Episode 19- I wish to propose.

Guest:
Stephanie Chandler
Authority Publishing
877 800 1097

Our guest today is Stephanie Chandler

Stephanie Chandler is the author of several books including Booked Up! How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Book to Grow Your Business, From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products, and The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books. Stephanie is also founder and CEO of http://AuthorityPublishing.com, which specializes in custom publishing for non-fiction books, and http://BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of resources for entrepreneurs. A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, BusinessWeek, Inc.com, Wired magazine, and many other media outlets.
Stephanie, you advise writers to create a book proposal even if they are self publishing can you tell us more about that?
A book proposal is required when pitching a manuscript to literary agents or editors in pursuit of landing a traditional book deal. Similar to a business plan for an entrepreneur, writing a book proposal forces the author to dig in and do some important research while also planning the details of the book.
Though you can certainly self-publish a book without a proposal, this is where many new authors make some big mistakes when releasing their first books. Writing a proposal helps you differentiate your work from the competition, identify a need in the market for your materials, develop marketing plans, and create a concise and compelling manuscript.
Can you walk us through the steps?

Elements of a Book Proposal

1) Overview
An overview is typically two pages, summarizing the book, the market demand, and why you’re the best person to write the book. Even though it’s the first section in a book proposal, I usually write the overview last because it is a summary of the rest of the elements of the proposal.

2) Synopsis
This is a compelling summary of your book, typically two or three pages long. It should hook the reader and compel him to want to read more. You can also view this as an extended version of the sales copy used on the book jacket. If you’re pursuing an agent or editor, this is where you can really get their attention. The exercise of writing the synopsis helps you position your book as a must-read, while developing key talking points about why your book is great. (And it is great, right? If not, then use this opportunity to go back to work and make it great!)

3) Market Demand
Here is the place to identify your specific target audience. Better yet, quantify that market. Look for statistics on how many potential readers are out there. For example, if you have written a business book for women, find stats on how many women business owners are in the U.S.

4) Competitive Analysis
Identify five or more books that are potential competitors of your book and explain in detail how your book is different or better than each title. There are many benefits to this exercise. First, competing titles demonstrate that there is a need in the market for your subject matter. Second, this is where you can focus on differentiation for your book. You will want to understand the competition so that you can ensure that your book stands out. If you do nothing else, make sure you spend time analyzing the competition so that you can answer the question, “How is your book different from the rest?”

5) Marketing Plan
Every author needs a marketing plan, which should be in motion long before the book is in print. Agents and editors look for authors with a “platform,” which means that the author should come to the party with a built-in audience of people who are ready to buy the book. A platform can include speaking to thousands of people each year, running a high-traffic blog or website, maintaining a large mailing list (thousands of people) or having other networks that can generate impressive book sales.
Another important consideration is that agents don’t want to see what you will do, they want to see what are doing–the marketing efforts you’re making long before the book becomes reality. And remember, even if you’re self-publishing, there is an important lesson here. If you want your books to sell, you should begin building your audience early. Book marketing requires ongoing effort. Some tactics to consider for your marketing plan include blogging, social media engagement, professional speaking, writing articles, working with joint venture partners, building a mailing list, conducting media interviews, and spending time in communities where your target audience can be found.

6) Chapter Outline
Even if your manuscript is still in progress, a solid chapter outline demonstrates the flow of the book and the materials covered. Below each chapter heading, include a brief synopsis of the content within the chapter. A chapter outline should have a logical flow of information with compelling chapter titles.

7) About the Author
Here is where you should convince the reader that you are the right person to write this book. This should not be an extended biography about where you grew up and what schools you attended–unless these details are relevant to the book. Instead, it should focus on your experience as it relates to your book. Mention any previous media coverage you have received or involvement in any groups or associations that reach your target audience.

8.) Sample Chapters
When reviewing non-fiction books, most agents and editors want to see two or three sample chapters. These don’t need to be in order, but they should represent your best work.
The truth is that writing a book proposal is hard work, but the exercise of doing so will inevitably help prepare you for success–whether you plan to pursue a traditional book contract of self-publish your work.

Bring out your dead

Picasso could never paint what I have seen,
Nor Beethoven play to my heart.
There’s a place in your heart where the words still linger,
Like the warmth of a long summer day.

In his mind the world of inks and dyes collide,
To paint a self-portrait only he believes.
A picture based on guilt and pride,
The unsteady hand tries to shows us what he sees.

So tell me a different story,
Tell me something filled with joy,
Use words that I don’t normally hear.
For when the words that are remembered,
And the listening ears that finally seem to hear…
Use the words that I can paint one thousand pictures.

Word of the week

http://www.worldwidewords.org
—Michael Quinion–
G K Chesterton called the cleerihew a “severe and stately form of free verse”, but then he had been a close friend from schooldays of the man who invented it, Edmund Bentley. Indeed, Chesterton illustrated the first book of whimsical verses, Biography for Beginners, which Bentley published in 1905 under the name of E. Clerihew.

The cover of the first edition of Bentley’s book of clerihews

The form is slight but not slighting, conventionally consisting of a quatrain with the name of the biographee as the first line. The lines are of unequal lengths, rhymed AABB, often written in a flat-footed or mangled way more reminiscent of prose than verse. The first, which Edmund Bentley is said to have composed during a boring science class at St Paul’s School, was:

Sir Humphry Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

Clerihew was Bentley’s middle name, which was given him (and which he in turn passed to his son Nicholas) to perpetuate his mother’s maiden name, Margaret Richardson Clerihew, Clerihew being an old Scottish surname. It was applied to the verse form by others and seems to have first surfaced in its own right as the name in 1928.

Another example:

Sir Christopher Wren
Said, “I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St. Paul’s.”

Someone who creates clerihews is a clerihewer, an appropriate term for a person who hacks such lines out of the living language.

Writing Prompt

All this information can be overwhelming to a newbie writer. Take a few minutes and write about what you do when you do nothing. Maybe you are doing it right now. What is your favorite thing to do when you do nothing? Write it down, and remember it when you get overwhelmed.

Stephanie can be found: http://AuthorityPublishing.com, which specializes in custom publishing for non-fiction books, and http://BusinessInfoGuide.com,
Catharine can be found: http://www.yourbookstartshere.com @cbramkamp
Damien can be found: http://www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters.

Episode 17

Newbie Writers Podcast

January 21  (Catharine is eating locusts from street vendors)

Guest Jane Isaac and Lyle Perez.

The Ultimate Newbie Experience.

Jane is the living proof of a newbie becoming a published author.

What was the process involved? What sparked the story idea?

Dionne Lister asks: What has been the best part of the process for her? What was her reaction when she found out Rainstorm Press wanted to publish her works?

We pick Lyle’s brain on the initial reaction to reading Jane’s draft, what was it that made him want to publish it? What tips for new writers can be drawn from this?

We find out how Rainstorm Press is going and any new authors to look out for.

Jane’s been apart of Newbie Writers since 2007, certainly longer than I have. We ask what her thoughts on how Newbie Writers has changed, how it’s progressed.

Prompt:

“Nothing happens unless first a dream” – Carl Sandburg
spend twenty minutes on your dream. What do you really want to write? Not what sells, not what you think is “you” not what you think is trendy, just what you want to write, what you want to spend a year messing around with.
Really, twenty minutes – go!

Bring out your dead:

Contributed by Anne Naylor of www.becauseofbipolar.com.au
Too late she discovered she had married a psychopath.
It was the day after their wedding and they were in the presidential suite of a luxury hotel. They were finally on their honeymoon, about to start life as husband and wife.
He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her towards him. Magic was about to happen. They slid under the covers. He kissed her gently, then pulled the blankets over her head. She was confused. Why was he holding the blanket so tightly. He knew she was claustrophobic. She struggled against him, but he was too strong. He wouldn’t release her.
A foul stench filled the air. Surely not. He couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have. But undeniably, he had. The assault on her senses was silent, but deadly. Finally, after an eternity, he pulled back the blankets and she gasped as she gulped unpolluted air.
She was furious. Shocked and horrified. She berated herself for marrying a psychopath. Well, if not a psychopath, then a fifteen year old boy masquerading as a twenty-five year old man. He laughed, clearly very pleased with himself. ‘Welcome to marriage!’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’ she replied. She stared at him, bewildered. ‘It’s a Dutch oven’, he explained. A marriage ritual. It’s good luck.’
She thought it was surely a bad omen.
‘You’ll pay for this one day’, she said.
(And twenty years later, she did.)

Word of the week

www.worldwidewords.org

FUSTILUGS

In those moments when only insults will do, how good it is to turn to the inventive but unsung genius of everyday folk, whose local dialect is so often full of expressive abuse. This word, meaning a grossly fat or slovenly woman, is an excellent example.

It still has some small currency, mostly in Yorkshire I believe, though at one time it was widely known across a swathe of England ranging from Cumbria to Devon. That it will almost certainly be unknown to the object of your obloquy will add relish to your utterance, though it might not be too hard to work out it isn’t complimentary. It has rarely been written down outside dialect glossaries, but it did appear in 1621 in a long passage full of terms of opprobrium in The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton: “Every lover admires his mistress, though she be … a vast virago, or an ugly tit, a slug, a fat fustilugs”.

Shout Outs/ Sponsors:

Jane shouts out to the entire Twitter gang!

Damien says hi to Dianne Solberg and her Mum!

Rainstorm Press deal: newbie40 is the coupon. Gets you 40% off ANY purchase you make at www.rainstormpress.com

Where to find us:
Damien: www.newbiewriters.com
Jane Isaac: http://www.janeisaac.co.uk/
Lyle Perez: www.rainstormpress.com

Subscribe to us via email!

Episode 16

Newbie Writers podcast January 16  (Catharine is riding elephants in Thailand today)

Guest Anne Naylor, Dionne Lister

What do readers want?

How can we as writers’ give it to them or even know what the hell it is?

What readers want.

As an emerging writer, I want (and need) to know what readers want.
These are my thoughts.

As a reader, this is what I know:

My time is precious. I am very busy and I beg, borrow and steal time away from other things to read. There is too much to do, too little time to do it in and too much information to deal with on a daily basis. An author needs to give me a very compelling reason to start, and then continue reading his/her work.

I have a short attention span. I don’t necessarily read a book from start to finish. My eyes continually scan the pages, skip over pictures and headings, go back and look at what I have already read, read ahead or go straight to the end. I am constantly assessing whether a book is worth continuing with. If I come to the conclusion that it is not for me, I put it aside. This is also what I do when deciding whether to buy a book or not.
I read inferentially (as well as literally), which means I seek out messages that are not specifically stated in the text. I look at the words on the page and read them on ‘face value’, while at the same time looking for inherent meanings and underlying agendas. As I said, I continually make judgments about what I am reading.

If there are inconsistencies with the characters or contradictions in the plot, I think, ’I don’t get that’, ‘I wonder why she wrote that’ or ‘that doesn’t make any sense’.

I wonder if it is worth reading on. I like books that make me feel as though the author could have written them just for me, not for a mass audience. Some authors churn out novel after novel, all virtually the same. For me these books have no soul. Some authors seem to forget what it is like to be a reader.

I know that everyone is different and we all have our own tastes and preferences. Just because I am not really keen on a book doesn’t mean that it is not a good book. My sister once told me that the best book she had ever read in her life was The Shipping News. I couldn’t get past page three.

As a reader, this is what I want:

Questions to ask:
Anne says she want’s to get a good return on the investment of her time. And read books are that useful, relevant, interesting and entertaining.

Discuss each of these points:
a) useful -  Ask for examples  of each of these, or brainstorm on what a useful book is.
b) relevant – what relevant books have either one of your read?
c) interesting – what interesting books have you both read?
d) enjoyable and/or  -  And of course, what is pure entertainment?  Is it mutually exclusive from books that are useful, relevant and interesting?
e) entertaining.

I want to feel that authors have given me something of themselves.  How do you know when an author has delivered something of themselves?  What are the clues or key?  Or what do you think they are?  Or is it like porn?  We know it when we see it?
But that’s just me.

After thinking about all of this, I have changed my mind. I think I do know what readers want.  What I don’t know is how to give it to them.
Perhaps the topic should be:
How to give readers what they want?
Now, there is a dark side to working too hard to anticipate exactly what readers want, because often they don’t know what they want until some genius has delivered it.

What newbie writers sometimes do is  miss the difference between what readers want and what is trendy.  Two different things.
Readers want their genres to deliver and that includes a novel format which can deliver the brand promise in that it has some qualities:  Redemption, sword fights to the end, knighting, crowning, death, marriage.

So ask the question:  Am I delivering this paragraph because it will help make the story more clear and more interesting to the reader?  Or have I thrown in a scene that is random or gratuitous just because I think ti will be popular?
This is how summer films are made, this is how spin off sitcoms are made and this is why we think something is boring or awful, when it’s just derivative.

That’s the disadvantage , just to play devil’s advocate – Damien’s favorite game.

Prompt:

“We stand in our own shadow then wonder why it’s dark.” – Zen
This is often a refrain in our lives: we can’t, we should, we shouldn’t, it should be this way, we never do that, you should always do this. Life should turn out this way.
What about your character?  What past situation has shadowed them?  What shadows you?
Write about how stepping out of a shadow moves your character’s story forward.
Happy Writing!

Bring out your dead:

From the forums. Our very own Merkin Mysteries.

http://www.newbiewriters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=3369

“Would you like some tea sir?” asked the plump waitress. The well dressed, middle aged man sighed with a reply, “No thank you. If you will Miss, can you leave us be for a while? We have important matters to discuss.” The waitress curtsied and waddled away. The gentleman turned back to the table and addressed the man sitting opposite him.

“Walter, why do you persist in coming here? This does nothing for my reputation as Chief Inspector, I cannot be seen wasting the afternoon having high tea. Not to mention, you are urgently needed out on the field.” The Chief sighed again and polished his monocle.

“MMM! You really must try this cake Kenneth, it’s banana and poppy seed. Such a great combination.” The Chief rolled his eyes and smoothed his moustache, clearly disgusted by Walters lack of etiquette. “The reason I come to this tea house, is I dislike the taste of ale and I’d rather steer clear of the clientele, after-all, one shouldn’t mix business with pleasure.”

Kenneth threw a paper across the table. “It’s happened again, this time a man floating down the Thames. Throat slit from ear to ear.”

Walter picked up the paper and smirked at the headline: “A Werewolf in London.” “You know, that’d make a great song title I say. What has a werewolf got to do with a chap with a permanent blow hole in the Thames?”

“Well, let’s just say the two bodies we’ve found so far have been clean shaved.” Kenneth glared at Walter for a response.

Walter finished another cake and leaned back patting his stomach. “Probably just a copycat of the murders I solved last month. The Stanton Skinner I think they dubbed him. Was a doctor who was scalping the bodies after he’d operated on them. Strange man. I’m sure this one will be easy to catch.”

“I’m not entirely sure how I can put this Walter. By shaved, I mean, down there. You know what I mean? It’s truly odd. Why would you murder someone, take their strides off and shave them?”

Walter pushed the plate of cakes away with a disgusted look on his face. ‘Take me to the body. I need to see this.”

Word of the week
www.worldwidewords.org

MUMPING

In December 2010, my local community centre in South Gloucestershire revived Mumping Night, a procession and entertainment under the notional supervision of a Lord of Misrule. Mumping is an uncommon word for this seasonal activity, mostly known in the West Country. More commonly it’s mumming, for a performance that was originally in mime or in which participants were in disguise. The name for my local performance seems to be from a confusion between mumming and another old custom of the pre-Christmas period, also called mumping.

Mumping is attached to the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle on 21 December. This used to be known in some parts of England as Mumping Day, when poor people went around their parish begging for alms. It’s from the seventeenth-century Dutch verb mompen, to cheat or deceive, but it became an English dialect word meaning to scrounge or beg.

Mumping is also British police jargon for accepting small favours such as free meals from friendly tradespeople.

Shout Outs:

Sally Sullivan on Google+ for having some bizarre posts about cats.

Add your shout outs here.

Where to find us:

Anne Naylor: http://www.becauseofbipolar.com.au
Dionne Lister: http://www.dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.com @DionneLister
Damien: http://www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters Newbie Writers on Google+

Newbie Writers Podcast

Episode 14 31/12/2011

Character Assassination:

What do we love about books? What do we remember? Not what happens,
but rather, who the characters were, what they said. Why they said that.

We remember the characters we care most about. Why do we love Jane
Austen? Because of the intricate plots? Not really.
The story? Please, we know the story. What we love are the characters, the strong women who get into trouble because they blurt out what they are thinking, the handsome hero who is just misunderstood, the spunky friend from whom we wish as much happiness as we do wish for the heroine. We love a good character.

Listen to what you say when you play a movie for the fifth time, it’s not
about the plot or the story — you just want to see the hero or heroine again.
“I love him.” You murmur under your breath.

Character is why there is star power in Hollywood. Do we watch Brad Pitt
because he has a reputation for starring in great plot-driven films? No, we do
not. Some people, who will remain nameless, would be happy watching Mr.
Pitt sell laundry soap. It’s about character, charm, personality — if that sounds
like a beauty pageant, you are not too far off.

Create a great character, Sherlock Holmes, Ulysses, Beowulf, Emma,
Chewbacca, Bridget Jones and half the novel, the very important part of the novel, is done. Now, give this great character something to do.

“First, find out what your hero wants. Then just follow him.”
~Ray Bradbury

There are books and books and web sites and web sites and classes and
classes on how to create great characters. There is information on how to
describe them, make an astrological chart for them, and write up their back-
ground. You can create notes on why or how your character will behave in
a certain way given a certain situation. You can control the time line of the
character’s childhood. You can know everything about your character: favorite
color, childhood trauma; when the parent’s immigrated; the name of their
favorite pet now long dead …

All of this work can be excellent exercises, and valuable as you flex your
writing muscles; however, most writers will confess that their characters, the
good characters, are not so easily controlled. What many of us have discovered
is as soon as you think you know everything about your character and as
soon as you sit down and think, well today my character will drive to the store,
fight a dragon, and fall in love with the prince — they will not cooperate.

Like children, fictional characters are strangely resistant to The Plan. You
create the calendar of success, you’ve noted the benchmarks of development,
and you organize and strategize. You deliver the children to their piano,
trumpet, bongo lessons, you drive them to band, ballet, tumbling practices, and
you sit on the sidelines during game after game and what happens? Your child
becomes a chicken farmer, which was not on that list you created for them on
their second birthday — Careers Mom Thinks You Should Pursue.

Fictional characters will do much the same thing. Characters in your story
or novel will just blurt out comments, create their own action and in general
race away from you leaving you with very little choice except to hold on.
This is good.

The way to get a handle on the run-away character is to take notes as the
traits and details about your characters emerge on their own.
If your character tumbles out on the pages, just keep a notebook handy
and mark down the color of her eyes, size of his biceps, or kind of coffee he
drinks. That helps with the consistency as well as keeping you and your character on track. The picture will emerge. Write it down as it comes into focus.

Prompt:

”Find out who you are then do it on purpose.” – Dolly Parton

The idea of being only yourself is essential to YA novels, It’s the trope of the misfit child or the girl who doesn’t fit in – the classic ugly ducking story. What does this idea engender for you and for fictional opportunities? Do you have a character who does what they do on purpose? Do they have regrets? Are they huge, big personalities who don’t realize their potential until adulthood? Are you?

Bring out your dead:

Fashion Magazine Editors Apologize
We are sorry we encouraged women to blindly follow the dictates of male fashion designers whom we still aren’t completely sure like women at all.

We are sorry about the mini skirt every time we resurrect it.

We are sorry about Kate Moss.

We would be sorry about Manolo Blahnik shoes but the chiropractic association, the Loose Affiliation of Lumbar Surgeons and the Association of American Podiatrists have all taken to creating small shrines in their offices complete with bright pink Lobatron pumps. We are loath to disappoint such a strong lobby by even hinting that women would be better off hiking around in Birkenstocks, an invention of dubious fashion value. We hoped we atoned for that by running that article on the New York specialist who will, for a large fee, inject the soles of your feet with extra silicon to make that cushion of flesh at the ball of your foot thicker and more shock absorbent so your high heels can continue to be worn.

We are truly sorry about that quote from Donna Karan, “The new black is lighter,”
(Conversely, no one was sorry about The New Red).

We all know that Fashion is cyclical, even we are sorry the cycle came back to those dreary shirtwaist dresses from the seventies, recreated at a cost of $1000 a pop.

We’re sorry about that sales person from Barney’s who said, with great enthusiasm and wonder “You can get a whole outfit here for just under $1,000!” If what you usually hear, when leaving a store is “I got out of Sam’s Club for under $1,000” then you probably shouldn’t be reading our magazines in the first place.

Word of the Week:

BOONDOGGLE

An unnecessary or wasteful project.

This typically North American term is often applied in two specific ways, either to describe work of little or no value done merely to appear busy, or in reference to a government-funded project with no purpose other than political patronage. It can also be used for an unnecessary journey by a government official at public expense.

Part of its oddity lies in its sudden emergence into public view in an article in the New York Times on 4 April 1935. This had the headline “$3,187,000 Relief is Spent to Teach Jobless to Play … Boon Doggles Made”. The “boon doggles” of the headline turn out to be small items of leather, rope and canvas, which were being crafted by the jobless during the Great Depression as a form of make-work. The article quoted a person who taught the unemployed to create them that the word was “simply a term applied back in the pioneer days to what we call gadgets today”. He suggested that boondoggles had been small items of leatherwork which were made by cowboys on idle days as decorations for their saddles.

The word instantly became famous. It seems that Americans had been feeling the lack of a good word to describe unnecessary, wasteful, or fraudulent projects and leapt upon it with delight.

Shout Outs:

Dee Solberg, Dae McD, Franklin Ross on Google+ follow them!

Anne Naylor and her site www.becauseofbipolar.com.au.

Stats summary of Newbie Writers for 2011:

Unique visitors: 40,875

Number of visits: 104,920

Pages: 1,315,440

Hits: 1,690,678

Bandwidth: 504.04 GB

Most downloaded podcasts:
Full Partial

/podcast/episodeoneNWP.mp3 221 1,840
/podcast/episodeelevenNWP.mp3 98 1,202

How to contact us!

Catharine: www.yourbookstartshere.com
twitter: @cbramkamp
Damien: www.newbiewriters.com
twitter: @newbiewriters
google+: Newbie Writers

Outro.

Newbie writers podcast

Episode 13
Under the Hood
What’s in a Novel?

Show case stories on site, have writers on podcast. Submit two to Lyle.
My Education on Other Beings – Renelaine B. Pfister
Their House – Jennifer J Carr

What exactly is in the Average Novel?
Plot: What happens in your book? There are three basic plots:
Man versus Man
Man versus Machine
Man versus Nature

As you may have already suspected, Shakespeare did take all the good plots,
but don’t despair, you can take them right back again — there is no statute of
limitations on borrowing in literature. Unless you borrow directly from a rather
recent publication (see plagiarism).

Plot explains how the protagonist moves from one set of challenges to the next.
Plot also includes why the protagonist feels it is necessary to defeat the villain
and endure countless adventures or trials in order to do so.
In more modern tales the villain too will have motivation and a reason for
not wanting the hero to succeed.

What is the story?
Story is the drama; story informs what path the hero (or heroine) will take
on his or her quest. Story is how and why the heroine and her sidekick man-
age to get through their trials and trails. Story is about whom the heroine
meets on the way. The story is what happens next.

The plot holds the story together, gives background, and provides motives. The plot holds the reasons why,
story tells the reader what happens next.

Writing Prompt:

I love holiday letters that chronicle perfect families,  wonderful lives, but gloss over some of the rough parts: the latest arrest, another  job loss, the school record for detentions served.

What would happen if we sent our friends and family holiday cards that spoke the absolute truth? Would our year look different from what   what we post on Facebook?  Would our holiday missives sound  different if they weren’t mailed to elderly aunts and cousins we still want to impress?

What does that look like?

Write a holiday letter than only tells the truth.
Don’t mail it.

Word of the Week:

CASCABEL

You might judge the age and geographical origin of a dictionary by looking up the definition of this word. Modern ones, especially those with an American focus, are likely to tell you it’s the name of a medium-hot chilli (though, being American, they will spell it chili, or sometimes chile). Older ones, especially British, will more commonly say it’s the knob on the back end of a muzzle-loading cannon.

words found from: http://www.worldwidewords.org

Bring out your dead:

Signs you are a book addict.
Early signs of bibliolic problems start young, Harry Potter hasn’t helped at all. Kids sequester themselves into comfortable e hiding places and get lost in books. Children on the way to addiction spend many afternoons figuring out how to walk home and read a book without walking into street lamp poles. An early intervention program begins with picture flyers posted in the library where at-risk kids hide out from healthy activities at recess and read through the Little House series. These same children concoct various excuses to get out of PE so again, they can escape to the library and read biographies. Teachers sometimes miss the early warning signs of book addiction (Biblioaddiction) because it’s so silent and insidious, it’s difficult to pick out the kids who are studying required assignments and those who are reading for pure enjoyment the only clues are expressions of delight and a disregard for the warning bell, needing to read just one more paragraph.

Hi, I’m a bibliolic and I managed to watch three hours of TV last night.

In grown ups the addiction becomes much worse, as they have access to credit and are likely to stop by the book store right after being paid and blowing a sizable chunk of money on a hardback copy of the history of the world, part II and the full chronicles of Medieval life. They have to sneak the books in after dark, slip them onto the crowded book shelves and claim that those books were always there.

Shout Outs:

Like to send a shout out to the following people:

Anne Naylor and her site www.becauseofbipolar.com.au.

Dionne Lister from twitter and her site: http://redroom.com/member/dionne-lister

Susan May and her site: http://susanmaywordadventures.blogspot.com

Dianne Solberg and her site: http://ramble-inn.blogspot.com

Trish Nicholson and her site: http://trishnicholsonswordsinthetreehouse.com

AND finally an itunes review!

Where to find us:

Catharine: www.yourbookstartshere.com @cbramkamp

Damien: www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters (tweet me! and you’ll get a shout out on the show)

Episode 10- Newbie Writers Podcast- Promotion! ‘If you write it, they will come?’

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/ten-great-ways-to-promote-your-book.html

http://www.ariionkathleenbrindley.com/5books.shtml

We have social media, which we discussed but how can you promote your work, or even just promote yourself and still stay comfortable in your own skin?
If you’ve paid attention, some attention to social media, featured in pod cast  Episode 6, you know that you need to build up friends and readers to help promote you and/or your books.
So what is the next step?

Go where the interest is.
Promotion is far more specific than just mailing or email press releases. And as much as my publicist friends swear by their elaborate Press Release packages, I’m not so sure that’s as effective as better placed, specifically placed promotion or notices.

Where are your readers?  Go there and post information or a conversation about your book or yourself.
Examples:  if your book features fishing, then promote to fishing groups, fishing outlets, fishing web sites.
Is your book about haunted houses?
Is it about new worlds?
Is it about real estate divas?
Figure out who your readers are, and then target those readers.

A strong piece of promotion is your bio.
Your bio, make it interesting and personal
In other words don’t list what you do, talk about why you do it.

Focus on how you are unique and what the message of your book is.

Prompting- Episode prompt.

Prompt:

When I travel, one of the activities I enjoy is touring castles, homes, museums and the like.
After one too many sincere tours however, I start itching to make up my own stories about the history of the castle, who fought there, who slept there, and what exactly do the images in the coat of arms mean.
What kind of stories do you think of when you tour a stately home?  Or even a stranger’s home?
What stories come to mind when you see a castle?

Bring Out Your Dead-

Listener submission/our own personal early piece of writing dredged up from the dust pile.

Catharine Bramkamp.
Miss Behaved guide to getting old:
The first is to die young. Say at 75 or so.
The second option is to live. If you are like some of us, one look at the C shape of many women in their 90s should send you screaming to the gym right now. So as counter intuitive as it may seem, if you think you’re going to live that long, you may want to take better care of yourself. Why? Because spending five to ten years sitting in a wheel chair in the hallway of a rest home is very, very boring.
Schedule the acquisition of bad habits. Start eating fatty food at 78. At 84 take up smoking. 89 pick an attractive illegal substance the effects of which you’ve always wanted to experience. At 97 stand on unstable chairs while changing the ceiling fixture light bulbs.
Insist on wearing your mink coat during a trip to San Francisco. It’s cold there in June.
Eat dessert after every meal, okay, you can start that one right now. We know a lovely Miss Behaved woman who, at 80, had diabetes. So she ate the right food and took very good care of herself, while being watched. When she escaped to have lunch at the Club, she ordered two margaritas and dessert with a small salad wedged between. She lived far longer than her children would have liked.

Word of the week

Wanion

In itself, wanion means “in the waning of the moon”. It’s from the Old English verb wanian, to lessen, from which we get wane. You may feel wanion is too mild and agreeable a word to be attached to a curse, but in bygone centuries the waning of the moon was thought to be an unlucky time. Various fixed expressions took on the word and the idea, such as with a (wild) wanion (with a plague or with a vengeance), a wanion on (a curse on) and fetch one a wanion (bring one a misfortune).

Don’t forget our competition for your chance to be published! http://www.newbiewriters.com/competitions

What’s happening next episode
Where to contact us: podcast@newbiewriters.com
www.yourbookstartshere.com
Outro

 Wait for it……………………….wait…………………..wait……………………wait, OK maybe not!

 It would be nice if the next time we wanted to write we could just sit down and have a dozen ideas of what to write about, right?  Maybe not in the clairvoyant way you are thinking about but with an open mind you can have many ideas at your finger tips.

 I am more of a non-fiction guy.  I like the idea of learning as I write and the time frame to right short pieces appeals to me since I don’t know what I’ll have going on in six months. So my ideas tend to be more geared toward a magazine article or a blog post.  But what I try to do is cultivate as many ideas as I can think of when my mind is rolling in that direction.

 For the past week I have been traveling through the southern portion of the US taking my daughter to some sports camps while she is on holiday from school and when I travel I love to use that time to generate ideas.  I don’t know if it is the change of pace while on vacation or the many new things you run across but I always try to keep my pocket journal and pen handy while traveling.

 While a brilliant idea can be just a scribble away that great idea can flash right by us like a passing car if we let it. Our job as writers is to keep our coffers full of great ideas and cultivating them is a talent anybody can learn.  It’s also a talent that can truly be your own, because nobody has your particular perspective. For example my ideas tend to be family oriented since I am always traveling with kids, you perspective may be more towards how to go it alone on vacation. 

 Whatever your view use the times in your life when you get out of your day to day routines to take a step back and say “I could write about that”, as a writer it brings more fun to your trips and helps give you that endless source of ideas that you can pull out when you have time to write but the ideas are not flowing.

 Let your mind go back to the moment when the idea came to you and cultivate the creativity within you.

 Some of my ideas I jotted down over the last few days are listed below.  Look at the perspective I am coming from and think about how your view may differ.  Also, notice that the ideas range from vacation tips, to points of interest pieces and I even had a few fiction ideas.

 Happy travels!

 Non-Fiction Ideas:

How to pack light in your new small car

Or How to get your Mini Van into your new Compact Car

Are we There Yet? The American Road Trip

How to find a nice hotel –one was nice one not so nice

Eating healthy while traveling

Your Fall Back Plan – Enjoying your vacation when the weather does not cooperate

The Pirate House

The First Garden in the USA

Five for your Five Year Old – things to do in Savannah with your Kindergartener

Best treatments for sunburn

Home Grown Savannah Writers

The Legend of Black Beard

 Who’s buried in Bonaventure Cemetery?

The Red Neck Riviera

Drunk and Stoned on the Georgia Coast – Not a great family vacation spot

How to save for retirement

Where do you want to live when you retire?

How to eat Cheap While on The Road

How to Eat Cheap and Healthy on the Road

Ghosts of the Pirate House

America’s First Planned City

Fiction Ideas:

The Ghost of Forsyth Park

Little Girl of the Fountain

Bonaventure

Yamacaw Bluff

Sothern Hospitality

A Pirates Code

Eastern Seaboard

Cotton

Ernest Hemingway was known for his short to the point sentences, a trait that helped to solidify his writer’s voice as one of the most distinctive in American literature.  In The Old Man and the Sea he uses direct language that makes us feel as if the fisherman were telling us the story firsthand.

This use of technique and tone is a great example of voice in writing.  I know as new writers we find some of these terms like “voice” perplexing and we wonder what exactly everyone is talking about.  Myself I interpret voice simply as characteristics of a person’s writing that distinguishes it as their own. 

Similar to someone’s accented speech, a writer inflects his personality into their writing. While their accent is a product of regionalism in most cases, there writing can reflect the writer’s exposure to teachers, parents, and experiences. Word usage, tempo and punctuation also lend to a writers tone and through that tone emerges their distinctive voice. 

Where the concept of voice becomes more confusing is the point at which it becomes more than just your own particular writing style.  Like an adolescence whose actual voice changes as they age, a writer’s voice changes as they grow as artists and wordsmiths. So voice as a concept is both your own personal influence and what you learn as a writer and how those factors come out in your work.  

So, do you have a voice, absolutely? Take some time to pull out some of your old work and compare it to something more recent.  Look for reoccurring words, inflections of humor, or even punctuation similarities. All of this is YOUR voice.  While you can belabor all these factors and try to influence your voice, and you can certainly do that, when you are first starting out do not sweat it.  Just let the words flow and your voice will be heard.

Okay, so now I have a computer and loads of free time to use it. So there is literally nothing to stop me from becoming what I have dreamed of my entire life and that is to be a writer! A well-paid, published writer is what I desire to be. Simple right? Wrong!

The more I do research on line the more I am aware of two things. Number one, becoming a paid writer is not as hard as one would think, that is what all the on line authors would have you believe anyway, and Number two, all it takes apparently, is a good idea.

Well hey, that’s just swell! All I need then is an idea for a new book, article or essay. Easy right? Maybe, but in the Idea department I think I must have been standing ‘behind” the door when the good Lord passed out the creativity genes. Try as I might I cannot imagine any topic that might be sufficiently interesting in and of itself to make a person want to know more. Happily there are articles about how to come up with new ideas.

Here is where the Internet and all of the writers therein, come into play. I am so amazed at the wealth of information available on the net to anyone willing to dig it out. The digging isn’t very hard to do either! It blows my little southern mind, to think of all the people out there in the world of writing, that are giving all of this invaluable information away for free!

There are so many sites dedicated to the writer and while many are really interesting my favorite is still NewbieWriters.com. I especially like the section on “learning the craft” it has so many great “how to’s” and I spend quite a bit of time just reading.

I am actually spending more of my time reading about writing these days than I am actually writing! This I will change soon though.

I have decided that I will only do housework on designated days of the week and the rest of my time will be spent in making my dreams come true, thanks to the many authors in cyber space who are willing to share their knowledge so freely. I am confident that I will be able to learn from the volumes written on the net so freely. So part of my new goals for 2010 will be to take advantage of all the free writing guides out there and learn as much as possible about the craft I so love. I hope that you are having an inspired New Year too and that you will make the time to write this year ….no matter what! What is it that Dawn says? Just write something!