The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

How to Format a Book – Part 1

by

How to format a book, 8-page signatures awaiting assembly
Pallets of 8-page signatures awaiting assembly into a final coloring book.

How to format a book seems to give indie writers more difficulty than writing the book itself.

In my world as an editor and book designer, the word format means several things. When a writer contacts me asking for book formatting, I always have to clarify exactly what they want.

I covered formatting the text of your book in the following posts:

How to Format Numbers, Dates, and Times in Your Manuscript

Should I Use Italics or Quotation Marks? A Style Guide to Formatting Titles

Before formatting your book for publication, there are several things you must consider and decide first. [Read more…] about How to Format a Book – Part 1

Pantsers, how do you do it?

by

A pantser at the keyboard, writing.What are pantsers?

Writers who write by the seat of their pants—no outline. They just sit down and start to write. Or so, that’s what I’ve been told. Surely they have some kind of story idea, but maybe not.

Pantsers, if you’re reading this post, I’d like to pick your brain.

Ten years ago I was taking a writing class that required me to write a fiction scene. Just one scene.

Later, I decided liked that scene and the characters I had created. So, I took it and started writing a full novel.

I did some initial plot work, but didn’t plot the entire book. I got around 14,000 words written before I [Read more…] about Pantsers, how do you do it?

How to Create Your Perfect Content Calendar

by

Savannah Cordova explains how to create a content calendar

Here is part 2 of Savannah Cordova’s guest post on content calendars. Be sure to read last week’s post, “What Is a Content Calendar? A Beginner’s Guide” if you missed it.

Savannah is a writer and content marketer with Reedsy, a platform that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories.

How to Create Your Perfect Content Calendar

“Developing an online presence” is a staple book marketing tip for indie authors these days. That’s because, in the very saturated indie book market, self-published authors need a way to distinguish themselves from the crowd — and building an online presence can be a great way to do so. But how? [Read more…] about How to Create Your Perfect Content Calendar

What Is a Content Calendar? The Beginner’s Guide

by

Savannah Cordova explains what is a content calendarToday’s post comes from Savannah Cordova. Savannah is a writer and content marketer with Reedsy, a platform that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories.

What Is a Content Calendar? The Beginner’s Guide

If you’re a writer looking to expand your audience, there are certain tips you’ll hear over and over again: Start a blog. Get on social media. Ask people to subscribe to your mailing list. They’re so oft-repeated because they work: when it comes to growing your audience, there’s simply no better tactic than building personal relationships.

But these tips are also useless if you don’t actually offer your readers any content. What’s the point of following a Twitter account that never tweets, or a blog that never updates? [Read more…] about What Is a Content Calendar? The Beginner’s Guide

The Email List and Why You Should Develop One

by

building an email list

Developing your own email list is the smartest marketing move with the greatest return on investment (ROI) you can make. Why?

In 2017,

  • 3.7 billion people used email.
  • 269 billion business and consumer emails were sent and received per day — and that number is expected to continue to grow at an average annual rate of 4.4% over the next four years.
  • 65 percent of email users worldwide accessed email on their mobile devices.

(source: The Radicati Group, Inc., 2017)

In fact, sixty-six percent of online consumers made a purchase after receiving an email marketing message — which is more than social media and direct mail, according to the Data & Marketing Association.

And transactions from email are three times more profitable than those made on social media, reports the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. [Read more…] about The Email List and Why You Should Develop One

Preparing for NaNoWriMo

by

preparing for NaNoWriMo

Why am I talking about preparing for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in September when it doesn’t take place until November?

Because now is the time to begin preparing, especially if you work a day job and fit your writing in late at night or in the predawn hours of your day or are haphazard in your writing time.

When I first heard about NaNoWriMo, I thought it was a writing contest where they’d give you an opening line and you had to write a story from that line. I couldn’t have been further from the reality.

NaNo is simply a month dedicated to getting your book written. A focused time to write that you can share with thousands of other writers.

But you’re aiming for 50,000 words, whether that completes your story or is only a portion of it. That means you must write [Read more…] about Preparing for NaNoWriMo

Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 5 Conflict

by

conflict between two menConflict.

In real life, most people try to avoid it, but a story without conflict is like a latte without coffee. In fact, if your story has no conflict, you haven’t got a story.

Let’s first look at conflict from a big picture view: external and internal.

External conflict comes from outside your character—the people, circumstances, or forces of nature your protagonist faces in reaching the story goal.

Internal conflict comes from within your character. Fears, lack of confidence, false beliefs, and more that hinder your character reaching the goal. Quite often, the internal struggle isn’t apparent to your character until later in the story.

The conflicts (external or internal) must be plausible and legitimate, not contrived. Think about [Read more…] about Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 5 Conflict

Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 4 Body Language

by

body languageIf you close your eyes during a meeting, what message are you sending your colleagues? Is that message universal?

Body Language

While there are several facial expressions universal to the world, the interpretation of body language varies from culture to culture. Misinterpreted body language opens the door to miscommunication. For the fiction writer, this means the opportunity to advance the conflict between your protagonist and antagonist.

Do you consider yourself adept at deciphering body language? [Read more…] about Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 4 Body Language