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Write Book Endorsements That Help Authors and You

Jul 14, 2016 | Writing | 8 Comments

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Well-written, honest endorsements are a win-win for the book’s author and the endorser.

Win-Win

The Author:

Readers like endorsements because they feel more confident about buying a book when other industry people recommend it, especially those whose work they respect.

Endorsements can increase book sales.

The Endorser:

Even if endorsers are unknown, readers associate them with having expertise in the book’s field or genre and may investigate their books.

Everything displaying the endorsement advertises the endorser’s work.

Where Endorsements Are Used

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Marketing materials – bookmarks, flyers, press releases
Book’s back cover/first pages
Book’s page on author and publisher websites
Emailed book announcements

Writing the Endorsement

Study endorsements on other books. Note the:

length
structure
type of words used

Endorsement length

One to two sentences
50 – 200 words

℘ “Beth Vogt hits a home run with her debut novel, Wish You Were Here. Quirky, snappy, and sweet, it’s a story of finding true love that will leave you sighing and smiling.” — Rachel Hauck, bestselling and award-winning author of The Wedding Dress

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3. Endorsement content

Open with a hook – a sentence or a fragment.

℘ For A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers:

“A classic! Francine Rivers has proven that she is one of the great writers of the 20^th century.” BARBARA KEENAN, publisher, Affaire de Coeur magazine

Use colorful, powerful words describing the book’s essence.
Include something that provokes curiosity.
End with a stamp of approval.

℘ For Calculated Risk by Zoe M. McCarthy:

“Dating on the rebound, meddling parents, opposites fighting the attraction . . . with humor and tenderness, Zoe M. McCarthy puts fun, fresh spins on these favorite themes. No risk involved in picking up this romantic read!”—Becky Melby, author of the Lost Sanctuary Series

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Option: Personalize Endorsement

Include elements that resonated with you.
List your reactions; choose the most persuading few.
Promote the book in relation to your work.

℘ For Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King:

“Even after having 31 books published … I was able to learn something new about dialogue mechanics from Browne and King. For any author yet to be published, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is priceless.” – Ovid Demaris, author of The Last Mafioso

Information About You

Name and title exactly as you want it to appear

℘ Author Zoe M. McCarthy

Current book or series titles – maybe two, but remember you’re spotlighting the author’s book, not yours.
Awards, affiliations, offices held

℘ For The Road to Testament by Eva Marie Everson:

“An emotionally evocative novel so well written that we see, touch, taste, and hear the story.” —Gina Holmes, award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Wings of Glass

Interaction with Author

Up front, ask the author about length or possible focus.
After completing your endorsement, send it to the author to preview.

℘ Another author and I share the same name. Including my middle initial is important to me. But sometimes it’s left out, even when I provide the content.

How to write a book endorsement that helps an author and you. Click to tweet.

As a reader, what element in a book endorsement helps you?

Blog to Book: What You Should Consider

Jul 7, 2016 | Uncategorized, Writing | 17 Comments

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Writing books from blogs is a popular current trend. Readers have asked if I might consider making my blog into a book. Yes, I’ve thought about it. Here’s what my research says I should take into account.

Books based on blogs can open up opportunities.

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They can:

Expand my blog audience.
Demonstrate to clients my talents.
Add credibility to my brand.
Give me “expert status” for invitations to guest post, speak, and lead workshops.
Provide material for a catalog of shorter books (15,000 – 25000 words) on my blog’s subtopics.
Provide myself an organized reference book based on my blog research in becoming a better writer, speaker, blogger, and marketer.

My research highly recommended I don’t use a quick and easy service to publish all posts word for word.

image by PeteLinforth
Readers may be irritated to read vaguely related posts thrown together.
Readers may balk at paying for exactly what they can read on my blog.
Blogs streamed to a book could hurt my brand and credibility.

Blogs are unique. Well done blogs aren’t appropriate for a book unless shaped into a book.

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Books and Blogs are different reading experiences.

Books are longer and provide a deeper reading experience. Blogs are optimized for online reading with images, links, interactive comments, and videos.
Books are expected to line up in a readable way.
Book readers like to delve into a topic, instead of skimming.
Books foster credibility.
Books reach a different audience. My book audience may be those who:
- don’t read blogs
- are uneasy with technology
- have access to the Internet only from work
- prefer to read in other formats
Books reach the same audience. My book audience may be those who:
- have never crossed my blog path
- are more recent readers interested in my earlier content
- would like to read my blog posts in an organized format

What kind of blogs-to-books do well?

Information-driven, business, and self-help.
How-tos or problem-solving.
Memoir-types often don’t do well.

Have books professionally edited.

Hire a professional editor, if possible.
Enlist beta book readers.
Involve my readers as I produce my book — for feedback on the title, the book cover, and list of possible concepts.

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Steps to shape my blogs into a book.

Focus on one main topic.
Make 2 lists: Possible posts; possible concepts.
Decide what needs to be in my book without looking at my blog, then bring in relevant posts.
Combine blogs into one place, such as a document in Microsoft Word or Scrivener.
Update out-of-date references.
Remove posts that don’t fit well.
Add or remove paragraphs.
Research new unpublished information or concepts to entice readers or to round out the book.
Include additional ideas, strategies, explanations, pros and cons, personal examples, step-by-step directions.
Peruse post comments for quotes and questions to expand material.

What to consider in turning your blog into a book. Click to tweet.

What is your opinion about a blog like mine being shaped into a book?

You Can Write Your Story Faster

Jun 30, 2016 | Writing | 10 Comments

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Last week, I posted on writing blog content faster. But in some important ways, writing your story faster differs from writing blog content faster. Here are suggestions for writing stories faster.

Before You Write

Ask, “What am I saying to myself?”

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Is it something like, “I’ve always edited as I go, because I’m good at editing and enjoy molding each chapter, page, or paragraph until I’m satisfied. This is my comfort zone. I put off writing more of the story, because that’s the more elusive part of writing.”

Answer honestly:
- “When a section is finally the way I want it, have I been away from the story so long that it takes me awhile to get back into the story’s flow?”
- “How many times have I had to delete or rewrite beautifully edited scenes because of changes I made to the story later?”

Don’t give in to thoughts saying you can’t write without editing.

Give yourself time to establish a pattern of success.

Suggestions:

You already know editing is easier than writing for you, so get a draft done so you have the whole story to attack with your editing skills.
Writing fast turns off the internal editor or censor and allows creativity to flow.
Writing without editing forces you to stay in the story.
Allow your mind to spill out what it knows without you interrupting it to find a better word or fix a typo.

Do the prep work. Writing faster is easy when you know what you want to say. You decide how much detail you need to know to get started. What do you need?

image by Hermann

Suggestions:

One-sentence tagline
Reader’s takeaway, plot idea, and a hero and heroine
Hero’s journey outline
Plot cards
Scene cards
Major turning points
Goals, motivations, and conflicts
Synopsis
Set-up chapters

Put some kind of accountability in place.

4. Find your most productive writing time.

Write the Story Faster

5. Write as fast as you can.

image by storkman

Suggestions:

Lower your standard for the first draft.
Don’t allow distractions. Stay focused.
Set a timer for a chunk of time and refuse to edit or stop until the time is up.
Don’t delete a poor sentence; write another version and go on.
Turn off or cover the monitor. If you can’t see errors, you’re less likely to stop and fix them.
Don’t’ lose momentum. If you think of a change for a previous chapter, jot a note and keep going.

After the Messy Draft Is Written

Edit your post.

Suggestions:

Check the flow (move paragraphs or chapters).
Fix typos and misspellings.
Make scenes ground the reader immediately.
Replace weak nouns and verbs with strong ones.
Limit adjectives, adverbs, and unnecessary words.
Make dialogue tight, necessary, and interesting.
Reverse reactions written before stimuli.
Make actions linear.
Add color and senses.
Change wordy or confusing sentences.
Fix inconsistencies.
Let it sit and then read it through again.

Suggestions for writing your story faster. Click to tweet.

What other ways help you write your story faster?

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Write Book Endorsements That Help Authors and You

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