I’m a little nervous today. I did an interview for a podcast a while back and it’s finally gone live! Write Now Workshop Podcast has had really great interviews with super informative content on it. If you’re an aspiring writer or a writer looking to educate yourself in all the areas of publishing a book this is a great way to do it.
In this episode I talk about, you guessed it, visual content. The thing I go on and on about here on my blog. But in this interview, you can hear me talk about why it’s so important for every author’s business. And Kitty and I have fun while we do it!
I’d love to hear what you think of the interview. If you’re interested in the class that I talk about there is a link in the show notes or a box here on the right!
We’re coming up on NaNoWriMo like a freight train and I know everyone is getting nervous and excited. I’ve launched a free Scrivener class to help get your first document either set up or exported into Scrivener along with tips and tricks on that make Scrivener a powerful productivity tool.
Along with this if you sign up for the class you will have access to my free Confused and Terrified Writer Facebook Group where you can ask questions and get help with your writing projects.
Here’s a quick video overview of the free class! And here is the link to sign up:
I love Scrivener. If the subject comes up I turn into a ridiculous gushing fangirl when describing how much I love it and why. I’d been trying to explain my nerdy love of this particular writing software to a group of writers a while back and they finally broke down and let me show them why. I taught a whole class on the reasons why I love it and how to use it. Shortly after it dawned on me that I should share this information with you, my readers.
Of course, there are way more than five reasons but these are my top five.
1. Setting up your book into individual scenes. When I wrote my first book I did what most new writers do. I wrote it in Microsoft Word. That meant one long running document that made finding what I was looking for difficult and screwing up my document easy. When I discovered Scrivener before starting my second book I was amazed. There was a learning curve but just the idea of being able to break up my novel into scenes and being able to move them around and put them all back together was AWESOME!
2. Importing an existing document. Most times by the time writers find Scrivener they’ve already started a manuscript. Once I figured out how easy this was I was sold. The figuring it out took a little while but now that I know, I’m sold! Easy peasy.
3. Compiling a document. This is one of the best features of Scrivener. You can save your work in many different formats and in many different places. You can put different parts of your document together, add notes, print, and format it all with one little button. I use this for the many ways I back up my manuscript daily. I cannot say enough how many times this has been a saving grace. No joke.
4. Project Targets. Keeping track of your word count, project count and daily session count. This feature is a whiz of a productivity tool. Set your deadline for your project and you can see exactly how many words a day you must write to accomplish your goal. Deadlines are incredibly motivating for me so I adore this feature. And it’s sooooooo easy!
5. Corkboard/Outline View. Putting each scene onto a virtual index card and being able to move them around however you want? Seriously cool. Being able to see a list of your outline with a touch of a button? This feature makes plotting simple, easy to move, add information, change and color code.
These features are only the beginning of what you can do in Scrivener. Can you tell I’m a fan?
A solution to the learning curve
If you’re put off by Scrivener because it’s one more piece of software to learn I have a solution for you. I’ve put together a Free course calledScrivener Basics. The course teaches the bare bones of Scrivener with short videos and in a way that will make it easy to learn. You can choose what you want to know and get started quickly.
Sign up in the box below to get Scrivener Basics for free!
So when I decided I wanted to be a published fiction author the one thing I heard over and over again was “You need a blog.” And my first thought after that was always. “Ugh.”
What would I say? How would I build this thing so it looked right? Why would anyone care? All important questions.
If you’re a nonfiction author of course it makes sense to have a place to write all about what you’re writing about. For a fiction author? Hmm. What do you say?
“Here’s my books. Buy them.” Not good. Not what anybody cares about right?
And how many times can you say it before it becomes annoying? About once. Like ever.
But you do need a place to list your books so reader’s can find them and for new releases but blogging? What in the world do you put on there?
Here is a list of things you can put on your blog to keep it interesting, use in your newsletter (yes, you need one) and still make it fun for you.
Excerpts of your stories
Whole short stories to bring reader’s in.
A daily (weekly, monthly, whatever) serial that keeps people coming back
Audio recorded author notes talking about how you came up with your story.
Interviews with your characters (One at at time. Tell them to get in line. Mine all want to be heard at once)
Video yourself in a bookstore, at a book signing, on vacation, on a hike, etc. talking about inspiration or why being an author is amazing or why being there is helping your author life.
Your hobbies, your quirks, What you like and don’t like. (I post about being a nerd, my Pinterest addiction and my tv addictions)
Pets. People love them and their personalities. I post about my English bulldog and people love him. These make great posts on Social Media as well.
So before you even launch or get your blog up spend some time putting together an editorial calendar (just use a regular calendar, digital or paper) and writing some posts so you’re ready to go when you launch.
Think about themes, colors and what your books are about. How they make you feel and what your branding is going to be. What your covers are going to look like. Spend some time checking out Amazon and what the book covers in your category look like.
Go to their author websites and see what looks good. This will help you decide what you want your site to look like. What you want on there and more importantly what you don’t. I launched my site nine months before I published and all I did was blog on there. It worked very well for me. More about this in a later post.
I use design-seeds.com to choose my color palette. I have to be careful or I look up and two hours have gone by before I’ve even decided. It’s so beautiful!
Don’t worry right away about the technical stuff. First decide what you want. What you need and what you don’t. Start small. Don’t get overwhelmed. The only person you’re in the race with is you.
If you’d like to get more tips about blogging, social media and being a healthy, productive author, sign up for my email list to get a monthly newsletter right to your email box!
Let’s just start with the fact that I love apps in general. I love anything that makes my author life faster and easier. Creating graphics, posting on social media, editing photos, cool ways to create short video any of these apps are love, love, love.
WordSwag, in particular, makes it so easy to create graphics in a hurry that it jumped to the top of my list of favorite apps. Sometimes I use it to wish a friend happy birthday on FB but mostly I create fun quotes for my social media when I’m watching TV, standing in line somewhere or waiting for something.
When I first downloaded it, there was no cost except to unlock all the fonts, now there is a fee but it’s minimal. And completely worth it. I’ve gotten more use out of this one app than any other creation tool on my phone.
First reason to love it? It’s connected to Pixabay so there are thousands or royalty-free images to use included! This function alone give it the wow-factor and makes it worth the price of admission.
Second: It’s simple and easy to use. There is a very low learning curve but the images come out looking amazing.
Third: Images download easily to your camera on your phone for easy use with any other app like collage, gif, animation apps. I use it this way all the time. It would be a great addition to WordSwag if they gave the app these functions as well but one app can’t have everything!
Fourth: Plenty of choices of fonts. I have my favorites for sure but there isn’t a shortage here.
Fifth: Has a filtering functionality that works well as well as brightness and blur options that make editing quick and easy. No need to use an editing app unless you need something more fancy.
Sixth: Has quotes built into the app so if you have no idea what you want to post you aren’t stuck looking them up on a web page. It’s all there for you! Huge time saver.
Overall this is a fabulous app that makes it easy for you to create a quick graphic to use for your author business. Haven’t posted anything on Instagram or Facebook for a while? Waiting in line for a coffee? Get to work and promote your author business!
Here is the super cool video from WordSwag giving you a preview of what it can do:
P.S. I will be launching my Visual Content Marketing for Authors class in May and I have a whole video dedicated to WordSwag and how to use it for your author business. Plus a whole lot of other apps and tools. If you’re interested sign up below for my email list and you will be notified as soon as it’s ready to go live!
Social Media. You either love it or hate it right? Or like me, you have a love/hate relationship with it. Like a lot of writers, I’m a bit of an introvert. While you’d think hiding behind my computer would make sharing on social media easier for me, it doesn’t.
I’m not used to sharing my life with total strangers. In real life, I’m really good at talking to people I’ve never met before. My kids would tell you that I never leave a public place without getting, at least, one person’s life story. I’m going to tell you a secret. I’m pretty sneaky. Instead of chatting about me, I ask them about themselves. Everybody loves that. We have a conversation. They’ve told me all kinds of details about their lives, and they never realize I’ve shared almost nothing about mine.
Okay, so I guess I’m more of an ambivert. I like to talk to people. I just don’t like to tell them about me. So sharing on Social Media can be approached a bit like this as well. Once I figured this out I got on many of the different platforms and got to work, Facebook Personal and Pages, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest (My fave), Instagram and Blab.
Here are some of my best tips to get over the fear of social media and make it work for your writing career:
Take it slow. Do some research. Talk to your author friends about the platforms they like best and why. Decide which one might be the easiest and most intriguing for you.
Lurk. I admit it, I’m a lurker. That sounds bad, I know, but I don’t like to jump in and try something before I know the rules. When I was a kid, I would stand on the sidelines and watch a new game being played before I’d join in. Same rules apply here. I don’t do anything on a new platform until I see how it’s done. Reading rules and articles can help, but nothing works better than actually seeing it.
Follow. Once you’ve joined, follow other authors. Check out what they’re up to on a platform. How are they using it for their business? If that author is in your genre, follow the people that follow them. Look at what they’re doing, what interests them.
Take time. Figure out how to make the platform work. All the little ins and outs. How to post a picture, a video, a quote. Is there a function to help you schedule a post? If you can’t figure something out, check out the help. Search for it. Look on YouTube (there are videos there on how to do everything).
Fight the Overwhelm. The only person you are in a race with is yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re on one or one hundred social media platforms (It seems like there are that many now). You don’t have to race to keep up. Work at your pace. Push yourself a little but when that little voice pops into your head whispering, “You’ll never catch up”, slap it down and move on to the next thing on your list. Slow and steady gets the job done. Just like writing a book. =)
I started this blog to share what I know about social media, indie publishing, and the writing world with other authors. I get asked a lot of questions, and I love to help, teach and inform. I’m an information junkie so there’s a lot of stuff floating around in my head that might help someone else. Have a question about any of that stuff? I may have an answer. If I don’t, I’ll find someone who does. Ask it in the comments!
Also, feel free to sign up for my email list below. I have a project in the works that will be free to all my email subscribers.
