Writing – Page 4 – Idelle Kursman

Meet Writer/Editor Ben Wolf

I am so excited to write about this year’s Write Stuff Writers Conference that I attended on March 21-23. The Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (https://greaterlehighvalleywritersgroup.wildapricot.org/) organizes it every year and this was my fifth year going. As always, I learned a lot and enjoyed it immensely. Everyone was so warm and welcoming that I felt I was reuniting with life-long friends.

Author/Editor Ben Wolf was this year’s keynote speaker. He has written and edited over 100 published works. Ben is the founder of Splickety Publishing Group, a magazine that publishes flash fiction. He has written novels and a children’s book. In 2015 he won the Cascade Award (https://oregonchristianwriters.org/2015-cascade-contest-winners/) for his novel, Blood for Blood, and his children’s book, I’d Punch a Lion in His Eye for You, was a Cascade Award winner in 2016 (https://oregonchristianwriters.org/cascade-award-winners-2016/). His concentration is primarily in speculative fiction.

Ben is 33 years old. When I arrived at the conference to find him as the keynote speaker, my first thought was, “How could someone so young teach the attendees, most older than he is, about writing?”

But it turned out he could. He actually taught us quite a lot.

The following are a few pieces of advice from his talk on “The Three Pillars of Storytelling: Your Novel’s High Concept.” He referenced his information from the book Fiction Writing for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson. In some of the bulleted points, I will be quoting directly from a few of Ben Wolf’s PowerPoint slides.

The Goal of Every Story is to deliver a powerful emotional experience.

Every story must do at least one of the following: educate, entertain, or persuade.

) Entertain-writers are required to do research to make sure they are meeting their readers’ expectations, particularly in that genre (e.g. In romance: some combination of love, lust, and conflict).
) Educate-writers must think of what they want their readers to learn along the way.

3.) Persuade-in the case of “issue” fiction, they must decide what topics they want to change or influence readers’ minds about.

There are 5 pillars of writing fiction

1.) Construct a believable setting

2.) Create interesting character

3.) Create a strong plot

4.) Develop a meaningful theme

5.) Do all of it with style

In this blog post, I am going to concentrate on the second pillar-interesting characters. Ben used examples from the movie Star Wars. For those unfamiliar with the plot, Trance (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/plotsummary), a plot author, summed it up as follows: “Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire’s world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.”

The best way to hook a reader is with a compelling character. How does a writer achieve this? By knowing their character’s backstory.

1.) Who are they?

2.) Where did they come from?

3.) What happened that shaped who they are today?

4.) What does the character want?

5.) What is their motivation?

The writer must know the following about each character in their story

) Values-Those things a character holds most strongly to be true. Nothing is more important than. . . Writers must convey values through action and behavior and make sure their character’s values have potential for conflict.

As an example, Darth Vader’s values were that nothing is more important than power and his son, Luke Skywalker.

2.) Ambition-The one abstract thing your character wants the most in life. Give each character one ambition per story. What does your character want to gain? Some examples are wealth, power, peace, destruction, healing, and success.

Luke Skywalker’s ambition was to be a hero.

Story Goals-The one concrete thing your character wants in the story. The character must believe this will help him/her achieve or get closer to achieving their ambition. The more specific the writer can be about the character’s story goals, the better. It is essential the reader believes the story goal matters, the character has a chance to achieve their goal, and there is a chance the character may fail.

3.) Han Solo’s story goal was to obtain the money he needed to pay off the bounty on his life from Jabba the Hutt, a powerful gangster in the galaxy who had great influence in both the criminal and political underworld.

Finally, as demonstrated from Trance’s plot summary stated earlier, the author must formulate

A simple, one-sentence idea that describes the main conflict of the book.

Ben has spoken at over 40 writers’ conferences to date. I highly recommend any writer striving to improve their craft sign up and listen to his advice. He may be a youngster, but he gives many valuable pointers to writers of all genres.

Authors interested in getting help with their stories can reach out to Ben through his website, www.benwolf.com/editing-services. He offers coaching and editing services and has helped many authors bring their works to publication.

Idelle Kursman is the author of True Mercy, a thriller designed to bring awareness to two issues: families coping with a loved one with autism and the human trafficking crisis. True Mercy is for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IngramSpark, and Smashwords.

Need help with blog content? Please contact me through my website, www.idellekursman.com.

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Interview with Wattpad Star Benjamin Sobieck

Writing

At the Greater Lehigh Writers Conference last year, I listened to Benjamin Sobieck introduce and explain Wattpad, a social storytelling platform for readers and writers. Writers post their stories, often a chapter at a time, and readers from all over the world read them, offer comments, and vote on them. Wattpad began in 2006 and in 2007, it became available through mobile devices. Today Wattpad has millions of readers and hundreds of millions of stories.

After the class, I took Ben’s business card and emailed him a few times with questions, but I didn’t feel ready to try it until six months later when I read his book The Writer’s Guide to Wattpad: The Comprehensive Guide to Building and Sustaining a Successful Career. This time I wanted to put my current book project on Wattpad and I emailed Ben about enrolling as a writer. He graciously answered my questions and I was now ready to take the plunge.

Wattpad is a whole new writing world that has the potential to reach people all around the world. Many writers have begun successful careers and readers enjoy a vast selection of stories and the opportunity to offer feedback and become actively involved in story development.

I noted Ben’s enthusiasm and willingness to help from our first meeting. He is a crime and thriller writer and a member of Wattpad Stars. His website is crimefiction.com. Ben agreed to do an interview for my website.

1.) Q. Ben, please tell me about yourself and your writing career.

First off, thank you for hosting this interview. The short version is that I went to school for journalism and creative writing, got a job as a reporter, moved over to magazines and wound up working for a large publisher of print, digital and broadcast content. That continues to pay the bills, but if you’re a writer, you know you won’t stop there. I kept writing on the side, and eventually picked up some fiction and non-fiction projects.

2.) Q. How did you first come across Wattpad? It seems like a perfect match for you and the stories you write.

Thank you! I’d hit a dead end outside of Wattpad with some stories that I thought had legs. I posted them to Wattpad to see what would happen, and the rest is history. It wasn’t overnight, and there were times I felt like quitting. But I knew I had something good to share, and it worked out in the end.

As far as matching content to Wattpad, I write, in general, thrillers. Horror, YA and romance all do well on the platform, too, but that shouldn’t put off anyone not writing in those genres. Wattpad is an enormous place, with 70 million monthly users. If you can find even a tiny, tiny percentage to give your work a read, you’re on the right track.

3.) Q. Wattpad is geared toward millennials and Generation Z. Do you think there is room for older writers/readers?

Of course! The demos certainly skew to those generations, but you’d be surprised at how open minded and advanced those readers are. Remember, these are voracious readers. They want compelling stories. I never intended to write for the 18-25 demo, but that makes up a big chunk of my followers.

For adult readers, there’s plenty of content, too. It takes a little more digging, but you’ll find what you’re looking for. And, hey, even if you don’t, you didn’t spend a bunch of money to find out!

4.) Q. I am a writer that is older than the targeted audience. I am presently posting a chapter a week of my new novel on Wattpad. The main characters are in their forties. Would you say this novel would be a tough sell on Wattpad?

I wouldn’t mistake a slow burn for a tough sell. All Wattpad stories are a slow burn, because it takes time to build up momentum. Writers who frequent Wattpad will see a pay off in reads, votes and comments. It’s just a matter of sticking with it.

As an example, Zandra, the lead character in my “Confessions of a Fake Psychic Detective” series, is in her 40s. She deals with adult issues, and there is zero romance. On the surface, that doesn’t look like a Wattpad story. However, it won a Watty Award in 2016.

5.) Q. It is mentioned quite a few times in your book that there are currently 65 million users and 400 million stories. These statistics suggest it would be exceedingly difficult for a writer to stand out. Yet the writers in your book are very encouraging about joining Wattpad. Why do you think they believe new writers have the potential to do well if they stick with it?

It’s up to 70 million now! That sounds intimidating, yes, but remember that of those millions of stories, most of them are one-offs, just for fun or not written by someone interested in a full-fledged writing career. The dedicated writers there to build an audience, and therefore a career, are smaller in number. I don’t know what that number is, exactly, but the readers will always want new material. They enjoy following writers putting out good work. If you’re doing that, the readers will come. It just takes time.

6.) Q. Have any plagiarism concerns come up? After all, many writers are sharing their works in progress.

Yes, unfortunately. There are websites off of Wattpad that post work, and there are “writers” who imitate or copy Wattpad successes. Issue a DMCA notice or alert Wattpad directly. Piracy is always a risk. Hopefully, the benefits of Wattpad outweigh the risk of plagiarism.

7.) Q. Most of the chapters are written by women. Is that because there are more women writers and readers than men? Do you see a closing of this gap anytime soon?

Wattpad users are female, and I think that reflects readerships at large and Wattpad’s makeup behind the scenes. Most workers at Wattpad HQ are women. That trickles through to the user experience, too. So, no, I’m not sure that will change, but what they’re doing is working.

8.) Q. Many writers mention Watty Awards, the Wattpad Top 100 Hot List, and Wattpad Star. How do writers achieve these benchmarks?

The Watty Awards are an annual competition that anyone can enter. It’s as simple as tagging a story. The Hot Lists are based on reads and votes, but not entirely on reads and votes. The more active you are on Wattpad, the more likely it is you’ll wind up with a ranked title. Wattpad runs a lot of algorithms, and I doubt they’d ever disclose the specifics.

The Wattpad Stars program is by invitation. It used to be that you could apply for it, but that’s since changed.

9.) Q. Would you mind explaining the role of Wattpad Ambassador?

To put it simply, the Ambassadors are there to ensure users have the best experience possible. That can take on a number of forms, from addressing trolls to getting the word out about contest, and they all do great work.

10.) Q. Some writers have even captured the attention of television executives, movie studios, and publishers! Do you have any statistics on how often this occurs?

They do! The exact figures are kept close to the chest at Wattpad Studios, the division that licenses content in that way. Should an opportunity come up, though, Wattpad contacts the writer directly to gauge interest. Writers own all the rights to their work. The only time Wattpad would sell those rights to a third party is after having a conversation with the writer and signing a contract. No surprises.

11.) Q. Author Daryl Jamison wrote the chapter, “Writing for Wattpad campaigns.” She mentions ways writers can make money on Wattpad. Would you mind touching on this briefly?

Wattpad Next, Wattpad Futures, Wattpad Books and the branded campaigns are all ways for writers to make money directly through Wattpad. These are invite-only programs at the moment.

12.) Q. Do you have advice for writers on how to become successful on Wattpad?

Keep posting! Keep writing! Build your audience! That’s the best way to do it.

13.) Q. What about story length? Are most short stories, novellas, or full-length novels?

You’ll find work in a variety of lengths, but complete novels seem to do the best.

14.) Q. Ben, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Is there anything else you would like to mention?

Give Wattpad a try! I did and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my writing career. If you can build an audience that cares about your work, you can port that into any other avenue in publishing. You can’t buy devoted readers, but you can build them. All you need is a tool. Wattpad gives you an entry ramp for readers to find you. For me, it’s home base.

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Interview with Horror Writer Jennifer Sullivan

Writing

Up-and-Coming Horror Author Jennifer Sullivan

In 2017, I attended the first annual BookBaby Independent Authors Conference in Philadelphia. I met Jennifer Sullivan during the orientation and we connected instantly. I wish she lived in my town so we could regularly meet and chat about writing! But alas, she lives in Canada and I live in the U.S., so we stay in touch through social media. Jennifer is a horror writer and is preparing her first novel for publication. It has been well-received by her beta readers and I wanted to interview her for this week’s blog as she gets it ready.

1. IK: Tell me about your background and what led you to become a full-time writer.

JS: I’ve always dreamed of being an author, but, as so often happens, life got in the way. I started a career as an independent contractor for major retail chains working with Lease Administration departments, reviewing legal documents and writing summaries of them in plain English. My aim had been to earn enough income through my work so that I could support myself as I waited for my writing career to take off. Then both of my parents became ill, my mom with Multiple Sclerosis and my dad with cancer. It was the most difficult time of my life – trying to juggle a career, being a primary caregiver, running my parents’ household and my own, plus all the other things we all deal with. Writing kept me sane through it all. It was my escape from real-world responsibilities and created a bit of time during the day that I could call my own. My mom had been blinded by her disease but wanted to know what I was writing, so I would take my stories to her and read them out loud. She loved being lost in the worlds I created (even if she wasn’t a big fan of the gory parts) and reading aloud really helped me clean up my writing.

Unfortunately, my parents both passed away within ten months of each other. She was only 59 and he was 64. My whole world seemed to unravel then – I was no longer needed to run errands, book doctor appointments, travel with them out of town, or all the other tasks that usually took up several hours every day. But writing was still there, and I needed it then more than ever. I took on more work and began writing consistently for a couple hours every day. The more I wrote, the stronger my skills became, and I started gaining confidence in my abilities. I started sharing more of my work with other writers and started to think that maybe I could make something out of that long-ago dream.

In 2017 my husband and I began having conversations on how I could take the leap into writing full-time. He gave me the nudge I needed to start thinking about changing careers, and by the beginning of 2018, we had our finances in order so that I could take my first big step, ending my 15-year career as an independent contractor. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year, working on my novel, writing short stories, setting up a business plan, and collecting mostly rejection letters, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

2. IK: I understand you are getting a book ready for publication. What would you like to tell me about it?

JS: Back in 2016 I wrote the first draft of a horror novel titled Thirteen Doorways for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It was the first full novel I’d written, which was a huge accomplishment. Since then I’ve been refining and editing the story, and plan to start submitting the final manuscript for publication in the next few months.

The story centers on Rhonda and Jordan Butler, a married couple in their thirties, who have just bought the house of their dreams. Before they even move, Rhonda receives devastating medical news that destroys the picture-perfect image of her future. As she tries to cope with her loss, strange things begin happening in their new home. Nightmares and disturbing visions plague her daily. Jordan deals with his loss by throwing himself at work and befriending the town’s elite businessmen with powerful connections to ancient supernatural beings. Rhonda and Jordan soon find out demons aren’t the darkest entities in our world as something more sinister lurks in the shadows. But the paranormal may be the least of their worries as the businessmen, lusting for power at any cost, attempt to collect the entity that dwells within the Butler’s home, by any means necessary.

3. IK: What steps have you taken to prepare your book for publication so far?

JS: The biggest step I’ve taken was this summer when I sent out my manuscript to beta readers. I reached out to the writers I knew and was ecstatic when several of them jumped at the chance. I was a nervous wreck waiting for feedback, but it was a fantastic experience and a step I think all writers should take. Receiving detailed critiques has helped me identify which areas of my novel needed more attention, and which sections were working well. Before my work is published, I want to take it to the highest quality I possibly can, and the feedback I received gave me the direction I needed to make that happen.

I had originally planned to self-publish my book (and I may still go that route), but a couple of my beta readers have convinced me that I should try submitting it to publishers first. What a boost in confidence that was! So, for the past few months I’ve been researching different publishers, talking to writers about their experiences with those companies, and reading works within the publishers’ catalogues. When I am ready to query, I don’t want to waste time submitting to publishing houses that don’t purchase the type of story I’m trying to sell, so I’m spending a lot of time doing the ground work first.

Besides that, I’ve been establishing a social media presence, interacting with other writers, book reviewers and potential readers, so that once my novel is available, I already have a pool of people that will be interested in supporting my work.

4. IK: Some of the gentlest, most refined writers I have met write horror and I always have to ask what attracts them to this genre.

JS: Yes, it does seem to be a contradiction to those who have no interest in horror! I too have found that most writers in the genre are extremely caring individuals who wouldn’t hurt a fly in real life. The common thread with both writers and fans of horror is a sense of being an outsider. When I was growing up, I always had an interest in strange and unusual things (like the paranormal) and was often bullied for being weird and different. That feeling of not belonging never really goes away, but through horror I found a group of people who had similar experiences.

If you look at works in the genre, the main character was never the most popular person at school. Many horror characters are people who live on the fringes of society, either because of their interests, economic backgrounds, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs. A lot of horror fans can easily see themselves in the shoes of those outcasted characters, and it creates a sense of being less ostracized. Also, in many dark fiction stories, it is these outsiders who save the day, and I think most people are attracted to the heroes that most mirror themselves.

5. IK: How do you get ideas for your writing?

JS: That’s a tough question. A lot of my ideas are a result of innocuous events or items clashing with my overactive imagination. For example, last summer I was out at the mall with my friend’s kids and we stopped at the Build-A-Bear kiosk. The sales clerk was so bubbly and friendly and genuinely seemed to love her job. When I got home, I wondered what would happen if this lady also had a fondness for taxidermy and hated her boss. The result was a story titled Build-A-Friend, which appeared in the Issue #3 of The Serial Killers Newsletter magazine.

To paraphrase advice from some horror legends, if you take a scary trope (like zombies or monsters) the reader already has an expectation of how the story will take place. But, if you take something innocent, like a child’s toy, and twist it into something frightening, then your audience is taken off guard and it can really get under their skin. That’s exactly what I enjoy as a reader and what I hope to accomplish within my own work.

6. IK: What information is contained on your website?

JS: Right now, my blog, Writing Scared (https://writingscaredblog.wordpress.com), is operating as my website. It has links to all my social media accounts, some posts about what I’ve learned on my writing journey, a few short stories, and book reviews with interviews of the authors. I haven’t had as much time (or brain power) as I would like to post much in the last few months as I’ve been concentrating on editing my novel, but in the new year I will be posting on a more regular basis.

7. IK: I know you have written short stories. Do you send them out? Do you publish them on your website? How else do you share them?

JS: For a long time, I just wrote short stories and then put them in a drawer. But I’ve gradually mustered up the courage to start sending them out to magazines and anthologies. This year I managed to have 3 stories published: “The Forest” appeared in Indie Writers Review, Issue 4 (March 2018); “Build-A-Friend” made a splash in Issue #3 of The Serial Killer Newsletter; “Eddie’s Evil Elf” can be found in an anthology called Midnight Gore: Bloody Christmas. Of course, there were many more sent and rejected, but you can’t hope to be published if you don’t try.

And, yes, I do have a few short stories on my blog. Many publications won’t accept stories that have been published on websites or blogs, so I’ve been limiting the number I post. However, I do plan to continue releasing a few on my site in the coming year to give readers an idea of my writing style.

Another way I share my stories is through online competitions. Again, I don’t enter many as those stories would then be ineligible for paid publications, but they are fun! In the fall, I sent a story to The Bold Mom’s October Terrors Readers’ Choice Contest and finished in 22nd place out of over 70 entries. It was great reading all the other submissions and from that I met new authors, expanding my writing network.

If you’re looking for ideas on where to send your work, I highly recommend subscribing to Authors Publish (https://www.authorspublish.com/). Every week they send out an email with links to a variety of open calls for submission in several different genres. For any other horror writers reading this, make sure you also check out Dark Markets (https://www.darkmarkets.com/) which is a fantastic resource.

8. IK: Which writers are your role models and why?

JS: Like most writers in horror, Stephen King has been my role model for a long time. His volume of work is astounding, and he’s managed to break into mainstream culture. Even people that are not fans of the genre know who he is, and that’s not something many horror writers can say. As I talked about earlier, a lot of characters in King’s stories are outsiders, which I find relatable.

Another role model of mine is Clive Barker. Besides being an incredible horror writer, he’s also a screenwriter, director, illustrator and visual artist. I admire his range of talents, and while some of his work can be quite grotesque, there’s something almost beautiful in his creations. The worlds and characters Barker creates are so vivid, part of my mind forgets they are works of fiction.

9. IK: Do you attend a writers group on a regular basis? Do you have writer friends you meet up with?

JS: Yes, I do, and I would be lost without my group. In 2011 I attended my first short story workshop and immediately clicked with one of the other students, Barb. We started meeting monthly after the class was over, and gradually expanded into a group of four writers. Every month we send each other what we’ve been working on, and the following week we get together to provide critique notes. We all write in different genres which I think helps strengthen our own work since each of us notices distinct aspects of writing. For example, horror relies heavily on sensory descriptions, so I often find areas where my group mates could improve their visuals. One of the other writers concentrates on contemporary literature and is very adept at spotting dialogue that doesn’t sound true to life.

Back in October, I met another local writer at a horror convention, and in the new year we’re planning to start a new writers’ group with a few others in the genre. As much as I love my original group, it’s important to work with writers in your own style of writing as well to master the craft within a specific genre.

10. IK: What are your writing goals for this new year?

JS: My top priority is to finish editing my novel, Thirteen Doorways, so I can start sending it out to publishers, but that’s just the beginning. I have a filing cabinet full of other novels I’ve started, and I’d like to take at least one of them to a point where I can send it to beta readers. On top of that, I plan to write six or seven new short stories, plus edit a few others which are nearly finished and send them out to open calls for submission. Another project I might tackle is finishing the first few drafts of a screenplay I’ve been toying with for a few years. To some writers, my goals may seem painfully small, and to others it may seem overly ambitious, but it feels like the right pace for me and that’s all I try to worry about.

11. IK: Is there anything I haven’t covered that you would like to add?

JS: I’d just like to say to other writers out there, no matter what genre you write in or where you are in this journey, don’t give up. Someone needs to hear the story that’s trapped inside of you, so keep chipping away. It doesn’t matter if five or five thousand people read the result, your soul will be better for having created something out of nothing.

About the author: J.A. Sullivan is a horror writer and paranormal enthusiast, based in Brantford, Ontario (Canada). She likes discussing books, movies, and everything to do with writing. If you’re interested, she’d love to connect with you on the following social media sites:

WordPress: https://writingscaredblog.wordpress.com

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20319805-j-a-sullivan

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScaryJASullivan

Instagram: www.instagram.com/j.a_sullivan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScaryJASullivan/

Be sure to check out Jennifer’s website to find out when this rising horror author star will publish her book!

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BookBaby Independent Writers Conference

2 Comments / Writing

I am posing with Joanna Penn at Bookbaby

I came home from attending the second annual BookBaby Independent Authors Conference in Philadelphia. I met wonderful fellow writers, listened to practical book marketing tips from successful authors and entrepreneurs, and took away many ideas I am anxious to try. In this post, I would like to share some of the great ideas I learned at the conference.

Eva Lesko Natiello is an author, speaker and book marketing consultant. She wrote and self-published The Memory Box, a bestseller on The New York Times and USA Today. Her website is evanatiello.com. Eva gave the following marketing tips for self-published authors:

Fill out your Amazon Author Page completely and link it to your website and blog.
Run a discounted price promotion and advertise it widely.
Be a guest for a book blogger. To find book bloggers, simply google “(Your genre”) book bloggers”
Study the competition. Make a list of all the current books similar to yours in the last three years and find out their book prices, format, and number of pages. How are authors of your genre promoting their books?
Show gratitude to readers who have taken the time to review your book.

Tieshena Davis is the CEO and Senior Publisher of the award-winning Purposely Created Publishing Group. She is a speaker and the author of Think Like a Bookpreneur (www.thinklikeabookpreneur.com). Tieshena encouraged authors to begin selling their books with pre-sales, which is a strategy to establish audience interest, connect with fans, and secure advance sales before a book is publicly released.

Authors need to meticulously plan during the pre-sales process (6-8 weeks before book is released) to achieve results. Set a goal of how much money you the author would like to make. Remember to calculate all expenses (costs of the printing, transaction, shipping, packaging, etc.), and review the profit margin.
Authors need tools to drive sales such as an email notification list, creating a promotion team, alerting social media followers to spread the word, and exploring targeted events where your readers gather.
Notify target buyers on an email notification list that the book is available for pre-order.
Build an audience connection by sharing quotes, tips, or resources; host weekly virtual events; email teaser content; offer special bulk book packages; and send out snippets of the book.
Run ad campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon Author-sponsored ads.
Discount and cross promote. An example is if readers pre-order author’s second book, they will get the first book at 50% off.
Run weekly contests and giveaways.

Joanna Penn was the keynote speaker of the BookBaby conference. She is an author, international speaker, and entrepreneur. Joanna writes fiction and nonfiction. Thousands of authors go to her website www.TheCreativePenn.com for marketing and promotion. The following are her tips:

Change your mindset– don’t think of yourself as a struggling author. Write down positive affirmations and refer to them daily.
Authors must focus on the customer. It’s not about you, it’s about the reader. What do they want to pay for? Find the intersection between what you love and what you can sell.
Amazon is a search engine for people “who buy stuff.” Use it for research to find out what people are buying.
Sell your book in multiple countries in English. Joanna’s books have sold in English in 86 countries through Kobo (a Canadian company that sells e-books, audiobooks, e-readers, and tablet computers).
Write three shorter books rather than one 80,000-word book. This works well in fiction.
Build multiple streams of income. Most writers make money from other sources like speaking, freelancing, and blogging.
Attract an audience that works best with your personality, your book, and your lifestyle. What can you do consistently over the long term?
Take action.
You get what you focus on. Make the time.
Write the best book you can. Don’t rush it!

As one can see, being a successful author involves hard work; there are no shortcuts. Research, computer savvy, and knowledge of various marketing strategies are imperative. Writing the best book you possibly can is simply not enough. The experts advise doing around twenty minutes of marketing a day along with writing. If one marketing strategy doesn’t work, try another. Don’t give up.

The BookBaby Writers Conference boosted my motivation to market my first novel, True Mercy. It was great meeting so many like-minded people. Rather than being competitive, participants were eager to help fellow authors succeed. Networking opportunities abounded.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband Michael for attending the conference with me and supporting my efforts in the book business.

Note: My novel True Mercy is on sale for only 99 cents on Smashwords. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=True+Mercy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Networking for Introverts

1 Comment / Writing

Introverts Can Network Successfully

Most writers are introverts. Networking can be particularly difficult for them. But they can still network successfully to find jobs and to market their writing. Dana Kaye, the owner of Kaye Publicity (https://kayepublicity.com), recently released the helpful video “Networking for Introverts.” This video is helpful not only to writers but also for anyone who is introverted and could use some help.
Kaye explained the fundamental difference between introverts and extroverts: while both enjoy socializing, introverts find doing too much drains their energy. They require time alone in order to recharge. Extroverts, on the other hand, are the opposite: they feel drained when they spend too much time alone and renew their energy by socializing.
Kaye offers practical suggestions for introverts while they are networking in a room full of people:
If you find a person to chat with in a crowd:

Introduce yourself
Wait for their introduction
Shake hands with eye contact
Ask a question and listen to the answer.
Let the other person talk! (People love talking about themselves and the pressure is off of you to be charming and engaging.)

If you go to a group of people talking:

Apologize for interrupting.
Introduce yourself with eye contact.
Listen to their responses and introductions.
If they resume the conversation, listen and respond. If they don’t, ask questions and start another conversation.
Ask meaningful questions.
Listen!

As mentioned earlier, too much socializing can drain an introvert’s energy, so here is how to make a GRACEFUL EXIT when you meet someone new:

Shake hands, make eye contact, and say “It was nice to meet you.”
Swap business cards and provide a reason to follow up.
If needed, make an excuse such as you must make a phone call or use the restroom. Then leave the room temporarily so they see you are credible and not just want to get away from them.

Don’t forget to mingle! You’re there to make connections. At the same time, take breaks so you can recharge.
Before you know it, you’ll be making connections!

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