Category: Tools for Writers

Problems with Multitasking

Tools for Writers, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigfile4421234854056

We had a winter storm in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago.  Winter storms in NC are a big deal.  There are a few reasons for that. For one, everything shuts down…there’s no school, no businesses open, and no one at work.  Since these are rare occurrences in the  Charlotte area, there’s not much in the budget for clearing the streets. So…the stuff sticks around until it melts. The problem is that it gets warm enough during the days (45-50 degree F) to melt and then goes back below freezing at night and refreezes the stuff. Then everyone slips all over the road on black ice.

My husband called me on his way home from work right before the storm hit and asked if we needed anything.  I said no, that I’d run a slew of errands all day and we were fine.

My teenaged daughter was listening to our phone  conversation.  “Why is Dad even asking?  Doesn’t he know it’s you? You’re always prepared.”

It’s true that I’m a bit of a Girl Scout.  But then, I was a Girl Scout.

My daughter added something else.  “You’re so organized that you’re disorganized.”Continue reading

Getting Feedback and Being Part of a Community

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigDUSTY VINTAGE KEYBOARD

Self-published writers frequently hear that they need to pass their books by beta readers or critique groups first before sending the stories on to freelance editors (fewer corrections in a book means a less expensive editing process).

Some writers never even get as far as needing a beta reader because they didn’t seek out encouragement and support from the writing community.

But sometimes it can be tough to know exactly where to find these beta readers and online support.  Here are a few ideas.

First Readers/Beta Readers

Online critique groups and beta readers. Sometimes I think we can run into the same problem that we can with in-person crit groups…we might be much better or much worse than our crit partner. But we also have more of a selection to choose from in terms of writer experience.

There are resources to help you connect:Continue reading

Backing Up, Organizing, Managing Time

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigIMG_4741

Although there are so many things that we can try to help us manage parts of our writing careers, I’ve found that some of the best are the smaller, quieter things.  It’s easy for me to get distracted by trying Facebook ads or working over my metadata…and these are both really good things to do.  But sometimes I need to return to the basics, especially when I’m very busy and don’t follow some of my own best practices.

Here are a few:

Backing up:  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard nightmares about losing content. Too many! It’s like a horror story for writers.  We hear all the time about backing up our work in progress, and that’s certainly important. But it’s also important to have previous projects backed up, covers backed up, contracts backed up. I just went through and backed up a ton of stuff and shuddered when I realized how much time had passed since my last backup.  I usually do it daily.Continue reading

The Secret to Sales Without Selling: Your Author Newsletter

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers

by Joel D Canfield, @SomedayBox700

I once surveyed all the authors I knew about what they wanted most for their writing.

The universal response was “Someone to do my marketing for me.”

I considered setting up an affordable and effective marketing service and then trying to sell it to all those people, but that’d be like Henry Ford giving us faster horses.

What authors really want is a way to spend more time writing and less time marketing, but still sell books. And if possible, to do it without hating themselves in the morning. Or being hated by everyone around them.

I’ll state my premise up front: the way to do that is follow these two steps:

  1. Write more top-quality books, and
  2. have a great email/newsletter list.

Authors who write more good books sell more books.

Authors with a newsletter email list full of fans sell more books.

And they do it with less marketing, more writing.

Here’s how.Continue reading

Demographics on Wattpad

Business of Writing, Tools for Writers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve had a profile and books available on Wattpad for over a year.  Wattpad is an online reading platform.  It’s a social way to share stories, with readers commenting on chapters as we release them.  I’ve written about getting on Wattpad and my thoughts on the platform.

Wattpad is free for readers.  I have enough books available for sale that offering something for free for exposure isn’t a concern.  And it is all about exposure: there are over 40 million users.

Wattpad Post 1

To access this feature, you’d go to your book page and click on the graph icon right next to “edit story.”Continue reading

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