Writers in the Storm

by Jenn Windrow

Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics, reader magnets!

So, what is a reader magnet?

A reader magnet is a marketing tool that authors give away for free. They can come in many forms, but their purpose is to introduce readers to your characters, story world, and writing.

Intriguing reader magnets:

• Short stories or poems or even a chapter pulled from the final MS.
• Maybe some of the back story you didn’t include in your finished story.
• Prologues or epilogues that you decided against adding.
• Really anything that you don’t mind giving away for free to entice a reader to pick up Book One and start reading.

I have a collection of short stories, one poem, and a novella from my story world that I offer to readers who join my newsletter list. It’s an easy thank you, only about 95 pages worth of content that I am happy to give away for free to give readers a taste of my writing before they buy. But it also adds to the depth of my world.

Not only are reader magnets great marketing material, but they are inexpensive too. Make sure you place a CTA (call to action) at the end of any subsequent book or reader magnet, pointing your reader to the first book in the series, and you have officially marketed like a pro.

Tools That Help with Reader Magnets

There are promotion sites like BookFunnel and StoryOrigin where you can upload your reader magnet. Once you do, you can search out their lists of promotions and add your content to the list.

I have done several promotions with BookFunnel in the past and had great success with all of them. You can use promotion sites like these to collect email address and beef up your newsletter list. Both sites offer free and paid options depending on the kind of promotion you are looking for.

Note: This doesn’t have to be a pricy endeavor. I hop in and out of the paid option for BookFunnel all the time. I use it when I need to and save the money when I don’t. I retain all of my information when I change my pricing plan and can go back and look at my past promotions when I need to without worrying about my history being deleted.

Here are the paid options from both BookFunnel and StoryOrigin.

But if you don’t want to use the options above, you can always place a link on your website or social media site that directs readers to sign up for your newsletter list and email them their free gift.

Other ways to use Reader Magnets

In-person book signings are another great use of reader magnets. If you are speaking with a reader who isn’t quite sure they want to spend money on an author they have never heard of, giving them a downloadable QR code card can help with the sale even after they have walked away.

I have also seen authors print out their reader magnets into a small book and hand out a free physical copy. Then the reader walks away with a free gift and something new to read. This would of course have an overhead cost, so this is something you must decide if it’s worth it.

Giving away content doesn’t only have to be for enticing new readers, it can be a way to reward and thank your faithful readers for continuing to support you as an author. Reader’s love getting a behind-the-scene peek into the characters they have fallen in love with. Plus, if you are a slow writer like me, then the bonus content keeps them interested until the next book comes out.

Let’s talk about the Ominubus

In the past few years, the omnibus has become very popular with readers. An omnibus is a large volume book that contains all the content related to a book series. I created one this past spring for my urban fantasy series. It contains almost 900 pages of content that includes, 3 short stories, 1 poem, 1 novella, and all 4 novels. I bought a separate cover, spray painted the edges a fancy color ( a very stressful process), and created a fancy bookmark that they could only get with that book.

I called them a collector’s edition when readers inquired about the very large book at my table. I sold out on the second day of the event. And it wasn’t just new readers who were buying the special edition, it was some of my most faithful readers who wanted the whole Alexis Black world bundled in one fancy book.

Here is my omnibus in case you are curious what they look like.

So, the next time you cut a whole chapter or remove backstory or get rid of a section of dialogue between characters, don’t trash it. Save it and use it as a fun way to draw new readers into your world and reward those who have been with you since the start.

Now that you have an idea of what reader magnets are, can you think of any content you have deleted that you want to bundle together and give away for free? Do you use reader magnets already? Share the great ones down in the comments!

About Jenn

Sass. Snark. Supernatural Sizzle. 

Award winning author of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Vampires, Greek gods, and a bit of Demon Destroyer fun for everyone.

Jenn Windrow loves characters who have a pinch of spunk, a dash of attitude, and a large dollop of sex appeal. Top it all off with a huge heaping helping of snark, and you’ve got the ingredients for the kind of fast-paced stories she loves to read and write. Home is a suburb of it’s-so-hot-my-shoes-have-melted-to-the-pavement Phoenix. Where she lives with her husband, two teenagers, and a slew of animals that seem to keep following her home, at least that’s what she claims.

Website: https://jennwindrow.com/

Top photo purchased from Depositphoto. All others are from Jennifer Windrow.

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 [JH1]Unless you plan to link to your earlier posts as a group, you don’t need this.

by Ellen Buikema

Here I sit, in front of my laptop. The cursor blinks merrily at the top left of the page, maddeningly free of words. The muse isn’t talking. Maybe there is no muse. Maybe I am a fraud. Has this ever happened to you?

Many writers, even professionals, suffer from writing anxiety.

Whether you see this as resistance or low sense of self, writing anxiety can prevent you from finishing that wonderful story that only you can tell best. Or for that matter, from even starting the story.

I don’t know how to start. 

The suggestion, “Just start writing” can be helpful. This way you can get something down to punch up later.

Have a care with surfing the net, falling down rabbit holes while researching, and making online purchases.

Try developing a routine.

• make your favorite brew
• disconnect from the internet, unless you are researching
• set a timer

Having a routine can help set the mood to relax and write. It’s a good idea to move away from your work periodically and stretch. Your skeletal structure will thank you.

Make your writing time brief, to start, and lengthen the time when you are ready. I like to write in “chunks” of time, never more than two hours at a time. But that’s me. Some people can write for much longer stretches of time. There is no wrong here. Don’t pressure yourself.

Start small.

Think of an idea for a story and write it in under a thousand words.

Way back when I was teaching, I had my Language Arts students write stories using the three-paragraph method, beginning, middle, and end, with two or three sentences in each paragraph.

Give this method a try. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling initially. The goal is to tell a story, start to finish, within a set word limit.

This story starter can be expanded and developed into a longer tale, with corrected grammar and spelling in later drafts. The three-paragraph method was a great confidence builder for my students.

I’m obsessing over details.

There’s a lot that goes into developing a story and writing a book. Pondering all that information can send writers over the edge, diving into the anxiety pool. You might come to a sharp stop. Stuck. Obsessing over details that don't matter early on in the process may tempt you to give up.

Advice to keep going may be tiresome, but you can't edit an empty page.

Practice story structure.

• Exposition. Introduces a protagonist's life, world, and wants, and has an inciting incident—the problem.
• Rising action. The protagonist is tested along the way as the problem worsens.
• Climax. The hero makes their choice and the climax is the action that follows that decision.
• Falling action. The hero must deal with the consequences of achieving their goal.
• Resolution. Plot, character arcs, and themes weave a conclusion.

Try plotting out these five moments, focusing on the problem.

Here’s a great story structure worksheet to help with the story structure process.

My writing is terrible.

The first draft, by definition, is terrible—for most writers. When you look around at all the books in a bookstore or library, know that none of them read as they do now in the first draft.

Great writers write well because they practice their craft. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. It’s the same for all artforms and careers.

Find a writer’s critique group or support group.

I am a fan of critique groups and writer support groups and belong to both. Critique groups can be found though Meetup.com, within social media, and in your local community. Writer support groups can be composed of writers you know locally, or folks you met at a conference. The support group may function in part as critique as well as moral support for writing and day-to-day living. Great friendships may develop in both types of writer groups.

I can’t figure out how to end the story.

Some people believe that the ending of a story is the most important part. Goof up the ending, and your reader will feel cheated. The ending must be satisfying.

Look ahead.

Consider beginning the writing process with a good feel for the ending. As you write your story, the ending will evolve, but you’ll have a clear goal to reach those final scenes. Even if you write by the seat of your pants, it can’t hurt to know the start and end points of your story.

Return to the story’s start.

Use an element early in the story and return to it in the end. That element may be a family heirloom, or a special stone, something unique. Consider the screenplay, Citizen Kane. The film begins with the whisper of a dying man, “Rosebud.” We don’t know who or what Rosebud is until the movie’s end—very emotional. Tying your story’s ending to its beginning is one way to give your reader a satisfying ending.

Final Thoughts

A lot of writing anxiety stems from perfectionism—we truly want to create a perfect book.

There is no magic in perfection. Magic lives in your creative mind, and flows best when you least expect it.

Have you ever experienced writing anxiety? What did you do to overcome it?

* * * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works in Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and The Crystal Key, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi, a glaze of time travel.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by Vilius Kukanauskas from Pixabay

By Janice Hardy

You can have conflict without tension, and tension without conflict. But you probably don’t want to.

I made pretty much all the writing mistakes when I first started writing, and one of them was mixing up conflict and tension. I foolishly thought they were one and the same, because everyone talked about them that way.

• “You need conflict and tension.” 
• “Make sure your scenes have conflict and tension.” 
• “There’s not enough conflict and tension in this story.”

It was rarely just conflict, or just tension. 

Close But Not the Same

Confusing conflict with tension has caused a lot of frustration, because they’re so closely linked, they seem like the same thing—except they aren’t. 

Wanting to go to prom and struggling over which invitation to accept is a conflict, since a choice has to be made, and there’s something in the way of “going to prom.” Someone will likely get hurt, or mad, and getting the goal requires resolving a problem (even if that problem is minor in the grand scheme of things). 

But if there’s no sense of anticipation about that choice, then there’s no tension. If readers don’t care about the choice, or the choice is obvious, or it doesn’t actually make any difference in who’s picked, the conflict is just something that has to be done, not a situation that engages readers in the story.

Conflict is all about choices and the fear of making the wrong one.

Tension is all about the reader’s need to know what happens next.

A conflict can pique your interest, but the tension keeps you reading. The combination gives a wonderful sense that there’s more going on than meets the eye, and creates the anticipation of something about to happen, good and bad. 

“There’s a problem and I have no idea what the protagonist is going to do about it, but I need to find out.” 

For example:

• A fantasy protagonist sneaks through the dark, scary graveyard and jumps at every sound, sure she’s being followed. (There’s tension as readers wonder and worry about what’s following her, but “being nervous” isn’t a conflict since there’s nothing opposing the protagonist or her goal.)
• A romance protagonist banters with the love interest, but never acts on her attraction and leaves without doing anything. (Readers eagerly read on to see where that banter might go, creating tension, but playful bantering isn’t preventing these two from achieving their goal. In fact, it’s helping them achieve it.)
• A mystery protagonist eavesdrops on a suspect. (The fear she might be discovered can create tension, and there’s anticipation over what she might learn, but there’s no conflict in this action.)

While these examples can create tension and draw readers into the story, there’s no opposition to any goal, no struggle to overcome a challenge, and no choice to be made to resolve any problem. Simply put, there’s no conflict in these scenes, even if there is tension, so they may or may not work.

Let’s look a little closer.

Say a girl is eagerly waiting for the next summer blockbuster to come out. That situation might have tension, but no conflict since nothing is keeping her from seeing that movie by the release date. 

However…

What if she wins tickets to the opening night show, but her best friend can’t go and she promised to see it with her? That’s conflict, because it forces the protagonist to make a choice about her goal—does she see the movie opening night and hurt her friend, or wait until her friend is free like she promised?

This situation has it all now—tension (What will she choose? What will happen?), conflict (Should she go or not?), and stakes (If she goes, will that hurt her friend or even ruin their friendship?). That hardworking trio is working as intended to hook readers and make them care what happens and what this girl decides to do.

If you’re unsure if you’re confusing conflict and tension, look at your scene and ask:

Is there opposition to your protagonist’s goal? 

Conflict exists when something or someone is preventing the protagonist from getting what they want. If there’s no opposition, there’s no conflict. If the whole point of the scene is to overcome or achieve something, that opposition is critical to keeping readers engaged.

Tension is when the reader worries the protagonist will fail. If there’s no change of failure, there’s nothing to worry about, and hence, no tension. 

Is this opposition creating a challenge to overcome, or just an obstacle to get past? 

It’s not uncommon to see an obstacle in the way of the protagonist’s goal and think the scene does indeed have conflict. But “obstacles in the way” aren’t usually good conflicts. If the result of the scene is the same even if the protagonist hadn’t encountered the obstacle, it’s not actually a conflict—it’s just a delay. This is one of the more common conflict issues, especially in plot-heavy novels. Getting past the obstacle doesn’t mean anything or change the outcome of the scene.

You can have a tense delay, especially in a heavy, emotional scene, but what the reader is worried about or anticipation, probably has little to do with the delay itself. There’s more going on that’s creating that fear, worry, or need to know.  

What’s driving the reader’s need to turn the page? 

A good conflict/tension mix pairs the anticipation of what’s to come with the uncertainty of how it will turn out. The conflict creates uncertainty (typically making the protagonist struggle with a choice on what to do), and the tension creates the need to see how it all turns out. 

It’s not easy to be objective about our writing, but take a step back and consider why a reader would want to turn that page. What would make them want to keep reading? If they skipped the scene, would it really matter? If the answer is no, odds are the scene needs more conflict.

Is the outcome obvious? 

If there’s anticipation but no problem to overcome, the outcome of the scene will likely be obvious. There won’t be a choice to make, or a challenge to face, because there’s no conflict preventing the protagonist from acting. 

The critical element here is how interested the reader is in how the protagonist gets to that obvious outcome.

For example, knowing the kiss is coming is obvious, but the fun is in watching the courtship dance to get there. Tension without a lot of conflict can work just fine in this situation. But watching the protagonist struggle to disarm a ticking time bomb readers know from the start they’ll be able to disarm lacks tension and conflict and just makes readers wait unnecessarily.

Scene Not Working?

Remember, conflict works with tension (as well as stakes, and a slew of other things) to put characters into situations that make readers want to know and worry about what happens next.

If a scene isn’t working, look at conflict and tension as separate items and determine if either one needs tweaking. Maybe you have plenty of tension, but the conflict is lacking. You might have a great conflict that requires the protagonist to really struggle to resolve or overcome it, but readers just don’t care because there’s no tension. Perhaps you have too little of both and that’s bringing the entire scene down. 

Quite often, it doesn’t take much to fix a scene and turn it from bland to gripping. Sometimes, all it takes is a solid understanding of how conflict and tension work to make readers desperate to see what happens next.

Will readers anticipate how your scenes turn out? Why or why not?

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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