Writing skills

Interesting characters that readers care about are the most important ‘ingredients’ in your novel.

That might sound like a fairly sweeping statement, but think about it.

You can have a wonderful plot with twists and turns and a humdinger of a surprise ending… but if the reader doesn’t believe in your characters, all that plotting has gone to waste.

You can have a setting that seems so vivid you could imagine walking into it… but if the reader is bored by your characters, you might as well have not described the setting at all.

Characters are all important. To identify with them, the reader must believe in them. The reader must like them (at least the main character) – otherwise, why bother reading about them?

TIPS ON CREATING CHARACTERS READERS CARE ABOUT

1. You have to get inside the character’s skin.

Why? The reader ‘becomes’ the main character. What happens to that character happens to the reader. If she is cold, the reader is cold. If she is in despair, the reader feels that heavy weight of hopelessness. If she is scared, the reader looks over his shoulder. A common problem with beginning writers’ manuscripts is that the story is told ‘from a distance’ – it’s as though someone is looking on, rather than being in the scene and experiencing everything for herself.

2. You must have the main character stay ‘in character’.

Don’t let her do something foolish just because you need to get her into a sticky situation to suit the plot. Don’t let her suddenly become ‘helpless’ just so someone else can rescue her. The same applies in reverse: don’t let her suddenly start taking incomprehensible risks if you have shown her thus far to be sensible and moderate.

3. You need to give your characters a backstory.

Your characters should not appear as though they’ve sprung fully formed into the world. Our life experiences leave their mark on us all – it’s the same with your characters. Take the time to sit and think about your character: build a profile on paper if you think that will help.

What were

the key experiences in this person’s life? What was the worst thing that ever happened to her? What was the best thing? How would she react if physically attacked? How would she react if verbally attacked? What was her childhood like? What were her parents like? What are her politics? When you really know your characters, their actions and words will flow far more eaily from your brain to the page (or screen!).

4. You must think carefully about your characters’ names.

The number one rule: try to avoid having two characters with names that look similar on the page. Laura and Linda. Brendan and Ben. Nick and Mick. The reader can easily get confused.

The number two rule: choose names that are appropriate for the generation into which your character was born. Many new children’s writers use names that are thirty years out of date. Think about the people you know of different ages. What are their names? What are their friends’ names?

The number three rule: Choose names that suit the character. The reader can be totally turned off if you (for example) use an ugly name for a beautiful girl – unless this is relevant to the story, such as someone being teased unmercifully throughout her childhood because of an ugly name, so she still bears the mental scars when the story opens.

A FINAL TIP:

When you finish a book with a sense of regret because you don’t want to leave well-liked characters behind, put on your writer’s hat. Why did these characters appeal so much? Can you identify any techniques the writer has used? (Think about how the writer has appealed to the emotions of the reader – this is usually the key to strong identification with characters.)

(c) copyright Marg McAlister

Marg McAlister has published magazine articles, short stories, books for children, ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web content. She has written 5 distance education courses on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all over the world. Sign up for her regular writers’ tipsheet at http://www.writing4success.com/

Professional writers understand that there’s no such thing as rejection, there’s only writing which has yet to find a home.

When you’re a writer, you write, just like a potter makes pots, or a real estate salesman sells plots of land. However, there’s a difference: if you let yourself feel too personally involved in the selling process, you can come to feel as if each rejection is a rejection of you, rather than of a piece of writing.

Rejection? What rejection? Here’s how to eliminate “rejection” from your vocabulary.

=> One: Understand And Research Publishers And Publications

Let’s create a scenario. You’re Gloria C. Writer, and you want to write a saleable nonfiction article about landmines. At this stage, you have two ways you can proceed. You can write your article first, and then find a publication which may give it a home, or you can find the publication first, and then write your article.

If you have all the information you need, you may want to write a first draft of the article, so that you can discover the approach that you want to take. If you’re a new writer, this is the best way to proceed. You gain confidence with every word that you write, and since all writing involves rewriting, you’ll feel better once you know you have something to rewrite.

On the other hand, you may decide that you’re more comfortable proposing this article to several publications first, before you write the article. In this case, you write around 100 to 200 words of an ARTICLE QUERY, or PROPOSAL LETTER.

Then you find a likely market for the piece and send it to the editor.

There are many market guides for writers. One of the best known is the Writer’s Market, published by Writer’s Digest Books: http://www.writersmarket.com/

If the first

editor you send your proposal to either doesn’t want it, or fails to respond, send it to the second editor on your list.

=> Two: Have A Writing Business Plan

What will you write? Where will you sell it? How much time can you devote to writing? How much will you earn?

Sit down TODAY and spend ten minutes working on your writing business plan for the next 12 months. Sit down every day and work on it — by thinking and researching markets — until your writing business plan is complete. (Don’t take forever over this. It took me half an hour in total.)

=> Three: Have A Writing Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is part of your overall business plan.

=> Four: Work Your Plan, Even When It Doesn’t Seem To Be Working

Persistence counts. You will sell simply because you show up at the right time with the right abilities and the right piece of work. It’s a numbers game. If you write enough, and market it diligently, you will sell. That’s all there is to it. Please believe this. Keep writing, and sending out your work.

=> Five: Expect To Succeed

If you expect to succeed at your writing career, you will.

Stuck in your writing career? Get a coach! Angela Booth coaches writers in copywriting (writing for business), nonfiction, and fiction. A veteran writer, published by major publishers worldwide, Angela is also an experienced writing teacher, who knows how to inspire and motivate. You CAN make a success of your writing career. Free daily info for writers at her blog: http://copywriter.typepad.com/ Start your writing coaching today by contacting Angela at her site http://angelabooth.com/ Angela offers personal one-on-one e-courses and mentoring for all forms of writing. Ask for a low-cost initial phone or email consultation.

Are you stuck on a writing project? Or is there something you’d love to write, but you can’t get up the nerve to start? In over 25 years of writing, I’ve found that writing happens on the page. Just start writing. You can’t do anything until you begin.

Other writers make the same point. In his book *Immediate Fiction, A Complete Writing Course*, author Jerry Cleaver recommends that when you’re writing, “you leap first and look later”. Cleaver believes that when you’re creating, you should let your imagination do the heavy lifting. Daydream. Pretend. Let your imagination lead you where it wants to go. You will write more, and reach places you can’t get to in any other way.

Writing, like any creative endeavor, requires that we use both sides of our brain, the left and the right. Our left brain is the dominant partner, and while we’re awake, our left brain is active. This means that when we think: “No way, I could never write a book” or “I could never write a screenplay” we’re taking the word of our left brain.

The creative impulse came from our creative right brain, but our left brain, which deals in realities, immediately said: “Whoa! No, you’ve no evidence for that. Couldn’t do that — you’ve never done it before. Wouldn’t work. Silly idea.”

Here’s a process to use to become familiar with writing before you look. Try it. It will feel unfamiliar at first, and you’ll worry about whether you’re doing it “right”. Be assured that as long as your body is relaxed, your left brain is (more or less) out of the way, and you’re freeing your creative right brain.

The Write Before You Look Process

=> One: Clear your mind

From the moment you wake up in the morning, your left brain is in charge. This side of your brain does a great job of getting you where you need to be, and helps you to fit into society, but it’s not creative.

To allow your right brain’s creative impulses to get your attention, you need to quiet your left brain. Any repetitive task will do this. Knitting and needlework are good. So are walking and driving, and taking a shower. Listening to classical music also works.

You can’t always be moving around, so it’s best to learn a sit-down process. The easiest way to clear your mind is to progressively relax every part of your body. If you’ve ever done any stress-reduction courses, you’ll know that in progressive relaxation you focus on your body from your toes to the top of your head, and gently relax all your muscles. Just take each part of your body in turn, and tell each set of muscles to relax.

When you first learn this process, it can take around ten minutes to become completely calm and relaxed. After a few weeks, you’ll be able to do it in less than a minute. You can speed up the process by mentally saying “relax” to each part of your body. In time, you’ll become as limp as cooked spaghetti whenever you say the magic word to yourself.

If you’re not familiar with progressive relaxation, here’s a complete course:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/har/les1.htm

=> Two: Write down your creative impulses

When you’re completely relaxed, gently focus on your breathing. You’ll find that your breaths gradually deepen more and more, and that they slow right down. This is the effect you want.

When your breathing has slowed, keep focusing on your breathing, but also think about what creative work you’d like to do.

What would you like to write, if you could?

Just daydream for five minutes. If a creative idea comes to you, write it down, then drift back into your daydream.

You may not get any creative ideas while you’re daydreaming. They may come later as you’re doing something else. This is fine. Your right brain doesn’t “think” in language. It uses feelings and emotions to communicate. Your left brain translates these right-brain impulses into words. When you first start to actively try to get creative ideas, the communication between the two sides of your brain is slow. It will become more rapid the more you practice.

=> Three: Follow through on an impulse immediately if you can

Got a creative idea? Great.

If you can, follow through on it immediately. If you can’t, write down enough of the idea so that you can recall it easily later in the day. Vital: also write down any images which are floating through your mind. What mental pictures do you see? These are additional parts of the creative impulse that your left brain hasn’t yet translated into words. Capture them now by writing them down.

You can work with intensively with your right brain images by using Win Wenger’s Image Streaming process. Here’s how —

http://www.debateit.net/improvethought/imagestreaming.htm

Some writers find that they can immediately write an entire 2000 word article, or a chapter of a book after they clear their mind. This process is very powerful.

=> Four: Drop judgments — enjoy making a mess

You’ve followed through, and you’re writing. However, it’s messy. It doesn’t completely make sense.

Excellent!! This is exactly what you want. It’s your guarantee that the idea you’re developing is original. All creation starts with a mess.

Work on the project again tomorrow. Keep working. Chances are that you’re making a creative breakthrough. Remember it’s your left brain that’s making these early judgments. You can safely ignore them.

=> Five: Never assume that you “know” anything

You’ve cleared your mind, and when you read through your creative ideas later you get scared to death. You can’t do this. You can’t write a complete book, or submit your article proposal to Redbook. And you surely can’t dig that manuscript out of your bottom drawer and whip it in shape to send to a publisher.

Of course you can. Remember, your left brain is NOT creative. Clearing your mind so that you can let your creative right brain work will convince you that you DO have lots of creative ideas.

Unfortunately, your left brain doesn’t trust them. That’s OK. Remember that the part of your brain that’s belittling all your ideas is your left brain.

Ignore it. Trust your creative impulses and follow through. Clear your mind first, to muffle your left brain. Then let your right brain do the creative work.

Write before you look. That’s the entire process. Try it. You’ll amaze yourself.

Remember: the creative impulse that gave you the idea, also knows how to carry out the idea. So if you’ve got an impulse to write a book, write it. You already have everything you need to do it.

Author of many books, including Making the Internet Work for Your Business, copywriter and journalist Angela Booth also writes copy for businesses large and small, and consults on search engine marketing. Angela has written copy for companies in many industries, ranging from technology and real estate to the jewellery trade. Her clients include major corporations like hp (Hewlett Packard), WestPac Bank, and Acer Computer. For copywriting services and marketing advice contact Angela at angelabooth.com

Suspense novels are probably the easiest novels to write. Suspense novels require a simple formula, which will make your work truly suspenseful. Follow this basic recipe, and you’re well on your way to building a whole library of successful suspense novels.

Suspense novels formula step 1: Decide your topic. Many people who wish to craft best-selling suspense novels struggle with this first step. The biggest problem is they get too wound up in trying to come up with something that’s never been done, assuming that they’ll land a number one best seller. Forget trying so hard to do something that hasn’t been done, and just settle on something you know, even if the subject has been done. Then work on an interesting twist.

Suspense novels formula step 2: Start your suspense novels at the end, rather than at the beginning. As is the case with any good project, successful suspense novels are crafted with the ending in mind first. Then the artist can return to the beginning and begin building to that end. This is how quality

suspense novels are created.

Suspense novels formula step 3: If your suspense novels have killers or conspirators, wait as long as possible to reveal the perpetrators. In my first suspense novel, The League, my editor noticed that I revealed the perpetrator about six chapters and ninety pages before the end. He loved the story but said that it would be vastly improved, if I could keep the readers in suspense a bit longer.

So, if you hope to make a fortune with suspense novels, use this basic formula, and you’re well on your way.

Mark Barnes is a novelist, sports writer and writing coach. He is the author of the novel, The League, a shocking, sports-related conspiracy, published by DNA Press. His next novel, Troon, a suspense/thriller about a golfer fighting for his life while trying to win $5 million in a secret tournament at Royal Troon in Scotland, is currently in production. Learn more about Mark Barnes and his work at http://www.sportsnovels.com. Once there, pre-order his unique suspense/thriller, The League, and have it delivered right to your doorstep.

A large number of companies are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get the opinions of real customers because, in the long run, this saves them a lot of money. You’d be amazed by the number of people who use paid surveys to generate an extra income. Maybe that’s the reason why you’re reading this article. You want to make money from home.

You usually don’t need to do anything really special to start earning extra cash. All you have to do is to join one or more paid surveys programs. Of course, the first step is to find a program and this is relatively easy since we’ve carefully chosen for you the ones that offer the best opportunities. Once you found a program that you like, the first thing will be to complete a brief questionnaire – what is your age, gender, education, job, etc. that will take you only a couple of minutes of your time. The best thing is that you will receive your first survey offer within a couple of days.

After completing the survey, you will receive the money either via your PayPal account, by cheque or a bank transfer. If you don’t have a PayPal account, don’t worry. It is free to get one and very easy to set up.

One piece of advice before we continue: be realistic about the amount of money you can earn by completing paid surveys. Not all surveys are created equal, if some offer over $250, lots of them will offer an income ranging about $3. Consequently, it is preferable to choose and participate only in the highest paid survey offers. Although they are usually more complicated and time-consuming to complete, money is well worth it.

Tip #1 : Finding the Highest Paid Survey Opportunities

There’s no doubt that focus groups are one of the highest paid survey types. A group of people with similar background meet and is asked to answer questions about a specific topic. How it works: usually, focus groups

are held in real time via a conference phone conversation or an online discussion group. Because of the time involved, focus groups are one of the top paid surveys you can find.

If they are more complicated, the revenue is also considerably bigger than the one offered for the most common surveys. If you have the choice, I’m pretty sure you’ll prefer to spend one hour to get $250 that completing five 10-minute surveys for $10 each, right?

Tip #2 : Finding the Highest Paid Survey Opportunities – www.1paidsurveys.com

Usually, you will find that you can earn more by answering phone surveys than completing online or paper surveys. Some companies will pay you up to $150 to answer a simple phone survey.

Tip #3 : Finding the Highest Paid Survey Opportunities – www.1paidsurveys.com

Among the highest paid survey offers you can find is testing a new service or product. This type of survey can easily bring you an extra $50 – $75 in your pocket.

Tip #4 : Finding the Highest Paid Survey Opportunities – www.1paidsurveys.com

It is highly recommended that you register with as many survey companies as possible if you want to maximize your chances of participating more often in the highest paid survey programs. Since you usually receive the offers from the companies by email, it goes without saying that the number of programs you register with increases your chances of getting the highest paid survey offers. If you found good opportunities out there, please take a minute to post it on our website to let other people know about it.

Tip #5 : Finding the Highest Paid Survey Opportunities – www.1paidsurveys.com

Although you want to find the survey companies that offer good money for answering their surveys, you also have to be very careful because they sometimes offer high rates just to hook people hunting for the highest paid survey. Make sure that you are dealing with a company that is credible and has a good reputation so you don’t end up disappointed.

With the advent of email communications in the workplace, it’s not uncommon to exchange dozens of messages daily. Sometimes, I sense a writer’s “voice” in such messages. Occasionally, I ask if they’ve done any writing. A year ago, a colleague answered, “I loved to write in high school, but I just don’t have time anymore! ” She was extraordinarily busy, mothering an active two-year-old, commuting over an hour a day, managing the house, and holding a full-time managerial job. In spite of the fact that I knew she was overloaded, I sensed a unique talent in her words and didn’t hesitate to encourage her.

“Just write,” I said, “take fifteen minutes at lunch each day. Just do it.”

“But what would I write about?” she asked, “I have no idea where to start!”“Once you get going, it will just flow out of you. You don’t have to have a plan. Just do it.”

She wrote during a break the next day, and sent me three paragraphs. It was lovely. I encouraged her to continue and we began to exchange writing daily. Six months later, she had completed the manuscript for her first novel, a historical time-travel piece. She’s submitting it for publishing as I write this.

Here are a few suggestions for new writers. I hope you find them helpful!

Suggestion one: Just write. Write for a few minutes every day. If your passion for writing is real, you’ll find that you can’t stop! You’ll find a way to make it happen. I schedule very early mornings for writing, from 4:00 to 6:00 AM. It’s the only quiet time in my hectic life and I couldn’t accept spending less time with my daughters, wife, or grandsons. So, I go to bed early and forget about TV. What’s more important? In doing so, I’ve produced eight novels in a bit over four years.

Suggestion two: Cut out the flowery stuff. I adore adjectives and adverbs, and I ache to describe scenes in lush detail. But in the end, I go back and hack away at all the excess. If you read a line out loud and it feels stilted or halting – stop! Take out all the extra words that slow you down, and just tell the story. Use the descriptors sparingly. I’ve found that after writing eight books, my style has become simpler and more streamlined. I’m going back now and red-lining much of the early work before it reaches the bookstores. It hurts like hell to do it, but it’s absolutely necessary.

Suggestion three: Observe, observe, observe! Soak in every tiny detail that surrounds you. Colors, textures, sensations, expressions, birdsongs, sunlight, and the ground you walk on… notice everything, and brand it into your brain for that next chapter you’re going to write.

Suggestion four: Listen to the voices! Listen to the grocery clerk, the bank teller, children at play, professors, grandparents, and neighbors… listen! You’ll never create natural dialogue without listening – hard!

Suggestion five: Tap into your emotions. When someone close to you dies, it’s an overwhelming, dreadful experience. But, the same emotions that flatten you at that time will be indispensable when you write about loss. Recreating the deep-seated feelings will make your book come alive and ring true with readers.

Suggestion six: Make your characters feel deeply and give them a rich history. This takes time and is particularly important if you’re writing a series. If readers don’t care about the characters, they won’t come back for more. Don’t worry about defining them in detail in the beginning – just start writing and they will develop. You can always go back and add more detail that supports your character’s growth.

Suggestion seven: Perfection comes later. Just get it out there, get it down on paper. Then, when you go back to it, hack away at the unnecessary prepositional phrases and the ungainly adverbs, extract those awkward scenes that stand out like sore thumbs, and supplement those that

seem abrupt. Then, set it aside for a while. After I’ve completed a novel, I put it down and start on the next one. Many months later, I’ll come back to it. It’s best if I don’t remember much (I’m often surprised at how much I’ve forgotten!) as that’s when one is in the best position to challenge one’s own work. Sometimes I’ll be surprised at an unusually eloquent passage, or humiliated by a flimsy section through which I obviously rushed. That’s the time to roll up your sleeves and be ruthless! Cut out the excess and fortify the weak!

Suggestion eight: Find a skillful editor. I’ve been lucky. I have writer/reader friends with eagle eyes who will scour my manuscripts and be brutal where necessary. Try to find one person who is willing to follow along with the book as you create it. That’s the best way to start. Share this service. Swap chapters as soon as they’re done. That’s what I do with my friend, Jeanne. She is a talented writer and a superb editor. She catches things I’d never notice, and I do the same for her. We aren’t shy about helping – if a passage sounds stilted, she tells me immediately! If I want to “see” more of the details in a scene, I ask her to elaborate. It works extremely well. Then, when the book is in a reasonable shape, I send it to my friend, Ray, who is a fine author in his own right. He goes through with a fine-toothed comb and imparts writing gems in the process. I call him, “The Master!”

If it weren’t for them, my books would stink. Well, maybe that’s a little extreme, but I’ve learned so much from them that the finished LeGarde Mystery manuscripts read more smoothly and are of higher quality. I also have an “inner circle” of readers who’ve traveled with me through the series far in advance of publishing. They keep me honest and provide feedback about the characters that they’d come to love.

Suggestion nine: Maintain the tension. You want your readers to need to read more. Keep up the pace. Make it flow seamlessly from chapter to chapter. And try to avoid unnecessary excursions into boring territory. I use lots of dialogue; it moves the book along quickly. Short chapters also help the reader feel as if he’s made progress. Readers say that with short chapters they’re more apt to think, “Just one more chapter before I go to bed.” Of course, if the tension and suspense are stimulating, your poor readers will stay up way past bedtime!

Suggestion ten: Polish it ‘til it shines. Don’t send in anything but your best work, buffed to perfection. You may have to go through it dozens of times, but it’s worth it. Have your friends and family do the same. Each time they scour through it, they’ll find something new. It seems endless. But if you keep at it, you will produce a superior product.

Aaron Paul Lazar resides in Upstate New York with his wife, three daughters, two grandsons, mother-in- law, two dogs, and three cats. After writing in the early morning hours, he works as an electrophotographic engineer at NexPress Solutions Inc., part of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, in Rochester, New York. Additional passions include vegetable, fruit, and flower gardening; preparing large family feasts; photographing his family, gardens, and the breathtakingly beautiful Genesee Valley; cross-country skiing across the rolling hills; playing a distinctly amateur level of piano, and spending “time” with the French Impressionists whenever possible.

Although he adored raising his three delightful daughters, Mr. Lazar finds grandfathering his “two little buddies” to be one of the finest experiences of his life. Double Forte’, the first in the series, was published in January 2005. Upstaged, number two, is in production. With eight books under his belt, Mr. Lazar is currently working on the ninth, which features Gus LeGarde and his family. http://www.legardemysteries.com

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965. She began writing at the age of 6 with astory called ‘Rabbit’, which she never finished.

In high school her favorite subject was English. From HighSchool, Rowling went to Exeter University where she earneda degree in French.

After graduating, she spent a year studying in Paris andthen went back to London where she worked in a number ofjobs, including a year with Amnesty International and ashort time as secretary for a publishing company, where shewas responsible for sending out rejection slips.

In the summer of 1990, on a delayed train from Manchesterto London, she came up with the idea of a boy who discovershe is a wizard. But it would be 7 years before the ideabecame a book.

In that same year her mother died of Multiple Sclerosis andshe left for Portugal to teach English, hoping to find away to deal with her grief.

In October 1992 she married a Portuguese televisionjournalist, Jorge Arantes. But the marriage lasted justeleven months.

In 1993 she left her husband and returned to England, withthe one legacy of her failed marriage – an infant daughternamed Jessica.

Her life suddenly took a nose-dive. Fighting poverty anddepression, she lived in a mice-infested flat in Edinburghand struggled to raise her baby daughter on a welfare checkof 70 pounds ($100) a week.

Unable to heat her flat, she sat in caf閟 nursing anespresso for 2 hours at a time and worked feverishly on themanuscript of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’while her baby daughter slept in a pram.

The manuscript is said to have been rejected by threeBritish publishers – Penguin, Transworld and HarperCollins.

But Bloomsbury Children’s Books did sign her up, reportedlypaying ?10,000 ($14,300) for the rights to ‘Harry Potterand The Philosopher’s Stone’.

The Philosopher’s Stone was published on 30

June, 1997 andwas an instant success.

The book was published under her initials because herpublisher feared that boys would be less likely to read thebook if they knew it was written by a woman.

At a book fair in Italy later that year, Scholastic Booksbought the American rights for $105,000, an unheard offigure for a children’s writer with only one book to hername.

It was published in the States in 1998 with the title’Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’.

The sequel – ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ -was published in June of 1999 and later that same year, thethird book in the series was released, ‘Harry Potter andthe Prisoner of Azkaban’.

By the time her fourth book appeared in 2000 – ‘HarryPotter and The Goblet of Fire’ – the series had become aninternational phenomenon: the initial print run for her 4thbook was 1.5 million copies in the UK and 3.8 million inthe US.

By 2000, JK Rowland had become the highest-earning woman inBritain, with an income of more than ?20.5 million ($29.3m)in the previous year.

In 2001 her annual earnings were estimated at over ?24m,($34.3m) placing her between Madonna and Paul McCartney inthe ranks of high-earning celebrities.

In October 1998 Warner Brothers bought the rights to ‘HarryPotter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ and its sequel (‘HarryPotter and the Chamber Of Secrets’), for the tidy sum of$700,000.

With the release of the first Harry Potter film, J.K.Rowling’s total earnings are estimated to have exceeded$100 million.

In March 2001 she was awarded an OBE (Order of the BritishEmpire) by the Queen, for services to children’sliterature.

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Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3

years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this

simple technique to build a successful online business. Click

here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/

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So many clients come to me as a book or marketing coach telling me how they spent and wasted a lot of money and time following different well-known gurus in the book and publicity fields.

Debbie’s Story

A recent client, Debbie, already got her books printed–over 900 left to sell from the 1000 at too much cost. She’s discouraged and now doesn’t have much money to promote her masterpiece. Too bad she didn’t consult with a professional book coach with 20 plus years experience who could save her mistakes learned from pros who don’t have the best interests of the unknown authors with limited resources at heart..

The traditional path is not the path for all of us.

Think self-publishing. Think Print on Demand, but be careful.

The Book Coach Says…If you are a new author looking for printing/publishing direction, check out the best Print on Demand Printer/Publisher at www.deharts.com.

Many of my clients who use them are happy with the results. They give the author total control over the book and only print what you need. They also don’t offer phony marketing promises. Many other POD companies who take only $600 up front, but over price your book. While they list your book on their site, they do not offer any promotion to it. The author still has to promote the book. .

At Deharts 200 books may cost you $4-$5 each. That’s only $800 plus instead of the

whopping price (even though discounted) of $3000 for 1000 copies. You need that other money for learning marketing and promotion tips from a book coach who has great marketing success. When you spend too much on printing, that leaves little marketing dollars–the most important part of your book project.

If you plan to sell your book at the back of the room after a talk, then print only as many as you will use in 4 months. That may be as little as 100 copies. The rest of your promotion is nearly free when you learn online promotion such as writing tips and articles to submit to online no spam ezines.

Another tip from your coach is to get a reasonably priced person who can edit, design and format your chapters, put your book into PDF so you can sell on the internet and create a printed version from the same file, and submit it for you to a quality POD company like Deharts.

Save yourself many dollars from book writing, publishing and marketing mistakes. Use a qualified book coach.

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including “Write your eBook Fast,” and “How to Market your Business on the Internet,” she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says…and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com

Q. I’m staring at a blank screen with an equally blank mind. I need an idea for tomorrow’s newsletter. Help!

A. Most of us have too many ideas or too few. I’ve never met anyone with just the right number. Here’s the secret: Once you start writing prolifically, you’ll get ideas. Each idea will seem better than the one before. In fact, some ideas will be so good that you may be tempted to stop your current project and start over with the new idea!

Instead, keep a folder on your virtual or actual desktop or write ideas in a notebook. Some ideas age gracefully while others earn a decent burial.

But now let’s say you’re staring at a blank screen, desperate for an article for tomorrow’s newsletter. What can you do? Here are five tips to get started.

1. Begin with your website’s keywords. Let’s say your site features “time management for stay-at-home-moms.” You want to attract visitors who are searching on “parenting,” “home” and “mothers.” Write your keywords on top of a sheet of paper and free-associate. Busy. Homes. Housework. Hmmmaybe you can write about housework and time management?

2. Look around the room where you are working and choose an interesting object. For example, I see two sleeping cats and, through the window, a plant holder with the remains of my last gardening efforts.

My sad little plant could be a metaphor for some aspect of writing, such as ideas that die unless they’re watered, fertilized and loved. Or it could be a reminder to focus on your strengths. Laziness often signals a lack of interest or skill. Let’s face it, I’ll never grow a nice pot of geraniums like the one my neighbors have.

Sleeping cats? Well, some images work better than others, and I’ve written a lot about my cats and my dog. Overuse

of an image…hmm, there’s an idea!

3. Call up a friend and describe what you’re offering. Ask your friend, “What seems most unusual, puzzling or surprising about what I just said?”

Let’s say you’re an office organizer. Your friend says, “I didn’t realize that people who cleared clutter often found their sales increasing. Can you convince me?”Given the state of my own office, I’d like to be convinced, too! You’ve got a winner here.

Heidi Challenger of Boise, Idaho, promises a year’s guarantee for each home she sells.See http://www.movinglady.com/relolinks.html to find her site. Now there’s a great idea for an article — or several! What is a home guarantee? And why should we ask for one? Does Heidi have unique assets that allow her to offer a guarantee when other realtors can’t? All these questions arise from her online advertisement — and all could be developed into articles.

4. This one’s my favorite. Ask your subscribers to contribute questions. You’ll be sure your articles fit their interests. Last week’s article on permission marketing came directly from a reader request and this week’s article combines two queries. WL Ezine subscribers, take note!

5. Look at your calendar. What’s the season? If you’re writing for your own ezine, choose the current season or, if you’re right on the border, next season. If you’re writing for print media, ask the editors for a calendar. You may need to submit in June for a Christmas issue.You can go deeper, choosing month and even holiday within the month. You can get whimsical, writing about the astrological sign that governs this month.

About The Author

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.

“Ten secrets of mastering a major life change” mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com

Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294

Good writing requires self-examination. Why is one writing? What part of the writer will be shared with readers? Will it be only information or will it include the essence of the writer? This, then determines what will be written: poetry, essays, articles, short stories, novels, or any other genre of writing.

A writer’s work must share part of his or her being, or it is merely reporting. And when the soul or spirit of the writer is included, it requires a depth of self-examination; it requires searching the psyche for what is important and even relevant to the writer and thus, to the reader. This is egoism, not egotism; the first is self-assurance, the second is vainglory.

Athough writing for financial gain is important, it should never be the sole reason for writing,

as that will not bring out the best in the writer. Passion of expression, a need to communicate, a desire to share a part of the person—ideas, feelings, passions—and love are the bases for exemplary and ageless writing.

Writing must fulfill a heartfelt need for self-expression, ego fulfillment, or a therapeutic necessity, and last, but not least, financial reward and fame.

If writing does not foster this self-examination, it is nothing more than a skill to use words, to use language, and to use writing to manipulate and not to satisfy the reader.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several historical novels that are available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.

Charles O. Goulet

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Evansburg, AB

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go1c@telusplanet.net