I seem to be in a muddle. Part of the problem is that this is the Information Age, and there is so much out there about writing, publishing, and marketing, that one can spend most of one's time reading that instead of writing, publishing, and marketing.
But I have run across some very helpful resources recently that I want to share with anyone even thinking about writing a book. A real gem is the book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. The authors cover twelve problem areas that give novice writers help in fairly short and to-the-point chapters with exercises at the end. I keep my copy, festooned with stickies, at hand whenever I write. I have also recently gone through all three of my books and made edits based on Browne and King's advice.
Another recent read was Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J. Cohen, a short and inexpensive (.99 for Kindle) overview of things to help build a good story in this genre.
An old friend that I also keep at hand is Plot versus Character by Jeff Gerke. Gerke especially has a practical method of developing characters who don't all look alike.
Every self-publishing site, for example CreateSpace and Smashwords, has pretty good tutorials as well as community discussions about formatting and publishing both ebooks and print.
Marketing is a whole new breed of animal for which most writers haven't bargained. It is especially daunting to me, but I am finding a lot of help in Intent to Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel by Jeffrey Marks. Marks does an excellent job of providing a machete to hack through the electronic jungle.
A recent blog by writer Elaine Orr (the wonderful Jolie Gentile series of cozies) hits the nail on the head in a nutshell (how's that for a mixed metaphor?) with a bulleted list of marketing dos and don'ts.
The point that I especially need to remember is:
Set limits. Whatever you choose for Internet marketing, make a commitment not to do it more than a set amount of time each day. You could spend a morning going from link to link.
http://elaineorr.blogspot.com/2014/02/best-bets-for-marketing-books.html
But I have run across some very helpful resources recently that I want to share with anyone even thinking about writing a book. A real gem is the book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. The authors cover twelve problem areas that give novice writers help in fairly short and to-the-point chapters with exercises at the end. I keep my copy, festooned with stickies, at hand whenever I write. I have also recently gone through all three of my books and made edits based on Browne and King's advice.
Another recent read was Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J. Cohen, a short and inexpensive (.99 for Kindle) overview of things to help build a good story in this genre.
An old friend that I also keep at hand is Plot versus Character by Jeff Gerke. Gerke especially has a practical method of developing characters who don't all look alike.
Every self-publishing site, for example CreateSpace and Smashwords, has pretty good tutorials as well as community discussions about formatting and publishing both ebooks and print.
Marketing is a whole new breed of animal for which most writers haven't bargained. It is especially daunting to me, but I am finding a lot of help in Intent to Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel by Jeffrey Marks. Marks does an excellent job of providing a machete to hack through the electronic jungle.
A recent blog by writer Elaine Orr (the wonderful Jolie Gentile series of cozies) hits the nail on the head in a nutshell (how's that for a mixed metaphor?) with a bulleted list of marketing dos and don'ts.
The point that I especially need to remember is:
Set limits. Whatever you choose for Internet marketing, make a commitment not to do it more than a set amount of time each day. You could spend a morning going from link to link.
http://elaineorr.blogspot.com/2014/02/best-bets-for-marketing-books.html
Finally, some amazing changes are occuring in the publishing industry, both self-published and traditional. A recent report sums up this revolution: http://authorearnings.com/the-report/
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