Writers & Readers Websites Wednesday - The Market List

Hi there, yes, the holidays are past and it's that day again as I get back on track. 

Today I want to mention The Market List for all you writers out there looking for a place where you can dig into markets. This one's excellent offering articles, markets, chats, polls, classifieds and more.   Readers - ever wonder what writers tune in to in order to get published? Then this is interesting reading

Even more, there are sub categories under Markets including book markets, screenwriting, magazines, by genre, literary agents  and, again, more. Wish there was a bit more info attached to each listing in the list (like what they're most open to); you have to click into each listing to get the details. But, it's still a great resource and worth your time.

Writers & Readers Websites Wednesday

This week I stumbled across Squid Inc.  Here's what they say about themselves: 

"Squid Inc is all about the writer. It is our mission to bring independent, self-published authors and poets to the attention of readers and publishers alike.

We aim to serve you by showcasing your talent, introducing you to a wider audience and offering advice on taking the next step.

We want to help you to sell your book."

I like it - I'm going to give it a shot; always good to find new ways to generate publicity. They offer free services (asking for a donation if you can) and for pay services. It's definitely a site worth checking out. 

Great for writers and an excellent place for readers to check out new or undiscovered writers to add to their favorites.

Writers Terrors - Public Speaking, Oh My!

You're a writer.

You write.

But, by now it should have occurred to you that you do much more than simply write, in fact, you must do much more.  You can't just write a book, then sit back, hide in your office and wait for the money to come pouring in in adulation of your wonderful written work.

Doesn't work like that.

Sorry.

Okay, so here it is, the plain fact of the matter is, introvert or not, shy or not, positively phobic about public appearance or not, there'll come a time when you, as writer, will have to face the public.  It could be a speaking engagement, attending a conference, a book signing, or even perhaps leading a writer's workshop of some sort.

All of that entails public speaking, nervousness and the elephant in the room.

What's the elephant?

Simple, your extreme aversion to public speaking. Perhaps even terrors you experience when torn from your writer's desk to fact the public.

How to conquer your elephant?  Well, it takes determination, patience with yourself as you practice and a bit of sense of humor helps.

Remember those people you're going to interact with, whether in a small group, a large one, or one-on-one, actually WANT to talk to you, to hear what you have to say.  You're a writer, they think that's cool.

Think of it this way. You won't die because you speak in public, nobody is going to fling gorilla poo at you. Godzilla isn't going to storm the room/convention/college/library/whatever and start throwing people around like paper dolls. And, as a writer, this part of your job.

Be positive with yourself - and ultimately with your 'audience'.  Know what you're going to talk about, what makes you comfortable. Not by rote or word for word, but in a general, friendly sense. When you're in your writing zone what makes you really comfortable?

Talk to friends to get ready, talk to yourself in the mirror to get a sense of how you appear and perhaps how you can drop your shoulders or smile more to appear more relaxed. The kicked-back writer. Don't be hyper-critical of yourself, just give yourself a few easy notes that will help smooth things along and make the public speaking thing a bit easier for the writer you are.

If you're really nervous and it's your first time, you might even let people know that.  Make light of it, tell them you're a writer not a speaker and promise you won't stammer too much and if you do anyway they'll forgive you.

Stretch yourself, throw yourself into what is not your comfort zone and make it such. Practice really will help. I promise there's no tiger hiding in the tall grass, no gorilla waiting to rip your head off.

Most people are kind to public speakrers, well aware of how little they, themselves would like to be up there while looking forward to what the writer they've come to see has to say.

As for the ones who aren't so kind, politely ignore them. They could be having a bad day, they could be envious,they could just be jerks. Regardless, they don't really matter.

You've written your book - a staggering accomplishment all by itself. Now's the time to get the word out.

Go ahead, you can do it and you can even come to enjoy it.

Writers Websites Wednesday - Search Engines for Writers

Here's a site for the writer wrapped up in research - of all kinds. It offers 60 great sites where you can find out almost anything.  Writers professional sites, research sites, reference sites, stuff for niche writers, books and more. Don't miss this one.  check it out.  I know there'll be more than one site you'll be glad you found. 

And as a side note, my book Cloud Dancer is available at 50% at Smashwords at http://bit.ly/mSefTW - use Coupon Code TX72S at check out for special price of $2.98 through March 28 along with half off my book, Stormrider, also at Smashwords at

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/15798 - use coupon code SL67D at check out.  Special for my friends reading this post here. Ebooks here are available in various formats including Kindle, PDF, Mobi, EPUB, RTF and more.

Writer Terrors

Writers are a unique lot, and each one different from another.  I was reading a post at LinkedIn this morning where writers were discussing what the dominant personality of a writer is.  The discussion rambled off in several directions coming up with all sorts of answers which, of course, pinpoints the problem in defining authors/writers. There is something a little bit different about us, it's true, but exactly what IS it? 

Hmmmm.

Here's the thing.  On the page we can be quite firm, even downright aggressive, but in person it's a different matter.  While a writer might do wonderfully one-on-one, a real chatterbox, many times in a crowd that fizzles fast. Withdrawn comes to mind.

Writers are often tapped to give talks or perhaps lead a workshop or read from their work.  Well, for the introverted writer, and that seems to be the dominant paradigm, that can most definitely lead to nervousness or the possibility of a outright  nervous breakdown. The writer does war with the fact that he or she really doesn't want to do any public appearances at all, and yet the publisher wants those appearances to happen or the writer simply realizes that in order to publicize a book and get readers, promotion, which means public appearances, is a must.

So, today, I want to give some friendly advice to those introverted, nervous-breakdown-prone brother and sister writers out there.  If you're sitting in a chair, chewing your nails, sweating and feeling like your heart is pounding against your ribs and you desperately want a drink of water, but are afraid to have it because you just know you'll need the bathroom about the time you step in front of all those people, waiting to give a talk or lead that workshop, or give that reading, (whew that was a mouthful) here's a thought. 

What do you think is going to happen?  I mean seriously, what do you expect to happen?

These are people interested in what you have to say, there is no right or wrong. They wouldn't be here if they weren't interested. Do you really think one or more of them is suddenly going to be possessed by the 'exorcist', have his head spin around and spout fire from eyes nose & mouth? And you can always use the ancient trick of thinking of them as naked. Head-spinning, fire-spouting naked, so they're no threat.

Godzilla isn't going to bound through the door and squish you to paste on the stage either. King Kong isn't going to break his restraints and come charging through your hall. You aren't going to die. Barring natural disaster such as earthquake, volcano or flood you're going to be fine. Right?

So, it's all good, right?

You can actually take a breath and do what you need to do, make that public appearance. And you know what?  You can, in fact, have fun with it. I'm not saying you're GOING TO, I said you CAN.  And it may take several appearance for you to sort it all out, relax enough and enjoy yourself.

Engage the people in your audience and you'll end up having fun - or at the very least feeling more composed and less shaky. So here's how to get started.

Be honest with your audience when you first arrive. Tell them you're nervous to the point of sweating through your clothes.  Most people shy away from public speaking - they'll understand and be even more empathetic.  

Ask them to shout out if  you're muttering a bit and ask you to speak up. You might offer a short Q & A segment the beginning of your talk, in addition to one at the end. Relate to your audience as new friends and speaking will not only get easier, but might turn into something you enjoy.


 

Are you a Fraidy Writer?

Us writers are a strange lot.  We love to write, we’re afraid to write.  We want to have an audience and sell books, we’re afraid of that audience. 

Oh, there are some who aren’t, but many of the writers I’ve spoken to over the years do have those fears and most of the fears aren’t so easily identified as the ones in plain sight like the urge to throw up or run screaming from a building.
No, many writer’s fears are more subtle, more difficult to spot.  Signs being thing like overperforming in an effort  to make sure you get it right (like any of us can ever get it right, since there is no ‘right’ when writing a novel).  Underperforming (see, I knew I couldn’t do this, so why bother?) or avoiding performing at all (meaning you keep talking about that book you’re going to write but you never apply butt to chair and get it written).  If you’re rewriting endlessly, if you’re afraid to submit because you might be rejected, if you just can’t find the time to write, all of these are all subtle, but fairly reliable bell weathers pointing at fear.

So, what to do?

Acknowledge it, work with it, harness it to actually promote your writing goals. 

 
You can’t silence those little voices of fear altogether, but you can choose to cease engaging with them on a  negative level.  You don’t have to allow them to run your life.  You can simply tell yourself (or someone else if you need support) that you might not write like Hemingway, but you’re going to write anyway, you might not have your work accepted at the first submission, but you won’t have it accepted at all if you don’t submit - so you’re going to!

You don’t have control over all the outside elements that have impact on your writing and publication, but you do have control over your writing. Don’t focus on outcomes (which you cannot control), and focus on what you’re doing, what you’re writing (over which you DO have control). 

There are a number of things we writers fear.  Realistically if you feel fear, you are on some level expecting danger. One human instinct is to protect ourselves from danger. One of the best ways I’ve found to deal with the fear is to have a conversation in which I talk to my fear and sort things out.  Sort of like:

Me: Why am I putting off submitting this manuscript?

Self: Because if I actually finish it and send it in in an attempt to sell it, then someone will judge it and what if that someone says no and that it’s a bad manuscript?  Better not to send it - safer that way.

Me: But what’s wrong with getting a rejection, many writers have and have gone on to great success.  Maybe I’d learn something.

Self: Nope, too painful, rejection hurts. Don’t want to risk it. Only thing I’d learn is I’m a terrible writer.

Me: Doubtful, but if I am, I can always improve. If the editor wasn’t simply having a bad day because she/he was served with divorce papers then I can learn something. If I learn something, that puts me just that much closer to where I want to be.

Usually at that point my fears quiet down and I can write or submit, or move on to whatever it is I want to accomplish. And you can have that conversation with yourself over any aspect of your writing. Fear really is the only thing you have to fear.

My advice?  Confront your fear and carry on.  You’ll be glad you

Marketing Your Novel - Tips & Insights

Come on, you know you're going to have to do it.  You're going to have to bite the bullet and put some time and, yes, money into the marketing of your novel whether you've self-published or published with a House.

When I mention money it's because in all probability you'll be putting in at least some real time appearances and will find yourself in the position of being asked for take-aways either from folks at a signing or personal appearance or from folks who put together 'goody bags' for conventions and conferences or maybe from bloggers who do giveaways for their readers.

So, while you can give away a copy of your Ebook easily online with no cost to you really, there are other things that work that are going to cost you something. And you probably want to keep a few things on hand so  as to avoid the mad scramble of trying to get personalized items on short notice.

So let's talk about some ideas.

Bookmarks with a picture of your book cover and your info on them are great.  They aren't the best for bookstores or conferences since almost everyone is handing them out there.  But I woldn't say no either.

Postcards are a great item.  They give you a bit more space to work with - book cover on one side, your book & personal info on the other, and maybe some space left to give to a fan with an autograph.  And I've seen a lot of folks using them as bookmarks so that postcard might have a longer life than we might expect. VistaPrint is one resource, there are many others. You can even  make a calendar there if you have enough material to creatively fill 12 'spots' of the year - then offer them as prizes or giveaways.

Buttons can be kind of cool and people frequently leave them pinned to things like totes, backpacks and vests.  Thing is, don't get one too clunking large and avoid the very tiny. Design is very important here.  Maybe just a bit of your cover and the website.

Magnets remain popular with people and they frequently find their way up onto refrigerators or stuck in cars or on the side of filing cabinets. That makes them a great giveaway and not too expensive either.

If your book is in  hard copy, be prepared to give some copies away.  Take advantage of the special price your publisher gives you and get them into the hands of reviewers, contest winners and the like. People love free stuff.  Ebook?  Even easier. And with an Ebook you can have cards printed up with a website where the book can be downloaded free.

There are plenty of other ways to promote yourself as well.  You can blog and work with other bloggers to do some cross-promoting and cross-bloggng.  If you don't want to have your own blog (and that's all right) you might be able to do the occasional 'guest blog' at a sight you like.  Contact the site's owner and ask. 

Do participate in some social networking - Twitter, Facebook, and others are out there. The goal is to make that persomal connection with your readers. To be real, and accessible.

What about personal appearances.  Yep, it's a good idea to do some of those as well.  The Book Tour isn't what it used to be, but getting your face out there is a big help.  Book signings are okay, and can be fun, but not the first line of attack these days. 

Book festivals are better.  Conferences are good.  School visits, if you write for that  age group are good too.

 You might think about getting a few T-shirts or coffee mugs with your book cover and info as giveaways.  That can get pricy, but a few, as contest prizes or special bonuses can be a good idea.  Cafe press is one place you can design and create your own 'stuff.'  There are others, maybe even locally, look around.  The advantage of Cafe Press is you can order as little as one or two and you can create a store right there online if you want to 'sell' those T-shirts and mugs, etc. as a sideline. 

So make some effort, be creative, think of little things like pens or pencils, cards or postcards, notebooks and such you can stamp with your personal book cover and get into peoples' hands.