1 Introductory

Discussions at an Introductory level

What makes a Self-Publisher?

by

We’ve had questions from a few authors about just what is meant by “Self-Publishing”…it seems to be a term bandied about with little regard for what it really means. Many folks use it to refer to any process other than being picked up by one of the Big Five. Actually, there are many ways to be published without following the traditional route, but not all of them are “self-publishing”. One of the common methods that isn’t self-publishing is to go through a hybrid publisher, which amazingly enough can include Amazon!

By definition, if you are a self-published author, then you are the publisher of your work. That’s all that’s needed…but just what does that entail? Before we can understand what it truly means to be self-published, we need to see what the publisher does in the process, so we’ll go over some of the steps and find out.

Steps to be an Author

In our post about First Idea to Printed Book, we went over many of the steps required to get your story into ink on paper, so we’ll review them here:

  • Write: Someone has to write the story, and it’s usually you, though you could hire it out to a ghostwriter if you feel you are a good storyteller…but not a good writer
  • Edit: Even if you are an expert editor, you’ll really want to seek help elsewhere, finding someone not as close to the writing as you are. This includes all the different levels of editing
  • Format: Making each page of a book look good is an involved task. Try it yourself only if you have plenty of experience formatting books
  • Layout: Getting all the parts of your book in the right place requires that you know about all the various parts and where they go, building the Front Matter and Back Matter. Again, hire it out unless you really know what you’re doing.
  • Cover: Beautiful covers aren’t easy to make, so unless you are a graphic artist with plenty of experience creating book covers, find someone else to do it for you. (Ask us for recommendations.)
  • Print and Bind: There are videos online showing how to use your home printer and a few craft tools to assemble your own book, but I’d really recommend that you let a professional printer and binder do it.

Beyond the Basics

Going on past the First Idea to Printed Book chart, there are more steps to be considered if you really want to call yourself an author.

  • Marketing: As a writer, you probably have neither the time nor resources to tell the whole world about your book. Remember, no one can buy it if they don’t know about it, so find someone who has the expertise.
  • Selling: Authors who sell books out of the trunk of their car are serious do-it-yourselfers. Letting retailers do their job will let you reach folks who feel uncomfortable having a clandestine meeting in a car park.
  • Shipping: I’ve heard authors complain about having to stand in line at the Post Office to ship their books. Wouldn’t it be a better use of your time letting a warehousing company do the shipping, after all, they’ve been doing it for years.

So who is the Publisher?

But wait. Where is the publisher in all this? We never even mentioned the publisher in the steps to becoming an author, so where does he fit in? The Big Five publishers have employees to do the Editing, Formatting, Layout, Cover, Printing, Binding, Marketing, Selling, and Shipping. Many other publishers don’t have full-time employees, but to do all those same tasks they hire them out. Well then, what exactly does the publisher do, besides put his name on your book?

Maybe that’s it…just a name on a book. But that name carries plenty of clout. And why does it carry clout? Because the publisher has contacts that can get your book in front of buyers…not the folks who will read your book, rather the ones that buy for stores, to get your book on the shelves that the end customer looks over when trying to find their next book to read. Without those buyers finding your book, it will languish in the slush pile along with all the other “self-published” but invisible books.

So if you’re the publisher, then what contacts do you have to make your book visible? It turns out that you have the same contacts as any of the other publishers, Big Five or not. You have the opportunity to get your book listed in Bowker’s Books In Print, right alongside all those other publishers. All you have to do is register your ISBN.

That means if you want to be really self-published, all you need to do is own the ISBN. That’s it. Everything else can be subbed out to folks with the appropriate expertise.

What’s an ISBN?

We talked about putting the hyphens in the right place in the ISBNs a while back, but we never mentioned why you should have an ISBN. Exposure is why. Associating your book information (title, size, binding, etc.) with an ISBN is known as ‘registering’ it. That ties all the relevant info to a unique number that belongs to only you and that one version of the book. You’ll use a different ISBN for each version: paperback, audio, Kindle, large print, or spiral bound. Although each ‘book’ contains the same information, the way that information is relayed to the end reader is different. If I buy your book for my Nook, I don’t want to get an audio CD.

So, the publisher’s job is to own and register each ISBN for each version of your book. That’s it. Simple enough, right? Apparently not. I’ve heard from some small publishers that the process of registering the ISBNs is so complicated that they are just about pulling out of the publishing market entirely. We’ll go into the whole process in a future posting, so keep your eyes open. We’ll do what we can to make it clear.

Dependent Clauses and Commas

by

We’ve had so many questions regarding grammar that we’ve brought the topic back for another go around. This year we will begin with some of the rules that are pretty much set in stone. Later, we may come back to touch on some rules that are still in flux, but first we need to warn you about rules that aren’t really rules.

Don’t Follow the “Rules”

Before we get started going over some of the good rules, we want to discuss a few “rules” that you may have been taught in school but don’t really need to follow. The reason we still have those rules seems to be one of “teach what you’ve been taught”. You’ll even find that the folks who provide the software that you use to write your book have been following those useless rules, often suggesting that you change perfectly valid sentences into something that sounds vague, stiff, or inappropriate.

The whole difficulty started way back in the Victorian times when those teaching and codifying English thought that Latin was the be all and end all of languages. They did their best to transfer some rules from Latin into English. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), English isn’t Latin, so those “borrowed” rules just didn’t fit.

The sad thing is that for the past 200 years or so, English has been taught with those rules as if they were useful—they aren’t, and they just get in the way of effective communication. After all, isn’t that what languages are used for? If they don’t communicate the proper message, then they aren’t worth the time to learn.

We’ve mentioned a few of those “rules” over the past few years: Split Infinitives, Prepositions at the ends of sentences, Singular They, and we even touched on the use of punctuation around quotes. If you come across any other rules that don’t seem right, please let us know, so we can research, analyse, and report back.

When to Use a Comma with Dependent Clauses

Dependent clauses are wonderful things. They help us connect ideas to show relationships. In the examples below, we have two sentences that are both true individually, but they work better when the connection between the ideas is expressed. That is done by using a Subordinating Conjunction, making one clause dependent on the other.

  • Don arrives. I will jump.
    • When Don arrives, I will jump.
    • I will jump when Don arrives.
  • Fred trips. Fred will fall
    • If Fred trips, he will fall.
    • Fred will fall if he trips.
  • It will be warm. The sun shines.
    • It will be warm because the sun shines.
    • Because the sun shines, it will be warm.
  • You go. I will follow.
    • Wherever you go, I will follow.
    • I will follow wherever you go.

You’ll notice that the clauses can be put in either order…depending on your focus. You typically want the more important idea to be the last part the reader encounters. The key here is that when the clause with the subordinating conjunction comes first, we need a comma to show where that clause ends, so the next one can begin. If the clause with the conjunction comes last, then the conjunction acts as the separator between them. In class, you’ll often see the rule written on the board like this:

DC,IC or ICDC

Dependent clause first, use a comma.
Independent clause first, no comma.

Remember that, and you’ll be well on your way.

Writers Write

by
  • We have yet to develop enough topics to fill all the slots for the year (blame Corona for that!), so let us know what you’d like to hear about. Until then, we’ll just take on topics as they come to mind.

Welcome to yet another great year at Turner Editing. As previously, we will continue to post interesting and timely topics related to the writing world. We are always available for discussion, so if you have any ideas or questions, please let us know. We’re going to start off this year with the first step in writing: writing itself!

As we mentioned at the end of last year, getting something on paper is the first and biggest task a writer has. Once you have something in fixed form, you can sit back and look at it objectively, consider it, improve it, publish it. Until it’s actually written down, it’s just an idea floating around in the aether, nebulous and indistinct.

As with many tasks in journalism, we are going to address the important information gathering questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

The Who is obvious…no one else can write your story except you, so you’d best get to it! Your audience out there is anxiously awaiting your fabulous tales.

And the What is easy, too. Again, only you know what needs to be written. It has been said that if you want to read a book, but can’t find it, then you must be the one to write it. In other words you shouldn’t necessarily write what you know…instead you should write what you want to read.

Tackling the How will take the rest of the year, and that’s our plan, but for now we’ll just focus on the Where, When, and Why.

Where to Write

Where you do your writing can be almost as important as what you’re writing. To get the best benefit from the time you spend writing, you should set aside a specific place to do your work. The location and setting are important, but some writers even have a particular pen and pad they prefer to use…others have a favourite program. Whatever setting you prefer to use when you write, it should be set up just the way you need. Once you get it all arranged, the mere fact of settling in at your designated Writing Area will signal to your brain that it’s time to write…no interruptions allowed.

It’s fine if your location is also used for other things…for instance serving dinner to your family. The only caveat is that you need to make it special for when you are writing. Whatever location you use, change it around somewhat for your writing time. Set up an inspiring picture, put on appropriate music, shoo the kids out and hang a bedsheet over the doorway. That way if you are using the dining room table to do your writing, it becomes your Writing Area when appropriately arranged

When to Write

I could say to write every day…all the time…to the exclusion of all else, but that’s not practical. On the other hand, if you do have large blocks of time to write, that’s wonderful. Unfortunately, most of us have too many other things going on in our lives to set aside an entire eight-hour day just for writing. To help keep your focus, some writers subscribe to the Deep Work philosophy, where you can set aside just a couple hours (or even just a few minutes) and get some intense writing done. The Pomodoro method is also available to avoid becoming burned out by over working yourself.

You’ll want to set a specific time each day for your writing. Don’t just say that you will write for an hour…state exactly which hour you will write, and try to be consistent. If you can only set aside time three days a week, that’s fine. More is better, if you can afford it. If you can manage seven days a week, you’re doing better than most writers. Put it in your schedule, on your calendar, in your social media postings. Don’t forget to tell those around you, those you share your house or your life with, that you won’t be available during that time. If you are truly dedicated to writing, then your friends and family will want to support you in your effort, so keep them in the loop.

Why to Write

The Why is pretty much up to you—if you don’t want to write, then don’t. If you do, then you need to understand why you’re doing it, so you can do it successfully.

One big reason to write is because you have something to share with the world. If that’s the case, then you need to consider who will be reading it: your Target Audience. The best way to aim for your audience is to picture one individual who represents the entire audience. Write as if you were sitting down having a conversation with only him. Picture just telling him the story…then quickly write down what you just told him.

If your reason to write is to make money, then, just as with any money-making venture, the more time and effort you put into it, the more you’ll reap the rewards. Treat it the same as you would any job…but in this case remember that you are the boss as well as the employee. Some of your time will be spent creating, and some of your time will be spent managing. As we just discussed (in The Difference Between Writing and Editing), those tasks require different mind sets, so keep them separate.

Remember: If you want to be notified of new postings aimed at topics of interest to you, sign up to be on the mailing list.

How to Keep Writing (Motivation)

by

Once you start writing, you’ll find that it isn’t as easy as it looks. You may start a few projects, then abandon them…unfinished. A common problem amongst writers, so how do you deal with it? The answer depends on where you are when you hit that wall. Some writers never even started, despite the fact that they claim they want to write. Some get going, but then the enthusiasm fades away as they get deeper and deeper into the story. Then there are the ones who seem to be afraid of finishing. If you never actually complete your book, then you won’t have to hear anyone critique it—avoiding failure by avoiding completion? That’s not what you want to do.

How Far Have You Gotten?

If you’ve just started…or are just thinking about starting…you may have concerns whether your writing is going to be worth anyone’s time. Don’t consider that now…just write for yourself. Once you get going and have a project in development, then you can start thinking about your Target Reader. Ideas loose in your head just get all jumbled up and confused. Merely putting them onto paper will help spotlight where you need to expand.

Other writers get bogged down near the end of their undertaking. The closer they get, the more they fear that it won’t turn out as they wanted. Sometimes the ending they’ve planned just won’t work out because of some things that have happened earlier in the story. They thought they knew which way it was going, but when they got there, it just wouldn’t happen.

I can commiserate with them entirely. I knew how a novel I was working on was going to end…but half-way through, the characters told me that they didn’t want that ending. [sigh] I had to go with what they wanted and rewrite the entire ending.

The mere fact that you have come this far is a testament to your determination…just a bit more and you’ll be done! You’ll have accomplished something few others have. It won’t be completely finished, but I’ve always said that I can’t edit a blank page. Get it written…then address the issues.

The majority of failed writers get stuck half way through the novel. The beginning and the end are fine…it’s the muddle that drags them down. Trying to keep inspired as you’re writing can be a problem.

How to Keep Going

No matter where you get stuck, there are ways to get going again, but first you need to decide if you want to keep going. If writing is a hobby…because you like writing…then there’s no reason to keep going. I wrote a resignation letter one time that used the line: “If it ain’t fun, don’t do it.”

On the other hand, if you are writing in hopes of making a living, then you need to treat writing as a job. If you called your plumber, and he said, “I just don’t feel like plumbing today”, you’d probably be a bit surprised. What if your baker decided to take a day off because he wasn’t in the mood to bake? It would shock you. If you, as a writer, didn’t put forth at least some effort every day, then it isn’t really a job…I don’t know what it is.

The best habit to develop is of writing daily, then half the battle is conquered. Excepting weekends, you sit and write…whether you feel like it or not. Some days may be more productive than others, but at least you have something to show for it.

I heard tell of a writer who stopped for lunch after spending the morning writing. His wife asked him how it was going, and he replied, “I put in a comma.” That evening, after working all afternoon, he answered his wife’s question with: “I took the comma out.” Not all days are going to yield something creative, but at least you’re attempting to do it. In basketball, they say that you’ll miss every shot that you don’t try.

Track Your Progress

Daily writing goals help, and by graphing your work, you’ll see how it adds up…how close you are to your goal. Using Excel to graph your progress can be challenging, but if you keep the analytical side of your brain active, you can reserve the creative side for your writing. (When I was in university, I always took a maths/science class as well as art/creative writing class…and I used the far south carpark if I didn’t have a kinesiology class. Gotta to keep both parts of your brain active!)

If you prefer someone else graph your work, use a program similar to Pacemaker Planner to set up a goal and daily plan, either word count or time spent. It then shows how much work you need to do—as you work, you enter how far you’ve gotten. It then compares that with where you should be…and can adjust the later dates to accommodate your actual progress. (Very useful if you’re trying NaNoWriMo.)

Eliminate Distractions

If you get easily distracted, most word processing programs have a Distraction Free setting. If you need more, there are programs out there comparable to Focus Writer. It allows you to configure an environment and background that helps you stay on task.

Blind Write takes a unique attitude towards writing. Fully espousing the philosophy of turning off your internal editor during the process of writing, they allow you to set your topic and a timer, then just type away…the only thing is that you can’t see what you’re typing…not until the timer runs out. It’s certainly a good way to get some ideas down without being bothered by small typos, phrasing issues, word choice problems, etc. Once the timer ends and you can finally see what you’ve typed, you just copy and paste the text into any word processor for clean-up. (It will really test your typing skills, too!)

I really recommend you try it…even if just for fun.

The Five C’s of Plot

by

Just as we earlier had gone over the Three C’s of Writing, we will now look at the Five C’s of Plot. By considering these five ideas, you will be able to develop a skeleton that you can then fill in with appropriate details to build up your story. These aren’t named quite the same as the Five Plot Points, but I’ll show where they tie in. Before you start expanding your story by aiming for the Plot Points, you may want to at least identify what these concepts are in your story, so you can use them as a guide.

Character

Of course you have to have some characters in your story…otherwise who would we be reading about? Some authors argue that Plot is more important than characters…others argue the other way around. I find that Characters are part of plot, so you can’t have one without the other.

Right up front, you need to create a wonderful main character (MC) that the readers can worry about. You’ll also need a flock of minor characters to carry out the various tasks required of them (Elements—Character). We get to know all these characters in Plot Point #1, Introduction, but they need to be believable, not flat, or the reader won’t care what happens to them. All right, now that you have your cast of thousands, what do you do with them?

Conflict

Here is where the real story starts. To find the conflict, the question you have to ask yourself is why is this day different from all others? That’s the key to the start of conflict. Something happens in our Hero’s life that disrupts things the way they were. Although he spends the rest of the story trying to get back to normal, it never happens. This change in his situation makes a change in him as well.

The Conflict could be internal (he realises that he needs to change) or external (someone or something interferes with his life). A good example is a Bad Guy taking something away from him or preventing him from getting something he desires. It could also be something as simple as a tree branch falling on his car. This conflict happens as part of Plot Point #2, Inciting Event, but that’s just the beginning.

Complications

Here is where the bulk of your story resides. There is a problem…and every time your MC tries to fix the problem in front of him, another, greater, problem develops. You can have fun with these complications…dreaming up more and more convoluted difficulties. If he gets out a chainsaw to cut up the branch lying across his car…he could find the gas tank empty…OR he could be cutting the branch apart and the saw kicks back…slicing off his fingers!

It’s your choice to envision appropriate setbacks for him…depending on how seriously you want him to fail. These complications, taking place during the Rising Action, continue to escalate until the Hero is defeated…he has reached his Darkest Point (Plot Point #3).

Climax

This is the point where your Hero finally turns things around, coming from behind to somehow defeat the enemy. The method he uses to succeed in completing the challenge is up to you, but it has to be logical, though not predictable. Twenty-twenty hindsight will make it clear why he did what he did, but the reader shouldn’t be able to guess what’s going to happen before it does.

In addition, you have to remember that it has to be his decision that makes the difference, though possibly guided by his Mentor. Once he makes that decision, and is committed to following through, he goes for it and something changes…either himself or the world…but he never manages to return to his old self (Transformation). This part of the process matches up with Plot Point #4, also called Climax (isn’t that amazing?).

Conclusion

Now you finally get to tie up all those loose ends you left lying about with all the subplots you so carefully wove throughout the story and maybe explain how your Hero achieved his victory. This is your chance to show the reader the new world that was created by the Hero’s change.

Now would be a good time to allude to other activities in the continuation of the story…possibly revealing that a subsequent story may be about to take place. (Remember, the best way to get your first book to sell is to write a second book…and to get that one popular? Just write a third! You aren’t a one-trick pony, are you?) After all this, you’ve ultimately reached Plot Point #5, Resolution, just with a different name.

Put It All Together

Now that you have the Five C’s identified, all you have to do is figure out the rest of the story…but with this foundation, that should be easy, right?

First Impressions

by

Readers can’t buy your book unless they know it exists, and it’s your job to let them know that your amazing book is out there and ready for them to find. A big way you can make a good first impression is knowing what your book is about. Yes, you’ve written it, so you know everything that is going on in it, but can you succinctly explain what it’s about…without hemming and hawing…stuttering…taking way too much of someone’s time? That is where creating an Elevator Speech will help.

The next biggest way to announce that your creation is out there works when you aren’t even around: printed info that you can hand out or make available for folks to grab later. We’ll cover both of those right now.

Elevator, Blurb, or Logline

If you have only 30 seconds…as the elevator moves from floor to floor…to tell someone about your book, you need to have a quick, yet complete, summary of your book…ready to go. That’s the idea behind an Elevator Speech. You’ve prewritten it to include enough information to catch someone’s attention, yet it leaves out enough to keep their curiosity up. Once you’ve perfected it…and practiced it in front of a mirror until you’re tired of it…you’ll be ready to tell anyone, any time, all about your book.

When used on the back cover as a blurb, you can also add quotes from well-known folks in appropriate fields, either praises about the content of the book or compliments regarding your expertise in writing it. When done right, the back cover can entice potential purchasers to open up the book and start reading…right there in the store aisle.

Though similar to a Synopsis, an Elevator Speech differs in content and audience. A Synopsis includes a brief, but complete, version of your entire story…including the Climax and Resolution…and is intended for Acquisition Editors or Agents. They don’t want to be entertained…rather they need to know that it is a finished product and has a satisfactory ending, so they can evaluate the marketability. Elevator Speeches, on the other hand, usually stop just shy of the Climax, often barely hinting at the Darkest Point. They are for prospective readers who need to be convinced that they must read the whole thing.

If you shorten it even more, you can use it as a Logline. Often only one sentence long, a Logline captures the main character, the central conflict, and the stakes involved, along with a key concept that makes your book distinctive.

Printed Material

You can’t always be around when readers are looking for something to read, but instead of trying to find them, let them find you. If you can put your info into their hands, then you can sit back and let them come to you. Putting your contact info…and enough of a hook…on different kinds of items can work wonders for your sales. You can use something as small as a business card (though there’s not much room for your pitch) or a bookmark (more room…for a picture, too), as big as a postcard (cover picture and a blurb), or even as huge as a poster (plenty of room for all kinds of info).

Business cards can be handed out whenever you meet with readers…and they will remember you when they get home. Bookmarks are always useful to readers and can be offered to interested folks. Postcards can be mailed as well as being available for folks to pick up when they wander past your table at the book fair. Posters that can be seen across a room will attract attention, drawing folks to come over to see what all the fuss is about. (Imagine a 3 foot by 5 foot poster of the picture to the side…now that draws a crowd every time he sets it up!)

Any type of handout you use should include some basic info: your name, your site (and QR), the book’s name, and the Logline or Tagline. On the larger ones, include your book’s front cover, so they’ll recognise it when they go shopping. You can also use a scene from in the book in addition to the cover to draw more attention.

QR Codes

We’ve mentioned QR codes in more than a few postings, but we never detailed just what they are. Let’s rectify that deficiency now. The abbreviation QR stands for Quick Response—a method of encoding information (such as a URL) in printed material that can be scanned by a smartphone.

Sharing your URL in print is fine, but folks often balk at having to type it all in or even just searching for your site. Putting it on your business card as a QR code eliminates that issue…they can just scan it with their phone, and it will take them directly to whatever page you’ve encoded. That’s a key point…because you pick the page they are sent to, you can have multiple similar pages and different QR codes on different items pointing to each one. That way you can see which handouts give you the best return for your investment—you can do your own A/B testing.

A Logline or a Tagline?

by

Although today is National Grammar Day, we aren’t going to examine any aspect of grammar…rather we are going to expose yet another baffling term that is probably new to you…actually a pair of terms that are often confused. Because you’ll probably need both a Tagline and a Logline, it’s a pretty good idea to distinguish them.

Logline

Commonly expanded and used as an Elevator Speech, or expanded even more to become a Blurb, a Logline is a quick description of your book that includes enough information so the reader knows what it’s all about. Easy enough to build…determine the proper parts and put them together.

Start with your main character…but not his name, just a quick description as an outsider would see him with a couple descriptive adjectives to give some depth.

  • A former boy scout

Then you need to add some setting, just enough to set the general situation or time period. You could also include an indication of genre here.

  • A former boy scout, now in his early twenties, is finishing up college

Next, mention what’s changed in his life. Why is the story starting here? That would be the Inciting Event from Act I. Don’t go into too much detail, just a quick reason why things have changed.

  • A former boy scout, now in his early twenties, is finishing up college and arranges one last great adventure with some fellow scouts

Now we need to know the stakes…what could happen…what are the risks?

  • A former boy scout, now in his early twenties, is finishing up college and arranges one last great adventure with some fellow scouts. Using some experimental technology, they plan to travel far to experience a new world

Finally we need to get the reader to care about the characters.

  • A former boy scout, now in his early twenties, is finishing up college and arranges one last great adventure with some fellow scouts. Using some experimental technology, they plan to travel far to experience a new world where they discover more about themselves than they expected and have to make some crucial decisions to ensure that all return safely

Optional

To keep the tension strong, a ticking clock is handy to have.

  • A former boy scout, now in his early twenties, is finishing up college and arranges one last great adventure with some fellow scouts. Using some experimental technology, they plan to travel far to experience a new world where they discover more about themselves than they expected and have to make some crucial decisions to ensure that all return safely before the door to the new world closes.

That covers the Logline, just two sentences.

Tagline

Often found as a subtitle on a novel, the Tagline gives a feeling of what the book is about…but none of the details. You can’t predict anything about the book from the Tagline, but it makes you want look more, just like a slogan—complementing your cover image as it illuminates the heart of your book.

Creating a Logline was a straightforward step-by-step process…creating a Tagline, on the other hand, is a whole ’nother ball of wax. Because your Tagline has little to do with the content of your book, there is no quick and easy method to create one. It is a purely creative task, so we suggest that you consider the list below for inspiration and do a lot of brainstorming. Come up with as many as you can and pass them by your friends and family, critique partners, possibly total strangers. See how they react, what questions they ask, what excites them. Would they pick up the book based on that alone?

You’ll probably recognise some of the following Taglines…and could even name the book, movie, or show.

  • There can be only one.
  • A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
  • Who you gonna call?
  • One ring to rule them all.
  • …the temperature at which books burn.
  • Winter is coming.
  • Don’t go in the water.
  • Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
  • Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.
  • The truth is out there.
  • We are not alone.
  • There are two sides to every story.
  • Half Boy. Half God. All Hero.

As you can see, even if you know what those Taglines refer to, by themselves, they don’t give any clue what the story is about. That’s the problem with Taglines. All we can do is wish you luck!

Grammar and Readability

by

If you search the web for Writer’s Tools, you’ll find quite a few suggestions out there…mostly falling into a few major categories: Grammar and Readability, Keeping Writing, and Finding the Right Word. There are even more tool ideas that don’t fit into any of those groups, but we are going to just hit a few of the big ones. Today, we will look at a few places where you can check the grammar of your writing…and as a bonus, get an indication of how tough it is for a typical reader to get through it.

Be advised, none of the tools we are going to cover can give your writing the same attention that an actual human reader can, so we always recommend having someone familiar with publishing traditions give a close look at anything you want to share with the world. (We are always available for those tasks!)

Grammar Checkers

Besides the built-in spell and grammar checkers in most word processing programs, there are sites that are dedicated to checking your spelling, grammar, and style. Four big ones seem to come up in most lists: Hemingway, ProWritingAid, Readable, and Grammarly. Each has their high and low points, all come with both a free and a paid version, and some don’t even require that you have an account or a log in if all you need is a quick check via the web.

We recommend taking a few paragraphs of some of your writing and run them through all of them, just to get a feel for what they can do.

  • Hemingway is easy and straightforward…no fluff here.
  • ProWritingAid is a bit more exhaustive and comprehensive (though it takes a bit of sleuthing to find the free, web-based version).
  • Readable has a quick-check site that is easy to access, though they push the paid version quite thoroughly.
  • Grammarly is rather involved and complicated (and the only one that requires you to have an account and log in…even to use the free version).

Once you’ve tested them out and found your favourite, stick with it. Switching back and forth from one to another will just serve to drive you crazy as one will suggest changing A to B and the next will say to swap B to A. The bottom line is always your Target Reader, so keep in mind that these programs just give suggestions. If all they do is help you find places where you can improve your writing in general, then they’ve done their job well.

Readability Scoring

When it comes to getting an opinion on how readable your text is, the jury is still out. Apparently, every new study has created their own way to measure readability…including measuring sentence length, determining word complexity, and counting syllables. Some methods return a grade level…others a numeric score. Grade levels range from 5th grade (very easy for an 11 year old to understand) up to professional (difficult for university graduates to comprehend). Some of the numeric scores roughly correspond to a percent of the mainstream audience who will grasp the concepts involved…others are based on a different scale.

Generally, we want our writing to fall into the 7th to 9th grade level or 60–80 on the percentage scale. Anything more difficult than that may put off some readers…especially the ones who are reading as an escape from having to think. If they want to read something that is more challenging, there are plenty of text books available to them.

Here are some example scoring systems in use:

  • Grade Level (lower=easier)
    • Flesch-Kincaid
    • Gunning fog
    • Coleman-Liau
    • SMOG
    • Automated Readability
    • Fry
    • FORCAST
    • Powers Sumner Kearl
    • Rix
    • Raygor
    • CEFR
    • Spache
    • New Dale-Chall
  • Numeric Score (higher=easier)
    • Flesch Reading Ease
    • IELTS
    • Lix
    • Lensear

As you can see, there are way too many options out there, but most readability calculators include either or both of the Flesch scores, so that’s a good place to start.

What are Weasel Words?

by

Some sites suggest that you avoid Weasel Words, but how can you steer clear of them if you don’t know what they are? That’s why we are going to consider them in this post. By definition, weasel words “suck the life” out of the words they are near, rendering them weak and lifeless…similar to the eggs left after the weasel has had dinner. (Apparently weasels don’t actually suck the eggs out, but they do tend to leave empty shells behind.) In trying to keep your piece strong, you certainly don’t want any dull or boring, lifeless words, so it might be a good idea to at least be aware of weasel words.

Why Weasel?

A multitude of explanations exist for why the term ‘weasel’ is used, but none of them are accepted as the true and correct account. In addition to Shakespeare’s mentioning the habit of weasels sucking eggs (twice), both Theodore Roosevelt and Stewart Chaplin used similar phrasings in the early 1900s when they described ‘weasel words’ in relation to political posturing. Roosevelt said that he preferred a particular platform because it contained no weasel words, and Chaplin wrote a short story where a politician said that his platform, as most, was full of weasel words. In both cases they were referring to positions that had lost their potency because of these weasel words.

An earlier tale referencing weasels is when Hercules was born. As his mother was about to give birth, her servant Galanthis announced his birth early…foiling the conspiracy of the goddess Lucina to prevent his birth. In retribution, Lucina transformed Galanthis into a weasel, because “her lying mouth helped in childbirth”. From that we get the idea that weasels are tricky, dishonest, or deceitful. Weasel words are also misleading, giving meaning where none should be.

Whatever the source, and despite the fact that weasels don’t actually suck eggs, the term seems to have stuck, so we’ll deal with it when we see it.

Examples of Weasel Words

Weasel words can be grouped into a few main types: numerical, passive, or adverbs that weaken. All of these often appear in copy that is intended to influence decision making, such as adverts and political rhetoric. Frequently you’ll hear about “some people” who believe or support something…but who are they? Do you trust them? Just how many of them are there?? What about claims that “many experts recommend” this item? Does that have any power to influence you? Again, how many, who are they, and what exactly do they recommend? Consider something that is “up to 50% off”…well, if it is only ONE percent off, then it is “up to” 50%, so that phrase doesn’t really mean much, yet it may cause you to consider a purchase.

We’ve seen Passive Voice being used when we don’t know who the actor in a statement is, but it is also used to avoid responsibility. Instead of saying, “We made a mistake”, you’ll hear, “A mistake was made.” No one is admitting fault, so there can be no punishment. Would you buy something that “experience shows that” it is good? Whose experience? What did they experience? How does their experience connect to the product? And if “common sense insists” you should do it, should you? Are we to make decisions based on what “everyone else” thinks or does? “No product is better” would be true even if no product were worse.

Good Claims Don’t Have Weasel Words

Now that you know what weasel words are, you can strengthen your assertions as you write. Say what you mean, and say it with conviction. Don’t be wishy-washy or wimpy. State your case and stand behind it.

First Steps to Marketing (Mailing Lists and Author Profiles)

by

Marketing is not one of the things most authors look forward to doing…after all, if they really enjoyed marketing, then they’d probably be doing that instead of writing. Everyone says that the first thing a new author needs is a website, but creating a good one can be a daunting task. Once you’ve started on that task, is there anything else you can be doing? Of course, but be warned…it’s going to take some time…expect to work on marketing your book for a few months before it is released…at least four to six months ahead, so don’t wait too long to start.

It’s also going to take time away from your writing, so you have a choice…either write another book or publicise the one you have out. Both are important, so we recommend that you split your time, devoting equal amounts to writing and marketing. It has been said that the best way to get your book to sell is to write another one, so don’t stop writing.

Mailing Lists

We’ll go into more detail about to create and work with Mailing Lists in a later post, but what you need to know now is that they are an important part of your marketing strategy. Collecting contact info from loyal fans gives you opportunities to let the faithful know about your doings, whether it be a new book being released soon, a signing, or just a visit to another town. They want to know these things.

What you need to know now is that it takes time to build up a proper list, so you should start working on it as soon as possible…even if your book isn’t quite finished yet. The best way is to include a Sign Up button in whatever marketing plan you use. Give readers an opportunity…but don’t make it bigger than the message. You can include some kind of gift for signing up…such as an unpublished short story that ties into your next novel or a worksheet for your non-fiction book. Include the links in a variety of places, so readers can easily sign up: your About the Author pages, your business cards and bookmarks, any fliers you’ve created, etc. The more you spread it around, the better.

Once you have a decent list built up, use it only a few times a year. You want to keep your Target Readers active and interested…not annoyed. These folks have an exclusive connection with you, so use it to share exclusive deals, such as specials on your books (a temporary low price on a new release or a boxed set). You can even share with them new short stories related to your next upcoming novel.

Author Profiles

An easy option is to create profiles on multiple sites. You create them, then ignore them, updating them only when a new book is about to be released. Besides Amazon and Goodreads, author pages are available on a variety of sites such as Smashwords, Author’s Den, Authorsdb, and Poets&Writers.

Be certain to use a professional-looking photo…no outdoor pictures with your dog…unless your books are about dogs, of course! Fill in your bio with relevant info that will attract readers. Including references to other authors that you admire in your genre will make connections for the readers. You can also use LinkedIn to connect to those other authors.

Once your profiles are set up, move on. Advertising on these sites isn’t often worth the effort (or money), so just get your name out there…then wait. Revisit them occasionally to respond to comments, but don’t waste too much of your writing time there.

Many of these sites will allow you to link your blog (from your personal website), so when you make a new posting, it will be automatically posted there, too. Trying to maintain multiple sites separately will drain too much of your writing time, so don’t spend too much time figuring it out. It’s fine if you’re not certain how to link your blog…you’re an author, not an IT geek. Just as you would seek the expertise of an editor, find a techie who will work with you to automate your postings. Don’t forget to mention (and link) to your various profiles from your personal website for more exposure.