This is a new book release all parents need to read regarding the Opioid Epidemic and how to keep your kids safe … Cat
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How Do You Write? Are You a Spiritual or Straight Forward Writer? Either One Is Fine …
I wanted to share with you today a good friend and his amazing writing. His blog is one of my favorite sights. Even though I mostly guest share every now and then some of his posts on my recovery blog, this particular post is about how he writes and felt it was more appropriate to share here on my book blog because as writers write for many reasons. We also write for many different purposes like for a book, a publication, an article, or just to write a new blog post.
But whatever the reason or what motivates you as a writer, we can share the process behind it. Tony Roberts does this in a unique way. His site is amazing, interesting, and informative. I surely know once you visit, you will know you are in a special place.
He is like me, he to battles with mental health challenges, but it does not stop his creative writing process. Let’s read just how Tony gets prepared! … Catherine *Cat* :-)
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~ Courtesy & By Author, Tony Roberts ~
“Careless or Carefree Speech”
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With [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (James 3.9)
Each time I sit down before a keyboard and stare at a blank screen, I say a quiet prayer that my words glorify God and encourage God’s people. There is so much hate speech in the world today. I count it my ministry to say something not only truthful but uplifting.
Speak the truth in love, as Paul writes in Ephesians. When we do, we make a tremendous impact on those who hear us, many of whom have been beaten down for years with messages that they are no good, that what they do is not worthy, that they will never measure up, that they are not loved.
I had a high school tennis coach who knew the power of encouraging speech. He knew next to nothing about tennis, but he knew how to inspire us. He taught us that we each had an integral role to play on the team. He made us want to improve to become as valuable as we were in his eyes. He brought in talented community players as his assistants to teach us the game.
He had nothing to pay them except his uplifting words that they were making a major difference in the lives of young men. And that was more than enough In just two years, we went from being the laughing stocks to perennial conference champs, the team to beat filled with confident young men who had someone who saw their value not just in sport. but in life.
Each of us has immeasurable value as ones created in the image of God. This image has been stained by sin, no doubt. But we don’t restore this goodness with damning speech. Too often, as James shows, we allow careless speech to slip through our lips. We beat people up with what we say and the way we say it.
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Often this is with the best intentions. We say things we think will be helpful. We talk about people under a thin veil of concern, when in fact, we are just gossiping in such a way that we tear them down.
As one who has a severe mental illness, I have experienced first hand how debilitating speech can be. When I got out of the hospital after my first episode, I found there were many more talking about me than talking to me. By God’s grace, I did receive a great deal of encouragement from some who counterbalanced the ill effects of the gossip. But it still hurt. And left permanent scars.
Instead of careless speech that tears down, we are called to a sort of carefree speech that comes from a faithful heart. When genuine faith lives in the heart, it will be connected to the tongue and impact what is said. Love, peace, and joy will be seeds of hope sown to produce hope in the lives of the hurting.
““For the rest of his life, Oliver Twist remembers a single word of blessing spoken to him by another child because this word stood out so strikingly from the consistent discouragement around him.” ― Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist.
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Who will you encourage this week?
What will you say?
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Do You Feel Validated? Do You Allow Others Opinions Determine How You Feel? Being “In Self” at Times Can Be a Good Thing …
I know you all know I maintain recovery and this new post and why I am sharing it will appeal to readers and recovery friends too! We all want to be heard and feel Validated … It is my Blog Pick for the weekend! Great post Marilyn xoxo CAT
Writing Our Books, How Much Do Publishers Think About Marketability? Featured Guest Article: Marketing Your Book 101 …
Most all my book marketing clients know when they hire me to market and promote their books that I am a stickler when it comes to research and visiting many writer and book marketing websites. I am always on the hunt for information or guest article that I know will help my authors and writers. I came across an exceptional article on the best place for all thriller, suspense, and mystery writers and readers called Killer Nashville and submit your book for a free review!
The Article is by Erik Deckers and has some solid advice about our books marketability and book promoting 101. I hope you find it informative and I will at the end share with you my thoughts about the new Twitter Promo Mode … CAT
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Marketing Your Book 101 ~ Erik Deckers “If you’ve been writing for any lengthy period of time, you’re familiar with the catch twenty-two of publishing: you want to write your book your way, but you also want it to sell. Sometimes, those two desires don’t run parallel.
Sacrifices are made, compromises are drawn, lines in the sand erased. In this month’s “Marketing Your Book 101”, marketing/promotion guru Erik Deckers offers up some advice on how to sell your book without selling your soul.” ~Killer Nashville
Want to get a writer good and riled up? Do one of two things: 1) Ask where they stand on the Oxford comma; 2) Ask about the marketability of their book.
I can’t help you with the Oxford comma, but I can tell you quite a bit about a book’s marketability.
Marketability is often the last thing many authors want to think about. They want their art to stand on its own, and to write the stories they want to write, not what the masses want.
But marketability is often the first thing many publishers consider. They want to know how many people might want it, and how well you can market it.
In my first book proposal, I had to answer a few questions about whether there were books similar to mine, the size of my social media following, and whether I had an email newsletter list.
(Careful readers will note the Oxford comma in the previous sentence.)
Because the book was about social media and personal branding, my co-author, Kyle, and I both had a decent social media following, he had a sizable email newsletter list, and there were almost no books about personal branding. So we scored high on marketability, which we learned later went a long way in getting that book deal.
Yay, book marketability!
For us, marketability was a combination of whether a lot of people would buy the book, and how well we could promote it.
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The book market for social media, in general, was already being tapped out. Kyle and I had written a book about Twitter marketing the previous year, but this was new territory for us. If we hadn’t come up with a new idea that appealed to a large crowd, we never would have gotten the deal.
But my previous success has not meant automatic deals later on. I’ve proposed other book ideas since then, but the social media book market has just about run its course. If I want to write another book, I need to come up with a brand new idea.
Book marketability sucks.
How Much Do Publishers Think About Marketability?
First, just know that publishers do look at the marketability of your work, almost as much as they look at the quality of your work. And that goes into the decision of whether they’ll publish your book or not.
Don’t get me wrong. You could have 1 million Twitter followers, but if your work isn’t that great, it will never be published. (Still, if you have 1 million loyal Twitter followers, do you really need a publisher? Self-publish that sucker!)
You may have written the greatest story about teenage vampire wizards who fight zombies, but since that one has already been done to death (I hope!), you’re not going to get a lot of love from traditional publishers.
The marketability of a book is not just about the size of your social networks, it includes whether the book will be interesting to the largest number of people. When we wrote Branding Yourself in 2010, it was only the second book of its kind. But in the last several years, there have been a few hundred titles published on social media and its various sub-topics, so our publishers knew they had to strike fast. We were in the right place at the right time.
Having said that, I’ve read some pretty mediocre books published by people with big fat social networks, and it’s easy to see how much consideration the social networks were given. (Hint: way, way too much.)
So Should Marketability Affect Your Content Choices?
Yes and no.
No, it should not, because you should be free to write the book you want, and people should buy it because it’s good, not because it’s what the masses want. On the other hand. . . .
Yes, it should, because your publisher (ideally) knows what the public wants. If you can give it to them, you’ll sell lots of copies, and you’ll go on book tours where your publisher will put you up in the finest discount hotels and eat at the finest fast-casual restaurant chains. On the other hand. . .
No, it shouldn’t, because you have options! You can skip the whole traditional publishing route, and self-publish on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. (Again, note the Oxford comma.) You can market your own book, or sell print-on-demand copies at book fairs and community fairs. On the other hand. . .
Yes, it should, because you can win the greatest number of readers if you pay attention to what the public likes, and try to keep up. On the other hand. . .
No, it shouldn’t, because there’s an audience for nearly everything you can imagine (and even those things you can’t. Don’t go looking for those though. Just don’t.). Just because there’s not a huge audience doesn’t mean there’s not an audience. Even an audience of 1,000 is a good audience. On the other hand. . .
Yes, it should, because your publisher can get you into the bookstores, especially the large chain(s), which means great exposure to a wider audience. On the other hand. . .
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No, it shouldn’t, because you’re going to be doing most, if not all, of the marketing, and yet you’re only going to get a small royalty from your publisher. But if you self-publish, you get a much larger royalty.
Ultimately—I hate these kinds of indecisive answers—it comes down to what you want to do, where you think your book is going to go. If you want to write a commercially successful book that gets you invited to Killer Nashville as a keynote speaker, and your book is sold in the Barnes & Noble room, then consider your content and marketability very strongly.
But if you don’t want to be beholden to others, to let someone else dictate your story choices, or you just plain want more money than publishers offer, then marketability be damned! Your book’s—sorry, your books’—success will depend on you and how hard you’re willing to work. Happy Book Marketing!
FYI: Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
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Lastly, I wanted to share a little and ask what you think about the new “Twitter Promo Mode” service they are offering. Here is what Twitter sent me this week about the new service … What author has $99 per month marketing budget just for Twitter? Please share your thoughts if you use or know about this promo service! TY! CAT
Automatically promote your Tweets to your best audience and grow your followers, without creating or managing campaigns.
Reach more people
Promote Mode enables your personal brand or business to be discovered by thousands of new people.
Amplify your Tweets
Your Tweets and profile are automatically promoted, helping you grow your influence.
Pay a flat monthly fee
Enjoy consistent growth without the extra effort.
https://ads.twitter.com/subscriptions/mobile/intro?ref=gl-tw-tw-promote-mode
INFO-LINK: New Twitter Promote Mode
“We ought to try, by the example of our own lives, to prove that life is love and wonder and that…”
Truth … Cat
“We ought to try, by the example of our own lives, to prove that life is love and wonder and that that nation is doomed which penalizes those of its citizens who recognize and rejoice in this fact.”
James Baldwin. writer, book quote from Cross of Redemption
Maintaining Recovery With Mental Health Makes Us Look At Things a Wee Bit Different Than Others. A Story By Tony.
Hello and Welcome Readers and Friends!
Storytelling comes easy for some and my dear friend Tony Roberts does it well. I hope you enjoy reading this Featured Post as much as I did … Catherine *Cat*
"CAT'S BOOK LIBRARY 4 READERS" 