define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); November 2013 » Page 5 of 5 » My Book Therapy

Archive | November, 2013

One Thing Marketing: Team Up!

By on November 5, 2013 in Melissa Tagg, One Thing Marketing, Platform-building

What makes almost any task a little easier?

Help! 🙂

That’s why combining forces with other authors or industry peeps is such a good idea when you’re working to market your books. We all have different spheres of influences, networks and contacts, friends and fans on social media. Cross-promotion and joint marketing efforts make SO much sense.

Here are a few ways I’ve teamed up with others recently:

1) I found release buddies. I checked out a few authors who had books coming out around the same time as mine. We tossed around a variety of ideas for joint giveaways, blog appearances, videos and more.

2) I’m in an author group that just this week began talking about ways to promote our books when we’re in between releases. We’re chatting about finding some way to work together to cross-promote in not-as-busy seasons.

3) Three friends and I formed a small marketing team and SO many of the ideas for my release promotions came from their brainstorming!

4) Two other authors and I all have books in the same genre releasing from the same publisher next spring. We’ve already been emailing ideas about blogs, vlogs and more as we prepare to cross-promote in the coming months.

But what if I’m not published yet?

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Show, Don’t Tell

By on November 4, 2013 in Author Mistakes, How to WordPaint, Susan May Warren

I hope you’re busy writing your amazing works of NaNoWriMo fiction!

I thought, as we dive in, it might help to understand what editors mean by “Show, Don’t Tell.” Listen, I know it can be confusing. Especially since there is not only mis-information and bad teaching out there, but also because there IS a time Tell!

Showing, not Telling is not about describing everything that happens. And Telling has nothing to do with narrative and backstory. Narrative and backstory (and even action) get a bad rap because often, during narrative, backstory and action, authors drop into “telling” without realizing it. Describing ACTION by saying “John shot Bill.” is not telling. It’s action. But adding: “John felt sorry when he shot Bill,” would be telling.

See, I know. Confusing.

Here’s the bottom line: Showing is about helping the reader experience the emotions of the character. Showing brings us into the mind and heart of the character to understand their emotional journey.

Here’s how: If you say, ‘She felt grief,’ or even, and this is more common, ‘Grief overtook her’ you are not just telling us what emotion she’s feeling, but you’re pinpointing one emotion your reader must feel with the character. Instead, show us how despair makes her feel through how she acts, what she thinks, what she says and how she sees her world. Let us into your character’s head.

Telling is when you tell someone how to feel. It relates to the emotion to the story, not the narrative, backstory and action.

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The Enemy in the Mirror

By on November 2, 2013 in 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, Encourage Me!, Life Coaching, Nurturing Creativity, Nurturing the Soul, Writer's life, Writing Life, Writing Life Coaching

I talk to people wherever I am. I’ve met no strangers and don’t have any problem at all striking up a conversation with someone I’ve only known for three seconds. No matter where I travel I find people with big dreams. They want to be wealthy entrepreneurs or award winning authors. And yet they’re not… yet. Exploring the cause—the real root of their challenge—most often does not reveal obstacles that sidelines them. No, when it comes right down to it, their lack of success is at the hands of the enemy in the mirror. We are the ones who sabotage our efforts more than any outside force ever could. It begins innocently enough but then it builds into a unstoppable force that will topple even the best laid plans. It […]

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