editing

Your Author Website Could Be Killing Your Book Sales

Sep 22, 2014 | Proofreading

by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive Editor

So you’ve given your new book as much social media play as you possibly can. Your efforts have resulted in a nice, steady uptick in visitors to your author website, which is just what you wanted.

Your blog talks about things like your writing process, inspirations for your book, your characters, your favorite writing spots, real world issues related to your book – whatever you feel is relevant and interesting.

Could any of this actually be working against the sale of your book?

If your website or blog posts contain misspellings, grammatical errors, poor phrasing – all those things you’ve hopefully had edited out of your book – then your credibility will take a hit.

Your website and blog posts may very well be the first impression many potential readers get of you and your writing, and as the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Readers view your website and blog posts as a reflection of you and your work. If your blog posts don’t show that you care enough to double and triple check for errors or write in a meaningful way, readers will understandably assume your book will be the same.

If you can’t step back from your writing far enough to see what needs fixing, ask a friend or fellow writer you trust to help, or see if your editor is willing to do it for a small fee.

One last note: choose your font carefully. This isn’t just a lot of type hype – fonts speak to readers. There are entire studies on the psychology of typography and the messages different fonts convey. Just like choosing the right name for your characters depending on their personalities (you wouldn’t name a tough, bar brawling assassin Harvey Milktoast), you also wouldn’t use a futuristic-looking font to describe a cozy, laid-back country romance story or Comic Sans font for a thriller.

With a shiny clean website, you’ll give your book a much better chance.

Superfluous Verbiage and Unnecessary Words

Sep 15, 2014 | Phrasing, Writing

by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive Editor

Did you trip over the title of this post? Did you have to read it twice? If so, that’s because both phrases, “superfluous verbiage” and “unnecessary words”, mean the same thing, but your mind was trying to discern a difference.

When you use extra words or duplicate a meaning in your writing, it can do a couple of different things: it can slow the action or forward movement of the story, and/or it can stop readers in their tracks while their minds backtrack over the repetition, searching for a missed meaning or misinterpretation. Neither is good.

Repetitions and extra verbiage slow stories down and can put the brakes on action scenes.

A few smaller examples we see frequently are:

“She took out her cell phone and dialed his number, then immediately hung up the phone.” The words “the phone” are superfluous because it’s already clear that the person was using a phone. Something like this may seem insignificant, but eliminating even the smallest unnecessary words tightens your writing and moves the story along faster. And in a story where there’s one superfluous phrase, chances are there are many more – add them up and you’ve got a lot of drag.

“His train was arriving at five o’clock p.m. in the evening.” When referring to a time after noon, “p.m.” is used, just like “a.m.” is used for morning. Therefore, using “in the evening” after “p.m.” is repetitious and can actually be annoying to some readers.

“He put his hat on his head as he walked out of her life forever.” “On his head” is extra verbiage because it’s assumed that’s where he’d put his hat – where else would it go? “He put on his hat as he walked out of her life forever” is smoother and has more impact without the unnecessary words.

Even more problematic, though, are entire phrases that essentially repeat what was just said without adding any new information.

“She tucked the letter into her pocket, secreting it away from prying eyes. It would be safe in her pocket where no one would see it.” If you see this type of repetition in your writing, choose whichever phrasing best fits the scene and keeps the action or tension going. Sometimes you may end up using the best of both worlds – a combination of the two: “She secreted the letter away in her pocket, where it would be safe from prying eyes.” No repetition, but plenty of information in a condensed and to-the-point way.

Tight writing moves faster and makes your points clearer, which readers always appreciate.

Go That Extra Mile!

Sep 8, 2014 | Writing

by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive Editor

Your book is edited, polished, published, and out there for the world to enjoy. You’ve got it listed on Amazon, its beautiful cover (that you agonized over getting just right) beckoning readers with its siren call, “You want me!”

Is that enough? No, it’s just the beginning.

You need to write a good come-hither summary for your Amazon listing. Something that whets readers’ appetites for your story, a real teaser that shows them your characters are interesting and your story is one they just must read.

And while a good summary is important, people also want to know something about the writer behind the words. Too many authors miss this prime opportunity to connect with potential readers. They forget about Amazon’s Author Pages, a great way to introduce yourself to your readers. It doesn’t need to be a lengthy life story – nor should it be – just enough information relative to you as an author.

If you want, you can also include a short paragraph at the end about your next work in progress, but remember to update that part when the work in progress becomes a published book. Make sure to include a good picture of yourself with your bio, one that suits the types of books you write.

With both the summary and your bio, double check, triple check, and quadruple check for errors. You can lose lots of sales if readers see obvious mistakes; they’ll naturally figure the book will be poorly written too. And we’ve read endless accounts, from blogs all the way up to the New York Times, about how much readers hate seeing too many typos, misspellings, and other mistakes, not to mention plot and character inconsistencies and other errors. In fact, many books have been returned to Amazon with complaints about numerous errors – and Amazon has refunded the buyers’ money. Don’t be that author.

On the other hand, books that have been well proofread are noticed and appreciated. In a review of book Proof Positive proofread, the reviewer wrote, “I appreciate that she gave her readers clean spelling and punctuation.”

Reviews are important to sales on Amazon, so ask for them from friends, family members, and readers who are willing to write reviews in exchange for a free copy of your book.

Go the extra mile and you may be rewarded with extra sales!

Writing Groups Are Great, But…

Aug 18, 2014 | Writing

Writing groups are great – there’s nothing better than spending time with people who have the same desire to write as you do and understand the writing life.

Everyone brings something new to the table, whether it’s an opinion, something they learned in a class or at a writing conference, deeper insight into publishing – whatever it is, the takeaway can be extremely helpful.

But it can also stop some writers in their tracks. It happened just recently to a writer friend of mine. We’ll call her Zoe for the purpose of this post.

She was going full steam on a mystery novel that she was really excited about and having a great time writing. One week she decided to submit a chapter to her writing group for a critique and was very excited to get their input and reactions.

As expected, she got a lot of different opinions, suggestions, and ideas. Stimulated and motivated by all the helpful insights, she returned home with her notes and went to work on her revisions.

The next month Zoe resubmitted the revised chapter. A couple of members who were absent at the last meeting were present this time. Their critiques were in direct conflict with the ones she’d received the previous month, but they were just as strongly confident that their way would improve the book. And some of the members whose suggestions she’d taken didn’t quite care for her rewrites. They wanted it to sound their way. In fact, one went so far as to try to change her voice, while another didn’t like the idea of which character she killed off. Yet a third felt the body should be found already deceased because she didn’t like books with any kind of violence, and she was adamant about that point.

This all took a bit of a toll on Zoe. While she welcomed and felt initially stimulated by all the input, she found that when she was considering all the new suggestions, she started feeling confused and overwhelmed. She lost interest in the book and turned to an entirely different hobby for a while.

When she finally confided in me about her conundrum, I reminded her that this was her book and no one else’s. Everyone has an opinion, a theory, or a preference – even bestselling authors have their detractors. And some of them have dealt with editors who tried to change their voice or story direction as well. I told her she needed to weigh the advice she was getting and decide what worked and what didn’t for her manuscript.

You, as the author, have the final word on your manuscript. These are your characters, your situations, and your story written your way. Take the suggestions that work for your manuscript and discard the rest. People give lots of well-intentioned critiques, but the story is ultimately yours.

I’m happy to say that Zoe’s manuscript is back on track and now almost complete. Her enthusiasm has returned, and she’s learned how to manage the input she gets from her writing group members.

So listen to the critiques but hear them as suggestions, not definitive answers, and never let them get in the way of your writing. The most important opinion is yours.

Intention vs. Reality in Writing

Jul 17, 2014 | Writing

“But Your Honor, I intended to help that little old lady across the street. Her purse handle just happened to loop over my arm, and I didn’t realize it was there until I was several blocks away and that cop tackled me!”

Do you think any judge in the world would believe that statement? More importantly, do you think he even cares about the thought process or supposed intention the defendant had? No? Well, the same thing goes for writing – readers are your judges, and they don’t know or care about your intentions, they only know and care about what’s actually written on the page.

And since the only reality your readers know is what they read, you have to make your intentions perfectly clear in the written word. Readers can’t stop to think about what you Question_Guy may have intended when a scene or sentence doesn’t quite make sense or fit with a character’s personality or situation. Nor should they have to. And they’re not mind readers either.

Sometimes when we’re writing, we’re so in touch with our characters and their situations that we don’t clarify our intentions in a scene well enough.

Have you ever had a teacher whose lectures could only be understood by someone already knowledgeable in the field, while those of us on the “outside” couldn’t grasp their meaning? Or read instructions that skipped over the details and assumed the user would just “get it”? I think we’ve all experienced at least one of these things; personally, I’ve been on the receiving end of both. And it’s very frustrating.

Writers hire editors to take an objective look at their work before it’s published – at that point, the editor is one of your first readers, so if something is unclear or confusing to her/him, it will most likely be unclear to your future readers as well.

An editor’s job is to point out these problems within a story and suggest a better way.
A writer’s job is to take that point constructively and seriously consider the possibility that it needs modification in order to be easily understood or fit with the rest of the story.

But sometimes a writer is so married to their work that they become defensive about every line, even saying that they think readers will understand their intentions that aren’t written or just allow for incongruous scenes. If you, as a writer, hear yourself saying that, STOP. While the final decision always belongs to the writer as to how the book is written, it serves your book – and your readers – best if you consider the possibility that your intentions are not coming across in your writing.

The upshot: unless you’re writing experimental literature in which readers expect and want to spend time figuring things out, your words need to clearly convey your intentions, not suggest or skirt them.

Calling All Critiques: Third Week Wrap-Up

Jun 13, 2014 | Offers

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far in Calling All Critiques, whether you were a submitting author or a critiquer or just stopped by the blogs to see what was going on.

Second Week Visiting Winner

The second week’s visiting winner who either commented or followed one of the participating bloggers on Twitter is:

Alan Saxon

Alan, you should have received an email already. You have until Saturday to respond with further information for us to send you your prize. If we don’t hear from you by then, a runner-up will be chosen.

Query Letter / Book Blurb Random Winner

As a thank you to all the authors who submitted their work to be critiqued, we’ve randomly chosen one lucky winner who has a choice of the following prizes:

20-page professional edit/critique by Proof Positive OR
An author interview on the Proof Positive blog AND an author WIP Q&A on MM Jaye Writes OR
An honest review of his or her book (no horror/hardcore erotica) on MM Jaye Writes AND, if it’s speculative or dark fiction, Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews, with corresponding Amazon and Goodreads reviews.

The query letter / book blurb week’s winner is:

Entrant #6
M.W.

M., look for an email in your inbox later today. You have until Sunday to respond as to which of the three prizes you want. If we don’t hear from you by then, a runner-up will be chosen. Once you choose your prize, we will provide you and the blogger with each other’s contact information to coordinate timing.

Final Wrap-Up Next Week

The final week’s Rafflecopter random giveaway of two eBooks and a $10 Amazon gift certificate ends on Sunday at midnight, so give some feedback on one of the earlier posts and maybe win some prizes:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6928ae5/

One more shout out to the bloggers!

Don’t forget to give some thanks to all our participating blogs and bloggers:

Official Blog of Brian Basham – Brian Basham (Twitter / Wattpad / Facebook)
MM Jaye Writes – MM Jaye (Twitter / Facebook)
Quanie Talks Writing – Quanie Miller
Proof Positive – Christie Stratos (Twitter / Facebook / Google+)
Before Ink Dries – Mike Verbickas
Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews – S. L. Saboviec

See you again on Monday for the final wrap-up!

Calling All Critiques: Entry #8

May 27, 2014 | Offers, Uncategorized

Thank you to everyone who has shared their work for us to critique! We hope that our feedback is useful.

Also, please note that we still have spots open. Submit your first 500 words to Critiques@Saboviec.com for inclusion in this week’s blog posts. We need it by tonight at 8 p.m. if you want to be included tomorrow and spots are still open.

For critiquers (and if you’re an entrant and you critique, you’re a critiquer), feel free to enter our Rafflecopter giveaway. One lucky person will win a $10 Amazon gift card, an eCopy of It Ain’t Easy Being Jazzy by Quanie Miller, and an eCopy of Guarding Angel by S. L. Saboviec.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6928ae2/

Entry #8

*Author: Kim Johnson*
*Website:* http://kimcjohnson.wordpress.com/
*Title: Her Only Escape*
*Genre: YA Suspense*

The last place a senior wants to be cooped up is the career counseling office. But I like the quiet. I like the college posters filled with smiling faces. The stacks of possibilities filed in the cabinets. Even the obsolete typewriter. But most of all, hearing the tick, tick, tick, of the clock. A sound to drift to if I can stay undetected in the far corner.

Hunched over, my long hair drapes my face on my desk and I let my glasses dangle at the tip of my fingers.

*My legs flutter above ground, whipping high in the sky. I land. Move my feet sharply like scissors to complete an arabesque, dangerously close to the edge of the stage. With my feet perfectly on pointe, I arch my back, keeping the length of my arms straight. I’m dancing like my life is on the line – reckless chances. Maybe it’s because I know he’s watching me from the back corner. I dance faster so he doesn’t disappear, but my body is tiring. I stumble glancing in the shadows. He is gone. *

The bell rings and I jolt my head up. It takes a second to place myself. I wipe the drool from my mouth, and throw my bag over my shoulder. Adrenaline charges up my body, raising my energy beyond containment. I refuse to let anything stop me from dancing again. I swallow the pain choking up to my neck thinking about Michael. About his warnings. About him being gone.

I practically skip to the doors adjacent to the indoor weight facility at Eugene Highland high school. We use it as our makeshift studio. The first time I found out it, I stalked the dance practice through the window for weeks before I brought the subject up at home.

“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Mom said after I mentioned wanting to take up dance again. I did a double take, to make sure I heard her right. She repeated once more. Hearing it a second time, it stung like she slapped my face. Dad left the room to refrain from yelling at the top of his lungs.

I wanted him to. Just once lose it, in front of me. But he didn’t.

Mom continued, “I only mean, you should try something new, Samantha.”
My mouth still hung open a bit. What she won’t say is, *do something else*. *Anything else.* As long as it doesn’t remind her of Michael.

Mom is all about forgetting.

Shoving it down.

Burying it.

Dad usually gives in to Mom, but this was one thing he wouldn’t let be taken away from me. I found him upstairs, unpacking my dance boxes.

“For when you’re ready,” he said, before kissing my forehead goodnight.

And dance began burning in my heart again. Calling me to the floor. Gripping me until I couldn’t breathe. Till the only thing left for me to do was dance.

There’s more to critique!

After leaving your comments, you can head over to one or more of these blogs to see some more great entries:

Thank you to the entrants and the participants!

Calling All Critiques: Introducing Your Hosts

May 16, 2014 | Offers

As I posted on Monday, Proof Positive is part of the upcoming Calling All Critiques cross-blog event. Today’s post is to introduce the bloggers who will be participating, critiquing, and calling everyone they know to help support those brave souls who have shared their work. You can read more about the event here: Calling All Critiques: A Cross-Blog Event.

Meet Our Hosts

We have seven fabulous bloggers who will be participating in Calling All Critiques.

Brian Basham

Brian Basham Brian grew up and still lives in Va Beach, VA where he spends his time playing with his black lab, Saie, a.k.a. Inspector Puppy. In his spare time he plays softball, poker, and the occasional video game. Oh, and he writes too. You can read some of his stories for free at his Wattpad page. The first novel in his Virtual Wars series is going through edits and rewrites with no current release date announced. He blogs about writing, publishing, movies, and whatever else he feels like talking about at http://www.brian-basham.com/.

MM Jaye

MM Jaye is the pen name of Maria Messini, a bilingual Greek native who lives in Athens with her husband and daughter. She is a certified translator and also teaches the art of translation to young adults. Writing was Maria’s idea of therapy when, back in 2009, her spirits had temporarily nosedived, but she didn’t take it seriously until her first manuscript was completed last year. Since November, she’s been building her author platform aiming at publishing Fate Accomplis, her first contemporary romance, in the fall, along with Fate Captured, a prequel novelette. She blogs at mmjayewrites.com and myfriendsexcerpts.wordpress.com. You can also find her on Twitter @MMJaye or Facebook.com/MMJayeauthor.

Quanie Miller

Quanie Miller grew up in New Iberia, Louisiana. She fell in love with reading at an early age and spent most of her time at the Iberia Parish Library discovering authors like R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike (she was often found walking back home from the library with a stack of books that went up to her chin). She holds degrees from Louisiana State University and San Jose State University. She has been the recipient of the James Phelan Literary Award, the Louis King Thore Scholarship, the BEA Student Scriptwriting Award, and the Vicki Hudson Emerging Writing Prize. Her debut novel, It Ain’t Easy Being Jazzy, is a romantic comedy loosely based on her experiences living and working in Silicon Valley. Her first paranormal novel is called The New Mrs. Collins and is slated for a September 2014 release. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband and is currently, as always, working on another novel. To find out more about Quanie and her works in progress follow her on Twitter @quaniemiller or visit quaniemiller.com and quanietalkswriting.com.

S. L. Saboviec

Samantha grew up in a small town in Iowa but now lives in the suburbs of Toronto with her Canadian husband and expatriate cat. In her spare time, she reads, writes, and thinks about reading and writing—along with playing the occasional video game or eight. She’s expecting her first child in September, but pregnancy has only slowed her down a little; her debut release, Guarding Angel, will be available May 19th. She blogs speculative fiction book reviews at the Magic & Mayhem Book Review Blog and tweets about life and writing from @Saboviec.

M.G. Silverstein

M.G. Silverstein is a YA fantasy novelist and fantasy genre blogger. She is currently completing her second Bachelor’s degree in English (her first is in Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts). Her debut YA fantasy novel Elemental will be available in 2015.

Although she considers the Washington, D.C. metro area her favorite place on Earth—she isn’t ‘from’ anywhere. Having lived in 7 states, 14 cities, and 2 different countries, the only place she feels at home is when reading or writing fantasy. You can visit her at www.mgsilverstein.com to hear her musings on both the fantasy genre and writing a fantasy novel.

Christie Stratos

Christie Stratos is an editor and award-winning author who lives in the New York area and holds a degree in English Literature. An avid reader of all genres and world literature, Christie reads everything from bestsellers to classics and is always on top of current publishing trends and technology. In her spare time, you can find her playing French Horn for musicals, small ensembles, orchestras, and a 10-year-old community band for which she was a founding member. Christie can be reached through her editing business, Proof Positive, her author website and blog, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Only one week left until we begin accepting critiques!

While you wait, check out all the participating blogs and bloggers:

M.G.’s Fantasy Blog – M.G. Silverstein
Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews – S. L. Saboviec
MM Jaye Writes – MM Jaye (Twitter / Facebook)
Official Blog of Brian Basham – Brian Basham (Twitter / Wattpad / Facebook)
Proof Positive – Christie Stratos
Quanie Talks Writing – Quanie Miller

We look forward to seeing you back here in a couple weeks.

Any questions? Leave them in the comments!

BEA Synopsis Special!

Apr 16, 2014 | Offers, Proofreading

With Book Expo America coming up May 29-31, you’ll want to have your synopsis ready to hand out to literary agents during your pitch.

Proof Positive is offering a $1 per page synopsis proofreading special from April 16 through May 29. Proofreading includes checking for grammatical errors, spelling errors, and word choice.

Send your synopsis to ProofPositivePro [at] gmail.com with the subject line Synopsis Special, and you’ll receive a confirmation within one business day. Fast return guaranteed.

Proof Positive’s One-Year Anniversary!

Mar 27, 2014 | Proof Positive Updates

THANK YOU to all the authors who made Proof Positive a huge success in its fledgling year! You will be seeing some great changes in 2014 when the business expands and upgrades to add more services, including editing articles, resumes, video game scripts, social media posts, and more.

I am thrilled to have worked with the following authors in just one year, and I’m excited to add more to the list.

Joseph Murphy, author of the Activation series and the Sword of Kassandra series
Hanna Peach, author of the Dark Angel series and the Bound series
Patricia Childress, author of Jessie the Invisible (upcoming)
Jenna Lehne, author of Beautiful Malevolence (upcoming)
Kevin Zdrill, author of Crazy, Mixed Up World (upcoming)
MM Jaye, author of Fate Accomplis (upcoming)
Tory Gates, author of Parasite Girls love-of-books graphic
Judy Teel, author of the Cinderella Heiresses series and the Shifty Magic series
Dahlia Savage, author of Indiscretion and Graduation Day
Dawn Brazil, author of Finding Me (publication in April 2014)
Quanie Miller, author of It Ain’t Easy Being Jazzy and The New Mrs. Collins (upcoming)
Christine Warren, author of Honky Tonk Debutante
Milena Veen, author of Just Like a Musical
Charlie Moore, author of Against the Clock
Amy Wilde, author of White Bees
J.T. Twerell, author of Forever Yours (upcoming)
Lilian Roberts, author of the Immortal Rapture series
Sarka-Jonae Miller, author of the Between Boyfriends series
Tarra Gordon, author of Confessions of the Crow

I’ve enjoyed working with every single one of you and look forward to working on your next projects!

« Older Entries

Next Entries »

editing

Your Author Website Could Be Killing Your Book Sales

Superfluous Verbiage and Unnecessary Words

Go That Extra Mile!

Writing Groups Are Great, But…

Intention vs. Reality in Writing

Calling All Critiques: Third Week Wrap-Up

Second Week Visiting Winner

Query Letter / Book Blurb Random Winner

Final Wrap-Up Next Week

One more shout out to the bloggers!

Calling All Critiques: Entry #8

Entry #8

There’s more to critique!

Calling All Critiques: Introducing Your Hosts

Meet Our Hosts

BEA Synopsis Special!

Proof Positive’s One-Year Anniversary!

Our Website Got a Redesign!

How to Choose Comp Titles: Mix and Match Multiple Aspects of Your Novel

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