Salmon and Fields: A Journey in Mixed Metaphors by Jim Hart

It’s writer’s conference season, and soon there will be multitudes of writers coming home to start blogging as if their lives depended on it. It makes me think about salmon swimming upstream to spawn. All of these writers are in the same stream, struggling towards the same destination. And now the stream of the world-wide-web is full of authors who are building their platform, and are struggling to reach the same readers as all of the other authors in the same stream who are building their platform.

Rob Eagar’s marketing blog recently addressed something similar to this in what he calls ‘preventing sales burnout.’ He cited “publishers who try to sell more books to the same readers” as an example of sales burnout.  He says “modern-day farmers know that trying to harvest too many crops out of the same field creates negative consequences. Over-farming can extract too many nutrients from of the soil, eventually leaving a field barren and useless. To maintain a good harvest, farmers will rotate crops, let fields rest, or expand their acreage to prevent one area from burning out.”

So it may time for you to ask yourself if you're wearing out your current network, and how can you expand outside of your current network?

Blogging is still a great way to build, and maintain your platform, especially when used to collect subscriber’s e-mail addresses. But it has to be more than that if you want to engage those readers on a regular basis. You’ve got to offer not only something of value to your intended audience, but also something unique that blog readers may not be able to find elsewhere. If all you do is write about writing, and post it on Facebook, well – you run the risk of just being another salmon swimming upstream.

Here are two things to consider:

1) Blog in another field. Is there a hobby or skill that you are competent in, beyond writing books, in which you could write about? What have you learned, or experienced in some other area of your life that could be of real value, and a service? There could be an untapped community just waiting to hear from someone like you. Look for opportunities to be part of a new community and that will naturally add to your platform. 

Writers spend so much time in research - what interesting things have you uncovered that could be shared in a blog or other social media post?

Some other ideas would be: devotions, healthy living tips, recipes, crafts, social concerns, raising a family, vacation tips, life hacks, banjo lessons - tell your readers how-to, where-to and why-to.

2) Let the field rest. Try another different social media platform. If you’re starting to get burned out on Twitter and Facebook (can I get an “amen”), don’t give up on them or forsake them, but try something different like Pinterest, Goodreads, YouTube, or even pod-casting.

Or get out from behind the keyboard and take part in, or host, public events at your library, church, bookstore, or coffee house. The key is to have content or a presentation of value. This is a great way to connect on a personal level. Don’t worry that this could be just be local exposure, because someone in attendance could go home and post about the event on their Facebook page, gaining you exposure that you would not have gotten on your own.

So here's where we really mix our metaphors: Salmon can live in both salt water and fresh water. If they couldn't make the transition from the sea to the stream, there wouldn't be any more salmon. Learn to naturally navigate through different platforms and media. But like the salmon, and the farmers, you have to have a plan and a schedule.

You want new people (readers) to find you naturally without forcing them to wade through post after post on Facebook and Twitter encouraging them to “buy my new book”.  There definitely is a time and place for announcing your new title, or if your e-book is on sale for the next 48 hours, but that can’t be all you post, or you risk burning out your audience.

So work to increase your audience with people who discover you by reading something totally unrelated to your new book, or WIP. The beauty of this is now you’ve created an opportunity to hook a reader, and down the line, when you do need to announce your new book to the world, you can set the hook and reel ‘em in.

What have you done to expand you current on-line reach? Have you enjoyed blogging about topics unrelated to your writing endeavors?

The Trouble with Real Life by Diana Flegal

Truth is often stranger than fiction.

I have received countless promising submissions that I end up turning down for this reason; the character encountered a situation, and dealt with it in an unbelievable manner.

When questioning the writer about this part of their story they often tell me, “But it really happened like that!” I have no reason to doubt them. My own personal story holds many such incredible circumstances, but they would not come across as believable by any stretch of the imagination to a reader of fiction.

“It’s no wonder truth is stranger than fiction, fiction has to make sense.”― Mark Twain  

A writer must be willing to edit out the unbelievable. And for some, that feels like they are being untrue to themselves. But if their personal life experience brought them to a good story, it has served a grand purpose and the writer needs to be content with this.

Cardinal Rule: A good writer must keep their reader in mind.

“Sometimes the truth isn't good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded”. – Batman-The Dark Knight

Remember: ALWAYS keep your reader in mind. And be willing to cut those unbelievable segments of your story out.

Here is a list of articles a Google search supplied on writing believable characters.

Read through a few when you have the time. There will certainly be a nugget or two here that might, when applied, strengthen and enrich your story and characters.    

And be encouraged, Spring is around the corner!

This Stinks. Publish It. by Andy Scheer

Being in print doesn’t mean it’s good.

A few weeks ago at a used bookstore, I bought a mass paperback by a “New York Times Bestselling Author.” I didn’t recognize the name, but the title and blurbs promised a story that fit my mood.

My mistake. From the first page, I found myself accosted by the litany of amateur techniques cited in courses for novelists.

I should know. For ten years I edited courses and mentored students for a legitimate writing school. The first fiction lesson advised immersing readers in the world of your story. He advised authors to avoid any device that reminded people, “you’re only reading a book.”

No matter how amazing the plot or imaginative the action, stories depend on the mortar of dialogue to hold their elements together.

That’s where so many newbie authors fail: not trusting readers to catch the meaning from the characters’ body language and their words. Rather than use a simple “she said,” they slather on telling descriptors and hyperactive action tags.

Then for fun, they add awkward characterization and backstory dumps. Here’s glimpse from page 20:

… Gathering up her notes, she left her office – only to encounter an unexpected face in the corridor.

“Matt!” she exclaimed. “How are you?”

“Fine, thanks!” replied Matt Trulli, giving her a hug. The spike-haired, slightly overweight Australian submarine designer had helped Nina on her previous adventures, risking his own life to do so, and on her recommendation had decided to accept a somewhat quieter job at one of the IHA’s sister agencies. Nina still wasn’t used to seeing him in suit, although he retained some vestiges of his old beach-bum look – today his shirt had three open buttons and his tie’s knot was about level with his heart. “You and Eddie just got given the keys to the country. Nice one.”

“Thanks. What’re you doing here? I thought you were in Australia with UNARA.” The United Nations Antarctic Research agency was gearing up to explore the unique ecosystems of the prehistoric lakes beneath the ice sheets of the South Pole.

(I assume Matt is a spike-haired slightly overweight Australian —not a designer of slightly overweight Australian submarines, but who cares.)

Beneath the clunky technique, there may be a fun story. But it’s not one I’ll try to excavate from the debris of clichés and amateur mistakes.

Some aspiring authors try to learn their craft from what’s in print. But what sells isn’t always the measure of what’s good. (Think of the nearby eatery that sells the most hamburgers, versus who makes the best burger.) This mass paperback, from a major publisher, was this author’s third title. And this book was in its fourth printing. The publisher was on to something.

The craft stunk. They published it anyway. People bought it.

But I won’t read it. Based on that sample, would you?

When the Canvas is Blank by Linda S. Glaz

What keeps writers going when they wake up, look at the monitor, and absolutely nothing is there? Like a blank canvas staring. Not a thing.

Some call it writers block, others…names I won’t repeat! But it means we suddenly have a disconnect when it comes to our work. Frustrating and oftentimes debilitating, to say the least, we have to find a way to push through it. To make the words come.

What would Van Gogh do?

I’ve asked this question of writers and the responses are as plentiful as the blocks: I grab for the coffee, dig in my desk for chocolate, take a walk, put the work away for a couple days, work on something else, go to a movie, read a book, EAT! 

In my own writing, I’ve found that I tend to make more of a glaring monitor than it deserves. I might be worrying about paying bills, grocery shopping, or any number of daily things that pre-occupy the mind. So I work on something else even if for a few minutes. Other days, I’ll simply push through it. Keep writing.

What do you do when the canvas is blank?

4:00 a.m. Writing by Andy Scheer

What do you do with a nighttime idea?

The wind woke me at 4:00, rattling the downspout outside our bedroom window. I tried my usual methods to get back to sleep. Then it happened: I got an idea for my writing.

Like an itch I couldn’t reach, the idea grew. Fresh examples and new sentences kept tumbling out. I didn’t want to loose them.

Would I still remember them when the alarm sounds?

Either I’d stay wide awake – mentally writing and editing – or I’d drift off, and at dawn the ideas would have faded.

Time for my standard solution. I reached the stack beneath my nightstand page-a-day calendar, found one of my favorite pens (a subject in itself), and slipped into the glow of a bathroom nightlight. A few minutes’ scribbling preserved the hook, opening sentence, and key examples. Enough that my mind could relax.

Not quite. Back in bed, ideas kept rushing though my brain. Again I checked the alarm: 4:30. This isn’t working.

I rolled out of bed and slipped on my glasses, ready to tiptoe downstairs.

“Are you going downstairs to read?” my wife said.

“No. To write.”

And I did.

Grow Your E-mail List by Jim Hart

One of the best things you can do to grow your author platform is to grow an audience of subscribers to your blog. A healthy e-mail list is attractive to potential publishers.

Lack of author platform continues to become one of the top reasons we see proposals declined from a publisher.

According to a recent blog from Rob Eager e-mail is forty times more effective at “acquiring customers than all social media combined.”  That’s a bold statement. But consider that your e-mail list allows you to communicate directly to your readers. It’s more targeted than Twitter or Facebook. (BTW- I just noticed the Pope has 8.75 million Twitter followers, he should have no problem getting a book contract.)

A very effective way to grow your e-mail subscription list is to offer some free content as an enticement for a reader to subscribe to your blog. In the same blog Rob Eager addresses the myth that giving away free content could have a negative effect on current and future sales. He counters this by explaining “free content is a low-cost effective way to gain new customers.”

So what content do you have that you could format into a short, downloadable PDF?

·         An unpublished short story

·         A five-day devotion series

·         A short collection of your poetry

·         A handful of your favorite recipes that tie in with your current book or work-in-progress

·         A how-to manual for one of your hobbies

But whatever content you offer, it needs to have value to the reader. It should be something that they feel they may not be able to find elsewhere. Think about content that is unique to you as a writer.

In addition to using your blog to collect e-mail subscribers, using a site like Noisetrade is a great way to offer content to potential readers. Noisetrade originally started as a ‘pay what you want’ site for musicians to release content. They are also now allowing authors to offer content – everything from a complete book, to a short story. With Noisetrade the consumer can pay you a small ‘tip’ or download for free if they so choose. But either way they have to supply you with their e-mail address.

Remember the larger your e-mail list is, the stronger your online marketing asset becomes. And that could get you a J from a publisher.

Writing and Winter Car Washes

How could you make your project shine?

This weekend I finished judging more than 130 pieces of published writing for a national magazine contest. A few days earlier, in mid-February Colorado, I took advantage of a break in the weather to wash my winter-encrusted minivan.

This morning I reflected on the relationship of car washing and writing — especially revising.

I’ve been driving that minivan for nearly twelve years. While never flashy, it’s fabulously practical. I’ve hauled cargo for conferences and friends to concerts. With regular upkeep and occasional repairs, it’s still running strong.

But midweek, all I saw was the grime from four months of winter. Yet the forecast called for unseasonable warmth. Thursday after lunch the thermometer said 71 degrees. Time for me to wash the van.

The water from the hose was cold, but the sun shone brightly. I began spraying the van to loosen the crust. The suds, sponge, and spray performed their magic. In a half hour, my minivan shone.

But it wasn’t perfect. Yesterday before I drove to see a friend in a medical facility, I noticed a few spots I’d missed. A few moments with a damp towel, and those flaws disappeared. I drove to Denver no longer distracted by the van’s appearance. I could concentrate on my driving and the reason for the trip.

Purpose ranked high as a criteria as I judged the writing contest: how fresh and powerful was the idea being conveyed. Equally important was the writing’s result for a reader: the takeaway.

For the idea to connect required two components: the method used to convey the content and the quality of the writing. Were readers invited into the piece, made to feel welcome, and transported smoothly to the end?

All the contest articles had been published. All conveyed some potentially useful information. But few of them really shined.

Yet they could have. Most of the problems were obvious — and potentially easy to fix:

● Beginning on topic

● Staying on topic

● Speaking the reader’s language

● Taking a consistent approach

● Citing specific examples

● Using simple, direct prose

● Maintaining eye contact

When I washed my van, I did the best I could for February. With other projects pending, I had only a half hour. But that fixed the biggest problems.

My van wasn’t transformed into a new Lexus or a custom ’57 Chevy convertible. Just a clean Plymouth minivan ready to do its job. That was enough. As I drove to see my friend, I enjoyed the ride.