Writers in the Storm

Julie Glover

Podcasts have grown a lot since their inception in 2004. According to Edison Research, as of 2019, fifty-one percent of Americans over age 12 have ever listened to a podcast, with 32% having listened in the prior month and 22% in the prior week. I suspect a number of WITS readers are among those listeners!

With that in mind, let's talk about podcasts specifically for writers.

The Basics of Podcasts

Podcasts are digital audio files you can listen to through any internet-connected device with audio, but most often it's your phone. In fact, the word itself derives from iPod + broadcast, though there are now many podcast subscribers beyond Apple.

If you don't know where to go to find podcasts, here are just a few apps you can use to discover and play shows:

• Apple podcasts / iTunes
• Stitcher
• Google Play
• Spotify
• Castbox
• PocketCasts
• Podbean

https://youtu.be/hQSt-eFBhB4

Choosing the Right Podcast

The right podcast(s) for you depends on your goals and desires. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

What information do you need or want? Are you looking for inspiration or camaraderie with other authors? Do you want writing craft advice? Are you focused on marketing know-how? Some podcasts cover a wide array of topics, while other niche down to give you their slice of the information pie.

How much time do you have? Podcast episodes vary in length, from a few minutes to over an hour. Choose podcasts that fit into your schedule. Also, most podcast apps include an option to speed up the audio and/or trim silence within the episode, which can save time.

How often do you want to listen? Podcasts also vary in how often they release. You might want episodes 2-3 times a week or only once a week or less. Some podcasts even have seasons, like TV shows, and take breaks in between.

What format do you prefer? Podcasts are simply downloadable audio shows and can include solo coaching, interviews, round-table discussions, or stories. What appeals to one listener won't appeal to another.

Whose "voice" do you like? We writers often talk about an author's voice, that style that distinguishes between reading a Stephen King horror novel and a Jill Shalvis contemporary romance. Likewise, podcast hosts have unique styles, and you should opt for the voices that engage you.

Some Podcasts to Try

This is by no means a cumulative or even sufficient list of podcasts for writers. I guarantee I've left out some amazing offerings, but we'll ask readers to add their recommendations in the comments section.

Here are some podcasts, though, to try out!

Hopefully, somewhere in there you can find something worth your listening time.

One final tip: You can listen to podcasts through Bluetooth speakers or from your desktop, but if you're using headphones, be sure to invest in a good set. They need to be comfortable enough in or around your ears that they won't distract you or prevent you from wanting to listen.

Okay, it's your turn...

What podcasts for writers do you recommend?

About Julie

Julie Glover writes mysteries and young adult fiction. Her YA contemporary novel, SHARING HUNTER, finaled in the 2015 RWA® Golden Heart® and is now on sale! When not writing, she collects boots, practices rampant sarcasm, and advocates for good grammar and the addition of the interrobang as a much-needed punctuation mark.

Julie is represented by Louise Fury of The Bent Agency. You can visit her website here and also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

About Cruising Writers

Cruising Writers brings writers together with bestselling authors, an agent, and a world-renowned writing craft instructor writing retreats around the world. Cruise this November with Angela Ackerman, fabulous writing coach and co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus, NYT bestselling author Darynda Jones, and agent Jennifer Udden of New Leaf Literary.

Source: Edison Research. “The Podcast Consumer 2019.”

Photo credit: Image by Csaba Nagy from Pixabay

Eldred “Bob” Bird

I liken the writing process to using different boxes of crayons. Remember when you were a kid and got the big sixty-four color pack with the sharpener in the bottom? You could draw whole worlds in amazing detail with the color palette provided by that box. That's novel writing, with its infinite possibilities and wide open spaces.

As writers, words are our crayons and the page is our canvas. We may have 300 or more canvases to fill when writing a novel, so there is ample opportunity to use every color in the box. We can draw characters, worlds, and scenes with three-dimensional depth, adding splashes of color and deep shadows wherever we like. We are free and unfettered as we sketch our multi-picture masterpieces.

Cutting It Short

I’ve been asked why I continue to write short stories after completing three novels. Many assume that, once you master the intricacies of novel length storytelling, writing in a shorter form is a step backward. Nothing could be further from the truth. In some ways, short stories are more difficult to write than novels.

Remember the little twelve-pack of crayons (perfect for road trips and Christmas stockings)? Imagine trying to draw the same picture with the 12 that you did with the 64-pack. The bad news is—you can’t. You simply don’t have the room. You’re in short story territory now. As much as you push, pull, tug, and stuff, you’ll never fit everything on the more limited canvas of a short story.

You’re going to have to cut something, but what?

Writing short makes you focus on the details that really matter when it comes to getting the message across clearly and concisely. As in novel writing, you still need a beginning, middle, and end, but they’re going to be much closer together.

The good news is that while your palette is limited, you don’t have to use the basic colors provided in that little twelve pack. You get to choose which crayons you pull from the big box, or in our case, which words. Time to grab for those the bright colors.

Squeezing It All In

The shorter you write, the more important word choice becomes. A powerful word in just the right situation can do the same heavy lifting as a whole sentence, or sometimes even a paragraph.

If you’re drawing a Caribbean beach, you wouldn’t use just any old blue crayon for the water, right? No, you’d look for a perfect crystal clear blue—a shade that with one look tells you that you’re standing on a beach in the tropics, not the stormy Pacific Northwest.

The same holds true when we chose words for a short story, so get out your thesaurus and look for those power words that paint a picture all on their own.

Some quick tips:

1. Focus on those verbs. These are action words that can do the powerlifting.
2. Keep it simple. Mark Twain said, “Don’t use a five dollar word when a fifty cent word will do."
3. Readers are drawn toward words with strong consonants.
4. Alliteration—using words with the same beginning sound—is another powerful technique.

Something a Little Flashier

If you really want to challenge yourself as a writer, try flash fiction. That's the two crayons they give your kid at a restaurant. Here’s my best advice—grab the darkest crayon you’ve got and play with the shadows. You don’t have a lot of room for details, so give us one pop of color and then use contrast to your advantage.

Flash fiction is more akin to poetry when it comes to creating powerful images and deep emotions while using few words. Playing on the five senses generally yields the quickest results in this case. Sights, sounds, tastes, and smells can trigger strong memories and familiar images. Playing off those memories will have the reader filling in the colors for you. Imply the beginning, maybe give a quick peek at the middle, and then slap us hard with a visceral ending.

Some Parting Words

Whatever the size of your canvas, it’s easy to fall into the over-explaining/over-describing trap when we have so many colors at our disposal. Too many colors (or the wrong ones) can confuse the reader or push them away. Striking a proper balance is key, no matter the length of your story. Check out this post for more on the subject.

A Little Challenge

Okay people, now it’s your turn. Let’s try a little flash fiction. Grab those crayons and draw a quick, powerful picture in the comments using 25 words or less. I’ll start:

New lovers kiss. I turn away, but see your passion reflected in the glass. I swallow the shattered memory. This place is ours no longer.

About Eldred

Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and the soon to be released Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.

When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives). His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.

Penny Sansevieri

Vanishing Amazon reviews have become a consistent part of being an author. It’s a sadly popular problem, and my blog posts that focus on this issue are still some of our highest viewed. Many authors still struggle with this, even with Amazon relaxing their review pulls.

These ideas may help with the disappearance of Amazon reviews. If this is happening consistently to your book, there may be a more extensive issue. I’ll touch on this as well.

Secure Your Current Reviews

You know how it happens, right? All of a sudden you notice a number of reviews are missing from Amazon! For this reason, I urge you to constantly check for new reviews.

One thing I recommend is to take a screenshot of the “Customer Reviews” on your Amazon Author Central page, so you can not only capture new reviews, but observe if any reviews are missing. You may still lose that review on Amazon, but it’s secured in your screenshot, so you can add it to your book page later. You can repost any missing reviews to the “reviews” in Author Central.

I do this regularly: once a week if I’m in between book releases, and more frequently if I’m on top of a new book release.

Sometimes Amazon Malfunctions

The Amazon website is massive, and although it’s hard to believe, Amazon does make mistakes.

This sometimes impacts book reviews. Lately, I’ve had many folks tell me their Amazon reviews disappeared and ask for advice on how to move forward.

It happened that these reviews were posted around the same time. Luckily when the authors reposted the reviews as instructed, it worked successfully. So, sometimes it’s an odd glitch, and it’s worth asking the person who posted the now missing review to try and repost it.

If you are noticing Amazon reviews vanishing (and you took the screenshot to verify this), I encourage you to enlist Amazon’s help via the Help button in Author Central. But, give yourself some time before contacting Amazon because you don’t want to be emotional. I know, easier said than done. When reviews get pulled we feel like Amazon is in the wrong – and maybe they are, but a helpful conversation with Amazon could shed some light on why this is happening and what you can do.

It’s important to inquire with Amazon about your reviews. I’ve had some authors tell me that once they enlisted Amazon's help, they received all of their reviews back.

Ask Your Readers for Reviews

Lost reviews can’t be recovered — and even if Amazon never displaces your reviews, you still want to continue building your number of reviews. I know this may seem very apparent, but authors sometimes forget to keep motivating their readers for reviews.

Dear Reader letters are a great way to boost your reviews. I’ll add a link below to another post I’ve written on this.

https://www.amarketingexpert.com/turning-your-book-into-a-24-7-book-sales-tool/

This may seem obvious, but whenever I’ve asked authors when the last time they asked their readers or mailing list for a review, they can’t recall. Authors seldom remember to do this. Mailing lists are helpful and if you don’t have one, I recommend you start one asap!

By creating a mailing list and asking readers for reviews, it allows the readers to feel like they are truly contributing to your success. If you respectfully request reviews, you will obtain them.

Help your readers recall why reviews are so important and encourage their input (good or bad). This input can sway a person to buy. Remind readers to provide an impartial assessment of the book.

Vanishing Amazon reviews are unfortunately a battle that will continue happening. Following these key ideas will help you secure your current reviews and continue compiling new ones!

About Penny

Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. (AME) and Adjunct Professor at NYU, is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. To learn more about Penny and her company, visit www.amarketingexpert.com