Voice – what a book “sounds and feels like” – is, essentially, glue. It holds the words together so that the book feels whole and strong; and it holds the reader to the page. If your voice slips, you break the spell that keeps the reader listening. That’s the same for fiction and non-fiction, but there are also differences.

1. Voice gives authority In fiction, it makes the reader suspend disbelief, summons the authority to say, “You know I made this up but you will believe it as if it were true.” In non-fiction, the authority says, “This is true and you will trust me that it is so.” It is not enough for aspiring non-fiction writers to be expert in their subject-matter. They must also create an engaging voice which feels authoritative not just because of the information but also because of communicative quality of that voice. Because it is, for non-fiction especially, about effective communication.

2. In non-fiction, the writer is allowed to let his or her own voice be explicit. People usually say they hear my voice in my non-fiction but very rarely in my fiction. We are now – though not in previous generations – even allowed to say “I”. In fiction we are supposed to keep our views hidden or at least shroud them subtly within a character’s voice and not show whether we personally speak through that character or not, though the reader may like to guess. In non-fiction, we are allowed to intrude ourselves into the book, not just opinion but also timbre of voice. (This does depend to some extent what type of non-fiction we’re talking about.)

3. Non-fiction is just like talking, but with the leisure to edit our words to be more crystalline than they could be if we were actually talking. My aim is that the audience or readers know what I mean and enjoy listening to or reading it. I know they don’t want me rabbiting on self-indulgently so I search for a form of words that gets the message over and keeps them listening or reading. And I edit ruthlessly, killing my darlings if they get in the way of communication.

4. Moreover, the same elements work in a non-fiction voice as work for public-speaking: humour (when appropriate), clarity, organisation of material, occasional surprise, and eye contact. Yes, I try to feel I have eye contact; I try to imagine that I’m looking and smiling – or frowning, if appropriate…

5. With non-fiction, we must think specifically of the reader. Actually, I do that in fiction, too but I do it even more in non-fiction. With non-fiction it’s all about getting the message to the reader, and you can’t do it if you don’t have a strong sense of that reader, tune in to their tuning in, know what they want to know and what they already know. Interestingly, for Blame My Brain the intended readers are teenagers but adults seem to love it, too. But then, teenagers are not a whole different species from adults and very often enjoy the same books. If I were talking to them face-to-face I wouldn’t do it much differently.

I think the key is being passionate about the subject but being equally passionate about getting the words right so that communication works. You know how people who are passionate about their subjects can often be appallingly boring to listen to, because they are so wrapped up in their subject that they’ve failed to tune in to the audience? And they don’t know when to stop? Well, that! Don’t do it!

And with that, I’ll stop.

There’s a fun Blame My Brain competition running on Nicola’s blog at the moment.

Opportunities for schools and individuals of any age to win books, have their questions answered and learn about the fascinating thing that is the teenage brain!

The post Five Things About Voice in Non-fiction appeared first on BubbleCow.

The task of your smartphone isn’t so much to help you during the writing process; in fact, once you sit down to write, your phone could actually prove to be somewhat distracting. Instead, your phone should allow you to be productive and capture ideas when you’re not sitting down in front of your laptop.

This can happen by:

• Providing reference material so that you can research when you aren’t actually writing.
• Giving you the ability to take quick notes and jot down ideas on the fly.
• Allowing you to collect and organize ideas and media and send them to other services.

Providing reference material so that you can research when you aren’t actually writing. Giving you the ability to take quick notes and jot down ideas on the fly. Allowing you to collect and organize ideas and media and send them to other services.

An app that is good for writers will do at least one of these three things, which should ultimately make you more productive and focused by the time you sit down to actually write your material.

These iPhone apps for writers can help you do that in several different ways, and are thus beneficial for any writer at any stage of their career.

1. iThesaurus

Having a good pocket thesaurus should be the first instalment of a writer-friendly smartphone. The iThesaurus app has an ad-free version that costs money, but the basic app is free. It provides access to over 140000 words and also provides definitions for those words in addition to synonyms.

2. Dragon Dictation

Dragon dictation is a piece of software that allows you to speak and will then write down whatever you’ve said, doing so with an incredible amount of accuracy. You definitely need to annunciate, but for the most part, you can speak naturally and count on the app to pick up most of what you said. This is a great tool for getting down quick thoughts and ideas and articles, or even writing segments of paragraphs.

3. DraftPad

Draft Pad is a glorified notepad app, but is helpful because it gives you a nice big plain sheet of paper (on your screen) without any functional complexity or visual distractions. You can also send your text to other apps or web services like email, Twitter, Facebook or export it for use in your blog.

4. Evernote

Evernote is a tremendously popular app that allows you to stay better organized across all of the devices that you use. The app is a great tool for organizing your ideas, increasing your
productivity and getting down ideas on the fly. This is all accomplished by allowing you to take notes, capture images and catalogue everything in a searchable database.

5. Office Plus

Office Plus is how most mobile devices allow you to open and edit Microsoft Office documents. Though the “Plus” suggests that you would have to pay for the app, it is free before giving you some in-app purchasing options. Office Plus allows you to edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents with a surprising amount of functionality right from your phone. It’s an obvious must
for writers using the Microsoft Office system.

While there is yet to be an iPhone app for writers that embraces the entirety of the writing process, these apps are a great starting point for any writer on the go. They can help with research, organization, and outlining ideas, which can only increase productivity, and easily assimilate into any writer’s routine.

Disagree with this list? What iPhone apps for writers do you use? Just pop the name of any we have missed in the comments.

The post Top 5 iPhone Apps for Writers appeared first on BubbleCow.

The Role of an Agent

I spend much of my time reading and eating and talking about cake, which makes me no different from lots of other people in the publishing industry. But the reading bit is usually done outside of the hours of 9-5, when I am usually to be found at my desk at A P Watt, eagerly looking for new writers and helping my authors find their way in the big, confusing world of publishing. Before I worked here I fondly imagined the life of an agent was a reasonably idle one, with feet propped on a desk as we read through sheaves of pages, sipping occasionally from a never-empty coffee mug. HOW WRONG I WAS. In truth there is a lot of admin and paperwork of a more tedious kind, but the thrilling moments when you receive offers for the books that you have worked so hard on are worth all the battles over contracts and chasing for five pence worth of VAT on royalties etc.

A literary agent is the middle man between author and publisher. We are an author’s advocate and a publisher’s filter. It is our job to know the editors out there and what they’re looking for, so that we can excitedly place your book in their hands and know that there is something of interest for them in it. I keep up with editors who work in the genres that I have a professional interest in, and learn what they are publishing and looking out for; they keep in touch with us so that they might be included in our submissions when something that we both might love comes along. There are lunches, yes (although not as many as there used to be, sadly), and tea and cake, but we are all most concerned with finding an incredible book to publish. The One. And editors are as subjective as agents, but hopefully we all have a good idea of what people want to read.

My authors are many things to me: clients, friends, geniuses, patients (!); people to admire and to enjoy. There is no one relationship to aspire to between an author and an agent, I don’t think: each relationship is unique and as long as we’re both happy then, well, we’re both happy… Communication is vital, as are mutual trust and respect. Know what you’re looking for in an agent, and don’t be afraid to be open about that when you first meet. And if you’re not sure what you’re looking for then don’t be afraid to be open about that too – the world of agenting was completely unknown to me before a friend got a literary agent and I was introduced to her; I don’t expect anyone else to know exactly why we are here and am happy to explain.

Our first task as agents – once we’ve signed you up (info on which will follow) – is to work with you to get your book or proposal into the best possible shape it can be before it goes to an editor. This might involve some editing – light or extensive – but which we will carry out with an eye on making the book into the most appealing prospect for the publisher. Sometimes this is done by strengthening plot or characters, or it could be growing a non-fiction chapter plan or working on sample chapters; sometimes all it takes is a few simple tweaks to your existing material. Not every agent gets heavily involved in a pre-submission editing process, but I love this part of working with my authors and it’s in both our interests to make your work irresistible. So in the first instance, an agent is there not only to facilitate access to a publisher, but to make your book as great as it can be before an editor’s eyes are on it.

Once we have an offer for your book, we’re there to ensure that you get the best terms possible. Luckily for me, working for an established agency such as A P Watt means I can make use of boilerplate agreements with all of the mainstream publishers, and many smaller ones too. This ensures that our authors get some of the highest royalty rates across the industry, and that we will keep up with developments in publishing – such as e-books and multimedia – and make sure that you consistently get the most favourable terms, even as the nature of publishing develops and changes. We will also fight for a worthwhile advance (of course!) and, where possible, separate your rights so that our brilliant foreign rights or media departments (at APW) can take your book overseas or to film/TV/radio production companies, and we can get it sold in as many languages and into as many mediums as possible. In the age of the shrinking advance all income is welcome, and there’s nothing like the pleasure of seeing an American or foreign language edition and knowing that Czech/Spanish/Vietnamese readers are enjoying your book in their very different parts of the world.

When a deal has been agreed and a contract signed, the agent steps back a little and lets the author and the editor get on with it. We’re there to help if you need us, but we’re mostly keeping an eye on things as you get on with writing/redrafting your book, seeing your proposed cover, and discussing the publisher’s marketing and publicity plans. We retain our role as the middle man. My colleagues will do their best to take your book to foreign publishers (usually when it is at the final draft) and to any appropriate media companies too. We keep beavering away with your book here, but more quietly as your primary relationship is with your editor/s.

After all this, we’re here to help and support you in any way we can, throughout your writing career. I’m always very excited by a new novel or book idea coming into my inbox from one of my clients, and I mostly take on writers that I believe have long term potential, especially where fiction is concerned. I want you to have a long and very healthy career as an author, and will do anything I can to make this happen. Agents should be a sounding-board for any new ideas you want to throw at them, and knowledgeable about what’s happening in the market so that they can bring that knowledge to your idea, where possible. Hopefully we can bring lots of opportunities your way that you may not have found on your own, and make sure that you and your book get the most from those opportunities.

At the very least, I’ll take you for tea and cake.

How To Approach Us

We are not monsters. Honestly. We take no pleasure in turning down your work, and we don’t lie when we say it is not for us. We’re not denying you feedback on your submissions because we are ‘cold-hearted rejection machines’ (as one writer memorably called a colleague), we simply don’t have the time to give you any feedback because we are busily emailing, reading and giving feedback to the authors on our client list. Every single day I think about how much time and effort writers have put into their books, and I appreciate it. I get submissions from writers who have never shown anyone their book – a book that they may have taken twenty years to write, and who feel hugely vulnerable showing that book to me. It is a privilege to read a writer’s work, and I try to never forget that. And yes, sometimes some of our submissions are just plain mad or baffling, but that doesn’t mean I underestimate the effort that went into them.

What I can’t stress enough, is the importance of doing your research before approaching an agent. The painful truth is this: every agent wants something slightly different from a submission package. The best way of finding out what this is is to go to agency websites and look at their submission guidelines (or check The Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook). Then look at the agent profiles and choose which would be most suited to you/your book. Little tip/pet peeve here: if you’ve written a children’s book, don’t send it to an agent who has no children’s books on their list, or no visible interest in children’s books. There are many, many agents out there with many, many interests: you’re sure to find someone/several agents who suit you and your work.

For me, the perfect query letter consists of three parts. (Hopefully this would also serve you well with most other agents too but, as I said, look at their individual agency submission guidelines). At A P Watt we ask that writers send us a query letter and full synopsis. The query letter should be addressed to the agent you wish to read it (whom you have carefully selected after your impeccable research). Start your letter with a few lines about why you have approached us, both to show you have done your research and to flatter our enormous egos. Then should come a blurb about your book. For me, the ideal length of this is one paragraph – I’m thinking the kind of blurb that you would find on the back of a book jacket. Don’t worry about how brief this is, as you get a chance to expand in your full synopsis. Lastly (thirdly), should be a paragraph about you: a writer-ly bio. Include what’s relevant here. What might be relevant is that you have done a Creative Writing MA or had your work published in a magazine; what is not relevant is the name of your cat or that your beloved wife of twelve years thinks your book is better than anything Stephen King has ever written.

Don’t try to be funny, quirky or unusual. Always be polite. When it comes down to it, your query letter is our first introduction to you, as a writer, and we are looking for hints that you might be a very exciting prospect. Jazzing up your letter with photos, wisecracks or alternative fonts (Times New Roman is the font of choice) does not do you any favours. Especially Comic Sans – that does you no favours at all.

A ‘full synopsis’ should be a full outline of your plot/narrative. For me, this doesn’t need to be longer than one (or, at a push, two) double-spaced page/s or approximately 250/350 words. Again, different agents ask for different things when it comes to a synopsis (sorry), but it’s likely you’ll be asked to provide a couple of synopses of different lengths further down the road to publication anyway, so consider it good practice. Include the ending of the book, even if this gives away something enormous; it’s ok to tell us the whole story, because we want to know the ending at this stage. You don’t need to introduce every single character, just those most important to the development of your story. And for non-fiction it’s roughly the same rule for a synopsis – give us the most vital bones of your narrative, and we will flesh them out with the reading if we are intrigued. A synopsis of more than two pages is a turn-off for me, because it hints at a lack of editing skills. And really, you should be able to pitch your book quickly and succinctly, just as we will have to do when we talk about it to editors. Indeed, when editors pitch books to retailers, they often have to do it in just a sentence or two. Maybe it’s helpful to think about exactly what your pitch might be if you had to do this. You never know when you might bump into an agent in a jacuzzi… (I met an author in a jacuzzi a couple of months ago. Nowhere is safe!). I’d always recommend reading other synopses if you are struggling with your own. What have publishers and authors chosen to highlight on book jackets, websites and Twitter? How are they pitching their books to potential readers?

When we reject a submission, it is for one reason: we are not the right person to represent you. We have looked at your synopsis and not seen the ‘X factor’ in it, or we have not felt drawn to your work in the way that we would wish to be in order to take your submission further. Often I know immediately upon reading the submission letter whether it’s a ‘yes or a no’; often I put emails or letters aside to look at later and re-read or ask for more material. Most often I will think that a submission is not for me. But that is because I am one person with my own tastes in an industry filled with many people with many tastes, and I am looking for a book that resonates for me personally. If I haven’t replied to a submission after a couple of months have passed – which I always aspire to do – it is not because I am cold-hearted or uncaring, but because I simply haven’t had the time to get through my submissions pile. At the moment, I know that my reading pile goes back further than two months, and every day it glares at me accusingly and I try to make time for it. One day…

Feel free to submit to a number of agents at once, and nothing gets your submission to the top of our reading pile faster than serious interest from another agent, so tell us if this occurs. Chasing us for a response to your submission with a simple, polite email after a couple of months is fine. Repeatedly ringing and haranguing my lovely colleague who works on reception, is not. (Anyone who’s rude is rejected outright, and there are some breathtakingly rude people out there sometimes!) As a general rule, if you haven’t heard anything from an agent after two months, don’t hold out for a positive response but continue to submit to others. And usually submitting to one agent per agency is enough; we’ll pass your submission on to a colleague if it’s great, but better suited to a colleague.

If we are excited by your submission, then we’ll get in touch and take it from there…

Ultimately, I would hope that the conversation between agents and authors is always an open and honest one, right from the outset, and that we’re approachable and accessible. All we really want is to find books that we love and we’re proud to take to editors, and that we can then see released into the world, ready to whip up a frenzy of excitement and appreciation from millions of readers. And I hope we would always be working together – author, agent and editor – on achieving this.

Founded in 1875, A P Watt is the longest-established literary agency in the world. It is also one of the most dynamic and successful.

The literary estates this agency represents include those of some of the foremost British and Irish writers of the 20th Century. Its current authors include leading novelists, biographers, historians, and specialist writers pre-eminent in their field. The agency also represents some outstanding children’s authors and illustrators, and, in its film and television department, a select number of screenwriters and directors.

A P Watt’s clients include a Nobel Prize winner, four Booker Prize winners, three Orange Prize winners, several Whitbread and Costa Prize winners, and the first Children’s Laureate. Their writers have created many bestselling books, long-running television series and hit films.

The post How to Approach a Literary Agent (Written by a real life AP Watt Agent) appeared first on BubbleCow.

After years of editing at BubbleCow we have read and absorbed hundreds of books about writing. This article highlights those books about writing that actually work. The aim is to give you a collection of books, which when read as a whole, will make you a better writer. The criteria for inclusion on the list is that they support the three principles on which we teach and edit.

1. A modern simplicity and clean writing style.
2. The importance of using dialogue and action to tell the story (show, don’t tell).
3. The essential nature of structure (3/5 act).

On Writing by Stephen King

The first and final sections, of this three part book are autobiographical. They add meat to the bones of King’s ‘creation myth’ and provide an insight into his life as a writer and the process he went through to see his work in print.

It is the middle section where the real value lies. In this section, King talks about the technique of writing, in the process offering very practical advice, which you will be able to apply to your own work. He talks in depth about the importance of restraint in your writing, focusing on ways to cut back to the essence of your story (less is more). He also delves into the idea that storytelling is a kind of telepathy, where the writer must transfer the images in their mind to the mind of the reader.

Story by Robert McKee

Robert McKee is a very successful screenwriter and this is a book about screen writing, but PLEASE don’t let this put you off. Since high quality writing is all about dialogue and action, rather than narration, this book is highly relevant to all writers.

This book will teach you the nuts and bolts of writing. It will teach the importance of structure, explain characterization and demonstrate how to use ‘beats’ to write dialogue. Even after years of writing and editing, I still refer back to this book on an almost daily basis. It will take you years to fully absorb the nuances of McKee’s teachings, but just one read will make you a better writer.

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

Structure is an essential part of writing a novel. The most common structure is a 3 or 5 Act format, with a beginning, middle and end. However, this book takes the concept further and examines the ‘Hero’s Journey’. This is a format that has always been used in storytelling, but one of the most well known modern examples if the original Star Wars movie.

This book is written from a writer’s point of view and takes you systematically through the process of using the ‘Hero’s Journey’. The real value you will find in this book is the detailed and pragmatic approach that is taken. Just reading the opening chapter will leave you itching to write.

Chicago Manual of Style

A ‘style manual’ is a book that sets out the rules to be used in grammar and punctuation. More importantly, it also addresses certain grey areas and offers advice on the best approach to take when you are unsure of the best way to use punctuation or present a word/phrase. Following a style manual will not only get you out of a tricky grammatical corners, but will also add a new level of consistency to your work.

One word of warning, this is a manual for American English. If you are writing for publication in a country that is not using American English, then you will need a different manual. Here’s a guide that will help.

I have chosen these books about writing with care and purpose. King’s On Writing will give you a pragmatic and accessible approach to the art of writing. Story is much more of a manual and requires time and effort to learn and apply. The Writer’s Journey will allow you to apply structure and direction to your novel. Finally, the Chicago Manual of Style will give you the support you need for any potential grammar issues. Taken as a whole these five books will teach you everything you need to lift your writing to the next level.

Disagree with this list? Think we have missed a book or two? Well just pop your thoughts in the comments…

The post The Ultimate List of Books About Writing appeared first on BubbleCow.

When you first upload your book to Amazon it can be pretty scary. They ask for a stack load of information without ANY indication of which bits will help with sales and which are just there because they need to be.

As part of our Uploading to Amazon online course we teach writers that they should be seeing their Amazon page as ‘real estate’ that they own. Your Amazon book page is one of the ONLY places on the Internet that potential readers will go to with the understanding that they might buy your book. This is huge. To have a visitor to your Amazon page that is ready to buy is an opportunity you can’t miss.

Below is a list of six ‘areas’ of your Amazon book page you should consider altering when trying to capture the maximum number of book sales:

1. Title:

Does your title match other books in your genre? For example, if you are a crime thriller, which is part of a series, you may want to consider putting the name of the investigator in your title. Such as A Study In Scarlet [A Sherlock Holmes Case]. The point here is to consider what extra information can you include in your title that will give the reader a hint at the book’s genre.

2. Contributors:

Amazon gives you the option to ‘name check’ people who have helped you create your book. If you have used a cover designer, illustrator, editor or proofreader then they should be included. In fact, if anyone has provided significant help then you should try to squeeze their name onto the contributor list. The reason is that it provides social proof. In short people will see that someone else is prepared to attach their name to your book and it must, therefore, be OK.

3. Book Cover:

A good book cover will help sell books but there are two key aspects you should consider. The first is to ensure your book’s cover matches the covers of other books in your genre. Readers will associate certain cover designs (styles) with certain genres. Does your book fit? The second is extra information. You can add anything to the cover in addition to the book’s title and your name. Consider including tag lines and other information. A good example is to include a phrase such as ‘…if you liked Game of Thrones you will LOVE this book!’

4. Product Description:

Your book’s description should be packed with as much information as you can manage. Below is a list of the things I suggest you include:

• One paragraph blurb.
• Outline of chapter content for non-fiction.
• One paragraph about you.
• A link to any social media or blogs.
• Reviews from places other than Amazon.
• Testimonials.

5. Category:

Your book should be added to two categories. I suggest one broad category (e.g. Books > Fiction) and one narrow category (e.g. Books › Crime, Thrillers & Mystery › Legal). The reason for this is that you will hopefully attract readers from the broad category, whilst having a chance of moving up the charts in the narrow category.

6. Reviews:

Reviews sell books. Your first goal is to get reviews. The best way to do this is to simply ask. Consider giving your book away and asking people to leave reviews. You are aiming at getting into double figures before easing up. Don’t be too worried about 1 and 5 star reviews, most readers will ignore these, it is the overall score that really counts. In the early days of your book, getting reviews is more important than sales.

—

I would urge you to think of your Amazon book page as something you are looking to control. Readers will be coming to the page thinking they might buy. In this situation your job is twofold. The first part is to make your book as attractive as possible for the potential reader. By this I mean having a good title, nice cover etc., but there are also factors you can’t influence (for example the reader may be looking for a book that is not the same genre as your book).

If the potential reader is on your page and your book is a good fit then you have a second job and that is to reduce the perceived risk to the buyer. The potential reader will be worried they will be making a mistake, and you need to do what you can to ease this worry. Lowering the price will do this to an extent but that is a blunt instrument. Testimonials, reviews and social proof will do a far more subtle and far better job at reducing the risk in the buyer’s mind.

The post How to Optimize Your Amazon Book Page to Sell More Books appeared first on BubbleCow.

It’s fair to say that the publishing market is changing all the time, new trends pop up and publishers react accordingly (just look at the spate of self-published erotica being snapped up by traditional publishing houses since Fifty Shades). But the question remains can you ensure that your timing of submission is right to hit a particular trend whilst being in the best position to monetise the international and subsidiary rights to this work?

We believe the answer is yes but that for far too long it has often been out of reach for the majority of authors, particularly those who might want to stay indie.

So let’s take a look at how we, at IPR License, can help to shed a bit of light on these grey areas.

First step is simple – sign up.

This is immediately followed by why?

In essence IPR License helps you to…

• Make money from licensing your works in different formats and countries.
• Know your rights to learn how to monetise your literary rights effectively.
• Showcase your writing to publishers and agents around the world.

Once you’re a member you can begin to upload your work.

When signing up to our global platform we immediately make your work part of an online database of available rights. You can also choose if you want to upload your manuscript for 3rd party evidence of copyright registration.

The fact is that the sales of international and subsidiary rights make up a large proportion of a book’s income for publishing houses, yet most authors will only consider being published in their own country or language. Showcasing your work to a worldwide publishing audience can open up a number of doors to international, as well as domestic markets, which may previously have appeared out of reach.

We reverse the submission process:

Joining IPR License means that your work is part of our database for a full year.

By giving publishing houses and editors extensive online search facilities they can come looking for work that fits the gap in their list rather than you having to hope that you’re hitting the editor’s desk with your submission at the optimum moment. This helps level the playing field for indie and self-published authors.

IPR License can facilitate important relationships

We also send out regular bulleting to to over 3,000 publishers (not just our members) highlighting the projects we have available, both from member publishing houses and our indie/self-published authors and we pass on any interest we receive.

We’re also constantly building and updating information on each of our member publishing houses so that we know what they’re looking for at any one time and can direct them to work we think might be suitable. And thanks to our extensive trade publishing experience we can help facilitate these relationships.

Attract global interest in your work

We can’t guarantee you will sell your work but we do firmly believe that joining us will give you the best opportunity to really capitalise on the potentially lucrative international rights market.

And as a special offer if you contact us at info@iprlicense.com with the code Bubblecow25 you will receive a 25% discount on your first year’s membership for those signing up before 1 May 2013.

IPR License launched in 2012 and is the global, digital marketplace for authors, agents and publishers to list and license book rights.

Please note this is a guest post written by IPR License.

The post Are you Looking to sell Your Book’s International Publishing Rights? appeared first on BubbleCow.

Andrew Lownie Literary Agency: UK literary agent blogging from an agent’s viewpoint.

Authors on Show: Blog for Authors on Show website, lots of marketing stuff.

Author Marketing Experts: Blog for Author Marketing Experts website, as the name suggests this is marketing based.

Author Media: Blog for Author Media wedsite, mostly marketing stuff.

Jody Hedlund: Writer Jody Hedlund shares tips and tricks about writing.

Author Culture : A team of writer bloggers offering general writing advice.

Book Maven: Lots of interesting articles about all things writing.

BookBaby Blog: Excellent blog from the excellent book distribution service.

Caroline Smailes: Great posts about what it is like to be a published writer, this is one to watch!

Catherine, caffeinated: Personal blog of writer Catherine Howard.

Chip MacGregor: This is the blog for the MacGregor Literary. Great articles from an agent’s viewpoint.

Copy Blogger: This popular blog has some great articles about writing for the web.

Daily Writing Tips: Unmissable blog with stacks of help on the technical side of writing.

Joe Wikert: Joe is a publishing insider and provides an intelligent insight into the world of books.

Nick Daw: Nick provides a never ending stream of insightful and helpful articles for writers of all genres.

Smashwords: A must read blog from the excellent book distribution service.

Start Your Novel: A twice weekly blog providing writing inspiration.

Stroppy Author: This is a nice blog providing a ‘behind the scenes’ viewpoint for writers.

Terrible Minds: This excellent ‘warts and all’ blog sees best selling writer Chuck Wendig telling it as it is!

The Book Deal: What Alan Rinzler doesn’t know about publishing isn’t worth knowing – just read this blog.

The Book Designer: Joel Friedlander gives a book designer’s viewpoint of the publisher world.

The Creative Penn: Joanne Penn offers readers her thoughts on writing and getting published.

The Shatzkin Files: Mike Shatzkin takes a thoughtful look at the world of publishing.

The Writer’s [Inner] Journey: This blog focusses on the art of writing.

WinePress Publishing: The blog for WinePress Publishing with a focus on marketing.

Write Anything: A team of bloggers producing articles on all things writing.

Write it Sideways: A team of bloggers providing general writing advice.

Writer Unboxed: A blog about the craft and business of fiction

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Charles A Cornell is a typical self-published writer. He has a talent for writing, but never felt that the long and torturous route of traditional publishing was for him. Therefore he decided to self-publish his first novel Tiger Paw, which is a classic crime thriller and has a wide appeal.

Charles recently contacted BubbleCow to tell us about the success he had experienced giving away his book for free. This post is a summary of the key lessons he was able to draw from the process.

The Importance of Competitions

Charles’ first experiment with free was in the form of a Goodreads giveaway. He put up a single signed hardback copy of Tiger Paw, which readers could win by simply ‘signing up’.

This produced about 1000 sign ups from readers based across the globe. Once the competition was over Charles followed up with these people by email. The result of this was that 450 put Tiger Paw on their GoodReads reading list.

Charles considered the exercise a success and felt that he had ‘raised his profile’. However, despite the interest he had not seen a significant increase in either sales of the book or reviews.

The significant lesson that I draw from the competition was that Charles was as interested in reviews as he was in sales. The thinking here is that if you are able to get readers to your Amazon page, the deciding factor on whether they buy or not is often the book’s reviews. The more good reviews you can gather, the better the long-term sales.

The Advantages of Free

With the goal of gaining reviews in his mind, Charles decided to give his book away for free. He explained, ‘I wasn’t getting any purchases or any reviews to drive purchases. I was a bit frustrated, so I thought what the hell, I’ll make it free so that people would start reading it in bigger numbers!’

Using the Amazon Select system Charles set the book to be free for three days. In the days running up to the giveaway Charles went into promotion overdrive. Below is a list of just a few key activities:

• He emailed his existing mailing list of potential (including the people who had signed up for the competition).
• He utilised social media (Twitter and Facebook) to inform his followers of the giveaway.
• He emailed people and asked them to promote the giveaway (I know, because I was on his list!).

So the results…

In total 3300 copies of the book were given away. This resulted in good (some 5 star) reviews appearing on both Amazon and GoodReads almost immediately. The impact on sales was significant with Tiger Paw selling around 15 copies a day, lifting the book to #13 on the Free Kindle List for all Mysteries & Thrillers in the Kindle store and #2 in Police Procedurals.

Conclusions

My takeaway from the experiment is the importance of reviews. Here we can clearly see a link between giving away free copies, gaining reviews and that translating into long-term sales.

When I asked Charles what he felt he had learned this was his response:

The biggest disadvantage I have is that the sequel is not ready and won’t be for about a year. However, that doesn’t bother me because I have some extremely devoted fans who can’t wait to get their hands on the sequel. I plan, next year, to take your advice and include the first two or three chapters of the new novel at the end of a revised edition of Tiger Paw and then make Tiger Paw free for an extended period of time at the launch of the new novel. So between new customers and the pent up demand, I have much more confidence that my marketing efforts will translate into sales.

You can find out more about Charles and his books at: http://charlesacornell.com/

If you found this article interesting I would also suggest you read publisher Scott Pack’s experience of giving his own book away for free.

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]]> http://bubblecow.net/the-secret-of-giving-your-book-away-for-free/feed/ 0 http://bubblecow.net/should-writers-pay-professional-services/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=should-writers-pay-professional-services http://bubblecow.net/should-writers-pay-professional-services/#comments Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:47:38 +0000 Gary Smailes http://bubblecow.net/?p=9759 In this article I ask if seeking professional help (editing, cover design, ebook conversion etc.) is really beneficial. We look at the areas where self-publishing writers spent money and discover if this had a long term benefit on their book Read more

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]]> In this article I ask if seeking professional help (editing, cover design, ebook conversion etc.) is really beneficial. We look at the areas where self-publishing writers spent money and discover if this had a long term benefit on their book sales.

At the start of 2012 Dave Cornford and Steven Lewis set out to survey more than 1000 self-published writers. Their aim was to identify the common factors that led to the success of the ‘normal’ self-publishing writer. They were not interested in the ‘Kindle Million’ members, but instead, wanted to see what the ‘normal’ writer could do to help improve their chances of success.

This series of posts delves into their research and presents the findings in a way that YOU, a ‘normal’ writer, can use to make your book a success.

Getting Help

One criticism often levelled at self-published writers is that their work is below the standard of traditionally published books. A belief exists that self-published books are unedited, badly proofed, poorly set out with disastrous covers.

So did the survey go any way to dispelling this myth?

Well… no!

It turns out that of the 1000 writers surveyed the majority of them published their books without any kind of professional input.

• 70% of writers digitally publishing formatted their own ebooks.
• 70% of writers using print-on-demand designed their own internal layouts.
• 45% of all self-publishing writers designed their own cover.

What did People pay for?

The survey shows us that roughly 30% of self-publishing writers paid for at least one kind of professional service.

The most common investment was in cover design with 45% of writers paying for a professional cover design.

The next most common area where writers were willing to pay for professional help was with copy editing. Here we saw that 29% paid for a copy editor to check their work, though a further 29% received unpaid copy editing.

Proofreading was next on the list with 25% of writers paying a professional proofreader, though 46% received proofreading for free. The remaining 29% proofread their own work.

Just behind proofreading was story editing (which we offer) with about 20% of writers opting to pay for this service.

One trend worthy of mention is that writers who had already self-published with no professional help were, on average, 30% more likely to pay for help with their subsequent books. The biggest ‘winner’ here was story editing with a 31% increase amongst serial self-publishers.



Source – http://blog.taleist.com/

Does Paying for Professional Services Help Sales?

It is easy to say that self-publishers should be paying for professional input, but is this really true?

The bottom line is that self-publishing is a business and if professional help is to be considered essential it must demonstrate a benefit in sales.

The survey addressed this question directly and found that ‘self-publishers who received help with story editing, copy editing, and proofreading made 13% more than the average.’

A potentially more interesting fact was that self-publishing writers who received help with story editing, copy editing, proofreading AND COVER DESIGN, made 34% more than average.

This suggests that a professionally designed cover alone is worth an 18% spike in sales.

On the flip side, those paying for professional ebook formatting saw just a 1% increase in sales.

Perhaps the most depressing figure is that writers doing their own story editing, copy editing, and proofreading made 58% LESS than the average writer!

Conclusion

The figures speak for themselves when it comes to getting professional help.

Writers who did seek professional help sold more books than those that did not.

This means that if you are seeking to maximise the sales of your book you should do the following:

• Pay for a professional cover to be designed.
• Pay for professional story editing, copy editing and proofreading.

My final word is that though the figures are clean cut, what the survey fails to address is profitability. It may well be the case that the overall sales of niche titles means that spending close to $1000 (if not more) on design and editing is simply not viable for your book.

At BubbleCow we often work on a figure of 250 sales to cover the cost of story editing. If you don’t think you can sell 250 copies of your book, then story editing might just be too expensive. However, the survey is suggesting that you need more than just story editing. I would therefore be looking at a figure of around 500 book sales to break even.

The reality is that for a well marketed book 500 sales is not an unachievable figure. At BubbleCow we talk to writers on a daily basis who are selling between 100 and 1000 books a month. This said, we tend to say that 100 a month is a more realistic figure start figure.

In conclusion, I feel the choice on how much to spend on preparing a book for publication is one that needs to be taken on a book-by-book basis. If you feel your book can sell more than 1000 copies then I would strongly suggest you invest in cover design and editing. However, if you feel 1000 copies are simply beyond your expectations then you need to adjust your budget to match. In this case I would be saying that, if nothing else, you should be looking for a professional cover design.

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]]> http://bubblecow.net/should-writers-pay-professional-services/feed/ 0 http://bubblecow.net/5-top-tips-to-making-your-cover-look-professional/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-top-tips-to-making-your-cover-look-professional http://bubblecow.net/5-top-tips-to-making-your-cover-look-professional/#comments Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:45:07 +0000 Gary Smailes http://bubblecow.net/?p=9755 In this article professional cover designer Kura Carpenter provides five tips to producing a professional cover design. You will discover the one key secret to a great cover design, whilst also being shown a step-by-step process to producing a great Read more

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]]> In this article professional cover designer Kura Carpenter provides five tips to producing a professional cover design. You will discover the one key secret to a great cover design, whilst also being shown a step-by-step process to producing a great book cover design.

When Gary asked me to write a guest blog post on “5 top tips to making your cover design look professional” I was both thrilled and humbled to share my knowledge. Ok, truthfully I felt a bit smug. I thought, I can do this, I know this stuff. Easy-freaking-peasy. I cracked my knuckles and prepared to type up my 5 Top Tip Manifesto.

Cover Design Tip One: Hire a Professional.

Tip Two… ah.

And there I got a bit stuck. I went and made a coffee. Played on Facebook and Pinterest for a while and then came back to the manifesto.

Tip Two…tip two.

You see, despite knowing in my heart Tip One trumped all other tips, I also knew that being a one-tip-wonder would not be accepted as gospel and that people would consider me biased. So I thought about my process and what I’ve learned, and I’ve broken it down into four parts:

Cover Design Tip Two: Research.

Find as many books cover images as you can that: A) have been published within the last 5 years and B) are alike your novel in these aspects: genre, audience age group, audience gender.

The covers must be similar to your book so it’s no good gathering ‘How-to’ guides if you’ve written a futuristic zombie series for young adults.

Divide the images into two groups: Covers you love vs. Covers you hate.

Then pick out the key elements in common from each group. Some things to consider with be: colour schemes, typefaces, photo image versus illustration. What type of imagery dominates? Landscapes? Single character or groups?

At the end of this you should have a clear idea of you want and what you don’t want appearing on your cover and at the same time you’ve just analysed all the current trends in cover design. It’s not just about what you want after all, but what a stack of advertising professionals have devised will appeal to that particular audience. Your audience.

Cover Design Tip Three: Images.

Similar to Tip One, because when it comes to using images on your cover design, whether photographic or illustrated you should use a professional image library. Why? One, this avoid nasty copyright infringement, and 2, the simple truth is you will get much better quality images.

Do not, do not, copy and paste something you found on Flickr, unless, lean in close, I have to whisper this, that’s right, closer, closer… NO! Bad author! Bad, bad bad! How would you feel if someone plagiarised your writing?

Cover Design Tip Four: Typefaces.

This is a little hard to explain if you’re not a design nerd like moi, but trust me, typefaces are important. The typeface you use for your title should compliment the images and at the same time reflect and enforce the novel’s tone and style.

It will be helpful to understand that most people have preconceived ideas about fonts (whether they are conscious of this or not) and therefore it’s important not to muddle things up. For example, imagine a cursive script font, like old fashioned copperplate handwriting. Such a font would be suited to a Historical Fiction novel, but would be highly comically and plain old inappropriate if used on a modern novel following a jaded sports journalist who uncovers a ice-hockey scandal that goes to the heart of the…

You get the idea.

If you don’t, having completed Tip Two you should have a pretty good idea of the kind of font to use even if you don’t know the name of it, whether it’s san serif or slab serif or decorative. Give yourself a quick Google lesson in the basics san serif versus serif fonts and go from there.

Cover Design Tip Five: Testing

The cover design you end up with, whether you did it yourself (bad!) or entrusted a dedicated, talented designer (*good*) to create for you, the proof is in the testing. So it’s time to round up a focus group (minimum three but more is better) of readers. Your focus group should be avid readers of your genre, and also the intended age and gender. Show them your proposed book cover along with a selection of those book covers you loved and get feedback on what they think. There is no point asking your 40-year-old brother Bob the accountant to give you his feedback if you’ve written a Young Adult novel novel.

Why? Because our life experiences influence everything. They bias everything to. Graphic Designers spend a lot of time learning to think first and foremost what their intended audience wants/needs.

So while Tips Two through Four are very important and should help you on your way, at the end of the day Tip One is the Tip to rule them all. Why? Because you get what you pay for: professional input equals professional output. This is common sense.

Kura Carpenter is a Freelance Graphic Designer based in Dunedin, New Zealand. She specialises in book jacket design and create covers for authors all around the world. You can find out more at her blog – http://kuracarpenterdesign.blogspot.co.nz/

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