indie writers | Painting With Light

Posts Tagged ‘indie writers’

What’s In Your Media Kit?

July 29, 2014

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For All Indie Authors
I thought I’d mention again the need for an indie author to have a media kit to properly position their writing. It works equally well for fiction or non-fiction … and these days it’s virtually a necessity, if you really want to do justice to your promotion efforts.

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A media kit helps establish the brand of an indie author … and, like any brand identity, it’s biggest benefit comes in helping others promote you and your book(s) the way you want them to. I talked about it last year in a blog entitled I Need A What?

The obvious items to include are your author bio, a book synopsis, contact information, any reviews you’ve received and a link to places to order your book(s).

You can also include extras like interview questions, or little known personal facts. There are even some indie authors who include short bios of their fictional characters.

Keep in mind the important audiences you want to reach. Your media kit should include something for all of them.

1. Journalists
Reporters, particularly those from community publications, are fabulous resources to help promote your work. You can do an online search to find the right contact at your local papers.

They will want high-resolution photos (300 dots per inch) that reproduce well. You can post and link to high resolution images on photo-sharing sites like flickr.

Since most journalists are usually working on a deadline, they will also want copy they can cut-and-paste into an article. That’s why your press information should be written like a news story, with the most important information first.

And, if you’re hoping to land an interview from a radio host, it’s almost a given they won’t have time to read your book. They’ll welcome … and even expect … a list of interview questions.

2. Bloggers
Even assuming they know about you or your books, bloggers might be on the fence about whether to write anything about you at all.

That’s where a page that includes an image of your book cover(s), pertinent information like pricing and ISBN numbers, and snippets from the best reviews you’ve received so far comes in handy.

Bloggers might also appreciate a quirky little feature within your author bio called “Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Me.”

For instance, here are some of mine:

1. I have walked on the Great Wall of China.
2. My ancestry includes a full-blooded Cherokee Indian.
3. There are 200+ old film cameras in my camera collection.
4. I have traveled in sixteen different countries.
5. My earliest known ancestor arrived in Virginia in 1635.

3. Reviewers
Most reviewers don’t look at a book unless they’re asked. So, write letters to indie-reviewers asking that they review your book.

Keep in mind reviewers are generally busy people, especially the Amazon top reviewers. They’ll want easy-to-find information like links to places where readers can buy your books.

4. Retailers
Some big retailers will tell you that they don’t carry self-published books. But there are books from indie authors (the preferred term) at my local Costco, so there’s an exception to every rule.

You’ll certainly need a “sell sheet” for the decision-makers who will ultimately decide if your book deserves a spot on their shelves. One of the most important items is a (preferably) already long list of what you’re already doing to market your book.

Before they take a chance on you, a retailer needs to know you’re already working hard to sell your own books. You can list things like book signings, blog tours, media campaigns, outreach to librarians, and even videos you’re uploading to your YouTube channel.

5. Event Planners
These include the people who plan writer’s conferences, hire speakers for conventions, and recruit experts to sit on panels and lead workshops. These are all opportunities in your publicity efforts, and you’ll want to have a “speaker introduction” inside your media kit, ready to go, to give them exactly what they need to introduce you to their audience.

Individual Buyers?
This is probably the one group with the least need for a Media Kit. But you never know when one of them might host a Google Hangouts page and want to invite you to do an interview seen by hundreds of people, and all word-of-mouth publicity is good.

Well, that’s it for today. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have pain meds to take so I can type a few more words on my next novel. See you again soon.

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You can find my books as eBooks or paperback on Amazon, or at Barnes & Noble. You’re also invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter…and, just for the hell of it, check out my Media Kit and let me know how I’m doing.

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Tags:award-winning author, book marketing, indie writers
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Independent Publishing, Market Your Book | Leave a Comment »

Who Said Write What You Know?

July 13, 2014

Write What You Know
Personally, I think that’s bogus advice without more explanation, but being told “don’t write what you know” might panic new writers, for two reasons:

First, like most of us, the very nature of our life experience necessarily means we know an awful lot (or think we do).

I’ve met indie authors who are still teenagers, some who are war veterans, professional actors, former psychiatric patients … and a few who are certified geniuses.

They are all endlessly interesting people and their lives are indeed brimming with uniquely compelling experiences.

Second, again like most of us, we’ve been encouraged for as long as we can remember to write that way. We’ve been told over-and-over by well-meaning, if misinformed, articles and teachers: Write what you know.

I don’t know the origin of that logic. A lot of folks attribute it to Hemingway, who is often quoted as saying:

“From all the things you know, and all those which you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing, truer than anything true and alive.”

But I don’t think he’s saying “write what you know.”

Check it out again. I think he’s really saying stories aren’t about actions or things directly from your life.

Stories are inventions drawing upon experience of all kinds … some directly from life, some inferred from the good writing of others, and still others dredged up from our well of imagination.

Stories are things and actions unto themselves.

Write what you know. Without the further explanation that it’s the invention you bring to your writing that’s the difference between fiction that matters only to those who know the author, and fiction that … well … matters, is no explanation at all.

That’s a shame, because it’s only the characters we create … those constructions of imagination that transcend our biases, agendas, memories and egos, that can stand the test of time.

Remember
For your characters to actually seem like people, you have to give them traits your readers can identify with for the story to work. All of your readers have experienced love, fear, hate, envy or curiosity, just as you do.

You may have your characters believe their ailments are caused by evil spirits, but they still should feel the same pain, fear and anxiety we all do, if you want them to be believable.

When you write, trust your powers of empathy and invention. Trust the examples of authors you love to read and trust that your craft, when braided with compassion, will produce stories that matter … both to you and to readers you may never meet.

So, take what you know and filter it through your imagination … and through the knowledge you’ve gleaned in your own reading, research and life experience.

The next time you hear “write what you know,” you’ll realize you know an awful lot about what matters most in a story’s success.

It’s only waiting to be shaped by your imagination.

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I recently received the Kirkus Review for my novel REICHOLD STREET: Skillfully written and emotionally charged!
Read the full review here.

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Tags:award-winning author, award-winning writing, indie writers
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Storytelling | 4 Comments »

How Do You Excite Readers?

June 24, 2014

An excellent question.

Regardless of the genre in which you write, the best way to make your stories come alive is to write exciting, clear, descriptive prose and believable dialogue.

If that sounds like work, I suppose you could always try what I described in my last post. Grab a bare live electric wire … and hope you live to tell someone about it. It was definitely exciting.

However, it’s not something I would recommend.

I was fortunate to have only brushed the bare wires, not grab them … which could have created a whole different and, in my view, quite unwelcome outcome.

My brush with electrical stupidity didn’t mean the big nasty that electrocution could be … it just threw me to the ground and caused me to make a complete tear of the rotator cuff ligaments in my left shoulder.

The orthopedic surgeon figures with a couple hours of surgery, six weeks of immobility and months of rehabilitation, I’ll be something (hopefully) approaching normal again.

Given my history of normal, that could scare some people.

I’ve been through a similar scenario once before and remember the weeks of discomfort it meant. I’m not looking forward to it. The good news is I recovered … and I can now tell when the weather is going to change by the ache in my arm.

I also once broke the elbow in the same arm, trying … and failing … to prove I could still play football with seventeen-year-olds. I can’t, but at my age that’s not a bad thing. Is it?

I figure with this latest injury I’ll at least now have the weather-change info in stereo.

Unfortunately, it also means my writing and typing process is considerably slowed. I’ll be forced to type with only my right hand. I know for many this isn’t a problem. I’ve seen some of you type, and you’re only using a couple of fingers anyway.

But for me it’s a real problem. I wanted to get the third book of my Reichold Street trilogy published before the end of the year. Certainly by the first quarter of 2015.

And I do know how to type, so this slows me down considerably. I’ve already thought about recording my thoughts and transcribing them later but, while this is a good way to review my work, I find it cumbersome to begin that way.

Perhaps I should use this time to do some of the things I’ve been meaning to do … like go to book-signings, visit reading groups, talk to classrooms and generally get out and hobnob with some of the folks I’d like to reach with my books?

Perhaps I could do a reading for some of them and talk about how I come up with ideas?

Without both arms to gesture with as I talk, I’ll effectively be whispering … but, perhaps, they’ll pay more attention that way.

What do you think?

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