P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 325

PHS:

Is it truly over between Indie and traditional publishing? A good summation of the current status – re-blogged on Archer’s Aim

Originally posted on Thought Catalog:

iStockphoto / Dainela

‘No Need To Come Out On Top’

It’s time to back off a bit on the arguments for self-publishing.

In a classic example of “burying your lead” — along with a hatchet –the author-activist Hugh Howey quietly has signaled a stand-down to his supporters this week And he’s doing it with the note of generosity that many who follow him have come to expect of the man:

Will a group hug be too much to ask for? I hope not.

Say what?

Say Gandhi. Hugh Howey just did. He quotes the mahatma in one of his most cherished lines:

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win.”

And then, Howey goes on to customize the quote for self-publishing:

Most open-minded authors must now understand that they have options, and what those options are. The only thing about Gandhi’s quote…

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PHS:

Apply these excellent thoughts on character to your NaNoWriMo planning. Re-blogged on Archer’s Aim

Originally posted on Joshua M Swenson:

Bruce Wayne isn’t always the Dark Knight. The Man of Steel sometimes masquerades as a bumbling reporter. And the main characters in our own stories won’t be the same from one scene to the next.

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Just a quick post this afternoon.

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I’m sure these have been written about on someone else’s blog but these are just a few of my thoughts regarding interaction on Twitter.

Be polite – thank people for following and for retweets that affect your product.
Be helpful – seek out ways to help others, the easiest being retweeting.
Be accessible – getting DM spammed? Just block them or unfollow and be open to legitimate messages from others.
Be cordial – follow someone back and answer their DM as best you can (remember, if you don’t follow back but send a DM to a new follower the other person cannot reply).
Be outgoing – Twitter is a very friendly place where even introverts can network or make new friends easily so stop standing on the sidelines waiting to be followed. Go follow someone who clicked Favorite or Retweet on your post or a post you found interesting.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading! Please leave comments below and view my News and Contacts pages. I’m also in the middle of a Indiegogo campaign so please check that out and consider supporting publication of The Bow of Destiny. I’m working on the next episode of the The Bow of Destiny prequel blog serial, What is Needed, so check out that post from Monday too.

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Filed under: Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, IndieGoGo, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, What is Needed Tagged: Crowdfunding, Facebook, Indie Publishing, IndieGoGo, P. H. Solomon, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, What is Needed, writing

PHS:

Re-blogging this excellent guide to self-publishing on Archer’s Aim. Done this myself before and the information is very helpful

Originally posted on Nail Your Novel:

Today I gave a speech at The Oldie literary lunch (which was very exciting!) and they asked me to explain about making ebooks. I promised a post to distil the important details, and save them from squinting at their notes and wondering if that scrawl really does say ‘Smashwords’, and indeed what that alien name might mean.

If you already know how to publish ebooks you can probably skip most of this. However, you might find some of the links and reading list useful, or pass them on to a friend. And if you’re here from The Oldie – hello again. Nice to have you visit.

How to do it

It’s easy. Really easy. If you can format a Word file, you can make an ebook.

It’s more complicated if you have footnotes or multiple headings that might need to be visually distinguished, or you want graphics (which might not…

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PHS:

I’m working on editing for while so I won’t get to do NaNoWriMo. However motivation is very important as a writer. Re-blogging on Archer’s Aim

Originally posted on Kate M. Colby :

In episode #198 of The Creative Penn Podcast, Steve Scott, a self-published author who earns a six-figure income from his writing, gives his advice for being productive and successful. His number one tip?

“Consistent butt in chair at least 5 times a week.”

It is no secret. The magic way to produce writing is to sit down and physically write. However, as all writers know, sometimes this is much easier said than done. After all, when our day jobs and families and friends and fully-loaded DVRs come calling, it’s difficult to turn them away. Given the opportunity, many writers will exercise their imaginations to invent any story necessary to get out of doing their work. Unfortunately, I am no exception to this weakness.

This November, I will have to beat myself at my own game and figure out how to get to “butt in chair” long enough to crank out…

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PHS:

An interesting question. I did recognize most on the list. Re-blogging on Archer’s Aim.

Originally posted on Daily (w)rite:

Books that would stand the test of time

Writers are often concerned with posterity. Would their work outlive them? I personally don’t give a damn about my work post my death– I don’t think any of it’ll be any good, and even if it is, I believe nothing lasts– so a few stories or books lost is neither here nor there.

But as a reader, I wonder what books from our century would folks be reading in the next?

This article in the Smithsonian gave me pause.

In 1936, a quarterly magazine for book collectors called The Colophon polled its readers to pick the ten authors whose works would be considered classics in the year 2000. Sinclair Lewis, author of the 1935 hit It Can’t Happen Here, was a natural choice for the top spot.

Just five years earlier Sinclair had been the first American to win the Nobel Prize…

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Blog growth is not easy for new bloggers. Many experience few expected results and quit posting at all. Here are a some tips I’ve learned to grow your blog’s reach:

Stick to it and post frequently – the more posts you have the more there is to see and appear on internet searches. Blogging requires consistency and commitment. It’s a common axiom among bloggers but it’s true.
If you have a way to share blogs from other bloggers do so – WordPress has the re-blog option.
WordPress has another feature – Publicize. Use this to broadcast your post to social media. If you are on another source or can get a plug-in like this make use of it.
When publicizing to social media do so effectively. For instance, with Twitter use appropriate hashtags in the message. When I forget to add hashtags my site visits decrease but when used well I have more visitors.
Re-post when you aren’t blogging. When you have enough posts schedule some old ones to be re-posted during the times when you don’t post. This will increase visitors to your site. See my two recent results posts here and here regarding this strategy.
Write posts and schedule posts in advance. This way you can stay ahead of your schedule and relax while your site does the work. Being organized leads to growth and this is one way to accomplish that goal.
Use pictures, clip art, podcasts and other visual media. For more information on accessing free photos and art clip see this post.
Invite someone to write a blog for your site based on your topic. I’m trying this one soon myself.
Similarly, host a blog book tour if you have a site based on writing. This is a great way to attract visitor and possibly gain followers.

Bonus: Have patience – it takes time to grow a blog.

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Have you been tempted to give up blogging? What ideas do you have to attract readers to your site? I’d love to hear from you so won’t you leave a question, idea or strategy in the comment section? I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

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Filed under: Blog Tour, Blogging, Creativity, Marketing, Planning, Social Media, Tech Tips, Tips, Twitter, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged: creativity, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Social Media, The Black Bag, Tips, Twitter, writing

PHS:

I’ve seen that whale clip before and it’s great. Thanks for an enlightening post – re-blogging on Archer’s Aim.

Originally posted on The Red Pen of Doom:

Whether you write novellas about fierce mermaids, magazine stories for Cosmo (insert your own joke here) or speeches about the Austrian school of economics for the IMF — whatever sort of writer you are, two things matter most.

Not correct grammar and spelling. Those things are assumed.

Not pretty paragraphs and sentences that sing. That’s word gravy, while we’re talking about the main course.

What matters most: making your readers curious, then surprising them.

Surprise Kitteh is surprised.

This is why the inverted pyramid is a terrible structure for any writer. (Click with your mousity mouse to read Why the Inverted Pyramid must DIE.)

The inverted pyramid grabs a heavy rock and smashes the skull of curiosity. Then it takes that same bloody rock and crushes all hope for any surprises.

How does it achieve this epic level of failure? By giving you the answers before you even know…

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PHS:

It’s all fun & games until… Re-blogged on Archer’s Aim

Originally posted on Legends of Windemere:

Young Frankenstein Lab

Welcome to . . . please don’t touch the cobwebs.  We spent a lot of time getting those to look just right and we have enough trouble with the spiders trying to fix them.  Those poison-spewing bastards think they own the place.  That reminds me.  Wear this mask to protect yourself or sign this ‘In Case of Eye Loss’ form.  We may be mad scientists here, but we take liability very seriously.  So, what can I do for you?

This facility can build you any monster you want.  We have Kaiju-sized, tank-sized, human-sized, and . . . we have small ones too.  To be honest, we don’t get many requests for tiny creatures.  Everyone wants the big or human creatures.  I’ll have to dust off the old book and special order the parts.  Now pricing will be an issue right away.  You can’t have a single mini-monster…

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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! You sense it almost like hearing the back-up warning on a big truck. There’s something off with your approach to writing but you can’t find the source. Here are 5 reasons your writing may be backing up on your readers:

1. Why your writing could be backing up. K. M. Weiland wrote an excellent blog that addresses writing sentences correctly but also incorrectly. Mainly, this discusses where you are pointing the reader with “grammatically correct” sentences. You may be technically correct but cueing the reader with the wrong emphasis.

2. You need to get linear. If you are using a lot of complex sentences your writing be out of logical sequence. What is non-linear writing? This occurs when a sentence has words like, “when”, “as”, etc. There are often multiple actions occurring in the sentence such as this but everything is out of order. Try using MRU’s – short for motivation-reaction units where a clear, external, motivational action occurs and then internal reaction.

3. Passive Voice. Avoid using so many helping verbs except in dialogue. Or, you can try using a deeper POV – recommended reading: Rivet Your Readers With Deep Point of View.

4. Reliance on too many modifiers. Check your adjectives and adverbs. Is the adverb you’re using actually necessary. If you are using several adjectives at a time trying choosing the strongest one and make sure it’s not redundant. Check this post for the link to using adverbs well.

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5. Prepositional phrases that tell. Remove prepositional phrases that tell. The Rivet Your Readers book mentioned above has a great list of these. Why avoid such phrases as, “in dismay”? This tells the reader the emotion instead of showing them. This does not mean get rid of all prepositional phrases, just the ones similar to the example.

Remember: go forward rather than letting your writing back up.

Are you writing sentences out of order? Are you pointing your readers to the wrong place with incorrect emphasis? Where can you improve your writing for more reader engagement? I’d love to hear from you so won’t you leave a question, idea or strategy in the comment section? I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

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Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: creativity, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Social Media, The Black Bag, Tips, Twitter, writing