Cheryl Cowtan on Writing

     As authors, we should know the power of words and how to use them. But sometimes, we haven't had the training, or we haven't read the works by authors who role-model literary writing through appropriately wielding literary techniques. Some influencers of writing cast a negative spin on literary skills, perhaps because they have not achieved them, do not understand the use of devices, or do not appreciate the deeper meaning literary writing can express. Whatever the reason, know that there are a multitude of writing techniques you can use to improve your reader's experience. Don't deny the power or ignore the influence you can have when drawing on literary devices. Here's one to try: Connotation and Denotation. Connotation and Denotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of words. Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the p...

While loading my novel, "Girl Desecrated" onto Draft2Digital , I was faced with the opportunity to change the price of my book for different sales regions. Meaning, I can choose how much my book costs in Sweden, and how much it costs in Hong Kong, instead of just allowing an algorithm to calculate $3.99 US into every other territorial price. As a Canadian who pays more than Americans for many things, this is a great feature. The algorithm default jacks up my book's US price of $3.99 to a Canadian price of $4.99. Well, I ask, why should those North of the border pay more for an eBook that has no tangible upfront costs to produce? And I say, Draft2Digital has given me the option to control the pricing, so I am going to price my eBook the same for American and Canadian purchase, eh? (We'll continue this train of thought at Tim Hortons, first thing in the morning). Controlling pricing is also good because there are a few...

1-2-3, 1-2-OMG! I finally did it. I purchased Scrivener. Now I have to hold onto my self-worth as I try to wrap my brain around the interface. I keep telling myself, so many experts can't be wrong , right? Surely, when I've mastered this program, I'll come out on top. On top meaning I will have a tool that will give me more functionality, save me more time, and overall, make me a more organized and efficient writer. Currently, I'm doing pretty good with a combination of MS Word and Excel, so this baby better be awesome to convince me to convert for long term.  So I start to learn it like I learn all things - jumping in with both feet. Click, click, click, click.... cli... That didn't work. So basically, I've purchased the Scrivener software that experts are saying is functionally amazing, but its user interface is so non-intuitive, I can't figure it out, and I used be an Internet Business Consultant. Surely my skills aren't that rusty...

   Many blogs, articles and podcasts address the reader's error in not following submission guidelines as the reason for rejection.  However, there are many reasons for rejection and one of those can be the writer's style.     A writer's style is affected by the writer's "voice" and how the writer puts sentences together. Style is specific to each writer, it's unique. But that doesn't mean it cannot be changed.     Writers change their style to target their imagined reader, and to mould their writing to the genre and the format.    According to The Writing Centre, you can improve your style by cleaning up wordiness, by reading out loud to catch awkward phrasing, and by focusing on meaning and tone.     One suggestion is to remove repetitive redundant words that mean the same thing. I could remove either one of the "r" words in the previous sentence without affecting the overall meaning.    If you are ...

I've been watching YouTube videos of authors, and I have to say, some videos made me feel closer to the author, some impressed me, and some made me wish I had never watched it. Presenting yourself in video can be a great way to connect to an audience. The question is, "who" do you present? Do you show them your funky, home personality, or dress up and be professional, or get quirky and align yourself with your genre? I think these questions have to be answered by the person filming themselves. Usually, I go for professional, but today I killed two hours (and cracked myself up) creating an instructional film called Don't be a You-Boob on YouTube   I believe this film might be the beginning of my author-platform evolution from words to video. Watch the film to learn and laugh about the many things (namely 10 ... or 11) that you can do to improve your YouTube production.

The Synopsis Often publishers and agents ask for a synopsis of your novel manuscript. The synopsis functions to provide the barebones information about your plot, character and the stakes of your story. It is usually no longer than one page, which is what makes writing it difficult. The synopsis includes what happens, so it's like a mini-arc of your story. We start here, this happens, we go here and then that happens and we end up there. The SynopSnip Creating a SynopSnip is much more fun, more visually stimulating and is for a different audience--the reader. Consider the SynopSnip to be a very succinct snapshop of your synopsis. It is also in a format that makes it easy to distribute on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter etc. Take a look at the one below to see what I mean. The Example: The Fergus She Novel: The Fergus She Characters: Rachel (protagonist) Scarlet (antagonist) Grafen (antagonist) Angus (love interest) Plot: Rachel is the victim of an ancien...

When a bookstore can't sell copies of your novel, the books get sent back to the publisher, who marks them with a dash, slash or smash and then off they go to a remainder bookstore like BookCloseOuts.com . Gloria Ferris signing  Cheat the Hangman As the author, you'll never see a penny from the remainder sales. However, if you offer to sign all copies at a bookstore, they will think you're wonderful, and your books may never be sent to remainder heaven, because publishers usually don't take signed books. Dianne J. Ferris signing The Purple Doll

As a new Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) author, I have learned a few formatting points that I would like to pass onto you. KDP requests that your manuscript be formatted in MS Word or HTML. If you are writing or revising your content in Word, like I did, you need to know the following: INDENTS: Don't use spaces or tabs. Use the "Paragraph" feature and "Indent" "First Line" by 0.5" or 1.27cm. Paragraph returns may not hold. Instead go into "Paragraph" again and set "After" "Spacing" to 10. Insert "Page Breaks" between chapters or text may run together on Kindle. Insert "Pictures". Don't cut and paste. Don't use Headers and Footers, or page numbers in either. Do use "Header" font formatting for your chapter titles as Kindle will turn this into easy-to-use navigation. Do insert a "Book Mark" at your Table of Contents and nam...

I self-published The "OpenYar Mouth" Health Care Lottery picture book in 2006. Today, I'm going to republish it as a Kindle book. I will blog as I go, and provide all the steps below. I’ve never done this before, so let's see how long it takes. 3:00 p.m.   Start! Go to Amazon.com or .ca and sign in Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the menu link ""independently publish with us" This takes you to the "Take Control of Independent Publishing" page which features three publishing options: Kindle, print and audio. For this adventure, I'm choosing Kindle. Read and (if you want) accept the terms. Update your contact information including your phone number (3:15 p.m.) Provide bank account information for the deposit of royalties (excited yet?) Once you save your bank account info, your publisher code will be showing at the left. Capture that and keep it somewhere.  Here is...

Make Book Trailers with Smilebox Authors started using book trailers to persuade viewers to purchase their novels in 2003. Though there are many programs you can use to create your own book trailer, each one requires different levels of expertise. For example: using MovieMaker or another film editing program would require more skill in film editing, and access to copyright free images and music. However, the benefits of using film editing software is the flexibility you have as a designer. If you don't have a lot of film editing skill, Smilebox offers a number of template designs that you can manipulate into a trailer. They also have two to three music choices and a fairly good music library to choose from for each template. The many choices of templates allow you to set your mood in the trailer using imagery, animation, colour and symbols. You can also add your own images. I made this book trailer for my novel "The Precious Quest" in about 2 hours. The novel is a d...