Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Writing Links of the Week

Cave Silhouette

Photo via NeilsPhotography (Flickr CC)

*peeks out from writing cave* *blinks* Wow, there's light out there. And people.

Writing Update: How is it Friday already? I think I missed a couple of days this week. I've been trying to write with the Fast Draft mentality this week (not true fast draft of 5k a day, but writing without obsessing and going back constantly to fix stuff.) It's definitely not my natural state and I get walloped with the anxiety of it all at least once a day--what if I'm going in the wrong direction, what if I'm writing all these words that won't be used, etc. Ack. But so far, I haven't gone back, and in the last three days I've written about 7k words, which is a decent pace. Hopefully they're mostly the right words. We'll see.

Book Update: There will be official announcements coming soon, but I did get a couple of good news things this week. All I'll say for now is that it looks like you'll be getting stories from The Ranch for a while to come. : )

All right, now on to the best links I've come across this week...

 

On Writing/Publishing: 

 

 

On Social Media/Promotion:

 

 

What You May Have Missed Here:

 

 

For Gits and Shiggles:

  • 2012 BTCA finalists <--Want to know what crazy deep-fried concoctions have finaled for this year's Texas State Fair? I think the deep-fried cinnamon roll with bacon is going to be the one I get in line for.

 

 All right, that's what I've got for this week. How has your week been? Hope y'all have a great weekend!

3 Reasons Why Coercing Readers Into Newsletter Subscriptions Is a Bad Idea

Image via opensourcewayWhen it comes to marketing our books, all of us want a captive audience. We want to know how to find the readers who love our books and the readers who COULD love our books. And we want to be able to reach out to these people so we can connect with them, build relationships, and at some point let them know when we have something new out. And one of the traditional ways of doing that for authors is the newsletter. 

Talk to any marketing expert and they'll mention the importance of building your "list". The list being that group of people who have voluntarily signed up to listen to you. And this list is so important because a) This is your captive audience and b) It's something that can't be taken away like Facebook or Twitter (Remember MySpace? If you'd built all your following there, you'd be in trouble now.)

So that's why you'll see so many writers running contests that give you points or require you to sign up for their newsletter or blog in order to enter. You can give away a Kindle and get that ever-precious list to grow to hundreds, thousands! Whee!

Yeah. And guess how many of those people ACTUALLY give a flip about the kind of books you write? Exactly. They wanted to win the contest and jumped through your hoop, but they are not your target audience. But, but, but... you say. But they COULD become my readers when they see my kickass newsletter in their inbox. But they know my name now and name awareness is everything. But, but, but...

Here's the thing...

This is what typically happens when I've signed up for a newsletter in the past just to enter a contest or get something:

  • I see it in my inbox, don't recognize the author, I delete it.

Everyone gets enough email, and we're accustomed to deleting spam and advertisements without even opening them. Newsletters are great when it's someone I'm truly interested in. But if I'm not a fan already, no newsletter has ever converted me into one.

  • After I delete it a few times, I start to get annoyed and I unsubscribe.

So now, not only am I not interested, I kind of have a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like I was coerced into this subscription and now I have to waste my time to unsubscribe.

 

Why Coercion Doesn't Work

1. Email is a higher level commitment these days.

If I sign up for a blog, it's easy enough to scroll through my blog reader and skim past posts that don't interest me. But you do have a chance of catching my eye and maybe getting a new fan if you write something interesting. But if subscribing to a blog is like smiling at a guy across the room to let him know you could be interested, signing up for an email newsletter is like giving him your phone number and agreeing to a date. It's a bigger commitment. You don't want to date everyone. You hand pick those people.

2. It doesn't foster true connection with your readers or potential readers

When we sign up for something just to be entered for a contest, it's pretty clinical. Okay, what do I have to jump through to win this thing? Sign up for newsletter--check. Tweet the contest--check. This isn't introducing you to new readers necessarily. It's not giving them a reason of WHY they should WANT to follow you and get that pretty newsletter.

3. Newsletters are typically very fan-focused so play to a different audience than the group you coerced.

There are exceptions, but in general, newsletters are set up to play to that captive audience--your current fans. But if I'm not already a reader of your books, what do I care about exclusive excerpts or the cupcake recipe your character used? *delete* This goes deeper into what you should put in a newsletter. I personally think author newsletters are meant for current fans and blogs/twitter/facebook are better for attracting new people to try your books. But feel free to disagree with me on that one.

 

Can you tell I got one too many newsletters in my inbox this week? ;) I think newsletters are a fantastic feature to have added to your website. Many readers are NOT daily blog readers and like having a newsletter come to them to remind them that you have a new book out. However, I think newsletter sign-up should be truly voluntary. It's called "opting in" for a reason. And it's fine if you offer some freebie for signing up--an exclusive chapter, a free ebook, whatever. But have it be something that encourages interest in your books, something that plays to your target audience.

Don't just build a list to build a list; make it a meaningful one. One hundred true fan subscribers are better than a thousand people who really just wanted to win a gift card and have no real interest in you or your books.

So what do you think? Anyone else get annoyed by the newsletter thing? What newsletters do you love to get and look forward to reading? What audience do you think an author newsletter should be targeted toward--current fans or potential readers?

Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Writing Links of the Week

Hurricane Isaac makes landfall.

Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall 

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class R. Jason Brunson) 

Hope everyone has had a good week. It hasn't been the best week on my end. Hurricane Isaac made its way through Louisiana and my parents' house (the house I spent most of my life in) was flooded. Luckily, they evacuated before the storm, but their house which they literally just spent two years completely remodeling from top to bottom is going to be ruined. :( And because it was only a Cat 1 storm, they didn't even bother to take things like photos and such with them. They've lived there twenty years, through Andrew, through Katrina, and never even had water on their street. Then this one comes along and wham. : (  So send prayers to Louisiana and anyone who's been affected by this storm.

All right, now on to the links for the week...

Favorite Link of the Week: The Publishing Process in GIF Form | Nathan Bransford, Author <--so funny AND true

 

On Writing/Publishing: 

 

 

On Social Media/Marketing: 

 

 

For Gits and Shiggles: 

 

What You May Have Missed Here:

 

That's all I've got for you this week. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. : )

Finding Your Novel's Theme and Your Universal Theme

Photo by Charles Clegg (CC)So there are many, many steps involved in writing a novel (I know, thank you, Captain Obvious). And one of the things you'll find in all those checklists is--what is the story's theme? It's even a step in the Save the Cat beat sheet.

Blake Snyder goes so far as to say that in a movie (novel in our case), the theme is often stated outright. It's usually in some offhanded comment in the first 5% of the movie, typically said by someone other than the main character. So something like "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", "crime doesn't pay", etc. Though, hopefully yours is said in a less cliche way.

It's what the story is going to be about, underneath the plot points. And it makes a story richer, more layered. And even if you didn't consciously put a theme in your story, there's probably one there.

Now, on a more meta level, it's also said that most writers tend to write to the same universal theme over and over again. This does NOT mean writing the same story over and over again. What I talked about above is the novel theme, this is the author theme. For some reason, we're drawn to certain types of stories and we tend to come up with ideas that speak to our universal theme.

For instance, one of the themes Stephen King uses a lot is:  "The greatest evil that people do is victimization of the weak by the strong." (Quoted from Books Worth Reading. Check out the post for King's other common themes.)

And let me tell you, I've given a lot of thought to theme and have even done the Save the Cat thing and had the theme stated plainly in the book. If you look at the last line of the prologue in MELT INTO YOU, that's the theme of the story: "Because sometimes doing the wrong thing was the only thing that felt right."

However, as much as I tried to work on novel theme, I could never really figure out my author theme. I wasn't convinced I had one. I mean, love conquers all is kind of the theme of all romance novels but that's too vague. And then the other day I was struggling with my current book and emailing with my buddy, Jamie Wesley. And she said, "Just remember your theme. Your books are all about healing and self-acceptance."

And I stared at her email and wanted to jump through the computer and hug her. All this time trying to figure out my theme, and she nailed it like it was the most obvious statement in the world. And she was absolutely, 100% right. That is what every book I've ever written is about. For those of you who have read my books, you'll see it plain as day if you think about the stories.

So why does this matter? Who cares if you can pinpoint it or not?

Well, it matters because when you're struggling with an idea, circling up with your theme can help clarify where you want to go with the story. That doesn't mean you ALWAYS have to write to that theme, but knowing what kinds of stories inspire you can give you a starting point.

And specific story theme can provide the same thing--clarity. What is this story really about? If it really is about "crime doesn't pay", you better not reward criminal behavior in the book. 

Also, don't stress if the story theme doesn't come to you immediately. Sometimes, especially for pantsers, you don't know what the story is about until you finish it. You can always go back in revisions and strengthen the theme throughout.

And if all else fails, get brilliant writer friends like I have who can bonk you over the head and tell you "Duh, your books are about THIS." : )

So what do you think of theme? Is it something you consciously try to weave into your story? Do you think you have a universal author theme? What is it?

Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Writing Links of the Week

School bus

Kidlet goes back to school next week!

 So this week has continued to be crazy and my current WIP has changed a few times over again. Let's not even talk about deadlines. But I'm not going to complain because deadlines mean I have book contracts and that is always a good thing. :)

But can I say I'm SO happy kidlet goes back to school next week. He only goes for half a day in the afternoons so I'm not going to be getting much more time than I get now with him in daycare in the mornings, but afternoon time is so much more productive for me writing wise. AND a bus will pick up kidlet instead of me having to play taxi. So yay for that.

Oh, and for those of you who remember me asking about other programs to use to organize and save links like Delicious, I think I've found one that works for me. Zootool allows me to save a link with one click of a bookmark button and I can organize them into "packs" which is similar to when Delicious still had "stacks" (the feature I was missing in the new design). So then I can just make a pack for each week and save things throughout the week for this Friday post. :)

Now, on to the links...

On Writing/Publishing:

  

On Social Media/Promotion: 

 

Other Awesome Stuff:

  • Natalie Bahm: BIG News - My agency-mate Natalie is self-pubbing her first novel and ALL proceeds are going to help a family with a very sick child. How amazing is Natalie? She's going to stop by the blog next month to talk more about it, but go check out what she's doing and spread the word.
  • Dogshaming - This was making the rounds on Twitter this week, but in case you missed it, go check it out. HILARIOUS. 

 

What You May Have Missed Here:

  

That's all I've got this week. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!