my hand at self-publishing an e-book on Kindle.

Within a few months, RUN became a bestseller, topping Amazon's sci-fi
chart, and eventually becoming the #61 item available for Kindle, out of
over ten million books, games, puzzles, and blogs. I also published a young
adult fantasy called Billy: Messenger of Powers which has hovered on
various genre bestseller lists on Amazon for the better part of a year now.
And followed those up with another e-book, and another, and another. Some
of the others became bestsellers, some didn't. But all have made money, and
all have increased my fan base.

Now I don't say this to brag, but I want you to understand I know a bit
whereof I speak. Through the process, I have learned the ins and outs of
Kindle publishing (and e-publishing in general), learning as much from what
didn't work as from what did. And that's how I've come up with these four
important things to do:

1) Make a kickin' cover

This is one place where approximately 99% of self-published authors get it
wrong. Look at most self-published books, and they look less professional.
And like it or not, a lot of people go strictly off the cover. You have
about ten seconds to wow them with your cool cover before they click the
button and move on to another book. For the Kindle edition of Billy:
Messenger of Powers, I spent days upon days designing the cover. Everything
from the cover image, to the typeface, to the composition of the elements.
It was critical. And it paid off. Same for RUN, and another of my
books, Rising Fears, all of which have been praised for the fact that the
covers are interesting enough to "hook" readers. Some of my other covers
aren't as effective, or as professional looking, unfortunately. And guess
what? They also don't sell as well.

2) Market yourself

Here's a fact of life in general: people generally don't give you things
for free. You have to earn them. And that includes getting people to read
your work. When I wroteBilly, I spent over a month designing a website that
was interesting, conveyed a message about the book, and had a look and feel
that I felt would intrigue people and make them want to find out more. Same
with the website for RUN. And my own website, michaelbrentcollings.com,
took even longer. But that was only the start. I also had a Facebook "fan"
page, a Twitter feed, and did the rounds of book and genre conventions. Not
to mention doing interviews, podcasts, guest blogs, and generally talking
to anyone and everyone who would listen. You have to do more than write a
book. You have to create an event.

3) Have a grabby description

"What do you do when everyone you know – family, friends, everyone – is
trying to kill you? You RUN."

That is the description on amazon.com for my book RUN. Two sentences that I
spent an extremely long time writing. Like the cover of your book, the
production description is something that has to grab people, reel them in,
and not let them go. Some self-published authors think the best way to get
someone to read their work is to describe every jot and tittle. But in
reality, the secret isn't information, it's captivation. You have to
intrigue your (prospective) readers. You have to leave them with serious
questions that they want answered. Describing what your book is about is
less important than creating a specific feeling in the mind and heart of
your audience: the feeling that they will be better off reading your book
than not.

4) Write something worth reading

This may seem obvious, but the fact of the matter is you have to have
something pretty darn special. I'm not saying this to depress anyone: I
firmly believe that most people have great stories in them, and have the
potential to learn how to tell them. But make no mistake, it is something
that takes practice, dedication, and perspiration. Writing is a skill. It
is a discipline. Anyone can knock out a sentence or two. But getting those
sentences to grab a complete stranger to the point that he or she is
willing to fork over hard-earned cash to read them is another matter. Let
alone getting them to like the sentences enough that they want to tell
their friends to spend their hard-earned cash on them. Again, I really do
believe that most people have it in them to do this. But I also believe
just as stridently that to get to that point takes practice, practice, and
more practice. I have spent thousands of hours learning how to write... and
I continue to learn. Any author who wants to charm people into buying his
or her work has to be willing to put in the effort to make it happen.
Because without the skill to back up your work, no matter how good your
basic ideas are, they probably won't sell. There are exceptions, but for
the most part a book has to be extraordinarily well-written in order to get
people to buy it.

That's not to say that everyone will like your book. Some people don't
like RUN, or Billy: Messenger of Powers. Or Harry Potter or anything by
Stephen King or even the bestselling book of all time (the Bible). But if
you don't care enough to develop your writing skills in service of your
storytelling, you can bet that few (if any) will like it at all.

And so...

... there you have it, folks. Again, I think most people have interesting
stories to tell. But without doing the four things above, the great story
will probably sit quietly in a dark corner of your closet. And that, my
friends, is no fun at all.

Best Wishes,
Michaelbrent Collings

WGA, HWA, creator of All Write - the most comprehensive writing seminar in
the world
internationally bestselling author of The Haunted, The Loon, Billy:
Messenger of Powers,
and my newest bestselling horror novel, APPARITION!

Follow me on Facebook or check out the hilarity on my blog.

 ==============*

* *Dynamic Character
by Bruce L Cook*


Guideline from a local reading program: Watch for characterization in
fiction. The characters should be dynamic (i.e., change during the story).


Guideline from my college coursework in fiction writing: Always stay in
character. If a character has to change, it would be the protagonist, who
is allowed to change only after the tough lessons he or she has endured
during the story.
Are these guidelines at odds with each other? Probably not. (I caution with
“probably” because I’m wary of any “always true” guideline for fiction.)


Yes, our characters must always be true to (consistent with) themselves, so
whatever they do on page 234 has to match the motivations and
characteristics they have displayed in prior pages. However, it is also
true that they should learn from whatever is happening in the story. Just
not to the same degree as we might expect the protagonist to change.


For example, we might portray a character as a total scoundrel. However,
after the scoundrel interacts with the protagonist (and stops drinking or
drugging or starts going to a self-help group), it is a good idea to show a
favorable change in his or her life.


For the protagonist, the situation is different. Either we allow the
protagonist to learn from the tough life lessons in the story or we portray
a tragedy, which is inevitable when the protagonist denies what he or she
now knows is true.
So I offer no hard and fast rule However, in terms of helping your readers
learn from the story, I do recommend that you think of your main characters
as you write.


Have they changed? Why or why not?


Should they change? What would the reader learn if they do?


Try these questions on your current fiction or even those stories you
published before. Ask yourself – are your characters dynamic enough?

(Bruce is the publisher of author-me.com)

 ============================================================



    Publishing Emerging Writers

    November, 2012 (No. 1311)

    Publisher: Cookcomm - Bruce L. Cook, 7337 Grandview Ct.,

    Carpentersville, IL 60110 USA





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