Best of the blogs—the best posts of the week on writing, editing, publishing, and marketing your book.
Writing
Opening Hook
How to Make a Grand Opening is a great post from Tina Ann Forkner visiting Writers in the Storm. We all know—as readers and as writers—that those opening paragraphs are vital. In this post, Tina explains what needs to be included. A lot—which is part of the reason they are so hard.
Show, Don’t Tell
We all know the rule: show, don’t tell. We even know why it’s bad. What can be harder to understand is the sometimes subtle difference between the two. In Showing Versus Telling: So SHOW Me Already! PJ Parrish visits The Kill Zone Blog to show us.
It’s long, with several examples, but it’s one of the best posts I’ve read on the subject.
Christian Fiction
Lee Tobin McClain addressed an important question for Christian writers at Inspy Romance: How Racy is Too Racy? She shows a before-and-after version of a scene from her new Love Inspired release. The editor queried the scene as being out of line with their standards. It didn’t seem that racy to me, but Love Inspired is known for their conservative storylines and content. What do you think?
Marketing
Book Marketing Checklist
Tim Grahl, author of Your First 1000 Copies and The Book Launch Blueprint, is back with another great freebie. The Book Marketing Checklist is a 45-page pdf download of (I imagine) pretty much everything you need to think about in marketing your book or books.
Yes, it’s a list. And I know some of you don’t like lists because they only tell you what you need to do, not how to do it. If that sounds familiar, I have a couple of suggestions:
- Follow my blog on Feedly or your favourite RSS feed app, so you don’t miss any of my more detailed how-to posts.
- Subscribe to my newsletter, so you’ll get a heads-up the next time I run my Kick Start Your Author Platform challenge (click here to subscribe).
Book Reviews
Jason B Ladd, author of Book Review Banzai, visits The Creative Penn to explain How to Get Book Reviews as an Unknown Author. He makes some great points (and I must read his book).
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2017/07/29/how-to-get-book-reviews-as-an-unknown-author/
I know next to nothing about Facebook advertising. The one thing I do know is that if you are using Facebook advertising, or intend to use it in the future, then you need to install the Facebook Pixel on your website.
If that’s gobbledegook to you, then you need to read this post from Social Media Examiner:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-pixel-install-use-guide-for-marketers/
