Are you familiar in using passive and active voice in your sentences? This is more on the structure of your sentence and how you are going to organize it. In writing, there are also a lot of rules that needs to be followed. You might be aware of it.
Furthermore, if you wanted to improve the way you write contents, be sure to know how sentence grammars work. There are two kinds of writing; you can choose either of the two depending on what type of writing you would prefer to write. These are fiction and non-fiction writing where it both requires you creative idea about a certain topic for your readers.
However, your content might be dull to read if you haven’t furnished it into a bit of informative or entertaining topic. Since both require some efforts so that the flow of the content will run smoothly in your reader’s minds, you should use the correct form or structure of your sentence. Instead of using passive voice of the sentence, you should use the active voice.
It is the normal form of the sentence where the object of your sentence receives the action depending on how your verb will look like. If you are not yet aware of these, then you should start learning ahead as it may help you greatly in your content writing.
You’ve probably heard that verbs can always have two voices, the choice of which will depend on you as the writer. If the subject of your sentence is the one performing the action, then your verbs will be active. Should your subjects be the receiver of the action, the verbs will be passive.
When being specific is a concern in your writing, always choose to outfit your sentences in the active voice details, in the English language, always reside in that form. If you’re looking to be a bit shoddy, on the other hand (like when you don’t know the actual facts or are trying to hide information), the passive voice will let you write materials without making the ignorance conspicuous.
Extra Information
Active forms of verbs always force the writer to supply extra information that the passive voice doesn’t require. Take these two sample sentences, for instance:
“Students are not allowed off the school grounds.”
“The principal has decided not to allow students off the school grounds.”
In the first one, the restriction is simply laid out with no clue as to who put it there. The second one, on the other hand, lets us know that the principal put the new ruling in place.
Shorter Sentences
When you’re looking to provide the complete details yet use a passive-verb format, sentences typically end up longer (if you do it enough, a good grammar software will likely catch up and alert you to the fact). To add the information on the principal in the first sentence, for instance, you’ll need to write:
“Students are not allowed off the school grounds, by virtue of a decision from the principal.”
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See how innovative Grammar Software instantly can boost your writing skills and watch how NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, letters, essays or reports. Visit: http://www.englishsoftware.org
Keyword tags: active verb, active voice, writing detail
For me, fiction writing is the easiest writing I have ever encountered than to write non-fiction contents. Know why? That’s because, in fiction writing, you are dealing with what you feel or with what your mind would suggest you to write. It is more on your imagination and your won point of views. Of course, you should also stick to the facts but then, fiction writing can be any type of writing such as stories or novels, essays, poem and other kinds of writings that are not factual.
It’s a lot challenging also when you write contents that are fictional since you have to deal with your mind and how your readers will interact with your topic. It is more on influencing the minds of the public and how they will take actions with your writings. Mon-fictional writings like news story and research require accurate and factual contents.
Since you like to write freely with what your minds and your heart dictates, you should go on for fiction writing. However, there are also instances that you might come up with a bad fiction writing. In order to avoid such low quality writing, you should first determine and learn how to write a good quality fiction writing and how to avoid bad contents.
Trying to write fiction? While I don’t consider myself an expert, these things are generally what irks me most when I’m trying to go through an imaginative piece. Please, avoid them at all costs or I’ll end up cursing your name as soon as I finish any of your writing.
1. No Dialogue
No matter how well you craft a story, it always feel incomplete without dialogue. There’s just something about reading lines from a writing’s characters that makes it feel more real and more personable. If you’re going to write a story without speech, why not just compose an essay in its place? In f act, if you use an English software with a style-checker, that’s probably one of the things it’s going to tell you.
2. Beginning Or Ending In A Dream
Fiction that begin and end with a dream were probably fun to read at some point in time. Nowadays, it’s just a cop-out. Same with stories that are only fantasies in a deranged person’s head. They’re so easy a cop-out that every single high-school writing class probably sees at least a dozen of them every semester. If you have a bad plot, put in revisions to make it stronger not introduce a dream sequence that makes it boring.
3. Jumping Between Viewpoints In The Same Scene
This one’s a pet peeve that even some advanced fiction writers become guilty of. When you “jump into another head” right in the middle of the season, it forces the reader to think hard without any real benefit to either the flow or their enjoyment of your writing. At best, it’s a confusing sideshow. At worst, it makes people want to throw your work away for making absolutely no sense.
About the Author:
See how innovative English Software instantly can boost your writing skills and watch how NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, letters, essays or reports. Visit: http://www.englishsoftware.org
Keyword tags: bad fiction writing, fiction mistakes, fiction writing
As our the planet earth rotate at its axis every 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, so as the trends in our life are changing. This also goes the same as to out languages. To what we spoke and to what we wrote. English language has been developing for several years now and we use the standard way of using it to both speaking and written conversations and any other topics.
Therefore, a lot of things that are use to help us produce a good quality article in writing are widely available. This enable us to write down what our minds portray and what our ideas about a certain topic would lead to. But then, we should always stick to the facts. Also, writers should always have it in mind that they are writing to influence the minds of the public therefore; they are trying to gain the interest of their readers. So a well written piece should always be present. If some basic rules on how to write effectively and manageable are being discarded, they might lose a lot of readers making their piece not worth reading. On the other side, maybe your boss or your teacher will not appreciate your work since it is made out of low-quality content writing.
Here are some great ways that can affect our way of writing good quality article even if you are only a beginner of this writing field.
Some foreign expressions have evolved into a common part of English writing, even finding their way into the English dictionary and the databases of many English grammar software. Used largely for their unique way of expressing concepts, employing them can breathe an unusual amount of effectiveness into your copy better than their English equivalents could.
While there’s a good number of these phrases adapted into the English vernacular, these five represent some of the more common ones that you will likely find useful in your writing.
1. De facto
A latin word that means “actual” or “in practice,” you use it to denote an act, a behavior, a set of rules or similar concepts that are employed as the normal way of doing.
Examples: “de facto standard,” “de facto procedures”
2. Status Quo
A Latin term meaning “the current state of affairs,” it’s rare to come across a business, social science or economics book without this expression used at least once.
3. Vis-a-vis
A French term meaning “face to face,” it is employed in the English vernacular as a way of performing a comparison.
4. Per se
A Latin expression meaning “by itself,” it is used to highlight the specificity of an object.
Examples: “there is no guaranteed deal, per se”
5. Ad hoc
A Latin term that denotes something created or performed “for one specific purpose,” this is one of the most widely used foreign terms in the English language.
Examples: “ad hoc committee,” “ad hoc report”
The above written words have been so very useful since the time that English language had adapted it. as we all know that as time goes by, so as the evolution of different things will took place and English language is among of those things.
About the Author:
See how innovative English Grammar Software instantly can boost your writing skills and watch how NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, letters, essays or reports. Visit: http://www.englishsoftware.org
Keyword tags: foreign expressions, foreign terms, foreign words
Basically, writers are not the only person to write up contents, articles, stories, news, essays and any other forms of writing. Non-writers can also do the same thing if they are just willing and determine to write up contents on their own, and then they can possibly create a good quality writings. Some of them would love to write because it is where they could express their own idea and feelings regarding with their experiences or views in life or to what the current issues that are happening within our community.
Other would also write just because they are required to do such a task, like those students who are making some research and reports for their school subject and like those who are businessmen or employees where their work greatly affects their circumstances in writing. The most important thing is that you should know how to finish a content or any piece in case some situations would come and ask you to write.
While most regular folks will attribute technical documents to writers, majority of them are actually written by non-writers. Sure, professional writers and editors will usually clean up the work and repackage it for public consumption.
If you’re an engineer or are involved in any similarly technical field, there is a good chance you will be asked to write technical materials for the projects you’re working on. After all, there’s no one better to write knowledgeably about a technical item than those who busy their hands toiling on it.
In case you are tasked with the job of writing the specifications, user’s guide or other technical manuals detailing the intricacies of your project, here’s a few ideas that can help you turn out both a good technical document as well as make it easier for the technical editor to deck it out in more palatable terms.
1. Accuracy
While you probably don’t own the skills to fashion your writing in a flowery form, nothing’s stopping you from keeping it as accurate as possible. As such, make sure all facts you write down are correct. Otherwise, any derivative writing stemming from it (such as those from your company writer), will merely reflect the same errors.
2. Clear Language
Try to write in as clear a language as possible. While it is probably easier for you to write in industry jargon and technical terms, writing out intricacies in as clear a language as you can muster will ensure that more of your ideas make it to official company releases. The more confusing you write certain features out, the greater the chances it will be overlooked. In the same light, make sure to use a grammar software to clean up your writing to ensure as legible a copy as you can produce.
3. Be Descriptive
When you’re writing technical documents that’s bound to reach the desks of either a writer or an editor who will be tasked to fixed it up, try to be as descriptive as possible. While brevity does have its value, you’ll be more helpful if you present the material as completely as you can let the pros summarize it for public consumption.
About the Author:
See how innovative Grammar Software instantly can boost your writing skills and watch how NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, letters, essays or reports. Visit: http://www.englishsoftware.org
Keyword tags: technical documents, technical materials, technical writing
How far would your knowledge go? Do you know when to capitalize words? Although it sounds too common and we all know that schools often teach us what words are use to capitalize and which are not. However, not all people know when to capitalize certain words since there are different kinds of words that we should pay our attention to.
If you are going to read any reference material about learning English as your second language or any grammar and language skills improvement books, you will be able to determine that there are a lot of words that needs to be capitalize even you thought they’re not and there are also a lot of words that need not to be capitalize even if you think they should. Therefore, you should have to learn some words that needs to be capitalized and which are we commonly use it especially when we are going to write essays.
It is very important that we should master words which are considered as nouns if they are going to be capitalized or not. Besides, most people’s first impression with nouns is that, all of these words can be capitalize; however, some nouns need not to be capitalized especially when they are place in the middle of your sentence. Aside from the fact that you can capitalize them when they are use in t he beginning of a sentence. In this content, you will be able to know some of the words in the English language where you should focus your attention to be able to use them correctly with your writings.
Here are some nouns that are a bit confusing whether you will capitalize the first letter or not. Should you write Mom or mom? Is it more correct to write Brother or brother? While we all capitalize proper nouns, when do we capitalize those used to refer to them?
As a rule, you should only capitalize relationship names when they are used as a substitute for the person’s actual name, such as in “Don’t go see Dad today, he’s not in the mood.” Conversely, no capitalization is required when there is a modifier in front of the relationship name, such as in “My mom is still in Puerto Rico.”
These two examples should help make those rules even clearer:
“Where’s Grandpa? I want to see my grandpa!” (In this case, the Grandpa [in the first sentence] substitutes for the man’s name, while grandpa [in the second sentence] is simply referring to the man that I want to see).
“I never believed a single thing Uncle said. Anyone who believes my uncle’s stories is quite the gullible sucker.” I won’t explain this anymore hopefully, you catch the drift.
A common mistake in capitalization are terms of endearment. Under no conditions should these vocative nouns ever be capitalized (e.g. “I love you, honey”). Every day, I see plenty of writers guilty of these errors, so do watch out for them, especially since grammar software can only identify so many vocatives and will likely pass a few uncommon ones over.
About the Author:
See how innovative Grammar Software instantly can boost your writing skills and watch how NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, letters, essays or reports. Visit: http://www.englishsoftware.org
Keyword tags: relationship names, terms of endearment, vocative nouns
Let’s go back to the beginning for a while. You are in the process of writing a book, the world’s next best novel, your BABY. There are really two immediate thoughts to keep in mind. One is that most of us begin by writing our very first book (duh!!!), maybe never another, and we really don’t know much about the industry. We just have this great idea flowing out of us and want to get it into print. We can call this a “personal” book (my term, there may be others), and it’s basically a one-time, maybe one-of-a-kind endeavor.
The second possibility is that you are writing a “commercial” novel, or one that you are specifically writing to get sold. This might be your first novel but your plans may be to write more of the same and get them into the marketplace. Maybe you’ve already written your first and now are considering writing more with the purpose, again, of specifically writing and selling books, poems, short-stories or articles.
In either case, there is a major question that you should be aware of as you write. We’ve already discussed a lot of the principles involved in writing, but this one is more direct as it pertains to the idea of getting your work accepted by the first people to usually see it and who have the most power in making your book happen or in stopping it.
What are publishers, editors, and agents looking for in the materials they are reviewing? What do they like? What do they specifically dislike? What keeps them turning pages and beginning to get the feeling that “this might be good? I could get behind this.”
Here are many thoughts I’ve gleaned from talking with some of the above noted folks, reading their blogs and articles, and so on.
One of the first things most of them say, in one way or another, is that they need to “fall in love with” the manuscript, the story. That means that they have to get personally into the story. It has to capture them, more than professionally (as an editor, for instance), but in a personal sense. From the first sentence (remember what I said early on about capturing them from the first words?), they need to feel good about the story. The writing itself may be as good or bad as many other books, but the imagination or feel or flow simply reaches out and grabs them. Maybe there’s a sense of excitement or intrigue they feel. Maybe there’s a driving force that is pushing to the end and keeps them reading.
And if the agent or publisher you contact says “no thanks, it’s not my style” (or words to that effect), then remember they are only onemove on to the next one. Someone out there is likely looking for just the type of material you’ve written.
Consider books you’re read yourself. What made you like them? What kept you turning the pages? Maybe it was a science fiction kind of book, and you don’t like science fiction; but this one had a mystique or intrigue that kept you reading it. Maybe it was the theme; maybe the feeling that you never knew what was coming next and had to find out; maybe it was the beautiful flow of the words. The New International Bible and the New American Standard are acclaimed as excellent Bibles written in quite modern language; fewer of the “thees” and “thous” and much easier for a lot of people to read. However, many people simply love the beautiful poetic language of the old King James version, and just cannot get away from it. What is “capturing” about your book?
As you think about the theme and direction and flow of your writing, ask yourself what people will like about it, especially those who will be the first to rule on it’s success or failure. Freely compare your style, choice of words, and so on with several of the bestsellers. Does your book give you the same drive and feeling as the others do? (Remember what I said earlier about “copying” them?) One editor said, “Does it come alive to me?”
Another thought: Does your story seem to have a theme that’s real or alive? Can the reader see the world or the struggle or intrigue through your words. Many of the editors and publishers said that the writing from two authors was just about the same, just about as good, but one had a force, or choice of words, or painted a picture that the other didn’t, and their mind was captured by that one.
Is your story set in a time period, or does it tell a type of story, that the particular editor is interested in? That’s why you might send your material out to a hundred different editors or agents and only get replies from six. Don’t worry about that; not all readers are interested in the same thing. But, from the six, what kind of comments did you get? Were they interested; did they give any hints in their comments as to what they thought of the work; did they ask any questions as to what you were trying to do or what you meant? Even if it was a rejection letter, try to analyze anything they said that might give insight into how they or others might be feeling about your work.
Is all this beginning to sound cold and analytical? If you really do have the desire to get your book out there into the reading hands, you do have to be analytical. If you can’t get past first base (the agents and editors), Why? What can you learn from their responses that will help you write better and get them interested? Editors, agents and publishers simply cannot read everything, so they stick within their own specialized genre and they have to almost immediately get an attraction for your work. If they say No to what you’ve sent them, in that earthshaking REJECTION letter, do they give any hints as to their feelings? Do they send you any possible names that might be interested in your type of work? Do they make any suggestions as to how to change your work to make it more interesting?
Once you’ve made your first effort to get your manuscript reviewed by a group of people, maybe it’s time to sit back with any comments they’ve made and completely re-read your book, or especially your query letter. Look back at your chapter outline and see if you can see where you might re-place some chapters. See if any words, phrases, ideas, conversations and so on seem to be dull or out of place. Look at those first few sentences and paragraphs and pages to see if they are attention capturing or “sleepy time.” Perhaps it’s time to have a friend read the book (again?) and give an honest (you hope) appraisal of what they see. Maybe you can see a completely new format for what you’ve done; maybe a new “voice”; maybe a change for a character that makes them more real or lively.
However, this is not to say that you need to re-write it. Maybe you just haven’t gotten it into the hands of the one person who will immediately fall in love with it. Maybe you need to send it out to the next hundred agents on your list and see what happens. Maybe, though, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the agents now and seriously ask the questions they are all asking: What is there in this manuscript (query letter) that really jumps out and demands that it be read, or what makes me want to put it aside and go on to something else?
One more suggestion: There are people out there you can actually hire to review your work and help you “fix” it. Look up “Editors Books” in the Internet and you’ll find some who will review your work before it gets to the publishing stage. (Watch the cost, though, and get some references for sure. Anyone can read your book, say it looks great, and happily collect your money.) Check with friends who you feel are avid readers. Maybe one of them would help you by giving your work a good, solid read and a hard, critical review. (Yes, they can still be your friends afterward.) If you’ve done the best you can and still can’t see the forest for the trees, still can’t get a feel for why it’s not being accepted, get some fresh, unbiased eyes to look it over. Again, this generally means a friend who will be honest with you. (Is that an oxymoron? Will they remain a friend? Can you pay them to tell you nice things?) Maybe you can get attached with a writer’s group in your area and have another author or six read your work. No, they won’t laugh at you.
Then listen to what they say. After you dry your eyes, put the hankie down and get tough with yourself. What exactly did your reviewers say about your work? How might their comments be applied into your pages? DON’T do this quickly. Sit back and carefully read their reviews; quietly re-read your work to see the tough points; red pencil your ideas into the pages; make notes copiously. Then, put it aside for a couple of days and let everything gel before you get back and look at it again.
Finally, consider making a copy of your original manuscript (remember, you have it in the computer so changes can be made in a nanosecond without fear?) and begin a complete re-write. I knowmore screams of anguish. But, do you want to get into print?
I’m still in the process of learning this whole book writing and publishing business and am not the expert on anything to do with the process. I am learning, though, and so will (must) you. There are probably reams more information I could put down on paper about this subject. But it will all come to you as you work through this process. Learn from it, and keep on. As we all begin the process of writing and publishing our “baby”, there are just so many things we have no idea of that are now going to jump up and bite usand we never know they are coming until they are there. However, DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU.
Inside many of us is a story that is crying to be delivered. There are many people who will give you many reasons why you should NOT consider this venture. However, there ARE many people out there who are waiting for your storylooking forward to it. Whether you make money on it, or thrill your family and friends with your story, or just feel the satisfaction within yourself when you finally say, “I did it,” you need to write that story. There will be naysayersturn your back on them. There will be scofferssmile and keep typing. There will be Rejection lettersread them, file them, and send out more proposals.
Consider this saying in relation to the effort you will be expending to make your dream come true:
Some goals are so worthy that even to fail is glorious.
I wish you every blessing as you move through this effort of writing and publishing your dream. I would love to hear from you to share joys, questions, even tears.
Hang in there, and WRITE IT.
Jim
Care to comment? Write to me at JimMagwood@aol.com.
And visit the website at http://www.JimMagwood.com.
Also, drop in to The Author’s Inn, a site designed to showcase author’s works and connect them with readers. http://www.the-authors-inn.com.
About the Author:
Jim Magwood is the author of the international mystery novel, SANCTION. Visit him and SANCTION at his website, http://www.JimMagwood.com. Jim is also the webmaster of the site, The Author’s Inn, dedicated to showcasing author’s works. Visit The Author’s Inn at http://www.the-authors-inn.com.
Keyword tags: Writing, book, novel, author, publish, sell, advertise, Sanction, The Author\’s Inn
We were beginning to talk last time about getting our books into libraries and other places people will see them, so let’s look at the subject.
The first thing to do is to see if your publisher will submit your book to the library association reviewing system for you. Booklist is a national library function that reviews books and then puts them in a catalog with the review and gets the catalog to most libraries, who then choose the books they want to put on their shelves and proceeds to order them. Look up their site and read the requirements. It’s all laid out. Make sure your publisher does this for you.
Second, you can go into the American Library Association website and find a book you can buy that lists every library in the country with names of librarians, addresses, emails of those who have them, websites, etc. Last I looked, it cost about $200 for a copy, but if you got that, it would enable you to set up a mailing program, or an email program, to let them know about your work.
Another thought is to gather addresses or emails of the libraries yourself. There are sites in the Internet where you can get this information. It’s not easy to get emails, though; it takes a LOT of work. But I did the work and gathered a list of maybe a thousand library emails and sent them a simple introduction campaign just before and after my book was published. If you have the money to either mail or fax to all of them, it’s easier to get those physical addresses and phones, but it still takes a lot of work.
I did the same with bookstores. You can go into the American Booksellers Association website and buy your way into getting lists of all their member bookstores. Or, you can just search the member lists and pull the information yourself. Virtually all the listings have their address listed. For emails, you have to go into each of their websites, if they have one, and search around for the addresses. Again, a lot of work. But, if your publisher isn’t going to get you this exposure, how else will you do it? I made a list of about two thousand bookstores in the U.S. and Canada and did a little emailing campaign to them.
It can be done. The results: I don’t have the slightest. Did they buy a few books because of my campaign, or would they have seen the book in some catalog anyway? I don’t know. But, again, if you are trying to get exposure for your book, what else are you going to do? Especially if you don’t have the money to buy into some kind of big, professional campaign or start out on a driving tour of hundreds of cities, stopping at every bookstore you find.
Again, there are companies/agencies out there that do book reviews and publish those reviews in magazines, newsletter and catalogs that then get out into the hands of those who buy books. Kirkus Reviews is one. Reviewers who write for newspapers. Author and book sites in the Internet. Make sure your publisher is getting your advance copies out to these places well before your book is ready for the bookstore shelves. And if they say, “Oh, we don’t do that,” really consider why you’re with that publisher in the first place. Better yet, find out what they do IN ADVANCE.
On another tack, don’t forget the email addresses of all your friends, contacts, business associates and so on. Do you have contact lists for lodges and organizations? You don’t want to abuse any of these lists, but once or twice, not many people would feel used or abused by your announcement. For instance, you might get lodges or a business to buy copies of your book to give to their members as prizes at their next annual meeting. If you sell the books yourself, you could cut the price to what the wholesalers usually pay (about 40% off retail) and likely make more profit than if you let the wholesalers do it. (Remember, though, the cautions about not getting paid, getting “returns” with credit demanded, etc.)
What about getting lists of newspapers, radio and TV stations and so on that might give you a little news announcement? You can get the websites of virtually every newspaper in the country through the Internet (try www.newspapers.com), but you then have to dig into the site to find email addresses of people who might use your information. Most of your local radio stations would love to have you donate a half-dozen of your books for them to use as promotional giveaways, and will likely be open to doing an on-air interview with you for doing that. A big Boston station, for instance, that has a signal strength to reach out over all of Massachusetts, could give you some tremendous exposure.
There are basically two concepts to marketing your own product. One is to find ways to send out messages such as I’ve noted above. Whether email or fax or letters, you are getting an advertisement out into the world, either direct to someone in a certain place (a reporter, for instance) or a blind ad that gets into the face of someone “out there” who might get interested in following up with your book. The other is called shoe-leatherYOURS. This is where you get on the phone and call people, or you get in your car and start dropping in on stores, etc. So, let’s talk about shoe-leather a bit.
This means YOU getting out on the streets, into stores, talking with buyers, going to conventions and book fairs, buying booths at local bazaars and street concerts, handing out bookmarks or flyers at every restaurant (to the waiter or cashier?) or coffee shop you frequent (leave one in the salt and pepper rack on the table), walking the aisles at rodeos and county fairs, and on and on. Anywhere you can pass out a book or flyer or bookmark (without getting chased out by upset management). Are you always prepared with some books in the trunk of your car? How about those simple book displays at the car wash you drive through, or the mom-n-pop grocery. You might have some problems with non-payment and so forth, but you might also get a relationship with a place that could put your book in front of a lot of people.
Would your church let you put a display in the lobby? How about small, local grocery stores? If you put up a consignment display with them (where they don’t pay you until they sell the books), many of them will give you a little space (because they make a buck on the deal, also.) Think also about the local, non-big-name bookstores, especially if you suggest consignment. Many of them will give you a little counter space, or let you build a little display. (Bear in mind, I’m not specifically recommending consignment. There are some real risks to this of not getting paid, not getting your unsold books back, and so on. But, it can work if you do it right and follow up with the stores and outlets carefully.)
Bear in mind that none of this is going to bring about fast results. As a new author, you are an unknown and it’s going to take a long time to make your way into sight in the marketplace where people will begin to know you. If you get lucky and hit a great showplace, things can happen overnight. For most of us, though, it’s going to take a long time, measured even in years. But, what else did you have to do anyway, right? And remember, it’s your creation, your baby, your work of art, your BOOK. It’s what you wanted to do, right?
We’ll conclude this article with the next Part, so jump back in again, okay.
Care to comment? Write to me at JimMagwood@aol.com.
And visit the website at http://www.JimMagwood.com.
Also, drop in to The Author’s Inn, a site designed to showcase author’s works and connect them with readers. http://www.the-authors-inn.com.
About the Author:
Jim Magwood is the author of the international mystery novel, SANCTION. Visit him and SANCTION at his website, http://www.JimMagwood.com. Jim is also the webmaster of the site, The Author’s Inn, dedicated to showcasing author’s works. Visit The Author’s Inn at http://www.the-authors-inn.com.
Keyword tags: Writing, book, novel, author, publish, sell, advertise, Sanction, The Author\’s Inn
Marketing. Sales. What beautiful words, because they mean your book will be selling, right? And the answer to that question is YesIF the marketing is done right. However, look back at the previous part of this article to see some of the problems we face in marketing in the general publishing industry. The subject is very complex, and not many publishers have any kind of true (see my definition in the previous part) marketing program. As I said before, it will most likely come down to YOU. How much effort are YOU personally going to put into marketing your book?
Last time we talked about your personal website that will feature you and your book, and here’s another little tidbit I didn’t mention about your site. While it’s okay to use many sites, yours or others, to put out the word about your book, on your personal book site, don’t mix anything else on it. This is a site that’s about YOU and YOUR BOOK, and you don’t want to have visitors looking at family pictures, your dog, the products you sell at your business downtown, etc. You want them concentrating on you and your book. You can set something up on YouTube or one of the other social sites as long as it features only your book, but don’t combine anything else on this site. (Get more sites if you want them and link them, but don’t combine them.) If you have several books, then it’s okay to put them all in one site. James Patterson and Steve Martini only have a single site each showcasing all their works, but that’s basically all they have on their sites.
Once you have your site and you’ve looked at it and looked and looked and have finally decided it really does look professional, how do you get anyone to find it and look at it? You can pay a lot of different companies a lot of money for them to guarantee some kind of perfect placement in Google and others, but as I’ve said before, do you have a lot of money? If you do, you would likely be much better off hiring someone to actually market your book for you and put your money where it will do the most good. The facts of Internet marketing, though, are that there are literally millions of people and companies out there trying to use the same venue as you are to market their product. That includes at least thousands of other authors trying to sell their books. How are you going to get noticed in and around all of the other ads.
There are people out there who can do a reasonable job of getting ads out where you will be seen. But, look at their pitches very carefully because there are a lot of shysters, also. I bought into a “mass e-mail” program because I wanted to get my book out in front of millions of people for exposure. It only cost me about $40. But, I knew in advance that it was an “almost spam” thing that wouldn’t likely get really noticed by most of the people that got e-mailed. However, I figured if my ad got out in the mail to three or four million people, maybe one percent (30,000?) of the people might get interested. Even 1/10%? Could sell a lot of books, right? There are lots of companies out there that you can buy into for small amounts of money, but just be very aware of what they are really going to do.
Before we go further, it would be a really good thing to define a major question: Who do you think is going to buy your book? Because virtually all marketing efforts will depend on who your potential market is and how you might be able to reach that market. Here you need to get pretty specific. If you’ve written a children’s nursery rhyme book, you are not likely going to get much response by advertising in a hunting magazine or a mechanics website, even if they are really cheap. You probably need to find ways to get it into churches, day-care centers, young mothers groups and so on. If, on the other hand, you’ve written an analysis of the best techniques for building porches, sheds and lawn furniture, you should be trying to get noticed in Popular Mechanics magazine, the local carpenters club or other places made for DIY-ers (Do It Yourself-ers). Maybe the toughest project around is finding where to reach people who are interested in plain old mystery books. Dime a dozen; libraries and bookstores are full of them. How are you going to get exposure for yours? It has to be a major question as you try to market your book: Who is your target audience?
I mentioned libraries. Good place to try, right? If you only got each library in the country to buy one copy of your book, that would be about 15,000 copies. So, how do you get into libraries? There are several ways to do this, and they come in stages.
We’ll pick the subject up again in Part 15.
Care to comment? Write to me at JimMagwood@aol.com.
And visit the website at http://www.JimMagwood.com.
Also, drop in to The Author’s Inn, a site designed to showcase author’s works and connect them with readers. http://www.the-authors-inn.com.
About the Author:
Jim Magwood is the author of the international mystery novel, SANCTION. Visit him and SANCTION at his website, http://www.JimMagwood.com. Jim is also the webmaster of the site, The Author’s Inn, dedicated to showcasing author’s works. Visit The Author’s Inn at http://www.the-authors-inn.com.
Keyword tags: Writing, book, novel, author, publish, sell, advertise, Sanction, The Author\’s Inn
The sales letter you can’t put down the advertising copy that makes you want the product the resume that prompts you to call the job candidate this second all these are examples of exceptional business writing. While you certainly know good writing when you see it, can you write with the same pizzazz the professionals use to hold your attention for pages on end?
In today’s business world, writing skills have taken a backseat to other seemingly more important professional development activities. Most executives would rather attend a seminar on negotiation strategies or marketing tactics rather than learn the proper usage of “that” or “which” in a sentence. What they fail to realize, however, is that good writing skills are just as important to their future success as is their ability to locate prospects and close deals. Without good writing skills, your printed documents may very well undermine the professional image you work so hard to achieve.
The fact is that your prospects, your customers, and even the community judge you and your company based on the written documents you put out to the world. Sales letters riddled with errors, advertising copy that is boring, and media announcements that ramble on for pages send the message that you’re careless, uncreative, and possibly incapable of delivering quality service. People want to do business with those individuals they perceive as knowledgeable and competent. Your writing is the perfect opportunity to showcase your professionalism and close the sale.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be a professional editor or journalist to write effectively. In fact, there are a number of self-editing techniques professional writers use to catch embarrassing errors that could cost them the deal. Use these guidelines as a way to proofread your own writing so you can make all your printed materials reflect the professionalism you display in every other business activity.
1. Reread your work out loud.
After they write a document, most people reread it to themselves to scan for errors. While this is certainly a good start, it should not be your sole means of proofreading. After scanning the document silently, read it out loud and really listen to the words you’re saying. Does your tongue stumble over a block of words? Do certain phrases sound funny or out of place? Is a sentence so long that you’re gasping for breath by the time you reach the period? Do your own words put you to sleep? All these are signs that a section of your document needs some tweaking.
When you read a document to yourself, you’re relying on only your eyes to catch writing errors. However, when you read a document out loud, you’re activating your sense of hearing and forcing your brain to concentrate on each individual word rather than visual cluster. Now you not only see missing commas, incorrect words, or subject-verb disagreements, but you can also hear when something sounds out of place. When you hear as well as see what you’re writing, you can catch more errors and produce a written document that holds the reader’s attention.
2. Rely on yourself, not your spell check.
The spell check feature on your computer is both a blessing and a hindrance to writing success. While spell check can locate and correct blatantly misspelled words, it can’t catch those words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly. You know the words: right/write, meet/meat, you’re/your, there/their/they’re, no/know, plus a host of others. Such words, called homonyms, are often immune to computerized spell check features and can single-handedly undermine your writing skills.
As you reread your document, both silently and out loud, pay special attention to known homonyms and read out your contractions. So if your text reads, “Please know which word *you’re* supposed to use,” proofread it as “Please know which word *you are* supposed to use.” This way you’ll be able to catch those instances when you write, “You’re writing skills are impeccable,” but really mean “Your writing skills are impeccable.”
3. Start from the end.
The more you read something, the more your brain begins to memorize it. If you reread a document over and over, you eventually get to the point where your brain knows what’s coming next, so your eyes go into scan mode. While you think you’re really reading the document closely, your brain is only picking up key words and drawing on memory to fill in the blanks. So even though your 50th read-through confirms that your document is error-free, your reader (who has never seen the document before) will quickly spot careless errors you scanned right over.
When you feel that you’ve read your document too many times and can’t get past scan mode, mix things up for your brain. Read the last sentence of your document first just to check for things like sentence structure, grammar, spelling, etc. Then read the sentence above the last and do the same. Pull sentences out of the text at random and check for errors. By treating each sentence as a stand alone unit rather than as part of a flowing document, your brain will perk up and not be anticipating the next memorized line. You’ll catch more errors when you look at the individual elements of your document instead of focusing on the overall content.
4. Go to the experts.
You may have a dictionary on your office bookshelf and perhaps even a thesaurus. But do you have a good grammar guide? Anyone who produces written documents can quickly improve his or her writing simply by referring to a grammar guide for writing tips.
Your local bookstore has many grammar guides available. Browse through a few to determine which one adequately addresses your particular writing challenges. Some guides focus specifically on grammar issues, while others pay particular attention to matters of writing tone and style. Some target news writing, while others angle their topics to business writing. Choose a guide you’re comfortable with, refer to it often, and watch your writing improve.
Better Writing Now
Competition in business is fierce these days. Don’t let a misspelled word or incorrect sentence kill the deal. Practice the tricks of self-editing so every written document you produce showcases your knowledge, competence, and professionalism. Before you know it, your customers will be unable to resist your written messages, and your sales figures will soar.
About the Author:
Dawn Josephson, the Master Writing Coach, empowers leaders to master the printed word for enhanced credibility, positioning and profits. She has been helping professional speakers and business leaders write better to earn more since 1998. Visit http://www.masterwritingcoach.com for more information.
Keyword tags: writing, business writing
Everyone has a unique story to tell. From explaining business processes to revealing our personal history, we all have a natural desire to share our experiences with the world. As a result, bookstore shelves are packed with numerous titles that promise to entertain, enlighten, and educate readers.
Perhaps, then, the old saying that “everyone has at least one book in them” is true. If so, how do you know whether your current idea really is book worthy or if it needs some fine-tuning to have maximum marketability?
Before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), put your book idea to the test. Use the following questions as a way to hone your idea’s development and create a manuscript destined for the best-seller list.
Can you state your book’s purpose in 10 words or less?
Many new authors face the challenge of wanting to give too much information at once. Instead of focusing on one specific idea, they try to wrap multiple concepts into one book. This approach not only makes it difficult to organize your book, but it also overwhelms your readers.
With any good book, you can state the book’s specific purpose in 10 words or less. Realize that your purpose is not the same as your theme or plot. The book’s purpose is what you specifically want the reader to do or think as a result of reading your book. Now, a statement such as “to live a better life” or “to run a better business” is not specific. A purpose is not a generalization. It’s a specific action that you motivate the reader to embark upon.
For example, if you’re writing a business book, your purpose should be to help your readers improve one specific business function, such as its marketing efforts, its customer service, its project management, etc. Your purpose should not be “to teach business executives how to create better marketing materials, deliver improved customer service, establish long-term customer relations, increase employee retention, and locate the best new talent.” That’s simply too much for one book to cover. Keep your purpose specific so you can deliver targeted and useful information.
Does your book have a specific audience?
While you certainly want a large audience to market your book to, you also want an audience that’s targeted to your topic. Simply stating that your audience is “business people” or “women” or “the general public” is not a targeted audience. Why? Not all business people have the same concerns, not all women are interested in the same topics, and not everyone in the general public will be able to identify with your ideas.
When you narrow your audience to include those with a specific tie to your theme or who fit a certain demographic, you gain a marketing edge that can position your book more effectively. So instead of stating that your audience is “business people,” perhaps you can narrow it down to “company owners,” “middle management,” or “entrepreneurs.” Rather than target the broad category of “women,” you’d have better sales by focusing on “women over age 50,” “working moms,” or “single women under age 35.” All these categories consist of a large number of people, yet they are narrow enough so you can streamline your message.
Are you saying something new?
If you want people to invest the time and money to read your book, you have to tell them something new. Too many authors attempt to reword or rehash old ideas that others have stated over and over. While you should use other people’s works to substantiate claims or add credibility to your message, make sure your central idea is fresh and unique.
How can you make sure your approach is new? Incorporate the results of a survey you personally conducted. Include case studies from your own business or life. Interview people who can contribute facts and information. Add elements of yourself to punctuate your message. This is your book, so tell your story or stance on an issue.
Many authors are afraid to state a new opinion on a topic that others have covered. They think they may turn people off or offend. Remember that people like controversy, so if your book can stir things up and make people think twice about something, you’ll have a greater chance of creating a buzz about your book.
Are your writing skills up to par?
You could have the best idea in the world, but if your text is filled with errors, is poorly organized, or is difficult to understand, no one will want to read it. Before you write too much of your book, brush up on your writing skills by attending a writing class, studying a writing guide, or hiring a writing coach to help you correct your writing challenges. Also, educate yourself on what writing style appeals to your audience, and then strive to imitate that style. Gear your writing to your intended audience as much as possible.
If you’re unsure whether your writing skills make the grade, consult with a professional editor or ghostwriter who can rework your writing and bring it up to publishing standards. Don’t let poor writing skills ruin your best-selling idea.
Start Writing Now
Writing a book is no small undertaking. When you can answer “yes” to each of the above questions, you’ll be on your way to transforming your idea into a publishable piece of work. Take the time to nurture and develop your idea before you start writing so you can be sure to create the best book possible. A little pre-planning and foresight is all it takes to give your book the most market appeal.
About the Author:
Dawn Josephson, the Master Writing Coach, empowers leaders to master the printed word for enhanced credibility, positioning and profits. She has been helping professional speakers and business leaders write better to earn more since 1998. Visit http://www.masterwritingcoach.com for more information.
Keyword tags: writing, book writing