Writing Roots

Marketing is not a process that can wait until the book is launched. There are things you can – and should – do prior to even getting the manuscript back from your editor. After all, the AIDA funnel requires building awareness and interest. That’s best done long before the launch date. Pre-orders factor hugely in algorithms on many bookstore websites. The more people who are interested before the...

A recognizable author identity can do so much to boost your marketing efforts. We’ve talked plenty about finding your target audience, but this is about them finding and knowing you. There are plenty of things you can do to help build your recognition. One of the easiest, of course, is something visual. Photos are the most common, but other authors have logos (think JRR Tolkein’s signature). This...

News releases (often called press releases) are an old way of advertising books, but they can still have some worth even in today’s world. It’s definitely not the route for everyone, but knowing the purpose of news releases for you marketing efforts can help you make the decision whether or not you should put in that effort. Media releases are designed to get journalists talking about your books b...

Staying connected with your readers is an important part of any marketing efforts. They need to know what you’re doing and what you have planned. It helps build anticipation and desire. The more people you have actively following your progress, the more sales you will have when the book launches. One way to stay connected is through newsletters. Most authors these days – most companies, for that m...

An author website may seem a bit archaic when compared to social media, but they are still essential in the process of marketing. A website helps lend credibility and gives you a place to not only show your work, but your style to the world. It can draw readers in and keep them connected. Not every site is equal, though. It takes real work and effort to keep one running and effective. In this epis...

Knowing what it takes for a consumer to buy a product is the key to marketing. It’s more than just fulfilling a need or want – there are lots of products out there that do the same thing, after all. When you go to market a book, you need to know what the reader expects and what it takes for them to decide to purchase. First, every reader has a quota for the number of times they need to see or hear...

Marketing your self-published book is a pain. For one, it’s completely up to you. Yes, you can hire and pay people to help you, but you don’t have a publishing company to front those costs or give you any guidance. Getting your book into the world is entirely reliant on the decisions you make. Unfortunately, a lot of new authors don’t know how to market, so they end up wasting a ton of money. The...

Actually finishing a piece of fiction, especially something of novel length, is a great accomplishment. Many writers start out with grand ideas, but the inspiration eventually falters. They stop writing because the ideas aren’t there anymore. The book is never finished. That is why it’s important to build a habit of finishing your stories. Not just writing to “The End,” but to stop editing and mak...

Inspiration is a tricky thing when it comes to relying on it to write an entire novel. It is wonderful for sparking the ideas and for driving us during those exciting scenes, but it is not reliable. Inspiration comes and goes. Or does it? There are ways you can help yourself stay inspired. Start now by getting into the habit. It can be anything from setting up your environment to using smell or fl...

One of the best habits any author can get into is to make a habit of using our resources. There are so many things around that can help you improve, from specific advice from experts in fields you’re writing about to craft books by well-known authors. It’s not just about having these resources, though. You must use them. How often have you gotten a book that will help you learn something, and it e...

One of the best habits you can get into to improve your writing is to learn from the writing and storytelling of others. We don’t want to take the fun out of consuming stories, but we do recommend taking time to think about it. Think about what you like, what you don’t like, how you would change aspects to make it better. Once yo figure out how to do this with other media, you can then take it to...

Though the process of actually writing is often a solitary activity, it’s not something we can take on alone easily. We need support, encouragement, and people around who know our struggles. This is why finding and participating in a writing community is a healthy writing habit. Including other people in your writing process can give you different perspectives, a sounding board for ideas, and prov...

Where do you go to write? Have you found that some spots work better than others? Now is the time to figure out why those places work best. We can guarantee it comes down to the environment and how well it can spawn creativity. When it comes to the best environment for your writing, there is no one right answer. Each person is different, so their needs are different. Some people like to write in b...

Computers aren’t the only thing that can be hacked. You can, over time, trick your brain into thinking and reacting the way you want. This trick is especially helpful when you want to build healthy habits. It takes about twenty-one iterations of a thing to make it a habit, and it’s much easier to do something twenty-one times if you make it something desirable. Something we want to do. Or as James...

There are few things more counterproductive than poor time management when it comes to writing. This isn’t just about not giving yourself time to write, but about making sure the time you spend is worth it. Just sitting and staring at a blank page isn’t helpful. Good time management with your writing is important, not only for your stories but for your physical health. Writers often find themselve...

Writing a whole novel is a huge undertaking. For some, it takes years to complete a single draft. If it gets finished at all, that is. That’s why setting goals for your writing is such an important step in the process. Without realistic and achievable goals to work towards, we can often find ourselves pulled away by other things in our busy lives. Goals can help you focus on your task and then fee...

Writing should be a journey of self-discovery, which means allowing yourself to explore. Throughout the month of January, we’ll be talking about developing good habits when it comes to writing. That all starts with giving yourself permission to discover what we mean when we say “write selfishly.” It’s common around this time of year for people to try to reinvent themselves. “New year, new me” is a...

Just as with fashion, the world of books and writing has trends. Certain styles and genres and topics and tropes will go in and out of popularity as time passes. Ley often refers to it as a circle, going from growing, to popular, to a downslide, and into satirical before it starts growing again a few years down the line. Trends are how we know what people like, what people want to read, and what m...

There are two kinds of moments in a story: The Scene and The Sequel. Not every moment needs to be action. Not every moments needs to propel the plot forward. Sometimes you need a sequel. You need a moment in between the scenes. A moment to pause, to think, to talk. The idea of scene and sequel is an important one when learning how to transition from one scene to the next. Knowing exactly when to e...

For those taking the traditional publishing route, querying is the first step in the process (after finishing the manuscript, of course). That letter is what will get you an agent and a publishing deal. Which means it’s incredibly important. It needs to stand out and grab the attention of an agent who likely gets hundreds of similar queries. In this episode, we discuss the tips and tricks from pub...

Great stories begin somewhere important. Somewhere catching. You want to draw the reader in within the first chapter. Better yet, within the first page or even sentence. Knowing exactly where that is, though, is the tricky part. We know where our characters being, where they are before that inciting incident. We know where we want them to end up. We think we know what the readers need to understan...

You probably know that word choices are important in writing. Different words have nuances that can change their meaning. Consider how “angry” is different from “frustrated” or “irritated.” The same principle applies with swear words. We’ve had many writers question whether or not they can or should use swear words in their stories. The short answer is yes, but it gets a little more complicated as...

Morally gray characters are quickly becoming some of the most popular kinds of characters in fiction. Part of that is because they’re actually relatable. No one is as perfect as a hero appears, nor usually as evil as a villain in the classic senses of the words. Instead, people are somewhere in between those two. Creating a compelling character that lives in that gray area between right and wrong...

Whether you’re writing contemporary action, swords and sorcery fantasy, or science fiction, most authors will come across a fight scene or twenty during their books. Most of us, though, don’t have any actual fighting knowledge. It’s not like we’re out there swinging swords at people on a daily basis (unless you’re a LARPer, which is awesome). This means we need to cross over that mistaken idea of...

One worry that consistently nags at writers is the belief that their story is not unique. We often compare our ideas to those of writers and storytellers before us and think they may be too similar to be interesting. The good thing we all need to remember is that people actually like stories to not be entirely unique. Tropes exist for a reason. There are some tropes people will seek out. For examp...