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Tag Archives: publishing
15 Marketplaces to Publish Your Poetry
Since there are hundreds of publications in the US and abroad that publish poetry, finding the perfect fit for your verses may seem a bit overwhelming. If you’ve been writing and submitting for a while now, then you already have a list of publications on-hand. If you’re yet to publish your first poem or collection of poems, then you’ll want to start conducting targeted market research.
While you may want to aim for your favorite professional-level publication, sometimes it may take a while to get into its print – or cyber – pages. It’s important to remain positive and continue to focus on your craft by attending workshops, reading articles, creating – or joining – a critique group, and so forth.
The 15 Top Marketplaces to Publish Your Poetry
5 Markets for Mainstream Literary Poetry
5 Markets for Minimalist Poetry
5 Markets for Science and Speculative Fiction Poetry
What to Do Before Submitting
In general, many submission guidelines encourage you to send three-to-five poems at a time. So, once you have a completed file of poems to submit, here are just a few questions to ask before submitting your work:
- Do you know the type of poetry this publication tends to publish?
- Are you familiar with the editors’ likes, dislikes, and pet peeves?
- Have you checked, double- checked, and triple-checked the guidelines and followed them to the letter?
- Have you proofed and edited your poems? Read them out loud?
- Have you workshopped the poems, and do they represent your “best” work?
If you responded, “yes,” to the questions above, then submit your poems with a nice cover letter, when requested, and be sure to note the guidelines for these as well.
Keeping Track of Your Submissions
One way to maintain awareness of your progress and success is to create a submissions log. If you’re a prolific poet that submits work on a weekly basis, for example, then a log is a valuable tool. If you’re new to being published, then you have a visual and interactive display to note the cumulative results of your actions.
Here are just a few reasons why it’s a good to keep track:
- You are aware of which poems are being considered and by whom.
- You know when they’ve been submitted, which is particularly important when noting how long you need to wait before querying.
- You don’t inadvertently simsub (i.e., submit simultaneous submissions).
- You don’t resubmit a revised poem(s) to a publication that indicates not to do this unless invited.
- You will be able to note which publications you’ve considered for your work, thus determining if it’s a good market fit.
While some people may use Excel or another type of software, I create tables in a Word doc. Here are the categories in my current submissions log:
- Date submitted
- Publication and poem titles
- Date accepted and specific issue
- Date rejected
- Payment amount
Since I set up my tables to allow for additional information, I also make note of the editors’ names, website URLs, and other information, such as editor comments, which are always appreciated. In addition to my regular submissions log, I also have a month-to-month table where I track the total number of submissions, rejections, and payment.
Visualize Success
One of my favorite motivational sayings is this: “What we focus on, grows.” I keep this in mind when writing, and yes, when opening my email to an acceptance or thank-you-for-submitting-but-it’s-not-a-good-fit-for-us letter. It’s also important to stay focused when, or if, those rejection notes seem to pile up. One of my early writing mentors told me that while I may be a good writer, it would be my dedication to craft and persistence that would make a significant difference. He was right.
Here’s to your success as a poet or with any other form of writing in which you choose to engage.
By Terrie Leigh Relf
Source: freelancewriting.com
Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing
How to Publish a Short Story: Get Feedback and Edit Your Final Draft
A month ago, I urged you to come on a publication journey with me, one where I walk you through the process of planning, writing, and submitting a short story. This is the third post in the four-part series on how to publish a short story. By the end, you’ll have a story ready to send out to publications!
If you’ve been following along week by week, by now, you have a complete first draft. Just getting started? Look back at part one and part two to find your publication and draft your story. Then, rejoin me here.
This week, we’re going to concentrate on getting feedback and completing your last edit.
NOTE: Throughout this series, DO NOT post your work in the comments. I’m going to ask you to submit to a publisher at the end of this series, and posting it here would be considered publishing it. Our Becoming Writer community is a great place to workshop your story before you submit it.
Almost Done
By now, you should have a second draft. We’re in the homestretch now! Wipe your brow, pat yourself on the back, have a little dance party. Celebrate. A lot of writers don’t make it this far.
Ready to dive back in? Here’s what to do next:
6. Get Feedback
Stephen King has what he calls a “closed door” policy up to this point, meaning he writes his first couple drafts just for himself. Then he opens that door and lets others in to read it.
It’s time for you to open that door!
I know you’re all cringing right now. You mean I actually have to show this to someone? Yes. You do.
Feedback is the most important part of writing. Seriously. There is no substitute for getting someone else’s eyes on your work. You can go over it a hundred times and you’ll still miss things. Trust me. I see it all the time with pieces I post in our Becoming Writer community.
Whether it’s something simple like a missing word or misplaced comma, or something glaring like a character snafu or a world-building misunderstanding, your beta readers will catch it. But they can’t catch it if you don’t show it to them!
I recommend finding people other than family and friends to read your work. People who know you are less likely to give you any real criticism. Mostly you’ll just hear, “Oh, I like it!” and that’s it.
This isn’t only because they’re afraid of upsetting you, but they’re also probably not trained as an active reader. They might like or dislike your story, but can’t find the words to tell you why they feel that way.
If you can’t find a writing group, that’s fine, but make sure you try to push your beta readers to give you useful feedback. If you’re not sure how to ask for useful feedback, try taking a look back at the short story musts and mistakes I listed in the first post to get ideas on what questions to ask your betas. Specificity helps here, so don’t go with something simple like, “Did you like it?”
Pro tip: Don’t watch them while they read. I know it’s tempting (Are they going to laugh at that funny line? Are they going to tear up when that character dies?), but don’t. That’s too much pressure on them, and WAY too nerve-racking for you.
During this stage, just like I suggested between drafts one and two, you need to put your story away. You’ll be tempted to rewrite as your feedback comes in. A quick word change there, a sentence deleted here, and then you feel like you’ve got a whole new draft. Which makes you want to send all your friends your “new” draft.
Don’t.
There is nothing more annoying than having to start reading something from the beginning when you’re in the middle of critiquing. Sharing every little edit is a great way to lose beta readers. Let it lie.
Whether you have a writing community like Becoming Writer or you just have friends and family read your work, you MUST open that door.
7. Edit (Yes, AGAIN)
You’ve lived through the torment of waiting on betas. Congratulations! Now it’s time to take a look at all that feedback.
Your first instinct is going to be to get defensive and do a lot of groaning about how stupid your friends are and how they just “don’t get it.” Get that out of your system. Throw a toddler fit and jump up and down in frustration if you must. Then reread their feedback.
I’m going to tell you something you probably don’t want to hear: Your betas are most likely right.
Remember you’re writing for people to read it. That means your readers have to like it. If they don’t, you’ve got a problem.
Reread their feedback with an open mind and apply it as needed. This is often a frustrating and disappointing time for writers, but try not to let it get you down. (Again, your writing does not suck!) You’re learning, and feedback will only make you better in the future.
8. Final Draft: Line Edit
After you’ve implemented all the beta feedback, it really is down to the final stages. Your third (and final!) draft needs to be as clean as possible. An editor will let minor mistakes slide, but the story as a whole needs to be readable.
We’re not all grammar know-it-alls, and in truth, we don’t need to be. But you do need to work on the basics.
Now it’s time to get down to the nitpicky edits. You’re going to look for things like misplaced commas, split infinitives, icky dialogue tags (i.e. too many words that aren’t “said”), -ly words, -ing words, and passive writing. I like to print my stories out at this stage so I can make editing notes and highlight until it looks like a sick and bleeding rainbow. I think it makes this tedious process more fun.
Run the story through Grammarly and Hemingway. Don’t just change everything these programs tell you to, though. Think about what they want you to change and then decide if the suggestion is right for your story.
For example, Hemingway loves to point out sentences that are hard to read. Those sentences aren’t necessarily wrong, though. You have to decide if you want to simplify the wording or leave it as-is.
Read your story aloud. Read it backward. (My editor sister swears by this one.)
Reading aloud can help you pick out missed words, weird wording, and where commas (a.k.a. pauses) should go. Reading it word-by-word backward is something I admit I don’t do, but my sister says it helps her take the words out of context so her brain doesn’t get tricky and fill in things that aren’t there while she’s reading.
Try it backward if you want to, but definitely read it aloud forward.
Finis!
You’re finished writing! Now it’s time for another celebration! I prefer dancing maniacally (read: badly) to overloud 90s music, but you do you.
Your story is now ready for publication. Two weeks from this posting you’re going to send that baby out! (I expect most of you have been waiting with bated breath for that post on how to publish a short story.) I’ll take you through all the crazy formalities of the submission process next time, so spend the next two weeks getting that manuscript to shine!
Do you have a writing group? Will this be the first time sharing your work? Let me know in the comments.
By
Source: thewritepractice.com
Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing
How to Publish a Short Story: Write Your First and Second Drafts
Two weeks ago, I urged you to come on a publication journey with me, one where I walk you through the process of planning, writing, and submitting a short story. This is the second post in the four-part series on how to publish a short story. By the end, you’ll have a story ready to send out to publications!
If you’re a little late to the party, never fear! You can still participate. Look back at the first two steps and then join me back here.
This week, we’re going to concentrate on writing and the first edit.
NOTE: Throughout this series, DO NOT post your work in the comments. I’m going to ask you to submit to a publisher at the end of this series, and posting it here would be considered publishing it. Our Becoming Writer community is a great place to workshop your story before you submit it.
Writing Your Story
By now, you should have a publication in mind and have the answers to a couple basic questions. Maybe you brainstormed or did a full outline. Bonus points if you’ve got a draft! (But don’t worry if you don’t.)
Now pick up the pen and write the thing!
This series is focused on how to submit stories and isn’t meant to be a masterclass in short story writing, but I’ve tried to include as many basics as I can. For further information on writing shorts, check this out.
If you’ve got a draft already, this post will still be useful to you, so don’t skip reading it!
3. First Draft: Write in One Sitting
Smile. This is the fun part.
Short stories are meant to be consumed in a single sitting, so it makes sense to write them in one. This isn’t as daunting as it seems. You’ll find your enthusiasm will drive you to the end and the story will flow much better.
Sit down and write. Write quickly. Write badly. Just write.
This is not the time to worry about your word count. Wait, what? I know. I told you to pick out a publication and they’ve given you a word count to stick to. Ignore that for the moment.
Right now, your job is to tell your story. The story will let you know when it’s finished. Overwriting is fine, and actually encouraged, at this stage. On the opposite end, if you’re lacking in words, that’s okay, too. You can always fill in more description later.
For now, just let it flow.
But do remember the four questions I gave you the last time and keep them in mind as a roadmap for going forward. Don’t worry if you get a little lost or off-track. Sometimes stories insist on a life of their own. Don’t panic. That’s normal.
4. Break Time
When you’ve written the last word and are riding that rush of excitement, I need you to do something vitally important: TAKE A BREAK! This is so important, I’ve included it as one of the steps instead of simply mentioning it in passing.
Put the story away and out of your mind. I recommend a three-day hiatus at this stage. That’s just enough for you to forget what you wrote and why you wrote it that way, but not enough time to lose interest in the story.
Don’t look at it. Don’t edit it. Don’t even think about it.
Read a book, get some sleep, or work on another story. Fight the urge to edit right away!
5. Second Draft: Get Critical
This is the less fun but crucial part. Your first draft is not perfect.
Say it with me now: MY FIRST DRAFT IS NOT PERFECT!
You’ve had a break and hopefully you’ve forgotten why you loved this specific turn of phrase or that overlong description. Now you’re going to get brutal. You’re going to cut, add, and rearrange with all the mercy of a general on a battlefield.
First things first: Make sure your story is a story! This might sound obvious, but sometimes it’s not.
When I first started writing shorts, it was all nonsense. Halfway decent prose, but utter nonsense. There was no point. There was no character development. There was no climax. It took a long time for me to realize I was getting rejected because I hadn’t written a story.
A short is different from a novel. You don’t have time to ramble. But a short story is still a story and needs to read like one. It must contain all the elements I mentioned mine lacked. And it must have a beginning, middle, and end.
Here are a few short story fundamentals to achieve that goal:
Elements of a Short Story: What Should Be
- Start with action: No overly complicated scene setting or a ton of character inner musings needed. Get the story moving.
- Show, don’t tell: Telling seems like a good way to get to the point, right? Nope. A short story is still a story, not a sequence of events spat out in synopsis form by a robot. This happens, then this happens, and finally this happens, is an outline, not a narrative.
- Good pacing: Good shorts don’t spend too much time on description and rush through the action. They flow well from one scene to the next and none of those scenes are unnecessary.
- Climax and efficient build up to it: Every single word in a short story needs to drive the reader to the climax. Move toward that climax efficiently. If there’s something that doesn’t serve this purpose, chop it. And make sure your climax is in there!
- Satisfying resolution: Your ending must wrap up your story. It needs to be clear, there can be a twist or surprise (but make sure that surprise isn’t coming out of nowhere), and there needs to be a change from the way things were in the beginning.
Common Short Story Mistakes: What Shouldn’t Be
- Overcomplicated plot: Again, keep it simple. Shorts revolve around one central theme, action, upheaval, or event. If you’ve got a bunch of B plots, your story probably isn’t suited for the structure of a short.
- Too much backstory and world-building: Only tell us what we need to know, when we need to know it. You can know every little detail about your character’s third-grade experience or the ecosystem of your fictional planet, but is it necessary for your reader to know? This is a general rule when writing, but especially so for shorts. You don’t have the space to tell us everything. Stick to the point.
- Bad dialogue: This is one of the things I see the most with short stories. One way to fix this is to read your dialogue aloud, preferably with a partner. If it sounds funny coming out of your mouth, it’s not right. Remember, people rarely use another person’s name when talking to them and contractions are your friend.
- Head hopping: Stay in one point of view. There’s not enough time or space in a short to skip around.
- Abrupt ending: Make sure you haven’t just cut off your story to stay in the word count. (The climax is not the ending!) Take us all the way through.
Write, Write, Write!
For the next two weeks, concentrate on getting through the first and second drafts using the tips above. This might get frustrating at points. You may want to give up. Don’t. You’ll get through it.
And most importantly: Your writing DOES NOT suck! (We all need that little reminder now and then.)
Still wondering how to publish a short story? Don’t worry. In the next post, I’ll go over getting feedback and the nitpicky edits of the third draft. Soon, your story will be publication ready!
Which short story elements do you think you do the best? Which do you think you need to work on? Let me know in the comments.
By
Source: thewritepractice.com
Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing
Building an Author Website: The First Step to Publishing
If you’re like most writers I know, you probably dream of getting published. But as I’ve worked with writers for the last six years, I’ve found that most are woefully unprepared for what publishing actually takes, and this means that either they never figure out what it takes to get published or when they finally DO get published, they find themselves disappointed with the process and with how many books they sell.
How do you prepare for getting published though? There are several steps, but the first step is building an author website. In this article, I’m going to share a step-by-step guide to building a simple author website yourself that will support all of your publishing efforts.
Why Building a Website is the First Step You Should Take BEFORE You Get Published
As book sales move more and more online, a website where you can develop a relationship with your readers is essential. It doesn’t matter if your book is being published by a big traditional publisher or if you’re self-publishing. You need a website.
Why is having an author website so important? Why not just focus on free and easy platforms like Facebook and Twitter for your book marketing efforts?
- Social media doesn’t sell books, but an email list does. You might think email is an old school way to sell books and that it can’t possibly work, but the numbers say something very different. In fact, 66 percent of people say they have made a purchase because of an email they received compared to only 20 percent of people who have purchased something from a Facebook post and six percent from Twitter. I’ve been watching this trend for years, and every statistic I’ve ever read has shown me that email is far and above the best way to get your audience to buy your book.
- The best place to build your email list is on a website.
- How then do you build your email list? Through your website. In fact, a simple, single-page website with an email opt-in form is enough to completely change your publishing success.
- You OWN your website. You don’t own your social media following. Facebook does. Twitter does. Instagram does. And they can change the rules any time they want, like when Facebook changed their algorithm to only show a fraction of people’s posts. Or when Instagram did the same.
“But I’m Not Tech Savvy”: Why Anyone Can Build an Author Website
If the idea of building a website is intimidating to you, though, it shouldn’t be. I’ve built over a dozen websites and helped other writers set up a few dozen more, many in just a few hours, and even though I’m pretty savvy, it doesn’t mean you have to be to setup a simple author website.
Anyone can set up a simple author website in just a few hours if you know the right steps and don’t get overwhelmed by all the options out there.
At the same time, when I built my first website, it took me weeks because I was doing it on my own, with no one to guide me through the process. My hope is that this guide will make the process simple enough that anyone can build a website.
10 Steps to Building an Author Website
If you read this article from start to finish and follow each step, you will have a great author website.
1. Choose Your Platform
You have many options when it comes to building a simple author website, but there are only three that I recommend.
Self-Hosted WordPress. My personal favorite is a self-hosted WordPress website (which is very different from a free WordPress.com website). I’ve been building websites on WordPress for almost ten years, and it combines ease, flexibility, and full control over your site.
You have to pay to host your website if you choose this option. That costs about $50 a year through Bluehost, which is the hosting company I recommend (you can click here to setup your WordPress website through Bluehost). Note that this includes a domain name, normally $12 a year. This is the least expensive, highest value option available.
WordPress has a number of free themes that allow you to quickly change the entire look and feel of your site. You can also purchase a paid theme (we use Divi at thewritepractice.com, and it’s amazing). Choose Self-Hosted WordPress (via Bluehost).
(HINT: I usually go with the Basic plan, paid yearly, with no add-ons. Bluehost and any other hosting service you choose will likely pitch you several add-on services for an extra cost. Personally, I always say no to all of them.)
Squarespace. If you’re not going to get a self-hosted WordPress, then Squarespace is a great second option. They have beautiful design and make it incredibly easy to set up and get started. Squarespace costs $12 a month to get started, about three times more than a self-hosted WordPress website, but they include a lot of features under that price. Choose Squarespace.
WordPress.com (free). Not to be confused with a self-hosted WordPress website (e.g. WordPress.org), WordPress.com is like the free, “light” version of a self-hosted WordPress website. If you want to get started quickly and for free, this can be a good option. I would still recommend Squarespace over WordPress.com—and a self-hosted WordPress website over both—but this can be a way to ease yourself into building an author website. Plus, it’s fairly easy to export and transfer to a self-hosted WordPress website when you’re ready to up your game. Choose WordPress.com.
Which Website Platforms to Avoid:
- Weebly. I’ve see a few good author websites built on Weebly, but most look clunky.
- Wix. Every author website I’ve seen built on Wix looks like it’s from 2005. Plus, their branding will be on every page. You should be advertising your writing, not your website platform.
- GoDaddy Site Builder (or any host’s native site builder). Hosting companies are good at hosting, not creating software for building websites.
2. Register Your Domain Name
A domain name is the URL where your website lives, e.g. joebunting.com. When people type it into their browser, they will arrive at your website. All three of the platforms I recommended above allow you to register a domain name through them, but you can also register through a third party like Google Domains or Name.com (although I do recommend registering through the platform you choose above).
Your domain name is one of the first branding decisions you make as you build your website. The challenge is that as the Internet expands, more and more domains are registered and the best ones become scarce. How do you find one that’s both available and right for you? Here are a few important tips:
- Look around before registering. Your first choice for a domain may already be taken, so it’s important to search before getting to far into the website building process. You can use Google’s Domain Search tool to quickly look through different domain options (HINT: Once you find your perfect domain, don’t register it on this tool. Instead, register it through the platform you chose above. You can always transfer domain names, but it’s an extra step that can be a little complicated.)
- Use your first and last name (e.g. johngrisham.com). If it’s available, that is. If you write under a pen name, then your pen name would be the domain name, and if your name is difficult to spell, then you might consider writing under a pen name. If your name is not available, you can use a .me, .us, or .net domain, but I wouldn’t use .org unless you write religious or service books. I would not use a middle initial in your domain name. You can also append a word to the end of your name, like joebuntingwriter.com or buntingbooks.com. Not as good as your author name, but it can still work.
- Don’t use your book title as your (main) domain name. Because what will you do when you write another book. It’s fine to have a simple landing page or a basic website for each book you write (like this one), but not for your main author website.
- Don’t include dashes in the domain. Adding a dash in between your first and last name is an easy way to get your name if it’s already taken, but it makes it a little harder for people to find you. Plus, in my opinion, it doesn’t look very good.
Other Domain Search Tools:
This handy tool:
https://www.bluehost.com/web-hosting/domaincheckapi/?affiliate=joebunting
3. Find a Few Author Websites to Model Yours On
Before you get deep into the design process, find a few author websites you like to model yours on. Here are a few author websites I recommend checking out:
As you look at their sites, take notice of the main elements of each site. Here are some of the most important elements:
- Header. The image, logo, or name at the very top of the site. Don’t be overwhelmed if you have no idea how to make images look as awesome as the sites above. These authors all have design teams, but you can easily make simple but awesome looking images with a free tool like Canva.
- Featured Banner. Often authors will have an image with their latest book featured as the first thing you see when you visit their site.
- Email/Newsletter Sign Up Form. This is the most important section of the site, since your email list is the main way you develop a relationship with your readers. Building your email list is the number one best marketing step you can take for your writing. I really like Brad Thor’s site especially because his newsletter sign up form is above the fold.
- Menu. This is where you’ll get an idea of the main pages. You’ll almost always find an About page, a Blog, a Books page, and a Contact page.
- Endorsements and Reviews. Do they have any featured endorsements from well-known authors or reviews?
- Social media channels. Do they link to any of their social media profiles? Which channels do they feature, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest?
4. Install WordPress
From here I’m going to assume you’re setting up your website with Bluehost on WordPress.
After setting up your new Bluehost account and registering your domain (see steps 1 and 2 above), it’s time to install WordPress on your domain.
1. If you haven’t done so already, after you sign up for Bluehost, you will be able to register your domain (see steps 1). If you missed this step, you can also register afterward from the Bluehost dashboard so don’t worry.
2. On the Bluehost dashboard, click install WordPress.
What’s really happening here: When you sign up for hosting, you’re basically renting a computer, just a computer that’s set up to broadcast to the internet. Your domain is kind of a like a folder on that computer, and when you install WordPress, you’re basically installing an application on that folder.
3. Click continue WordPress installation.
4. On the next page, select the domain you registered earlier in the dropdown. Leave the directory form blank.
5. Enter your login credentials. Next you’ll be asked to create login credentials (username and password) for your new website. These are really important to keep in a safe place, but you’ll also get an email with them.
6. It will install for a few minutes. After it finishes, visit your new domain’s wordpress admin screen, e.g. yourdomainhere.com/wp-admin. Make sure to bookmark this page for the future.
That’s it! You did it! You now have a new website! Congratulations!
5. Familiarize Yourself With WordPress
WordPress is fairly easy to use once you find your way around, but it can sometimes be intimidating to new users. Here are a few things to take note of:
Dashboard
This is your home base, where you can see your website’s back end at a glance and access all your settings and pages.
Admin Header Bar
At the top of your screen is an admin bar with a few helpful buttons.
- + New. Creates a new post or page.
- Edit. If you’re on a post or page you want to edit, you can click the edit button here to make changes.
- Home / Dashboard button. If you’re on the dashboard, you can click this to get to your website’s home screen. If you’re on your website, then you can click this to go to your dashboard.
Dashboard Menu
This is the main way to create pages and access all the settings on your site.
- Posts & Pages. Posts are for your blog and usually include comments. Pages are for site-wide pages, like your About page, Books page, or Contact page.
- Appearance. There are several menu items under this that control the appearance of your site:
Theme. Change your theme here. We’ll talk about themes in a moment.
Customize. Depending on your theme, you can preview some appearance customizations here.
Menus. The menu on the front of your site is created and controlled here.
Widgets. These are things that appear in your sidebar, like an email sign up form or an image of your book cover and link to your book’s Amazon/Barnes and Noble page.
- Plugins. One of the things that makes WordPress so great is the huge community of developers building free and paid plugins to extend your site’s functionality. I’ll mention which plugins I recommend in a moment, but this is where you will install, activate, and configure them.
- Settings. There are a few settings you should configure at the start.
General. This is where you can change your site name and tagline, choose your time zone, and set your email address. You can leave these as the default, but I would change your time zone.
Writing. This affects how the page and post editor looks. You don’t need to change anything here.
Reading. This affects your homepage and how many posts display on your blog. We’ll come back to this screen in a moment to set your homepage, but you don’t have to do anything now.
Permalinks. This affects the URL structure, and I would highly recommend changing it to “Post Name” setting.
Plugins I Recommend Installing
There are a few plugins that are essential, in my opinion.
- Jetpack. Gives you great features like visitor stats, hacker protection, and spellcheck.
- Akismet. Blocks spam comments. Connect with your WordPress.com account and choose the free plan.
- Sumo. Allows you to easy add sharing to your posts and pages, that thing that floats on the side of your post with sharing icons. Also gives you powerful email subscription tools. It’s free, but you have to create an account with Sumo after you install.
- Contact Form 7. Create a contact form here and then copy and paste the shortcode that it gives you onto a new page that you create and title Contact.
Advanced
- SEO by Yoast. Analyzes your pages and teaches you how to write so that Google can better find your website. Very cool!
- Google Analytics by Yoast. Google Analytics is the best free tool for tracking your website users. First create a free account here, then connect to your website with this plugin.
6. Choose Your Theme
Themes drastically affect the way your site looks, so finding the right one for you is important. However, there are so many great free and paid themes it can be overwhelming. Here are a few I recommend.
Free Themes for Author Websites
PageLine. This free theme gives you a huge amount of control over every element of your website, and the best part is that you don’t need to know any code to use it. You can download it here or install it from your Appearance > Themes page.
Recommended Themes for Author Websites
You get what you pay for, people always say, and while that’s somewhat true for blogs, I think you can go a very long way with a free theme. Personally, I used PageLines for this very website for years. BUT there are a few things free themes aren’t the best at. They tend to be slower to load, for example, and not as feature rich as some paid themes. Plus, the two themes below are really cool.
Divi. If you prefer a “What You See Is What You Get” editor for your website, Divi is amazing. It allows you to edit font sizes, colors, spacing, and more all from the user-facing side of your site. After using many different themes for years, this is the theme we settled on for The Write Practice. You can get Divi here.
Tribe. A premium theme built by author Jeff Goins, this theme gives you what you need to build an author website and nothing else. Perfect if you want something simple but functional. You can get Tribe here.
Custom Themes. Alternatively, you can hire a web designer to build you a custom theme. This is a great option if you don’t have an eye for design and/or don’t have the time to do it. Designers cost anywhere between a few hundred bucks to $1,000 for an experienced designer to $3,000+ for a high-end designer.
7. Create Your Header
Headers can be a simple logo, like ours on The Write Practice. Or an image of the author’s name like Elizabeth Gilbert’s site. Or a full width image like Gillian Flynn’s site.
You can hire a designer for this, but it’s easier to create these on your own with Canva than you’d think. Here’s how:
- Before you can start, you need to find out the dimensions your header needs. This is determined by your theme, so check your theme’s settings. For reference, Elizabeth Gilbert’s header is 308 px wide by 29 px tall (px stands for pixels, which is the most common unit of measurement for websites).
- Go to Canva.com, create a free account or log in with your Facebook account, and then select “Use custom dimensions” (see screenshot).
- Enter your dimensions (e.g. 308 by 40, since Canva doesn’t allow dimensions smaller than 40).
- Create your logo! I recommend keeping it simple for now with just your name on a white background.
- Last, download your image (preferably as a PNG file) and then upload it into your theme!
8. Add Your Core Pages
After you install your theme, don’t obsess over the design right now. It takes a long time to get a website looking the way you want it to, but for now just focus on getting the broad elements setup. Your number one goal, remember, is to build your email list, so getting the simplest website possible to start collecting email addresses is ideal.
Home Page. Your website will default to displaying a blog, but for your author website, I recommend creating a custom home page. Take a look at Step 2 for the elements you’ll want to include here: for example, a featured book image (which you can create with Canva), email list sign up form (which we’ll talk about next), endorsements/testimonials, and link to your blog. A good model for this to start is Jeff Goins’s home page, because it’s fairly simple, text based, and doesn’t require a lot of image design work.
About Page. One of your most visited pages, this is where you’ll share a short bio. As you write your About page, remember that new readers don’t care about you; they care about themselves and the books they like to read. Don’t write out your full life story. Share only the information your reader will be interested in to discover whether or not your writing will be a good fit for them.
I like Brad Thor’s About Page as a good model for this, especially his strong brand tagline: “Brad has been called ‘the master of thrillers,’ and ‘America’s favorite author.’ His bestselling novels have been published in over 30 countries.”
Books Page. Simple a page with images of all your books and links to where readers can buy them. TIP: Embed Kindle instant book previews so readers can start reading your book right from your website. Here’s how.
Contact Page. Give readers the ability to contact you by creating a page with a contact form. Start by installing the plugin Contact Form 7 if you haven’t already. A “Contact” menu item will appear on your dashboard menu. Create a new contact form or use/edit the default one that’s pre-installed. Copy and paste the shortcode into a new page that you title Contact.
Editing the Menu
Depending on your theme, the menu on your site may automatically add each page you create. Either way, it’s a good idea to create a custom menu so you can have more control over what the menu includes. Here’s how:
- On the dashboard, go to Appearance > Menu.
- Click the button to create a new menu.
- Add the pages or custom links you want (e.g. Home, About, Books, Contact).
- Click the box to choose where the menu will appear, usually primary menu or secondary menu.
- Save it and then go to your homepage to make sure it looks like you want it to.
9. Set Up Your Email List
Your email list is one of the main reasons you’re doing all of this, and your newsletter signup form could be considered the most important element on your website.
First, you have to choose an email newsletter provider. Here I usually recommend Mailchimp, because it’s free for your first 2,000 subscribers. Mailchimp is a great company, and a very friendly service. That being said, personally I find it to be a little clunky and hard to use. We use Convertkit, and while I highly recommend them for authors, it’s a paid service and it can be pretty expensive. Your email list is a good place to invest, though. This should be one of your first upgrades.
Assuming you’re using Mailchimp, you can learn how to create your first email list and sign up form here.
10. Celebrate!
You did it! You created your author website! And if you followed these instructions, it should have only taken you a few hours of work.
Next, you can learn how to write the perfect blog post or simply rest in the glow of your accomplishments!
Do you have an author website? Share a link in the comments so we can see what you’ve created!
Have a question or did you get stuck? Before you leave a comment, try Googling it or asking your hosting company for help. If you’ve already done that, feel free to leave a comment!
By
Source: thewritepractice.com
Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing
Reader Question: When Should Indie Authors Publish a Second Book?
From Jennifer Mattern on February 26, 2015 in Book Marketing & PR
Last week, a question from Sunayna Prasad came in about building a fan base and how it affects series publishing. Basically, she wanted to know if she should publish the second book in her new series right away, or if she should wait until she has more fans or readers of the first.
Here’s her question:
“I am writing a sequel to my published book. It didn’t sell a lot, but it got a lot of positive reviews, all from strangers. How many fans should I have (whether they bought the book or I gave it away for free) before I publish my sequel. I sold somewhere around 53 copies since a year and a half ago. My goal is to have at least 800 fans before publishing my sequel. The title includes the phrase, book 1, so readers already know that there will be another installment. But is 800 too many for the number of books I have sold?”
Read the rest at All IndieWriters.com
Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing
How To Get Book Reviews – The 5 Myths
The Future of Ink article by Shelley Hitz 
Getting reviews for your book is an essential part of the publishing and marketing process. However, there are many misconceptions authors have regarding book reviews. In this post I address the5 common myths about getting reviewsfor your book.
Myth #1: Customers Don’t Read Reviews
Reviews are important and research has actually shown they do impact buying decisions. A research study conducted by Dimensional Research showed that 90% of customers reported reading positive reviews online impacted their buying decisions.In the same way, 86% of customers said reading negative reviews online impacted their buying decisions as well. Tip: Make sure you don’t ignore this important step of getting honest reviews for your book. They have more impact than you may realize.
Myth #2: Anyone Can Post Reviews on Amazon
As an author, it is important understand each retailer’s terms of service regarding reviews. For example, Amazon prohibits authors from reviewing a competitor’s book that would be seen as a “directly competing product.” Tip: Even though “directly competing” authors are unable to post reviews for you,you can ask them for endorsements. You can then put these endorsements in the beginning of your book as well as in the “Editorial Reviews” section on your sales page.
Myth #3: You’re Going To Spend an Arm and a Leg on Review Copies
You may think that you have to spend a fortune to give out review copies of your book. First, you have to pay for the print book copies and then you have to pay to have it shipped to your reviewer. If the reviewer is international, the shipping will be even more expensive. Tip: However, you can significantly cut your costs by sending out eBook copies to reviewers. You can send out PDF, mobi, and/or epub copies of your books to most reviewers. You may still want to send print copies to certain high profile book review bloggers and/or potential endorsers for your book, but most reviewers will agree to review a digital copy of your book.
Myth #4: No Reviews Are Better Than Bad Reviews
When writing, publishing, and marketing your book it is good to know upfront that you will get both positive and negative reviews.After pouring your time and talent into your book (and some of your hard earned money), it is natural to want to see all 4 and 5 star reviews. However, the reality is that you will NOT please every reader who buys your book. Even the very best authors still get 1, 2, and 3 star reviews on their books.
Even the very best authors still get 1, 2, and 3 star reviews on their books.
Sometimes negative reviews can actually be helpful.You may think that no reviews are better than bad reviews. But if your book has all 5 star reviews, people may think all your reviews are from supporters: your family and friends. Tip:We encourage you to not be afraid of getting negative reviews. Expect that they will come and then move on. If you have written a good book, good reviews will continue to come in faster than the bad reviews and your overall rating will still remain high.
Myth #5: Everyone Who Agrees to Review Your Book Will Follow Through
Understand that not all readers who agree to review your book will actually follow through. Don’t take it personally as your reviewers are volunteers and have busy lives, but make sure to send at least one follow up e-mail message. Tip: We have found that sending a follow-up message to reviewers who have not posted a review can double the response rate. Reviewers will sometimes forget, or lose the links, to post the review. They are busy just like us. Sending a simple reminder can make a huge difference. Read the rest of this article on The Future of Ink:http://thefutureofink.com/how-to-get-book-reviews/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tfoi+%28The+Future+of+Ink%29
How to find a hungry agent
Publishers – Aggregators – Master Distributors
Great post from The Book Deal!
Here’s a literary agent who’s very specific about the kind of book she’d like to see in her inbox:
“I love books with some kind of psychological element, like if the MC has a mental illness or if they can’t trust their mind.”
Working on anything like that? Or something close? Want to know more about this agent? Well you can find her on Twitter. She’s Annie, of the Annie Bomke Literary Agency, tweeting as @Abliterary
Twitter: Start here
Commercial publishers, agents, editors and publicists have for years relied on Twitter as an important element in book marketing. It’s also an essential tool for agents looking for new writers to build their client lists.
Annie Bomke, for example, is included in the Writer’s Digest Oct. 2013 cover story 28 Agents Seeking New Writers. Twenty of those agents are active on Twitter.
Bomke tweets regularly not only about what she’s looking for, but also about how to submit a book to her: “If you’re going to attach your synopsis/sample chapters, make sure you still put your query in the body of the email.” Here she is on the art and craft of writing: “Avoid descriptions that are obvious, like ‘the yellow sun’. The only time you should mention the color of the sun is if it’s not yellow.”
Not bad. Wish I’d said that. She packed a lot into the official Twitter 140 character limit.
More tweeting agents:
Lori Perkins at L. Perkins Agency (@loriperkinsRAB) writes that she’s looking for “time travel novels with female protagonists who change the world (without looking for love).”
Brandi Bowles of Foundry Literary & Media (@brandibowles) reminds authors, “Don’t neglect your platform while searching for an agent. We browse magazines, newspapers, and journals for great writing all the time!”
The biggest little agent-author conversation in the world
In a previous post called Strategic Tweeting for Authors, I described Twitter as a huge, noisy cocktail party, packed with publishing insiders, agents, editors, journalists, book bloggers, reviewers, your readers, potential new readers, other writers – just about everyone you’d ever want to connect with — there and waiting for you to drop in and mingle your heart out.
Now that more agents are using Twitter to build their client lists, it’s gone way beyond marketing to become a treasure trove of useful information for authors about what agents want and how to find them.
Remember that it’s OK to lurk on Twitter. You can search this resource as much as you want without ever posting a tweet yourself if you’re not ready or willing to jump into the fray. That’s some of the advice in a highly recommended primer for the uninitiated: 10 Must-Learn Lessons For Twitter Newbies .
Quick and easy ways to start your search
• Go to Twitter Search and insert #literaryagents in the box See what’s happening right now. You’ll be rewarded with a long list of tweets to and from literary agents. The scroll is in reverse chronological order, often beginning with a tweet only minutes old. The participants offer a bounty of useful chatter and links.
• Or try searching #MSWL, which stands for manuscript wish list, another Twitter address used by agents and publishers to let people know what they’re looking for. For a very useful archive of MSWL tweets organized by agent (and editor) names, go to this Tumbler page.
• Check out Galley Cat’s list Best Literary Agents on Twitter . You’ll find a terrific collection of agents with links to their Twitter feeds, from not only the generation of hungry new faces but also veteran agents like Jason Allen Ashlock, Stephanie Evans, Jennifer Laughran, Meredith Smith, Scott Waxman and Rachelle Gardner.
Twitter etiquette
As in all forms of social networking, certain rules apply.
• Don’t try to submit to an agent via Twitter. It won’t work. Go to the agent’s website or blog and pay close attention to the instructions on query letters, proposals, and sample pages.
• Be service oriented. Your tweets should offer a helpful comment or link to something relevant and useful. Try to be positive, altruistic, and empathic. Keep it upbeat.
• No hard sell. Never come right out with “Read my book” or “Please be my agent.” As per above, follow their rules about sending anything. Refer back to your own website and blog, which of course you’ll have by this time, right?
Be cool
Finding good agent matches on Twitter for your project might take a little time and patience. When you’ve located the agents you’d like to focus on, register on Twitter so you can restrict your own tweets to your targeted audience.
Then follow these agents and everyone relevant they link to. Check out how they want to be approached and be ready with the best possible query letter, proposal, sample pages or, in the case of most debut fiction, the entire manuscript.
And remember, agents are deluged with submissions, so once they reject a project (or ignore the submission) you won’t get a second chance. So be sure your manuscript is in the best possible shape before sending it in.
Some great advice
Listen to agent Rachelle Gardner, who advises writers to work with a professional developmental editor to “Get an experienced set of eyes on it to help you identify problems and figure out how to fix them… It’s a terrific learning experience and can help you grow as a writer… almost like having a writing tutor.”
Hear hear.
What about you?
Is Twitter already one of your sources to track down good potential agents for your book? If so, how is that working for you?
If this is a new idea for you, give it a try, and let us know how it goes. We welcome stories of your experience and your tips for fellow authors.
Visit: www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com
Let’s Go MultiLingual!
Publishers – Aggregators – Master Distributors
As our international market has been growing in non-English speaking areas, we have opened up a new service that we are very excited to announce – We are now accepting submissions in ALL languages.
All languages are welcome for submission including Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese.
All languages are welcome, however we will request an independent third party to verify content which is done at a nominal fee.
Visit: www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com
Creating An Author Press Kit #author #indieauthor #FED_ebooks
Book Marketing: Creating Your Author Press Kit
This site focuses a lot on online promotion, but PR and traditional media can still be a great way to get name recognition in the market. Having a press kit is a great way to prepare yourself for a foray into that style of marketing and in today’s post, Tolulope Popoola explains more about it.
As a new author and publisher, I had to learn the ropes about publishing and book publicity pretty quickly. Of course websites and blogs like The Creative Penn and The Book Designer have been a tremendous help.
While doing research just before my novel was published, I came across the “press kit” and its usefulness when contacting people in the media for publicity. And since I started promoting the novel, it’s been a great tool, handy for sending out information quickly. It was also easy to give it to my publicist, so she could send it to her contacts as well.
But it’s not just for media or journalists; your press kit can also be requested by retailers, book bloggers, event planners, editors; basically anyone who might take an interest in you as an author or in the topic of your book.
So what should your press kit contain?
From my own experience, most people requesting a press kit would like the following information:
1) Author Bio and Contact Information
You should already have an author bio to hand. If not, start working on it right away, whether you’re already published or not. You’ll need it for your blog or website, for guest posts (like this one!) or stories submitted to magazines. Your author bio should be about 200 words, and it should have things that make you sound interesting and professional. You should include your name, your place of birth or where you currently live, what you do (or used to do) for a living, what you’ve written, perhaps your education (if it’s relevant), quirky hobbies, or interesting travel experiences. Basically, anything that will make you stand out.
Don’t forget to include your contact information, and your agent or other representatives if necessary.
2) Press Release
A press release should focus on the unveiling of your new work. It should be brief and sucking, one page should do. Include information that is newsworthy about your book or about you as an author. If you have upcoming events, it might be a good idea to omit them from your press kit press release to keep the article timely a month or two down the road. You can read more about creating a perfect press release on the Creative Penn here.
3) Sample Author Q&A
Make a list of interview questions (and responses) about you and your book. This can include questions about your background, your inspiration for writing this book, why you chose to self-publish, your own favorite writers, future projects, etc. This section is particularly helpful for the interviewer and bloggers who want to help you promote your work, as it’s useful and ready content for them.
4) Specific Information on Your Book
So many books are published every week, every month, every year. This is where you need to talk about what makes yours different. You can describe your book in terms of its unique features. Why did you write this book? Did you feel there was a gap in the market for this type of story? Does the book shed new light on a common issue? Is it a topic that a lot of people can easily relate to? Is the story set in a place or time that is quite significant? As the author, do you have a unique background different from most other authors? You need to convince the person reading your press kit that your story is interesting enough for their audience.
Tip: Sometimes, when requesting your press kit, you may be asked to send in excerpts of your book as well. I’ve put the first three chapters of my novel together into a sample PDF that can be downloaded from my website and blog, at the same time as the press kit. I also have the samples in print, so I can hand it to people when they ask about my book.
You can also include interesting information about your book’s topics (especially for non-fiction titles) and a sample Q & A for an interviewer, since it’s unlikely they will have read your book.
You may also include things like: editorial reviews, testimonials, links to relevant media content like audio and video, any awards you’ve won, etc.
Here’s two great examples of author press kits:
- Non-fiction: Michael Hyatt’s press kit for ‘Platform’
- Fiction: CJ Lyons, author of thrillers with heart
Nowadays, most people prefer to receive a PDF version of press kits. They are easier to distribute by email and upload onto blogs and websites. It’s also easier for the recipient to copy the information they need. I would still suggest printing a few copies and having them on hand, especially for your local retailers, bookstore or library readings and other speaking events. You should, of course, have a copy of the press kit on your author website or blog.
Remember, a press kit doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy.
The people who are requesting it just want information that will help them. Keep the format and font simple. If you’re putting one together for the first time, I’m sure you already have some of the materials needed. Start with the items you already have and then work on adding the others as you go along. You don’t want to create a press kit at the last minute for the editor or reviewer who requests one.
SOURCE: http://www.thecreativepenn.com by JOANNA PENN on APRIL 23, 2013
About First Edition Design Publishing:
First Edition Design Publishing is the world’s largest eBook and POD (Print On Demand) book distributor. Ranked first in the industry, First Edition Design Publishing converts and formats manuscripts for every type of platform (e-reader). They submit Fiction, Non-Fiction, Academic and Children’s Books to Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Google, Kobo, Diesel, 3M, Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Nielsen, EBSCO, and over 100,000 additional on-line locations including retailers, libraries, schools, colleges and universities. The company’s POD division creates printed books and makes them available worldwide through their distribution network. First Edition Design Publishing is a licensed and approved Aggregator and holds licenses with Apple and Microsoft.
Visit: www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com
First Edition Design Publishing - a hybrid publisher 