WRITING TO SELL: How to Write Your Book’s Sales Page

As we discussed yesterday, a sales page is an important part of maximizing your ebook sales. Well, the process of putting words together in a way that will convince someone to buy is called copywriting, and there are three key copywriting lessons that are particularly important for authors.

1.     Benefits vs. Features: Any copywriting worth his or her salt will tell you it’s important to talking about the benefits of a product instead of the features that product happens to have. Chances are you didn’t buy the last book you read based on the number of pages, chapters or words it had in it.

How it applies to a book: The benefit of a book is best conveyed through an excerpt (much like Amazon’s “Peek Inside” feature) and through the book summary you include—these things allow potential readers to see for themselves that your book will satisfy their needs.

2.     Endorsements & Testimonials: Buying an unknown product (or a book from a new author) can be scary. You don’t know what you’ll get. And, sadly, many of the books out there that are self-published aren’t up to par—making readers wary. Endorsements and testimonials help convince shoppers that a product won’t be a waste of their time or money.

How it applies to a book: In the book world, endorsements and testimonials are better known as reviews. An endorsement would be a review by another author, someone with authority or someone a reader might already know; a testimonial is simply a review by another reader. Knowing others have read your book and were willing to say something good about it can help reassure readers they your book will be worth it.

3.     Branding: Once a shopper has limited their selection to a few similar products, in order to decide which product to buy he or she will often look at who is selling the product to them. Does the shopper want to buy from a particular company?

How it applies to a book: In the book world, the author is the brand. Why should something read a book written by you? Your author bio is an essential part of your sales page and should make a convincing argument for why you are qualified to write this book—whether it’s because you’re a fantasy lover, who began consuming the genre while still in grade school or because you’ve made Amazon’s top 10 list with each of your last three books, you should be able to find some reason that you were qualified to write that which you have written—you did write it, after all.

This is a guest post by Melissa Breau, for detailed how-to info on creating a strong book description, getting reviews (of both varieties) and writing an author bio, check out her FREE online tutorial: Maximizing your eBook Sales. Or, if you want help making it happen, sign up for her new eBook Sales Package (packages start at $150).

The One Mistake That Could Stop You From Selling More Books

*This is a guest post by Melissa Breau, an AMAZING editor I've had the pleasure to work with a number of times.*

You probably didn’t get into writing for the money. But once you’ve put all that hard work into writing a book, paid to have it edited and had a cover designed, you’d kind of like it to sell more than a few copies, right?

Well, there’s something most authors overlook when it comes to selling their books—and it’s something that can make a huge difference in the number of copies you sell.

 WRITING A GOOD BOOK WON’T GUARANTEE SALES

While writing you surround yourself with the world your characters live in, so it can come as a surprise when you’ve finished your masterpiece to learn the work is only half over.

A good book may gain you a reader’s loyalty, but before they know whether your book is any good they have to put out their money and buy it. You still have to market and sell it.

And all that is just to lead a potential reader to your sales page—it doesn’t guarantee a reader will click “buy.”

It’s the content that have on that sales page that will make up their mind on whether they should click away or click to add money to your bank account.

 The Secret to A Great Sales Page

The key to creating a great sales page is to think of this part of the process as a business—your readers aren’t just fans, they’re also customers.

Like any “customer,” readers are looking for the right “product” to satisfy a need. With a business book, perhaps they’re looking for tips on using Twitter; with a fantasy novel, they’re probably looking for an escape. If they’ve made it to your page, it’s likely they are looking for a book like yours.

But if you want them to part with their cash they need to be convinced you have what they need. So if you want to sell more books, you need to think about the your customer—what info does he or she need to decide if your book is for them?

Then make sure your sales page provides them with everything they need to know.

Not sure how to do that? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post—a primer on what every self-publishing author should know about writing to sell.

This is a guest post written by Melissa Breau. She is a freelance writer, editor and a cheesy romantic who likes long walks on the beach and arguing about comma placement. Her FREE online tutorial on Maximizing your eBook Sales details how-to create a strong book description, get reviews and write an author bio. Or, if you want help making it happen, sign up for her new eBook Sales Package (packages start at $150).

Dividing Amazon into Edited Indies and Un-edited Indies

I’ve had several guest editors on my blog that have written about the importance of getting your work edited before you self publish. The general consensus is that (and I agree with this) all writers should have their work edited prior to self publishing.

But there is a conundrum when it comes to the market. Readers want books that are inexpensive and often won’t take a chance on a new author if the book is over .99. They are afraid to put money out for a book that isn’t put together well. I don’t blame them. I have seen a number of e-books by self published authors that are not only riddled with mistakes, but also look as if the author hasn’t cared to even attempt a proper e-book design.

You know, the book is missing things like chapters, an attempt at formatting, spell check. Basics that should be done no matter what you decide to charge.

So I don’t blame the readers one bit for not wanting to take a chance on an e-book. I get frustrated too.

There are authors who say that they can’t afford editors if they are only going to be putting the book up for .99. Their argument is something along the lines of what do you expect for a .99 book? Again, I can understand that. Let’s say you put $1000 worth of editing into a book (that’s not a lot by the way, that is a mid-low range of cost) and then you put your book up for .99. Under the current royalty rate at Amazon, you need to sell over 2800 books just to break even. That’s a lot of books.

But what if there was a different way to go about this? A way to, in a sense, reward authors who’ve taken the time and money to properly edit their books prior to publishing them?

Stay with me here. I know that there are flaws in what I’m about to suggest, but it’s an idea that may prove some merit if you give it a chance.

What if when you uploaded your book to Amazon (just for simplicities sake I’m going to use Amazon as my example) there was a section that said “Tag your Editor”. And then there was a list of *(1)*Editors registered with Amazon. You scroll through, find your editor and then tag them.

In my case that would be Jessica Klassen and Melissa Breau.

Then Amazon sends an email to these to lovely gals asking for confirmation that they did indeed edit my work. The click on the yes and now my book has confirmation of being edited.


What would this accomplish you ask? Two things.

1.It would show readers that the book was, at the very least, edited.

2.It would allow the author to charge a higher price for their book if they chose to.

You see, my idea is that if you aren’t an edited author, you can still publish your book, but you can’t charge more than .99 for it. Quality and cost can now intersect on Amazon.

In fact, to take this a step further, why not have Amazon break the Indie Authors into two sections? Edited and un-edited. That way the reader can decide where they want to spend their money and their time, with authors who *(2)* can’t/won’t/don’t edit or they can spend their money on authors who think enough of themselves and their work to put in a little time and effort.

If you have editors you could still choose to do a discount of .99 for your book, but again, readers would be able to see that you have CONFIRMATION of editing have been done.

Like I mentioned, there are flaws to my plan, but they could be worked out. This would give readers some idea of the quality of book they were purchasing and allow them to feel more at ease with a slightly higher price for an indie author’s book, which would in turn help the author make a living.


After what I’ve read in indie books, I can tell you that while there are a large number of authors who would never publish their book without editing, there are also a large number of authors who don’t, for a variety of reasons even make an attempt at having their work edited. The unfortunate part of this is that the people who need to get editing done are rarely the ones researching and finding out what the industry standard is, because if they were, there would be no need for this discussion.


*(1)*The editors would have to somehow prove that they were indeed legit before being able to get on the list and it could be broken down into country too. Perhaps they would have to supply Amazon with either a reg. Number from an editors association or proof of employment with a publisher or perhaps just website. I don’t know the answer to this one, it’s one of the flaws in my system that could easily be taken advantage of.


*(2)*There are a LOT of editors out there who are reasonable, I don’t think it’s a matter of can you afford to edit, but can you afford not to. Save your pennies, you can hire an editor, even if it’s for a single pass through the manuscript, it’s worth it.

Why Even a Self-published Author Still Needs An Editor

Have you ever been in the middle of a book you’re really enjoying when you catch a typo? Or maybe it’s a word that just doesn’t quite fit, or a character who you’re pretty sure had brown eyes earlier, but whose lover is suddenly talking about their beautiful baby blues?

When a writer signs a deal with Random House, Penguin or another major publisher they sign away some of the profits. In exchange, one of the most significant things a publisher has to offer is its team of professional editors. Those editors are responsible for finding holes in the book’s plot line, ensuring consistency, proofreading and copyediting.

When an author chooses to self publish, instead of going through a publishing house, they can rarely afford a full team of editors to review their book. Instead, they are often forced to wear a variety of different hats–and for many of them, editing their own book seems like a good way to save money.

But editing your own work is actually harder than it appears. As the writer, it’s difficult to achieve the distance required to notice where the plot can be strengthened. Since you know exactly what you intended to say, it’s tough to catch sections that might be confusing to a less knowledgeable reader. And, since you’ve poured sweat, blood and tears into the words, your eye is more likely to skip over typos and see what you intended to type rather than what is actually there.

A book editor does a lot more than just look for misspelled words or ensure you’re using the correct version of there, their or they’re. A good copy editor understands pacing and how sentence structure plays into foreshadowing and mood. They can point out where a chapter might benefit from an additional scene and can help choose sections that slow the reader down.

Book editors also create a style guide for each book they work on. The guide includes notes on design (for example, notating how chapter headings look, so each is set up the same way), detailed information on characters (so Stephen doesn’t become Steven and his physical attributes remain consistent) and places (how was the name of that Dwarven city spelled in chapter two?).

Of course, using an editor doesn’t guarantee your book will be error-free; but it can help cut down on the number of slip ups in your final copy, which means reducing the number of times a reader slips out of your plot line to think instead about the words rather than their meaning. And isn’t every writer’s goal to help their reader lose herself in their novel?

This is a guest post written by Melissa Breau. She is a freelance writer, editor and a cheesy romantic who likes long walks on the beach and arguing about comma placement. Her resume includes time spent at Pet Business Magazine, Columbia University Press and in the Manhattanville College Marketing Department. She has her Masters of Science in Publishing and is always willing to talk shop on twitter– @melissabreau. She is also blogging about her freelance journey over at Jargon Writer (http://www.jargonwriter.com/) –or learn more about the services she offers on her website, http://www.melissabreau.com/.

Commen Speling Mistackes

For those of us (and by that I mean me) who can write but still struggle with spelling from time to time, this post is for you. (And by you I mean me again.) I think I have come to rely so much on my spell checker that I have gotten lazy when it comes to correct spelling. It’s so easy to hit the spell check button and have the whole manuscript in perfect order in such a short time it almost seems redundant to bother doing it yourself.

But from time to time I think it’s a good idea to make sure our grammar and spelling is up to snuff. It would do us no good to have an article or blog come out riddled with mistakes. What kind of authors would that make us? (I try to fix mine I do!)

For fun and a little wake up call for us bad spellers, here’s a list of 10 words with a correct spelling and an incorrect spelling. Now no cheating and using a dictionary or your spell check, this is all on you. I’ll put the answers in the comments. Good luck and happy spelling!

accommodate or accomodate

concensus or consensus

seige or siege

exhuberant or exuberant

marshal or marshall

quandary or quandry

propeller or propellor

occassion or occasion

alotted or allotted

dispel or dispell

Holy Rocking Outline Batman!

Yesterday I had 9 burgeoning editors and a professional editor read my chapter by chapter outline for my new WIP. This was by far one of the best experiences I’ve had when working with editors (Excepting you Dorrie!) They read the outline ahead of class as homework, then for nearly 2 hours in class we brainstormed, filled in blanks, poked at plot holes and patched them up.

We went through extraneous characters and how to use them better (thanks Shawn!) and many great ideas were put forth (thanks Amanda, Jessica and Sandra) and I know that many of them will be used in the next outline. The whole class was a great experience, mostly because the book is not yet written, so I’m not tied to any particular scenes (don’t make me cut that one, it’s my favourite!) and I’m completely flexible on moving around the chain of events and the development of the characters and the plot.

They asked questions, why, what, where, how come and made me think about my back story and how I was going to develop it. (Thanks to Danya and Karen). They pointed out inconsistencies in my theories as well as my plot (thanks David).

This might sound painful, but it wasn’t compared to the alternative. Was this easier than working with an editor AFTER I’ve written 90k words and don’t want to be told it isn’t quite right? Hell yes! In an instant I would tell any and all author’s that this is the way to develop your story. Find a group, whether it be online or in person and go through this process, before you write anything. It will save time, heartache (no cutting those favourite scenes) and it will allow you to have a full outline to write from. No more. “Where do I go from this scene?” angst.

I still think it would be great to help other’s do this, but I know there is a lot of fear of idea stealing in this industry, warranted or not. Soooo. If anyone wants to contact me by email you can and I’d be happy to help you with your outline.

A Storyboard Conference and You

I've been taking an editing course as some of you may recall and my third class is tomorrow. Lots to learn from the editing side of things, but what I want to share with you is something called storyboard conferencing.

The basic gist of this is to have an author lay out their novel in a chapter by chapter summary, hitting on the plot points and any major information. Each chapter summary should be no more than a small paragraph to begin with. So a 30 chapter book will take up something like 6 pages or there abouts.

As the class needed someone to volunteer their material for this portion of the course, I said I would do it. I outlined my paranormal romance novel and then fleshed out each chapter, working with the teacher on smoothing out the sentences and making the whole piece flow better. (It looks suspiciously like a synopsis to me but I refuse to call it that.)

After this, the other students will have the piece sent to them and then we will all come back next week and they will have suggestions on how to make the plot better and the characters and story more believable. Cool huh? Apparently this is how things are done in many publishing houses, you have a conference with several editors and work out the kinks in your story BEFORE you write it. Freaking genius if you ask me. (This from the seat of your pants type of writer that I am.)

I was sad that not all of us get this opportunity and then I had a thought. Why not? With the group of on-line writers that I've met, I don't see why a few couldn't get together and help each other BEFORE they even write their next great masterpiece. Of course the storyboard conference can be done after a manuscript is written, but there is more difficulty in that if you cut something there has been a lot of time put into it.

For those of you interested in doing some of this storyboard conferencing, hold tight and I'll tell you my final thoughts next weekend, after the results of the class. But I think that it's safe to say that this idea has definite merit, don't you?

The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler

The Hero's Journey is one of those books you look at and go "Really? Another book on how to write a story?" but whoa nelly, it's nothing like the others in the same category. Based on Joseph Campbell's work, Vogler takes the writing process to a whole other level.

Vogler takes you through the Hero's Journey in such a way that you can't help but learn from, breaking down the sections, characters and situations and how you can apply the Hero's Journey to any genre. Romance, screenplays, mystery, fantasy, literary fiction, YA, horror, adventure. Doesn't matter what you write, long, short, or in between this book will open new doors of understanding.

I've read several books on the writing process and all of them had helpful hints, but none of them came close to the moments of understanding as I read Vogler's book and applied his ideas and theories to my own writing.

The only thing I would warn against is that near the end of the book Vogler starts preaching and I will admit to putting it down. The first 3/4 of the book though were worth every penny and I in my humble opinion something that every writer should take the time to read no matter your genre.

Books that Actually HELP Writers

We, as writers, try to learn not only from the books we read for enjoyment, but also the books that are written to help us breakthrough in the publishing world. There are literally thousands of books out there about writing, publishing and editing. Not to mention the magazines, workshops and conferences. How to write, how to fix your writing, how to edit, copy edit, line edit. How to write a scene, how to outline. How to write a novel in 30 days, 60 says, 90 days, 3 days. The list can go on and on and on. So for that reason, I want to share with you the two books I have actually found helpful for different times in my writing career thus far.

For Inspiration

Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within- Barbara DeMarco-Barrett.

This book is for the boys too! I liked it because it was engaging, not dry at all, it had great ideas for getting started, dealing with writers block as well as finding the time to write. There are real life examples from well known authors and best of all, it’s not a huge book. The chapters are small enough that you can read one in a ten-fifteen minute sitting and spread out over a week or two the suggestions are easy to implement.

For Rejections & Editing

Thanks but this isn't for us. A (Sort of) Compassionate guide to why your Writing is being rejected- Jessica Page Morrell

This book is great once you are in the trenches, sending out queries and manuscripts and getting the rejection slips back. But it is also a great book on how to start doing your own editing. There are the common mistakes all writers make at the beginning of their careers and there are the not so common mistakes that can stop you from getting that all important contract. This book is also at times laugh out loud funny, which is surprising considering the subject matter.

There are a number of writing books that I’m looking forward to reading to help me out. Books like, The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler , Booklife by Jeff Vandermeer just to name a couple. Reading books on writing is all part of the process of not only being a writer, but being the best writer you can and using the tools and resources that can help you get to that point.

I would love to know, what books have helped you in your writing? Were they serious, funny or only informative? Should I add them to my list of books to read? Did they actually help or just irritate you with repetitive messages?

Polish and Shine with Liz Engstrom Part 2

Here’s the second part to Liz Engstrom’s workshop on your final polish of your manuscript.

16. Make sure the ending echoes the beginning.

17. For fiction, make sure your protagonist has an internal revelation separate from
his external problem solving.

18. Make sure ancillary (supporting ) characters don’t take over the show.

19. Take out clichés.

20. Be interesting with every sentence.

21. Vary the rhythm of your sentences. Not all short, not all long.

22. Put a sensory image in every paragraph. Don’t forget that we currently have five.

23. Make sure that the only thing that slows the plot is a subplot complication and
not description.

24. Can you heighten the tension? Tighten the suspense? Do it. (Draw it out)

25. Have you answered all the questions your story posed to the reader? Double check.

26. Omit unnecessary words.

27. In the final read through it should read like the wind.

28. The ending MUST be satisfactory.

29. Memorable fiction has memorable character names. (Try to stay away from the
everyday)

I truly hope this list of Liz’s helps all of you as much as it has me. Using her suggestions has helped me to make great strides in my work and I know for most of us there is at least one or two things on this extensive list we’re guilty of. ;) Best of luck in your revisions and polish and shine!

Polish & Shine with Liz Engstrom Part 1

This is for all of you out there working on revisions. Maybe you worked your tooshy off with Nanowrimo and are now trying to pull all the pieces together. Maybe you're working on a longstanding project you'd like to see completed before the end of the year. Or maybe you're like me and are working under a deadline. Either way, here are a few tips for spit polishing your MS from a workshop I attended run by author Liz Engstrom at the Surrey conference. She has a list of tips that is quite long but I'm putting half of them in today and half in tomorrow.

1. Take out all the side trips. If it doesn't further the plot, it doesn't belong no matter how well written.

2. Flesh out areas where you been telling and not showing. (You can use dialogue to help correct this.)

3. Take out every use of the words : very, causing, here, this, now, today, just.

4. Investigate every use of the word "it". There is usually a better word.

5. Investigate every sentence that begins with "There is" or "There are" This indicates a weird point of view.

6. Investigate every adverb. Try to pump up the verb instead.

7. Replay every conversation to make certain the person speaking is attributed correctly.

8. Take out all qualifiers : almost, kind of, nearly, sort of. Pump up the action, the drama.

9. Look for ANYTHING that might distract the reader and fix it. (Liz also called these shin busters, sentences and sections that literally stopped the flow of things.)

10. Make sure the reader is grounded in space and time with every jump.

11. Investigate every use of the verb "to be" (is, are, be, being, am, were) and gerunds. "He was running to the store" vs "He ran to the store."

12. Investigate every use of passive voice, looking for the telltale "by" construction. "The ball was hit by the boy." vs "The boy hit the ball."

13. Make sure every sentence furthers the story.

14. Make sure every chapter has a structure and is weighted at the end.

15. Make sure your opening grabs the reader and flows smoothly into the rest of the story.

Few, it's quite a list, but so helpful. If you get through all these tonight with your revisions and can't wait for tomorrow, you can always check out Liz's website as she has many teaching aids for writers there. http://www.elizabethengstrom.com/

Christmas Writing Excuses

The holidays are usually filled with sugarplums and eating too much, candy, new gadgets, blinking lights, sparkling tinsel and lots and lots of eggnog.

This year though I will be starting a new tradition, one that I'm sure many other writers have faced. I have time off through the holidays and during that time off I will be not only working on revisions for Book #2, I will also be working on revisions (hopefully minor) for Book #1. These said revisions need to be finished and polished for . . .wait for it . . .

January 5th.

That's three weeks on the button. Am I upset about this? Not in the least! This means I have the perfect excuse to get out of all the overeating, excessive drinking, having to talk with people and make nice even though I will probably NEVER meet them again, parties. Because now I can say,

"Nope, can't come. Must write."

Ahh. I am so looking forward to the next three weeks. :)

The question to all of you is, do you use your writing as an excuse to get out of things you don't want to do?

Interview with . . .editor CA Marshall

I'm very pleased to have CA Marshall, editor, writer, lit agent intern and blogger answer a few questions about being an editor, the good the bad and the cliched!


1. Other than the obvious reason of loving books, what made you want to become an editor?

This may sound odd, but I never actually planned or wanted to be an editor. I knew I liked books and words, but up until I got my MA, I had planned on being a midnight poet and working some other “normal” day job. During the last few years of undergrad though, I started editing papers for friends with Dyslexia and other writers who wanted a second set of eyes before turning something in. Those friends recommended me to their friends and so on until I had strangers asking me for help. When I learned that I could actually make a living as a freelance editor, it was like a light bulb clicked on. It was the perfect job for me and it just sort of fell into my lap. I’ve ever so grateful to those friends who recommended me way back when and set the whole thing in motion.

2. Being an editor, what is your #1 biggest pet peeve when reading a published book?

Endings. I hate being sucked into a really awesome book only to find out that it’s just a really long prologue for a second book or a series. It’s really, really annoying when that first book doesn’t do well (because the ending sucks) and then a second is never released. Be sure to wrap things up at the end, and make this book count.

3. What is your favourite part of the job? What is your least favourite?

Favorite: Spending all day in bed with my dog Mollie reading books and seeing those books go on to find agents and publishing contracts. Happy dancing is a favorite pastime.

Least favorite: Seeing a writer so clueless about everything in this business and having to sit down with them and basically destroy their world. I’m a teaching editor, not just a fixer, and it just kills me to have to give bad news but it’s got to be done.

But then another favorite is when those writers come back after revisions and research and learning and their work is phenomenally better. It might’ve stung at the time, but seeing writers grow and become better is amazing.

4. Approximately how many books/ms are you able to edit in a year?

This year I’ve tried to balance writing two books of my own, editing, and living a life, so I only did about twenty-five. I could do a few more next year now that I’ve found a good rhythm. I don’t like to schedule more than two edits at a time so that I can give the proper amount of attention to each though, so it won’t be a major jump in numbers.

5. As a writer and an editor, does this job leave you much time for your own writing?

If I make time for it, yes. Being an editor takes just as much time as any other full time job. Sometimes I have to say no to things in order to have time to do what I want. I don’t have a TV, so that helps. It’s all about deciding what is worth your time and what you’re willing to give up in order to do those things you love. For me, I want time to edit and work on my own stuff, and play with Mollie. That means giving up TV marathons and nights out and sometimes sleep to get things done. But it’s worth it.

6. Favourite all time book and character?

Oooh, that’s way hard… Um… Can I make a list instead?

Favorite books:
Harry Potter series
Anything by Jane Austen
Terry Prachett’s Tiffany Aching series
Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers series
CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia
Beth Revis’ Across The Universe

Favorite characters:
Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)
Fiver (Watership Down)
Catherine Moreland (Northanger Abbey)
Rob Anybody (Wee Free Men)
Calcifer (Howl’s Moving Castle)
[I seem to like the sidekicks!]

7. How long did it take you to become an editor between any schooling and apprenticeship time?

My training happened over the last five years or so, in classes at college and university. Last February though, I decided to make it official and got a paypal address and a website and put that training to use as a freelancer. All of my clients this year have come through word of mouth, I’ve been really lucky there.

8. What are the one (or two) cliches you see over and over in books, either ones you edit or ones you read?

Cliches, like overused plot devices? I see a lot of "locking eyes with hot boy and am instantly in love." There's a lot of strange goings-on, like sometimes the book doesn't match its description; a romance with too much action and not enough relationship building, etc. Audience expectations and what your book delivers can make or break you. It's important to take a step back and make sure that the story as a whole fits together.



9. What is your best piece of advice for those looking to find an editor?

Ask around before Googling. There are a lot of websites with flashy promises and very little feedback. Ask your writing friends if they’ve used an editor and how their experiences were. After you’ve rounded up a few names with good reputations, then Google them. Find others who praise them or give questionable reviews. Ask for sample edits. Ask them how they work (teaching, fix only, one-time contact, available afterwards for questions, etc) and make sure they are a good fit for you. Ask for CV’s and references. If you’re going to drop $500-$1000+ you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the best value and that the two of you are going to work well together.

C.A. Marshall is a freelance editor, lit agent intern, YA writer, and loves to play with her dog Mollie. She dreams of one day owning a small house near the water, preferably in England, with a shelf full of books she has written and has helped others to write. She can be found in Emmett, MI and at camarshall.com

Two things not to do at the Start of your Book.

Okay, another lesson from the big book of Shannon's blunders. When writing your masterpiece that will become the next Twilight or Harry Potter (depending on your romance level) there are two things to consider in your opening chapters.

1. Keep your character numbers low. The lower the better. And this doesn't just mean the characters that are physically in the scenes, but also the ones they, your characters, talk or think about. I would say five or so is your max. I find this difficult as I always want to fill the reader in on EVERYTHING right off the bat, but its better to hold off. This will also save your editor some grief. Why is this important? Too many character gets confusing for the reader to track and they could quickly lose interest.

2. This could apply to any section of your book but I tend to use it at the beginning with my council of Archangels having a discussion about the problems they must attend to. Using a group, or meeting in your book is a common trick for writers to get across a lot of information to the reader quickly. This also can be very confusing as again you are probably dealing with multiple characters talking about multiple characters. And because its a commoon device it doesn't exactly make you stand out of the crowd. Not good for the readers, agents or editors.

That's it, I've got to get back to my Nanowrimo project now. I'm way behind and only have 4 full days left. Hope these tips help and please add to them in the comments section!

Sounds good. . . write?

Eee gads. Where to start? Okay, I have two days of writing ahead of me, my husband is off working this weekend which keeps the house quiet and I have a ms that I'm totally in love with and can't wait to get back to. Sounds good right?

I also seem to have a slight addiction to Twitter now that I'm figuring it out and have been searching for writers and such, chatting with them and making friends. Also sounds good, right?

I've sent my completed ms, The Chronicles of Sin: Gluttony, off to the editor for a final polish edit after completing some awesome revisions so I can then send out another round to agents. Still sounds good.

So before the other shoe drops and something happens that I'm no longer writing this weekend, or all my new Twitter friends unfollow me (Yay for my Twitter followers!), or God forbid, my editor tells me she will no longer edit for me no matter how much money I pay her, I'm going to go get writing.

(As a side note, just heard from my editor. She'll keep editing for me, I just have to send her another cheque!)

Free Editing Contest!

No, I'm not the one doing the editing! But for those of you who are have a ms, finished or close to it, this contest may just be for you. The editor is celebrating some big milestones in her career and is giving back to all us poor and craving editing writers!

So here's the LINK with the way you enter (it's really easy and kind of fun) and as you may have guessed, one of the ways to have an entry is to write a blog about the contest! Actually, you get 5 entries. Hot diggity!

Writers Retreat Wrap-Up

Writers Retreat via Mt. Washington was a success, a smashing, fantastic success! I finished ALL my revisions for Gluttony AND I was able to do research for my Untitled ms. These two tasks alone would have taken me a number of weeks at home.

Lots of laughter abounded(when we could drag ourselves away from our work) and lots of familial love. Cause that's what my writing group is becoming, my other family.

A few things I learned while at the retreat and who I learned it from in brackets are as follows

• Just because you hire an editor, doesn't mean he/she is always right about your work. (Sandy & Kathie)
• Critiquing isn't painful if its done with a group who actually cares about you and your success. (Kathie, Sandy, Jim, Poul, Charity & Clive)
• Being away from home DOES mean you can get more work done. (Shannon)
• Reclusive writer's need friends to turn to that can understand their angst of the moment.(Charity)
• The hot tub is very hot and should be used with caution. In other words, get out before you pass out. (Shannon)

Three days of nothing but writing, writing discussions, more writing and re-writing left me with only one thought. I can't wait till I get to do this again :)

Cut and Remove

The novel I am working on is coming along very well, in fact I'm ahead of schedule. This is very good as the next couple of weeks are nutty busy with the other side of my life. You know, work, riding club and family. All of which I love. . . but . . .

One of the things that I have happened upon recently was the whole idea of cutting out a massive amount of writing and redoing it. How realistic is that? I asked myself. Would I ever need to do it? At the time I didn't think so until I saw that the second book in my Chronicles series needed to be from a different characters point of view. Which meant that the 30,000 + words I had already written were just. . . practice.

Oh well, it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. In fact, I found that the new story is a better plot, better idea than the first one I had. So my piece of advice is this.

Don't be afraid to chop up, remove or otherwise make massive changes to your MS. You may find like me, that the new work with a fresh start is miles ahead of what you first thought was your best idea.

Reading Anyone?

This is a shout out to those who might be interested in doing a little rough draft reading for me. As I am working on my next novel (not too far into it yet) I would like to line up some readers who aren't afraid of a bit of bad grammar and a less than polished manuscript. This way, if I give you a time line it will help me get my book finished, knowing that I have committed to have it into my first readers hands in a set amount of time. For those of you interested, this is what I will be looking for :

1. Someone who can read the rough draft in a timely manner. In other words, if you don't think you could finish it in under a month this won't work. The idea is for me to move along quickly in the process. Q-U-I-C-K-L-Y.

2. Someone who has read at least a few fantasy/urban fantasy books, otherwise you won't like what I write no matter how good it is.

3. Someone who won't just tell me how much they love it. Yes I do want to hear that you love it, but I also want to hear what bugged you about the characters, which parts of the plot you got confused about or just that you didn't like the ending. Whatever it is that you didn't like, I need to know.

Those three things are what I am hoping to find in my first readers. I already have a couple, but would like to round that number up a little as I like to get a few different angles on the book. If you're interested let me know and we can go from there, set up when I would send you the rough draft etc.

Outlining = Good

I have never, never been the writer who outlines work. I just go with the flow, write what comes and see what happens. And in the past it has all been fine and dandy.

Not so much now. I am beginning to realize that not only is an outline a good thing, it can actually generate excitement to write and get going on a project. It helps to know where you are headed I guess.

With that in mind, I just finished the outline for book # 2 in the Chronicles series, which is now totally different than the original idea I had. And I am part way through the outline for book #3 in the same series. Of course, I am also working on my revisions for book #1, working on my new series (which is all done in outline form first) and don't forget my full time job. Yet somehow, it all seems to be coming together this time around. I don't feel overwhelmed or under major pressure.

Must be the outlines. :)