Readwave

• 2013-05-15

  What is good cover design?

  

  by April Duffy, Executive Editor at Read Owl

  Whether it’s for your online story, self-published e-book, or traditionally published paper book, if you’re an author publishing a piece of writing you’re probably considering what covering image you should use to gain the attention of potential readers.

  Of course, not every book needs a great cover.  If your book’s working title is Essay Essentials: with Readings and Samples or Operating a Backhoe, your title is enough to convince potential readers your book is of interest to them. In these cases, the quality of your information, ideas, and writing is what will sell your book to more readers, not the cover.

  However your book called Making the Cut will need a cover that not only intrigues a potential reader to click or pick it up, but one that clearly identifies it as a weight loss guide by a TV personality, or a sports novel, or a mental health book about self-harm, or one of any number of topics the title could be alluding to. 

  Good cover design, in the most general terms, directly expresses what the book is about, without giving too much away. In other words a good cover is both general as to the content of the book but very specific about the subject.

  Consider what you see while browsing the fiction section of your local bookstore; there’s a reason romance novels usually feature a couple on the cover in some sort of embrace, just as there is a reason mystery novels most often don’t show a person on the cover.

  The romance novel is about the romance between two characters. Further, one of those characters might be royalty for example, and for many books in the genre that is a salient feature and so the cover should reflect that. Specific scenes or incidents from the story should not be put on the cover however as they don’t reveal any more about the character of the book and, even worse, might hold the potential reader’s attention too long, taking too many of the precious moments a potential reader gives a book, which would be better spent reading a blurb or synopsis.

  Though it’s common in genres such as romance, you should be wary of putting images of people or places on your cover. A reader imagines a story in their mind’s eye as they read it. When this imagination is allowed to run free it will choose the perfect images to match the descriptions the author provides. Once you tell the reader what one or more of the characters look like, or what the setting looks like, the reader’s ability to imagine something that resonates with them is lost. Even if the image you choose is the exact image you perceived in your own mind’s eye when writing it, it will not be the perfect image for every ideal reader. In a genre like mystery, the motives of the heroes and victims are often unclear and usually the identity of characters or hiding places must be hidden from the reader for suspense, and so a person or place on the cover is just bad design.

  What information does your reader need to know about the subject of your book? What image and text can best get that message across quickly and without giving too much away? Answering those questions is the first and most important step to great cover design.  

  About ReadOwl

  ReadOwl is a network of book editors, designers, journalists and marketing professionals who love books and are excited by the potential they see in the current shift toward democratized publishing. ReadOwl assists authors in publishing their book, their way. Find out more at ReadOwl.com.

• 2013-05-14

  ReadWave Story of the Week: An interview with Ari Tillett

  For this week’s Story of the Week we published Ari Tillett’s heart-warming story about an unusual marriage proposal, Sleeping Problems. We caught up with Ari to find out more about her.
  
  Which books have really inspired you?
  I love all of Gillian Flynn’s novels. I’m really into darker writing that makes you think (with me it’s all about the mind games) and where every page throws you for a new loop. 

  If you had to choose one fictional character to be in real life, who would you choose?
  Definitely Olenna Tyrell from A Song of Ice and Fire, she’s a woman who doesn’t cower from anyone and isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
   
  Do you have any tips for crafting stories that you can share with your fellow ReadWavers?
  Stick to your stories and try not to throw anything away unless you’re convinced it’s truly horrible, I thought Sleeping Problems was the worst thing at first, but now it’s very much improved. It can always be better.
   
  Have you learnt any life lessons from your writing practice?
  Commitment. I feel that writing is something you can’t stop doing once you’ve started, I’ve wholly committed myself to this practice and it’s something I love.
   
  What is the most challenging thing about writing?
  The demon in the back of my mind that tells me nothing I write will ever be good enough for anything other than my notebooks.
   
  What are you writing at the moment?
  I’m working on many things, but the only one I’m sure of where it’s heading is a dystopian fic about a prince who has his throne usurped by someone unexpected.

  If you would like to receive a free short story from an emerging writer every week then just create an account at ReadWave.

• 2013-05-09

  This Thirtysomething Life… An interview with ReadWaver, Jon Rance

  

  Jon Rance is the author of the romantic comedy This Thirtysomething Life published by Hodder & Stoughton. His short story “Inconceivable” (click here to read it for free on ReadWave) was sent out as ReadWave’s “Story of the Week” last month. We caught up with Jon to talk about his journey as a writer.

  When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

  I was about sixteen when I actually said the words out loud…’I want to be a writer!’ But even before that I was always writing, drawing cartoons and making things up. I loved reading a lot as a kid and so I think it was always in my blood.

  Tell me about your first novel, This Thirtysomething Life… 

  It’s a romantic comedy about one man’s bumbling journey on the road to adulthood. Harry Spencer is a thirtysomething man who still yearns to be a twentysomething man. When his wife Emily drops the P-Bomb, he is suddenly thrust into the role of expectant father. It’s a love story about what happens after we’ve fallen in love, when we’ve swapped frolicking in the bed for cigarettes in the shed and Match of the Day for Mothercare.

  What was the inspiration behind it?

  I wrote This Thirtysomething Life after I had my first child. I was trying to think up ideas for my novel and I suddenly thought about writing about my own experiences. Obviously it’s fiction, so a lot of it is just that, but I did take a lot of what I went through and put it in the book. I think there are a lot of books by women about this sort of thing, but less from the man’s perspective. And I’m not saying that men go through anything like the same pain and trauma as women do during pregnancy, but it’s still a journey and it’s about that journey. 

  You recently published a prequel, This Twentysomething Life (click here to read an extract on ReadWave). How does it relate to the first novel? 

  This Twentysomething Life was an idea that actually came out of my short stories for ReadWave. My publisher loved my short stories and I always wanted to write a prequel to This Thirtysomething Life. Writing a whole novel wasn’t really an option and so we came up with the idea of the short story prequel and giving it away free. I love it and I think it helps set the scene and get readers ready for This Thirtysomething Life. I’m currently working on the sequel which is going to be called, This Family Life, which will follow Harry and Emily through the first year of parenthood. This will be my third novel.

  Originally This Thirtysomething Life was self-published before it was picked up by a publisher. Did you imagine when you self-published your first novel that it would get picked up by a publisher? Was that what you were aiming for all along?

  Not in a million years. I self-published because I had sort of given up being published the traditional route. I’d written four other novels and tried to get an agent, but with no luck. Self-publishing was something I did for me, which as it turned out, got me a publisher and an agent. Of course, as soon as the offer came in I jumped at the chance. I had always wanted to get published - for me it’s still the Holy Grail. It’s validation for all the hard work. Plus, I have learnt so much working with my fabulous editor at Hodder and my brilliant agent.

  Is there anything in particular you did that helped to get you noticed by your publisher?

  The book did well in the charts and my editor at Hodder just happened to read it and she loved it. She did tell me recently that the cover made her pick up the book, so for all of those people who think covers don’t matter - they definitely do! 

  How does the experience of self-publishing compare to the experience of being with a publishing house?

  It’s night and day. The advantage of working alone is that you can do what you want in your own time. You can set pricing, do your own cover, release what you want when you want - success and failure is all down to you. However, working with a huge publishing house like Hodder, makes you work so differently. I handed in my ‘finished’ version of my new novel, Happy Endings, last November. Since then it’s gone through about five different edits and is so much better because of it. I think working with a publisher will get the best out of you. They pushed me and pushed me and made me work so much harder and longer on my work. Yes, self-publishing is gratifying and when it’s a success it’s wonderful, but I love working with an agent and a publisher because they make my work better - and that’s the most important thing.

  How do you feel about the “rom-com” moniker? Would you say it’s an accurate description of what you’re doing or are you in some ways trying to break out of that mould?

  I don’t see myself as a one-trick pony and I don’t think of myself as trapped in the rom-com genre. My next novel, Happy Endings, isn’t a rom-com in the traditional sense. I think genres and labels are easy to put on books because they help sales and are good for publishers and book sellers, but I think as writers we just write what we write.

  Do you have any writing tips or tips for promoting your work that you can share with your fellow ReadWavers?

  Write the best book you can. This applies to both questions. At the end of the day, writing the book is the most important bit. I think with the rise of the eBook, writers are doing so much promotion and spending so much time networking and trying to get noticed, but nothing sells like a really great book. No amount of advertising, promoting and chatting on forums will make the book any better.

  If you do self-publish, get it professionally edited and have a great cover and exciting blurb. Nothing ruins a great book quicker than a bad cover and a boring synopsis. It’s what we see first and a great cover will get people to read the blurb, exciting blurb will make us read the first page. You get the idea.

  You’ve already finished your new book, Happy Endings. Can you give us a bit of a preview?

  Here’s the official blurb:

  A novel about people just like us.

  Four people. Two couples. Six months that will change their lives forever.

  Kate wants to go travelling before she reaches the big Three-O, while her long-term boyfriend Ed just wants to settle down.

  Jack is desperate to be a published writer for many reasons, but mainly to save his relationship with fiancée Emma.

  Emma wants to be an actress more than anything in the world, or at least that’s what she thought.

  Told uniquely from all of their perspectives, this is a story about love, growing up and, of course, the search for a happy ending.

  I’m really excited about this novel. It’s a completely separate story from Thirtysomething and definitely different in terms of style and tone. It’s also the first book where I’ve worked with a professional editor and I think it shows. I can’t wait for it to hit the shops!

  It’s out August 15th as an eBook and October 10th as a paperback! 

  If you like romantic comedies then please check out Jon’s stories on ReadWave.

• 2013-04-29

  

• 2013-04-25

  

• →

  

• 2013-04-22

  

• 2013-04-19

  6 Common Myths About Book Reviews - Dana Lynn Smith

  

  6 Common Myths About Book Reviews

  By Dana Lynn Smith, the Savvy Book Marketer

  Book reviews are a powerful promotional tool, but many authors have some misconceptions about reviews and how to obtain them. Here are some common myths about getting book reviews.

  Myth #1 - Book reviews are just for new books.

  It’s true that librarians and booksellers review books at or soon after publication. It’s best to focus your review efforts during the first year of a book’s life. Although keep in mind that some venues will review older books

  Myth #2 - No one will review a self-published book.

  It’s more challenging for self-published authors and small presses to get reviews in certain venues, but it’s certainly not impossible. Self-published books are far more likely to be reviewed if they are produced to industry standards (well written, edited and designed). A number of book review websites welcome self-published books and some even focus specifically on them. There are several book journals like Midwest Book Review which are friendly to independent and small presses.

  Myth #3 - Book reviews only apply to books being sold to bookstores and libraries.

  Trade journals like Publishers Weekly and Library Journal are designed to meet the needs of booksellers and librarians, so they focus on books that are available through major distributors and wholesalers at standard discounts. But there are plenty of other places to get book reviews, including book blogs, topical blogs, online bookstores, specialty publications, literary magazines, and reader networks.

  Myth #4 - You can’t get reviews for ebooks.

  It takes some extra research to identify venues that will review books that are available only in ebook format. Many reviewers accept only printed books, although that’s slowly changing as the use of ebook readers becomes more widespread. There are several websites, such as Kindle Obsessed, that focus on ebooks.

  Myth #5 - No one pays attention to reviews in online bookstores.

  It’s true that some shoppers view online reviews with some skepticism, but I do believe that reviews (or lack of them) influence shoppers in online bookstores. In my book, How to Get Your Book Reviewed, I cite a research study by the Yale School of Management that backs this up. With so many books to choose from, shoppers are often looking for some factor which will help them decide between several books.

  Having very few or no reviews on an Amazon sales page can give the impression that the book isn’t very popular. Reviews can also give the shopper more insight into the book, beyond the product description.

  Be sure to encourage customers and book reviewers to post their review or recommendation on Amazon.

  Myth #6 – It’s not worth the effort to pursue reviews.

  Book reviews serve two basic purposes. The first is that they bring your book to the attention of people who might not have learned about it otherwise. The second is that they help potential customers decide if your book is a good fit for them. The more reviews you have, and the more places those reviews appear, the greater your reach and selling power will be.

  All book marketing plans should include a strategy for maximizing the value of reviews, endorsements and testimonials.

  About the Author

  

  Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Learn how to use reviews to sell more books in her comprehensive guide, How to Get Your Book Reviewed, and get more book marketing tips at TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

• 2013-04-17

  

• 2013-04-16

  Bad Writing Advice to Ignore from Your Critique Group

  

  Many thanks to Anne R. Allen for this fantastic article on when it’s wise for writers to ignore their critics. Check out her blog for more great articles.

  Writers can’t learn their craft in a vacuum. Nobody ever learned to be a good writer holed up in an attic with no one to review his work but the cat. (Cats can be so cruel.) 
  
  Critique groups are one of the best (and cheapest) ways to get the feedback we need. You can find good ones online these days at places like ReadWave.

  But it’s important to be aware that not all the advice you hear is useful. As Writer Beware’s Victoria Strauss says, “never forget that people who know nothing are as eager to opine as people who know something.”
  
  Even worse than know-nothings are the know-somethings who turn every bit of advice they’ve ever heard into a “rule” as ironclad and immutable as an algebraic formula. Follow their advice and your work will read like an algebraic formula, too.
  
  Here are a few critique “rules” I find more annoying than useful.
  
  1) Eliminate all clichés
  
  Unless your characters are wildly inventive poets, space aliens, or children fostered by wolves, their dialogue and thoughts will include familiar expressions. Don’t rob your Scarlett O’Hara of her “fiddle dee-dees” or deprive your Bogart of “doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”
  
  2) More! Make it vivid! 
  
  Would we really improve Casablanca with “a hill of Moroccan garbanzos, yellow-pale and round, of the kind the English call chick-peas”?
  
  3) Avoid repetition
  
  Not necessarily. Be wary of what the great grammarian H.W. Fowler called “elegant variation.” 
  
  OK: “It was a good bull, a strong bull, a bull bred to fight to the death.” 
  
  NOT: “It was a good bull, a strong animal, a male creature of the bovine persuasion bred to do battle…”
  
  4) Eradicate the verb “to be” (especially in the past tense: “was” is the enemy).
  
  Yes, it’s generally wise to avoid the passive voice, which uses “was” in the past tense: 
  
  “The cat was kicked by him,” is passive and sounds lame. 
  
  “He kicked the cat,” is active and stronger.
  
  But sometimes the passive voice makes the most relevant statement: “The cat was abused.”
  
  Real problems arise when people confuse passive voice with the progressive tense, which also uses “to be” (with the present participle.)

  “I was just sitting there when the cat owner punched me,” means something different from “I just sat there when the cat owner punched me.” Eliminating “was” changes meaning instead of “strengthening.”
  
  5) Put your protagonist’s thoughts in italics.

  No. Don’t. Unless your editor specifically asks for this, avoid it. Italics are harder to read.
  
  When you write in the third-person-limited viewpoint, it’s read like first person: no italics or “he thought/she thought” necessary. 
  
  “I walked away from the ‘In Crowd’. They were just a bunch of ill-bred alley cats,” can be changed to third person with just a switch of pronoun/noun: “Pufferball walked away from the ‘In Crowd’. They were just a bunch of ill-bred alley cats.” See? Just the same.
  
  6) Characters must behave predictably
  
  Don’t let anyone tell you a character “wouldn’t” behave in a certain way. Only the writer knows if this particular truck driver would read Proust; this bride would run off with the florist’s mother; or that Maine Coon cat would pee on your Christian Louboutins.
  
  7) Describe characters’ physical appearance in detail.
  
  When your English teacher told you to beef up that “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” essay with long, colorful descriptions of your new kitty, she was looking for a complete page, not preparing you for publication.

  Brevity is now and ever shall be the soul of wit. The only thing Jane Austen told us about Elizabeth Bennett’s appearance was that she had “fine eyes.” Let your reader’s imagination do the work.
  
  8) Protagonists must be admirable
  
  Saints are boring in fiction, unless they liberate France and get burned at the stake, and that’s been done.
  
  9) If we don’t point out everything wrong, we’re not doing our job
  
  Newbies make a lot of mistakes. (You did too, remember?) But if you list them all at once, they won’t hear what you’re saying. They’ll hear a personal attack. When a person feels attacked, the brain shuts down.

  A critiquer should tell you what’s right with a work as well as what’s wrong. When I was directing actors, I discovered the “sandwich” method is the most effective way to help someone improve: praise/criticism/praise.

  All-praise-all-the time does nothing to help a writer’s work, of course, but neither does rigid thinking, power tripping, or misinformation.

  My mystery novel GHOSTWRITERS IN THE SKY was sparked by a particularly snarky and unhelpful critique workshop I witnessed at a writers conference many years ago. I wasn’t allowed to speak up to help the young writer who was humiliated that day, but I wrote the novel partly for him—and every other fledgling writer who has been the victim of a nasty, misinformed critique.

  We all have to ignore the advice that doesn’t resonate—and remember that it’s YOUR book.

  Anne R. Allen is a former theater director and the author of six romantic-comedy/mysteries and a guidebook for authors co-written with Catherine Ryan Hyde:HOW TO BE A WRITER IN THE E-AGE AND KEEP YOUR E-SANITY. She offers weeklywriterly advice with NYT bestseller Ruth Harris at her award-winning blog, Anne R. Allen’s Blog.