Archive for January, 2009
Importance Of Self Promotion
Posted on Jan 30, 2009 05:26:40 PM
Promoting yourself is as important as writing your novel. It’s important to get your name out there, and allow people a sample of your work. People can’t buy what they don’t know about. Not only is promoting an important step of the publishing process, it’s a vital element to any writers career.
In the age of the information superhighway known as the internet, there are many opportunities to promote your work. It’s important that you utilize a good mix of all of them to maximize your exposure to readers. Why not take advantage of the vast resources available for little to no cost.
Blogging is a great way for an author to interact with readers. Services such as Myspace, Ning, LiveJournal, Yahoo 360 and Bebo are great services that allow you to customize the message you want your readers to see. You can post updates, excerpts, contests and more for your readers. When using these services it’s important to remember interacting with those on your list is important and more likely to earn you a fan base than simply hard selling your work.
Review sites are phenomenal places to get exposure for your book, gain a fan base and allow others, specifically the reviewer, to offer an unbiased opinion of your book. It’s important to get your piece to as many reviewers as possible. There are many readers out there who consult these review sites when making choices about new books and new authors. Don’t feel left out, utilize their services.
MSN and Yahoo offer the option to create and join in many groups on many different subjects. There are hundreds of groups out there specific to reading and writing. There are critique groups, promotions groups and just general chat groups. Often you will find that publishers have groups as well. This is a great way to network with other authors and publishers. These groups tend to be very active and provide a lot of information that can be useful and necessary to the aspiring author.
Finally don’t forget the power of building your own website. Not only can you customize this specifically for you, you can give extensive information about your releases, you and projects you are working on. Often you’ll find people in the writing community would like to have your website address. This is important because it provides readers a link to you. You can start a blog on your page, you can run contests on your page, you can post excerpts of your work. Ultimately, the importance of a website is giving your reader a way to connect with you.
Success as a writers is dependent on your skills at self promotion. There are so many avenues out there for exposure it is simple, cost free and often a lot of fun. Remember that readers can’t find you if they don’t know about you. So make it a point to put yourself out there and let people know who you are.
Self Publishing: Is This The Way To Publish Your Book?
Posted on Jan 28, 2009 07:41:40 PM
Self publishing might be the best way to publish your book. There are several advantages to self publishing that you might not have considered.
First, and most important, self publishing places you firmly in control of your book. When someone else is paying you to publish your book then they make many decisions regarding the editing of the manuscript, the cover, the title and the marketing that can impact not only how well your book will sell but also how it will be received by the reading public. For example, my second book ended up with the title “Kentucky Kisses” simply because my publisher’s marketing department reported that books with the word “kisses” in the title sold well. I felt the title was rather frivolous for the content but my wishes were ignored.
Self publishing is also faster than traditional publishing. With my novel, Kentucky Kisses, it took me over a year to find a publisher interested in buying and several months before we went to contract. Then after the contract was signed it was another 18 months before my book was released to the public. That is a long time to wait.
Self publishing also allows you to retain all the profits from your endeavor. While you may have to put some money up front (depending on the method you use to self publish your book) you will not have to wait for months or years to see income as a result. Most publishers only pay royalties once or twice a year and then those royalties are only a small percentage of the book price. When you self publish your book then once you have covered any publications costs everything you earn is pure profit.
Finally, it cannot be overlooked that self publishing offers you an opportunity to break into print that might not be otherwise available. The simple fact is that traditional publishing is highly competitive and many worthwhile manuscripts (and authors) cannot find a publishing home although there may well be an eager and receptive audience for that book.
It should be noted that self publishing may not be for everyone. If you are still struggling with your writing and voice, or your manuscript still needs polishing, then you should continue to work on your book and perhaps bring in the assistance of a critique group or professional editor. Self publishing a book that is not yet ready for publication could be a costly mistake. If your manuscript has been polished and well received by several critical readers then you should at least consider self publishing your book.
Not only does self publishing offer you the advantages of complete control, faster publication, and higher profits, it is easier and less expensive than it has ever been before thanks to modern technology. Self publishing could be your big break as a writer.
How To Get Rich Writing Articles Online
Posted on Jan 27, 2009 09:02:57 AM
Did you know that most authors who write articles online never have their work recognized and are never rewarded for the high quality work they produce? It’s really very sad when you think about how much time and effort is put into those articles. Did you also know that there is a select group of people across the net that have learned how to get rich writing articles online?
These folks aren’t necessarily smarter than the rest of us, but they have learned how to harness the power of article marketing and use it to their advantage. They know the key ingredients necessary to writing an article online that will generate a steady stream of income over multiple days, weeks, months and occassionally even a year or more. Once that system is in place, how to get rich writing articles online becomes easy because they only need to duplicate that blueprint.
Most articles are found and read online because people search the internet by using one to five words typed into their search engine of choice that relate to they topic they are interested in reading or the product they want to buy. In the world of article marketing, these are called keywords and they can make or break the bottom line of an internet marketer. If you want to know one of the secrets of how to get rich writing articles online, then pay close attention to the next sentence. The first 3-5 words of your article title will determine how much traffic your will generate. This ultimately determines the amount of success you will have.
Knowing this fact, you may wonder how you can get your articles to rank high in the search engines for the keywords that relate to the content of your article. In addition to using your primary keywords in the title of your article, you will want to sprinkle those keywords throughout the content of the article itself. Beware of “keyword stuffing” your article. Keyword stuffing is using too many keywords in a unnatural language format in an effort to trick the search engines into ranking your article higher. Not only will you not get the ranking you want, but you may get banned from submitting articles to the more prominant directories.
Maximizing profits from your article marketing plan requires that you master keyword research in order to create intelligent articles with keyword rich titles. Your long term reward will be a steady flow of traffic to your articles and webpages via the search engines.
If you need a helping hand with your article marketing plan, then grab this successful blueprint for writing articles online.
How To Make Money Freelance Writing For The Gaming Industry
Posted on Jan 26, 2009 07:40:29 AM
An Interview with BRIAN KONRADT,
author of Freelance Poker Writing:
How to Make Money Writing for the Gaming Industry
Q: Tell us about your book.
BRIAN: Freelance Poker Writing is the first book showing freelance writers how to make money writing for the gaming industry.
Q: So it’s not just writing about poker?
BRIAN: No, it’s writing for the gaming industry in general. This includes all types of casino-style games. I focus more on poker in my book because it is the most popular game and writers make more money covering poker and the influences of poker.
Q: Tell us about your writing career.
BRIAN: I’ve been a professional freelance writer since 1992. I’ve written for many publications and companies in several industries. I am mainly skilled as a copywriter, since most of my clients were corporations and ad agencies who hired me to write their marketing materials. I’ve been reporting on new trends in freelance writing since 1998. I don’t do much freelance writing for clients anymore because in the last ten years I have branched out into other areas. You can read about my writing career at my website, .BusyEntrepreneur.com.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for your book?
BRIAN: I became addicted to Texas Hold’em when The Travel Channel began airing poker tournaments on TV. I then started playing poker for fun and became even more addicted. My poker addiction led me to research more about poker and the gaming industry. During my research I met freelance writers who were making money in this growth industry. I was interested in how they broke in and what it was like freelancing in this industry. I wanted to tell their story. This is what gave me the idea for my book.
Q: What was the writing process like?
BRIAN: It took me close to seven months to complete my book. I spent a lot of time researching the industry and interviewing writers and poker players. Because I run my own business during the day, I wrote this book in my free time.
Q: What obstacles did you face when writing your book?
BRIAN: Getting some of the information and facts correct was difficult, especially writing about the gaming laws. Interpretations of some of the gaming laws conflict with one another and don’t make sense entirely, depending on who is interpreting the law.
Q: Who designed your book cover and website at FreelancePokerWriting.com?
BRIAN: I did. I love graphic design as much as I love writing. The two skills go hand-in-hand with me. I learned a long time ago if you offer both services to corporate clients &ndash writing and graphic design &ndash you can make a lot more money. The skills I had developed from my freelance career made writing and designing my book a lot easier. I also have two negative traits that work in my favor: I am a control freak and I have a (less than) zero attention span. I enjoy controlling all aspects of a project (writing, editing, designing, publishing, and marketing) as well as juggling several other projects throughout the day. I get bored very easily, so staying busy creatively is my cure.
Q: Can you make a living writing for poker magazines?
BRIAN: You can make some money, but don’t quit your day job just yet. Poker magazines (the ones on the newsstand) don’t pay high rates. Average rates are between .10 and .15 cents per word. Established freelance poker writers earn between .35 and .65 cents per word. Unless you are a writer with many clips and lots of experience, it is very competitive writing strictly for poker magazines. Poker trade magazines, on the other hand, do pay more and are less competitive, but this requires you to know the business sides of gaming.
Many writers look outside the scope of poker magazines to other magazines that cover topics related to poker and gaming; these include magazines on women’s issues, men’s issues, lifestyle, sports, betting, gaming, technology, travel, entertainment, law and so on. Many writers do make a living writing for these magazines. Pay rates are much higher, up to $1 per word and sometimes more.
Q: What other writing gigs exist for poker and gaming writers?
BRIAN: Tournament coverage, such as WSOP and WPT; SEO writing (writing search engine optimization copy) for businesses and affiliates; copywriting (writing for casinos, ad agencies, and gaming companies); ghostwriting books and ebooks; and, of course, magazine writing (which includes writing for newspapers, special publications, websites, and blogs).
Q: Which pays the most?
BRIAN: That depends. Covering a big tournament can make you plenty of money because you can generate many articles and news pieces with exclusive content and interviews. Plus, networking at tournaments is priceless. You can almost guarantee yourself you’ll walk away with more writing gigs. However, covering a large tournament requires a lot of time &ndash or, should I say, a lot of non-billable time.
Many writers find that SEO writing pays well. A client will ask a writer to write 20 articles at 300 words each on a topic (using certain keywords) for $10 per article. A skilled SEO writer can whip out these articles in less than three hours. That’s $66 an hour. Many SEO writing gigs are not for me because I write slowly and I prefer writing articles that entertain and educate readers.
Freelance copywriting in the gaming industry pays well. The average hourly rate is between $25 and $45 per hour with three or more years of related experience. Many freelance copywriters secure copywriting gigs from ad agencies in this industry.
The most popular writing gig, I would have to say, is freelance writing for poker-related publications, both offline and online. Poker and gaming cover so many topics, and many writers sell their articles to a variety of media outlets.
Q: How do writers break into this industry?
BRIAN: I answer this question extensively in my book, so I will be brief. Some writers start their own blogs. Other writers pitch an article idea to an editor. Yes, that’s it. No real big secret. Of course, you have to know your stuff. You can’t fake it till you make it in this industry.
Q: What is the most effective marketing strategy to publicize your writing services?
BRIAN: Online and offline social networking is the least costly and produces the best results to build a loyal readership and to build relationships with prospective clients. Online and offline social networking includes blogging; networking and schmoozing at poker events and tournaments; participating in discussion forums at poker websites and writing-related websites; joining a writer’s association to network with other members; creating a personality profile at MySpace.com; posting informative articles at AssociatedContent.com to generate free publicity for your services; and so on. There are so many variations of social networking these days, I can’t list everything.
Q: What makes your book unique or what adds value?
BRIAN: That’s easy &ndash the entire premise of the book is unique. I feel what adds value is the interviews with freelance writers and poker players. Many of them are at the peak of their careers. They exemplify success in every imaginable way. I was very fortunate to pick their minds. All of the writers and poker players I interviewed were eager to share their experiences so they could help other writers to succeed.
Q: What’s next for you?
BRIAN: I am currently under contract to ghostwrite two books, one on small business funding, and the other on Internet marketing strategies. This should keep me extra busy for a while.
Thank you for your time.
Write Your Perfect Resume
Posted on Jan 24, 2009 10:41:54 PM
Writing a Resume
Not that long ago, the easiest way to get a job was to visit the company you wanted to work for and ask for one. Today, however, it’s not quite that simple. Most companies require you to submit your resume to them before they’ll consider you for a position. So the resume has become a great deal more important, because it’s the first, and possible last, chance you have to make the right impression. That’s why it’s so important to get it right!
First off, you need to start writing a resume by being clear about what you’re trying to achieve. Which company are you planning to apply to? What type of job are you hoping to get? The answers to those questions will give you a direction for your resume. Remember, no matter how good your resume is, if the person reading it doesn’t think you’re suitable for the job, you won’t get any further. So make your resume good, but don’t spend countless hours stressing about making it perfect; you’re probably wasting your time.
It’s a good idea to keep your resume short and simple. The person reading your resume probably has dozens, if not hundreds more resumes to read through, and rather than waste time reading your lengthy life history, will put your resume aside and read somebody else’s. Work out the types of things the employer is most likely to want from an employee, and make sure your resume shows you have those skills or qualities. For example, if the job is likely to require attention to detail, mention your ability in that area. Summarize your past job responsibilities with a focus on skills requiring attention to detail. Give your prospective employer plenty of chances to see how your skills could benefit their organization.
Perhaps you’ve never had this type of job before, and so don’t know exactly what the employer will be looking for. That’s okay; just spend some time researching the industry. If possible, ask some professionals in that industry what type of skills or qualities they’d look for in a person holding the job you’re applying for. Look at job advertisements, searching for clues, particularly if they mention certain qualities they’re looking for. Check out newspapers at the library, or search on the Internet. Even better, look at the website of your potential employer, if they have one. Learn as much as you can about the business you’re trying to join, so that you have a better chance of targeting your resume correctly. That knowledge will pay off in an interview, because you can show you know something about the employer’s industry.
One word of warning – never make the mistake of writing a general resume, hoping that you’ll hit all the right buttons. That almost never works.
Now that you have an idea what sort of direction you need to give your resume, start putting it together. Most resumes contain the following sections, although they can vary a little depending on the industry. Still, you should always try to cover these areas somewhere in your resume:
- Employment history
- Positive personal characteristics
- Computer or technical skills
- Educational background and results (include GPA if it’s over 3.0)
- Any other relevant accomplishments, such as a public speaking award
Once you get the hang of it, writing a resume really isn’t hard. All you have to do is put in everything you can to show the prospective employer that you can add value to their business, and take out anything that doesn’t.
Self-Publishing The Hard Way: The Art Of Giving Birth
Posted on Jan 24, 2009 08:50:44 PM
You know? When you publish a book and send it out into the world, it’s like giving birth to a baby. Everyone checks out your baby. Is it breath-taking? Does it have ten toes and ten fingers? Is it pink and sweet or does it look like an extra from “Alien?” We writers are baring our souls, our deepest thoughts, and our feelings lay open like a cavernous wound. We can’t hide anymore. They know us inside and out. Now they see our baby, and they get to pick it to pieces, bit by bit, until the only thing left is a fuzzy blanket.
Oh, hell, we know that and go right on writing, don’t we? It’s in our DNA. We can’t help ourselves, we’re masochists.
When I started this whole book-writing process, I had full intentions of finding an agent and/or a traditional publisher; they’d do all the work while I sat back and listened to “Ca-ching, Ca-ching.” However my journey to that end has been long and stress-filled and I ended up doing just the opposite…I’d kept a daily journal while living in Thailand in the 90s. When I returned to the States, I copied my journal onto a floppy and had it printed, spiral-bound, and mailed it out to friends and family so they could read about all my trials and tribs while abroad. One of the friends who read it insisted that I make a book out of it.
“You know,” she said, “like the book ‘A Year in Provence.’” I immediately ran out and bought the book and was amazed at the problems that the author had endured in a short year. I just knew that if his book sold, then mine would also, however, life got in the way of living and I put it aside.
I joined some creative writing classes a few years later, and with encouragement from my peers I began the long road of putting the journal into book form. In 2003, when I finally thought I’d finished it, I entered it into the Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego. While there, I read chapters from my story in the Read and Critique groups and the attendees laughed in all the right places and even clapped, (I’d hoped it wasn’t because they were happy I’d finished). At the end of the conference I was notified that I’d won the Best Nonfiction award for my story and an agent asked for my manuscript. Wow! That just doesn’t happen unless they love it! I knew I was ready for the Pulitzer.
Then I began to panic. What if it isn’t perfect? I had talked to a “book doctor” at the conference who advised me that my story “…needed some conflict. Who really cares about a housewife who’s having a good time in Thailand? Give them a reason to turn the page.” Okay, that’s what I’ll do. There certainly was plenty of conflict in my life in Thailand, but I’d left it out; it was painful to relive and I wanted it to be a humorous book. I emailed the agent and told her I wasn’t ready. Take your time, she’d said. It’s not time sensitive.
So began the journey of “weaving” the conflict into my story. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. It was three years before I felt it was good enough to be a real book. But, those three years were not only spent rewriting. I took online writing classes and signed up at the local college for creative writing classes, I attended a critique group every week, putting my chapters up to their scrutiny as they tore it apart and helped put it back together. The rest of the time I was editing my life away. But as Stephen King says in his book On Writing: edit, edit and edit. And when you think it’s perfect, edit some more. My husband had a name for my constant editing: “Paralysis by analysis.”
When I felt I had everything in place, I looked for professional editing. I first paid the book doctor $500 to tell me that it needed help. He didn’t give me any, just told me it needed it. I found a line-editor in Canada, who did a great job, and then I hired a freelance editor; total for both $600; quite inexpensive in today’s editing market.
During those three years, I also did a lot of reading on the publishing world; agents, print-on-demand (PODs) and off-set printing companies. I attended conferences specifically on “How to get published.” The more I heard and read, the more I thought: From all the conferences I’d attended, the agent panels were the most disillusioning. I learned that agents don’t want you if you’ve not been published, and publishers don’t want you if you’ve not been published, or don’t have an agent, who doesn’t want you either. Who needs ‘em?
Publishers don’t want you if you don’t have a “platform!” A what? To my dismay I learned that I needed to have my own buying public. There was no publisher that was going to run out and sell my book for me, pay for my cross-country book signings and hotel rooms, unless of course I was a King or a Grisham or a Joyce Carol Oates. Then of course, there’s the eighteen month wait for the book to appear on the shelves after the publisher accepts it (if the publisher doesn’t decide to pull the plug at the last minute), and don’t forget the two years that it takes the agent to shop around for a publisher who might decide to pull the plug at the last minute. Who has that long? I don’t even buy green bananas anymore.
Wow! I remember my table mates and I frowning as we listened to the dire answers of this panel of agents and publishers. So how do we get published? Well, we have two options so it seemed: 1) have an agent living next door who loves your home cooked brownies or has a crush on your husband, or 2) know a publisher whose kid mows your lawn or has a crush on you. Not living in New York was going to be a definite drawback. Should I move? Okay, how about a POD? I was fortunate to have a friend who is a small press publisher of railroad books. He offered to put my manuscript into a Quark Express PDF file (which is the format printers prefer). He did an incredible job putting it together for me. He felt that if I had the print setup taken care of, I could approach a POD and save some money.
I signed up for the POD classes at the conferences I attended, where they explained everything I needed to know about their business ─ except how they kept most of the author’s money while they got big and rich and the author got $3.09 per book. Okay, well, $3.09 a book is not that bad. Maybe I could make it. But, wait, I had to pay them to print my book, and then pay them to buy my book back from them; too many “thems” going on here. Something didn’t compute. Maybe I should chuck the book and go into the POD business.
Well, I succumbed. I bought a book called The Fine Print of Self Publishing by Mark Levine, an attorney, then sat down to do some homework. After going over all the PODs he listed with a fine-tooth calculator, I realized that I could pay as much as $30,000 to one such POD group, but hey, my books would be free. How generous of them. Or, I could choose a POD group charging as low as $299, but I’d still have to buy my own books back at about $8.00 each.
I finally settled on a firm I’ll call “Dewey Cheatem & Howe” (name changed to protect the guilty), and thought I’d finally get on with this damn book printing. They sent me a sample of their work that was done beautifully. I signed on the dotted line, waited three more weeks and then my author’s copy was delivered. And there it sat. On my desk. Opened to the first page, which I couldn’t read. I started bawling. Where is my baby? The font was so garbled that it was illegible. There was a space after every capital letter and the other letters were so piled on each other you couldn’t make out the words.
When I’d used all the Kleenex in my desk drawer, I called them. Of course, no one was on the other end, save for the automated voice of their mailboxes. But at least I got rid of my postpartum anger. I cried and said very imperiously, “HOLD THE PRESSES! I will not accept this book. I will call Visa (of course they already had my money) and stop payment and …” I felt like an inner tube impaled on a sharp rock. Then I called my friend, the publisher. “Of course you can do this on your own. You have the file, just find a good printing company.”
I inquired around and found out that I could get my book printed overseas at half the cost of stateside. I began to get phone numbers and surfed websites. There were some good deals to be made overseas; however, the problem was I needed a broker. So after the broker took his cut, and the shipping charges were added, a stateside printer looked better. Plus, the thought of having a problem and not being able to connect at once with your printer was worrisome.
I searched the Internet and found many websites where you could input the details of your book, number of pages, size of book, print run, etc., and within a week I got a bid from ten printing companies. After picking one printer (not the cheapest), I felt we had a fit. I spoke to the owner, who offered to throw in a hundred free books, which might have had something to do with my decision. He checked out my website while we were speaking, loved the site and the look of my book and of course, he had me. He also offered storage and order fulfillment. Now, all I had to do was put our house on the market and clear out our 401K.
I know what you’re thinking. Sure, maybe she has it, but not everyone can come up with that much money. Yes, you can if you want to. We took an equity line on our home and as the money comes rolling in, I’ll be making payments on the equity line. We authors must be optimists. Really! If you don’t believe in your book, who will?
I ran off my own bookmarks and saved a few hundred dollars. I used the cover of the book, wrote a short synopsis on the back, and had 500 printed. I have handed out those bookmarks on airplanes and in airports; Seattle, Palm Desert, San Diego, Portugal, New York, Australia, New England… well maybe not personally, but I’ve given them to people who live in those places and they were happy to have them and said they’d pass them on. I’ve handed them out in restaurants to women sitting around me; two of them bought my book right on the spot. My friends call me “A self-promoting slut.”
I have to leave you now, as that’s where I am in this wonderful world of the written word, where the writing was easy… now comes the hard part ─ marketing!
How to write what you want over a longer period of time
Posted on Jan 24, 2009 06:36:14 PM
Sitting down in front of a blank screen, you type out a sequence of words followed by a period. You pause for a moment, you backspace it all away and you type another new string of words. You know what I mean?
Why is it that at times writing comes easily, but at other times it barely trickles out? Part of the reason may be that you are losing all of your best ideas in between those sit-downs at the computer.
When you have ideas or see things which get you thinking, write them down. Collect them in some way. Odds are within a few days of doing this you will see relations and trends you would not have noticed before. This will lead to more quality content. Think of the outstanding quality of articles that you’ll be writing over the course of weeks and even months?
Something I have found myself doing since I began blogging, is writing a huge amount of memos and small notes. They can be either halfway completed or standing as headlines only. While it can be daunting to stare at a big list of articles waiting to be written, it can also make the process of beginning to write a bit easier when you hit a creative roadblock.
It can also be very helpful to use a writing tool that tracks changes. I use Writeboard, but there are others out there. Even MS Word can track changes if you want. Keep your ideas flowing, and keep working on them over time.
Do not skip over silly ideas and stories. You never know what might come in handy later.
Actively investigate the world around you. Be a journalist all the time. Ask questions and look for details. You might be surprised at how many ideas jump out at you.
For more details and my inspiration for this article you can visit my site mentioned in the Author field.
Self-marketing Techniques For Writers
Posted on Jan 23, 2009 05:04:58 PM
One of the most effective ways to present your work to prospective clients is by having an online presence. As the world shrinks through the use of the worldwide web, you will find clients on an international basis may be interested in your work and in your ability to work for them.
First Step
By creating a website you have the opportunity to place testimonials, pricing structure, examples and a list or services you provide.
Because most writers have problems with self-marketing it is important to remember you are not necessarily marketing yourself, you are marketing the time-honored skill of writing. In many cases this assists writers in understanding that they don’t need to be prideful they have been given a skill. Writer should be careful to make wise use of their skills for the mutual benefit of writer and client.
Blogging
The use of blogging has become a highly prized self-marketing tool. A blog will allow visitors to see you as a person and enjoy your personal approach to passing along information.
A blog can allow you to pass along services you can provide. You can also use a blog to pass along success stories and provide general examples of recent work you have accepted. You don’t want to be too specific and should keep client confidentiality uppermost in your thinking.
Discover Your Strengths
If you are especially gifted in one type of writing make sure you list it as a specialty service you can provide. Never stop learning and improve on even your greatest skills.
Improve Your Weaknesses
If you are weak in an area of writing you can do one of two things, 1) give up and tell clients you can’t do the work or, 2) learn the skills needed to become proficient in the skill.
Your clients don’t want to hear excuses, they want to perceive you as their go-to writer who can get things taken care of in a professional and timely manner.
Research
Never be afraid of research. In an indirect way research can be used as a marketing tool. This tool can provide information on writing styles and markets to pursue.
Final Word
A writer should never stop learning. Understanding the usefulness of self-marketing is a means of learning a skill that will allow you to write with confidence knowing the skills you possess are connecting with others and fulfilling a genuine need.
Online Competitions Opportunity for Drawing, Fiction Writing
Posted on Jan 23, 2009 01:11:24 PM
Fiction writing
Fiction is writing that includes imaginary characters, events and/or settings created by the writer. A fiction writer should be an extensive reader. The writer must attempt to read fiction not only from the type he/she prefers to write, but also the types in which he/she has not explored.
Types of Fiction Writing
Traditionally there are two types of fiction writing
Category- It also referred as ‘genre’. In this type of stories we can categorize distinct theme in fiction. Examples are: science, westerns, adventure, historical, romance, erotica, suspense, fantasy, mystery, and war stories.
Mainstream-These stories are aimed at the widest possible audience and typically deal with most aspects of modern life including relationships, careers, and the search for success and fulfillment.
Elements of effective fiction writing
Theme- Theme is the main idea or meaning behind a story. It is a theoretical refinement of the story. A clear theme makes a story successful.
Characters &ndashCharacters are the main effective elements in any story. Most stories consist of experience or events of people and some consists of animals. Each new character adds a new dimension to the story, so characters should be introduced early in the story. The more often a character is mentioned or appears the more significance the reader will attach to the character.
Plot- Plot is the skeleton form of a story that holds the entire story together. It is the related series of events that are arranged to form a story. It usually consists of a conflict, climax and resolution. The plot also may include subplots that are part of or subordinate to the main plot. The plots and subplots are broken into scenes, which are pieces of the story showing the action of one event.
Setting- It includes the place and time in which the story takes place. The setting should be described in specifics to make the story seems real. The setting of the story should have atmosphere, mood and the limitations on the characters.
Style- Style is the writer’s use of the language. A clear, concise and precise writing attracts the reader. A combination of good story and good writing makes a fiction writer successful.
Dialogue -The dialogue is the speech of characters. The form of dialogue should be varied to keep the reader interested. Dialogue should be used to develop character or to advance the story.
These elements provide writers with a standard guideline and sense of organization in their fiction. Fiction writers utilize these elements to effect their readers’ perceptions of their writing.
Improve your skills
Fiction writing ability does not come naturally to everyone. Fiction writing can be a difficult field to hold a career. It requires hard work with an emphasis on creativity, hours of revision and editing before a final piece of writing.
Fiction writing helps to develop:
• Creativity and Sense of Imagination
• Writing Talent
• Networking
• Self-promotion
• Working Individually
• Determination and Competitive Nature
So if you have effective imagination in writing and want to showcase your talent, you can join a competition and can send your sample fiction writing copy to various onsite competitions. To know more about the competition you can visit our site .competearoundtheworld.com.
How To Find The Novel That Only You Can Write
Posted on Jan 22, 2009 07:38:50 PM
Most people think writing a novel is just writing. I have lost count of the number of people who say “I want to write a novel” and think that they will just sit down, put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, and the whole thing will just unfold before them. I’ve read a few novels, they think, why can’t I write one?
If only it were that easy!
The process of writing any story is exactly that, a process. And whether you are tackling a novel, a short story, an essay or a non-fiction book, you need to begin by planning your story.
This is the most ignored stage in the writing process, and yet it is by far the most important. JK Rowling spent five years planning the Harry Potter novels. And that certainly paid off, didn’t it?
The key to writing any story well, is to find the story that only you can write. This story carries your own emotional truth, and as you progress through the story writing process, your character will take you on the journey of emotional growth just as they will your readers once it’s published.
The Deeper Character Journey
The deeper character journey is the most important aspect of any story. It is what your readers will remember and it is what makes the process of writing a story so worthwhile for the writer. Every time you take your character on a journey, you go on that journey yourself.
So how do we find that deeper character journey? Where do we begin?
We begin with this simple exercise:
Without thinking too much about it, finish this sentence:
• I am interested in writing a story where the main character discovers the importance of ………………
Write for 5 minutes, preferably in long hand, allowing whatever comes up to just flow onto the page.
When you have finished you will find that you have written a lot of different values into your answer. Values are universal qualities of human experience, either positive or negative. Take a few moments to divide these values into their positive and negative groups. You’ll find that a few similar ones in each group will stand out, so isolate these and then decide on the most important ones from each group.
Once you have done this you can now write your deeper character journey in one simple sentence.
• I am interested in writing a story about a character who goes from being….. to being…..
What is your character’s weakness?
Every character has a weakness &ndash something they need to learn to have a better life. Your character’s weakness should now be pretty clear to you, as it is strongly connected to what they need to learn the importance of from the above exercise. With your character’s weakness in place, you can now begin to put them and their weakness under pressure and suddenly your story is off and running.
Predicament
Stephen King says he starts a story with a character in a predicament and watches them to see how they get out of it. So at the start of your story your main character must be in some sort of predicament or stuck in some way. The predicament your main character is in should be a symptom of their weakness. They are aware of their predicament, but they are not aware of their weakness.
For example, a character who needs to learn the importance of patience, is stuck underground on a broken down train. He becomes more and more exasperated and angry as the minutes tick by as he needs to be at an important meeting. As he’s underground his mobile phone has no signal, and he also can’t just jump off the train, as the doors are electronically sealed, and besides he’s underground so he can’t just wander off up the tracks in the dark.
So we know our character’s predicament will expose his weakness, which is impatience. The question for you to answer is, what does he do? How does he respond? What choice does he make? And he will make that choice based on his personal values.
Values in Conflict
Conflict lies at the heart of all powerful stories. It is a well worn adage in story writing that nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.
But a good story also isn’t just a sequence of random conflicts, things that happen with no apparent pattern or meaning. It is a series of events, putting your character(s) under more and more pressure, forcing them to respond. This then shows us their true character.
Values underlie our choices, our decisions, and in storytelling they drive the story through the characters being forced to make difficult decisions where their values are challenged. A value is a belief system based on what is important to the individual. A value represents something in your character’s life that they are willing to fight for. So if you have a married woman who is attracted to another man, her choice of whether to go with the other man or stay with her husband will be based on the values of romance versus fidelity or loyalty.
Once you have nailed the values underlying your character’s choices, you will have connected strongly with your character’s deeper journey. This in turn connects you to your readers, who will recognise similar conflicts in their own lives.
And you also have the essence of the story that only you can write.