WRITER'S BLOCK - You can beat it!

If you’re reading this article, then chances are you’re currently suffering from writer’s block. This is the most common adversary of many writers, and is perhaps the most frustrating aspect to the creative process. Looking for a resolution to this common creative conundrum (don’t you love alliteration? I do) will most likely help you succeed in dissipating that writer’s block cloud and get you back on track with your writing project.

To offer some assistance to this challenging obstacle, I’ve listed a few tried and tested solutions for ridding myself of the dreaded writer’s block. They DO work! Give them a try; you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

1.    If you’ve found yourself staring at a blank page on your computer screen all day, grab a pen and some sticky notes and try to create a basic brainstorming list. Forcing your mind to develop new ideas can often prod it back into productivity.

2.    If you’re fighting fatigue, because you were up late the previous evening getting ideas down, take a break. This might be stating the obvious here, but a lot of writers (including myself) push themselves to the limit, trying to extract every last creative idea out of their head onto the computer. Get out in the fresh air and go for a walk to clear your head. Get a good night’s sleep or, better yet, take a whole day off to allow time for your mind to regenerate.

3.     Try taking your laptop or iPad somewhere else other than the usual place you sit to write. Visit a coffee shop or park for the morning or afternoon (depending on the time of day you like to write). New surroundings may be just what you need to breathe new life into your writing.

4.    Try a sixty second writing exercise. Write down anything that jumps into your head. It doesn’t need to make sense, just get it down on paper. This will help to unclog your brain and get you motivated again. You might even want to make it two minutes or longer (it's up to you).

5.     Pick up a book and read for a while. Gain some inspiration from your favourite book or author. This just might give you the enthusiasm you need to get back in front of your computer.

6.     Play some emotive music. Put something on that relates to what you're currently writing. You would be surprised how something as simple as this can help with the writing process by stirring the emotions.

7.    Have a creative wall space (you can buy wall-sized adhesive blackboards that are easily removable) near your desk where you can attach sticky notes with your story/article/book ideas and other things such as pictures or phrases that relate to your writing. Looking at this from time to time will encourage you to continue.

8.    Bounce ideas off family and friends, or even fellow writers. Have a brainstorming session. You know, having someone to work with can often lead to a renewed enthusiasm for your work.

Whether you try a few or all of these suggestions, remember to take care of yourself during the writing process and give yourself the much-needed breaks and creative brainstorming sessions you need to help you beat writer's block.

Good luck! And Happy Writing!

© 2014 M. A. Anderson

Brisbane, Australia

MARKETING YOUR BOOK

Indie authors can give themselves the greatest opportunity to sell more books if they create interest long before the book is in print. By giving focus to how you’re going to promote and market your book before it is out there in the world will assist you to plan and organise your marketing campaign for optimal sales.

Usually, self-published authors seek out reliable book reviews and/or endorsements as a means to market their book and persuade readers to buy it. This is a great marketing tool because word of mouth is one of the best avenues for getting your book out there.

The internet has also levelled the playing field for authors in a big way by creating an online environment where they can develop their writing platform and invite the audience that is most suited to their genre.

The biggest challenge indie authors face is which promotional stream is going to be most effective in getting the word out to readers and keep them interested until the book’s release. Posting excerpts from the book on social media sites and your own website, and cover reveal teases all create a buzz and keep potential readers interested. But these ways of marketing have all been done before.

Some indie authors use ‘keywords’ (for search engine optimisation (SEO)) on their websites, blogs and social media pages so their books will pop up first in the particular searched for genre. Others network with authors of a similar or the same genre and increase interest by promoting each other’s books. This also increases readership for all concerned.

Becoming savvy about how to promote your book and create interest takes time, effort and some skill. The important factors that come into play here are having a professional author platform and building a loyal audience, using social media to network and create some hype for your book, and how you’ve chosen to distribute your book (print and/or electronic).

YouTube is another effective way to market your book. You can either create an exciting book trailer, read excerpts from your book, or both. I would recommend both. By reading excerpts from your book, you create an online rapport with your readers and anticipation of what’s to come.

Because there are so many authors (traditional and self-published) online making noise about their books, it’s up to you to think outside the box and develop new ways to get the word out there. Readers (fans) are fickle and it is essential that you market your book and ensuing books in such a way that your fans will want to follow you to the ends of the earth. Literally! You can become a social media celebrity without a lot of effort if you put your mind to reaching the audience that you want.

Writing books is big business, and if you hope to make any kind of profit from your book/s sales then you need to treat it as such and become proficient in marketing and promoting your work in the right way to the right audience.

Good luck!

© 2014 M A Anderson

Brisbane, Australia

 

TO SELF PUBLISH OR NOT TO SELF PUBLISH? That is the Question!

You’ve written that book, revised and revised it, polished it to perfection and had it professionally edited. So what now?

The next step is to decide whether you want to try your luck with a traditional publisher or whether it would be more beneficial to self-publish. Which is best for you is your choice, of course, but if you want complete control over what happens to your book (cover design, style, how it’s marketed), would like to earn more than 10% royalties on the book you worked long and hard to create, then publishing through a POD (Print On Demand) publishing site might be the answer.

There are numerous unscrupulous online publishing companies that charge independent authors excessive amounts of dollars to publish their work. DON’T go near them! No matter how good they look. Do your homework before signing up for any kind of package with these companies. I’ve known first time authors who have been tied to five year contracts with no rights to their hard copy book, and have never seen a penny from the publisher. DON’T be tempted just because you want your book in print.

POD companies such as Createspace (subsidiary of Amazon), Smashwords (eBooks only) and Lulu don’t charge fees for assisting you to get your book in print, and offer worldwide distribution. You can set up hard copy and eBook formats confident that you have complete control over the professional presentation of your books. It’s that easy.

Things you should know:

• Self-publishing gives you complete control over how your book is presented to readers. You choose the format, style, cover design and how it is marketed.

• You should not have to pay to have your book published with an online POD publisher.

• DO YOUR HOMEWORK and choose wisely.

• Make sure you understand exactly what the publishing company is offering before agreeing to become their client (see March article about signing contracts on my website).

REMEMBER: Everything about your book is a representation of YOU the author. So make sure you have a visually appealing professional cover, polished and edited story and an exciting blurb to present to your readers.

'There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing, to find honest men to publish it, and to find sensible men to read it.' Charles Caleb Colton - English Cleric, writer and collector.

All the best!

© 2014 M A Anderson

Brisbane, Australia

WRITING TIPS - Self-editing

If you’re planning to send your manuscript to a publisher you’ll want to ensure your work is of a high professional standard. Anything less and it could end up on an editor’s slush pile. The better presented your work is, the better your opportunity of having an editor actually read it.

Here are a few tips to help you before submitting.

• Point-of-view: first or third person is always preferred (third person more so). Try to limit point-of-view (POV) to essential characters only. Head-hopping within scenes will cause editors NOT to want to continue reading your manuscript.

• Punctuation: keep it basic. Avoid the urge to use clusters of em dashes and/or ellipses, and also an overuse of commas throughout your text. Use only where absolutely necessary.

• Repetitive words: be sure to carefully check for repeated words and phrases in close proximity throughout your work. Always consider using alternative words if you find you have too many of the same ‒ especially if they are within the same paragraph and/or on the same page. You can check this by typing a word into the navigation search engine (Ctrl F). It will highlight all of the same word throughout your manuscript.

• Unnecessary words: the most common are: that, had, and, really, very, little, and then, a bit, just, about, probably, against, so, all, but, like, got and was/were. There are always other ways to restructure a sentence to avoid using these words. At least, try to use them less often. As above, you can search for these and replace them.

• Sentence structure: should be varied to allow an even flow throughout your story. Beware of paragraphs with every sentence starting with articles (e.g. the, a/an, some) and/or pronouns (e.g. she, it, this). Beware of having an overabundance of present progressive verb tenses, possessive pronouns (-ly adverbs) and prepositional phrases. 

• Dialogue tags: sometimes less really is more. Not every line needs a tag, and "said" and "asked" are what most editors expect these days. Use a good mixture of action and/or speaker characteristic tags.

• No bold, underlined or other special fonts except italic. And use this only where absolutely necessary.

• Use spellcheck (I’m surprised at how many writers don't do this). When using it be aware that any spelling variations will NOT be picked up by spellcheck e.g. there, their or they’re; your or you’re, so it’s important that you know which spelling is correct before using a word in a sentence. And, as a backup, go to your hard copy Dictionary and look up the word’s definition to make doubly sure.

I cannot stress enough that the more polished and professionally presented your work is the more likely it will get into the hands of an editor. Good luck!

Happy writing!

Copyright © 2014 M A Anderson

Brisbane, Australia