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Dear Extra Squeeze Team, I Finished My Book, Now What?

May 31, 2018 by The Extra Squeeze in category The Extra Squeeze by The Extra Squeeze Team tagged as publishing. marketing, writing

Now What |The Extra Squeeze Team | A Slice of Orange

Rebecca Forster

USA Today Bestselling author of 35 books, including the Witness series and the new Finn O’Brien series.

After thirty-five published novels (and a few that are still under the bed) the best advice I can give an author is to step away from the book. Leave the house and do something physical for a few days. Play tennis, jog, or get a massage. When your body is energized, so is your mind. You have also now made a break with your creative responsibilities and are ready to tackle your administrative one. Here are the next steps that I think are critical. These steps will make it easy for readers to sign up for your mailing list and help you get reviews – the two most critical things for successful marketing.

Construct your front and back matter. This will include:
- Carefully worded reviews request linked to relevant bookstore (front and back)
- Links to your website, BookBub and Amazon page follows. (back)
- Information on your lead magnet with a link to your sign up page (front and back)
- Backlist with title, one line blurb and a few books covers (can be front and back) If you have a zillion, limit to ten and then offer a link ‘for other works by this author’
- Short author bio (back)

Check every link to make sure they are live and go to the right place.

Reread the entire book including all the additions to catch last minute mistakes.

Publish the book.

Wait a few days before aggressively marketing so that the book establishes itself within the Amazon algorithms.

H.O. Charles

Cover designer and author of the fantasy series, The Fireblade Array

That depends! Do you want to self-publish or try the traditional route?

Whichever you choose, it is worth getting someone you trust (and who is supportive) to read it through for basic errors at this stage, if you haven’t already. If you plan to self-publish, find an editor or proofreader to clean up the final draft. Next, you’ll need to choose your distributor, a formatter and a cover designer. It is possible to format e-books and paperbacks yourself (and really not that difficult) but learning anything new takes time. Choose your cover designer carefully (!) and make sure you communicate exactly what you want to them as clearly as possible. Again, it’s possible to do a cover yourself (I did – do!), but I would recommend first looking at your online competition and honestly questioning whether you can create something that meets those standards (this sounds soooo harsh, but unfortunately so is the bookselling world).

Both your formatter and cover artist will need to know which distributor you are publishing through. There are quite a few choices out there, but beware that the more you use, the more complicated updating each version of your book will become, because you will have to upload it to each distributor each time! I currently use KDP, Smashwords, Createspace and sometimes Google, but I wouldn’t want any more distributors than that.

If you decide to go the traditional route, then my advice has to be based on the experiences of two friends who write non-fiction. Both of them had to try several agents before they found a good one to represent them, and both already had significant success in the journalistic and broadcasting world (a background you don’t need in self publishing!), which helped them achieve good publishing deals.

Finding the right agent was what really landed them the deal to provide the income they needed. Their previous agents were happy to take them on, but in both cases the agents did very little work in promoting their books to the publishers.

Alternatively, you can go directly to publishers (depending on who they are). Remember that publishers are looking for something and someone they can sell and make lots of money from, so you need to present them with a good investment opportunity. Therefore, consider everything about yourself that might reassure a publisher you are a ‘safe bet’, and also consider how large a market your book might have. Choose your publishers and/or agents carefully. Research them. Make sure they will put in the same effort to promote your work that you would if you were self-published.

Good luck!

Jenny Jensen

Developmental editor who has worked for twenty plus years with new and established authors of both fiction and non-fiction, traditional and indie.

Fine. El Fin. La Fin. Fund.

You’ve typed The End. An amazing accomplishment. An awesome accomplishment. Awesome by both hipster-speak and actual definition!

But you’re not finished.

You’ve invested untold hours, sweated buckets of emotion and given a piece of yourself to the story. Next step is to protect your investment: have the manuscript edited. What type of edit is up to you. It’s time for some harsh and honest self-analysis.

If you are not completely confident that the book will read as well to the public as it does to your ears, arrange a content edit. At the very least get an Editorial Assessment. Then act on that advice from a neutral party. Finessing and polishing a completed manuscript is – and always has been – a part of the process.

If you are certain every detail is consistent and every word is worthwhile and imminently readable, and you’re sure your premise, characters, action, story arc are all as strong as they should be, then hire a professional editor for a line edit. Last line of defense is to have the manuscript proofread. If the product you present the world is rife with misspellings, typos, ungainly sentence structure etc. it will not sell. Unless you offer a clean manuscript it won’t matter what marketing effort you invest; you won’t get the positive response needed to make an indie book stand taller than the millions of competing books in the Indie forest.

When you are 100% confident that your book is as perfect as you can make it then it’s time to get your production ducks in a row.

Cover designer

Formatter

ISBN number

Front and back matter

Marketing (a nifty one word concept that sums up volumes of effort)

Fortunately, The Extra Squeeze features two brilliant published authors and one outstanding PR/Marketing guru. Their experience and guidance will speak to marketing strategies much better than I can. There is a trove of support available on line – a lot of it for free. From Shewrites.com to Mark Dawson’s selfpublishingformula.com, the resources are there if you seek them out and take the effort to implement.

Remember, the product you offer to the reading public, the product that represents everything about you as a writer, the product that will make you new friends by the hundreds (aka fans) – and not a disappointment that will manifest itself as bad reviews and no sales and a stinky digital reputation that never really disappears – must be polished, professional and perfect.

From the time you type the first The End to when you’ve got your marketing efforts in place, your investment will be gigantic. Don’t squander your investment. Have your manuscript edited before it ever sees the light of day. A pitch perfect product is your best first step.

Robin Blakely

PR/Business Development coach for writers and artists; CEO, Creative Center of America; member, Forbes Coaches Council.

There is a rumor that Robin has gone fishing. Where ever she is, we’re pretty sure she’s wearing her tin star.

Send us your questions!

Ever wonder what industry professionals think about the issues that can really impact our careers? Each month The Extra Squeeze features a fresh topic related to books and publishing.

Amazon mover and shaker Rebecca Forster and her handpicked team of book professionals offer frank responses from the POV of each of their specialties — Writing, Editing, PR/Biz Development, and Cover Design.

Contact The Extra Squeeze

What is ALT TEXT and How To Use it? By Denise M. Colby

May 12, 2018 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as First Line Fridays, Marketing, Website Images & SEO, writing

If you’re like me, you’ve seen the line entry called Alt Text when you uploaded an image to your website and wondered, What is that? Do I need to put something there?

Short answer – YES, you do.

Alt Text, an abbreviation for alternative text, is sometimes referred to as attributes, descriptions or tags of images on the internet. In essence, the words provided in the Alt Text entry are used to label and describe the appearance and function of an image on a webpage.

In simpler terms:

Ever see text in place of an image that did not load? That’s Alt Text.
Ever wonder how images are chosen when searching specific terms? That’s Alt Text.
Ever hover your mouse over an image and words appear to describe what you are seeing? That’s NOT Alt Text. That is Image Title Attribute and is a little more advanced and just as important. I will cover that topic in another post. For now, let’s continue on about Alt Text.

Why is Alt Text important?

It allows your images to appear when someone searches a specific word or phrase in any search engine.

You have probably heard the term SEO (search engine optimization). SEO is important. The stronger your website SEO, the more your readers can find you on the internet, whether it’s from a blog post, your book page, or even your welcome page.

Alt Text adds to your website SEO.

It helps index the image and allow someone searching by keywords to find images that have those keywords in their Alt Text.

For example: I participate in a weekly post called First Line Fridays. I add my standard blog header to each and every post. I also post an image of the book I’m featuring. For both, I include the words ‘First Line Fridays’ in the Alt Text (see images below).

This first photo is actually two images combined into one to show how the data is connected.

The first half shows the image as I insert it into my blog post on my website.

The second half shows where the Alt Text appears when the image shows on a search page. As you can see, the Alt Text appears as a photo description.

Because I add ‘First Line Fridays’ to my Alt Text, my images appear in the search when I google ‘First Line Fridays’, along with other blogs who use the same words in their Alt Text.

This next photo highlights my second example. One of the books I featured was my friend’s, Nancy J. Farrier. Because I put First Line Fridays in the Alt Text with her book cover photo when I added it to my post, it appeared in the search output for First Line Fridays with my website.

Then, if I was to click on this image, it would take me to my website because it is linked to my website.

Interestingly, if you search by Nancy’s name, Nancy J. Farrier, my blog header shows up in images because I have a blog post that uses Alt Text with her name.

It can be a little confusing.

Thus, what you need to know is how to create good Alt Text and let the search engines do the rest.

How to add Alt Text to your image in WordPress:

1. Upload image to your media.

2. On the right hand side where it says Alt Text, type in the most descriptive words for your image.

Several sources say to keep it at 125 characters.
Write it as a complete sentence or choose words someone would use to search for what your picture is.
- This is so if your image didn’t appear, readers would know exactly what the photo was about by reading the words only.
Include any colors and describe the action, if available.
Don’t cram in every keyword possibility. It makes it difficult for search engines to categorize the image. More specific it is, the easier it can be indexed.

3. Make sure your website link is listed (it’s usually automatic) to the image, so in a search the image could be clicked on. This takes the user to your website page where the image is posted. This is different than adding a link into the post directly, which you would do if you wanted to provide where to purchase a book, for example.

4. Insert image into your post

It’s that simple.

And once you enter in Alt Text in your media file it stays, so you won’t have to enter it in again.

PLEASE NOTE: If you go back and change Alt Text for any photo in your media, it does not automatically update the photos already placed in your existing posts.

If you want to fully SEO optimize your website, you would need to go back and delete and add in the photo again with the updated Alt Text.

I hope you have a better understanding of what Alt Text is and how it works. Part 2 and 3 will talk about two other ways to add background data to your images to maximize your SEO on your website or blog.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!

Blessings,

Denise

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Time Management Secrets for Authors, OCC/RWA Online Class with Stacy Juba

April 23, 2018 by Linda McLaughlin in category Online Classes tagged as business, OCC/RWA Online Class, Online Class, Stacy Juba, time management, writing

Do you find yourself wishing there were more hours in the day? I know I do, which is why I’ll be signing up for the next OCC/RWA Online Class!

About the Class:

Do you wish there was more than 24 hours in the day? If it seems like there is never enough time to write, promote your published books, and/or prepare submissions to editors and agents and learn the ropes of the business side of writing, then this workshop is for you. Author and editor Stacy Juba experienced the longest writer’s block of her life after a family health crisis. She went on a mission to resurrect her creativity and find the time and energy to manage her writing career. Thanks to her new strategies, Stacy created a successful editing business and launched an exciting new chick lit series, and considers her herself more productive than ever.

Over the course of the month, participating writers will take important steps to advance their careers while also reducing the stress in their lives. Whether you’re struggling to overcome writer’s block, beef up your book promotion, or get your writing career launched, this class will arm you with the skills to get to the next level. Participants will receive assignments and suggested tasks in a friendly, interactive format so that by the end of the course, they will be in a much more organized state of being.

About the Instructor:

Stacy Juba got engaged at Epcot Theme Park and spent part of her honeymoon at Disneyland Paris, where she ate a burger, went on fast rides, and threw up on the train ride to the hotel. In addition to working on her new Storybook Valley chick lit/sweet romance series, Stacy has written books about ice hockey, teen psychics, U.S. flag etiquette for kids, and determined women sleuths. She has had a novel ranked as #5 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. Stacy is also the founder of the Glass Slipper Sisters, a group of authors with Cinderella-themed romance novels. When she’s not visiting theme parks with her family, (avoiding rides that spin and exotic hamburgers) or writing about them, Stacy helps authors to strengthen their manuscripts through her Crossroads Editing Service and offers online workshops for writers.

Cost is $20.00 for OCC/RWA members and $30.00 for non-members. Sign up is a two-step process. Go to our website at http://occrwa.org/classes/may-online-class/ and click on the link to join the Yahoo Group. Then pay your fee via PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you can pay with a credit card. Once our treasurer has verified your payment, you’re request to join the Yahoo Group will be approved.

Linda McLaughlin
OCC/RWA Online Class Coordinator

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MIRROR, MIRROR: A WRITER’S REFLECTION BY VERONICA JORGE

April 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as art, reflection, revelation, words, writing

The painter stares at the canvas waiting for an image to appear. Patiently, he waits until a faint imprint of a landscape or a face emerges. He then grabs a brush and dabs it into the paint on his palette, making haste to reach the canvas with his brush to capture the image. The artist contrasts shade and light. He tightens or increases space. His brush moves rhythmically or scratches across the linen to make the colors and texture warm or cool. The work he renders leaves the viewer feeling airy or heavy.

That’s how I feel when I write. I stare at a blank page as though something secret lay hidden deep within the fibers and emptiness, that by patiently waiting will reveal itself to me. So I wait…until a word, a phrase, or a picture appears.

Could it be that the blank screen or journal page is a powerful mirror able to enlighten my own ideas and though Write from the Heart | Veronica Jorge | A Slice of Orange ts? Is it I who write on the paper; or does the paper draw out what is inside of me?

My words pour out and my hand races across the page. My mind tries to keep up with both for they seem to move of their own volition depicting moments dark and light. Paragraphs heavy laden with emotion yield and give way to joy and humor, while spacing slows or hurries the reader along.

Finished, I sit back exhausted and, ignoring my headache, I read what I wrote. Awestruck, I ask, “Where did this come from?”

My trembling fingers turn the leaf to uncover a new blank page and my sweaty palm smooths the journal sheet flat. Pen in hand, I sit ready to capture another treasure. My eyes dilate seeking and waiting for new wonders to behold.

See you next time on May 22^nd.

Veronica Jorge

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The Mighty Pen vs The Purposeful Keyboard by Jenny Jensen

April 19, 2018 by Jenny Jensen in category On writing . . . by Jenny Jensen tagged as creativity, handwriting, writing

The Mighty Pen | Jenny Jensen | A Slice of Orange

When was the last time you wrote anything in longhand? Jotting a note, shopping and to-do lists don’t count.

Since writing, no matter what tool we use, is the expression of ideas does the tool you use affect those ideas? If you write out your novel in longhand would the creative process be the same as if you’d clicked it out on a keyboard? Would it be the same story?

Reams have been written (by hand or keyboard?) about the cognitive difference between the two methods. I’ve read articles by neuroscientists who point out the different mental skills each requires; a keyboard is automatic once you’ve learned where each key is and that makes it fast enough to capture a word the second it pops to mind, while handwriting is linked to the creative part of the brain, problem solving and critical thinking. And it takes a bit more time, time for your brain to make more sense of those rapid-fire thoughts. But there’s no denying the ease of the keyboard.

Cursive isn’t taught in schools much anymore so it’s pretty clear we favor the keyboard over pen and paper. Cursive handwriting, where the pen is not raised between characters, has been replaced with learning to use a qwerty keyboard. Are there advanced classes covering the various methods of texting — thumbs versus one-fingered hunt and peck? I could do with that.

A friend of mine died recently. It wasn’t quick or unexpected. I sat down to my keyboard and in 15 minutes clicked out a letter to her husband. There was a lot I wanted to say in as few words as possible and I hoped the words would bring him some comfort. It wasn’t right at all. By the third draft I realized the words might as well have come from Miss Mourning’s Official Book of Sympathy Letters. My words felt clinical. That’s when I took up pen and paper.

I don’t know if it was the weight of the pen in my hand, the feel of the paper or the sight of the words mirroring my thoughts as they appeared beneath my hand. Maybe it was the time the act of writing allowed me to consider before the thoughts appeared as words, but the first handwritten attempt was exactly right. The words were genuine and personal and I knew they would touch my friend’s husband in a good way.

There have been thousands of wonderful writers since the advent of the typewriter — the first keyboard. It’s obvious that the method hasn’t harmed creativity. I do wonder if the works of Louisa May Alcott or Dickens would have been different if they’d had Microsoft Word. (I suspect they’d have loved it for the revisions alone.) Of course there are those contemporary authors like Joyce Carol Oates, who only write in longhand. George R.R. Martin is another. He must have developed Olympian hand muscles by now. The pen trumps the keyboard for some mighty talented writers.

I’m sharing these wandering thoughts because I did learn a lesson with that letter. If you find yourself stuck over a scene, uncertain where to take a plot or floundering over some critical dialog, take up pencil and paper and write it out by hand. There’s a more direct, more personal connection to heart and mind that may well help the right words flow – provided you’ve been taught cursive.

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