Writers in the Storm

by Kris Maze

Whether you are an indie writer looking at new markets or a newbie building up a writing portfolio, consider trying these ways to get traditionally published. What will be your next steps with your work?

3 Methods to Share YOUR Work in 2020

1. Identify agents or publishers who best fit your project

Some tips:

• Read agent bios using online databases like AgentQuery.com or Querytracker.net to find those who represent (rep) your genre. Most editors and agents are very specific about what they want in their inbox. Pro tip: Extra research here can give you an edge as you demonstrate how your work fulfills their needs. Make a list of 5-10 you want to focus on.
• Look up books these agents rep and find similarities that might make them interested in your work. Let them know why they should consider your book? Pro tip: This helps you identify comparison (comp) books to include in your query letters as well.
• Verify what these industry professionals want by visiting their social media feeds. Manuscript Wish List _^Ⓡ or #MSWL is a useful handle on Twitter.  This is where agents and editors request what they want to come across their desk.  Does your work fit an editor’s description? How does your book compare to the other works an agent represents? Pro tip: Be honest about your writing and find someone who represents other books like yours.
• Narrow your list to 5 or less and keep the others as a backup.  No one likes to be a part of a long list of spam.  Revise your query letters, tailored to each agent or editor. Pro tip: Be sure to follow their specifications for submissions exactly.  Let them know you are paying attention and would be a good author to work with.

2. Submit to contests, blogs, web content, and journals

Using contests, journals, and blogs remains an excellent way to build a writer's portfolio. There are many venues to get your work published.  It is a competitive field, so get in the mindset of producing your best work before sending it out.  Follow the steps of good editing and use beta readers. Revising your work both sharpens your craft and builds your reputation as an author. Submitting your work can get you noticed.  Where do you find these opportunities?

Writers use many databases to gain insight into the publishing market. Here are a few favorites to try:

Duotrope has been popular database of writing opportunities for years, but currently only offers a 7-day free trial followed by a $5.00 per month fee.  They also have a discounted rate if you pay $50 for the year.

Submission Grinder is a free database that focuses on fiction and poetry.  They keep track of statistics on how many submissions, rejections, and accepted work a publisher has in the market.  They also track the amounts paid for work. They do not include nonfiction.

Submittable has many features to enable easier searches and has a clean interface.  Writers make an account first, but access to the variety of open submissions inside makes it worth it. Like a one-stop shop, you can search opportunities and enter your projects all in one place. Free for writers, the publishers may ask for a reasonable $3 to cover their costs when submitting work.

The Discover feature allows you to research the market by genre, key words, due date, writing type, or whether contests require a fee. Writers can follow certain publishers, track opportunities, or discover new ones.  The default feature includes only what you search for in order by most recent due date.

Submittable has a handy dashboard that tracks your entries.  Writers see their submissions as ‘in progress’, ‘accepted’ or ‘declined’ over time. This may help you expand into other areas or identify other markets for your work. When sending out work to multiple publishers, this site helps keep your process organized.

3. Join a newsletter that does the research for you.

A couple of writer newsletters I like are Authors Publish and Freedom with Writing.

These newsletters create lists of opportunities by genre, topic, or special interest. They link submission pages, websites, and their research on the publisher’s history and pay structure. Oftentimes opportunities are from various regions around the world and cover a wide variety of topics.

They tend to send their newsletters with writing deadlines within the month.  I find these prompt me to revise short stories as I often have something in the hopper I can polish up when the right genre passes by. Searching the market often inspires me to write more as I learn about potential publishers. Consider using deadlines as a motivation for yourself.

Authors Publish offers books on writing advice and curated publishers for certain writing types. Their books have a paid and free option. The publishers are usually open to new unagented writers and do not charge entry fees.

 How could you use contests and open submissions to build your portfolio?  Are the projects you started during the pandemic of 2020 a treasure trove waiting to be mined?  Pull out those projects and see where you can place them today.

Get your work out there!  Submit online and stay a safe social distance. Take these steps and realize your writing goals.  You could make someone's day or help them escape the doldrums with your story!

Have you had success with writing for a publication or won a contest? Brag or make a suggestion for our readers in the comments.

About Kris

Kris Maze has worked in education for 25  years and writes for various publications including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and Writers in the Storm. Her first YA Science fiction book, IMPACT, arrives in June 2020 and is published through Aurelia Leo.

Keep up with the latest stories from Kris Maze along with author events at her website. A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors with her family. She also ponders the wisdom of Bob Ross.  

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Set in post-pandemic Wind City, a young journalist races time as an incoming asteroid with certain destruction. Nala Nightingale must decide between broadcasting the news of a lifetime or discovering keys to her orphaned past.

Trapped underground with a mysterious scientist named Edison and his chess master AI, can Nala Nightingale find the will to live and to love in a dystopian future?

To find out more about IMPACT, click here.

TOP PHOTO by Image by ArtTower from Pixabay 

by Colleen M. Story

Have you heard of the Aesop fable titled, “The Peasant and the Apple Tree?”

It goes like this:

“A peasant was cutting down an apple tree despite pleas from animals living in it. He stopped when he found a hive with honey. The Tree is now doing fine!”

All of us are very much like that peasant. When we see something that interests us, we stop and pay attention.

We need to remember this when building our author platforms. I’ve found there’s one question that helps me gain readers perhaps more than any other:

“How can I benefit my readers’ lives?”

When you can answer that question succinctly and clearly, you have the key to a successful author platform that will draw readers your way.

Selling Books is Hard and Only Getting Harder

Marketing remains the most difficult part of the writing life for most writers. The odds are against us. In 2018, Bowker reported that for the first time, more than one million books were self-published, which was an over 40 percent increase from the year before. That’s in just one year. And it doesn’t include the traditionally published books.

Meanwhile, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center, roughly a quarter of U.S. adults (27%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form.

Supply is far outpacing demand, which means one thing: It’s getting harder to sell books.

Before you get too irritated at these readers who aren’t reading your books, take a look at your own behavior. When you want to do something fun with your leisure time, where do you turn? Most of us have other things we do in addition to reading, and when we do read, we tend to choose books by authors we already know, or by authors our friends have recommended.

Whereas a simple blog or social media presence may have been all you needed in years past, the rules are different today.

Readers have way too much vying for their attention. In addition to all the other books out there, they also have access to more modes of entertainment that may pull them away from books completely.

Pew survey results show that by far the most important source for book recommendations is family members, friends, or co-workers. Only 28% of respondents—just over a quarter—said they get recommendations from online bookstores or other websites.

In a smaller survey by copywriter Gigi Griffis, results showed that when buying a new book, a whopping 82% bought a book by an author they already knew and loved.

So how are we, as hard-working writers, to gain new readers? We have to give them a reason to pay attention. We have to be the honey in the tree.

The “What’s In It for Me?” Rule

My first job as a writer was as an “associate copywriter” working for a large corporation. I had been writing on my own for three years before that and had gotten a few stories published, but to say I was a newbie when it came to writing marketing copy was to make a huge understatement.

Fortunately, the company had a copy of The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy that Sells. It was a godsend, as it gave me all the tools I needed to begin building a successful writing career.

The biggest takeaway? Whenever you’re creating a piece of copy, you have to keep one question firmly in mind: “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM for short).

Asking that question from the reader’s point of view helped me create copy that increased sales for the company, and continues to help me in all my freelance writing work to this day.

What many book writers don’t realize is they need to incorporate this same question into their marketing practices.

“If you work in the field of marketing,” says writer and musician Dave Clark, “or are selling virtually anything on Earth, the acronym WIIFM should be top of mind in every activity in which you..partake.”

You’ve seen the difference yourself when shopping for products and services. You can tell immediately which companies are there for you and which ones are too focused on themselves.

Writes Raaf Sundquist, former Senior Strategist at design agency Telepathy:

“I see it all the time: ‘We drive the competition crazy!’ or ‘The best thing about shopping here is having us by your side.’ And so on and so forth. These are the types of phrases that make the companies who express them feel pretty darn good about… themselves. But what about their customers?”

Way too often I read writer’s blogs and social media posts and find they’re focused in the wrong direction—on the writer instead of on the reader. Writers post about their personal lives, their writing challenges, and their accomplishments, but rarely do they turn the spotlight around on their readers. 

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with sharing something personal now and then. It can even help us connect with our readership at times. But if we don’t have something else to offer—that honey in the tree—the reader will lose interest and move on.

Think about what causes you to pause and read a blog post or a social media post. Now and then you may enjoy a personal story, but often you’re looking for something that’s going to help you in your life. It’s what we’re all looking for. So if you as the writer/marketer aren’t offering that, why should a reader stop and see what you’re all about? She’ll be on to the next thing before she even gets past your headline.

How Can You Contribute to Your Readers’ Lives?

I spent many years floundering around my author platform before I remembered the question I needed to ask: How can I contribute to my readers’ lives? (Or “what’s in it for the reader?”)

When I finally took some time to answer that question, it made all the difference. How can you do that? There are many ways, but I’ve found one method that worked or me and seems to work for other writers too.

First, consider what you’re good at, then combine that with one of your key areas of interest, and you can come up with the perfect way to contribute to your readers’ lives.

Try writing down two lists:

1. Your best skills. What are you good at?
   Include non-writing-related skills. Maybe you’re a great cook, the perfect matchmaker,
   or a finance whiz.
2. Your top five interests/passions. What
   are you so interested in that you could learn about it for years to come? Maybe
   it’s marine life, romantic relationships, or travel.

Once you have your answers down, let your creative brain go to work. How might you combine these to create an author platform that both inspires you and helps your readers?

Here are some examples:

1. Combine cooking
   with romantic relationships, and create a platform helping readers win over
   their loved ones with unique recipes.
2. Combine
   matchmaking with marine life, and create a platform informing readers all about
   the love stories of the deep, perhaps between whales, sharks, and even
   seahorses (who are monogamous, by the way).
3. Combine finance
   with travel and help people find ways to afford a variety of adventurous
   vacations no matter their budget.

Can you tie these types of platforms into your books? Use your imagination. The first example would be perfect for romance writers, but even sci-fi authors could insert a romantic cooking scene into their next story, or ask readers to submit recipes they might use for an alien character.

Too often writers hold themselves back, worried about whether their books match perfectly with their platforms, but it’s not as important as you might think.

What matters is giving your reader that honey so she’ll stick around long enough to find out what else you have to offer. After she sees you as a source of help—in whatever form of help that may take—she’s much more likely to be interested in the books you write, as well.

Create an Author Platform You Enjoy

Give it a try and see what you come up with. As for me, I had spent years as a health and wellness writer and I knew I was passionate about creativity. I tried combining the two and came up with Writing and Wellness, my motivational site. Once that site was up and running, I started getting new readers for one reason: I was helping them.

If you can find a way to do the same, you’ll discover you can increase your readership and enjoy building your platform at the same time.

What’s your author platform superpower? Click on Colleen’s FREE worksheet and see if you were right!

About Colleen:

Colleen M. Story inspires writers to overcome modern-day challenges and find creative fulfillment in their work. Her latest release, Writer Get Noticed!, was a gold-medal winner in the 2019 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards for writing and publishing, and a recent 1st-place winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards. Colleen frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find more at her motivational site, Writing and Wellness, and on her author website, or connect with her on Twitter.

by Jenny Hansen

Every writer strives to create characters who leap off the page as unique, compelling, fully-formed people. We spend hours, days, and sometimes years to make them believable.

Recently, I attended a day job webinar that gave me new tools and perspectives for fiction. (I love it when that happens.)

The course detailed the eight characteristics every person needs to successfully navigate this “adulting” thing and realize their full potential. Here are my thoughts about tweaking these traits to help our own heroes and heroines as they journey through our stories.

Meet the “8 Cs”

We want our characters to be whole by the end of the story, or at least whole enough to fight another day. The list below, shared by a long-time social worker, contains the qualities people need to be fully actualized [aka happy], and some exercises that will help them “get there.”

The conundrum of happy characters often lies inside the artist. Most creative spirits are forged from adversity. As Richard M. Nixon said, “The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.”

We want to put our characters through these hot fires of hell. We need to hold them to the flames to keep readers reading. But most writers also want their characters to find happiness by the time they write The End. It's especially difficult to keep our eye on the happy prize when the world around us is chaotic.

How do you mess with a character’s happily-ever-after under these circumstances?

Meet the 8 Cs:

1. Curiosity
2. Clarity
3. Confidence
4. Creativity
5. Calm
6. Courage
7. Compassion
8. Connectedness

How can we use these character traits?

Below are quotes, questions and affirmations for each quality that may spark ideas for your own characters. The smart writer will pick a few traits and ensure that their character is terrible at them.

Note: Angela Ackerman a post for us about a character’s unmet need, which is a great counterpart to this post. A character’s "lacking" qualities or their unmet need is the stuff of a great hero’s journey.

1. Curiosity

“Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.” – Bryant McGill

An enquiring mind is a wonderful thing. People with highly developed curiosity are often healthier and happier. People with a well-developed sense of curiosity are often more mindful of their world, and more accepting of themselves.

Some questions:

• How do I feel about this, and why?
• What if I were more present right now?
• What do I need the most right now?
• What inner strengths have I discovered in this
  situation?

2. Clarity

“Out of crisis, comes clarity.” – Randolph O’Toole

The actual definition of clarity is “the quality of transparency or purity.” It means to have clearness, wisdom, an understanding of your world or situation.

In fiction, if you have a mentor in your book, they likely have clarity. How would this look on the page? What might this mentor say to your main character?

• Breathe.
• Find your refuge.
• Respond, don’t react.
• Dig deep.

3. Confidence

“It is confidence in our bodies, minds, and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures.” – Oprah Winfrey

Character affirmations to help underscore your character's confidence:

• Celebrate victories.
• Do your best. It will be good enough.
• Be congruent.
• I am me, and I am okay.

4. Creativity

“The creative adult is the child who survived.” – Ursula Le Guin

Mantras or sayings for a character brimming with creativity:

• Has anything/anyone inspired you lately?
• Everything in my life inspires me to create.
• Express your thoughts and feelings your way.
• I gift the world through my creative expression.

5. Calm

“Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Everyone has a friend or family member who goes from zero to everything when it comes to their emotions. Calm is the opposite of that. Calm takes a moment to assess. Calm looks inward before it looks outward.

Does your character have calm? How do they use to progress your plot? Perhaps they lack calm. How does that hurt them?

If they have this superpower, here are their mantras.

• Differentiate between fear, anger, and
  helplessness. Then lean in.
• Don’t get hijacked by your feelings.
• “Rest and digest”. Try not to just react.

6. Courage

“Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and than you think.” – Christopher Robin

Courage is what every great hero is made of. It's about willingness, effort and potential failure. It is about finding a way where there is no way.

How would a courageous character look?

• They’d engage in authentic communication with others.
• According to Brené Brown, they would allow themselves to be vulnerable.
• They'd possess a willingness to be uncomfortable.
• Also, an optimism that failure is not the end.

William Faulkner said, “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”

7. Compassion

“If I am not first for myself, then who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” – Rabbi Hillel

Love and compassion for others starts with love and compassion for one’s self. It is the hardest thing to remember for many of us and the easiest thing to forget in times of stress.

Characters who have compassion as their superpower should know the following:

• Self-compassion is fundamental.
• Find acceptance, not judgment.
• Bring compassion to your pain.

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield

8. Connectedness

“Only through our connectedness to others can we really know and enhance the self.” – Harriet Lerner

Do you have a character with a strong community or one who keeps to themselves? Do they want to be connected, but don't know what that looks like? Perhaps they build a community for others but don’t feel they deserve one of their own.

How does your character connect? What is their love language? Is it their time…gifts…actions?

Here are some philosophies the connected character might live by:

• Nurture your inner strengths. Then share them.
• Expand your generosity. Then share it.
• Open your heart and your mind, as well as your arms.

Now it's your turn...

What is your main character's superpower trait? What are they terrible at? What other traits would you add to the list? Share your thoughts down in the comments!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny provides corporate communications and LinkedIn advice for professional services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 18 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Facebook at JennyHansenAuthor or at Writers In The Storm.