Join me at the Tempe Public Library on February 25th, 2017 from 10:00am to 12:00pm. I’ll be sharing marketing and advertising tips and tricks, answering questions, and giving promotional ideas. Bring your questions!
Library Meeting Room B
Tempe Public Library, 3500 S. Rural Rd.
Tempe, Arizona 85282
I’m not sure when it happened. It was subtle, slowly creeping into every area of my life. One day I woke up and my world revolved around writers groups, I had taken up residency in coffee shops with comfortable chairs and lots of outlets, and almost every friend I had was an author, editor, or publisher. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time with writers, both socially and professionally and there is a common thread I see in many of them. Analysis Paralysis.
Have you met them? The ones that spend truck loads of money on conferences, attend creative writing classes, they research how to create story plots, and talk about how they wish they had more time to write. None of these things are bad necessarily, however if you are using them to avoid the obvious, sitting down and doing the work, you may have caught this terrible disease as well.
What’s the cure?
STOP IT.
Stop waiting to develop talent, because using the talent you have is the best way to make it stronger. Get an accountability partner that will check in with you and ask how many words you got on paper this week. Take new work to share every time you attend your writers group. Go away, get off the grid and have a writers retreat to refresh yourself. Ultimately, remember, your goal is to write…words on paper….not think about writing. I’m not saying to eliminate time working on your craft. I lead and attend workshops all the time. I am saying find a balance. Use the gift you have. You won’t get better studying the game from the bench unless you eventually get in there and play!
Tips From Your Publisher: If you are traditional or self publishing then you are familiar with the horrors of a synopsis. With traditional publishing, in order to find an agent, you write a query letter that includes all the excitement of your book with a hook that will bait them to want to read more in about 200 words. For most of us, this is a daunting task to say the least. There are countless online resources to help you do this, but I found reading successful queries over and over while revising my own did me the most good. If self publishing is what you prefer, don’t think you are getting away without writing a synopsis. The back of your book will need a blurb that captures the essence of your book, includes a hook that will leave then wanting more…all in about 200 words. No matter what road you take the success of your book could depend on your synopsis. Here are a few tips that may apply to your synopsis. #writerproblems #abooksmind #tipsfromyourpublisher
1. It should be in third person, no matter how your book is written.
2. Do not mention more than 3 main characters.
3. Stick to the large plot, leave out details.
4. Don’t give away the end of your book.
5. The first sentence should be strong and draw in the reader.
6. Make sure it is well edited!
7. Get the opinions of others.
8. Mention the main obstacle or issue your character faces.
9. Clue the reader in on the setting/time period.
10. Write it well, it represents the quality of the interior, so show off your skills!
Tips From Your Publisher: Don’t be so hard on yourself. There is no such thing as perfect, especially with a rough draft. Get it all on paper, the whole dirty mess, and then clean it up after. Polish it to the best of your ability. Let others read it and give you their input. Then send it to an editor and trust them to do their job. If you find things you could have done better after it’s printed and distributed, I suggest you let it go. Learn from your mistakes, set the bar higher and do better next time.
#tipsfromyourpublisher #abooksmind #writerproblems #selfpub
J.D. Scott 