Writers in the Storm

by Colleen M. Story

When the publisher for my latest novel, The Beached Ones, asked me about getting blurbs for my book, I replied, “Sure!”

Inside, I was thinking, “Oh no!”

Though I’ve published five books so far—two novels traditionally published and three nonfiction books self-published—I had never asked for blurbs. I hate to bother people. I know how busy everyone is. Plus it’s just plain awkward to cold-ask someone to read your book and give you a blurb.

But this is the best traditional publisher I’ve worked with to date, and I wanted to do everything I could to help The Beached Ones succeed. So I got to work.

Turns out the whole experience was extremely positive. I wrote about the process on my motivational blog, Writing and Wellness, in case you’d like some tips on how to do it.

But then there’s the question of where to find these people. Who has the credentials that would help your book succeed? And which of those might be willing to take the time to read your book and give you a blurb?

Here, based on my results, are the best places to find qualified people who would be happy to do just that.

1. Writer’s Conferences

You know how the experts are always telling you to do your best to make connections at writer’s conferences? It’s not enough to just go, attend the classes, pitch your book, and go home. Much better if you reach out and talk to some people while you’re there. You never know who you might meet.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some very nice writing mentors, teachers, and other authors while attending writer’s conferences. This group yielded more blurb writers for me than any of the others listed here.

To make more of these connections, sign up for a workshop near you. Then it’s just a matter of introducing yourself and asking questions. (Are you a writer? What type of writing do you do? Are you enjoying the conference?) Sharing a coffee or a few laughs can go a long way toward cementing a connection.

Follow up when you return by connecting with these people online. Support their posts by “liking” or “retweeting.” Sustain these connections and you’re likely to have people who would be willing to help you out when the time comes.

Avoid: Making it all about you and your writing. You’ll make more friends at a conference if you are interested in what others are doing.

2. Social Media

Social media can be a good place to make connections. Interact with other writers and readers by supporting their work, making comments on their blogs, and of course, posting your own content so they can do the same.

As you build your network, pay attention to the people who most frequently interact with you. Then when it comes time to find those who might be willing to blurb your book, you’ll know whether your book would be one they might like and whether they are the type of person willing to help you out.

Avoid: Engaging in reciprocal blurb requests: “I’ll blurb your book if you blurb/review mine.” Some authors are fine doing this, but it doesn’t feel right to me.

If I admire the author’s work, all is well, but what if I feel it wasn’t a five-star read? Then I’m in trouble. If I give an honest review, the author may feel betrayed. If I give a dishonest review, I feel like I’ve betrayed myself.

If someone isn’t willing to read/review your book without you giving them something in return, feel free to thank them and move on. You can find others who will be willing to do so without tying you to some return favor.

3. Writers of Books Like Yours

When my publisher first asked me about blurbs, they told me to create a “wish list” of names I’d love to have on my cover. This is a great way to start, as it gets your wheels turning in terms of possible readers.

You may have big names on your list like Margaret Atwood, Lee Child, Steven King, and the like. I've found that these big authors rarely respond to blurb requests from authors they don't know. Most don't even offer their contact information anywhere online, as they're inundated with requests as it is.

Many other bestselling authors, on the other hand, haven't become celebrities yet. If you're regularly reading books like yours, you're likely to know who these authors are. Who are the breakthrough writers in your genre? Who are the newcomers?

I approached one bestselling author who had written a book that had a lot of similarities to mine. When I asked her for a quote, I included everything I loved about her book and briefly pointed out the similarities I saw in our stories. I was thrilled when I heard back from her. Unfortunately, she had a conflict and couldn’t get to my story in time for printing, but she still wanted to read it.

Consider: I found many of my “similar” authors when gathering examples for covers for my book. During the cover design phase, my publisher asked me to share some samples of covers I liked. The process of researching these helped me find books that were much like mine. After all, if the cover appeals to you, it’s likely the story is similar to yours as well.

4. Editors

Over the years, you've probably gained several editor contacts. These may be editors who helped you early on in your writing career, those you hired to help edit your books or even editors you met at conferences.

Many will have great credentials, which can give your book the social proof that it needs. Most are busy but reach out anyway. You may find one who believes in your writing enough to help out.

Avoid: Of course, it doesn’t work to ask the editor who worked on the book you’re launching to write a blurb. Even if you didn’t mention this person in the acknowledgments (which you should), this could come back to bite you if someone reveals the relationship.

5. Writers you've featured or interviewed.

If you make a regular practice of interviewing and featuring other authors—whether on your website, blog, podcast, or YouTube channel—you’ll have a ready-made list of people who may want to read your book.

It’s not about doing someone a favor so they’ll do one in return. It’s about meeting more people and growing your network list. Then when it comes time to ask for blurbs, you’ll have a group of people within which you may find some who may truly enjoy your new book.

Avoid: Again, it’s best to avoid the tit-for-tat type of arrangement, where you feature them so they should blurb you. Instead, think about those authors who may truly enjoy your book. Pay attention to the types of books they write and read. Consider too that some writers are also regular book reviewers. They may be ideal people to add to your list.

6. Teachers and Mentors

Writing instructors are typically wonderful people. They dedicate their lives to helping other writers succeed. If you were lucky enough to work with such a person—in college, in a workshop, or in some other type of educational setting—reach out and ask if they might be willing to give you a blurb.

Most writing instructors have impressive credentials themselves—ones that will look good on your book—and their helpful personalities make them accommodating. Just be sure to give them enough advanced notice so they can fit your book into their busy schedules. (That goes for everyone—aim for at least four months before your book will be published.)

7. Writing Group Members

If you belong to a writing group—or even if you belonged to one in the past—this may be a source of potential blurb writers for you.

Those who read your early work may have an invested interest in seeing your book succeed. Plus they may just plain love your writing! Think of people in your group who fit that description, then consider asking them for a blurb.

Remember: You’re looking for people who are “qualified” to give your book a blurb. That means they have credentials that readers will trust. Though any good early review may be helpful, when looking for blurbs (that will be printed in the book when it’s published), you’re looking for people that, because of their credentials, seem like “authoritative” voices readers can trust.

Example: “Ah, well if a Pushcart-Prize winner liked this book, then I probably will too.”

Note: The Beached Ones is forthcoming from CamCat books on June 14, 2022. Get your FREE excerpt here, or preorder now! (Buy links and book trailer here.) Get FREE chapters of Colleen’s books for writers here.

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About Colleen

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. Her latest release, The Beached Ones, is forthcoming from CamCat Books in June 2022. Her novel, Loreena’s Gift, was a Foreword Reviews’ INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, among others.

Colleen has written three books to help writers succeed. Your Writing Matters was a bronze medal winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards (2022). Other titles include Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue. Get free chapters of these books here.

Find more at her author website (colleenmstory.com) or connect with her on Twitter (@colleen_m_story).

Top Photo by Tobias Aeppli from Pexels

by Penny C. Sansevieri

As someone who writes non-fiction and has a longstanding blog where I release free content, I feel I am a great example of an author that has faced and conquered the challenge of convincing people to buy non-fiction books. There is tons of free information out there, and it can be hard to compete -- both with other authors and also with yourself!

I see many non-fiction authors leave this factor out when planning and executing their book releases and promotions. The fact that they’re not just competing with other books, but they’re also competing with Google and all the free information available out there on pretty much any topic is a crucial element in any book's success.

So, let’s talk about ways to make your non-fiction book stand out in today’s crowded and distracting market.

You Need Your Own Unique Approach

This goes without saying, but you need to stand out from your competition. What are your key selling points? Why should people buy your book? You have to have a better answer than simply saying, “My way works better!” because that’s not convincing enough if you’re a potential buyer. Trust me; everyone says that.

Once you create your list of key selling points, you need to include them in your Amazon description in an easily digestible way, for example, a bulleted list. Bullets draw attention and should be extremely compelling. What if the bullets were all potential buyers got to read about your book? How convincing will you be? Take the time to make sure your first impression persuades your buyer.

Your Buyer Should Be Your Focus

Yes, you have to sell your book’s content, but people don’t buy a book just because of the content. They buy a book because of what they hope it will do for them.

So your unique selling points are essential, but so is convincing people you’ll make their lives better in some way. That’s something a lot of free online content doesn’t get a chance to do!

Use your book description to convince potential buyers you wrote your book with their needs in mind. Make it about them and what you can do for them, and I assure you they will be interested.

Don’t Leave Out All The Free Information

You have your unique selling points and your emotional appeal, and now you should also be hitting people over the head with Google and free info reference! There’s no such thing as making it too easy for someone to make a buying decision.

You may be hesitant to give out information for free, but it allows readers to trust you as a resource. Plus, since you’re not giving away everything, buyers will be eager to buy your book to learn more.

Never assume!

Too often, I see authors miss key sales opportunities in their book description because the value of the book seems so incredibly obvious to them. But you should never assume the value is obvious to the buyer. You have to convince them.

Work it into your description WHY your book will serve someone better than simply Googling info about your topic online. If you don’t have a strong argument at the ready, then you have some serious work to do.

You Need a Clear Plan

Having a clear plan for what you give away for free on your platform and what you include in your book or books is extremely important. Otherwise, your strategy can become a jumbled mess.

There’s a lot you can accomplish for your sales funnel by giving away quality info on your blog or in your podcast, but if you give away too much, it makes your book less competitive.

Don’t wing it; figure out your boundaries and justify why that division serves your long-term goals. You have to give a little to get a lot in this area- but every author needs to decide their limits for themselves.

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About Penny

Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a bestselling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU. She was named one of the top influencers of 2019 by New York Metropolitan Magazine. 

Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative Amazon visibility campaigns as well offering national media pitching, online book marketing, author events, and other strategies designed to build the author/book visibility.

She is the author of 18 books, including "How to Sell Your Books by the Truckload on Amazon," "Revise and Re-Release Your Book", "5-Minute Book Marketing for Authors," and the newly-released “From Book to Bestseller.”

AME has had dozens of books on top bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal. 

To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, visit www.amarketingexpert.com.  

by James Preston

Remember that great scene in “Jaws” ¹ -– no, not “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” -- where Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss are showing each other their scars? Well, I’m going to do that in this essay. (Forge on, gentle reader, to see how I’ve taken my lumps and lived to tell the tale.) Hopefully, my adventures will help illustrate who, in the final analysis, is responsible for your work.

I wrote the back cover “blurb” for my new book and I was really happy with it. It was funny, it described the story accurately, and I thought it would make people want to read the book. Hey, I got my start writing advertising copy while I was in college. I can do this stuff. Sure, I can. Then my publisher sent it out for comments.

More on that later. 

Let’s talk about feedback. 

When should you solicit it? 

Who should you ask to comment?

What should you do with the comments?

Creating a book-length story is a lot of work, a long process that can be lonely and discouraging. Getting feedback can be important — but...

When in the process should you solicit opinions? 

At the Concept stage. 

Talking about a story before it’s on paper comes in two forms. You can be doing the talking or you can be listening.

If you have been writing for any length of time you’ve probably had the following experience: somebody comes up to you and says, “I’ve got this great idea for a story . . .” They probably want you to do the actual writing.

It is not harsh to say that you should try very hard to discourage this individual, for two reasons.

• First, you have your own work and almost certainly don’t need another idea. Let them down gently but let them down.

• Second, and way more serious, if you do listen to their idea, decline the offer and years later the concept turns up even in a mutated form in your work, you are open to serious charges of, “You stole my idea!”

The other side of the equation is even worse.

Talking about an idea before you have worked it out in your head can cripple the poor thing. Get something down on paper first. I’ve done it (talked before writing) and the story survived but only because I chose the individuals to tell my idea to very carefully.

You can kill an idea by talking about it too early or — just as bad — you can get encouragement for an idea that you will be reluctant to change.

My advice: don’t talk.  

What about after your First Draft?

Probably not. Your readers can get distracted by nonessential features like misplaced commas. At the very least carefully proofread the manuscript before handing it out. 

Happy with it? Yes.

Then it's time! Which leads us to our next question. 

Who do you send it to?

The answer to “Who” falls into three main groups.

1.  A Critique Group

Very early in my writing career, I read all of the Matt Helm books by Donald Hamilton.

Side note: the novels are excellent, on a par with Fleming, and must never be confused with the silly, practically-unwatchable Dean Martin movies. Don’t believe me? He’s a singing spy.

In the novels, Matt Helm is a writer and when a young woman asks him to read her story he thinks, “Why do they do it? When I was starting out, I never asked for opinions from anybody who wasn’t in a position to buy the work.”²

That’s a bit extreme but you get the idea. Assuming you want feedback from other sources, the first is probably a critique group, other writers that share their work and comments.

I am not part of such a group at present, but my advice would be to choose carefully. Blanket approval is as useless as blanket criticism. If you are uncomfortable do not hesitate to leave the group. You can turn to . . . 

2. Beta Readers

Before my experience with my new book, I might well have said to choose carefully, but now I say widen the net of readers.

Other writers are your first source. They will look carefully at the story for characterization, plot holes, and ping-pong dialog. Now, about widening that net — try for some pure readers. They will look for different things and may well surprise you. Remember, they are your audience, not other professionals.

3.  Editors

The types of editors you might send to:

Editors you pay.

I use an editing group that is based in Great Britain. It’s not cheap, but for me it’s worth it. My particular editor is very good, likes my work, and provides detailed, insightful comments. The good news is that no feelings will be hurt over comments that you choose not to incorporate.

Then there is, of course, the cost, and the effort on your part. You need to very clearly explain the kind of edit you are looking for, and after the edits arrive you need to process them. 

An editor who is offering to buy the book.

Try to negotiate out of any changes you don’t like. If that fails, do it. For an example of this process, see the Introduction to the revised edition of Robert A. Heinlein’s Red Planet (1949).³

The editor, a lady named Alice Dalgliesh, took exception to parts of the book, like girls carrying guns. "Girls don’t do that!"

Side note: my mother was a Heinlein contemporary who grew up on a farm in Texas and I assure you she could handle weapons.

And Ms. Dalgliesh didn’t like the weird alien sleeping in the hero’s bed.

Heinlein didn’t like it but he made the changes. A writer of his stature made changes that are to my mind poor at best. Nevertheless, Red Planet was published, was a success, and is still read today (in Heinlein’s original version in some editions).

Who the feedback is from can be important. Once upon a time, my cat threw up on a manuscript I was editing. What does he know?

So now you have the comments from those you submitted to. Hopefully, the wounds are not too deep and will provide material for interesting stories like Richard Dreyfuss and the moray eel. Hopefully, you are continuing with the project. The next question is...  

What do you do with those comments?

There are some suggestions I can make. 

When two or more readers say the same thing

Take it seriously.

Do you remember that sparkling, witty, back cover copy that my publisher sent out for comments? I think nine individuals responded with thoughtful edits. 

They hated it.

• It was too long
• It gave away too much of the story
• It failed to communicate the nature of the book
• It wasn’t interesting

(At this point I wondered if the McPherson Driveline Dynamometer that I wrote about extolling the virtues of so many years ago ever sold.)

The writing rule is this:

If more than one person says the same thing, you should probably do it. 

Examine the nature of the comment 

A real comment from a beta reader on my new book was, “I had to read this three times to be sure who was talking.” Yikes! That has to be fixed. If a reader says they don’t understand something — fix it!

Your writer's mind fills in blank spots. You know more about your characters, what they are doing, where they are standing in a particular scene, and why they act the way they do. That’s a problem I have in action scenes. I tend to know where everybody is and what they are doing and neglect to spell it out on paper.

And in the End . . .

We can now answer the question we started with. Who’s in charge? You are. It’s your story. If you feel a comment from anybody at any time, regardless of what it is, is wrong, it’s up to you. Make the change or don’t and take the consequences.

I hope these guidelines help. Good luck!

How many beta readers do you have? How do you deal with their comments? Do you use a paid editing service? Have you ever talked about a story at the concept stage and did it work? C’mon, we’re all in this together - please share your experience in the comments.

Notes

¹ “Jaws” (1975) Steven Spielberg.

² Donald Hamilton, Death of a Citizen, 1960.

³ Robert A. Heinlein, Red Planet. Look for the Baen edition that restores the parts his editor removed. I have also seen references to an essay called “Red Planet Blue Pencil” but I have not tracked down a copy. It apparently tells the whole story of the revisions.

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About James

James R. Preston is the author of the award-winning Surf City Mysteries and two historical novellas set in the swingin' sixties. Kirkus Reviews called Buzzkill, one of the historicals, "a historical thriller enriched by characters who sparkle and refuse to be forgotten." The hat isRobicheaux's Dock & Bait Shop, New Iberia, LA. It was captured at Bouchercon Chicago.

 James' web page is www.jamesrpreston.com. 

Top image via Shutterstock.