Tag Archives: Marketing-Zone: Market Yourself and Your Writing

fiction, Marketing yourself

Part 2: The 8 Things Writers Should Do to Influence Readers (and Make a Sale)

1 Comment

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

WARNING: I’m in the middle of shaking you up, baby.   Okay, now read on.

A purchase is a one-time exchange. But demand is what creates a career.

demand

So your job is to create that demand, that interest, that desire for what you offer.

Certainly the quality of your work can create a demand.

We writers love to rely on that, because it’s what we care about: our writing.  Plus it’s passive which is so much less effort.  Write, send it into the world, let the writing speak for itself.  Wait to be recognized.

What we hope:

Readers (clients) will be so inspired by our quality, they’ll make it their mission to demand more.  Well know about this mission because they’ll spontaneously call us just to rave.  Thank goodness they’re not distracted by their own lives.

Might be good to ask how can WE, also, create a demand.  What is our power in influencing readers? ( Us, not our marketing materials, not our business cards and tag lines.  You and me.)

But why????

Because not everyone will have read your past writing.    These people–who could easily be your future audience, buy your products, champion your skills–won’t know your sentences are pure glory.

But if they meet you, speak with you, they could become the people who demand your work, even though they HAVEN’T read it.

Now that’s the power of demand.

As I said in Part 1, when you speak, nothing influences demand better than the 8 languages of passion.

Read Part 1 HERE.

We’ve already covered the language of Mastery, Excitement, Heart, and Confidence.  Onward now to the final 4 ways you represent your passion.

5) Extraordinariness.

We all want to think we and our writing are special, are unique.  But we’re usually talking about being special and unique in the same way as everyone else is. 😉

(That’s especially true if the specialness is a product of a marketing exercise where you have to write down something that everyone will agree is a mighty-fine quality.  It’s always too generic.  Too fake.  Too  filled with hype.

So what we think of as special and unique is Not. Good. Enough.

What I’m talking about instead is the crossroads where “blow your mind” and greatness meet up.

You’ve heard of a delight factor, right?  Well, I’m  talking about a delight factor that is authentic to you and inspires that wow feeling in others.

And yeah, you might not be aware of your own delight factor unless someone else points it out..

So go figure it out.  Then learn to include what delights you and others, what makes you extraordinary, in conversations.

No, not with an agenda.  That ruins everything, doesn’t it?  In an authentic way, because how can you NOT talk about the thing that captivates you the most?  How can you look forward to having a conversation about something that delights the folks you talk with?

Imagine writing for Groupon and not sharing how much you enjoy writing crazy things like : “The hamburger is an edible American icon, much like coleslaw made with shredded Norman Rockwell paintings.”

The Groupon voice is the writer’s and the reader’s delight factor!  It’s what makes a job writing coupon ads extraordinary.

—

Here’s an interview with Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief,  He talks about his choice to make Death the narrator, and about his breakthrough thought, “What if Death was afraid of us? What if Death was haunted by humans?”

It’s an extraordinarily special approach to an award-winning novel, and he talks about it in the most ordinary way.  Such a good example about how you do this.

Imagine if he hadn’t mentioned it at all?

What a missed opportunity that would’ve been to create a demand for his novel in the very people most likely to appreciate what he, himself found extraordinarily captivating.

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK!

—

clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

advice, fiction, Marketing yourself

The 8 Things Writers Should Do to Influence Readers (and Make a Sale)

2 Comments

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

I know you’d like to send your writing out into the world, sit back, and listen to the applause.  (I often pretend I hear it. A girl has to have some fun.)  But… no career really works that way.  Sob.

You’ve gotta get up and represent.

Snoopy Knows How to Represent

This article is about you, Dear Writer, and the relationship you create with potential customers through your spontaneous interaction (and not your lovingly crafted prose).

But before we get into that, I want to make sure you understand who your potential customer is.  It’s anyone who buys your writing, hires you to write, facilitates that process, might recommend you for a job, or could possibly speak highly of you.

I use this term pretty broadly.

My point is that sometimes potential customers end up spending money and buying your product or service.  And sometimes they don’t spend money, but they still contribute to your career.

If customers are only those who buy your writing, you miss the entire class of “industry professionals.”  And the big ol’ world of  “influencers” called a network?  You can’t even see them if you focus solely on money.

Basically, I think of your potential customers as all those people who create a demand for your work.

Demand is what creates a career.  A purchase is a one-time exchange.

So, you’re in the business of creating a demand for your work.  (Write that down.  There’ll be a test some day.)

Back to spontaneous interaction, or as I like to think of it…

The Art of Communicating Passion…

(…and inviting your potential customer to share it with you.)

For 20 years, I’ve been a keen observer of how some of the best writers I know never get a career launched, no matter how good they are.  And others limp along with anemic careers that don’t begin to do them justice.

To be blunt, these writers never caught on.

It’s not fair.  It’s frustrating and heart breaking.  And it has nothing to do with how hard they worked or how much they believed in their dream.

It does, however, have a lot to do with demand.

For book writers, it’s only recently that authors can truly participate in creating demand.  But it’s still such a new concept to them that they often sit back and wait to be recognized out of habit.

They also sit back because they have no idea how to influence demand.  So, I’m going to tell you how, right now.  This isn’t about what to do.  It’s about HOW.

You have to learn to speak the Language of Passion.

And here are the 8 passions you should share freely, openly, and joyfully:

#1 Mastery.

Do you love reaching for the stars? Striving for excellence? Challenging yourself with each new project? Readers love this too.

Learn to speak the language of excellence and to talk about how jazzed you get trying to be the best you can, at what you do.  This is NOT bragging.  It’s not about talking about how good you are.

It’s about talking about your quest for quality and your delight when you reach it.

#2 Excitement.

Make your joy apparent.  Share your deep love of what you do.

Frankly, it’s boring to hear about how “special” folks are because “this is their dream” and “they’re meant to do this.”  But the fire and delight of a passionate, awake mind never gets old.

#3 Heart.

Sometimes what comes across to readers and customers is the overpowering stink of desperation, the yearning of one person focused on her/his personal dreams.

You know what combats that?

Warmth, compassion, and a bigger perspective that includes other people.  Find other people interesting.  Let them inspire you.  Honor the motivation and good fortune of a shared path.

#4 Confidence.

Over confidence is pretty ugly–so ugly that most trustworthy people avoid feeling confident all together.

But a lack of confidence is unnerving.  Plus we believe that it’s a fact.  “You’re right.  You must not be any good.”

But here’s what works.  Be in touch with your credentials and your experience.  Be excited about it at the same time you know you’re destined to grow even more.

Credentials, experience, growth: these things are true.  They’re how you earned confidence.

And yet, I know you’re still not sure about this whole confidence thing, as our society only seems to talk about confidence in the sense of someone with no self-confidence or way too much.

But I think of it this way.  There’s a pose in Yoga called Mountain Pose.  And when it’s done right, Beth Irvine says it feels “grounded, still, powerful, and majestic.”

When you can really speak with confidence about what you have done and will do, this is what you share with your reader and potential customer.

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK!

—

clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in FictionMastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

fiction

The Secret Link Between Theme and The Plot of Your Book (well, it’s not secret now)

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

Power Moments

planet explosion

Writers talk about theme as if it’s a mystical addition that makes you, the writer, look deep.

I’m all for looking deep. It goes so well with my eyes, but let’s look at the practical side of theme.

Your theme tells you, the writer, where and what kind of POWER MOMENTS to include in your plot.

Your theme comes to life through the actions of characters over the course of Story Unfolding.  And how does a story unfold?  In specific scenes that create the cause and effect of plot.

Theme becomes real only when it becomes the events and turning points of your story.

To read more about this, you’ll want to check out Turns Out Theme is Actually Good for Something (this just in).

To put this another way, what is your story?

  • It’s the trajectory of your theme.
  • It’s theme tested over time.
  • And in the end, the climax of your book the culmination of choices and actions tell the reader exactly how your theme is true.

I know, I know. You think them has to do with character and internal angsty stuff, like “what the character needs to learn.” But it has to be more than that.

Without focused action, scenes that bring together to culmination of all the causes and effects that have gone before (hello Power Moment), that angsty stuff is just talk.

You’re confused, I know. This isn’t what you were taught in the past. I hear ya.  Me, too.  I’ve heard the talks, read the articles, and bought the t-shirts.

In 3 Definitions of Theme I’d Like to Flush I very politely trussed up, set on fire, and catapulted the commonly taught definitions of theme out to sea, to die-die-die.  The bundle made a nice sizzle as it hit the water’s surface somewhere over by Australia.  The Coral Sea, maybe.  Hard to tell from here.

Why did I do this?

At best, these pretty unhelpful definitions create over-arching theme categories. Groupings of themes for the purpose of collecting them into genus and species.

But I think the theme for your book has a useful meaning that is much more specific to you and your story.

We’re talking Power Moments, baby.  Scenes, characters, gritty essentials.

The One Thing That Matters?  The Reader.

That’s right. If you have a theme, then your plot is the way the reader experiences your theme.

I thought a quick reminder of that would prove helpful.  Theme gets so self-involved for authors, and it is.  But it an exercise in therapy if you never move past what you the author want to do and embrace the reader’s experience of your story.

So keep that always in mind.  Theme needs to be useful to you as the creator of your specific story, but it ultimately must mean something to the reader in order for it to really exist in something other than your head.  Or to be more than characters caught up in their own heads.

Surely story and theme must be more than you or your characters thinking and mulling over stuff.  It’s more than journaling.  More than FaceBook posts of random thoughts.

That’s why I’m talking about things you can point to on the page.  Scenes and plot.  Power Moments.

Theme Explores the Infinite Complexity of Experiences

Let’s take a break for a  moment from scenes and actions and take a look at the big picture of story. Any story?  No.  Great story.

No matter how simple, no matter how focused on entertainment, great stories have…

  • impact,
  • meaning, and
  • resonance

…for both the reader and the author.  This, I’d like to suggest, is the proof of theme.

Theme is about how your characters cope, how they parse together a reality lived over time into something that defines who they are and what actions they’ll take all the way to the end (and beyond).

It’s a lens you can use to make sense of the story world and of the events that have led you to “here.”

It’s what they’ve been hitting up against over and over that’s hard work, invites resistance, and is worth the effort.

Or maybe it’s trap that is only illuminated with 20-20 hindsight and a trail of broken stepping stones.

***Theme is the effect and understanding (of your character and reader) of every single event in your story so that, in the end, the experiences of the character and the reader coalesce, as if caught by your story’s gravity into a simple pattern that captures a life-time of understanding.

Bingo. Now you understand how the big picture of theme and story relates to the little picture of events, actions, and scenesbingo

What creates all the complexity of experience that leads to this simple understanding?

Continue reading The Secret Link Between Theme and The Plot of Your Book (well, it’s not secret now) →

fiction

It Isn’t That Easy, You Ninny

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

rantLast Thursday, Amanda Smyth Connor got her rant on in A Freelance Rant.

In response to all those peeps who think, “It’s just so wonderful and EASY being a freelance writer! Why doesn’t everyone do this?!” she replies…

Because it isn’t easy, you ninny! If it was easy, we would all be millionaires and we would be writing blog posts from our estates on the beach, and butlers would proofread our work all day.

To Amanda Smyth Connor I say, “I love you, man.”  And we fiction writers can’t say “you ninny!” enough.

Here, then, is my version of “You Ninny” on behalf of fiction writers the world over who must deal with public perception..

Seriously, what people think…

Fiction writing, it’s easy!  We all learned how to write paragraphs in school and how to use those quotation thingies. Anyone can do it.  Just sit down and write a story.  Someday I’ll write a book, too.

Writers, they  make millions of dollars for every single book!  I can prove it.  I heard how much money those Harry Potter books made.  It was on the news.  So that’s the average.  Some writers make even more.

All writers live glamorous lives (and are drop-dead sexy just like Castle).  They know everyone and get lots of favors.  They meet with their editors over lunch.  Readers line up around the block for every single single book.  They spend more time doing all this than they ever spend actually writing.  It is glorious!

Every good book gets published!  If it’s good, it’ll be on the shelves tomorrow.  And every writer makes it if she/he just “wants it” enough.  Some writers may get rejections (what a great story that makes!), but someone will *always* buy their book in the end.

When I buy a book, writers get rich.  Publishers probably get a little, but the writer makes 90% of the cover price.  Oh!  Those sales and dollars just rack up!  Millions of copies each!   After all, TV shows Terra Nova had 10.1 viewers and Alcatraz  had 9.6 million viewers, and they got cancelled.  So that’s the low end.  Books, same thing.

Once you get a book published, you can write your own ticket!  Publishers will always want your books, and they have to bend to your demands. Talk shows can’t wait for authors to call them about booking appearances.  You can hold out for more money.  And you can pretty much write what you want and no one will reject it or ask for changes.  Woo Hoo!  You are golden.

Why doesn’t everyone do this?!

Because none of this is true (you ninny)…

Yes, please, oh please, sign up to be a fiction writer.  You’ll get to work FOR FREE (it’s called “on spec”) for years  hoping to write a story that someone else (in the accounting department) thinks is a good investment… or just plain ol’ master the craft of writing.

You’ll make 4% to 7% of each sale (once your advance is covered, which it never will be), and sell out your print run, which  is, like, 1,000 to 20,000 copies depending on what you write.  Do the math.  Riches await.

So does all that glamour, sex-appeal, and fame.

(Note, the fantasy about fiction writing is usually about having a publisher who adores your work, has a fat wallet, champions your every idea, and ensures that your books have a window display in every bookstore. 

If the fantasy is about self-publishing, the author doesn’t need to do any work at all to sell the book.  It’s magic.  The book just suddenly becomes a runaway bestseller, and the author doesn’t even know how she did it.  In fact,  I think glass slippers were involved.)

I’m a writer; I’m ready for publishers to court me!

Or maybe it’s not that easy.

Maybe it’s about a long-term, career-level focus dedicated to mastering (a) the craft of writing and (b) the publishing industry. 

Each and every day, fiction writers are out there working 7-days-a-week to hit deadlines, create even modest careers, build social networks, blog, and dozens of other things that might mean, some day, they can pay all their bills.

And if the writer hits the big time?  Well, she’s working 7-day-a-week to hit deadlines….

“It’s just so wonderful!”

And see, it really is.  That’s the piece we writers do agree with.  If you’re a fiction writer and not a ninny, you never expected easy.  You’re not here for the fantasy.  It’s the hard work that’s wonderful.  It’s the work you love.

And you don’t mind explaining that to all the folks who wonder about your house on the beach and your proofreading butler.

Gently, you explain just why it’s never been that easy.

—

clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

fiction, Marketing yourself

5 Shockingly Easy Ways to Create a Successful Pitch

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

In my other life, the one where I wear my “evil genius” costume and am secretly a billionaire, I help writers with their verbal pitches.

It’s rather addictive.

Mwuhahahaha!

evil_genius_tshirt

Today, I share 5 secrets that I usually guard with my life.  No, wait.  Make that your life. (Cue evil laugh.)

1. Tell us how to listen to your pitch.

Assume we’re expecting to hear a pitch for something that is not remotely like your book.  Perhaps we expect an a story about an alien love-child’s secret trip to corporate America where she falls in love with a janitor?  Yes, why not.

Now, correct our expectation.  This is your opening.

Examples:

  • This is a young adult, fantasy romance about a 16-year-old high-school student who falls for an exchange student from the North Pole.
  • This is a literary mystery about two murders that happen 300 years apart but are unfolding in parallel timelines.
  • This is a non-fiction book about the inconsistencies in courtroom testimony and how to correct that during a trial.

2. Talk about people.

Most books involve people or characters (fake people) doing things. 

Coincidentally, that is how readers think about books, too. 

So even if you start out with an epic situation, setting, or high concept, tell us about the most central players and their initial actions (the big thing that really gets the plot going).

Examples:

* This book is about the Gold Rush.  When Mira’s husband dies, she takes her 5 children to California to pan for gold.

* An asteroid is headed to Earth.  Arnold is a boy of 7 whose believes he’s an alien, and his missing family will be on that asteroid.  He sets out to the projected Ground Zero to make sure they’re able to find him.

*  Set across war-torn Europe during World War II, Jim searches for his younger, disabled sister, who is missing after their town is bombed.

3. Tell us only the stuff that makes up important scenes.

We listeners think everything you tell us equals “a whole lotta important scenes.” 

  • Sean, a comic book writer… (Oh, good, there will be lots of scenes where Sean is drafting a new comic book!)
  • Terry, an Admiral in the Navy… (Yes!  This is a story set in the world of the Navy, and we’ll get to see Terry fulfilling the role of Admiral!)
  • Jauny, the wife of a serial killer… (Cool!  This will be a story about a woman who is married to a serial killer… and that life.)

Imagine our confusion when we find out that…

  • Sean is on vacation in Costa Rica and never references writing comic books.
  • Terry’s story is about his ancestral home which is haunted, and the whole story is set there, not on the High Seas.
  • Jauny left her husband before he was caught 10years ago, and now she’s a chef on a cruise line, who wants to sing.

4. Take out every generic description and cliché.

Tempted to say things like “she must learn to trust again,” or “he’s handsome and sexy”?

Don’t.

This tells us nothing about how your book is special.  Instead it tells us that your book is like all the others.  Pass.

Example:

Instead of  this: “A jaded cop doggedly pursues a serial killer before he kills again.”

Tell us only what makes your story unique: “Tom Mallory, A rookie patrol officer, gets involved with a homicide detective obsessed with the work of a famous serial killer—a killer who might be her twin brother.”

5.  Don’t tell us the end.

In most cases, it will only sound underwhelming.

And disjointed.

And a big, fat let down.

(Or so obvious we roll our eyes.)

Examples:

  • And they do find gold after an earthquake and a stampede.
  • But the asteroid misses Earth.
  • He looks for a long time and finally finds her.  She’s okay.

BONUS

And notice, nowhere did I tell you the number of words your pitch needs to be or any other silly rule. 

Also, no formulas to fill in. 

And certainly no threats that you’ll fail if you don’t follow everything I said in this column.

You don’t have to be perfect.  Just be the best and most interesting you can be today.

—

clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in FictionMastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

fiction

Turns Out Theme is Actually Good for Something (this just in)

1 Comment

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

Theme, theme, theme.

In 3 Definitions of Theme I’d Like to Flush I pointed out that when the word “theme” comes up in writerly conversation, no one responds, “Theme is one of the most useful tools I have.”

It’s time to make you a useful tool in creating story and not just understanding or analyzing  it.

explore

Theme is What You Explore

Yup, that’s my basic definition.

PART ONE:

It’s what you want to explore in this story because you have something nuanced to say about it.

Or…

It’s what you need to explore because you don’t have it all figured out yet.

PART TWO:

It’s what your characters will end up explore as well, because it’s written into the texture of their lives and the things that bring change.

PART THREE:

And finally, it’s the experience you hope to give your readers that leads to an understanding.

BONUS: And while you were probably taught you only have one theme per story, I give you permission to have as many as you want.

Life is complex.

People are complex.

Using Theme to Create Your Story

Think about the story that you want to create and finish the sentences:

STEP #1

I’m exploring the nature of ______________ and how it _____________.

What really draws me to this story are the moments when you can see/understand what ________ is like.

I’m exploring what it’s like to ____________ so much that you can only.can’t  _______________.

EXAMPLE:  I’m exploring the nature of family and how you can create your family by added people, even if you aren’t related to them.

EXAMPLE:  What really draws me to this story are the moments when you have to do something right regardless of the chaos around you, the grayness, the fact that what’s right and what’s legal aren’t in agreement.

EXAMPLE:  I’m exploring what it’s like to need to protect someone so much that you’ll sacrifice everything you have for them, all, because you won’t know who you are if something happens to them.  You’ll lose who you think you are and who you want to be in the world.

STEP #2

Look at what your theme tells you…. Continue reading Turns Out Theme is Actually Good for Something (this just in) →