The Black Moment in your novel is the most important part of your novel. I just had to say that because I see so many manuscripts that pull their punches on the Black Moment. Authors have fallen in love with their characters and they just don’t want to hurt them. But creating a powerful Black Moment is what both the character and the reader need to convince them they must change. So, how do you create a powerful Black Moment? First…let’s just take a look at the Black Moment Flow Chart: Dark Moment of the Past (Greatest Fear + Lie) = Black Moment Event = Black Moment Effect = Epiphany = Character Change. Again, how do we find the Black Moment? We go into our character’s backstory and find a […]
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One Thing Marketing … Write a Press Release as Compelling as Your Book!
Welcome to this week’s One Thing Marketing where we talk about that “One Thing” you can do this week to build your platform, connect with readers/reviewers and snag some attention for you and your latest book or WIP. Last week we talked about a writer’s mission statement. How did you do coming up with a Brand Promise, Tagline and Emotional Relevance? This week we’ll tackle the press release. A press release is an announcement of your new book. The trick is making the announcement as compelling as your book is, and that takes a slightly different touch. It’s a simple formula merely to put together a proper press release for your book. In the first paragraph, include the following: Title ISBN number Publisher Author Price Then in the body of […]
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What if the HERO was the HEROINE? – Turning Your Story Upside Down
I started reading a great book last week and about a third of the way through a thought hit me: What if THE HEROINE was THE HERO and THE HERO was THE HEROINE? Meaning, what if their rolls were reversed? Suddenly the book became much more interesting and the one on my Kindle seem kind of status quo. Sure, some of the other plot points would be different if SHE was a HE, but it would also raise new, more intriguing plot obstacles. In an historical book, it might be hard to switch rolls. If you were writing about the Alamo, it would be hard to have a man spying on General Santa Anna since the spy was a female prostitute. But, what if you took an historical event, like […]
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Use Social Media to Get More Out of Your Next Event
I know from the emails and blog comments I get that many of you have taken the jump into social networking. Today I’d like to share some thoughts about how social media can help with your brick-and-morter events, like a book launch or book signing. Often times we revert to traditional channels to advertise these events and miss some of the advantages social networking can give us. Don’t give up the traditional avenues, but add some of these ideas to increase your next event’s visibility. One of the benefits to social media is that you can identify people with similar interests. You can do this several ways. Hashtags on Twitter. A hashtag is a number sign (#) in front of a word or groups of letters. This makes the tweet searchable throughout the Twitter universe. For example, if I want […]
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