Writers in the Storm

Our lives are about change.

Some people look at change as a bad thing, as something to avoid. Others view change as a possibility for something better. No matter how you feel about the life detours called change, nothing in our lives is permanent.

The past six months of my life have revolved around change. Small changes in daily routines to large, rest-of-my-life changes. I was blindsided by most of them.

Now that I can look back with a degree of rational thought, I realize how change is not good or bad–though depending on the circumstances, this is a hard stance to defend. Change just is.

Who hasn't experienced moving away from your parents? What feelings do you remember? Excitement? Anxiety?

What about a loss? Did you feel grief? Anger? Relief?

The concept of change got me thinking more about my new book and new characters. 

How your characters deal with the changes you throw at them shows their mettle. For instance, a girl leaves home to go to college. Does she take advantage of a lack of supervision to party? Does she miss her family and friends and end up moping? Or does she dip her toes into newfound freedom, think fondly of home, and work hard to attain her goal of an education? You can show her emotions at each step of her adventure to help your readers connect with her feelings while revealing backstory and motivation in a seamless, natural fashion. How would a woman who views herself as strong react if a stranger catches her crying in a new situation?

Change can be the wave that carries your character arc through your story. In fact, Chris Vogler's,  The Hero's Journey is all about showing the character in his "normal" life and then propelling him onto the roller coaster of adventure and change.

Resistance to changes perceived as "bad" can make a character's life come to a standstill, just like they can get us "stuck" in real life. In real life, we work through those stuck times to get to the better side of the change. How powerful our writing is when we allow our readers to root for our characters as they traverse those dark, shadowy depths of their souls to find inner strength, new wisdom, and new resolve! And how hopeful it can be to those in similar conditions!

If you're wondering about how to look at your current WIP through the lens of change, start with your inciting incident to find the good,the bad and the ugly in the changes you give your character. And remember, the change needs to have all three elements for you to squeeze every bit of "juice" from the lemon!

My character is leaving the small, underground community of her mining planet to join the military to get an education and become a doctor. Sounds like a great change, right?

The Ugly: On the shuttle ride to the battle cruiser that will transport her to the Academy, she throws up. Yes, she's nervous and scared, but she throws up because she's never been to the surface of her deadly planet and to see the vastness of space and be in the small space craft dangling above her world, her body revolts. It's a symbol of her not being able to control any of the changes that will bombard her through the first third of the book. (Symbolism is a great way to convey your theme--but that's a whole 'nuther blog!)

The Bad: Instead of the supportive community she's used to, she is in the competitive worlds of the military and academia. She finds herself treating others harshly, as she's being treated–and she doesn't like the person she's becoming. She yearns for the "good old" days.

The Good: She learns to respect the differing values of others while clarifying her own beliefs. She develops skills and strengths she would never have known without leaving her own world.

Try reading the first three chapters of your novel and mark the changes your characters face. Those changes are the easiest way to use deep POV to show your characters' emotions. Don't miss the opportunity.

If your plot is dragging, insert a change to keep your story fresh. Changes can give you the ability to take the story in a direction that will surprise, and hopefully delight, your readers.

Everything in life changes. That's what makes the journey interesting.

Have you taken advantage of a change in your life by including it in your writing? Do you have tips on how to deal with the stress of change?

About Fae:

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak.  Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present.  As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of algebra lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now enjoys sharing her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen

 

Kate Moretti

Congratulations! You published a book. It’s out there in the world, all new and shiny, bouncing like the newborn its constantly compared to. The hard part is over, right?

Um… well this is awkward.

Maybe you watch Amazon rank or your Bookscan data or if you’re lucky, get numbers from your publisher and you realize that books don’t sell themselves. That, even though your book is positively brilliant, it’s not flying off the shelves. Every week, you sell a bit less than the week before and you reach a bit more to the outer edges of your existing circles. Your grandmother’s hairdresser likes to read, right? RIGHT?

Panic time.

Marketing your book feels uncomfortable, like you’re the guy at the party with the bad toupee who traps people in a corner, spouting the benefits of a multi-level marketing product.

There are many ways to market a book, not all of them good. In fact, many of them are terrible. You can spam everyone you know on Facebook and Twitter with generic, impersonal messages that include links to your book on every available format. I don’t think you need me to tell you that your toupee is crooked.

But, there are some truly invaluable ways to market your book and although none of them are without effort, they won’t make you feel like you need a shower.

Reach out to other writers

This one is a bit of a *duh* moment. It’s why you’re reading this, and possibly commenting (hopefully commenting!). But take it a step further. Reaching out to strangers can feel awkward. I promise you, reaching out to writers when you are a writer is NEVER awkward. It took me a year to realize this. A YEAR! I’ve always been a book nerd: writers are my rock stars. When I published a book I thought, “who on earth would want to hear from me?”  You know who? Anyone.  Yes, literally any other writer. Writers love readers. We love other writers.  If there is someone you admire, tell them. Find them on social media, share their Facebook posts, retweet their tweets on Twitter, friend them on Goodreads. Go to their book signings, tell them you’re a writer, too. Tell them why you like their work, how they inspired you. They won’t forget it.

Be Open. It’s hard. I’m an oldest child: overachiever, independent, I don’t need anyone, just ask my mother. It’s hard to be open. To say, 'I think you’re great' and 'Let’s be friends'. We’re not ten years old anymore, it’s hard to give admiration with abandon. Do it anyway.

This is the one that never goes away for me. Writers are everywhere. Connect with them, share their audiences and share yours with them as you grow. Never stop reaching up, out, and back. Other writers will be there to catch you when you stumble, but only if you let them.

This is true for book bloggers, too. Reach out, comment on their reviews. Follow your favorite authors around the internet and pay attention to their reviews. Book bloggers are really awesome, fun people who love to read and talk about books. They are our PEOPLE. Love them.

 

Get out the Elbow Grease

You know what book marketing is like? Building a house with nothing but toothpicks. There’s no one big brick. You get little boosts along the way, but mostly it’s a series of tiny actions (I think my metaphor is falling apart), that altogether add up to a steady stream of readers.

Try everything once: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, buying ads, price point fluctuation (if you can), sales, giveaways. You don’t have to do it all right away, your head will spin. Just pick something and dive in. When you have a handle on it, dive into something else. Do this enough times, and you’ll realize you have a platform!

It’s also fun to explore and figure out new things that attract readers and fans. I live for those moments: finding new readers who come back later and tell me they loved my work? Ahhh, it’s what I do this for!

I recently started up a newsletter. My blog is intermittently maintained and it’s mostly about my kids. I have an active Facebook page, and a growing Twitter following, but I struggle with conferences and signings because of my schedule. I’ve recently taken on Goodreads in earnest and am trying to get the zillions of books I’ve read recently reviewed. It doesn’t matter, it’s all toothpicks. Stack, stack, stack…

No matter what you take on at any time, know this: there is no one thing that sells books. Stop asking for it. Oh wait, there totally is. The New York Times list doesn’t hurt (but for most, is still short lived). A million dollar marketing budget would sell a helluva lotta books. Don’t have that? Hmmmm,… as I was saying: there’s no one thing that sells books.

 

Be Yourself

More trope advice. No, really. Your own person is your brand. Be that person. On social media, at events, even when you think: everyone is more literary. Everyone here is smarter than me. Everyone here sells a lot more books than I do. Everyone here has better shoes because I just stepped in a puddle.

The thing is, people know when you’re putting on an act. They won’t like you as much. If you’re at an event and everyone is talking about their favorite books and you say Gatsby when really its Twilight, then you’re passing up the awesome opportunity for an instant connection with someone in that room whose favorite book is Breaking Dawn because Twilight was just too simplistic. And you can stumble through the themes of society and class in the 1920’s if you want, but everyone will see through it and you will bore them. If you love Twilight, just say you love Twilight. Newsflash: you’re not the only one. That book sold a billion copies,

 

Give your book away

Sigh. How many of you just cringed? I’m sorry. It’s true. Unless you’re the walking, talking personification of the adage Everyone has a book in them, you need to believe that your first book will not be the book that gets you a beach house. Yes, it happens. Maybe? Not to anyone I know.

Your first book is the book that introduces YOU, WRITER to the world. It shows readers who you are, gives them a taste of your voice.  This is important, like a long term investment. I’m not saying offer your book, your hard work, free for the taking on your website. Rather, participate in group giveaways (or organize them!), offer to give copies away on other blogs, other writers' Facebook pages, hold contests to boost engagement. There will be times where you feel like you can’t even give your book away. Happily send it off to that one entrant, as though there were a thousand and never do anything but say, THANK YOU. Say thank you a million times. I think of my first book as an audition for my future readers. I’m happy to be here, I hope I earn a spot on your bookshelf.

 

The bottom line

Marketing your book is one long Sisyphean exercise. Don’t work for every sale. Instead, just be a person who loves to talk about books to other people. And some of those books you gab about are yours! And that’s more than okay, that’s wonderful. Stop asking if this action, right here, this giveaway or this ad or this event or this conference will sell books. It doesn’t matter. It’s all about how many different ways you can reach the same person. Connect with the same reader until eventually they think it’s just kismet.

I had a reader tell me that once: “I see your book everywhere, like I’m meant to buy it! It must be fate!”

Yep, totally fate. Exhausting, carefully engineered fate.

So what do you think? Are the above doable for you? Do you have any other tips for us?

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About Kate

Kate Moretti is the New York Times Bestselling author of the women’s fiction novel, Thought I Knew You. Her second novel Binds That Tie was released in March 2014. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She’s worked in the pharmaceutical industry for ten years as a scientist, and has been an avid fiction reader her entire life.

She enjoys traveling and cooking, although with two kids, a day job, and writing, she doesn’t get to do those things as much as she’d like. Her lifelong dream is to buy an old house with a secret passageway.

Www.facebook.com/katemorettiwriter
Www.twitter.com/katemoretti1

Some of you have heard of Klout,  a website and app that measures social media activity and ranks social influence. This is not another social media platform, I promise you. This is something you can set up that gives others an indication of the reach and effectiveness of your current social media efforts. And by others, I mean agents, editors, employers, etc.

Klout is not a beast you have to keep feeding, unless you want to. Some people set it up and never visit again. Others browse the Perks and use the "give Klout +K" feature with abandon. This post sums up some key points and how-to that I shared with Laura Drake when I got her set up last year.

p.s. Laura is now rocking Klout! It should be noted, she spends less time on social media than I do, and has a higher Klout score. [Bitch.]

Klout isn't about how much time you spend on social media, it's about the engagement that happens with your stuff and how much influence you have. For example, if I post 50 Facebook updates, but no one clicks, comments or shares them, and Laura posts three that get shared to pieces, her "engagement" is higher and her Klout score will go up. It's about quality, not quantity.

That photo at the top of the post is a snip of the navigation pane from my own Klout screen and there are some items there you need to pay attention to if you decide to get set up on Klout.

Overview

This is your "home" screen. You start here when you open the app, and Klout provides suggestions for content you might like to share. During your set-up, Klout asks you what topic you'd like to be influential in, then gives you suggestions from top influencers. You can share from here, or do nothing with it. I haven't notice either choice having much effect on my Klout.

Create

This allows you to "pick your topics." I recommend that you do. If you let Klout choose, it might say you're influential in some bizarre topic like cookies, based on the Facebook update you put up the last time you had late-night cravings. If a topic has gotten tons of play, Klout will think it's an influential one for you. So if you want to be known for writing or humor or romance, go to "Create" and search those topics out. Otherwise, you're going to be stuck with things like cookies and chocolate and cats.

 

Schedule

Giving you the opportunity to share content from Klout is their way of "throwing you some social media help." I don't often use this - I have my own stuff to share. But if you're new or not sure what to share, Klout's trying to make your life easier by giving you the best dates, times and content for sharing.

Measure

This is where you can drive yourself insane if you don't watch it. Klout gives you your score and shows which platforms had the most influence. I told Laura to pick the three she spent the most time on to start. If that's Wordpress, Facebook and Twitter, fine. If Pinterest and LinkedIn are your happy places, pick those. If you spend more time on social media for a while, or get better engagement, your score will go up. If you're absent for a while, it will likely go down.

Try not to watch this like you do with Amazon rankings. Above all, don't worry about it if your Klout score takes a while to perk up. Just know that a score over 50 is just fine.

Barack Obama's Klout is 99 and he's only really on Twitter. You're no Barack Obama on the influence scale, so 50+ is just peachy. If you're over 60, you're rocking social media. Stop worrying.

Also on this page, you can see which networks are contributing the most to your score. My favorite part of this screen is being able to see which topics and updates are gaining you the most ground. In other words, you can see what's working. Above is the graph, below is what's driving those numbers.

 

At the very bottom of your Klout screen are the Perks and your settings, in case you'd like to add some networks, or change your information. Some of the perks are very cool and it's up to you if you want to take advantage of them. I rarely do because I rarely go into the app. Plus, just like Facebook and Twitter, you must remember: When software or products are free, it's because you're the product.

Klout is happy to measure your effectiveness. In return, they'd appreciate it if you used that effectiveness to promote those perky products.

What do I use Klout for?

I use Google Chrome for my browser and I have the Klout add-in installed. I do this for a specific reason: When I'm browsing in Twitter or in a dashboard like Hootsuite, looking for sources for articles and such, I want to see who has the most influence. If I have two sources in front of me and one has a Klout Score of 42 and the other is 65, guess who I'm using for my source?

Klout has been especially helpful when I'm looking for people "on the ground" to interview for breaking news stories, or disasters. I can run a search for a specific hashtag and then comb through based on Klout. I get my sources faster and that makes me happy.

Below is what it looks like in Twitter.

Do you see that wide swing in scores? Below is another screen snip, but for Breaking News.

When it comes to freelance writing and interviewing, Klout has been a godsend for me. Some writers praise it to the heavens when they queried for agents. I've heard of several agents telling their clients to raise their score, while others say their agents could give a rip about their Klout.

In the end, it's always about the quality of our work. However, if we're spending time "building a social media platform," it sure is nice to have a place where we can look to see whether we're gaining any influence.

Do you use Klout? Do you have any other questions for me? Ask me down in the comments!

Announcement: My last techie post was about Microsoft's Sway and using it to create quick book trailers. I don't believe I gave away the Sway I promised, so I'm giving away TWO to make up for the delay. The two lucky winners are Candice Colt and Bibi Belford. I'll send you ladies a reminder through your blog comment email. If not, be sure to put your email down in the comments for me.

Happy Friday, y'all!

~ Jenny
@JennyHansenCA

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About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. By night she writes news articles, humor, memoir, women’s fiction and short stories. After 18+ years as a corporate software 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 Twitter at JennyHansenCA or at Writers In The Storm.