How to Use NaNoWriMo to Write a Novel You Can Actually Publish

NaNoWriMo was established in 1999 to help writers get the damn words out. One of our biggest hurdles as writers is to simply write. So a bunch of people got together and said, you know what? This November is going to be the month where we get all those words out. One month, 50,000 words.

The thing is, if you participate in NaNoWriMo and you manage to eke out 20-50k words, what then? What do you do in December? January? How do you turn those words into a draft you can actually tolerate to read?

Because when you’re writing for NaNoWriMo, quality doesn’t matter. Just the word count. And on one hand that’s a valuable practice for a writer….I mean, you should be paying attention to quality, but at a certain point it becomes more important to get words out so you can test your ideas, your characters, plot...make sure all of that’s working reasonably well before you start fine-tuning the language.

Plus, NaNoWriMo helps you get in the habit of writing every day. Which is a practice that is essential to being a writer. Writing isn’t something you do when you’re inspired. It’s the job you show up to day after day, getting your work done.

So that’s the great part about NaNoWriMo. But here’s the clincher. A lot of writers find that once they’ve finished their 50k words, they have a novel. Without revising. Without letting those words sit in a cold dark drawer for months and months collecting dust, to be brushed off at some future date when your brain is clear from the wash of excitement and sweat and can actually be a little more objective when going through for an edit.

NaNoWriMo is valuable for helping you to develop your work ethic. NaNoWriMo is helpful for testing out your ideas and pushing through the hard moments of plot failure, character tweaks, and communication issues. It’s a caffeine fueled binge for your craft.

But you need to remember that you’re practicing a craft. A cabinet maker doesn’t just slap some wood together in the shape of a cabinet and call it good. There are all of the other elements involved: the glue and clamps and perfectly fitted joints, hours of sanding and finishing and sanding and finishing again. There are the finishing touches, the carefully picked out brackets and handles. No aspect of the work gets ignored.

Which means that NaNoWriMo is your time to get the words out, and the following months are used to hone the other parts of the craft: learning how to let it sit, revision, accepting critique, and editing.

These other aspects are instrumental in growing your abilities as a writer, and if you’re planning on shipping your manuscript off to an agent once you’re done, you’d better be sure you’ve followed through on these other steps.

NaNoWriMo Calendar to Get You a Bonafide Novel by June

December: READ other books

Reading is paramount for your success as a writer. It’s Stephen King, one of the highest grossing authors and a man who produces an insane amount of national best-selling books, who famously said, “If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all else. Write a lot and read a lot.”

If you’ve been grinding down to write your entire novel in the month of November, take December to catch up on your reading. Go as crazy as you did for NaNoWriMo. Set a goal, say, 10 books, and tear through them this month.

Reading other books will help inform your own writing. You’ll get ideas for how to revise your own novel. When you’re reading a well-regarded novel, you’re actually learning about writing from a master. So use this as a means to make your own writing better.

This month is also a time to let your manuscript sit in a dark drawer, away from prying eyes. You don’t get to read it. You don’t get to show it to other people...not yet. Distance yourself from your work (and from the rigor of the work) and let it simmer until you come back to it next month, in January, when you can read it over with perspective and a fresh set of eyes.

January: Revision

Your first phase of revision is your own. You still haven’t introduced your manuscript to other readers. Keep this round for yourself. Your head should be full of other people’s novels, so when you turn to your own you may better be able to hear rough patches or finicky plot twists.

February: Readers

NOW you get to show your work to some people whose opinion you respect. Ask them to read your novel and give you notes -- not edits; you’re not into the nitty gritty fine-tuning yet; you don’t care if you’ve misplaced a comma or if you have a tense out of place here or there. Just get broad notes on characterization, plot, language, dialogue, scenes, sense, etc.

Collect all your feedback and consider it. Many writers I’ve come across have a hard time taking in their reader’s feedback, feeling like their work is too precious, or the reader just doesn’t “get” the work, or any number of reasons.

But the truth is, as a writer, you’re not writing for yourself, you’re writing for them, for your readers. So if your readers are struggling with something, take a step back and pull your ego out of it and change the damn thing.

You’re supposed to pick writers whose opinions you trust, so there’s no reason why you should back out of that trust once you get their feedback.

March: Revision

Round 2 of revisions! Now that you have reader feedback it’s time to make those changes. Run through and fix what your readers have asked of you (as long as you agree, and you’ve taken your ego out of it!) and then run through it one more time reading your entire manuscript out loud.

Reading aloud lets you actually hear how things are sounding outside of your head, instead of locking you inside your own brain where things generally sound better and make more sense.

April: READ!

You’re almost done! So put your manuscript down and let it sit again in that dark drawer that’s becoming more comfortable and friendly by now. Read more books and learn more so that when the time next month for critique and final edits, you have more knowledge and more writers in your head to help you error correct.

May: Edits and Critique

This is your final round of edits, so instead of finding readers among your friend group, send this round off to people who are actual writers or editors. If you don’t know someone who is a professional writer or editor, hire somebody. You’ve just spent MONTHS working on a novel that you want to actually be able to publish? Spend some cash to get it professionally edited! If you believe in your work you’re making a worthy investment. If you don’t believe in your work, that dark drawer will be happy to hold onto your manuscript until you’re ready to grow a pair and make it good.

Make your final edits per your editor’s notes, give it a final read through, and accept that it’s not going to be or do everything you wanted. I remember Zadie Smith saying something like, “the best time to revise a novel is several months after it’s published.” You’re never going to catch everything; you’re not going to be 100% satisfied.

And hey, you’re still probably not done. Next month you’re going to send it off to agents and publishing houses and you’re going to get rejection letter after rejection letter. It’s likely going to take several months for an agent to want to pick up your work. Stick to it; learn from rejection. If you’re lucky enough to get feedback, incorporate that into your revisions and keep on sending.

If you're going the route of independent publishing, you can be sure that your work is ready for the public at this stage.

Following these steps may not seem as romantic as churning out 50k words for NaNoWriMo but they’re going to give you a manuscript you can be proud of, knowing you actually put in the work.

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Enticing Blurbs to Tantalize Your Reading Buds:

To Conquer Heaven: by Felix Long

Jeremy Wang, an astrophysicist completing his PhD at Cambridge, discovers a clue to the secret location of an ancient tomb; the final resting place of Qin Shi Huang, the bloody-thirsty tyrant who in 220BC forged the empire of China from the total destruction of six ancient kingdoms.

Terrified of the fate awaiting him in the afterlife, Qin Shi Huang combined the emerging science of alchemy with the deepest secrets of Taoist lore to create the Elixir of Life.

The Emperor drank too deep and fell into torpor. And so he waits in his hidden tomb; the apex of an entire civilization’s art, science, and magic.

Fans of 80s action adventure cinema ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ and the Indiana Jones series will love To Conquer Heaven.

A Darker Shade of Sorcery: by William Collins

Evan Umbra is the newest Venator to enter Veneseron, the school for demon hunters, only demons are the ones hunting him.

A Venator is a wizard, a spy and a demon hunter rolled into one. They’re taught how to wield their sorcery and enchanted weaponry by orcs, elfpires and aliens alike. Their missions range from battling monsters and saving countless lives in the multiple worlds, to wrangling killer unicorns and calming down drunken yetis. Being a Venator is perilous and every new mission could be their last.

Whilst learning how to manipulate the elements, summon magical creatures and shoot Spellzookas, Evan encounters a dangerous rival and meets a girl who makes him feel nauseous; but in a good way. He makes the first friends he’s ever had in the carefree Jed and the reckless Brooke. Whilst Jed gets on the wrong side of a rival Venator, Brooke finds herself falling for the enigmatic demon hunter who brought her to Veneseron, not knowing he isn't quite human. But it soon becomes apparent that Evan is more than just a Venator. Everyone wants to kill or capture him, from demons to Dark-Venators and even people he’s supposed to be able to trust.

Evan reckons he probably won’t survive his first year at Veneseron.

Warning, this novel contains goblin soap-operas, elvish boybands and banshee bananas, read at your own risk!

Chase: By Elle Harte

The man you want is chasing you but everything about him ticks off all the wrong boxes.

Blayne Worthington thinks every man will end up like her ex and doesn't want a relationship.
Chase Cooper wants Blayne and even though he has a history of running away from relationships, he doesn't want that anymore, because Blayne is the perfect woman for him.
Will they keep running from their destiny or will they finally be able to trust each other long enough to let love heal them?

Exchanged: by Daniel Silva and Vanessa Mozes

Aubriel has always admired the esteemed paladin Elston, but when it comes time for him to choose between her and the treasure she unwittingly leads him to, he chooses the treasure. Elston’s betrayal puts Aubriel in the path of a powerful fey lord—Callannon Thray—whose invasion of her dreams assures Aubriel that he has plans for her. But she refuses to be used again. Unable to return home with the possibility of facing Elston there, Aubriel follows Lord Callannon Thray to a realm of great magic and even greater danger.

When Callannon arrives to defend his treasure, he’s surprised to find a beautiful elven woman already defending it for him. Aubriel is everything he’s wanted but failed to find in a fey woman—kind, honest, trustworthy—but there’s one problem: she’s mortal. When she agrees to go with him to the fey realm, Callannon has no choice but to hide her mortality to protect her from those who would use her against him. The captain of the king’s guard is one such person, and she won’t rest until she sees Callannon stripped of everything he has.

Among enemies and in the midst of political turmoil, Callannon and Aubriel must hide the truth of her mortality or risk Callannon’s ruin and Aubriel’s freedom.

The Bard Speaks: by Montgomery Mahaffey

Ella Bandita is a deadly seductress. Her peculiar tastes are for the hearts of men. She preys on those men who's concerns are only for themselves: the Gambler, the Rogue, the Charmer.

These are men who are greedy, womanizing, and proud. Yet when Ella Bandita claims her victims, she fires up rage in the people of the villages she plunders for licentious men. When Ella Bandita claims the Charmer, the women grow jealous and full of rage. They hire a Bounty Hunter to stop her thieving their men.

Ella Bandita is now an outlaw.

No wonder she's the Bard's favorite Villainess.

By the fireside the Bard weaves tales for the children of the village about Ella Bandita's conquests. How she makes one great man fall after another. He urges the children of the village to hold onto their greatest power. To always listen to their hearts.

Even with the Bard's warning, no one is safe. Ella Bandita is still an Outlaw somewhere. With such unstoppable power, will there come a man who can stand up to the infamous Thief of Hearts?

How to Make a Best-Selling Book Cover

What goes into making a book cover really stand out?

Among the best selling bookshelves of today’s book stores, it’s hard to determine what exactly pushes books to the top lists -- other than incredible reviews, marketing, and authors with hot names. But what if a book is stripped away of the other stuff -- what if you’re an indie author trying to make a name for yourself with limited marketing collateral and no big push from a publishing company?

They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, yet that’s the very first impression your book gives off. What else is going to compel a person to pick up your book from the shelf and turn it over to read the blurb?

The book cover.

First impressions are everything in sales. If you’re going to convince a reader in 2.5 seconds whether or not to flip through your book on the shelf, you need to have a stand-out book cover.

There are different reasons people choose a certain book cover over others:

Mood

Some great book covers evoke a particular mood. Horror is a genre that does this quite well. Promoting feelings of fear by using dark or high contrast images, scratchy text, and the combination of red and black are at the top of the bag of tricks for compelling horror covers.

Matching your book’s mood to what the cover evokes is one way to grab your reader’s attention and show them the contents of the book before they even read what’s inside.

Many romance novels’ covers look exactly the same: some big muscular man with no shirt on and the wind blowing through his hair, often clutching a fair maid in his arms.

Do you know how many romance book covers Fabio graced? Hint: it's A LOT.

Why are they so often the same? Because it’s a style that works. It tells the reader what the book is (especially if we’re talking about generic paperback romance novels) and what to expect -- that it’s going to be similar to the other books the reader has read and loved.

How you can capture Mood in your novel cover

Create a Pinterest MoodBoard

Pinterest is a treasure trove for image inspiration. You can search for and collect images that reflect a certain mood, theme, or that revolve around a particular image, like a crystal ball or wolf.

You can follow my fantasy inspiration board here for some incredible pictures of sexy dark fantasy (hint: it’s my most popular board on Pinterest!)

Inspiration

Get inspired by other authors writing in your genre. Find covers that you’re drawn to and save them (either in a folder on your computer, or by using Pinterest).

Pull Key Themes

Bear down on your novel and pull out key themes from it. These can be general themes, like grief, forbidden love, vengeance, etc. Or they can be more nuanced, like reflections of a particular culture, musings about the end of humanity, or imaginations of the future.

Use these themes to direct your image search and your cover art.

Ask yourself, what is essential to convey?

From the moment your potential reader picks up your book, what do you want them to know about it?

Design/Branding

If images aren’t really your thing, the design and branding of your book cover can do a lot to convey the story to a potential reader.

Typography is an art unto itself. Similar to images, you can establish mood with typography. By themselves (and with a good eye for color to enhance this) fonts can set the tone for how your work is received.
 

Ruta Jamenis' designs for His Dark Materials on Behance.

Curiosity

If you don’t want to divulge your book’s secrets on the cover, you can use curiosity to pique your potential reader’s interest.

This is usually done by choosing a title that teases a reader into wondering what it means or how the story will unfold.

Like Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects and Gone Girl, Paula Braxton’s The Witch’s Daughter, and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, titles can intrigue a reader and need minimal cover design to get the point across: you want to read this book.

Novelty

The last in the bag of tricks for how to get your book cover noticed is to use novelty. If you want to stand out, do something different!

There are endless books on the shelf that look the same. If you look at sci fi covers from the 1970s they all start to blend in with one another.

If you want to stand out, take a look at the styles of contemporary covers that are prevalent in your genre and notice what you can do to stand out.

For example, looking at these Sci Fi covers from the ‘70s I can see that a stark cover with no illustration and just bold text would really stand out. Or something that includes only a single element, like this one from Sylvan Neuvel’s Waking Gods.

To get your perfect book cover, don’t be afraid to try new things and constantly tweak the cover you’re working with.

For Ella Bandita and the Wanderer and its attendant novelettes I was lucky enough to work with an extremely talented artist BANE, who knew just what I wanted to convey.

We started with a concept for the cover for the novelette Challenge:

 

The Wanderer is faceless in both of these because we hadn’t figured out what he looked like.  But the ferocity of Ella Bandita’s 3/4 profile was so much more powerful as just a portrait. And oh Lawdy!  That pose! Too cool.

Just because I liked it didn’t mean we didn’t go through several iterations on the final cover.

Here’s what BANE delivered next:

Here, she’s in a huntress pose. But what is she hunting for? She looks very sexy, but the problem is she also looks a little too gorgeous. The point of the character is her animal magnetism. Here she looks like a supermodel. Or Michelle Pfeiffer in her prime.

I also don’t care for it that the characters are not interacting with each other. What does Ella Bandita have to look so fierce about?  Needless to say, I’m so glad I stopped BANE before he kept going!

We worked on character sketches next to catch the Wanderer's face:

And here’s the final version- surprisingly different from the rest:

This section of the book is about the Wanderer’s seduction of the Seductress herself, Ella Bandita. I wanted to highlight their interaction and show the reader the nature of the novelette -- you’re sure to find a sex scene or two in this one.

I pulled a scene from the book that highlights an unusual moment shared between the two characters. If you’ve read any of the Ella Bandita and the Wanderer novelettes, you know Ella Bandita is a badass femme fatale who seduces the worst men and claims their hearts.

But when she meets the Wanderer, it’s not seduction on her mind. It’s how to get rid of this annoying upstart. How does someone seduce the ultimate seductress and melt down her ice cold guard?

You’ll have to read Challenge to find out!

Social Media for Authors who Hate Social Media

If you're an indie author who abhors social media, like me, there are ways you can boost your online presence without making your stomach churn. How can you use social media to your advantage even if you hate being on social media?

Let's be honest, social media takes up a lot of time. A lot of time you could be spending writing. Or going on adventures, y'know, for fodder to write about.

But in this overly-connected world, if you don't have a social media presence, you're basically dead in the water. No one will hear of you. You'll have no huge base of raving fans.

You either have to learn to love social media, or poke at it from a distance with a stick.

I like the former option, which keeps my time free for writing, and the agonizing time spent on social media low.

Here are a few of my most effective tips for managing a social media presence without having to put in much work.

 Choosing the lesser of the evils

or, how to find the right platform for you

socialmediahate

If there's a platform that seems less vile than the others, by all means, use that platform as your sole social media. You don't need a twitter, facebook, instagram, pinterest, and goodreads account. You can cut the fat and just do one of them really well. This way, you'll be spending less time, stress, and frustration spread across multiple platforms, and you can more easily learn how to be effective at your one social media outlet.

Twitter

I learned that twitter, which is the worst of the worst in my mind, wasn't doing anything for my business. I would gain new followers, have some favorites and retweets each week, but none of that engagement was making any difference in my website views, or buys for my book.

Because twitter is the lowest converting social media platform (with a conversion rate of 0.5%) unless you LOVE twitter, or are a master at the 140 character sales pitch with a HUGE following, it's going to be the least effective way to spend your time on social media.

Goodreads

If you read a lot of books and like talking about it, goodreads is a platform that lets you engage with other readers and authors and promote your book in a non-salsey kind of way. You can host giveaways which gain you exposure, and you can enter review groups or find beta readers to help grow your amazon reviews. This isn't an incredible way to convert to sales, but it's awesome for boosting your online presence and gaining traction with amazon reviews.

You can also use goodreads to find authors who you can partner with in a webinar or email giveaway swap, so that you can expand both of your audience's together. More of a community than a sales tool, goodreads is perfect for you if you actually want to go deeper than other surface social media platforms, like twitter.

Instagram

It's hard to make instagram work for authors, but if you're on it, and you enjoy taking photos, you can use it as your social media outlet instead of the rest. Posting inspirational photos that remind you of a scene or setting in your book can generate interest in your novels -- especially if you're a good photo taker. You can caption an image with a compelling quote from your book. You can arrange your books with a cup of coffee and some items from around your house that are within the aesthetic of your novel, and drive people to the sales link. Or you can promote a giveaway through an image (remember, it doesn't always have to be a photograph - you can make a jpeg advertisement and upload that as well).

Instagram is actually a more versatile platform than you might thing for selling books, and there are lots of reader feeds and author feeds for you to follow to get more inspiration.

Here are some of my favorite bookish instagram users:

http://instagram.com/thebookpeople/

https://www.instagram.com/lilitslittlelibrary/

https://www.instagram.com/bookbaristas/

https://www.instagram.com/youngadultbookaddict/

Pinterest

This is the platform that I find has the highest conversion rates. Pinterest is an incredible visual marketing tool. I drive 80%+ of my web traffic from Pinterest. You have to have minimal design skills to use Pinterest so that you can create pins to link to your website, but this is easily done on Canva if you don't know a more designy program, like Photoshop.

Screen Shot 2016-09-06 at 1.46.55 PM

If you want the secret weapon for how to make Pinterest grow your fan base and lead to sales, I highly recommend Melyssa Griffin's course Pinfinite Growth. It will show you how to reach and attract your ideal audience, maintain motivation (cause even if you enjoy this particular bout of social media, putting it to work for you can be hard!), and how to raise your monthly page views.

Pinterest lets you target people who actually want to see your work -- giving you a higher chance of converting viewers in to sales.

Since I'm a visual person, I love spending time searching for new books and ways to help indie authors succeed. So Pinterest is a fun way to do that and build up my statistics so that I'm a formidable Pinterest presence!

Facebook

I have to admit, even though I despise being on facebook, I'm finding that it's a useful author platform to move from stage 1 indie author (who's just struggling to get the first book out) to a stage 2 indie author, who is focusing on cultivating a fan base.

Facebook allows you to connect with your readers. You can use facebook to host AMA's (ask me anything) where readers or authors can come to you and engage with you for an hour or so as you answer book or writing related questions.

You can host other kinds of events, like giveaways that stir up a comment and liking frenzy, or connect with another author to host a joint venture.

Facebook also offers ads that can be targeted to a particular readership, which leads to conversions. I'm just starting out with facebook, so I'm no master of it, but if you're interested in using this platform as your social media outlet, check out Nick Stephenson's free training for authors:

10kreaders

You'll learn a lot more than just how to use facebook, but, to be honest, this man has it down pat.

If there are other social media platforms you'd like discussed, or want to add a comment, chime in! I'd love to hear from you!

Want this post as a guide? Download the pdf!

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Not Sure How To Make Your Characters Come Alive?

Stand Out Books offers a great free investment for independent authors in the form of an email sign up. Once a week, they send out emails with the latest strategies to help you boost your sales and write better books.

Why we love them:

Stand Out Books offers insight into the mechanics of writing, publishing, and marketing indie books. They're humorous, yet their articles aren't filled with fluff. You'll get actionable advice that's easy to implement. Sign up for their email list and start improving your writing and make more sales today!

This week in my inbox came a nice little surprise with the subject line of: Not sure how to make your characters come alive?

Some people might thing they're beyond this...that they have no problem making their characters come alive. But feeling this way is limiting. We can all use a little more advice. Sometimes, I find it helpful to hear the basics over and over, from different sources, because each time I hear something again I get it a little more, or I find another perspective that I hadn't previously encountered.

Even if you feel like you're beyond this step in fiction writing, take a second to read through the article. You may discover something incredibly valuable that you'd otherwise miss.

From Stand-Out Books:

Not Sure How To Make Your Characters Come Alive?

There’s a secret to writing strong characters. It’s not about perfect dialogue, vivid description, or stirring emotion. Those are all important, but the most essential ingredient in making a character feel alive is an author’s insight into human nature. Without that, you’ll gravitate to stock characters and melodrama. Why do people do what they do? Why are their motives so often hidden and seemingly the opposite of their actions? What’s going on in their minds, beneath the façade they present to the world? What makes one person noble and another self-serving? And what role do a person’s backstory and environment play in shaping these aspects of their personality?

Read the full article here.

If you have other advice you'd like to share, please leave it in the comments below!

How to Write a Book Review

Book reviews are not all created equally. As a reviewer, you can gain raving fans who hang on your every word...if you know what kind of details to give them, that is. Want to know how to write better book reviews and earn followers?

Take Notes

When you're reading, keep a pencil handy. If you hate marking up the pages of your book, or if you're on a kindle, use a separate notebook. I like to highlight quotes I found particularly delicious, and make a general outline of the character relationships and plot. This will help you when you move onto step 2, which is creating a brief summary.

Often we read a book and then want to talk about it -- but can't remember the details. By taking notes you'll make it so much easier to jump into writing your review so that it's compelling, clear, and spot-on.

Offer a concise summary - but leave out the important details.

The best way I've found to do this is write the review as if it were a long-form blurb on the back of the book. You want to leave tension and mystery so that the reader will want to pick up the book and read it herself.

Look at the backs of other books and get inspiration for what kinds of information you could include and what you should leave out.

It's especially helpful to find a book blurb for inspiration that's in the same genre as the book you're reviewing. Each genre has its own way of appealing to an audience. Ie. a mystery is going to sound different than fantasy or sci-fi.

Putting a summary first lets the reader decide if they're interested in the book depending on the book's own merit, which is why I suggest leaving your personal opinion for after the summary.

If you start off saying "I liked it," or "I found it really dull," you cloud the reader's ability to decide for themselves whether a) they trust your opinion or not, and b) if the book's summary suggests the same.

Once you've laid out the landscape of the book, the reader can then seek your opinion. After hearing about the plot, what you thought about will make a lot more sense than if it came before.

Include personal details by explaining how the book as a whole affected you.

Was it fast or slow? Was the writing on point? Readers want to hear how you felt when you read the book. Once you've established credibility by writing a solid summary, you can offer your own thoughts about the fluidity of the writing or the stilted dialogue.

Be sure to temper your opinions and back them up with the contents of the summary -- you don't want to undermine your credibility by slamming the author when the summary seemed like everything was pretty good.

Go deep.

For a stand out review, go deeper than just stating the plot and how you felt about the book. Give the reader some tantalizing information by answering the question, "What really stood out?"

Character development? Plot twists?

Make sure your language is up to snuff. Readers judge reviews based on how well they read, so please please edit your review and make sure your grammar and spelling are on point.

Wrap it up with a strong call to action.

End by telling the readers what you want them to do. Kirkus review has a rubric their critics like to use:

Buy It = this is a can't-miss, fabulous book; Borrow It = not perfect, but we think you'll enjoy it; Skip It = critical miss

Follow this recipe for a review and you'll build up a stockhouse of raving fans in no time!

The Divorce of Vice and Virtue

Montgomery Mahaffey is the founder of Left Hanging, a half-hour radio show on KTOO FM in Juneau Alaska. Featuring folktales and fables from around the world – Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, the Arabian Nights, Norse Myths, Celtic fables, etc – Mahaffey hosted from January 2007 until August 2009 when she moved to Portland, Oregon.

Left Hanging opened with Mahaffey’s version of the tale of Scheherazade using storytelling and suspense to seduce and dissuade the King – who was rendered psychotic from the infidelity of his first wife – from beheading her at night’s end. Like Scheherazade, Mahaffey left the audience hanging so people would tune in the following week to find out what happened next. Besides ancient tales that have been told for thousands of years, Mahaffey also shared her original work – like the fable version of Ella Bandita and The Divorce of Vice and Virtue – as well as contemporary fiction.

Although Mahaffey found this form of storytelling to be a different experience from a live audience, she found it very rewarding and welcomed another way to express her love of the old myths and fairy tales that influenced her writing.

You can listen to a clip from the show here:

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From 2005 - On the Book Tour in Alaska: Suckers for Cutsie Poo and Unexpected Good Dates

Before I get too carried away, let me just say one thing...next time in Anchorage, check out El Tango on Tudor behind the Holiday gas station.  If you've gone to Hooters you have definitely gone too far!  El Tango has a fantastic menu of latin cuisine - Columbia, Argentina, and Puerto Rico - a very friendly staff and a small dance floor.  It's only been there for a year, the location sucks, but if you like your ambience refreshing, then this is the place for you.  

Last night at Cook Inlet, I was one of a cluster fuck of writers.  Needless to say, we were overcrowded at one small table, so we got another one and two of us sat there.  I figured stake out the front door and get more attention, but everybody still herded around the schoolteacher at the other table, with a mountain of her "Recess at 20 Below," full of pictures of her students having FUN in her class and adorable narrative about school life in Delta Junction.  It was very cutsie poo.

Meanwhile, I misread a possible fan, Sheila, and told her the first chapter of Ella Bandita, complete with the dirty old sorcerer, the cold-blooded daddy, and the eaten heart.  Sheila then let me know that she was a fan of Walt Disney version of fairy tales and that she used to have a friend who would have been into my writing because she wrote a lot like me.

"But she's dead now," Sheila said.

So nice of her to tell me that.

Do I sound bitter?  Really, I'm not.

At this point in my road trip, I have had enough successes to not sweat the flops.  Besides, last night was a quality, if not a quantity, experience.  I ended up with a date.  A good one, too.  With the nice guy.

Go figure, that never happens to me.  I usually gravitate to the those-I-cannot-or-should-not-even-consider-wanting-to-have types.  This one has a steady job, no addictions ( at least, not obvious ones ), courtly manners, good body, and blue eyes that are awful purty to look into.

That's how I ended up at El Tango.  Besides the food and the Argentinian staff, they had a keyboard player whose keyboard created a symphony with every note, and the staff would get up there and sing.  Since they didn't have the tv screen enabling bad singers to massacre mediocre lyrics, it wasn't really karaoke, but it kind of felt that way.  Since the staff were the main singers, most of the songs were in spanish, so it was very cool.  It also helped that they could...oh, sing.  Hugo, the owner who was from Argentina, played kind of the lating version of a bluegrass washboard - a weegel ( I don't know how to spell it, and the closest he could come to describing it was a plant kind of like a zucchini, that's dried and then hollowed out - if you want to know what the hell I'm talking about, go there and you'll see), while the bartender had maracas.

I love latin folk, they really have the happy to live mentality down pat.  Hugo gave us free drinks, calling us amigos and that we are family.

"When you are in Anchorage, this is your home."  Hugo said.

Nothing is perfect, however...

Hugo is a sucker for Celine Dion, because his daughter, Lilly, belted out "I Will Always Love You," and he sat there looking emotional.

But other than that, it was awesome.

I was coming back on Tuesday, but my good date asked me out again, so...

I'm coming back to Juneau roughly sometime around before I head down to the lower forty eight by November 1st.  Does anybody have a housesitting gig or an extra room?  I rented my place out and I don't know about crashing on my own couch for almost two weeks.  It'll be good to see the Vagabond - my cat, that is.  And of course, all of you.

7 EASY Ways to Improve Your Writing

No matter how long you write, it can be hard to see improvements- especially quick improvement after trying a new technique or style. But here are a few proven ways to improve your skill quickly and noticeably.

• Set aside time to WRITE more every day

Most writers already try to write everyday, but this is different- actually plan to block out a specific time to JUST write. This time will be reserved to write and do nothing else. Make this time as uniform as possible from day to day and it will be much easier to form into a habit. Don’t make appointments during this time, and make your family and friends aware that you will not be available during this time of day, and etc.

Make sure you are as distraction free as possible, turning of or silencing cell phones, tablets, email browsers, ANYTHING. Make sure you have everything you need around you, water, tissues, a snack, etc. Try to avoid leaving your writing as little as possible. If you have difficulty concentrating at home, I recommend that you go out to a café or library to get some work done.

• Set aside time to READ more every day

All writers know that reading a lot is JUST as important as writing a lot. So just like you will set aside time just for writing, make sure to clear a large block in your schedule everyday for reading as well. Just merely planning to 'read for two hours' at any old time of the day is too easy to put off or not do at all, but if everyday your plan to write from 3:00pm-5:00pm then you’ll be able to develop a routine and stick to it much easier.

• When watching TV shows, plays and movies consciously think about the writing.

Every production you see, no matter how small was written by someone. Think about how they chose to write it and  how you would change it. Would you make it better or is it flawless? Which ever way you feel, try to find out why. What speaks to you? What do you enjoy? These are the things you can incorporate into your own writing. After reading a short story or essay, a good exercise is to try and write in the author’s same style, like you have to write a bonus chapter in the novel but no one can know it wasn’t written by the author. This gives good literary perspective and will greatly help you improve.

• Switch Genres

What ever genre of writing you identify the most with, try to write the polar opposite. Or try to write a piece in ALL of the other genres. Write a research paper, a sci-fi piece, explore fantasy or fable, write a persuasive argument, or a poem. Get out of your comfort zone and try something new.

• Have others read your work

Sometimes you actually are improving, but it’s impossible to see it for yourself. That’s why it’s good to get an outsider’s perspective and ask someone you trust to read some of your drafts. They can give you much needed insight to how your work is without the bias of being the author.

But like you would with any advice, make sure you take what they have to say with a grain of salt. It is your work after all, you will make the final call. But try to be open to constructive criticism, even though your story can feel like your baby.

• Keep your mind sharp

Whether this means doing the daily crossword, reviewing your old algebra notes, or reciting the alphabet backwards, try to find some way to keep your brain active and focused. There are a multitude of memory aids and games that help you stay savvy. Something I like to do is write down every question that I have during the day (for example: "How DOES my air conditioner work?"), and I try to make sure I answer at least one of my questions everyday. This will help you learn so much more about the world around you, which by default helps widen the scope of your writing.

• Lastly, explore all the internet has to offer

We all know that just about any question can be answered by the internet. (Like how you found this blog post for example!) There are too many websites to count that can help you improve as a writer, from Merrian Webster to Urban Dictionary- and don't forget Blog posts like this one!

Thank you for reading, I hope it can be of some use to you!

Kid’s Book Gift Ideas (Ages 8-12)

Trying to get your kids to read more? Not sure what to give your niece/nephew for their birthday? We all know how important reading is for kids, and books are an easy and fun gift to give in any situation. Thinking back on some of my own favorite books as a kid inspired me to make this handy list of quality chapter books for the young reader in your life.

For this blog post I’ll be focusing on the tricky 8-12 age range, where kids are too old for picture books, but still too young for the teen section. I tried to go a little deeper than the Harry Potter series or Charlotte’s Web, which most kids have probably already read or seen the movie.

• Any Book by Sharon Creech: Heartbeat, Ruby Holler, Chasing Red Bird, Love that Dog

Every book by Sharon Creech has its own colorful story and interesting characters, and each is so well written that it doesn’t matter which one you chose, you’re sure to be captivated by it. Love that Dog specifically also happens to be a great way to teach kids about poetry.

   

• Any Book by Andrew Clements: Frindle, A School Story, The Laundry News, Lunch Money

Every one of these books are about resourceful kids making changes and being proactive in their own lives.

Check out my new Children's Book:

The Temptation of the Golden Pedestal

It's a fun Fable story for ages 8 and up with pictures you can color.

  Available as a FREE ebook download!

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• Savvy – Ingrid Law

Every person in Mibs’ family inherits their own unique power, or a “savvy” when they turn 13, and Mibs’ birthday is only days away!

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick

Historical fiction about a boy named Hugo who discovers small robotic machine called and automaton, and how it connects with early French filmmaker Georges Méliès.

• So You Want to Be a Wizard – Diane Duane

This is the first book in the Young Wizard series, which follows Nita Callahan, who discovers a book titled “So You Want to Be a Wizard” in the library while hiding from bullies. She takes the wizard’s oath in the book and discovers that the book’s magic is real, and starts her journey as a wizard.

        

• Dragon Rider – Cornelia Funke

Ben the human boy explores the world on the back of a silver dragon named FireDrake and a brownie creature named sorrel, encountering many magical creatures on their journey to “The Rim of Heaven” mountain range.

• Inkheart – Cornelia Funke

Yet another excellent fantasy novel by Corneila Funke about a magical storybook called “Inkheart” and what happens when the characters inside the book come out into our world.

• Cryptid Hunters – Roland Smith

Grace and Marty O’Hara are sent to live with their Uncle Travis Wolfe, who lives on his own private island after devoting his life to searching for “Cryptids”- or animlas "whose existence has not yet been proven scientifically."

And that's the end of my list. Thank you for viewing!

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How I Organize My Writing Process

As a writer, I’m always coming up with new ideas for my stories, but these ideas don’t always come up at the right time. When I’m standing in line at the grocery store is a less than ideal time to have a revelation about one of my characters, and I can’t just sit down in the middle of checkout lane #2 and write it out. That is why it has become essential for me to find ways to organize my many ideas and writing. So without further ado, here are helpful ways to organize your writing and ideas in a more effective way:

• The first thing you can do to help organize your writing is to write down every idea that you have AS SOON as you can! I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a story-changing idea and was too confident that I’d be able to remember it. Well now those ideas are lost no more, and all because I started using my cell phone's notepad app to quickly type out an idea to remember later. If your cell phone doesn’t have a notepad app, or you don’t want to use your cell phone, I recommend that you carry around a tiny note pad and pencil in your pocket or purse. Most book stores or stationary stores have small pocket sized notebooks, some of which even come with their own pen/pencil attached! I’ve recently started carrying around both a notepad AS WELL as my cell phone just in case I ever forget my phone at home or it has low battery. I still tend to use my cellphone more though because I’m less likely to forget it at home, unlike the notepad. The only thing you have to think about with the notepad is making sure you have enough pocket space and a usable writing utensil at all times.

-Once you have all of your ideas written down, you can then decide whether or not you want to use them later. The most important thing is that they are recorded at all so you have the option of using them at the very least.

-After you've complied your list of ideas/concepts from your phone or notepad, the next step is to prioritize them. Prioritize them as you see fit- maybe by which ones need to be cleared up first in order to move on with your story, or maybe just which ones you feel like doing first. You can even break them up further in to categories if needed. Then work through each idea and then cross it off the list. This will give you an accomplished feeling and motivate you to cross more of them off.

*Bonus Organization Tip*: If you know you get distracted by clutter, open a new word document for each new part of your writing so you can have a fresh start without distractions from what you’ve already written.

• Sometimes the idea itself needs organizing. Often times I’ll be stuck between to different ideas, unsure of which one I want to use in my story, or I need to work through a particular idea or problem that arises from the idea before I can move forward. When this happens, I sit down at my computer and just type it all out. I basically type my stream of consciousness as I think about the issue, weighing the pros and cons of the issue and etc. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or punctuation-just get all of your thoughts down on the page. This is a great way to work through an idea or problem/conflict in your story, especially if you’re having doubts about it. Express your doubts and feelings and analyze them and fix them. Working through the problem by typing it all out makes your jumbled thoughts much clearer.

Since you are reading this blog post, presumably you are a writer. I think this particular method of working through an idea works best for writers in general, but there are variations of this same activity that may work better for you:

-if you’re more of a visual person, you can also draw it out.

-if you’re more of an auditory person, workshop it/talk it through with someone else.

Feel free to try it my way, but ultimately you know what’s best for you.

• If you’re on the computer doing research, bookmark every web page you find useful. In my internet browser I'm able to make folders for my bookmarks, so I always make one folder per story/project so everything I need will be in one place. Make sure you bookmark everything that you read, even if you think you won’t ultimately use the information. This is especially helpful if you do end up referencing or quoting something in your story that you weren’t originally planning on, but you don’t remember where you got it from. Now you’ll have all the websites you looked at in one place to make it easy.

• Speaking of folders, I recommend that you have all the documents you write for a certain project in the same folder on your computer as well. If you prefer to use a type writer or write by hand, consider buying physical folders or even use a file cabinet (if you don't have one already). But for those of you who write electronically, you can make a filing system that works best for you, but personally I make one folder per separate story / writing project and save everything I need in that folder. If your computer gives you the option, it can also be helpful to color code your folders for even more organization. This can help you identify folders at a glance and save you time. Organize your documents in a way that makes sense to you- but try to keep simple to minimize confusion.

*Bonus Organization Tip*: Make sure you name every document with something memorable so that you’ll be able to recall exactly what’s in it. Most people don't realize this but sentence-long titles are fine! I find that the more specific the title is, the better.

• My last tip is: use note cards! If I’m trying to figure out a plot line or the sequence of any given events, I find it helpful to write each event down on a note card or small piece of paper to arrange and re-arrange on a table until I’m happy with the order. This can also help me see if any events or ideas are unnecessary or redundant, where I might not have realized it before.If you’re having more trouble with the sequence of your story beyond that, sometimes it helps me to try to explain a common fairy tale to someone who hasn’t heard it before. That way, you have to think about which information to give first and how to say it to make the story the most interesting and coherent as possible. Make sure you choose a story with a loose plot that you have a general understanding of. Like Little Red Riding Hood- you know the basic plot points: going into the woods, meeting the wolf, arriving at grandmother’s house, etc. But this time think about how each part relates to each other and how to best tell the story so the other person understands. Telling kids stories works best for this, since they most likely haven't heard it and you'll need to simplify it to only necessary information for them, while keeping them interested.

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed my tips for better organizing your writing.

My Top 10 Tricks for Writing Inspiration

  When inspiration strikes, it gives us a wonderful flow of power and motivation, and enables us to produce high quality work at a fast pace. But who has the time to sit around and wait for inspiration to spontaneously occur when we all have pressing matters and deadlines to meet?

This is exactly why I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 most effective things that inspire me to write instantly!

No one knows how to say anything better than Writers. Luckily, there are countless websites out there devoted to quoting authors and their knowledge. Authors offer many words of wisdom, comfort and humor, but their most valuable quotes by far are the advice they give to other writers. Whenever I read a quote, I find that my determination and enthusiasm are completely revitalized. So many quotes from famous authors have inspired me that I decided to tweet one a day on my twitter account. That way I can feel inspired to write every single day, and hopefully help inspire someone else in the process.

Have a look for yourself and follow me for your daily quote of inspiration: Montgomery Mahaffey @FreeFlyingPress

Like most writers, I’m a regular at every minor and major book store around. If I’m out running errands and a book store happens to be nearby, I can’t help myself from stopping in to browse the ‘New Arrivals’ section. Being surrounded by books is a wonderful feeling, and it always gives me encouragement that my very own book will someday be among them! Not to mention, that magical smell of new books is an instant anti-depressant. So stop by your closest book store (or Library- after all, it’s free!) and pick up some new books to read.

Thanks to the internet, sharing images is easier than ever. Just through one Google search alone, I can see into any number of people’s homes, cars, bed rooms and offices. People are posting pictures of themselves and their lives in abundance, and some of them really know how to make things look good. Seeing other author’s picturesque workspaces never fails to inspire me to clean off and organize my desk. Especially since working at a crowded desk makes my thoughts muddled. Once I clear everything off and put it back in order, it’s like whipping a dirty windshield clean. Give it a try for yourself, and who knows? Maybe all of the clutter you’ve gotten used to might actually be sabotaging your creative process.

I chose this image because I’m primarily a fantasy writer, and luckily for me, there are ENDLESS amounts of beautiful fantasy art for me to gaze upon. One of my very favorite websites for finding inspiring fantasy images is Pinterest. There are so many talented artists out there, and they make me feel like I’m looking right into the world I’m writing about. Then while I’m browsing, I often discover something new to put in my story. If you use the right key words, regardless of the genre you write- you can always find some inspiring images that relate to your story.

Here’s my board on Pinterest dedicated to Fantasy Inspiration: Fantasy Inspiration Board - Fantasy Fashion Board

No matter how much I love books and reading now, I never would have gotten this far if it weren’t for my favorite authors. I recently made a list of those special few writers who really made an impact on me with their work and vision. Once you have your own list, revisit every book you’ve read by them, and think about what you like most about it. If I don’t already know, I try to learn more about the lives my favorite authors led and how they got to be famous. Learning about great writers always inspires me. Here’s my list as an example:

• Jeanette Winterson: “Sexing the Cherry” and “The Passion”
• Isabelle Allende
• Tom Robbins
• John Irving
• Truman Capote
• Jane Austen
• Agatha Christie
• Florence King
• Hans Christian Anderson
• John Kennedy Toole

Of course it’s necessary to understand something well before writing about it, but I often find that research on its own is more than enough to inspire me to write a few pages.

Once I have a complete understanding of the way something in my story works, like alien technology or landscape, I feel unstoppable. This is especially true if something in my story is based on a real concept or item, then I can learn as much as I can about it and have lots of reference material to fall back on.

So take some good notes and make sure you really do understand a concept by explaining it to someone else.

For me, listening to the right kind of music is key for my writing process. If I really need to concentrate, I listen to music without lyrics, such as classical music or alternative lyric-less audio. If I’m writing a sad, dramatic, angry or exciting scene, often movie sound tracks provide excellent mood music, and Pandora has endless stations to choose from.

Music doesn’t even have to relate to your story, you can just put on your favorite song or any classic inspirational track like “Eye of the Tiger” or “Don’t Stop Believing” and dance around your house until you feel inspired enough to write!

Odds are that you already know what type of music you like and works best for you, so just think about how you can apply it better to your work. Maybe your favorite genre of music can be doing more for you than you realize!

When I’m really stuck, I always have this trick to fall back on. Pick up your laptop and writing supplies and get out of the house! Whether it’s just sitting to the neighborhood park for 5 minutes, or spending the afternoon in a warm coffee shop, getting up and moving around always gets my thoughts flowing. When I go somewhere else to write, like a café or library, then I have nothing to do but write. In this a way, I give myself no choice but to get things done. The same thing can’t be said when I’m writing at home, surrounded by distractions. Another great plus to being out in public is people watching. My stories always contain people, so observing real live humans is a great benefit for my writing.

While I was already on Pinterest looking at inspiring fantasy images, I also found a number of intriguing writing prompts, (as well as genius writing tips & tricks). So while you’re already on the internet from my last tip, open up a new tab to search for some Writing Prompts.

Pinterest is my favorite, and I’ve devoted an entire board to it, so you don’t even have to do any work: Writing Inspiration Board - Writing Tips & Tricks Board

It might seem strange to think that not writing at all will help inspire you, but putting too much pressure on yourself and forcing yourself to write is a no-go. If I concentrate too much on trying to write well and quickly, I often get less done and the quality of my writing suffers. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and your writing is to just back off and take a break. Go relax and have some fun. Watch a movie with friends or go on an outing, and do your best not to think about writing. You’ll find that as soon as you stop stressing over what to write, the answer becomes clear and comes to you naturally.

Well, that's my list! I hope it can be of service to you! What are some things that inspire you that I didn't mention?

4 Tips for Fantasy Authors at Fantasy or Sci Fi Conventions

I overheard a fantasy convention veteran say to another vendor, "if you think you're here for the sales, you're doing conventions wrong." As a few hundred sci fi and fantasy fans milled about the various rooms of the SeaTac Hilton, I wondered to myself, what then, are conventions for?

It's clear that unless you're selling high cost items you're unlikely to make much of a profit. Selling books to cover the cost of the three-day weekend is nearly hopeless. There's the hotel room, the gas for the some-odd hour journey, and the cost of the booth itself, which typically runs around $150 for a smaller convention.

Being a vendor at a convention isn't a luxury position. You have to actively engage with the group of convention goers and make them interested in what you have to sell. And if you're not going to cover your costs, why bother?

I had an insight as to what the convention vet was getting at.

You're there to build your potential sales.

You're developing the one key element to selling books and building an audience of raving fans.

Your email list.

This is the golden ticket.

Because it's a lot easier to nab 100 emails than sell 100 books to a group of about 300 strangers.

And selling to your email list is the proven strategy best-selling indie authors to shift thousands of books into the hands of their fans.

Of course, you have to run a cost/benefit analysis on the convention.

A few hundred dollars for 100 emails isn't a great deal.

But if you attend a massive convention where you can grab hundreds of emails, the higher cost may be worth it.

Staying close to home cuts costs, and though the convention may be smaller, you're pitching to a local audience, and that can offer great value if you also plan events that you can invite people to.

To get the most people to our booth we held a raffle for a free book and gorgeous poster. Here's an image for ya of that poster:

And heck, since I like ya, I'm offering a FREE high res pdf download for you! 

Then we coincided the giveaway with a storytelling. This way, we ensnared the listeners with the story, and when the rest of the attendees didn't win the raffle - they desperately wanted to buy the book!

Here are my key points for making a convention successful.

1 - Dress Up Your Booth

At our first convention, the booth wasn't all that decked out. But after seeing the amazing draperies and signs that most people had up around their booths, we got wise.

Create an inviting space for convention attendants to enter into. Entice them in whatever way works with your book. Nothing says stay away more than a blank table with your books on it.

Here's a shot of our booth after setting it up. None of us were in costume yet, but the booth sure looks pretty!

2 - Raffle an Item to get Emails

Again, building your email list is the #1 way to make book sales. Offering something of value for free entices people to stop by your booth and sign up. Make sure that what you're giving away suits your book's theme and the convention. We knew fantasy lovers were into art - so we offered not only the book but a stunning poster of original art from Ella Bandita and the Wanderer.

Coupling the raffle with a storytelling performance allowed the attendees to preview the story while listening to an engaging performance. Who could resist?

3 - Engage with the Attendees

For us, that meant getting decked out in Renaissance garb and connecting with other vendors.

Vendors make great customers too!

The more you talk to your potential fans, the more interested and engaged they become. You need to make yourself accessible at the booth.

Don't hunker down into the rabbit-hole of your phone.

Stay active and engaged with whoever is walking by. Smile. Offer a compliment. Not everyone will stop and talk to you, but don't lose out on those who will by closing yourself off. It's okay to feel bored sometimes!

4 - If You're Not Having Fun, You're Doing it Wrong

It may be hard to keep spirits up at a convention when you're not making sales. Focusing in on chatting it up with other vendors and attendees is a great way to stave off boredom. And even if you're not making direct sales, each email you get is a little victory.

Remember, you can take breaks! Just post up a little sign saying "back in 5" and take a stroll to check out other booths and events at the convention.

Bring a friend along to help you. It does wonders having another body in the booth to keep you alert and happy. Plus, they can rave about your book so you don't have to.

5 Essential Marketing Strategies for your Ebook

The landscape of the contemporary book market is chaos. You have a wonderful book you know readers would love, but how will they ever find it? There are a myriad of websites telling you you must do this, and you must do that, but if you did everything they were telling you you absolutely had to do, your time would be booked out six hundred years from now and you'd never find the time to write another book again. So what is absolutely essential to getting your book noticed? Do you have to be on six different social media platforms? Do you need to spend 80 hours a week marketing your book, leaving no time to write? Of course not!

Here is our essential list for marketing your book. Forget the rest. Focus on these and you'll have plenty of time to write your next best-seller.

5 Ways to Market your Book that Leave You Free to Write the Next One

1. Find your Niche

Fantasy, Romance, Thriller, Non-Fiction (what a broad swath!), Sci-Fi. Umbrella terms that will only lump you in a massive pile with millions of other authors. How is a reader ever to find your book? It's like casting about blind in a pile of stones for the one that has your name on it. So how do you start lifting rocks out of that pile, making it smaller and much easier to discover hidden gems? Finding your niche is the first step to making your book stand out. Readers know what they want. If they loved Harry Potter, they're not going to want to sift through a slag of books that include sub fantasy genres like horror or historical fiction if they want a book that's just like Harry Potter.

Ask yourself a few questions to define your demographic: who are my readers? What other books are like mine? What are THREE key words that differentiate my book from the mire?

Use the answers to hone in on your niche. Do a google search with your key terms and see what other books pop up. If they have a smaller category, consider tagging your book with that label, so readers can more easily find the book they're looking for: Your book.

2. Design a Website that can be easily updated. Then forget about it.

I love movie websites. They include the only information you'll need to know (if a movie's already been released.) One of the most minimal examples I've found is this one for Limitless. What I love about this site is that there are no moving parts. I mean, except for the trailer than plays on load. But there's nothing to be maintained, and your author website could be like this (this is one example). If you really hate working to promote yourself, why spend time developing a website that will require your constant engagement? If you don't like blogging, don't do it--no one will want to read a passionless post. If you do love blogging, then by all means, create one. You want essential information to be given to readers immediately. Your website should tell them these key things:

•   Who you are.
• What genre your book is, and who it's intended for.
• A cover, synopsis, trailer, excerpt, etc.
• An email sign-up form (offering a free ebook download or some other swag to entice the reader to sign up for your list)
• A where to buy link.

Those are the essentials. Cramming your site full of extraneous fluff isn't going to engage readers. They want to know who you and what your book is and that they're going to love it. That's it. Easy. Then, in all that free time you now have, you can add the next book in the series and leave it alone again until the next one. (You're welcome.)

3. Pick ONE social media site you ENJOY using and focus on that one.

Don't go crazy and spread yourself thin over Pinterest, Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, and the million other social media sites out there. If you don't want to make regular, quality contributions to twitter, stay off it. If you're not used to Pinterest, don't spend hours trying to learn how to market yourself there. If you love facebook, have a ton of friends, and enjoy going on there for an hour a day, that's probably your best platform to use. Goodreads is a perfect spot to connect with authors and readers, but it takes effort to join groups and engage. Learn about different social media sites, what they have to offer, and which one would be best for you. Pinterest is all about visuals. If you have great art to go with your book and genre, slap a juicy quote from your book on an image and post it up. Twitter is all about the 140 character nugget of tantalizing information. Goodreads will make you friends that are readers/writers/lovers of the book. Explore, try things out, but keep your focus on one site and limit your time spent on others so you can write that next book!

Do you hate using social media?

Download my guide Social Media for Authors Who Hate Social Media and shortcut your way to success!

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4. Engage

Engage with your readers. Engage with other writers. Engage in conferences and events for your niche. Find blogs that offer author interviews or guest posts and do one. Spreading yourself out there in these ways will get you noticed and garner you a following.

To engage with your readers, get them on an email list and send them memorable, awesome content once a month. Include a free printable poster/book excerpt/discount in each email along with a tantalizing update about your book's progress, or whatever you want to share with them.

To engage with other writers, do what you wish they'd do for you. Review books. Comment on their website. Offer a guest post over at your blog. Tweet about their book.

Find conferences and events in your area. We've just started attending steampunk/fantasy conferences in the Pacific Northwest and I can tell this is a great place to find readers will pick up your book and buy it. Unlike book fairs, conferences that are specific to a genre allow you to present your work in front of your demographic. And it's not likely you'll be competing with 100+ other writers. There will be artists, makers, designers, and a whole slew of other producers who won't be in direct competition for your sales. Events are great places to network and find friends who share your goals and aspirations, and can help you get there.

Bloggers everywhere offer guest posts and author interviews. If they're in the blogging business, they want content. You can both benefit by sharing your email list, tweeting the post to your followers, and using other methods of promotion that reach twice as many people. Pitch the blogger with your great idea for a post that will be worthwhile to their readers. Offer your promotion up front, as in "I have an email list of sixty dedicated readers who would love to know more about your X blog!" This is another great way to make friends and help yourself while helping another.

5. Write the Next Book

There's nothing better for your book business than writing that next book. Having more books under your author name gets you noticed exponentially more. You can market more, offer more diverse content for your readers, and just have a heck of a lot more material to work with. If you implement the four steps listed above, you'll have plenty of time to write the next book while gathering buzz for its release.

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the self publishing business! Comment below!

How to Revamp a Fairy Tale

We all love them: the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, the new re-tellings of fabulous fairy tales by contemporary authors such as Aimee Bender or Kevin Brockmeier. Fairy and folk tales have a lot of allure. They touch on universal topics, they're strange, they captivate, transport, and feel real all at once. Fables are the inspiration for Ella Bandita and the Wanderer. They're easy to contemporize because they have such universal themes. This post is going to give you a few quick, easy applications for transforming your favorite story into a new, contemporary piece. Want to be inspired?

Download your free story of Scheherazade - my retelling.

How to Make an Old Story New

There are, of course, many ways to re-tell a story. You do it all the time when you're telling your friend what happened on the latest episode of New Girl, or when you're describing the jerk at work whose sour attitude always spoils your day (I hope you've more experience with the former, not the latter!). So that's your story telling backbone. Now, take a fairy tale you know a little something about -- it doesn't have to be well -- and try some of these exercises on it to see how you like the story you've created.

I'll start with my favorite:

• Write the story from the point of view of the "evil stepmother/brother/witch/sorcerer" and make the reader sympathetic to them. OR, and this is maybe even better, make the sympathetic character the evil one (ie, Cinderella's really a nasty, scheming gold-digger).
• Replicate the story exactly, but change the setting to a contemporary landscape. For example, Francesca Lia Block updated Cupid and Psyche by turning them into a couple who met on an online dating site. (It's a GREAT story! Read it!)
• Combine two fables. See where the original stories intersect and create your own based on that comingling. (like the little Mermaid meets Leda's swan)

• Ms Litterati recommends this, and it sounds like loads of fun: take away the magic. "A fairytale without magic sounds completely ludicrous at first but it’s a way to put a fresh twist on your story. Think about the movie A Cinderella Story: it follows the storyline of Cinderella without having an actual fairy godmother to wave her wand and help transform Sam, the “Cinderella” character."
• Copy the plot of a fairy tale, then put in characters from another book. Everyone handles situations differently. Just imagine if Hermione were in Harry Potter's place...

What are you ideas on how to revamp a fairy tale? Link to your story in the comments if you want to share one!

Ours is a highly individualized culture, with a great faith in the work of art as a unique one-off, and the artist as an original, a godlike and inspired creator of unique one-offs. But fairy tales are not like that, nor are their makers. Who first invented meatballs? In what country? Is there a definitive recipe for potato soup? Think in terms of the domestic arts. "This is how I make potato soup." --Angela Carter

Remember to sign up on our mailing list for actionable advice about self-publishing and fantasy writing. Plus, I'll send you a copy of Scheherazade for free!

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Top 5 Websites for Author Marketing Resources

Over the first year of developing a press and author identity online, Free Flying Press has a few gems to offer other writers starting their journey to independent authorship. A few things are absolutely essential for the aspiring indie author: community (made up of readers and authors alike), social media (get out there and engage!), and a marketing platform. Of these, the latter always proves the most difficult. Here's a round up of the top 5 most useful advice and author marketing platforms that we've found:  

1. The Creative Penn

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author.  She shares her knowledge about self-publishing and marketing with monthly emails and great content on her website. If you want to know about how to start your marketing platform, build a social media strategy, and sell your first book, check her out!

2. Author Marketing Club

AMC has it all. Tutorials for beginning authors, marketing strategies, tons of great freebies, all in a centralized, easily navigable place. Great for each novel you put out. Our favorite feature is the 'review grabber' which lets you search a genre or title in amazon, and pulls all of the reviewers email's or websites from the reviews. Then you can set up your plan to email them for reviews of your own book! For every 20 reviewers I mail out to, I get about 5 responses, and of that about 2 reviews. Not bad! It's about $25/mo to join, or $129 for the year. Totally worth it.

Here's a rundown of their services:

• Book Widget Creation Tool
• AMC Buzz Team
• Amazon Enhanced Description Maker
• New Member Book Feature
• FREE Pre-made Book Cover
• Masterclasses
• Free 99c Book Promotions
• Author Marketing Academy (videos/webcasts)
• Author Success Interviews
• Author Marketing Checklist (they give this away for free)
• Book Discovery Sundays
• Author Secrets Mastermind (marketing and promotion strategies)
• Author Tales (you can upload text or video)
• AMC Bookalyzer
• Brag Board
• Help Me Choose a Cover

3. Goodreads

This is the best place for community. Goodreads offers groups, which let you build community and find like-minded readers. There are also groups for readers/reviewers, where you can get a fair number of reviews for your book. You may have to work a little to get them, but that's what this is all about--work and results! Plus, host a giveaway on goodreads and reach thousands of potential readers who will save your book in their 'to-read' file and boost your rankings.

4. Inkitt

Inkitt is a goldmine. Here you can post your own stories and get feedback from writerly readers. You can also find great stories to read and authors to connect to. They have near-constant competitions running so you can get your work noticed. It's rather new, so you have a smaller, targeted audience, and a lot of passionate writers to connect with.

5. Standout Books

With tons of cute infographics to go along with solid writing and marketing advice, Standoutbooks is a fun mailing list to sign up with. They offer a few promotional/marketing/editing services, but I go there mostly to peruse the advice blog.

Bonus: Your Guide to Social Media

If you're like me and you loathe social media, my guide for authors who hate social media will help make this necessary evil a lot less daunting and horrible.

Get your guide now !

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