LDS Publisher – Page 4 – LDS Publisher

Need An Editor?

I’m writing a book – not for publication – just to be printed and used by my family and posterity. It will go a lot faster if I have an LDS editor review my work and make necessary changes and edits, re-writes, etc. I’m willing to pay top dollar for someone good and efficient. Can you give me some references?

Well, uh, no. I don’t do that here. I’m still working on this site to provide information like that. (Sorry. Low priority.)

So, Dear Readers. Now’s your chance. Do you provide editing services? Or is there a person/company you’d recommend? If so, leave a comment with a link to your/their site!

Virtual Book Tours—Becoming the Perfect Host by Tristi Pinkston

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve set up several virtual book tours for authors who are seeking to expand their publicity on the Internet. The concept of virtual touring is fairly new in our market. Publishers or authors send out copies of their books to bloggers who have agreed to read and review those books on a certain date, and then the links are gathered up and posted at a single location. People who want to read the reviews can follow along with the tour and get a good sampling of opinions from several different sources.

I’m frequently asked by bloggers what they can do to make their sites more attractive to the book-buying reader, and how they can increase the likelihood that they will be chosen to host book tours. I’ve put together a few thoughts.

1. Make your blog more visible. The more visible your blog, the more useful it is on a virtual book tour. The purpose of the tour is to expose the name of the book to as many people as possible, but if you only have five followers and you only get ten hits a week, that doesn’t propel the book forward in a meaningful way. You should work to increase your following. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to do this is to visit other blogs and leave friendly comments. The blogger you visit will most likely return your visit, and if they like what they see on your blog, they are likely to come back. (More on this in under Item #2.) In addition, readers who follow that blog will see your name, become curious as to who you are, and follow you back to your blog. Going blog-hopping, as I call it, isn’t just a good way to spread the word about your blog, but it’s a great way to make new friends. I have several good friends I met through blogging that I know in no other way. I was just hopping around one day, ran into them, we hit it off, and have been friends ever since.

One quick note about leaving comments on other blogs. Don’t leave comments like, “Hi, come visit my blog.” That’s not showing respect for the other blogger. You want them to visit you because you have said something of value. You’re not looking for addresses for a mass-mailing—you’re looking for bloggers with interests similar to yours. Be respectful of their time and their blog. That is the basis of a good blog relationship.

2. Make Your Blog Interesting. This sounds like a no-brainer, but your blog needs to be interesting. Blog about several different topics, or, if you specialize, blog about several different aspects of your chosen topic. Include interesting links. Post visually interesting pictures. Perhaps most importantly, post regularly. If you only post once a month, you’re not keeping up the momentum you need in order to create and maintain traffic.

The more you comment and the more you blog, the more visible you become on the Internet. Your name will climb higher on the search engine lists, and that in turn will bring you more readers. It’s like a snowball rolling down the mountain, growing larger as it goes.

3. Make Yourself Accessible. When you set up your blog, make sure that your e-mail address is visible to your readers, and also that when someone clicks on your comment, your blog information comes up. I’ve had several interesting comments left on my blog and I’ve wanted to go see who left them and pay them a return visit, but their profiles are blocked and I can’t. I know that sometimes, people keep that information to themselves out of concern for their privacy, but you can set up your blog with an e-mail address created just for that purpose, and you can set up your profile to be vague as to your location, etc. But it’s crucial that people be able to find you and communicate with you if you’re interested in being a book tour host.

4. Provide Good Reviews. I don’t mean that all your reviews need to be glowing. When I say “good reviews,” I mean, be thoughtful in your evaluation. Give your readers more than just, “I liked this book a lot.” Explain why you liked it and how it made you feel. If there were parts of the book that didn’t work for you, explain why. A good book reviewer shares all their opinions, positive and negative. However, a good book reviewer will phrase their objections constructively. Rather than saying, “This author should be shot before being allowed to publish another book,” say, “The dialogue was poorly constructed and I would have liked to see more character development.” Constructive criticism goes a long way toward helping the author learn and grow. Raking them over the coals doesn’t help anyone—it just makes you look like a big meany. And, if the book is so terrible that you can’t even think of a polite way to state your objections, there is no harm in contacting the publisher or author and explaining that you’d rather pass on the review.

In summary, as you increase your name recognition and bring more readers to your blog, as you provide interesting content overall and make a special commitment to writing good book reviews, you make yourself a perfect host for virtual book tours.

After several years as a professional virtual book tour coordinator, Tristi has retired, but she’s sharing all her secrets with you in her new book, Virtual Book Tours: Harnessing the Power of the Internet.

Tristi Pinkston is the author of nine published books, including the Secret Sisters mystery series. In addition to being a prolific author, Tristi also provides a variety of author services, including editing and online writing instruction. You can visit her at www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com or her website at www.tristipinkston.com.

5-Minute Writing Exercise by Rebecca Talley

Stuck? Writer’s block? Unsure where to go from here on your manuscript? Why not try a writing exercise.

You’ll need:

A timer
A comfortable place to write
A notebook
A writing utensil

Ready?

You may wonder why you need to use a notebook instead of your computer. With the internet at the tip of your fingers, your computer can sometimes be a distraction to your writing because it’s so easy to get online and read email, go to Facebook, or surf the internet. For this exercise, you want to eliminate all distractions. It’s only for 5 minutes—you’ll survive 5 minutes away from the internet. Really.

Choose a pair of the following words:

1. Fire—Fish Tank
2. Hawaii—French Fries
3. Snowstorm—Black Bear
4. Bathtub—Dirty Dishes
5. Horse—Sunset
6. Camping—Lost Puppy
7. Snake—Chocolate Chip Cookies
8. Surfboard—Coconut
9. Basketball Game—Thief
10. Earthquake—Parrot

Have you chosen your words? If none of these word pairs appeals to you, choose your own pair.

Set your timer for 5 minutes.

Now, take your notebook and write, without stopping, until your timer rings. Don’t stop for any reason (unless it’s an emergency). Write whatever comes into your mind and try to connect those two words somehow.

Most importantly, do not edit. This is not the time for correct spelling or grammar. This is simply a time to write. Get it out of your head and onto the paper.

When the timer rings, you may stop. If you want to keep writing, that’s even better.

Once you’ve stopped, you can look over what you’ve written. Maybe it’s drivel or maybe there’s a nugget or two you can use.

Keep doing this exercise until you can do it for more than 5 minutes. Try 10 or 20. The important part of this exercise is to get your brain in writing gear and let your thoughts escape your mind, and your internal editor.

Try it, then leave a comment and tell us how it worked for you. If you post your exercise on your blog, leave a link to your URL.

Rebecca Talley grew up in Santa Barbara, CA. She now lives in rural CO on a small ranch with a dog, a spoiled horse, too many cats, and a herd of goats. She and her husband, Del, are the proud parents of ten multi-talented and wildly-creative children. Rebecca is the author of a children’s picture book “Grasshopper Pie” (WindRiver 2003), three novels, “Heaven Scent” (CFI 2008), “Altared Plans” (CFI 2009), and “The Upside of Down” (CFI 2011), and numerous magazine stories and articles. You can visit her blog at www.rebeccatalleywrites.blogspot.com.

Department of Redundancy Department by Annette Lyon

Sometimes when I go over a first draft, I run into hilarious problems like dangling modifiers, inconsistencies, and repetition.

One common repitition problem in first drafts is writers repeating themselves by trying too hard to abide by the adage of “show, not tell.”

So they do both: they tell something, then show it. Or vice versa: show it, then recap it by telling what we just saw. I’m guilty of this myself and must weed out repetition from early drafts.

An example:

Sue cried. Plump tears fells down her cheeks as racking sobs wrenched from her throat.

Do we really need to state that Sue cried? The tears and sobs sort of make that self-explanatory, no?

You might think that’s an over-the-top exaggeration, but it’s surprisingly easily for redundancies like that to slip in, even when they sound obvious and funny when they’re pointed out.

Hence our friend: revision!

The other day, I stumbled across a fun blog post that viewed redundancy in a way I hadn’t thought of before: using adjectives and nouns together that say the same thing.

The post is by Scott over at Slice of Diction. He made a list of 30 redundant adjective-noun word pairs. Check out the post link above for the full list.

Here are a couple of my favorites he came up with, each of which make me snicker and go, “As opposed to . . .?”

amorous romance
contentious dispute
cryptic mystery
insane lunacy
rural countryside
stupid idiot
uniquely different

My gut reaction (after laughing) was to think of the flip side: A cool writing exercise would be to find unexpected adjectives, ones that are counter to the noun you put them next to. That could change the meaning or image in surprising and really cool ways.

(Okay, so there’s also the point that a writer shouldn’t over-use adjectives. Note to self: use adjectives only when needed. Make the most out of your writing toolbox.)

Using some of Scott’s words, instead the obvious amorous romance, what about a tempestuous romance?

Or a brilliant idiot?

A peaceful dispute?

Commonly different?
(Reminds me of the “non-conformists” I went to high school with. They refused to conform . . . by wearing black eyeliner, black duster coats, and hair that required Aqua Net to defy gravity. They all looked the same by non-conforming?)

Story and character ideas are already popping up for me simply by thinking of new, unexpected word pairs.

Just for fun, let’s see what we can come up with here!

Think of adjective-noun redundancy word pairs.

In the comments, throw out your best repetitive word pair (be sure it’s adjective + noun).

Don’t forget to go register your comment here, so you’ll be entered to win one of our sponsoring books!

Annette Lyon is a Whitney Award winner, the recipient of Utah’s Best of State medal for fiction, and the author of eight novels, a cookbook, and a grammar guide, plus over a hundred magazine articles. She’s a senior editor at Precision Editing Group and a cum laude graduate from BYU with a degree in English. When she’s not writing, editing, knitting, or eating chocolate, she can be found mothering and avoiding the spots on the kitchen floor. Find her online at blog.annettelyon.com and on Twitter: @AnnetteLyon.

Need a little extra grammar help? Get Annette’s grammar book, There, Their, They’re: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd.

Young Writers—Good Idea or Not?

Thank you so much for being available for people like me. Although I consider myself an excellent “googler”, I cannot find the answer to my questions to save my life.

I have a seven year old child who taught himself how to read at 4, and although he is going to be in second grade next year, they are planning to get with his teachers to establish a special syllabus for him because he is so advanced. A week ago, he came to us and informed us that he was writing a series of books, and wanted us to jot down some notes for him. He then started dictating to us the characters that he had invented.

I am impressed with most everything he says, but these characters took me by surprise. I actually posted a few of them in a list on Facebook, and I have had several people email me requesting to be contacted when he gets his book published—and they are not asking for their children, they are asking for themselves.

I never really thought about publishing any of his work, although it has been suggested to me by a few of his teachers, because he thinks ‘outside the box’. I see this story leaning toward the young adult/adult crowd rather than children.

So…with all of my ramblings out of the way…I will ask a few questions:

1.) Although the publishing would be great for his future, we really don’t want him to be “noticed” that much. He already gets a lot of (sometimes) negative attention because he is so different and smart, and we don’t want to make things worse for him. How could we do that without taking away from his accomplishment?

2.) He “dictates” to us, often. I’m not sure how it works when it comes to a child writing. Does he have to type it himself (he could do so…but his brain is a lot faster than his litle fingers), does he have to write it by hand? Can I assist with making sure there are no run on sentences, and proper English is used? At that point…does it become my book and not his?

3.) What do I need to do once the first book is complete?

4.) Is this even a good idea? I want him to learn as much as he can, and go to college and do great things…will putting him in this situation steer him away from that?

Thank you so much for your time.

Wow! I love young writers. They can be very inventive because they aren’t yet constrained by what “society” expects from them. I had a child very similar to what you describe. She wrote a few books when she was in kindergarten and first grade. We published them (ie: photocopied and spiral bound them) and gave them to family members, but didn’t take it any farther than that. It was a good experience for her and now as an adult, she’s written and self-published several books that are very good.

(No, not telling anything about her or her books here.)

For your questions:

1. You could self-publish through Amazon’s CreateSpace under a pen name. Or you could just print enough copies for family and close friends. There are many ways to hide an author. As long as he’s not doing public appearances under his own name, it’s not that hard.

2. Some very famous authors dictate their manuscripts and hire assistants to type them. (Trying to remember who and it’s escaping me right now.) And every good author uses editors. Most of them have their work pre-edited by someone — a critique group, a friend, or a professional — to clean up their manuscript before they send it in. They even get feedback on plot, setting, dialog, characters, etc. As long as the ideas remain his and he retains the final decisions on those details, it’s him, not you.

3. Make the decision whether to self-publish OR seek an agent and start the submission process. In the initial querying, his age should not be a factor. The writing needs to stand on its own, just like anyone else. Once an agent or publisher has requested a full manuscript, you may want to tell them his age and ask if he can use a pen name.

4. Not qualified to speak to this topic. You, as his parent, need to prayerfully consider the options and make that decision. I would expect that a successful child-writer would encounter many of the same issues as child-actors, although to a lesser degree. It would be your job to protect him from that.

Also, keep in mind that all artistic works that are out in the public arena get harsh criticisms at times. This is part of the creative life. You have to be thick-skinned enough to deal with it. Most children—and to be honest, most adults—have a really hard time with it. Personally, as I mentioned before, I chose to protect my child from the negative criticism by limiting distribution to family who would only praise her work. I didn’t feel she was mature enough at that age, regardless of her intelligence, to deal with editors who can be brutal or a public that could be even worse.

Readers: What do you think?

10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer

Shared on Facebook by Terrie Lynn Bittner

Originally stolen from Brian Clark at www.copyblogger.com

IT IS WHAT IT IS: The Fallacy of Writer’s Block by Michaelbrent Collings

One of my least favorite things about today’s world is the prevalence of people who say, “It is what it is.”

Forget about the threat of global financial meltdown, skyrocketing teen pregnancy, and the pervasive appeal of the Kardashians—whenever I hear someone say, “It is what it is,” it makes me want to weep and run for the hills.

After punching the person who said it.

I mean, really, what the heck does that even mean? “It is what it is.” Huh? You ever walk up to someone and say out of the blue, “That water sure is wet,” or “I find almost all ice to be cold.” Those make about as much self-defining sense as “It is what it is.”

That being said, there is one area where sometimes you can legitimately say “It is what it is” and actually have it mean something. And that area is writing.

I’ve gotten many emails and personal queries about how to keep writing when the ideas aren’t flowing. As a novelist, I try to get out at least 5,000 words a day. 10,000 is not unusual. I write anywhere from three to eight books a year, along with numerous screenplays, blog entries, short stories, etc. etc. blah blah blah. And they don’t suck, either: my last book, The Haunted, spent almost two months on Amazon’s Horror Bestsellers list (and is still selling quite well), and (I was recently informed) is an official Whitney Awards nominee. So I must be doing something right to get that many people willing to shell out a couple bucks for my work. And when other authors and aspiring authors hear about how fast I work, they want to know my secret.

My secret is simple, and not very secret at all: sometimes you just gotta say, “It is what it is.” By that I mean: most people who suffer from “writer’s block” don’t really suffer from any kind of block. Rather, they suffer from what one of my old writing teachers called the “Poop Bird.” (He didn’t actually call it that, but the word he did use was a naughty one, so I’ll leave it up to you to figure out.)

The Poop Bird is an imaginary creature that sits on many writers’ shoulders and whispers, “That’s no good,” as they type. If it’s your typical PB, he (or she, the Poop Bird comes in many shapes, sizes, and genders) will even try to get a jump on his work by telling you, “That idea is no good,” before you even start typing. This is what most “writer’s block” really is: a self-editing function that insists on a perfect first draft.

This is bupkis. First drafts are supposed to be messy. They’re supposed to need work. That’s why God invented White Out and “delete” keys.

So what’s my secret? What’s the method I use to make sure I get out hundreds of pages when others are still working on an opening paragraph? I’ve killed the PB. I have learned to say, “This isn’t perfect. It’s a first draft. Mistakes are okay.”

In other words, I can look at a word or a sentence or a page and know it needs work and still be okay with it.

Sometimes it’s the time that you put in that matters as much as the quality. Sometimes being a “good writer” means being able to just get mediocre words on the page. Sometimes…

… sometimes, it is what it is.

LDSP: Readers, have you killed your Poop Bird? How did you do it? Tell us in the comments.

Michaelbrent Collings is an internationally bestselling novelist and produced screenwriter who writes primarily horror but also dabbles in YA fantasy and hopes to develop superpowers someday. His next novel, Apparition, will be available soon, and all his books are available at amazon or via his website at http://michaelbrentcollings.com. You can follow him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MichaelbrentCollings or on Twitter @mbcollings. Failing that, you can buy a few of his books and help put his kids through college.

The Lowdown on Multiple Submissions by Anita Mumm

Is it okay to query several agents at once? Absolutely. In fact, we recommend it. If you wait to hear back from each agent before approaching another, you could end up waiting months or years for an offer of representation. But there is a protocol to follow. Here are some things to bear in mind as you get ready to launch your volley of submissions.

It’s not necessary to say, “This is a multiple submission,” in your query letter (though there is nothing wrong with doing so). Unless you tell an agent she is your one shot and you can’t possibly see yourself working with someone else, the agent will assume that as a savvy writer you are not putting all your eggs in one basket.

After you send your query, keep agents posted on any major interest you receive for the project. Always check the agent’s website, blog, etc. to learn her preferences, but in general that means an offer of representation; you don’t need to send updates if you get another sample or full manuscript request. Also, if you sent your manuscript to editors before seeking an agent, it’s good to mention this in your query letter, and definitely keep agents posted if you receive an offer of publication.

If you receive an offer of representation from an agent, you have two choices: (1) Let him know that you are waiting to hear back from other agents you submitted to and ask for a reasonable period in which to make your decision—agents hate being forced to read a manuscript overnight. Or (2) decide you want to go with him and accept the offer. Either way, let everyone else know immediately. It’s very frustrating for an agent who has just spent hours reading your manuscript, only to learn that it is no longer available.

Remember that there’s a balance to be found with multiple submissions. Approaching only one or two agents decreases your chance of success, but firing off dozens of queries will only cause headaches as you try to keep track of where you are in each agent’s submission process. Focus on a handful of your top choices, and if they turn you down, go to your Plan B list, and so on. The bottom line is to be courteous and considerate throughout the process—life is unpredictable and you never know when you might be agent hunting again.

Anita Mumm is a Literary Assistant at the Nelson Literary Agency. This post was taken from their monthly newsletter and posted here with permission. To get more great industry news, subscribe to their newsletter.

Writing Prompt: Setting

This is a two-part writing exercise.

Part 1: 60 second drill

Set a timer and for 60 seconds, list everything you can think of that you could find in a school.

Part 2: Write a story or scene using every word on your list BUT don’t set it in or anywhere near a school.

If you do it, leave a comment and let us know how it went. If you’re really brave, post your writing on your blog and share your link with us. If you want, feel free to encourage your blog visitors to participate and link back here to this post.

Traditional vs. Self-publishing is a False Dichotomy by Nathan Bransford

I really like Nathan’s take on this. Go read it!

Us vs. them is fun. It gets people’s blood boiling. It instills fear. It’s thrilling to be on a team, especially when you feel like your team is winning.

These days it seems like traditional and self-publishing are increasingly pitted against each other on blogs and forums, as if one side or the other is the bastion of all that is good and pure in the world and the other side is the bastion of all that is horrible and evil.

This is insane.

There is no “us” vs. “them.” Traditional vs. self-publishing is a false dichotomy. It’s an illusion created by people who either have let their frustrations get the best of them or are trying to sell you something. We’re all writers trying to figure out the best way to get our books to readers. We’re all on the same team.

Read the rest of the article here.

So what do YOU think?

Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow (Dial, May 2011), Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe (Dial, April 2012) and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp (Dial, March 2013). He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. and is now the social media manager at CNET. He lives in San Francisco.

Is an ebook only publishing offer worth it?

Hi LDS Publisher!

A smaller, but quickly growing, publisher has very recently offered to publish my book (yay!). Because I am a new author, they want to publish it first as an e-book. If the book sells, then they would publish the book more traditionally. Is this a new trend in publishing? What are your thoughts?

I’ve seen this popping up more often. From a publisher’s standpoint, it’s a very safe offer to make. It limits the financial risk significantly. They don’t have to come up with the cash to invest in a full print run, the cost of warehousing and shipping the books, nor take the chance that they’ll end up with a stack of books they can’t sell and a loss in their profit margin. Too many wrong guesses and a small press is out of business.

From the author’s perspective, it’s not such a good deal. Yes, more and more consumers are using e-readers, but there’s still a large group of readers who want tangible print books. Your sales are limited right there. Also, the lower the financial risk to the publisher, the greater the temptation to give up if initial marketing tactics don’t work. Kind of the “cut your losses” mentality.

Here’s a checklist I’d go through with the publisher before signing:

What resources SPECIFICALLY are they going to put into creating your ebook?

Will it get a close edit?

Are they going to design a good cover that will help sell the book?

How will the book be coded? Are they just going to take your Word file and run it through an autocoder? (You can do that yourself.) Or will they actually take the time to have someone look at the code and clean it up?

What are their marketing plans?

How will they let the consumer know the book exists?

Will they set up a virtual tour for you?

Do they use the various social medias to spread the word?

Do they have a customer base they send emails to?

In my opinion, it’s better to stay unpublished than to have an unedited or poorly marketed book just sitting out there and languishing in cyberspace.

Another thought: If a publisher is going to assign resources to do a good edit, create a cover that will sell, and then typeset it enough to make a clean ebook, then they’re 90% of the way there for a print edition as well. They might as well do the little extra it takes and create a print version using CreateSpace (Amazon’s print on demand service) and at least have that available to online customers.

Readers, what do you think?

How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day by Rachel Aaron

We’re all busy. Incredibly busy. Finding time to write requires dedication and determination. For some of us, every precious writing minute counts! So how do we make those minutes the most productive? Here is what fantasy writer Rachel Aaron did.

When I started writing The Spirit War (Eli novel #4), I had a bit of a problem. I had a brand new baby and my life (like every new mother’s life) was constantly on the verge of shambles. I paid for a sitter four times a week so I could get some writing time, and I guarded these hours like a mama bear guards her cubs – with ferocity and hiker-mauling violence. To keep my schedule and make my deadlines, I needed to write 4000 words during each of these carefully arranged sessions. I thought this would be simple. After all, before I quit my job to write full time I’d been writing 2k a day in the three hours before work. Surely with 6 hours of baby free writing time, 4k a day would be nothing….

Read the rest of her article here.

How do you make your writing minutes count?

Camp NaNoWriMo

I just this morning found out about Camp NaNoWriMo in June. I tried to participate last year, but their website was not working right and eventually I gave up. But this year, it looks great. My mild-mannered alter-ego is going to participate.

Don’t know what Camp NaNoWriMo is? It’s a version of the regular NaNoWriMo (held in November), but held in June and again in August. It works better for students, teachers, and anyone who has more free time in the summer months than in November.

From their website:

At Camp NaNoWriMo you’ll get the support, encouragement, and resources you need to write a novel in a month. When you create an account, you’ll be able to:

plan your novel
track your noveling progress
create a cabin full of likeminded writers
receive online encouragement from staff, fellow campers, friends, and family

So, who’s with me? Post your NaNo user name so we can connect.

Almost Everything You Need to Know about Virtual Book Tours by Tristi Pinkston

Of all the questions I am asked regarding marketing, the first and foremost is: “How do I set up a virtual book tour?” (Well, generally the very first question is, “What the heck is a virtual book tour?”) I decided to take a couple of minutes to answer those questions today.

When you go on a virtual book tour, you have essentially arranged for several different blogs and websites to feature you in some way. They might do a book review, they might interview you, they might just talk about you – but they all do it to help you promote yourself and your book. It’s like going on a book tour from the privacy of your own home, hence the name, “virtual book tour.”

VBTs can help you in many ways.

1. They can help you become more familiar to the hosts of the sites you visit.

2. They can make your name more recognizable to the buying public.

3. They can garner you reviews on your book that otherwise might be difficult to get.

4. The more times your name appears on the Internet, the more special you look. And special = sales.

5. They can drive more traffic back to your blog and your website, helping the reader learn more about you = sales.

So, how to go about setting up a VBT?

A. Talk to your publisher and find out how many review copies of your book they are willing to send out. Some publishers will give a stack of books to the author to mail out themselves, some publishers mail the books for you, and some publishers will give a discount on copies for the author to purchase and then mail out. In fact, some publishers won’t assist in this at all … but we won’t focus on that. Talk to your publisher and find out their rules.

B. Now that you know how many books you can send out, you need to find the right reviewers for you. Go to Google and type in blogs and then your search term. If your books is about shopping malls in the Amazon, put in blogs Amazon shopping malls. Up will come a list of blogs that talk about your topic. Or put in blogs book reviews. Of course you can customize your search in any way you like. Once the list comes up, click on each link and find those blogs that seem to be the best fit for what you’re looking for. Leave a comment to establish a good relationship, and then look for a contact link or the profile link, which will lead you to a way to contact. Politely ask the blogger if they would be interested in hosting your tour, offer them a free book, and thank them for your time. You do not have to pay the blogger for the review – the free copy is their thank-you gift.

C. When the blogger replies to you, establish with them the date upon which their review will appear. You want to spread out your reviews so that the fervor you create will be sustainable – if you schedule them all for the same day, you’ll make a big splash but it will peter out quickly. You should schedule your tour far enough into the future that your publisher has time to mail out the books and the reviewer has time to read their copy. If your book will be in the warehouse on April 1st, schedule your tour for the middle of May.

D. Five days before a review is set to appear, e-mail that blogger and remind them (again politely) and then pop them a note the night before. When their review appears, copy the link and post it on your own blog or website, and invite all your readers to go take a look at it. You can then send your publisher a list of links, and they can link from their website to the review.

These are the basic steps to setting up a blog tour. You can make this as simple or as complicated as you like. I recently did a huge contest in connection with my book release, as did Annette Lyon. Some authors choose to send out books and let them speak for themselves with very little additional hoopla. What you do is up to you. But the Internet is the way many people are doing their shopping these days, and if we take the time to learn how to use it for marketing, we’ll be riding the wave of the future.

Twist that Cliché by Rebecca Talley

Let’s do a fun quiz. See if you can fill in the blanks.

A fly on the _______
Old as _______
At the end of my _______
Nip it in the _________
Many hands make light ________
A stitch in time saves ______
Growing like a ______
Like father, like______
Spitting _____
You can say that _____
Bend over ______
The buck stops _____
Build a better _____
Burn the midnight _____
Get your foot in the _____
Keep your nose to the _____
Laugh all the way to the _____
Making money hand over ______
Swim with the _____
Time is _____
Hope springs _____
On a wing and a _____
Hope against _____

Here are the answers:

A fly on the wall.
Old as dirt.
At the end of my rope.
Nip it in the bud.
Many hands make light work.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Growing like a weed.
Like father, like son.
Spitting mad.
You can say that again.
Bend over backwards.
The buck stops here.
Build a better mousetrap.
Burn the midnight oil.
Get your foot in the door.
Keep your nose to the grindstone.
Laugh all the way to the bank.
Making money hand over fist.
Swim with the sharks.
Time is money.
Hope springs eternal.
On a wing and a prayer.
Hope against hope.

How many did you get right? All of them? Some? None? More than likely, you correctly identified the last word in the majority of the expressions.

Why? Because they’re clichés, worn-out metaphors that have become so common they are meaningless.

At one time, clichés were original ways of expressing an idea, emotion, or thought. Over time, however, people used these expressions so frequently that they became trite.

You want to purge clichés from your writing. Instead of using a well-known expression like “counting your chicks before they’re hatched,” try twisting it. Tweaking a word or two can make a difference. Test your creativity by twisting some of the above examples. Or, better yet, create your own unique expressions.

Be careful that you don’t overdo it with original expressions that distract from your story, but stay away from the “tried and true” statements that “everyone and their mother” has heard “since the dawn of time.”

When “Right” is Twitchy by Annette Lyon

Our local recreation center has a sign on the track that reads, in part, something like:

If you swam, Dry off before going on the track

A good friend e-mailed me about it after twitching all through her three times-a-week runs around that track. She asked if the sign was wrong, because it sounded awkward (especially with “swam”), but she couldn’t think of a better way to say it.

If you set aside the fact that dry shouldn’t be capitalized here, the sign is grammatically correct.

The tenses of swim go like this:

Present tense: swim (This morning, I will swim for thirty minutes.)
Past tense: swam (Last week, I swam ten laps.)
Past participle: had swum (I thought back to the time I had swum with a team.)

So swam is the right form of the word, plain old past tense.

And yet. That sign makes me twitch too.

It’s a great case of when smooth writing and clarity trump “right.” In other words, just because it’s correct doesn’t mean it’s the best way of saying something.

The other day, as I was leaving the rec center, I saw her as she came around the track. “I’ve got it!” she said. “It should say, ‘Dry off after swimming’!”

Ding!

She’s absolutely right. The sign could be rewritten in a number of ways, and that’s a great one. It would not only save room, but be clearer. Her version takes the verb swam and turns it into a noun, swimming.

As you all know, I get all twitchy when things are incorrect, but that doesn’t mean I won’t twitch when they’re correct—but goofy and awkward.

A great writer can take a twitchy (but correct) sentence and mold it, making the end result something others will read and understand without a second thought.

Or a twitch.

Need a little extra grammar help? Get Annette’s grammar book, There, Their, They’re: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd.

What to Wear to the Whitney Gala???

I’m at the LDStorymaker’s Conference today and having a lot of fun spying on people incognito. But I have a troubling problem.

What do I wear to the Whitney Gala tomorrow night?

It’s so hard to know. You simply can’t be caught underdressed. That is unforgivable. But on the other hand, you really don’t want to show everyone else up. Then they’ll just hate you.

I have to make my final decision soon, and I’ve narrowed it down to three. Tell me what you think.

PinkwFur — Option #1: Pink with Fur Stole

I like this one, but not the headpiece. Instead, I’d wear this hat:

PinkwFurHat — A dear friend modeling my hat

The downside to this outfit is that fur might be a little too warm for the evening.

I’m lukewarm on this dress, but I absolutely adore the shoe I’d wear with it:

BlackDotShoe — Awesome shoe to wear with Black Dot dress

PinkBlue — Option #3: Pink, Aqua, Blue Dress

This is my favorite of all the dresses. Of course, I’d wear a modest pink net shawl with it so my shoulders wouldn’t show.

And this is the shoe that goes with it. I like it, but not as much as the shoe that goes with Option #2.

So what do you think? Vote in the comments.

LDSP at Last Year’s Whitney Awards

Following the LDStorymakers Conference, there will be the annual Whitney Awards presentation. This is a red-carpet event and everyone dresses up in their finest.

Here are a few photos of me from last year’s Whitney Awards Gala.

Annette Lyon, winner for Best General Fiction, and Me

BrandonSanderson — Me with that slightly popular sci-fi/fantasy writer, Brandon Sanderson. He won for Best Speculative Fiction, and tied for Best Novel of the Year.

JeffStephanie — Me, Jeff Savage (awesome Middle Grade Fantasy writer), and Stephanie Black, winner for Best Mystery/Suspense

JulieWright — Julie Wright, winner for Best Romance, and Me

StephanieBlack2 — Me and Stephanie Black, winner for Best Mystery Suspense (we took another photo because Jeff was blocking my award...)

MarionRobErin — Marion Jenson, Robison Wells, Erin, and Me—having a group hug

The women from LDSWBR—Mindy Holt, Me, Sheila Staley, and Shandra Cottam

(All photos stolen with permission from Stephanie Black at www.stephanieblackink.blogspot.com)

More Photos from Past Storymaker Conferences…

Since the Storymakers Conference isn’t all about me, here are more photos from the past few conferences that I gleaned from the Interwebs.

JaclynJessica — Stolen from www.ldstorymakers.com

A nice writerly-looking man, Jaclyn M. Hawkes, Jessica Day George

JamesPlus2 — Stolen from www.ldstorymakers.com

A Nice Woman, James Dashner, Another Nice Woman

David J West, Tamara Hart Heiner, Melissa J Cunningham, Mary Gray

JeffSavage — Stolen from www.ldstorymakers.com

Deirdra Eden Coppel and J Scott Savage (the author formerly known as Jeff)

SusanJannetteSarah_Jennie — Contributed by Jennie Hansen @ www.notesfromjenniesdesk.blogspot.com

Susan Law Corpany Curtis, Janette Rallison, Sarah M Eden

: Stolen from www.abelkeogh.com

Gregg Luke, James Dashner, Traci Hunter Abramson, Abel Keogh

SwordWhitneys_David — Stolen from www.david-j-west.blogspot.com

David J West showing off his sword handling skillz

P.S. If you recognize some of the people I don’t, please post their names in the comments. Thanks.

Who’s Going to Storymakers?

The LDStorymakers Conference is this weekend! I am so excited I can hardly stand myself. I have to say that as far as writing conferences go, this is one of the best. It’s well organized, has great presenters, and the atmosphere is positive and supportive. I have so much fun at these conferences. I love it!

Unfortunately, if you haven’t already registered, it’s too late. (Sorry.) But there are zillions of writers conferences going on this summer, so I’m sure if you’re determined you can find one.

But back to Storymakers. To get us in the mood, I’m dedicating the rest of this week to getting us excited. And what better way to ramp up the enthusiasm than to reminisce about past Storymakers conferences.

Here are a few snapshots from previous years of me with just a few of my favorite peeps.

These are some of the long-timers at Storymakers.
Rachel Nunes, Tristi Pinkston, BJ Rowley, Me,
Julie Wright, Jaime Theler, Crystal Liechty, and Jeff Savage

The Walnut Springs Gang
Front Row: Tristi Pinkston, Theresa Sneed, Betsy Love
Middle Row: Rhonda Hinrichsen, LC Lewis, Amy Orton
Back Row: Linda Mulleneaux, Me

Here is a bunch of us. I think it’s the Authors Incognito group.
I’m the one with the red arrow.

This is me with Howard Tayler. He’s hilarious.
If you get a chance, go to his class. He doesn’t always stay on point,
but he has lots of good information.

And here I am with Whitney Award Winning author, Dan Wells.
Also in the pic are Bron Bahlmann (when is that next book coming out, Bron?)
and James Dashner (umm, I think he might have written a book or two…)
and a future author, I suppose?

More photos to come!

*Photos provided by Tristi Pinkston and LDStorymakers.
**Special thanks to my lovely assistant for collecting and “polishing” them.
***Photos were chosen based on compatibility with me. 🙂

Before You Send Your Manuscript Out to Readers (or Publishers) by Tristi Pinkston

So you’ve gotten your manuscript ready to go out to readers. You’re excited because you know how close you are to being ready for submission . . . you’ll get this feedback, you’ll make the suggested changes, and you’re finished, right?

Well, pretty close. But don’t think this step is going to be a piece of cake. That’s a mistake a lot of writers make—they hurry and get the manuscript out to readers before it’s really ready.

Here are some tips to help you get that manuscript as ready for readers as you possibly can—keeping in mind that if you take out the glaring problems now, your readers will have an easier time spotting the more complex problems.

1. Go through and do a search for “was.” Most of the time, when the word “was” is used, you can change it to more of an active voice. Instead of saying, “She was sitting on the porch,” say “She sat on the porch.” This brings your reader into closer contact with the story, and it eliminates the repetitive use of “was.”

2. Go through and do a search for “that.” Most of the time, “that” is used when it’s not needed. “She thought that he’d be there to pick her up at three.” Take it out and see what you’ve got … “She thought he’d be there to pick her up at three.” It’s the same thing, but “that” gets repetitive and makes your sentences wordy.

3. Go through and make sure all your punctuation is still there. I’ve noticed when I edit for people that as they take out words they’ve been told to take out, sometimes the punctuation gets taken along with it, erased accidentally by the cursor being in the wrong place.

4. Go through and take out fully 3/4 of your adverbs. Keep only the ones that are absolutely needed—most are indicated by the context, anyway, and aren’t necessary.

There you have it—four steps to help make your manuscript ready for readers. These aren’t the only things to watch out for—there are many—but these are the most common mistakes and the most common detractors from the story. With these things out of the way, your readers will be able to concentrate on the things that remain and help you polish the story until it shines.

Is There a Market for LDS Spanish Language Picture Books?

Hello, I have some questions that you may be able to answer. I am a graphic designer and I write books for children. I live in [South America].

I have produced the gospel “translated” for them with short texts and nice drawings. So far I have finished the fourth book but I have more than 60 in mind.
I was wondering if I could show you the things I have done, (I write, draw, diagram and desing the whole book). If it is not you whom I should contact, would you please tell me who is that I can write to?

Do I have any possibilities to do this with a book publisher in the US from here?

First, no you can’t send samples of your work to me. I keep a strict divide between my anonymous blogging self and my day-job publishing self. If someone sends a manuscript to “LDS Publisher” I delete it without reading it. Sorry, but this is one of the conditions I have with my boss.

Second, yes, there is a market here in the United States for Spanish-language books that teach gospel principles to children. The fact that you live outside the U.S. shouldn’t be a problem. What is a problem is that children’s books don’t sell as well as books for adults, and picture books are more expensive to publish. (See more on this HERE.)

Also, some publishers may allow you to illustrate and design your books but most will want to do that in-house, having you provide the text only.

What you need to do is send a query to the various LDS publishers to see if they are interested. Here is a list of LDS publishers in the U.S. I’m not sure how up to date it is, so you’ll need to go to the various websites and carefully read their submission guidelines. The big ones to contact are, of course, Deseret Book, Covenant and Cedar Fort.

Writing Prompt: Old Woman

We haven’t done a writing prompt here for a long time. As I’ve said before, I firmly believe that writing well is a SKILL. Yes, some people are born with more innate talent than others, but anyone who wants to learn to write well can do so.

Like any other skill, writing takes PRACTICE. In my opinion, you should be writing something every day. It doesn’t have to be a novel and it doesn’t have to be good. Just write something. Minimum 250 words. Consider it practicing your scales.

So here’s a prompt that I did with a writing group several months ago. It was really fun to read the different variations, especially from those who picked the same photo.

Let’ start with old women. I love the faces of older women. I got these off the internet. (If you ever need an interesting face, visit www.harrycutting.com. Awesome!)

PROMPT: Pick one of the faces below. This is your main character. Write a short scene with them in it. Any genre goes.

Be brave. Post your writing on your blog & include the photo that inspired it. If you want, encourage your blog visitors to participate and link back here to this post.

Here’s the super challenge: If ten of you do it and post the link to your writing in the comments so we can go read it, I’ll post mine.

Ready, set, write!

Defining Greatness by Michaelbrent Collings

Some people ask me, “What do you think makes a great book great?”

Some people also ask me if I think polar bears should be allowed to marry penguins. Which tells you what kind of people I hang with.

But back to the other question. The first one. About the writing thing. I guess it’s not too surprising that people ask me things about books. I mean, I AM a writer. My books RUN and Billy: Messenger of Powers have both been bestsellers on amazon.com, I’ve written two movies that are coming out next year, and I’ve been told my birthday cards are to die for. So I do get my opinion asked for fairly often. And, to be frank, even when people AREN’T asking for my opinion… I still give it.

So what DOES make a great book great?

There are a lot of things. But first and foremost, I think, is simply this: a great book is one that people want to spend time with. And I’m not just talking about the time they put in reading it. A great book is one that we think about even when the covers are closed, one whose characters we wish we could meet well after the last chapter has been finished. It’s one that lives within us, and becomes not merely a part of what we have done, but a facet of who we have become.

So how to accomplish that?

Well, according to many high school English teachers, people should read books that they have shoved down their throats with pointy sticks. Sad but true. Sometimes I think that a great many “academics” believe that a book isn’t great unless it’s something that you can only “enjoy” after you’ve spent several years researching the author’s life. Incomprehensibility doubles as ability.

I don’t buy into that.

A great book IS one that lives on, year after year, generation after generation. Fine and dandy. But I also think that a TRULY great book is one that has, not only deep life lessons that transcend time, but also a pure enjoyment factor (and obviously, I’m talking about fiction here). I mean, if you look at Hamlet, it’s not only a classic examination of character, it’s a darn fine STORY, with ghosts, intrigue, thrilling fights, and other “fun” attributes that make it, not just “valuable,” but FUN.

Granted, if you’re looking at a “classic” book that’s been around for hundreds of years, there’s some work to be done. But that’s not because the stories are boring, it’s simply because language changes over time, so you have to be schooled in the way people of that era spoke in order to enjoy what they’re doing and saying. Just like some people don’t enjoy British humor, not because the English aren’t funny (because they are), but because they don’t understand that culture enough to GET the jokes. So there are legitimate examples of “great” literature that you have to prep for. But at their root, truly great books are an entertaining read.

I can remember, when writing RUN (a suspense/horror/thriller novel), I devoured a lot of Dean Koontz and Stephen King books. Similarly, when I was working on Billy: Messenger of Powers (a young adult fantasy), I read J.K. Rowling, Brandon Mull, and James Dashner. Some people actually asked me why I would “waste my time” on such “popular” fare. And the way they said “popular” it was clear they really meant to say “worthless.”

But I disagree. I think that “popular” is a valuable indicator of greatness in art. After all, what is Great Expectations but a book that has remained “popular” for centuries? What is The Three Musketeers but a book that has a story so fun that it has found an audience year after year after year?

Now, that’s not to say that I think everything that is popular is great. There are some books that are incredibly popular that are shallow, trite drivel. But those kinds of things don’t tend to STAY popular. They’re flashes in the pan. A moment where lighting is caught (perhaps accidentally), but cannot be contained.

The “greats” on the other hand, truly captivate us. They reach across time and space to do something that we as humans have sought after since man first began to communicate: to tell a story.

And the better the story, the “greater” the book.

Michaelbrent is a bestselling novelist whose books RUN and Billy: Messenger of Powers have been amazon.com bestsellers. He is also a produced screenwriter and member of both the Writers Guild of America and the Horror Writers of America. His blog is at http://michaelbrentcollings.com/blog2.html, and you can follow him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaelbrent-Collings/283851837365 or on twitter @mbcollings.