Pre-Formatting Your Book - The Dos and Don'ts Your Formatter Wants You to Know

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'll be talking about something that not many folks discuss: How you should format your word document before you send it off to your formatter for typesetting and digital readiness. Ready? Grab your coffee or tea, a notebook and pen, and let's get going!

I'm just gonna hit you with a couple of lists. Easy peasy.

DOS

• Use "normal" style always.
• Add some indicator when creating a scene break (most authors I work with use *** for this).
• Keep it simple. If there's a place you'd like a photo, don't embed it, mark the spot and include the photo with the manuscript.
• Everything set in one font, and don't use anything that's not standard on a computer. I suggest Times New Roman in 12pt.
• Use paragraph styles for your indents.
• Include a title page, copyright page with all relevant info, and author bio page at the end.
• Break your pages between chapters ONLY. Use Ctrl (or Cmnd) + Enter (or Return).
• If you have a section you want set in a special way, note it in BOLD and use [brackets]. Tell your formatter beforehand that it's there. 
• Title all your chapters the same way (whatever you want the end result to be: Chapter 1, Chapter One, Ch1, etc...).

DON'TS

• Do not use tabs (see above note on paragraph styles).
• No LARGE or special fonts. This will get stripped out anyway.
• Don't hit enter a bunch of times between chapters to force the next one down.
• Don't just add extra carriage returns between scene breaks. This looks like a mistake and could be removed on accident by your formatter.
• Nothing fancy. Your MS should just be words on the page.
• Do NOT use TABS. Yeah, it bears repeating.
• Don't make assumptions that the formatter will know anything you intended in your head. Give them instructions. Be specific if your book calls for special treatment.
• No colored fonts, please.
• No wingdings or emoticons. If you want a smiley, let the formatter know in the email where you attach your manuscript.

If you follow these guidelines, it'll speed up production of your book tenfold. Special things the formatter misses the first time around causes a re-do, and it just leaves you both stressed.

I hope this helps in some small way. Your formatter is there to make your dreams a reality. They're the ones that polish your baby before you show it to your friends, family, and the world. Help them help you!

If you're looking for formatting services, take a gander at IBGW.

Are you guilty of any of these?

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

Jo

Guest Posting - Topic Turmoil

Yay! Only two days until the weekend gets here! It's a terrific Thursday here on the Jo Michaels blog, and I intend to give you a little something to think about in my post for the day. That's right, I'm talking about guest posts. How do you rock it like a star? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get crackin'!


Do you ever get invited to guest post on someone’s blog and stare at a blank screen for hours, wondering why in the world anyone would want to hear from little old you? Ever get a case of the heebie-jeebies when you go to write that post, thinking you’ll sound stupid or make crazy errors and look like a complete fool?

Yeah, we all do.

But, here are some tips and tricks to help you write the best guest post ever:

1. Don't be afraid. Yeah, that's my number one tip. Put your insecurities in a drawer and lock that bad boy until you're done writing your post.
2. Write on a topic you’re familiar with or something you’re an expert on (we all have an area of expertise—even if it’s just changing a diaper). Do some research on the blog your post will be appearing on. Find out what their readers want to see and learn about.
3. Be engaging but don't overdo it. Talk with the readers—not at them.
4. Include your bio and why you have the knowledge to write what you sent.
5. Don't be afraid to talk about yourself, your experiences, or what you've seen others doing (whether right or wrong).
6. Write the post in a linear (progressive) fashion. Don't meander around with your thoughts. Point A to point B to point C, please.
7. Give references to back up your words. Links are always fun.
8. Send your host some pictures to go along with your words. Pictures are fun to look at and can set the tone for your post.
9. Proofread (please) so you don't look nutso.

Now, if you follow these easy tips, you'll be well on your way to guest post Heaven. Maybe they'll even have a parade in your honor. *grin*

If you'd like to check out a couple of guest posts I've done, here's a little list (links will take you to the post I wrote on their blogs):
Chapter Book Challenge
Zombie Survival Crew
Rebel Writers

See? Those are all fun and informative, and are all something I know a lot (but not everything) about. Yeah, I schedule my own life and blog down to the day/minute. Remember that huge dry spell I went through the last couple of months? No schedule. It drove me insane. Why do I know about zombie novels? I'm a reader of them and the author of one for young people. I can write on editing before you send your MS to an editor because I am one and know what kinds of things I look for during evaluation.

You may think there's a lot you don't know. I'm not going to argue with you. There's a lot of information in the world; no one knows it all. Impossible! Instead, focus your topic on what you do know. Make a quick list of those and and choose one.

Still stuck?

Try writing down things you've accomplished in life:

• I've self-published a novel (formatted, uploaded, etc...)
• I'm an editor (grammar, plot, etc...)
• I schedule my life (why? what did I learn from it?)
• I read how-to books (which ones? why? how have they helped?)
• I'm a reader (what books? learned what?)

You can take a list like that and make it into something awesome. Again, go research that blog you've been asked to write for and see what they might like to learn more about.

If you follow this very basic outline, you'll be rocking the guest posting world in no time.

Why guest post? It expands your reach to many readers you may not have attracted before. Now that you know how, and what you can write about, go out there and find like-minded blogs. Ask them if you can write up a guest post for them. Easy!

How about you? Care to share some of your guest posts? Leave them in the comments so we can check them out!

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

Jo

5 Ways to Avoid Insta-Love

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Man, am I ready for the weekend. I'm hoping this crud flushes out of my system all the way by Monday. Not sure what you Floridians are cooking up down there, but this is one nasty as hell cold. Yeah, I've had it since my (cold) trip south. Fun, right? Anyway, enough about that! Today I want to give you five quick and dirty tips to avoid portraying insta-love in your novels. Readers generally hate it when there's no buildup to a feeling of all encompassing love. So grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

1. Give Your Characters Empathy for One Another. This easy to implement angle gives your characters some reference when they meet again for the first time. In The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta have a bit of history together. It made the love he had for her more realistic.
2. They Have so Much in Common. Again, this is rarely revealed when the characters only spend a few days together. You have to solidify the bond over time. But having things to talk about will help you write the story and show your readers how well your two lovers get along.
3. Make One of Them an Ex. Perhaps one of them dumped another and a number of years have gone by in which each character matured. This builds on the previous relationship. Think about the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Melanie wanted to marry Jake from childhood. It was a great backstory to work in.
4. He or She was the Best Friend's Best Friend. Maybe your two lovebirds eyed each other over their significant others years ago but kept it friendly. Now, they're single and things are heating up where they couldn't before.
5. Friends Forever. Often, the best romantic tales begin with the two lovers being friends without realizing how they feel under the surface. Or, maybe one of them does and is afraid to tell the other on the off-chance that person doesn't feel the same way. Hell, there's a reality TV show that's made millions off this exact scenario.

I'm betting you're noticing a trend in the list above.

If not, I'll give you a moment to read it again and see if you can find the common denominator.

...

...

Got it? Yep, that's right, it's always a love that develops over time. Whether past or present, these people don't meet one moment and spend the rest of their lives all googly eyed over one another. While that might be lovely to experience, it rarely happens in the real world (if at all) and you have to be careful of falling into that trap as an author.

Be sure you're figuring out why these two love one another the way they do and you're letting your reader in on the big secret.

By all means, feel free to describe the butterflies, tingly palms, loss of words, and shortness of breath that occur when one is physically attracted to another human. Apply caution and try to remember: That's not love.

Love is complete trust in someone else to not betray your secrets, a great deal of caring about the well being of that person, and faith they won't leave your side when you need them. In other words, it's two people knowing one another inside and out; and adoring each other just the way they are.

That's why it takes time to develop; even in books.

What was your best and worst case of insta-love (either in something you read or something you wrote)? Share with us!

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

Jo

Showing vs. Telling - When Telling is Okay

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you're all looking forward to the weekend as much as I am. I see so much in reviews about showing vs telling. Today, I'm going to explain why telling is okay now and then, how to gauge when to do it, and when not to. So, grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

I wrote a post a while back on tension. This is the meat and potatoes of my discussion today. If you haven't read it, do that now so you understand what I mean when I say 5 or 1.

Every chapter of your book should hit at least a 2 or 3 on the tension scale. A 5 should be reserved for those special chapters where you want your reader to bite their nails. Never should you fall below a 1. So what does this have to do with showing and telling?

When you want your reader to feel what's happening on the page, show them everything about the scene: Lay of the land, emotions of the MC, action taking place, what could happen, what is happening, and actions/reactions of other characters.

But to get to that place, sometimes it's okay to tell. While you don't want long passages of filler, you may want to move things along without bogging your reader down in excessive description. I've discussed this before; here's the link: Descriptions - How Much is Too Much?

When the tension is high, launch into those descriptions in vivid detail. Every scene should be rated on the tension scale and adjusted accordingly. A reader won't tolerate scenes with a rating of 0; so, if you find such a scene, either cut it or re-write it.

But, when getting to those moments that bring your scene to the most tense point, you can tell rather than show. The ebb and flow of your story is natural, and should be allowed to happen.

Remember! You can please some of the people, some of the time; but you can't please all of the people, all of the time. In a group of ten, some will love it, others will hate it. Don't let opinions drag you down. After all, there will be people who loathe even the most popular books.

I hope this helps you in some tiny way.

What book gave you too much description or plodded along with chapters ranking 0?

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

Jo

Happy New Year and Promotion Success Tips

Happy 2013, good people of the blogosphere! Oh my... seems doomsday wasn't doomsday after all. That's very good news because I'm starting off the new year with a post about promotions and how to run an effective freebie. Get out your pens and notebooks because here we go!

We all know we want to run an effective freebie promotion. But the question is how to get our freebie in the hands of as many readers as humanly possible? I'm going to share what I've done and how it's helped my own sales and visibility. This is in no way a hard and fast rule post. If you feel like you can add to it, by all means, post a comment below and share!

Without further ado, here's the checklist!
6 weeks ahead:

1. Plan your freebie date. Be sure to include at least one weekday in your schedule.
2. Create an excel spreadsheet for people or companies that do freebie listings with the following columns: Twitter name, website URL, Submission guidelines, benefit (what they'll do for you), and time to submit.
3. Start building your freebie submission database.
4. Plan a promo leading up to your freebie for your blog.
5. Reach out to your network and schedule guest posts and/or giveaway promotions via rafflecopter or your choice of sites that will go live on various days of your freebie.
6. Send out some copies of your book for reviews that might go live around the time of your freebie. Be respectful of the reviewers you send your book to and ask politely if they would mind posting around those dates.
7. Set up some author interviews to go live around your freebie dates. Be sure and tell the interviewer about your freebie because it's added value for their readers.

4 weeks ahead:

1. Start submitting your freebie to the relevant sites if you haven't already.
2. Double check with your reviewers, network, and buddies to be sure all is on track.
3. Keep a folder with your freebie submissions in your e-mail so you can be sure to check back with those folks during your giveaway so you can promote their services as well.

2 weeks ahead:

1. Submit to the freebie sites that require a shorter notice.
2. Set up your rafflecopter if you're doing one.
3. Plan and pre-write posts for your promotion on your blog.

1 week ahead:

1. Schedule a Goodreads and Facebook event for your promotional posts.
2. Start your promotions.
3. Double check your network to be sure all is in order.
4. Consider a new rafflecopter to start day of that encourages folks to share the details of your freebie.

Day of:

1. Get the word out about your promotion. Schedule tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIN posts to let folks know you're live.
2. If you did a rafflecopter, it should end on this date and the winners announced. If you're doing a new one just for the freebie with relevant tasks, launch it on this day.
3. Make sure you promote those blogs and services that are promoting your freebie.
4. Tweet your freebie @ those that require it.
5. Make a list of the above and check it every day during your promotion

The number one most important thing to remember during your freebie: DON'T BE HUMBLE!! Tout your work with your review ratings, number of copies downloaded, and blurbs from your reviews! Let people know what a great product they're getting for FREE!

Speaking of free, have you entered the Goodreads giveaway at a chance to win a copy of Mystic~Shelia, the third book in the six book series! LINK IS HERE! Or, you can enter via the widget on the top right of the blog. Good luck to you all! Four books are up for grabs! Giveaway is good in the US, UK, and Canada!

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

Jo