Fun Fact Friday - Contronyms

Happy Friday, everyone! This is my new, twice-a-month post on a fact I find fun and interesting! Today, we're going to talk about contronyms! Fun word, right? Grab your coffee or tea, and let's get going!

Do you know what a contronym is? Let's grab the definition first!

Contronym:

con·tro·nym

 'käntrəˌnim/

noun.

A word with two opposite meanings.

So, what does that mean, exactly?

It means the word is different depending on the context it's used in.

For example:
There's dust on that shelf! - means there are particles of dirt on the shelf.
I'm going to dust that shelf! - means to remove particles of dirt on the shelf.
One is a noun, and the other is a verb.

One more:
I got my dog fixed. - means to neuter, or take away.
My truck was broken, but now it's fixed. - means to repair.

That can get awfully confusing, eh? Ahhh, the English language! Such a wonderful thing. *grin*


How crazy are these?

You can find a list of 75 contronyms here.

Y'all... The things I stumble upon! Ha!

Do you find this as awesome as I do?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

What the Hell is an Author Platform, Anyway?

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, we're gonna talk about that little thing called an author platform. Everyone uses the term, but few take the time to tell you exactly what it is and how to build it. Well, I'll rectify that! Get your coffee or tea, and let's get going!

When you think of a platform, you think of something you can stand on, right? Either to get a better look or to boost you up, support you. It's the same when referring to an author platform; only for authors, this also entails reach, or how loud your voice is in the social sphere.

Your platform is that which you may climb upon and scream a message to the masses that gets heard. Obscure sites don't really count when you're calculating reach--unless those obscure sites have rabid book fans that belong to you and you alone.

Social media sites, personal websites, blogs, and newsletters all add up to author platform, but a couple have more impact for you personally. Here's an example:

1. Twitter--4k followers
2. IG--13k followers
3. Blog--2k subscribers
4. Website--200 visitors per day
5. Newsletter--20k subscribers
6. Quora--2k followers
7. Facebook Page (public)--4k likes
8. Facebook Page (personal)--3k friends
9. LinkedIN--300 connections
10. Google Plus--2k connections
11. YouTube Channel--150 subscribers

Now, you're probably looking at that and saying, "Wow. That's an amazing catch of numbers at around 105k!" You'd be right, but let's break it down further. Out of those followers, subscribers, and connections, how many people actually engage with your content?

1. Twitter--5 to 10
2. IG--50-60
3. Blog--20-30
4. Website--2-4
5. Newsletter--100-200
6. Quora--2-4
7. Facebook Page (public)--2-5
8. Facebook Page (personal)--20-30
9. LinkedIN--1-3
10. Google Plus--2-5
11. YouTube Channel--50-70

That hit pretty hard, huh? On the lowest number, that took you to 254. Out of 105k. Well, you can break that down even further when you look at sales generated from each method. IG has high likes, but how many true sales?

Your bottom line number is your true platform. For every comment, click through to buy, share, plus one, like, or question asked, that's an engagement, but not a sale. You can't simply count opens of a newsletter--it needs to produce clicks. That's where the value of your platform lies.

As you can see, you need a HUGE platform to get enough sales to make a difference. This is why cross-author promotion is so helpful--but it only helps if your base platform and theirs are interested in the same genre. Imagine doubling or quadrupling those numbers above.

I know, right?

Anyway, I hope this helps to clear some of the fog off that vague "platform" term. When an agent asks about your platform, they wanna know how loud your voice is--they're looking for that second set of numbers.

What number would you say your platform is at?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

The Term "Housewife" and What We Need to Add

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today, I have some inner-musings about words for you all. There's your fair warning; you're about to read an opinion piece. But bear with me, and maybe (just maybe) you'll get a chuckle and your brain will churn. Ready? Grab that cup of Jo and let's get going!

Starting off with why I began down this line of thought.

This morning, I say to The Best Husband in the World, "You may have married the best housewife on the planet."
He says, "I know I did."
It made me smile. Then, it made me think about the term "housewife."

Here's the definition from Google: a married woman whose main occupation is caring for her family, managing household affairs, and doing housework.

Okay. There are women out there who want that to be their only occupation, and it's perfectly acceptable. Please note: I'm NOT bashing housewives. I think everyone should do precisely what makes them happy. 

So, being me (slightly neurotic and curious from head to toe), I did a Google search on another term: Working Housewife.

I gasped at the results. There's no such term! My heart stopped, and I glared at my iPhone screen. Not only is every housewife on the planet a working one, their jobs are often thankless. Still, you have those women who excel at running a household and managing a career.

What I found were articles like: Perfect 50s Housewife Myth Busted. Do You Want to Have a Working Wife or a Housewife? Is it Better to Have a Working Wife or Housewife When Raising Kids?

How dare they? What the hell is the world coming to? Was there crack involved in the writing of these articles?

Because, I assure you, there is such a thing as a Working Housewife.

Then, I reconsidered (because that's what we do when we try to make sense of something nonsensical and we're about to have a stroke), and I tore apart the definition, thinking of this part separately: Main Occupation--means that's what you consider your primary job.

I pondered. I struggled. I chewed my nails. Then, I did a search for the term "working." Here's what I got: having paid employment.

Paid. So one must be paid in order to be considered working. Need I tell you how, at that point, I really got my panties in a twist? Because I did. My knickers were wound so tightly, I was positive I'd start sneezing cotton any minute.

Ho.Lee.Crap.

My blood pressure rising, my extremities tingling as the elastic tightened, I backtracked. Here's the definition of the noun: the action of doing work.

Slowly, my underwear released their restriction on my legs, and I was able to breathe again. I can guarantee every man on the planet would have kittens if their work in the yard or around the house wasn't considered work. While I still wasn't happy, I wondered if people actually considered a new term.

Now, I know a great number of women who do a great many things (from home) while taking care of their families. They manage to work from home, their houses and kids are clean, they pay all the bills, and they even manage (somehow) to cook a healthy meal most days.

Let's look at me! I do all of the above and run more than one business. I consider myself a housewife, but according to the definition, I'm not.

Because of the definition, I don't qualify. Neither do any of those other women I mentioned above.

I stand on my soapbox, teetering from one foot to the other, and hold up my sign today!

Redefine your preconceived notions!

We work. We're housewives (or housewomen). And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think we need a new definition.

Working Housewoman: a woman whose occupation is caring for her family, managing household affairs,  doing housework, and working from home.

My face is back to its usual color (I think), so I leave you with a question:
If you're a working housewoman, what do you do besides family?

I hope you got a little chuckle out of my predicament, and I hope you found my new definition suitable.

How would you change it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Synopsis vs Blurb

Happy Thursday, beautiful readers of my blog! Today we're gonna go over a couple of words and what they mean. I'll be focusing on the words synopsis and blurb and what each means. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

The definitions!

Synopsis:
A brief summary or general survey of something.
An outline of the plot of a book, play, movie, or episode of a television show. 

Blurb:
A short description of a book, movie, or other product written for promotional purposes and appearing on the cover of a book or in an advertisement.

When you write your query letters, most agents want a summary or synopsis that includes spoilers (the whole plot in a few lines).

However, you don't want those spoilers in the promotional material, so you use the synopsis to create a compelling blurb (which appears on the back cover of your novel), leaving out the sensitive parts.

In addition, a blurb can be a short snippet from a review that entices readers to pick up your work.

So, to break it down in layman's terms:

• A synopsis is a summary that can contain spoilers.
• A blurb is any promotional copy that hooks readers.

Does that make it easier to understand?

When you attend something like C. J. Redwine's Query Letter workshop, you'll learn to craft a compelling synopsis of your novel for your query letters. From there, your blurbs will grow wings. If you want to know a little more about the workshop, I discuss the finer points with C. J. here.

Yes, she'll have a workshop at utopYA Con 2015, but she also offers them online.

It's worth looking into for the blurb writing ability it'll surely give you. Even if you don't want an agent, selling your book is important, right?

What do you think? Were you aware of these differences?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Shocking News - Both Literary and Actionary

Happy Thursday, everyone! Today, I'm talking about some things I ran across on Flipboard yesterday. Lots to talk about so let's get going!

First of all, you should all be aware of how I feel about people talking. If people are talking, good or bad, you at least know you're on their minds. It could become big news if you're controversial and folks will flock to your wares to find out what all the fuss is about. Getting people to notice us is a huge hurdle for Indie authors.

Stop and think for a moment. J.K. Rowling enjoyed a lot of front page time because of Harry Potter. How many people were outraged that she was writing about, and *gasp* encouraging, people, children even, to believe in witches and wizards? How many of her books were purchased for the express purpose of being burned? What did this do for her? It made people sit up and take notice of her books. Whether they agreed with what she was writing or not, she was on their minds. And think of all the royalties she earned from the sales of those books they torched!

Why was this brought to mind? Well, because of dear little Miley Cyrus and her antics at the VMA awards. MTV said, "2013 MTV VMA’s Shatters Records Across Web, Mobile and Social." All because she twerked (more on this word in a moment, I just threw up in my mouth a little) Robin Thicke on stage - in underwear the color of her skin.

It's not that I give two nickles about what she did; it's that it worked. People are talking. Think about that.

I'm not telling you to go find a pop star to twerk on in your underwear. I'm saying that you need to write a book so good or so shocking that folks clamor over one another in an attempt to get a copy.

Just sayin'.

Moving on!

I also saw an article yesterday about words that were recently added to the Oxford English Dictionary (that link will take you to a whole page of add-ins). Take a look at this list:

1. Stressy - Adj - displaying or characterized by anxiety, tension, or stress
2. Boyf - Noun - a person’s boyfriend
3. Bezzie - Noun - denoting a person’s best or closest friend
4. Jumping the shark - Idiom - a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show in which the writers use some type of "gimmick" in a desperate attempt to keep viewers' interest
5. Cruft - Noun - badly designed, unnecessarily complicated, or unwanted code or software
6. Dumbphone - Noun - a basic mobile phone that lacks the advanced functionality characteristic of a smartphone
7. Phablet - Noun - a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer
8. Digital detox - Noun - a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world
9. Twerk - Verb - dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance (pop, drop, and lock, anyone?)

Here's a whole list of the updates for August, 2013: Buzzworthy Words Added to Oxford

Can I just say, "Holy crapballs, Batman!" *note, as of this post, "crapballs" is not a word* I wear black today to mourn the loss of intelligence in my world.

Please, take me out and shoot me. Is this really where we're headed? As a word-nerd, I'm a little bit offended, especially at the addition of: srsly.

SERIOUSLY?

What do you think of these new additions?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo