Cheryl Cowtan on Writing

#WRITINGTIPS : Carefully choose your comparisons to support the mood of your passage. In this quote from "The Captive Series Bundle (Books 1-5)"   by Erica Stevens and Leslie Mitchell - the authors have sacrificed the atmosphere of a battle scene by using comparisons the reader usually associates with positive situations. Running across the top of the battlement, Ashby moved swiftly through the soldiers trying to stop him. Ever whistling Ashby continued to toss them aside like discarded peanut shells. Realization settled over him as Jack finally understood what caused Ashby to become so ruthless. Melinda. How to Write it Better First, consider the mood you are trying to create. In this featured passage from "The Captive Series" : The situation is "war" The setting is a "battlement" The character is "ruthless" The action is "tossing soldiers aside" Based on the above information about this scene, it would be a...

     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...

Yes, I'm still on this image promotion gig. And why? Because I see authors using all forms of graphics to promote their books: postcards (for travel themed books) excerpts partnered with a relevant image quotes from the book partnered with a symbol/image book cover side-by-side with author photo The ideas are blossoming as technology allows us to share and view images easily. I will eventually create each of the above to show you examples, but for now, here's the BookBit. The BookBit The BookBit shares a "bit" of your novel with a relevant image. How do you make one? First, select a riveting, action-packed, emotional or otherwise compelling 100-200 words of your novel, and then find a image to increase the impact you hope to have on your reader. Finding images to match your excerpt can be difficult, especially if you cannot create your own and don't know anyone who can create one for you. However, if you search on creativecommons.org you can find ...

Get ready to post your manuscript pitches to eager agents March 10th. See details and rules at www.brenda-drake.com.

I'm not going to use fear language in this post because I don't think informed writers should be afraid. An ePublishing contract should address: The platform (print, or ebook or DVD) The term (how long) The compensation (how much) The scope (territory/area) When viewing an ePublishing contract (a contract between you (the author) and a publisher who will put your work online in ebook format), you need to consider a few rights. When signing away rights, you are agreeing to give the ePublisher certain access and ownership to your material. In a contract,  you "represent and warrant" (own) all rights to your original material. But you don't own all rights to third party material (quotes, images from third parties). These rights have to be examined before signing certain rights away to the ePublisher. An "out of print reversion of rights to the author" clause must be revised for an electronic book, which will never go out of print. Make sure the...

If you're a writer without an agent, you're probably spending way too much time searching for potential publishers. I search on google, I log on MS Excel. I have the skills to do it myself, but I have not been writing all summer. Why? Because I'm juggling the submissions of 1 novel, 3 short stories, multiple poems and a novella. It doesn't seem like much, but when you factor in the searching, the rejections and re-submissions, it can become quite time consuming. The second issue with google searches is the results are saturated with outdated calls for submissions. I read, I get excited and then buried somewhere in the text is the end date of the call. I have seen some that are five years old. I need to write - not spend so much time submitting. So the question is: Should I try an agent who will take approximately 14% of my royalties and might not even search and submit for me (not all agents perform those tasks)?  Or should I move to a query database online to ...

Internet saturation of your name and your profile is key to creating a strong author presence. Agents and publishers prefer authors who have already established themselves online--even before they have been published. You know the common drill: Author Website Author page on Facebook Goodreads Tumblr, Blogger, Twitter, Wordpress Group membership All of the above take some effort and take you away from your writing. Well here is a new way to promote yourself, to build relationships with publishers, get some free reading materials and become a recognized "professional reader" . NetGalley connects you to publishers who want you to review books that are soon-to-be-published.  Why would you do this? Free reading material It's a good way to get your name and possibly your Web site or blogger links out there Your blog or group will get reviews of great books before they hit the press (timely) You may be able to build relationships with publishers You get...

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...

Figment is a personal space that allows you to promote and showcase your writing, in groups, on the site and on your blog. The layout is very user friendly and easy to understand. I signed up yesterday.  I create a profile, joined some groups containing potential readers of my favourite genre for writing and then I posted a flash fiction. For you writers out there who are dying to get some feedback on your writing, there are a few things you can do. Have a friend read it. Or, post a synopsis on your Web site and hopefully receive some responses to your upcoming work. I did that at my Web site and I did receive some nice feedback. See how it looks using WIX gallery.  Another way, is to create some writing that showcases your style and talent and post it on Figment.  The Figment writing tool allows you to create a cover, choose limited styles of text and layout and then make it available to the many readers on the site. See my example below. Notice how many respo...

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...

Every author, every potential author, every wannabe author needs to have an internet presence that is appropriate and encouraging to publishers and agents. Blogging is good, but it isn't the end-all-be-all of your internet marketing. A blog is regularly updated, a Web site is static. The purpose of a blog is to share your writing, the purpose of your Web site is to share about yourself and your writing. You need a Web site: I know this because: agents will search your name before they consider taking you on as a client (read this article on agent feedback  The Write Life ) publishers want to know that you can implement and roll-out a marketing plan (which usually includes a web site, twitter, facebook, goodreads etc) ( Every Writer's Resource ) readers want to read more about you once they have read your work Other reasons? To market yourself To showcase writing that is not getting picked up by publishers To whet the public's appetite for your style ( exampl...

In a previous post, I submitted a link to a list of publishers at  http://myperfectpitch.com . It's a great resource that seems to be kept up to date. You can also narrow down the list by searching genre, which I did. The returned list of approx. 35 fantasy publishers included companies from the UK, Canada and the US. Almost all were active, and were accepting submissions. Awesome stuff. So, the next step was for me to match myself to the perfect publisher for my book. Clicking the links took me directly to the submissions page, which is very convenient. This page always provides all of the important details for authors on word count, formatting, submission requirements etc. However, I quickly learned that I needed to look at the publisher's entire site in detail for a number of reasons listed below: Book Covers cheap looking novel covers (cartoonish) out-dated looking novel covers (1950/60 style) novel covers with poor layout design (basics of design elements no evi...

I completed my high fantasy novel manuscript, The Precious Quest , months ago. Then began the submission process. I submitted the full manuscript to DAW Books. Why DAW? Because they were accepting complete manuscripts without needing a query letter or a synopsis. After DAW's rejection, I had to write a synopsis. The second submission went to Medallion Books. I loved the way they embrace technology and cross mediums for their clients. This one required a synopsis, which was harder to write than I thought it would be. However, I did it and submitted. And now I wait. Each publisher takes approximately 3 to 6 months to respond, and many do not take simultaneous submissions (submitted to more than one publisher at a time). That means, I'm doing a lot of waiting, when I'm really just anxious to see my novel published. So, am I tempted by self-publishing? Not a chance! Traditional publishers are my best bet for marketing and distribution. I want to spend my time writing more...

Thanks to an ingenious author, an updated database of publishers is available to you (and me) for free. http://myperfectpitch.com/fantasy-book-publishers/

Present yourself to your readers online by creating a multitude of professional profiles. Remember that whenever a reader hears of your book, reads a review on your book, or reads your book, he/she will probably search you online. Set up your profiles on the following: facebook which will give you a personalized URL  http://www.facebook.com/cheryl.cowtan LinkIn which provides a more structured, but more detailed space for your qualifications Google+ offers another place to have an online presence https://plus.google.com  Twitter  https://twitter.com/ All of the above will allow you to interlink between the profiles, which will attract search engine attention. Plus, you now have access to all of the potential readers and supportive writing colleagues, publishing houses and book reviewers.  facebook - over 900 million people twitter - 140 million active users Set up your profiles with pictures you want your readers to see. Make sure there are n...

What Motivates People Other people, of course!  So today, I want you to read through my contest blogs and follow the instructions. I want you to find a contest that matches a piece of writing you have sitting somewhere collecting dust. Then I want you to polish it according to the submission guidelines of the contest and submit to the contest.  Then, post everything in a reply to this blog. Tell me what you sent, where you sent it etc.  Looking forward to hearing from you. :)  Need a little more help?  Let's look at a contest together.  First, here is a list of Canadian writing contests.  http://www.canauthors-ottawa.org/contests.shtml From here, I'm going to choose Red Tuque Books because:  http://www.redtuquebooks.ca/RTevents/ShortStoryCompetition.pdf   I'm hopelessly patriotic I do wear Tuques The contest deadline is not over until December I have written short stories about Canada, and I am Cana...

How to Keep Track of your Contest Submissions Keeping track of your writing submissions is smart. Keeping track allows you to stay organized and on task with your submission strategy. You'll need to provide a list of published work to some publishing companies, you also need to keep track of your submissions so you don't double submit, or miss timelines. You won't always get a rejection, but if two months go by, past the publisher's response time, then you know it's time to submit that piece to another publication. Don't let your work sit and collect dust. Once you start submitting your work, you should keep track of the following: title of work submission date submitted to (URL to access site/publisher/magazine you submitted to) estimated reply time from publisher other details (contest closes, reading price paid, winning amount, accepts simultaneous submissions?) Outcome (published, rejected etc.) Make sure to keep track of published date (you'...

How to Choose the Writing Contest for You You can read many informative articles on this subject and those articles will tell you how to choose viable writing contests. Read that here: http://www.writing-world.com/basics/win.shtml I'm going to share experience. Step 1: Search google for "writing contests year genre location" For example: writing contests 2012 poetry canada. Add "online submission" if you want - see how that changes your results. The more you match your writing to the contest, the better chance you have of winning. For example: Live in Winniville, Winnipeg? Try a local contest instead of competing against the highly populated US of A. Step 2: Scroll down and eyeball the results. If you see a list of contests , open that in a new tab within the browser window . For individual contests that match your search, open them in new tabs as well. Step 3: Check the list of contests. Open all that seem to match your style (what you have written...

How Technology has made Writing Contests better for Writers Modern technology has made it so easy to find and submit to writing contests. Here's how: Contests are searchable online, which means a) contests are accessible, and b) contests can be narrowed down to fit your writing style, topic, geographic region, etc.,  Contest submission guidelines are available on Web sites, which means a) you don't have to write to the publisher for their guidelines and wait weeks/months to receive them. Previous contest winners and their work are often published on Web sites, which means you can read previous winners and see if a) your writing is good enough and b) you have writing that matches previous winner's style and topic. Contest submissions can be uploaded online, which means a) you don't have to print off your submission, b) you don't have to put out costs for envelopes and stamps, c) you don't have to figure out the ins and outs of international return stamps,...