Category: Uncategorized

This is my public service announcement for the next few months. :)

Y’all—back up your work.

Back up your writing and everything else that’s important to you on your computer.

And…back up to more than one place. What if your backup fails? It’s happened to me before.

Here are some backup options to consider that range from low to higher tech:

Use an online location to store your writing. You can email your book to yourself using any email address that can be accessed by webmail. You can also store your writing on Google Docs or an online story organizer (like Hiveword, from my friend Mike Fleming.)

Use a flash drive. Cheap. Easy.

Use an external hard drive. Word files don’t take up much space, but you might want to buy an external hard drive if you have a lot of music or pictures to back up.

Print a copy. Bulky and a pain, but an option for anyone looking for a really low-tech option.

Use an online storage solution like Dropbox or Carbonite.

Blogs:

You should also backup your blogs. They sometimes disappear, too. Here is an article on the Guide to Literary Agents blog that discusses how to backup a Blogger, WordPress, and LiveJournal blog.

Also, if you’re on Google Reader, remember to subscribe to your own blog there. You’ll be able to access all your old posts from the Reader.

Go forth and back up! And, while you’re at it, change your passwords, too. :)

What do you use for backing up?

It’s out! Progressive Dinner Deadly, a new Myrtle Clover mystery is now available on Kindle and Nook for $2.99 .

This is a follow-up to Pretty is as Pretty Dies, published by Midnight Ink in 2009. I’m publishing this book myself.

When intrepid octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover caught Jill, her new housekeeper, peering into her medicine cabinet, she should have been upset. But discovering that Jill wasn’t such a squeaky-clean goody-goody made her vastly more interesting in Myrtle’s eyes.

Myrtle would have happily continued figuring out what made Jill Caulfield tick…if Jill hadn’t foolishly gone and gotten herself murdered.

Thanks to Kendel Flaum, who designed the lovely cover, and Keith Snyder from Typeflow who formatted and designed the interior of the book.

I wanted, also, to go ahead and share with y’all a work in progress—the ebook services directory. It’s in a Google Spreadsheet format and divided into cover designers, formatters, freelance editors, ghost writers, and book trailers.

It’s a work-in-progress because I don’t frequently work with spreadsheets (which you’ll probably be able to tell!). :) I’ll be coming up with a badge and a bit more of a polished look, soon. Also, it’s something that it looks like I’ll be adding to every couple of days (I’m getting in plenty of additions.) But I wanted to go ahead and make it available since I’m already getting emails from writers asking for it.

I did put a caveat emptor on there because, unfortunately, I don’t have time to vet everyone. As always, and with any business arrangement, please enter the relationship with caution. This directory is intended to be a starting point to connect writers with services, since currently the ebook industry seems to be working on word of mouth.

If you want to be added to the directory or see any errors, please contact me at elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thanks!

Friday afternoon my husband and I had a nice lunch together, then he asked if I could run an errand for him (he was going back in to the office) and return a purchase to a major electronics chain store.

I walked into the store, in my usual sort of absentminded fog, strolled over to the customer service area, and immediately noticed that everyone was very angry.

There were two men from management looking grim and anxious with their arms crossed. The customer service representatives were frozen. There were two customers being helped at the same time and both were sort of leaning in over the desk, looking tense. There was a police officer (who is frequently assigned a beat at the store) watching intently. The customers in line seemed very stiff and kept looking sideways at each other.

And I had just sort of wandered in in a very peppy mood and into this tension. What’s more, I couldn’t even tell what was going on. Finally, the elderly lady in front of me turned around and said in a fierce tone, “Someone should help that woman!”

“That woman?” I asked, nodding to the middle aged woman at the desk. “What’s happening?”

But I didn’t get an answer because suddenly the woman erupted like Mt Vesuvius, yelling that that was the worst customer service she’d ever seen, going up to the police officer and seeming to make some sort of low-voiced suggestion to her (maybe that they arrest the customer service department?!) then storming out the door, still yelling.

Afterwards no one looked at anyone else and the customer service people started quickly helping the rest of the line. And I never did find out what was going on.

But it made me think that this is the kind of thing we want to do with our readers.

We don’t know what kind of day our readers are having. Maybe they’ve just had a nice lunch and are feeling happy and daydreamy, like I was. Maybe they’re having a rough day or week.

We want to drag our readers into something different—something funny, something tense, something interesting. We want to provide some escape and something to pique their curiosity or interest. We want to get them hooked.

Read any good openings lately? Written any? How do you propel your readers into a new world?

For some reason, Blogger insists this post was published Friday, instead of today! Trying to republish it now…

Below are my tweets from the last week.

The Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable—try it for searches on plotting, characterization, querying, book promo, and more.

I’m also compiling a directory of ebook professionals—cover designers, formatters, freelance editors, etc.—to make it easier for writers to connect with services. If you’d like to be added, please email me at elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail (dot) com with your contact info, website, etc.

An interesting interview with a publishing insider: http://bit.ly/om8fmz @ajackwriting

Alternative magic systems for the fantasy writer: http://bit.ly/nIypxp

All about urban fantasy: http://bit.ly/nUFw5C

Revise Grand Entrance Scene to Set up Character Relationship: http://bit.ly/nj2NGA

The Number One Reason Why Marketing Tactics Fail: http://bit.ly/r8DFpZ

Literary Agents: Top 10 Ways to Make or Break that Relationship:The Agent as Superman/Superwoman: http://bit.ly/o6KauM

A series on avoiding mushy book middles: http://bit.ly/pJEiLg http://bit.ly/mQ3YQ3 and http://bit.ly/oqpJiA

Tips for landing an agent: http://bit.ly/qtENRG

10 things 1 writer has learned about blogging: http://bit.ly/qZPkcl @CatsEyeWriter

3 Ways Social Media Can Help You Avoid Procrastination: http://bit.ly/pmNz1a

The positive side of distractions: http://bit.ly/qrdawY

7 Ways to Pick Yourself Up After a Painful Rejection: http://bit.ly/pzEuKj

The Secret to Twitter That Can’t Be Taught: http://bit.ly/nr5JcW

Finding Rest Is Essential to Creative Inspiration: http://bit.ly/oj8eQS

Capitalization Rules for the Names of Games: http://bit.ly/r16PHc

1 writer’s homemade MFA: http://bit.ly/nUVLDv @BTMargins

Is literary jargon alive and well? NY Times: http://nyti.ms/oqweSN

The Audubon* Field Guide to Unpublished Writers: http://bit.ly/q1dwnU @GeoffreyCubbage

7 Reasons Reviews Sell Books: http://bit.ly/pmlW8Z @BookBuzzr

An author’s thoughts on libel and fiction: http://bit.ly/q8ygZ0

Joe Konrath addresses ebook misconceptions: http://bit.ly/nGj7Ts

Publishers Playing the Social Media Game: http://bit.ly/o6sLxI @WriteAngleBlog

Writing for fun for 10 minutes a day: http://bit.ly/niWZpJ @BookEmDonna

A singer/songwriter recommends focusing on writing, not social media: http://bit.ly/pSEwrm

Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Writers Don’t Need to Practice: http://bit.ly/nWQstW

Weeding out weaknesses in our books: http://bit.ly/r9ez1g @Mommy_Authors

Keeping personal bias out of your stories: http://bit.ly/pwJthO

How to Query Agents Part 1: http://bit.ly/prn1s8 @EmilyCaseysMuse

Superhero Comics Could Learn a Thing or Two from Superhero Films: http://bit.ly/n05s7P

From Good to Better: 10 Tips On Editing Your WIP: http://bit.ly/ormO2D @AnneRAllen

6 Effective Ways to Become Persistent: http://bit.ly/qJfnn6

Pretend your main character isn’t there: http://bit.ly/p2sP1X @dirtywhitecandy

How to write a great novel (WSJ): http://on.wsj.com/r0BTJR

The art of discovering your innate genius: http://bit.ly/pWpP06

Great Ways for Writers, Authors, Speakers, and Readers to Use Google+: http://bit.ly/rkyA0E

Remind yourself of the joy of writing: http://bit.ly/qVEBRp

Search my tweets– http://dld.bz/KPgS

Making Writing Work For You When You Still Have To Work: http://bit.ly/qukQ7I

Regency sex ed: http://bit.ly/pdAaB1

Ladies, Don’t Let Anyone Tell You You’re Not Awesome: http://bit.ly/pItmlT

25 ways to abuse your characters {strong lang.}: http://bit.ly/rtt2iZ

Editorial Agent, or what? http://bit.ly/o4oLXU

The Publishing World Turned Upside Down: http://bit.ly/oao4Gh

Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir: http://bit.ly/qYNmEI

The 5-Second Trick To Writing More Each Week: http://bit.ly/qegvTE

POV confusion? Helpful links: http://bit.ly/hJZD8n

How to Read a Book Contract – Who Decides What Contracts You Sign? http://bit.ly/mTB8lX @PassiveVoiceBlg

7 Ways to Make Family and Pets Respect Your Writing Time: http://bit.ly/p9OL3Y @KMWeiland

Why Novelists Can Embrace Unexpected Life Change: http://bit.ly/mYaCqu @writeitsideways

Writing Psychic Superheroes and Psionics: http://bit.ly/qnXsTN

Ebook cover designers, formatters, & freelance editors–I’m compiling a directory. To be listed: http://bit.ly/pmIdny

The Inevitable Traffic Jams on the Journey to Publication: http://bit.ly/nmbQra @jodyhedlund

3 tips for writing thrillers: http://bit.ly/nGpJIz

Enrich Your Life – Go on a Digital Sabbatical: http://bit.ly/okQqbT

How authors can get started with video blogging: http://bit.ly/pdKOke @jfbookman

Seeing Stars: Why Some Reviews Matter . . . and Some Don’t: http://bit.ly/mYogy6 @YAHighway

Switching From Literary To Genre Fiction: http://bit.ly/q8ER5z @thecreativepenn

The Low-Down on Literary Magazines: http://bit.ly/ruDknQ @LTWFblog

An agent talks about questionable practices by literary agents: http://bit.ly/ncB06h @rachellegardner

Break Writer’s Block: Become the Storyteller, Not the Writer: http://bit.ly/qtzGwX

7 Types of Hyphenation That May Seem Wrong But Aren’t: http://bit.ly/pA5WKW

Networking as a means of promotion: http://bit.ly/pNpUll

Tips for naming characters: http://bit.ly/rmNh2H @BTMargins

Russian Publishing 101: http://bit.ly/o1OLb7 @pubperspectives

Start Today, Not Tomorrow: http://bit.ly/plV164 @jeffgoins

10 Twitter Hashtags for Writers: http://bit.ly/rnVn4I

Why Self-Published Authors Know Best: http://bit.ly/q0cVhb

5 mistakes that turn your ebook promotion into spam: http://bit.ly/q0Ya1H

“My novel’s too ‘fringe’ – will any commercial publisher on the planet be interested?” http://bit.ly/rapJvJ

Knowledge Plants the Seed. Imagination Makes it Bloom. http://bit.ly/r2SNQw @SherryIsaac @joanswan

Getting the Reader’s Sympathy: http://bit.ly/rtZFZW

Will print and ebook publishers ultimately be doing the same books? http://bit.ly/qCQe5l

Wake up your readers! How to thicken a plot: http://bit.ly/pG0jbP

3 Steps to Finding Your True Writing Voice: http://bit.ly/ng96ke

7 things one YA writer has learned so far: http://bit.ly/oZFZ65

The Power and SEO Behind Blog Commenting: http://bit.ly/q4PIu6

10 Tips For Polishing Your Manuscript: http://bit.ly/oNaLhF

Giving “It’s Not Quite There” Feedback: http://bit.ly/o4SyIG

Sympathy For The Devils: How To Make Disagreeable Characters Agreeable: http://bit.ly/ouqw6r

10 keys to hosting a successful Twitter chat: http://bit.ly/qT9Eaz @michellerafter

Surviving the Literary Gong Show: http://bit.ly/mSKUGj

A Guide to Publishing an Ebook on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/ofgO7p

6 Steps to a Winning Writing Workshop: http://bit.ly/p1CdiE

Need research help with your character’s medical ailment? A doctor to the rescue: http://bit.ly/o1bsHq via @spunkonastick

Thoughts and tips for handling backstory: http://bit.ly/qiFNdU

Favorite snacks of great writers (NY Times): http://nyti.ms/r1LXq3

8 Personal Development Mistakes: http://bit.ly/pIWHoj

Crossover genres (genre blending): http://bit.ly/o2mbEm

The Speed Of Writing: http://bit.ly/n8Uxul

Adjusting To The Paradigm Shift in Publishing: http://bit.ly/oYhCf4

Public speaking tips for writers: http://bit.ly/o0sTdR @jhansenwrites

Genre blending crime fiction to lure non-mystery-reading friends: http://bit.ly/ro13WQ @mkinberg

A Writer’s Tools: WriteWay Pro: http://bit.ly/oYRtux @manon_eileen @GeneLempp:

An agent explains what you should bring to a conference: http://bit.ly/njQqi4

To blog or not to blog about writing: http://bit.ly/r2k3Aj @LauraPauling

What Do You Do When You Can’t Write? http://bit.ly/ru9TZi @writeitsideways

Sign up for the monthly WKB newsletter for the web’s best links and interviews: http://bit.ly/gx7hg1

How Starving Artists Can Support Their Work: http://bit.ly/pYr46F

Pacing and 4 types of rests in books: http://bit.ly/pBLFTE @FantasyFaction

Concerns (and Solutions!) for Freelance Writers: http://bit.ly/qEudl5

Resources for finding an agent: http://bit.ly/r3ZDJU

Writing A Book – Structure: http://bit.ly/p5Vw72

The (Not So) Dreaded Synopsis – 5 Tips To Set You Free: http://bit.ly/nBzkAD @roniloren

6 reasons an agent/publisher will stop reading your submission: http://bit.ly/pGfX9n

The difference between ebook conversion and ebook formatting: http://bit.ly/qQPZc2

Critique Workshopped The Voice Right Out Of There: http://bit.ly/ogmvEi

An agent advises: don’t clutter your story with stuff: http://bit.ly/nRjTcN @greyhausagency

A summary of the Assoc. of Amer. Pub.’s sales data for books (online retail is tops): http://bit.ly/pHJpWi @PassiveVoiceBlg

The rule of 3: http://bit.ly/pOCKFC @iggiandgabi

5 reasons Facebook and Twitter won’t replace 1 writer’s blog: http://bit.ly/r07EML @CatsEyeWriter

Investigation into Underpayment of Ebook Royalties: http://bit.ly/nDsZx5 @PassiveVoiceBlg

An Entrepreneur Tackles Book Publicity: http://bit.ly/mSVNsn @BlurbIsAVerb

A screenwriter on endless producer notes: http://bit.ly/nxLI9r

Writing A Book – Discipline: http://bit.ly/o4FLdP

Dreaming in Two Languages – Writing In The Second: http://bit.ly/pKl5gW

10 Terms of Gender Identity: http://bit.ly/p4WmoM

Why It’s Hard To Write Well (And How To Do It Faster): http://bit.ly/pUroCC @ChandlerWrites

Cover design:Color: http://bit.ly/nL2ppj Image: http://bit.ly/r8q4xv Font: http://bit.ly/pZDHPX Layout: http://bit.ly/pcoxQY @clarissadraper

Can You See Your Lion? http://bit.ly/pQQs2D

Are you an expert? Plan to Promote Your Work: http://bit.ly/omGEsi

3 Tips To Help You Choose An Editor: http://bit.ly/nIfPXi

Tips for finding an agent: http://bit.ly/pqhr1e @bubblecow

Insiders and Outsiders (in Worldbuilding Cultures): http://bit.ly/o9JYK5 @JulietteWade

Spam Toad vs. Author Brand: http://bit.ly/mOx2ib @KristenLambTX

Tips for writing back cover copy: http://bit.ly/qxWsDF @WriteAngleBlog

Best Articles This Week for Writers 8/12/11: http://bit.ly/nEdcKU @4kidlit

4 Keys to Unlocking Your Creativity: http://bit.ly/pDPKa4 @jodyhedlund

Creativity Tweets of the Week — 8/12/11: http://bit.ly/pFiBWm @on_creativity

4 techniques to create a likeable character: http://bit.ly/pOA79i

How Do You Deal with Difficult Characters? http://bit.ly/mSWsQ5 @JamiGold

Writing a Saleable Book: http://bit.ly/qY23Yl

Conflict v. Tension: http://bit.ly/qdV7IL @AngelaAckerman

5 Ways to Reduce Use of Prepositions: http://bit.ly/nPvRcu

“The process of this first revision is as much about rereading as rewriting.” @BrunoniaBarry http://ow.ly/61gje RT @Porter_Anderson

Description and Your Characters’ Lens: http://bit.ly/qCe2sK @bluemaven

The importance of covers: http://bit.ly/qvHiIc

Figuring out your strengths and weaknesses: http://bit.ly/pqpLw1

5 things to do between writing projects: http://bit.ly/rkX3Of

How to Create an Informational E-Book: http://bit.ly/mXhXBS @AlexisGrant

Need help with pacing? http://hiveword.com/wkb/search?q=pacing

Why Writing Can Be Dangerous: http://bit.ly/qCs1fF

Is Your Character a Windbag? http://bit.ly/oa8sHd @KMWeiland

How to Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul: http://bit.ly/pyAgMw

Take 5 Minutes to Make WordPress 10 Times More Secure: http://bit.ly/ohTDcE

Suggestions for your writer’s reference shelf: http://bit.ly/raccT0

How to write and market an ebook: http://bit.ly/nB5Loq

New publishing numbers and some insight: http://bit.ly/oDxm9u

Tests of character: http://bit.ly/qfKbpM @JulietteWade

8 Reasons Authors Don’t Complete Their Manuscripts: http://bit.ly/o7GDlk

Ideas for Real Life Characters: http://bit.ly/r51Ycu

How Literary Agents Can Survive the Digital Revolution: http://bit.ly/ncJJNe @GalleyCat

Conflict – The most frequently screwed up story element: http://bit.ly/n5QwpN

An agent explains what agents do: http://bit.ly/qQnX0Z

Scrivener: The Ultimate Multitool for Writers: http://bit.ly/odiEJm

Why There’ll Never Be a Perfect Time to Write: http://bit.ly/pY251B

What to write? http://bit.ly/p8CEhy

Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: The Myth of Talent: http://bit.ly/qTiYS3

Pseudo-Agents Take Advantage of India’s Aspiring Authors: http://bit.ly/oQmdOA

An agent explains how to become a literary agent: http://bit.ly/mYIc2E

Writing a Book – Finding Time: http://bit.ly/orhCTJ

What Does it Take to Craft a Historical Novel? http://bit.ly/rnck34

The agent as friend: http://bit.ly/nbv9HH

The Anxious Writer: 200 Questions Before Lunch: http://bit.ly/pELL9M @BTMargins

How high are your stakes? http://bit.ly/n0jDoJ

I’ve noticed my buying habits, as a reader, are changing.

Some of it is due to necessity. I’ve got several avid readers in my house and the library is, sadly, not able to purchase the new titles that are frequently on our to-be-read lists. If there’s limited availability at the library, I’ll buy the books we want to read.

I’ve also found that I’m reading more and more with my Kindle. It’s easy to get books. If I wake up with insomnia in the middle of the night (a common occurrence), I can download a book, where I couldn’t drive to a bookstore or the library.

Reading on my Kindle has made me more apt to give new authors a try. I’m also more open to impulse buying. This is, I’m almost certain, because there’s not a big financial risk in doing so—ebooks are (usually) inexpensive. I’ll read about a book on a blog or I’ll see something on Twitter that looks interesting and it’s instant gratification—I download it immediately before I can forget the author and title.

I think, in fact, book pricing is especially important for that very reason. It’s important for a reader to either feel confident that they’ll like a book enough to buy it, or that they’re not losing much money in case they don’t.

I’ve read lot lately about ebook pricing on different blogs. The impression I’ve gotten is that $2.99 seems to be a good price point. Then you can run sales on your book, bringing it down as low as $.99 or free….then return it later to the $2.99 (where you still get a decent percentage of the book sales as royalty.)

As a reader, $2.99 doesn’t make me blink at all. That’s not much of an investment for hours of reading time. That’s so low that I wouldn’t think twice about downloading something that’s not a genre I usually read or from an author I’m not familiar with.

This being said, most of my ebooks are $6.99 and up. :) That’s because my publishers have set the price (yes, I’ve gotten emails from readers before…not that I have any control over the pricing, but they think I do.)

I think that traditional publishers will eventually be lowering ebook prices for their mass market and trade paperbacks (I’m not sure about bestsellers/hardbacks.) Otherwise, long-term, I’m not sure how well they’ll be able to compete in the book market.

What kind of price range are you either publishing in or looking for, as a reader?