Five more things I learned at the RNA Conference: self-publishing

On the Saturday afternoon of the conference, Ian Skillicorn gave an excellent talk on epublishing. This was one of the most useful sessions of the weekend and I picked up lots of tips.

• Photographic covers are more popular for contemporary romance.

• Use keywords in the book's subtitle.
This will help your book get found on Amazon. You should also put your metadata into your Word file (click on file > properties) before it's converted.

• Have a pricing strategy.
Make a list of similar books to yours, where they are in the sales rank and check their prices - what happens to their rank when the price changes.

• If using Microsoft Word, format your ebook using Word's styles function.
Use a 'Heading' style for chapter headers - this makes it easier when you come to compose your table of contents.

• Your marketing strategy needs to be in place before publication, but don't put links up to your book until it is available.

Thank you to Ian Skillicorn of Corazon Books for his talk on publishing and marketing ebooks.

Five things I learned at the RNA Conference: self-publishing

Last weekend, along with 250 fellow writers, I attended the Romantic Novelists' Association's annual conference. It was a brilliant weekend held at Harper Adams University, near Telford. The food was plentiful and the drinks even more so, but believe it or not as well as all the partying and socialising I did actually learn something (no sniggering at the back).

Over the next few blog posts I'll be looking back at my sketchy notes and picking out some of the things I found particularly useful.

The first lecture I attended was by Talli Roland and Nick Spalding about their experiences with self-publishing.

Photo courtesy of Harper Adams University

• Publish your novel first, THEN have your marketing push. Have your marketing plan in place but don't start promoting your book until readers can click on a link to buy it.

• Make sure you have the license to your book's cover image and fonts.
I knew about the image, but had wrongly assumed it was okay to use free fonts. Check the license of each font you want to use.

• Write an exciting blurb.
So many of the books I see on Amazon, both traditionally published and self-pubbed have no description. How can a reader make a decision to buy it if they don't know what it's about?

• Design an eye-catching cover that works as a thumbnail and in black and white.

• Get your book professionally edited!

Thank you Talli Roland and Nick Spalding for the talk on their reasons behind choosing independent publishing.

On Friday I'll be looking at what I learned from Ian Skillicorn's talk on marketing and self-publishing your ebook.

VS Naipaul’s Advice for Writers

I found this useful advice for beginner writers on the India Uncut blog and thought I'd share it here.

VS Naipaul's Rules for Beginners

1.  Do not write long sentences. A sentence should not have more than ten or twelve words.

2.  Each sentence should make a clear statement. It should add to the statement that went before. A good paragraph is a series of clear, linked statements.

3.  Do not use big words. If your computer tells you that your average word is more than five letters long, there is something wrong. The use of small words compels you to think about what you are writing. Even difficult ideas can be broken down into small words.

4.  Never use words whose meaning you are not sure of. If you break this rule you should look for other work.

5.  The beginner should avoid using adjectives, except those of colour, size and number. Use as few adverbs as possible.

6.  Avoid the abstract. Always go for the concrete.

7.  Every day, for six months at least, practice writing in this way. Small words; short, clear, concrete sentences. It may be awkward, but it’s training you in the use of language. It may even be getting rid of the bad language habits you picked up at the university. You may go beyond these rules after you have thoroughly understood and mastered them.

I'll take rule #1 as more of a guideline, but I especially like rules #2 and #4.

RNA Conference: my first ever editor pitch

Back home now safe and sound after an excellent weekend in sun-soaked Sheffield at the Romantic Novelists' Association Annual Conference.

I had booked a 1 to 1 slot with a Mills & Boon editor beforehand, but as the dreaded hour grew closer I was more and more panicked by what I'd done.

On the morning of my pitch I felt more nervous than when visiting the dentist. I couldn't eat any breakfast (now that's really nervous for me). I'd rehearsed my pitch until I was word perfect. I knew my theme and I knew my character arcs. But all that angst was for naught. Pippa Roscoe, Acting Assistant Editor for Mills and Boon Modern, was delightful and immediately put me at my ease. My pitch was unnecessary and she plunged straight into telling me what she thought about my 1st chapter and synopsis.

The good news is my chapter wasn't awful and I wasn't publicly humiliated and thrown out of the conference. So thank you Pippa for being so kind and it was lovely to meet you.

Hiding Exposition

Thanks to a tweet by Roz Morris, I came across this article by Janice Hardy.

You hear it all the time. Make it active. Start with the action. Make sure your characters act. But we've all written scenes where we have to convey a lot of information and there is no action to speak of. We know we can't just flop the info out there and get away with it, so what can a writer do? How do you convey all that information and still keep the scene tense?

I like the layer technique.

On the first draft, I just write what needs to be said and don't worry that it's probably a pretty boring scene. It's critical info, and what matters at this stage is getting it in there.

Once that's done I go back and look for ways to add the "action," which is often just another way of saying tension or narrative drive. Something is moving the story forward, making the reader want to know what happens next. A lot of times this is just the protag worrying they won't get what they want. Whatever it is, there's something unsettling about the scene that's making the characters tense in some way, and the reader unsure (and eager) to know what happens next.

Even in a scene that has no actual action, there are plenty of places you can layer in conflict and keep things tense.

Read this great article on Janice's blog: The Other Side of the Story Ready, Set...Where's the Action? Keeping Informative Scenes Tense

I Should be Writing

Today I'm mostly procrastinating...

I've been editing my manuscript and everything was hunky dory while I was cutting out all the verbiage that I didn't need. But now it's getting harder as I need to cut scenes that I love but which serve no purpose in the story. So it has been filed under 'too difficult' for a couple of days. Then I will brace myself and be brutal.

In the meantime, I have been amusing myself looking at the sort of covers I would love for my book and have gone down with a serious case of book cover envy :D

Just love this cover designed by Croco Designs. I'm a big fan of Frauke's artwork.

Get Writing 2011

Well, what a fantastic weekend! Saturday was spent in the company of writer and twitter friends at the Verulam Writers' Circle Get Writing Conference.

The day consisted of talks and workshops, with some souls who were much braver than me pitching their novels to publishers and editors.

The first session was 'How to impress us' an agents and buyers talk and Q&A with John Jarrold (literary agent and editor specialising in SF, fantasy and horror), Robert Dudley (literary agent representing non-fiction authors) and Matt Bates (fiction buyer for WHSmith Travel).

John Jarrold's advice on finding an agent is to do your research and send them what they ask for. If they want three chapters and a synopsis make sure that’s what you send them. Address your query letter by name and not ‘Dear Sir or Madam’ or ‘to whom it may concern’. Also mention any relevant background information in your covering letter.

Robert Dudley gave some insights into submitting non-fiction. Robert likes to be approached by email. He wants concise details of what you want to write about and why it needs writing. State what your qualifications are for the subject, ie published in journals. Your proposal must be a subject you are equipped to write about.

Matt Bates told us what he looks for when deciding whether to accept a book for WHSmith Travel. The cover is the first consideration, so leave jacket design to your publisher’s design team and don’t insist too much on your own input. The professionals (usually) know best. The back cover blurb is important. A big turn off is overuse of quotes instead of blurb, which is also one of my pet peeves – I want to know what a book’s about, I’m not concerned about what Elle Magazine think of it.

After this we all went our separate ways to the various optional talks and workshops. Jean Fullerton gave an excellent talk called 'From Critique to Bestseller'. She talked about the benefits of using a critique service, but warned that you have to be careful choosing the right service as there are plenty of people out there willing to rip you off. The best recommendation is word of mouth. The overriding message of Jean's talk was – you have to learn your craft.

'Beyond the Revolution' publishers' panel Q&A with Simon Taylor (editorial director at Transworld), Marlene Johnson (managing director of the Children’s Division of Hachette UK) and Gillian Green (editorial director for fiction at Ebury Press). This was all a bit depressing and along the lines of epublishing is killing the book industry.

After lunch it was time for the presentation of the 'Get Writing' Cup, and the lovely Sue Cook did the honours and also gave us a talk about her writing background.

As I wasn't pitching I had the opportunity to attend Sarah Duncan's talk - 'The Hooker's Story' on how to keep your readers reading. If you don't already subscribe to Sarah's blog then I advise you to do so as you'll find some excellent advice there. Sarah talked about pacing and being careful what events you put next to each other. Two big events side by side will diminish each other. She talked about ending chapters on a climax so the reader is compelled to move on to the next chapter and paragraph hopping.

'With The Innovators' a panel Q&A session with Scott Pack (director of digital product development with HarperCollins), Raymond Tallis (poet, novelist and philosopher) and Ian Skillicorn (founder of Short Story Radio) was a good upbeat antedote to the morning's Publishers Panel. The highlight of the talk was when Raymond Tallis said 'Twitter is the suicide of the mind' and Scott Pack got his phone out and tweeted about it right there on the stage.

The final talk was 'Growing Together: the independent choice' with Lyn Vernham (marketing director of Choc Lit), Choc Lit authors Sue Moorcroft and Christina Courtenay and the lovely Matt Bates of WHSmith Travel. Matt and Lyn talked about how they had worked together to get Choc Lit books into WHS Travel.

I had a wonderful day and came home feeling re-inspired and determined to book up for next year's conference. It was lovely to catch up with so many online friends but there were too many people to say hello to everyone I wanted to. Some people I could only wave at from afar.

If you want to read more about the conference take a look at Lucie Wheeler's excellent round up on her blog. Also check out the Verulam Writers' Circle website and keep an eye out for Get Writing 2012.

NaNoWriMo Update

Unless I can write 10,000 words a day between now and Tuesday I think it's safe to say I won't be completing NaNoWriMo this year. But, rather than beat myself up about it, I shall do my own writing month in January, which is traditionally the time of year for reassessing goals and starting new projects. Plus there are 31 days in the month instead of the 30 you get during Wrimo.

A huge pat on the back to everyone who has completed or is on track to complete Wrimo. Well done!

I Must Be Mad!

After two weeks of shall I or shan't I, I've finally gone and done it. *Drumroll* I've entered the Mills and Boon New Voices competition.

Now I'm sitting here feeling sick and absolutely terrified. I know just how those poor people on X Factor feel waiting for the verdict from the judges. I only hope I don't end up on the receiving end of some Simon Cowell type criticism.

If you want to take a look at my story, it's in the  paranormal category and you can find it here. The title is Be Careful What You Wish For.

All constructive criticism is very welcome (and votes even more so). But just a warning about the rose voting system. You only get the chance to click once - so make sure your mouse is in the right place. If you click in the centre of the rose it only awards half a rose. You have to click right over on the right hand side to award a full rose. I have noticed some very good stories have been rated quite low and I think it's due to people not realising that each rose counts for 20 percent.

Good luck to everyone else who has entered the competition and I raise a congratulatory glass of bubbly to you.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my panicky ramblings and now I'll go back to hitting the refresh button on the New Voices website.

(PS: thanks to Lacey Devlin for my spangly New Voices entry badge. Isn't it purdy?)

I Should be Writing

Woke up nice and early today and thought I'd get on with some writing before breakfast.

First though I had to check my emails... then just a quick look at Twitter... while I'm at it I'd best check to see if there are any comments on the blog. Oh look, it's mid-morning already and not even had breakfast yet. Getting a bit stressed now as I've wasted half the morning.

Breakfast eaten and several cups of coffee drunk so it's time to get back to start writing. But first I need to do a quick bit of online research. Oh it's lunchtime and now I'm really stressing, that's half the day gone and zero words written. I'll have lunch and then start all fresh and raring to go this afternoon.

The laptop's fired up after an extended lunch break and I'm good to go. I do a few neck rolls in preparation to do battle with the wip. But it's a bit difficult to concentrate with all that washing up sitting there from lunchtime. Perhaps I'd better do that first then I can write without being distracted...

And so the day goes on with one excuse for not writing after another.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a teeny tiny bit, but does any of this sound familiar? Why do we spend hours carrying out displacement activities to avoid doing the one thing that we really enjoy?

Is it fear? Either fear of failing and having your baby rejected by all those agents and publishers. Or fear of success and having your baby out in the big wide world without you there to protect it? Or are you looking for perfection and don't think anything you write will ever be good enough?

By the way, it's funny how a deadline can stop you procrastinating. The fear of what will happen if you don't deliver your manuscript or article on time is pretty damned scary!

Brian Clark looks at the different types of fear and procrastination in The Nasty Four-Letter Word That Keeps You From Writing and below are a few of his tips:

• Realise that every time you fail, you’ve become a better writer.
• Recognize that each failure brings you one step closer to success.
• Remember, you’ll never please everyone. You only have to find and please your audience.
• No one will ever be perfect, so let it go.
• Action beats inaction every time.
• Accomplishing anything feels better than accomplishing nothing.
• What’s the worse that could happen? Often, it’s not really all that bad.

So, how about you? Do you find yourself procrastinating when you should be writing and do you have any tips to cope with it?