One of the things we talk about a lot at My Book Therapy is coming up with a good book hook.
It’s how we nab an editor or agent’s attention.
But it’s a lot harder than we’d like it to be.
In genre novels, we tend to be a bit cliche.
We read a lot of romance or historicals, or sci fi or whatever our preferred genre is and when crafting a story idea, we tend just rewrite what we’ve read.
With social media dominating the marketing front these days, a lot of authors don’t give as much thought to publicity through events. And that’s understandable—events take time, money and, well, a certain amount of risk. After all, there isn’t always a lot of guarantee that folks will show up to a book-signing or launch party. But done right, events truly can have a great impact on your platform—especially at a local, grassroots level. And you want this! The stat you’ll always hear is that 80% of books are still sold by word of mouth. And most people are more likely to trust a recommendation from a family member or friend they know in person than random folks on Facebook. So even if you’re from a small-town, getting local people excited […]
Almost daily I speak to writers who pine for publication. They figure once they get there, they will have arrived. They’ll be where they always wanted to be. Sadly, I also know published authors who look back with an emptiness that haunts them. Why? They were so concerned about the destination of publication, they forgot to enjoy the trip.
It reminds me of a bicycling event in central Florida I rode once. The route took riders right by the space shuttle on launch pad 39-A at Cape Canaveral, as well as the largest known eagle’s nest in the United States. The roadway was cut right through coastal marsh land, providing a natural home for the alligators, snakes and countless water fowl.
At the end of the event, I listened as a group of riders standing close by recounted their trip.
Lessons from Our P90X The Middle of Your Story. Taught at ACFW 2013. 1. Drop the Bomb! — Don’t hold out on the “big” reveal or what you think is the big story point if your story calls for it to be done now. Otherwise, you’ll write in circles. In Dining with Joy, I wanted the black moment to be when Joy was outed on public TV as a fraud. But by the middle of the book, I knew I had to drop the bomb THEN. So I did. Then I could develop a new black moment fitting the story. 2. Tell the Secret! — Find a juicy secret in your characters you didn’t know existed when you started. When writing Softly and Tenderly with Sara Evans, I discovered that […]
