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Amazon Offers Great Opportunities to Build Your Book Sales

Charles Jacobs — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:11:17 +0000

Every new writer’s dream is to have his/her book listed on Amazon. There is no question the site is one of our top bookstores and the online leader in book sales. When you simply place your book on the site, it will generate purchases. But with a modest amount of effort, you’ll find yourself really building sales.

You can increase your numbers substantially by taking advantage of the promo programs Amazon offers its authors. Begin the process by providing a good photo of your book cover. Amazon will place it on your Listing Page, the basic page that every visitor sees first. A page without a cover photo immediately loses sales strength.

Write a description of the book that will excite potential buyers, and submit it with your book cover. It will appear under “Product Description.” This is your chance to express whatever you wish about the book you’ve written.

Click on to Amazon’s “Author Central” site and discover the simple process required to add “Search Inside.” This is a special program the site offers that allows potential readers to view limited segments of your book at no charge. It has proved to be a very effective sales tool, and more than 50% of the books Amazon lists now offer it.

Editorial Reviews

Very often publications review a book and will not take the time and effort to post it. Smart authors then extract several sentences from the review and post them as an endorsement which is allowed on the site under “Editorial Reviews.”

In addition to extracts from publication reviews, you should reach out for as many endorsements of your book as possible. These are shorter blurbs written by well known people that praise the book. They too are placed in the “Editorial Reviews” section of your listing page

Book Reviews Enrich Your Listing

Build the power of your listing by including reviews by a good cross section of reviewers. Include members of Amazon 1,000 top reviewers, experts in the subject your book is about and well known people in the writing/publishing industry.

A list of top Amazon reviewers can be found at www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/top-reviewers.html. Make sure your friends and acquaintances submit reviews as well. The more the merrier.

You are probably familiar with the Amazon rating system of one to five gold stars. The better the book in the opinion of the reviewer, the higher the number of stars.

The site will allow only the person writing the review to post it, and that person must be a customer of Amazon’s.

Author’s Page

Amazon urges its writers to create an “Author’s Page.” The company will do the basic design, but you must supply photographs or yourself and your book cover, as well as some of the text involved such as the author’s bio.

The Author Central program that was required to create Search Inside for your book is also the tool for adding, deleting or altering text or artwork on the Author’s Page. Click on to it, and you can add the elements we are talking of here.

When you create the bio, be certain to stress the professional aspect of your life, your accomplishments, books you’ve written and published, awards you’ve received and so forth. This is not a personal bio; it is designed to assist in the sales of your book.

Amazon also relies on you to provide a bibliography, if you have written more than one book. This too is done through Author Central.

One of the newer and more exciting additions to the page is the segment called “Latest Blog Posts.” Amazon allows you to create an RSS feed from your blog to the page. If you don’t have a blog, you can create a simple one and post directly to the page.

Other Amazon Programs

For those of you who enjoy writing short stories and essays, Amazon has provided a “Amazon Shorts” in which your selected pieces will appear in e-book form and sell at 49cents. You receive a percentage of the sale. I know this sounds like nothing, but consider the volume of this bookseller, and realize there is some healthy income to be derived from the program.

Another money-making program available to you is to become an “Amazon Affiliate.” You advertise a book or other product from the Amazon list on your own web site. A link is established to Amazon where the actual sale is consummated. You receive 15% percent of the list price of the item sold. Amazon will provide banners to place on your site advertising the arrangement.

There are other tie-ins with this master retailer that you can investigate on your own. You can find many of them in the excellent book “Sell Your Book on Amazon.” But be certain at the very least to follow through on the suggestions in this article and watch your book sales boom.

Charles Jacobs is an author, book coach and writing instructor. His latest book, “The Writer Within You,” has been named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR seven times. It has won gold and bronze medals. The book can be purchased at http://www.retireandwrite.com.

Video: The First Rule by Robert Crais

TCT staff — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:42:13 +0000

New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais shares information on his latest book in the Joe Pike series, The First Rule.

How to Sell More Copies of Your Book – Simple Marketing Tip For Writers & Authors

Stephanie J. Hale — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:55:55 +0000

Rich writers understand that writing a book is only the beginning, not an end in itself. They are often marketers first and writers second.

Marketing may sound like a dirty word especially to literary or academic writers. I understand that. I used to feel the same.

But let me ask you this. What’s the point writing a book if you can’t sell the darn thing?

If you really want to make a successful career as a writer, you can’t afford to ignore marketing.

What I recommend – if you haven’t done it already – is to think about ‘joint ventures’ to sell or promote your book. Don’t be put off by the business jargon – this just means looking for other people who can help sell and publicize your book for you.

So, for example, if you’ve written a book about childcare, are there any professionals who could promote you to their list of clients? If you’ve written a book about dogs, are there online vets or dog schools who could promote your book to their customers?

Why would they do it, you might ask? Simple. If your book aligns with their service, they are adding value to their clients by telling them about you.

Now listen up – some businesses have ‘lists’ running into hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions. Most mainstream publishers on the other hand are happy if they sell five thousand books – this is considered a ‘successful’ print run!

Do it today. Right now. Write a list of 50 potential joint venture partners.

Feeling nervous or a little intimidated? Yes, we all do. Even with 20 years experience, I still get butterflies at times. But if your goals aren’t making you even a little scared, you’re probably not setting yourself big enough goals!

Breaking through that ‘fear barrier’ is what separates out bestselling authors and millionaire writers from the rest. Even if 40 business owners say ‘no’, and 10 say ‘yes’ this could make a massive difference to your book sales.

Is this book your passion? Does it make your heart sing? If so, can you afford not to take this step today. Try it – what have you got to lose?

Stephanie J Hale is a leading writers’ coach and publishing scout. She’s worked with bestselling authors and top literary agents for over 20 years. She specializes in helping writers get the publishing deal and readership they deserve. More FREE publishing tips at: http://www.richwriterpoorwriter.com

Should I Disguise Characters in My Book Or Memoir? Is it Ok to Write About People I Know?

Stephanie J. Hale — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:36:15 +0000

Writers often ask me if it’s ok to write about people they know. Sometimes they’re writing a memoir or autobiography. Or perhaps they’re writing a novel with a hero or villain based on someone they know.

There are various little tricks you can use to make sure that people don’t recognize themselves. You can change physical appearance – stature, hair length, eye colour, etc. You can also change gender, profession, or location. Or you can blend two or more different people together to create a different character.

Believe it or not, the chances are most people won’t recognize themselves. I say this as someone who has both written about other people and been written about as a character.

When I have created characters based on people I know, they have never spotted themselves! Never. Not once. Similarly, I failed to recognize a thinly disguised portrait of myself in a Booker-shortlisted novel. Thankfully, the portrait was a flattering one. Though I won’t tell you the name of the book – that’s a little secret between me and the author!

Another alternative is to use a nom de plume to obscure everyone’s identity including your own. The creative advantage is that this may allow you the emotional freedom to write your book in an uninhibited way. Belle de Jour is a high profile example of a writer who did this. However, I wouldn’t recommend this in all but the most extreme cases – as it makes it extremely difficult to do marketing and publicity.

How will you promote your book if you can’t speak to the media, for example? How will you manage your website or build a relationship with your readers? People also relate better to book reviews when they see a photo of the author.

If you’re on good terms with the people you’re writing about, and you don’t intend to disguise them, I’d advise asking what their feelings are. As a child, my mother was a newspaper editor who used to pen a weekly column poking fun at our home life. It was trivial domestic stuff, nothing to shake the earth. But as a teenager, let me tell you, it was excruciating.

A lot of this will come down to the personalities of the people you are writing about and what your relationship with them is like. Only you will know the answer to this.

Finally, we come to the issue of libel. Now, libel laws are complex – I can easily write a whole new article on the subject. However, the main question to ask is: can the person be identified by themselves or anyone else? If so, is what you’ve written damaging to them either professionally or personally?

Rest assured that libel is extremely hard to prove, very expensive, and rarely embarked upon by anyone but the rich and famous. This said, get expert advice if you think you may be writing anything that’s likely to end up with a law suit.

Stephanie J Hale is a leading writers’ coach and publishing scout. She’s worked with bestselling authors and top literary agents for over 20 years. She specializes in helping writers get the publishing deal and readership they deserve. More FREE publishing tips at: http://www.richwriterpoorwriter.com

5 Steps to Ignite Your Creativity and Keep it Burning!

Julia McCutchen — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:01:52 +0000

Fresh from presenting a sell-out masterclass, I was looking forward to writing this article for my ezine and had it scheduled in my diary to do the following morning. My most creative and productive writing time is usually in the mornings so I always aim to organise my other business commitments around this fact. The title of the article popped into my mind as soon as I picked up my pen.

I wrote it down and then decided to deal first with a specific task which also needed to be done that day. It was a financial task which I thought would only take about 30 minutes. Over an hour later (do you recognise that one?!), the task was completed but it had involved some serious working out and concentration.

So although it felt good to have it done, the process had shifted me out of feeling like writing! Fortunately I have been working consciously with the creative process for quite a few years now so instead of feeling frustrated, I knew that I could turn the situation around. This did not involve pushing myself to write when I didn’t really feel ‘in the flow’ but instead came from accepting fully the way events had unfolded and finding a way to re-ignite my creative feelings.

So I had an early lunch and went for a walk up the track near the house. I stopped at the brow of the hill where a broken branch provides a welcome resting place to breathe in the magnificent view across the landscape…

Without consciously thinking it through, by the time I began my return journey, the outline of this article had already ‘arrived’ in its entirety. Once I was back, the words found their way freely onto the page and I felt energised by the whole process.

So here is my 5 step process to help ignite your creativity when you need it and to keep it burning day after day:

1. Write a list of activities which lift your spirits and inspire your soul.

If you’re not sure what to include, think of what you enjoyed as a child and then interpret the principle to suit you as an adult. For example, I used to enjoy being outside and making ‘dens’ in the small patch of woodland by our house. Today, I enjoy being outside & walking through trees, especially when the sun dapples through the branches …

2. Identify what’s stopping you from incorporating more of these creative triggers in your current rhythm of life.

Many people will have time and/or money on this list of factors which hold them back from incorporating more creative activities in their lives. If they are on your list, take this opportunity to review what is truly important to you, and if necessary, reframe your thinking around the value of your creativity?

3. Write a list of solutions which ideally includes asking a friend or colleague if they would become an active partner – or even simply a ‘sounding board’ – in support of your creativity.

Try shifting your focus away from how hard it is to find the time and/or money onto how much you get from feeling creatively inspired. This should make enough of a difference for you to incorporate more choices each and every day which bring you closer to your creative intentions.

4. Choose an activity from your list to engage in at least once a week and ideally 3 times a week, or even better, every single day!

These don’t all have to be large, time consuming activities. In fact many of them should be easily manageable alongside other commitments. I recommend having a mix of different ideas to suit different occasions, moods, time frames and feelings. Sometimes a 20 minute walk at lunchtime will do the trick. Other times, a longer session making a colourful vision board is just what you need to inspire you subsequently with the words on the page.

5. Share your choice with your creativity partner and then let them know how you get on!

Announcing your intention out loud to someone else is an excellent way of helping yourself to stick to it. The sense of accountability and support for staying on track can work both ways so offer this opportunity to your creativity partner too. He or she does not need to be a writer for this purpose. Anyone who values creative expression no matter what the form can be a good creativity partner. Once a month, catch up by email, on the phone or in person and exchange summaries of what you’ve enjoyed most from your creative focus that month.

Enjoy the journey!

Julia McCutchen opens the way for writers to find their true voice, discover themselves in the process, and write consciously, creatively, successfully and with soul. A former managing director and publisher with over 20 years’ publishing experience, Julia’s holistic approach includes coaching, mentoring and masterclasses for aspiring authors. To access free articles, audios and other resources for writers, visithttp://www.JuliaMcCutchen.com

Enjoy that? You can read more from Julia at The Cuckleburr Times here.

Researching The Setting For Your Novel

Thomas Ajava — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:01:27 +0000

Picking the setting of a novel is obviously a critical step. Writing a classic detective novel set in a tiny town in Siberia is going to be a struggle. That being said, picking the setting is only a small step. Next, you need to build story credibility by getting the setting right.

What is setting credibility? It is credibility derived from accuracy. Let’s say you are writing a story that is set in New York City. It’s our detective story. In the second chapter, you have the detective walk about the World Trade Center. Unless you’ve set the time of the story before 9/11, you’ve just described buildings that no longer exist. Not only is it bad taste, but the inaccuracy has shot a hole in the credibility of your story. So, how do you avoid this problem?

Many writers will only go with settings that they know. This approach has its benefit in the fact that your inherent knowledge of the area means mistakes should be easily avoided. There is, of course, a secondary benefit in that you really don’t have to do much research on the setting since you already know it. For us lazy writers [we know who we are!], this cannot be understated!

What about settings you don’t know? What if you’ve never been to New York City, but are ready to write the greatest detective novel ever? The simplest answer is to go to New York and spend a few months there to get familiar with your setting. The problem, of course, is few of us have the money or time to do this. Being a writer may be touted as glamorous, but it hardly pays well unless you are a big name.

This makes research the best approach for the majority of us. There are obviously many different ways to do research. The Internet is a great tool, but just make sure the information you have is both timely and accurate. Another great tool is, believe it or not, to rent travel documentaries on the location. You can get them through Netflix or your service of choice. Again, make sure you know when the film was shot.

To add extra credibility to your setting, try research unique characteristics about specific locations in your setting. Let’s say an important part of your story takes place in a hotel. Try to pull up pictures of the hotel online by searching the “images” function of any search engine and order brochures from the hotel. Once you have all the information, note as many unique, small details as you can about the hotel. Now write them into your story. Readers will note those details and your story will become far more credible. The devil, as they say, is in the details.

The setting of your story is incredibly important. Collecting the details surrounding it is not always the most glamorous task, but it is a critical one. Get it right and your story will benefit.

Author Bio
Thomas Ajava is with NomadJournals.com – makers of writing journals for writers and readers alike.

Writing Fiction: Which comes first, Plot or Character?

A Be My Guest Author — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:01:51 +0000

Today’s Be My Guest Author Article is by Kathryne Kennedy, Author of the upcoming My Unfair Lady.

Whether plot or character comes first when composing a novel is sort of like the chicken and egg thing. It greatly depends on the author’s point of view. Plot and character are so entwined that it’s often hard to even separate the two. Like all elements of a novel-dialogue, exposition, description, pacing-plot and character are woven throughout. I think writing can be compared to weaving, where the threads are blurred within the composition of the overall pattern.

After several books I’ve found that, although there are guidelines to writing, there are no hard and fast rules. That’s why the best authors appear to break them. So I would hesitate to give a definitive answer to that question, and can only offer what I personally do as a writer when starting a new novel.

I start with plot. I’m probably breaking the romance guidelines, as romances are known for their character driven stories. But then again, most of my books are a mix of fantasy and romance, so they’re a bit different anyway.

For me, I have to know where I’m going before I create my characters, even if it’s only a general idea of the plot. Once I have my external conflict (plot) I can then create the characters who would suffer the worst internal conflict within the story. So, if I have a storyline where the heroine must leave her village to find her missing father, who is tangled up in all sorts of political intrigue, I will create a character who is not an adventuress at heart. She’d prefer a cozy, quiet life of knitting and cooking and raising babies. The last thing she would want is to leave her peaceful home and go wandering about the dangerous countryside, eventually becoming tangled up in the same intrigues that cost her father his life. Her internal conflict will be so much greater than creating a character who longs for adventure and excitement. And her growth would be much more rewarding and life-altering.

And then this is where it gets interesting. Because once I create the characters, and plunk them into the story, they will take over, sometimes changing the plot drastically from what I’d first envisioned. And I let them. Because isn’t that the magic of writing, when the words aren’t coming from you, but the characters that you’ve created?

My upcoming release, My Unfair Lady, is a Victorian romance, and probably more character driven than any other book I’ve written. Inspired by Shaw’s Pygmalion, I knew the plot would involve a brash American who comes to London and hires an impoverished duke to turn her into a lady. I knew that someone would be trying to kill the duke, and why. And then I created the characters. The heroine’s reasons for wanting her transformation seemed obvious at first, but then I gave her a secret, one that made her want the things she did, without knowing why, at least at first. When I created my hero I gave him a superficially glamorous life, and a boredom with it that would make my heroine seem like a breath of fresh air-that would make his desire to change her conflict with his growing attraction for her just the way she was. And then the magic happened. The internal conflict became so pronounced that it overwhelmed the external conflict, and I let them loose to figure out each other’s secrets. However, the external plot continued to throw them together time and again to give them a chance to do so. And it was pure joy to watch these two characters discover the truth about themselves, and fall in love with each other while doing so.

So should you start with plot or character? That’s all up to you, and the story you envision writing. But if you’re not quite sure, try starting with a general plot outline or idea, and create characters who would hate to be put into the situation you’ve created. And see where the magic takes you.

About the Author
Kathryne Kennedy is the author of the Relics of Merlin series, acclaimed for her world-building and best known for her historical paranormal romances. She has also written a fantasy romance and this Victorian historical romance. She has also published nearly a dozen short stories in the SFF/Romance genre, receiving Honorable Mention twice in the “Writers of the Future” contest. She has traveled a great deal and has lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S. She is a business owner and currently lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons. For more information, please visit http://www.kathrynekennedy.com/

About The Book
My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy-in stores December 2009!
He created the perfect woman…
The impoverished Duke of Monchester despises the rich Americans who flock to London, seeking to buy their way into the ranks of the British peerage. So when railroad heiress Summer Wine Lee offers him a king’s ransom if he’ll teach her to become a proper lady, he’s prepared to rebuff her. But when he meets the petite beauty with the knife in her boot, it’s not her fortune he finds impossible to resist…

For the arms of another man
Frontier-bred Summer Wine Lee has no interest in winning over London society-it’s the New York bluebloods and her future mother-in-law she’s determined to impress. She knows the cost of smoothing her rough-and-tumble frontier edges will be high. But she never imagined it might cost her heart…

Thanks for writing this article especially for The Cuckleburr Times readers, Katherine. We’re thrilled! – Editor.

Bring it to a Point – A Closure Technique

Thomas Ajava — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:01:42 +0000

Some people have a problem with starting a story. I don’t. I have a problem with finishing them. I know where I want to go, but getting there can be a problem. One technique that I’ve learned to use is called bringing it to a point. If you have closure issues, it might work for you as well.

I write like I paint. There is stuff everywhere. Okay, and maybe badly. Regardless, the storyline that starts out in detail quickly ranges to and fro like a ship on a storm filled sea form some great Viking yarn. I used to fight it, but now I just go along for the ride and hope I’ll find myself with some great story of value. Sometimes the boat finds the promised land. Sometimes it sinks! Regardless, it is an opened ended form of writing that can go as long as you can write. What if, however, you know the destination, but can’t see how to get there. You need a technique to develop this process in your mind.

The technique of writing to a point is admittedly a simple one. Perhaps it is even infantile. All I know is it has helped me with this issue. So, how does it work? The answer is in structure. Pick a predetermined length of text you are going to write. I usually go with five or 10 pages. Now nail down your ending in a short paragraph. Write it on the bottom of the last page. You know have your point.

The rest of the exercise is pretty simple. Start writing on the first page and practice bringing your story to the final paragraph. Will you will rarely, if ever, pull this off. You also do not need to worry excessively about grammar, punctuation or any such thing. None of these things is the point, pun intended, of the exercise.

To me, a story is an arc. It starts here and ends up there. The point of this exercise is to train yourself to deal with the last part of the arc. You’ve written to the highest part of the arc. Now, how do you bring it back to a defined finish…a point if you will? Frodo Baggins went underground, over water, through marshes and so on. From the word go of the story, however, he always had to complete an arc that found him in Mount Doom.

Many stories succeed or fail in how they close the arc of the story line. Getting from here to there is obviously important, but it is often the last 100 steps that make the journey a success or failure for the reader. Using the bring it to a point technique is one way to practice making those steps worthwhile in your story.

Thomas Ajava is with NomadJournals.com – makers of writing journals for writers and readers alike.

Five Tips to Help Your Child Develop Their Natural Gifts

A Be My Guest Author — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:27:57 +0000

This Editor Picks article is by Rafe Esquith, Author of Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World

It’d be nice if there was a secret I could tell you about how to instantly make your kids more successful in school and life. But there is no magic pill, only that old stand-by, hard work. And the funny thing about that is, you can’t force kids to work hard. I suppose you could try, but I’ve rarely seen anything useful come from kids whose parents had to hold their noses to the grindstone. If there’s something close to a secret, perhaps it’s this: Kids work hard when they want to work hard, and this happens only when are motivated to do so by some positive internal goal, and not by fear or because they are worried about disappointing others. They work hard because they value hard work. Instilling kids with values like this is the first step the long road to real success.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to make this happen. Here are five ways to put your kids on the path to extraordinary:

Toot Your Own Horn. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I sound like a broken record when it comes to spreading the gospel of music education. Put simply, every child should play an instrument, and parents should make whatever sacrifices are necessary to put a flute, trumpet, guitar, or tuba in their kid’s hands. I don’t have room here to list all the valuable skills that playing music can help develop, but one of the most important is the ability to listen to others: to make great music, a child must learn to pay attention to what others are playing. Doing so improves focus and teaches a valuable lesson about collaboration.

Be the Example. We’ve probably all seen a parent yelling at her kids to be quiet and perhaps chuckled to ourselves about the mixed signals sent by this gesture. It seems like an easy lesson: for kids to understand why things are important, you have to be consistent. But this isn’t just situational advice. Kids mirror parents and adults in far more depth than we often realize. They internalize our values by watching what we do, which is why it’s essential that we live the way we want them to live. We can stress the importance of being on time until we’re blue in the face, but if we’re constantly late to pick them up from school, that’s what they’re going to remember.

Great Books are Great for a Reason. Kids have two backpacks: the physical one they carry their books in, and the mental backpack where they store all the lessons and experiences they’ll use to help make decisions. A paperback copy of To Kill a Mockingbird won’t take up much room in the first one, but the wisdom contained within this book can be carried in the mental backpack for a lifetime. There are lessons here about choosing generosity over selfishness, making the right choice even when it’s the difficult one, and standing up for your beliefs. I also recommend Thornton Wilder’s fantastic play Our Town, and anything by Shakespeare (important note: kids are never too young for Shakespeare). A kid with a library card has the world at her fingertips, and when parents read with her, they can serve as map to help make sense of that world.

Do Unto Others. Volunteering is a great way to build character and teach values while making an important contribution to the community. Working at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, visiting an elderly person at a retirement home on a regular basis, or planting trees and helping to beautify your town are all great ways to help kids learn about the importance of selflessness and humility. I know several families who volunteer together on a holiday schedule: on each day off, they pick a different activity and spend a few hours volunteering together. This way, parents get to be the example, reinforcing the positive message.

Patience, My Dears. In today’s on-demand world, kids are taught that anything worth having can be had instantly. This is an incredibly bad lesson, and parents must work to counteract this by instilling kids with patience and focus — the skills that will let them buckle down to achieve the truly great things that invariably take much time and effort. I’ve found that gardening is an excellent choice when it comes to teaching patience. Kids see that reaching their goal is a slow process, one that requires dedicated care and attention at every phase. And since they get to watch their garden grow as they tend to it, they learn that the real pleasure is in the process (though ripe tomatoes are certainly also a pleasure, and tasty!).

You may have noticed that most of these “success” tips don’t have anything to do with school. That’s because making kids extraordinary people is the first step toward making them extraordinary students. All follows from values and character, and in working to instill these, you’ll create kids that you — and the rest of the community and country — can be proud of.

©2009 Rafe Esquith, author of Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World

Rafe Esquith, author of Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World, has taught at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles for twenty-four years. He is the only teacher to have been awarded the president’s National Medal of the Arts. His many other honors and awards include the American Teacher Award, Parents magazine’s As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, and People magazine’s Heroes Among Us Award. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Barbara Tong.

For more information, please visit www.hobartshakespeareans.org

Staying on The Funny Side of Weight Loss Secrets

Kelly Swanson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:18:01 +0000

I would like to thank TiredOfYourWeight@WhosTheNextIdiot.com for the email you just sent reminding me that I’m overweight. How did you find me? Were you there when I used emergency money to buy girl scout cookies? When I dove between the sofa cushions because I thought I saw a French fry? When I ran past you in my bathing suit at the pool and took out three toddlers? How do you people know that I want to lose weight, need money transferred from Nigerian royalty, and have been looking everywhere for a fake Rolodex? Baffling.

So, Mister TiredOfYourWeight, I appreciate that you took time in the middle of the night to send me this urgent email to share your weight loss secret that is sure to revolutionize the world and to give me the opportunity to buy into it before anyone else. I am flattered that you spend so much time and energy caring about strangers. I wish you would spend the same amount of time learning to spell and removing the strands of gibberish in your heartfelt message which, until I speak in tongues, I am unable to translate. I’m sure you mean well, but I don’t need the revolutionary answer to instant weight loss. You see, I already know the answer, and have known it for years. In fact, it really hasn’t been much of a secret since 4th grade biology. Eat less than you are, exercise more than you are, and you will lose weight. Shocking I know. Knowing what to do isn’t the secret. It’s doing it.

You see, I would rather drink lumpy shakes made out of goat’s urine, strap thirty pounds of spandex to my body, and spend thousands on hairdos, clothes, and accessories guaranteed to make me look a size smaller. I would rather have my colon flushed and take diet pills that cause hair loss, fainting spells, and the unavoidable explosive diarrhea. But don’t make me eat vegetables – that’s just gross. I want those programs where you actually pay more to eat less. I would rather spend hours reading manuals from experts claiming it’s not the quantity but the combinations of foods- just don’t mix the brown Snickers with the tan French fries and you’re fine.

I want to sit around perplexed saying, “But I don’t eat that much” and convince myself that I must have some rare thyroid condition and that everybody’s order contains the word Supersize. I want to buy exercise tapes that I’m too lazy to open and fancy treadmills to hold my plants, rather than park at the back of the parking lot and take the stairs. I am not interested in the kind of exercise where I am involved. I don’t even want to get up to change the TV. I once watched a twenty-four hour Valerie Bertinelli marathon because I couldn’t find the remote. I would rather sit around with a group of other overweight people and have them tell me size doesn’t matter and look at skinny people in disgust and hope they’re miserable.

So I do know the secret to weight loss, Mr. TiredOfYourWeight. Perhaps if you could come up with a revolutionary way to do the things we don’t want to do. Now that I would read. So thanks but no thanks. I would, however, be interested in a way to earn a million in a week without ever having to get dressed or leave my house. Do you have a cousin who does that?

Professional Speaker Kelly Swanson is an award-winning author and comedian who delivers clean side-splitting keynotes and break-out sessions. Her heartwarming messages about staying on the “funny side of life,” will inspire, motivate, and teach you the importance of cultivating healthy personal and professional relationships. Kelly has opened for Loretta Lynn, performed on Holland America Cruise Lines, and was a featured artist at the Best of Our State Festival and the National Storytelling Festival. Our State Magazine calls her “One of North Carolina’s Funniest Women.” Kelly Swanson, Humorist – Powerful Message, Outrageously Funny. Visit Kelly at http://www.kellyswanson.net or email kelly@kellyswanson.net.

Writers Need the Right Mindset to Become Successful Authors

Julia McCutchen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:01:46 +0000

Being aware of your mindset and how it either helps or hinders your progress as a writer is fundamental to your success as an author. Many people understand a mindset to be ‘a collection of thought processes which are characteristic to an individual or a group’ (Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus). However, there is an important missing ingredient from this definition.

Mindset is not just about your thoughts, it is also very much about your emotions. So what you think is crucial but what you feel is even more significant when it comes to writing a book for publication, and indeed with everything you do in life. Thought and emotion are an immensely powerful combination which can either work for, or against, what you want to achieve with your writing.

On her 40th birthday, Jane decided that the book she had thought about writing for so long could not be put off any longer. It felt like ‘now or never’ and she was determined to see it through to completion. As a professional person who had an interest in personal development, Jane knew all about setting goals and positive thinking. So she created a plan and scheduled time in her diary to begin writing.

Three months later with only a few pages of notes and nothing concrete achieved, she approached me for help. She was dismayed by the fact that despite her best efforts and a strong mental determination to write this book, it just wasn’t happening. It was especially frustrating for her as she was a disciplined person who usually found it easy to stick to her plans. It wasn’t long before the coaching process revealed that although she had gathered her thoughts about writing her book, the way she felt about the whole process was entirely different.

Deep down she didn’t believe she could write or that she had anything interesting to say let alone that anyone else would be interested to read her words. She also felt she had no chance whatsoever of being published and discovered that sheer willpower didn’t work. The harder she pushed, the less progress she made! Once she realised what was happening she felt an enormous sense of relief. She was then able to let go of the enormous pressure she had been putting herself under. As a result, we were able to work on releasing the anxieties she was feeling so that she could embrace a healthier and more holistic approach to writing her book.

With the right awareness and support, she was able to shift her mindset – thoughts and feelings – onto a new level which ultimately led to an opening of the way for her writing to flow. She is now enjoying writing more than ever before and making good progress with her manuscript. Jane’s story is not an isolated example. When it comes to writing your book for publication, your mindset will literally make or break your success.

So here are 3 tips to help you review your current mindset and cultivate the right conditions to support your creative expression on the page:

1. Ask yourself this question: how do I feel about being someone who writes / a writer / an author?

Do you believe in yourself as a writer, if not all of the time, at least most of the time? If not, how many ways can you come up with to support a shift in your mindset around this question? You could write in your journal to download your anxieties and clear space for new thoughts and feelings to arise. Try remembering a time when you did feel strong and confident about something and then apply those feelings to yourself as a writer.

2. Check in regularly …

It is important to check in with how you are thinking and feeling about your writing on a regular basis. Every time you sit down to write take a few moments to bring your awareness to your mindset before you start. Develop a range of strategies to shift your mindset if you need to and seek support if you want to fast-track your progress.

3. Make sure you are in alignment – body, mind, emotions and soul!

You will know if you are in alignment because your life will be full of synchronicity. The right people and opportunities will arrive just when you need them. A book will fall open at a page with the information you were looking for.

Of course life isn’t always that smooth. Yet if you constantly feel like you are pushing a snowball up a mountain, you can be sure that something is out of synch somewhere! Get used to checking what’s going on within you at every level and then take action as required. Minding your mindset will enable you to do what you are here to do and write what you are here to write.

Enjoy the journey!

Enjoy that? You can read more from Julia at The Cuckleburr Times here.

Book Excerpt: Lessons From the Wicked One

A Book Excerpt Author — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:01:38 +0000

This book excerpt is from Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do.

Lifers seem to sense — seem to have learned, from years of hard-won experience — that the wicked stepmother has much to teach us about who we are and, counterintuitively perhaps, that she has a lesson or two to impart about surviving stepmotherhood with our self-respect intact. The happiest, most successful women with stepchildren, it seems, have first of all accepted the ugly truth that we will, some days, be ugly — jealous, resentful, and angry. Slowly, the women who succeed at marriage to a man with children learn that these charged feelings are not only terribly taboo; they are also grounded in reality. Jealousy, as stepfamily expert Elizabeth Church writes, comes from feeling powerless, and stepmothers are certainly often that. Resentment indicates that we are feeling unappreciated and that our overtures of kindness are going unreciprocated — another common and maddening reality of stepmother-stepchild relations. Anger may be a sign that our unrealistic expectations of stepfamily harmony have been dashed. Or it may be a healthy response to feeling spurned and unsupported for years on end, and it may eventually motivate us — and our husbands — to take constructive action.

Like the classic wicked stepmother, the happiest lifers no longer seem hobbled by the need to be liked by their stepkids. If things work out, that’s fine. And if they don’t, well, the lifers shrug as if to say, It’s okay to stop trying if you know you gave it your best. Some battles just can’t be won and aren’t worth my energy. Nor do successful lifers seem gagged by the fear that stepkids, husbands, friends, or the world at large will think of them as stepmonsters if they speak up about wanting respect and civil treatment, or to be treated as a person rather than an obstacle in front of Dad or a maid. Such fears and the need for approval are likely the biggest obstacles a stepmother must overcome in her quest to put her own happiness on a par with that of the rest of the family. It may be difficult or frightening at first to assert ourselves, feeling like outsiders in the family hierarchy as we likely do, but the alternative is worse. Again and again, women with stepkids showed me that it is a quick slide from “I bite my tongue when his kids say something rude or mean to me because I don’t want to get into an argument with them” to “I’m afraid to lay down the law in my own home.” Next stop is “I nag my husband to get his kids to act better and be nicer to me, and then he and I have a huge fight.” Then on to “I hate being a stepmother” and, finally, “I just can’t do this anymore.”

It might just be that some of the strategies of the classic wicked stepmother — toned down but essentially gleaned straight from her ostensibly evil behavior — can pull us back from the brink and even make marriage to a man with children pleasurable. Every day, for example, the wicked stepmother looks at her reflection and asks, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” The real life lesson here is not to be a homicidal, envious narcissist, of course, but to put yourself first. Stepmothers, as we have seen from the studies of their rates of burnout and depression, constantly lose sight of their own needs — arguably even of themselves — as they deal with, blame themselves for, and attempt to fix stepfamily dynamics. Giving yourself a little love will counterbalance the powerful but unreasonable cultural imperative that you must put his kids first. And a little vanity is the best antidote to the typical step-dilemma of becoming so consumed with the unhappiness that sometimes surrounds you that you forget you are an attractive woman, an appealing wife, and a compelling, sexy person — that is, that you have an identity apart from being a stepmom. As a stepmother of two teens told me, “Love thyself, because your stepkids won’t.”

The wicked stepmother does more than gaze at herself in the mirror, of course. She schemes, pulls strings, and consolidates her power. Real stepmothers have no need for any of that. Mostly. But it does pay for a woman with stepchildren to be canny, to observe, and to be strategic in her dealings with her husband and his kids. For example, there are worse things than helping your husband see that you are on the receiving end of quite a lot of bad treatment from his kids (whom he may naturally but unrealistically idealize until you help him see the truth about their behavior) and that it hurts you. It helps to remember that men generally have an easier time dealing with a wife who is sad or pained than one who is aggrieved and angry. Learning to show what is underneath your alienating fury — vulnerability and sadness — will not hurt your efforts. And as for power, don’t forget that you are, in fact, the queen of your household. Pandering and kowtowing to stepchildren of any age who do not respect you as one of the two people who rule your roost will not get them to like you, and it will not make them easier for you to like either. Lifers know that everyone wins when you can find it within yourself to say “Please don’t be rude to me in my home.”

The classic wicked stepmother is, of course, cold and unfeeling. She is emotionally stingy. And she may just have a point — sort of. After all, for a lot of good reasons, your stepkids are extremely unlikely to appreciate, let alone thank you for, your efforts with them. In all likelihood, neither will they gratify your desire to be loved. Your response should be never to give too much. Don’t give stepkids the opportunity to break anything of value to you, including your heart. Lowering your expectations of them and maintaining your focus on your own life — a toned-down version of being cold — will create a pressure-free environment in which a friendship might eventually take hold and even flourish.

Perhaps most notoriously, the wicked stepmother loves her own children best and doesn’t hesitate to put them first. The lesson here is not to be spiteful or petty, of course, or to overtly play favorites. But lifers and experts concur: don’t try to pretend that you love his kids and your kids the same, and don’t buy into the destructive belief that you should. His kids aren’t yours, you likely didn’t know them when they were beguiling babies or toddlers, and they are probably not making an effort to be lovable now. No guilt and no self-flagellating, then, when those without a clue observe, “You probably love them like they’re your own,” and it makes you want to roll your eyes. The expectations of the uninformed — especially regarding “maternal” behavior — are a particular burden for stepmothers. But others’ hopes needn’t become your obligation. Knowing the difference between what you can realistically achieve and what others think you ought to be able to do is the equivalent of a lifeline for women with stepkids.

The above is an excerpt from the book Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do by Wednesday Martin, Ph.D. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Copyright © 2009 Wednesday Martin, Ph.D., author of Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do

Wednesday Martin Ph.D., author of Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do was a regular contributor to the New York Post’s parenting page for several years, and her work has appeared in a number of national magazines. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from Yale and taught cultural studies and literature at Yale, the New School, and Baruch College. Martin, a stepmother for nine years, lives in New York City with her husband and their two sons.

For more information please visit www.WednesdayMartin.com.

Publication Credits – Build Up Your Bio (Super Fast) For Your Cover and Query Letters

Ronnie Smith — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:09:26 +0000

Many new creative writers are often frustrated when they don’t have any publication credits in the biographical section of their cover and query letters. “How will literary agents and editors at magazines and journals ever take me seriously if I don’t have any publishing credentials?” writers ask. Many writers feel there is a catch-22 situation in publishing: writers must be published to get published. So how can you break the cycle?

First and foremost, writers who are serious about publishing must develop good writing techniques and an effective, habitual submission strategy. There is no substitute for true publishing credentials: seeing your byline in a reputable print magazine or literary journal is valuable not only to your morale, but to your reputation. But if you’re in a pinch and you’d like to pad your writing bio while you’re waiting for the acceptance letters to start coming in, here are some techniques you might use.

Join a national, reputable writing organization. By joining a professional organization of writers in your genre, you are demonstrating that you are worthy of being among those writers and that you are serious about your writing. You are creating associations between yourself and that professional, established, reputable group. If you are writing romance novels, join Romance Writers of America. If you write literary work, consider the Association of Writing Programs. You will need to spend some money on the registration fees for these organizations, but it will be worth it if you can indicate that you are a member in good standing within specific writing groups. You’ll get to include their name on your query or cover letter; you’ll get access to great resources and a network of writers who may be willing to help you; and you’ll demonstrate your own professionalism. The credentials in your bio will show that even though you have few (if any) publication credits now, it’s only a matter of time.

Join a small, local organization. If you can’t muster up enough money to join a professional writing organization, you can often join a smaller local organization for free. If you can note on your cover or query letter, “I am part of a writer’s group that meets every month,” you’ll show that you’re resourceful and devoted. To find a local writing group or organization, visit your local library and ask around. Or you can find them by looking into social networking sites. Just take the necessary precautions to stay safe. The professional bio in your cover letter will look more writerly and your writing technique is bound to improve with your new commitment to critique and discussions of craft.

Volunteer. Writers and readers love people who volunteer with literary advocacy groups, and literary agents and editors are no exception. When you volunteer for a literacy organization, you look good because you’re doing good. Not only might you discover that your publishing credentials look better when you volunteer your time, but you may also learn that you enjoy sharing your passion for all things writing. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved.

Take classes. Research local schools or find local writers who teach classes. Studious writers are perceived as serious writers. Plus, being able to write that you “studied at the University of ABC” or that you “worked with award-winning novelist Joe Anybody” does a lot for your credibility. If you can’t get to a school, check out online classes available through your local colleges or other national writing schools.

Go to a writing conference. If your time and finances allow it, go to a writing conference. Not only will you be able to learn and network with literary agents, editors, and writers, you’ll also be able to note your attendance in your bio. If a literary agent or editor recognizes the name of the conference (perhaps he or she attended the conference in the past), it may work in your favor.

These are just a few ways you can quickly build the credits in the bio of your cover or query letter. You may not have stellar publishing credentials–maybe you haven’t published anything at all–but by demonstrating that you are committed to your work and your craft, you prove that you are reputable, dependable, and devoted. Just remember, when it comes to your commitment to publishing, strong submissions and publications are the BEST way to prove your skill! Good luck.

Ronnie Smith is President of Writer’s Relief. Ronnie tells us “Writer’s Relief (est. 1994) is a highly recommended author’s submission service. We act as specialized advisors and industry-specific personal assistants to help creative writers navigate the ins and outs of publishing. Along with strategically targeting submissions to the best-suited markets, we provide professional manuscript preparation, formatting, proofreading, market research, and tracking. We are endorsed by many in the writing community, and our clients include established authors, celebrated poets, tenured professors, editors, and promising new writers.”

Visit http://www.WritersRelief.com to learn how we can help you submit your creative writing to agents and editors. Our FREE Writers’ Newsflash offers useful articles and fun contests for writers of all levels. See you there!

Enjoy that? You can read more from Ronnie at The Cuckleburr Times here.

Be Open to Finding the Right Publishing Option For Your Book

Julia McCutchen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:01:01 +0000

Why is it important to keep an open mind regarding the right way forwards for you and your book?

To state what is obvious to some but invisible to others, the short answer is that traditional publishing is simply not appropriate, let alone possible, for everyone! It may be the objective that most people have initially. But once an understanding emerges of what is actually required to be successful as a commercially published author, thoughts and feelings can shift dramatically.

The reality is that only a relatively small proportion of aspiring authors achieve significant success in commercial publishing terms. And the truth is that you don’t have to be published by one of the large publishing corporations in order to have validation as a writer!

This is a point which I feel strongly about making and which is echoed by many of my professional colleagues. There is unquantifiable value in the writing process and completing any piece of writing, whatever the length and regardless of whether it is published or not.

In the contemporary climate, new routes to the marketplace are opening up all the time. This means that opportunities to share and communicate your work with a wide international audience – if you want to – are certainly no longer restricted to the traditional publishing route.

So finding the point of balance between being focused on your original intention and being open to discovering solutions along the way that work for you will ultimately lead you to the greatest rewards.

Invitation to Take Action:

Here are three questions to ask yourself right now:

What is really important to me about writing this book?
What quality of experience do I want to have?
What is my vision for the end result?

Write the answers to these questions down and refer back to them at each stage of your Writer’s Journey. They will help you to stay aligned to your true purpose and this will lead you to a greater sense of joy and success in the long term.

An unpredictable business

Publishing, like any creative business, is extremely unpredictable. There are many factors involved in publishing success. Sometimes they work in your favour and sometimes they don’t!

It does happen – probably more than you realise – that publishers spend vast amounts of money on creating and promoting a book which they have high hopes for only to see the sales performance fall far short of their expectations.

On the other hand, happily the reverse can also be true.

A book which hasn’t received any real attention can sometimes suddenly take off in popularity. The scramble is then on to get a reprint through and books into the shops to satisfy the demand.

The same applies to self-published books. It can go either way.

Happily there are an increasing number of examples where the ‘buzz’ around a self-published title (usually via the internet) can lead to sales which far outstrip original expectations.

Understanding this unpredictable aspect of the whole business of publishing is relevant to you as a writer because it will:

Help you start from a realistic and grounded place when considering the right way forwards for your book.
Encourage you to be prepared for the ‘unexpected’, and to see opportunities where previously you might have only see setbacks.
Enable you to begin the process of learning to trust that with the right intention and the right action, you will find the right solution for your book at the right time – whatever that is!

Helen’s story …

When Helen Moore first approached me for individual coaching she initially had it in her mind to approach publishers with her book idea.

During the coaching process, it became clear that Helen’s individual and immensely creative spirit might end up feeling severely restricted by the requirements of the commercial publishing route, and with no guarantee of the end result.

In addition to that, her clear vision for her book was already well advanced and the long time frame involved in the traditional publishing route felt like another negative factor.

Once the process of establishing what she was truly aiming for in order to feel successful as a published author was complete, the decision to publish the book herself emerged.

Helen has been incredibly successful at every level with her book Changing Nature: EcoNotes of a Digital Woman which has a foreword by Jill Attenborough of the Woodland Trust.

The book is beautifully presented in exactly the way she wanted it to be and she has also scored highly in terms of promotion, marketing and sales too.

As an example she was featured on BBC Radio Four’s ‘Woman’s Hour’ and in a double-page spread in the Mail on Sunday‘s colour supplement.

Helen said, ‘It was interesting to observe how one success led to the next … having heard my interview with Felicity Finch, a freelance journalist contacted me within an hour of the broadcast to ask if I might be interested in doing a feature. She was able to sell the idea to the Mail, and within a few days had arranged to travel from London to Bath to interview me. A session with a photographer followed and within a couple of weeks I was delighted to see my book featured in the national press.

The effect on sales of my book was instantaneous… at 9am the very next day the phone was ringing and continued to do so throughout the rest of the day at regular intervals. Being mid November, the feature was perfectly timed for the Christmas market, and enabled me to sell a significant number of books.’

In summary

This story is not intended to dissuade anyone from pursuing the traditional publishing route in favour of self-publishing or other ways to reach your readership.

It is an individual decision and what is right for one person may not be right for another.

The most important point is to understand that there is more than one way forwards.

If you maintain your focus on your primary objective and keep an open mind along the way, you will have every chance to enjoy your Writer’s Journey and arrive at the destination that is right for you – whatever that is.

Enjoy!

Enjoy that? You can read more from Julia at The Cuckleburr Times here.

Short Story Techniques That Get Writers Published

Ronnie Smith — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:01:35 +0000

This short story checklist will improve your story writing technique. These strategies will help you get published because these are the kinds of questions editors ask when reading your short story. You’ll find information about characterization, dialogue, mood, tone, action, pacing, and plot in short stories. Use these tips to increase your acceptance rate, and get your creative writing published in literary journals and magazines.

1. Is the opening sentence (and opening paragraph) of your short story strong, enticing, and confident? Does it set the mood and tone of your entire short story? Is it overly “anything” (overly cute, overly obvious, overly clever), or does it have a hint of mystery?

2. Do you ground your short story in scene by appealing to the reader’s five senses? Does your description advance your reader’s understanding of character and plot? Does the relationship between dialogue and description support your short story’s goals? Is the description well-researched, accurate, and evocative?

3. Do you show rather than tell? Is there a sense of immediacy? Do you reveal and imply, rather than explain and state?

4. Are the characters unique and memorable-but believable at the same time? Are their motivations clear and are they well-rounded? Do your characters’ personalities complement each other in a way that makes the central conflict more pronounced?

5. Is the dialogue believable and effective, striking the right balance between efficiency and realism? Does the dialogue show that the characters are challenged? Is the tension illustrated in a way that is not always “flat and obvious?”

6. Are secondary characters as well-developed as main characters, even if their entire backstory doesn’t come across on the page? Have you taken care that your secondary characters aren’t more interesting than your main characters? Do secondary characters truly add to the short story, or can you cut them out?

7. Is your pacing even and controlled? Is your beginning engaging (or full of too much backstory)? Is your ending well-developed? Does the action have well-controlled ups and downs?

8. Is your ending surprising yet fitting? Does the tension level of your ending deliberately rise above the tension level of the rest of your story? And does the denouement (tying up loose ends) reveal that the character has made a choice (has changed in some way or has had the opportunity to change but instead remained the same)?

9. Is your voice unique? Do you have mesmerizing, insightful, and impressive things to say (or imply)?

10. Have you read your work aloud at least once?

11. Have you had a professional proofreader look at your short story? Even the best writers need a proofreader-in fact, it’s often the best writers who recognize this fact, while new writers tend to think they don’t need help.

12. Is your word count marketable? Stories over 4,000 words are very difficult to place. Have you developed an effective submission strategy that is proven to get results? Are you sending your work to the best-suited editors, in the proper format, during the open reading dates? Are your pages professionally formatted in a 12-point, easy-to-read font with standard margins? Is contact information included on the first page, with proper headers and page numbers on subsequent pages? Does your cover letter incorporate effective strategies?

If not, you may want to contact an author’s submission service, like Writer’s Relief, for help increasing your acceptance rate. Writer’s Relief will proofread and format your short stories and will target your work to the best-suited agents and editors (at literary journals and magazines) in order to increase the likelihood of publication. If you do seek submission assistance for your short stories, be certain you’re working with an ethical company that has a proven track record, like Writer’s Relief.

Enjoy that? You can read more from Ronnie at The Cuckleburr Times here.

Will ‘Any Deal Do’ For Your Book?

Julia McCutchen — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:31:27 +0000

Some writers, especially first time aspiring authors, feel that ‘any deal will do’ when it comes to finding an agent or publisher for their book – even if it takes them away from the original intentions they had for their book.

It’s the thought of finally seeing their book in print that usually does it!

Sometimes a deal comes along after many long months – or even years – of working on developing ideas, writing style, and approaching agents or publishers without success.

Then suddenly, someone, somewhere sees the potential … and makes an offer.

Fantastic!

However, when this is based on substantial changes being made to the plot, characters or emphasis of content, warning bells should ring before any final decisions are made.

Pause for Thought

The excitement of the way opening needs to be tempered with a thorough evaluation of whatever amendments may have been asked for by the agent or publisher. Otherwise, rash decisions can be the cause of regret later.

How could anyone lament being published I hear you ask?

The truth is that in the unpredictable world of publishing, the dream and the reality don’t always match up.
The initial joy which comes from seeing your book in print can easily turn into a hollow, empty feeling if you have been persuaded to stray too far from the book you started out wanting to write.

Add to this the possibility that the sales and publicity fall short of your vision of what would be achieved, and you have the recipe for long term disappointment at every level.

Maria’s Story

Maria had a recurring dream about writing her book for publication. At 43 years old she had reached a point when she felt like it was ‘now or never’!

If she didn’t make time to get her book written and try to find a publisher for it, she would always feel that it had been a missed opportunity.

So she worked hard on clarifying her ideas on an aspect of personal development that she felt totally passionate about and which she had been developing in her ‘day job’ as a leadership coach and trainer.
Writing came naturally to her and even putting the book proposal together seemed like fun once she understood what she had to do and how to go about it.

After a while, one of the publishers she had approached said that they would like to go ahead and publish her book but only if she cut the text down in length by 50%!

This meant that she would not have space to explain all of her ideas fully. Also, the book would end up being more of a ‘gift’ book than one which contributed more deeply to her readership in the way that she had first intended.

However, her dream of being published led her to be persuaded to go along with the publishers’ requirements and the deal was done.

Three years later, Maria still feels dissatisfied with the book that was finally published.

Sales of this topic into the gift market have been slow and the opportunities for promotion were disappointingly limited.

At a creative level, Maria regrets not having stuck to her initial inspiration which was to write a book that presented the totality of her work in a way that would be of lasting value for her readers.

INVITATION TO TAKE ACTION

So what can you learn from this story?

Here are three tips to help you avoid feeling disillusioned with the end results of your writer’s journey:

1. Watch out for the three levels at which persuasion away from your original plans tend to show up:
• Content (as in Maria’s example)
• Agent and/or publisher (not feeling ‘right’ about the people you are potentially agreeing to work with)
• The deal itself (not feeling comfortable with the terms on offer – although being realistic goes hand in hand with this point!)

Of course it is very important to be open to discussion with agents and publishers generally.

And as far as the deal is concerned, being flexible regarding what terms you accept – especially if it is your first book when your power for negotiating is minimal – is crucial.

So aim for the sweet success that comes from the overlap between what you feel is authentic and right for you with the suggestions which are being made. There is almost always a middle way.

2. Refer back to your original motivation, objectives and outcome to guide you.

If you are following my recommendations for your writer’s journey, you should always start by being clear about what you are really aiming for and why you are writing a book for publication.

Write your answers to these questions down.

This will help you to focus and prioritise your actions, and make sound decisions that are on track with your primary purpose when opportunities come your way.

3. Always seek professional advice and guidance, and especially if you don’t feel sure about any aspect of the process.

There is a huge amount of excellent information available for writers today via the internet, professional organisations and from experts who have genuine knowledge to guide you forwards in a way that is right for you.

You don’t have to walk this path alone.

The way for you to experience real, long-lasting success as a writer – and in life generally – is to remain true to your Self and with all aspects of yourself in alignment with integrity.
Ultimately, this is what the journey is all about – to know and step into your Truth and be able to express that in the world. This is the essential formula for success at every level, inside and out.

Enjoy!

Julia McCutchen opens the way for writers to find their true voice, discover themselves in the process, and write consciously, creatively, successfully and with soul. A former managing director and publisher with over 20 years’ publishing experience, Julia’s holistic approach includes coaching, mentoring and masterclasses for aspiring authors. To access free articles, audios and other resources for writers, visit http://www.JuliaMcCutchen.com

Writing Tip – Stopping Readers in Their Tracks

Laura Backes — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:01:25 +0000

If you love books, you can probably think of several occasions when you’ve been stopped in your tracks by a unique turn of phrase or a magical description. “How did the author do that?” you wonder. “It’s so simple, and yet so profound.”

Authors get involved in the big picture when creating a book, and rightly so. We need to think about aspects of character, plot, setting, conflict, development and resolution. We must view the overall structure to ensure that it’s sound. But once that story’s down on paper and we know it’s not going anywhere, we can start concentrating on the words. The forest is planted; now take a look at the trees.

Think again about those track-stopping experiences you’ve had when reading. What else do you remember about the book? If occasional groupings of words overshadowed the story, then the author was struggling to sound writerly at the expense of the plot. However, if individual words and phrases melded seamlessly together to create a satisfying experience from beginning to end, then the words and the story had equal weight.

As a children’s book writer, how do you entice readers with your words, the essential building blocks of any type of writing, without overshadowing the other elements that make up your book? The answer: Keep it simple.

Skilled authors use everyday language in new, exciting ways. One of my favorite picture book examples is from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. Max is sailing across the ocean to meet the wild things for the first time. Instead of telling us the ocean is “very big” or Max travels for “a long time,” Sendak takes advantage of young children’s budding fascination with calendars:

...and he sailed off through night and day

and in and out of weeks

and almost over a year

to where the wild things are.

It’s a poetic description of time, and fits perfectly with the poetic tone of the rest of the text.

Memorable description happens when the writer pairs disparate images to create a new picture infused with emotion. The feelings make the place seem familiar to the reader. Here’s the opening paragraph from Paul Fleischman’s middle grade novel The Borning Room:

Four small walls, sheathed with pine, painted white. A window. A door onto the kitchen, for warmth. Two chairs. A bed, nearly filling up the room, like a bird held in cupped hands. Standing by the bed, squire beside his knight, a table bearing a Bible and a lamp. I’m certain you’ve stood in many such rooms.

Even if the reader has never stood in such a room, she can see it. The words Fleishman uses are accessible to every reader, and invite her in. The text is not complex–most second graders can read it easily–yet it is rich and interesting. The unadorned language reflects the straightforward nature of the narrator.

The Prologue of Natalie Babbitt’s novel Tuck Everlasting begins with a metaphor that sets the stage for the tale to follow. Babbitt likens the first week of August to the seat at the top of a Ferris wheel: …The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. She goes on to describe that time, her verbs building the tension: sunsets “smeared with too much color”; lightning that “quivers all alone.” And then the kicker: These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after.

Surprising the reader is good, and Babbitt jolts the reader out of his dog-days reverie with that last sentence. Joyful images of Ferris wheels and hot summer days are abruptly replaced by the promise of a story about bad decisions. This, then, is what you want your reader to notice about your writing. Not the individual words, not the fancy descriptions, but the overall feeling of being taken for a ride through the story. So here’s my writing tip – Pay attention to your words, but don’t let them take control. The only way to keep the words from overpowering the story is to always keep it simple.

Ready to take it to the next level? Come join the Fightin’ Bookworms at the new community for children’s book writers, the CBI Clubhouse. We’ve got audio, video, insider writing tips and much more! http://cbiclubhouse.com

Enjoy that? Read more from the pen of Laura right here at The Cuckleburr Times.

Writing Tips – Jumpstart Your Career As An Author by Asking “Why?

Laura Backes — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:56:57 +0000

When developing a story or article, aspiring authors often hear this writing tip: learn to incorporate the “who,” “when,” “where,” and “how.” But what often gets overlooked is the “why.” Without examining why a story takes place, or why an article would be of interest to the reader, the entire writing experience can be a fruitless exercise.

* Why this character?

At a writing conference I once critiqued a manuscript featuring a character in a situation where you wouldn’t normally expect to find him. When I wondered why he was there, the author answered, “He just is.” “But how did he get there?” I asked. “One of the other characters put him there,” the author stated. “Why?” I pushed. The author didn’t have an answer.

If you arbitrarily think it would be cute to have a monkey, a doll, or a policeman as your story’s protagonist, the reader’s not going to care unless it makes sense to have that character inhabit your particular plot. And if a monkey shows up where he shouldn’t be–at school, for instance–why he’s there has to be an integral part of the story. But more than that, the reader has to know why this monkey is suddenly sitting in a first grade classroom. What’s unique about the character that makes him the only monkey who could possibly appear in this book?

* Why this story?

Just as important as knowing why your character inhabits your book is understanding why this character experiences the conflict or problem that fuels the plot. Your readers have to believe this protagonist would encounter these obstacles, and not be able to resolve the problem in a few lines of text. Not every child is afraid of the dark, so if your character hides under the covers when the lights are out, plant something in her personality that causes this behavior.

How the plot conflict is resolved also harks back to “why.” Why does your character take these particular steps, instead of an easier or more obvious route, to reach his goal? What fears, hang-ups or quirks does the character have to overcome to get what he wants? Would a child understand and care about these traits? Have you laid the groundwork in the beginning of the story so the reader believes the character could not possibly act any other way, thus never forcing the reader to question you in the first place?

* Why this article?

Virtually any nonfiction topic can hold a child’s interest if it’s presented in the right way. Here’s an important writing tip: first ask yourself why you’re writing this article or book. Does it have a direct application to the experiences of your readers? Can it tie in with what they’re learning in school? Will it enrich their lives in some way? If your motivations are clear, then take a hard look at your audience. Why would kids this age be interested in this topic? How can you present the material in a way that’s entertaining as well as informative? If you find you’re working hard to shape the information to fit a specific audience or format, perhaps you need to rethink your approach. Maybe you’re trying to write too young, and the subject really requires an older reader. Or perhaps you assume middle graders will be fascinated with an animal alphabet book, but after researching other ABC books on the market, you learn they’re really targeted to much younger children.

Next, discover the secrets behind building a career as a successful children’s writer by visiting the CBI Clubhouse Children’s Writing Community at http://cbiclubhouse.com. You’ll find audio, video, writing tips, insider secrets and much more. Come hang with me and the rest of the Fightin’ Bookworms at the CBI Clubhouse!

Enjoy that? Read more from the pen of Laura right here at The Cuckleburr Times.

Book Review: Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham

Kay Elizabeth — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:15:56 +0000

Holly’s Inbox should come with a warning – “anything you can’t do one handed, get it done before you settle down to read.” Why? Because this hilarious book is not leaving your clutches until it’s finished. Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham (ISBN: 9781402219030; Sourcebooks Casablanca) will be glued to your hands until its unexpected conclusion. This tale of Holly Denham’s life, a London receptionist at her first day on a new job, is incredibly smart and funny.

I’m not a laugh out loud type of book reader. Barely a chuckle escapes my lips when I read humor, no matter how uproarious I find the content. I keep my jocularity behind my teeth. Which explains why my husband kept popping his head around the door, saying “What are you laughing at?!” with a surprised look when he saw I had a book in my hand. But with Holly’s Inbox, it’s impossible not to.

This romantic comedy is very clever. The humor veers from the dry, sarcasm dripping kind to slapstick comedy without skipping a beat. The most outstandingly creative thing about this book is the style of its composition. Holly’s Inbox is told entirely with emails flying back and forth to receptionist Holly. There are no lengthy descriptions nor scene setting preambles. Everything that unfolds, every character you grow to love, like or loathe, you discover via those emails.

I’ll be honest. I would never have thought well rounded characters could be created when emails alone are used to tell a story. Bill Surie, the author who uses the Holly Denham pseudonym, has knocked that assumption right out of my head and pulled this format off impeccably. To my knowledge this is a completely unique style of writing and one, given the influence of the Net on our daily lives, that’s long overdue. (Expect copycat writers to flood the market with similar attempts in the near future. You heard it here first. But I guarantee you they won’t be this good. )

Gossip, sly office politics, manipulation of employees and personality clashes – they’re all part and parcel of working in large companies. In Holly’s Inbox, you’ll recognize many of the usual suspects from the corporate world: the scary superior, the pretty Jekyll and Hyde and the office’s VP heartthrob who’s a bit of a mystery. Holly has to handle them all. On top of everything else, Holly’s trying to keep a secret under wraps. Throw in her well-meaning but overbearing mother’s demands for attention, her eccentric grandmother’s misguided kindness in signing Holly up for everything online, and her two siblings’ personal ongoing dramas and you have a laugh-a-minute. Holly’s two best friends and co-receptionist are only an email away, keeping her relatively sane one moment and driving her even more crazy the next. You just cannot resist reading this hilariously compulsive novel.

Holly’s Inbox is the first time I’ve read a book written by a man under a female pen name. I’d still be none the wiser if the publisher hadn’t told me. I would love to know how the author became so good at delving into the female psyche. A master of the wry throwaway comment, Mr. Surie captures so many female insecurities and moments of self doubt with the character of Holly in such a funny manner that you can’t help but laugh. Bill credits being the owner of a real life London placement service for reception staff as a direct inspiration, but I think he’s too modest. He absolutely nails the wonderful characters to perfection and I doubt that a career choice alone is the reason for it. This author is very talented, very witty and I hope is compiling a sequel to this as we speak. I can tell I’m going to become as addicted to this stroke of genius that is Holly Denham as I am to caffeine.

I’ve saved the best news until last. Want a sneak peek at Holly’s life? Then visit her inbox at http://hollysinbox.com/. That’s where this novel all began and the seeds were sown of a girl’s life you’ll find you just won’t be able to get enough of. There are plenty of emails there to tempt you. In 2007, Bill’s site peaked with 90,000 visitors checking in, all wanting to find out what was going to happen next to our heroine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you find yourself doing the same!

Fantastic, heart warming and a truly novel stylistic approach. You’ll love it. 5 stars.

Available at all good bookstores, including Amazon.

Kay Elizabeth is the Editor and Co-Owner of The Cuckleburr Times and always loves to hear from visitors here.

Succeeding As a Writer – Confidence and Determination

Carolyn Kaufman — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:01:03 +0000

When I’ve written something, and the words have just flowed, I sometimes feel like I’m looking down on the Seventh Day, basking in the warmth of my creation and proclaiming, It Is Good. I’ll feel like I’ve captured the emotion and the angst; or the flavor, color, and texture of the world I envisioned. The characters will be as real as Real People to me. I’ll feel that glow in my chest: Of course I’m a writer. This is something I was meant to do.

Now, as a psychologist, I believe it’s not only okay, it’s healthy to be able to say to yourself, “I did a good job on that.” “I’m a good writer.” You don’t have to announce it to the world (in fact, you probably shouldn’t!), but you’re healthier if you have a secret little place inside with a nice big refrigerator to put up your accomplishments, and where you can nod and pat yourself on the back and think, I Did Good. I even have lots of professional terms to make that all sound more authoritative, like self-esteem, self-efficacy, and adequate mirroring on the Grandiose Pole. But I’m going to skip all that for right now.

If feeling good about what you’d written was as far as any of this went, all would be well. But so many of us have this urge, this drive, this need to get published. And what is that all about anyways? Few people make money publishing. It’s cool, but unless you’re Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling or whoever this week’s Hot Writer is, it’s a passing cool that others soon forget. Getting published doesn’t make you beautiful or thin or get you a Happily Ever After with whichever celebrity you drool over most.

Yet the need remains. So you sweat blood over a query and open a vein to get the synopsis right and then, hoping, praying, believing you’ve got something others will love, you start sending your work out to others.

Some writers start with crit buddies, some jump straight to agents and publishers; some do both simultaneously. And most soon discover that not everyone else thinks their work is so good.

According to Robert Heinlein, that’s where a lot of people quit. In fact, he believed that only half the writers who actually put pen to paper (or words to screen) and finish what they start have the guts to submit to agents and publishers:

Writers…are inordinately fond of their brainchildren. They would rather see their firstborn child ravaged by wolves than suffer the pain of having a manuscript rejected. So instead they [only] read their manuscripts aloud to spouses and long-suffering friends.

But you’re not satisfied to believe the friends and family who swear your work is fantastic — you have to send your work out to people outside that little circle. And as the crits roll in and the rejections pile up, you look at your work with fresh eyes, and you realize it’s miserable. It’s embarrassingly horrible. You’re embarrassingly horrible, and stupid besides to ever have believed someone else might be interested in the ridiculous stories you make up in your head.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Crit after crit, rejection letter after rejection letter.

Some throw in the towel right away. “The world just isn’t ready for my material,” they sniff, or they decide that all agents are self-important jerks who wouldn’t know a good story if it ran them over. There are even websites that exist for the purpose of ranting about your rejections and throwing mud back at the agents who sent them. (Who are, by the way, human beings who are just doing their jobs as best they can. But that’s another blog post.)

Other writers are worn down over weeks, months, or years of querying. Or by disapproving relatives. Or by savage critique “buddies.” The rejection hurts. A lot.

But some always manage to drag themselves out of the dirt, brush themselves off, and try again. Just like they need to write, they need to keep trying to get published.

“Writing is a calling,” says editor Betsy Lerner. “If the call subsides, so be it. [But] when writers say they have no choice, what they mean is: Everything in the world conspired to make me quit, but I kept going.” She goes on:

Many writers have gathered their marbles and gone home for far less cause. It takes a supreme talent and fierce self-belief to write in the face of such acrimony… If the high wire is for you, if the spotlight is for you, if you believe that everyone should pay attention to you and your work, then you must stay focused. Ambivalence will never get you anywhere.

What it comes down to, I’ve read over and over again, is determination in the face of all that feedback, all those rejections. A willingness to learn, of course, but also determination to overcome and succeed:

The degree of one’s perseverance is the best predictor of success – Betsy Lerner
In all manner of pursuits there’s a tendency to overesimate brilliance and underestimate persistence. Talent is common. Determination is rare. -Ralph Keyes
[The authors of the Chicken Soup books] instinctively understood that all those rejections were simply an uncomfortable part of the process that would eventually get them where they wanted to be. – literary agent Jeff Herman
[Author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken] Kesey was not even remotely the best writer in class [at the writing program at Stanford], but he was maniacally determined. – Classmate and writer Thomas McGuane
Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of a writer – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

So where do you find the determination? According to Keyes, you have to hate the idea of being ignored, of never being read, more than you hate the pain of rejection. “It is some combination of ability and ego,” adds Lerner, “desire and discipline, that produces good work.” She continues:

A writer’s success or faltering can usually be traced to some abundance or deficit of those elements. Some of the most gifted writers I’ve worked with were also the most self-sabotaging. Lack of discipline, desire for fame, and depression often thwart those whose talents appear most fertile, while those who struggle with every line persevere regardless.

In many ways, learning to deal with rejection from agents and publishers is just the first step. Because when you do manage to get published, you will have to deal with critics, the bloodthirsty pirahna in the sea of your success. People who have sudden, overwhelming success, are not prepared for it. And that may topple them and keep them from producing good work going forward. So keep running that gauntlet, and be proud of your calluses and scars, because they mean you believed in yourself enough to keep going.

Dr. Carolyn Kaufman is a clinical psychologist who teaches at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio. A published writer, she recently launched Archetype Writing: Psychology for Fiction Writers). Visitors will find not only articles about psychology tailored to their needs, but they can ask Dr. K their writing/psychology questions. She also blogs on the QueryTracker.net Blog. She is often quoted by the media as an expert resource.