book, writing

Writing From A Child’s Perspective

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

I’ve never written a children’s book. However, I recently got an idea for one. The information I gathered about writing one may interest you:

  1. Begin your book with a simple, fun idea.
  2. Write from a child’s perspective.
  3. Some stories may address a child’s fears or doubts. 
  4. The most popular children’s books for MANY YEARS are those about bedtime, ABC’s, and the farm. Christmas, Easter, and Halloween books are perfect for gift-giving.
  5. Start with a relatable main character—one with flaws, strengths, and perhaps even sometimes special powers.
  6. Take the character on an exciting journey that leads through conflicts to a satisfying conclusion.
  7. Keep your book to no more than 30 pages.
  8. Remember that rhyme and repetition are the hallmarks of children’s books.
  9. Make sure the story is easy to follow—with age-appropriate vocabulary that elicits an emotional response.
  10. Be mindful of what you want readers to know and how you want them to feel at the end of the story.
  11. You’re going to need lots of illustrations. Probably on every page. It’s expensive, folks!
  12. By the way, there are quite a number of companies who offer book writing templates, making it easier than ever to write a children’s book.

**Note: Most of these ideas came from the REEDSY DISCOVERY Blog and www.thewritepractice.com **Next week, I will focus on finding a capable and affordable illustrator for a children’s book.

The Going Rates

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

I recently had a request to ghostwrite a memoir. While I was considering the offer, I checked to see the going rate for such an endeavor.

You might find it interesting that ghost-writing rates vary. For 2023, they were between $12K to $42K for biographies and memoirs; $1,500 to $5K for children’s picture books; $6,500 to $26K for action and adventure—all of which depend on genre and expertise of the writer.

If you need a writer, you must decide if you want to self-publish your book or go through a traditional publisher.

If you self-publish your book, you must pay the cost of a ghostwriter whereas a traditional publisher might cover that fee for you.

Remember, there are other costs involved in publishing, such as transcription, editing, interview-related activities such as travel and legal agreements. Cover design, formatting, and a host of other fees will typically apply.

If you have knowledge that will help others or an interesting story to tell—and if you lack the writing skills necessary to do your own work, hiring a ghost-writer just may be the way to go.

If your budget allows, that is.

Throw in a Little Swag

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

There were 690 words added to the dictionary in September! Why is this important for authors? 

If you are writing contemporary fiction, it is good to use contemporary words. And, if you’re not, then you should refrain from using them. This would be especially true if you write “historical.”

So, I have decided to read through the list of words (you can google them) and their definitions and select ten of them to use in my next book. I intend to use them in much the same way that writers use words in different languages and still get the meaning across to their readers.

A writer-friend read one of my critique group submissions. She suggested that instead of saying that my character received “freebies,” that I use the term “swag.”

Chances are my readers might not have heard that term. So, I will get the meaning across by using context clues. Here’s my example: When people pay two-hundred dollars for an hour long hot-air balloon ride, they expect to get a little swag thrown in. That little enamel pin and glass of champagne only costs us sixty cents, but goes a long way toward good PR.”

So, I have used the new slang word, “swag” in places of “freebies” and then continued the paragraph with another example so readers can deduce the meaning.

I hope you google this list of words because chances are you’ll choose to use some of them in your own reading and writing.

Discoverability

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

For the last few weeks, we have been talking about keywords and categories—and why you might want to change them.

I was contacted by someone this week who also republished his books with new covers and titles in order to garner more sales. He said it was well worth it.

However, if you want to save that time and expense, let’s review what you need to do in order to begin where you are and go forward.

Many readers want to “follow” an author. Others like to read “books in a series.” 

So, make sure there is a similarity in your book titles. I wrote a series a few years ago in which I used all titles of children’s games: Simon Says, Truth or Dare, Tug of War, and Cat’s Cradle. Sadly, these titles may not have been related enough. 

If I were creating titles, now, I would make sure that one or two of the words are the same in each title. For instance,  Playing Cards; Playing Sports; Playing Instruments. These aren’t intriguing. That’s not my point here. I am simply showing that just by using one or two identical words, the titles show readers these books are in a series.

Covers are much more obvious because we have all seen many examples of these. Even if you are not writing a series, your covers will help your discoverability if they are of a similar color and font. Or, you might have a similar landscape, romantic hero, or murder weapon on the cover. It will be easy to tell they’ve all been written by the same author.

Finally, let’s talk about branding. It you want to sell more books, it will help if you find one genre you like to write and stick to it. For example, A. Author, Writer of Extreme Gore. Though each book has a different story, as long as they contain “extreme gore,” your readers will be able to “find” you. 

Are Re-covering, Re-branding, and Re-titling good options for boosting book sales? I believe they can be. But if you’re not looking to do all that work and spend all that money, simply starting fresh where you are right now, may prove to be the perfect answer for you.

Three Changes in KDP

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

There are at least three recent changes within Kindle Direct Publishing that may prove helpful.

First, there is a new version of KDP reports that allow you to gauge real-time book sales, compare performance of your titles, and estimate royalties.

Second, there is new feature “Marketing” section that has quick links to Amazon Advertising, Author Central, KDP Select, and Price Promos. They’ve also added a new tool called “Kindle Deal Nomination.” Once you sign up, and your nomination is accepted, your kindle book can be featured on the KDP website for an indefinite amount of time at a discount. (You can nominate 2 books at a time and re-nominate your book every 90 days).

Finally, they’ve made it easier to arrange your books in a series within KDP. You no longer need to reach out to customer service to do this for you, saving you a lot of time. 

I hope you’ve found the past three weeks of information about the Amazon changes helpful!

Two Changes to Author Central

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Let’s focus on two of Amazon’s changes to Author Central this week. 

In the previous system, it was difficult for authors to locate every format of their books to update the product descriptions. But, with Amazon’s new changes, each book format visually stands out when a title is selected in the author’s account. This is true for Kindle and paperback versions as well.

A second change enables authors to create “Author Pages” in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, France, and Japan. Authors can also use multiple foreign languages to create/add bios.

Next week, I’ll delve into Amazon’s recent changes to Kindle Direct Publishing.

A Little Good News

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

If you haven’t launched a book in the last month or so, you may not be aware that Amazon has made some changes. I am no expert on these. In fact, I am only now digging into them and their meaning for authors.

I am talking about the changes for Amazon Advertising, KDP, and Author Central.

I will begin with what I am reading about Amazon Advertising. Then, for the next two weeks, I will cover KDP and Author Central changes.

Most authors know about sponsored ads—that expensive real estate at the top of Amazon search results. The change here is that the playing field between publishing houses and Indie authors has just been leveled for those who have three or more books on Amazon. Those Indie authors who do—and can pay the hefty price for the ad—may now buy a sponsored ad.

Next, the addition of Negative Product Targeting gives greater control to limit losses from Amazon’s automatic targeting algorithms. This feature improves profitability for author ad campaigns. (I am still in the dark on this one, but you can bet I’ll be looking into it.)

Amazon has a new ad capability in which authors can buy international ads in 8 countries. The example that is given is the BUY NOW button. So, if you advertise in markets other than the US, you’ll really appreciate this.

Finally, if an author is enrolled in KDP-Select, they get compensation for pages read. With the new changes, Amazon will now measure the performance of Amazon ads on e-book page reads and royalties.

Again, it sounds like Amazon is opening the door for the success of its Indie authors like never before!

Scam Alert

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Our computers are smart.

They are also tricky, conniving, and misrepresent just who is behind those messages that have begun to sneak into my Inbox.

This week alone, I got three emails with logos and titles representing writing/publishing groups—ones I’d never heard of before.

The little crawlers can see what I have written, what I purchase, what information I am looking for, etc. Then, the people behind them, create fake websites and offer either free or deeply discounted services and products for authors.

Before you agree to anything, check out the names behind the logos and business names online. More often than not, a SCAM ALERT will come up. And, if it doesn’t, give it a day or two and check again. It could be that other authors/writers have been scammed by them and it is only now beginning to show up.

Writing Prompts

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Do you want to write, but are in need of some good ideas of what to write about?

Some authors have notebooks full of ideas and some are even wanting to sell their ideas to you!

A few days ago, I accidentally came across these online. I did NOT look at them due to time constraints, but thought you might find one or more of them useful.

 500 Writing Prompts by Piccadilly 

1000 Creative Writing Prompts by Bryan Cohen and Jeremiah Jones

Prompt Me: Creative Writing Journal and Workbook by Robin Woods       

A Year of Creative Writing Prompts by Love In Ink

****There are dozens more to choose from when you put Writing Prompts in your browser. 

Try These!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

Each day I receive a listing of new books free or for purchase. I enjoy looking at their covers, reading their summaries and titles.

This week, I saw a couple of really quirky titles that made me think of a website I saw last year which has a random generator of title ideas that are what I’d call “Far Out.” Most of them make no sense and I was certain that no one would really use one of them—until I saw a two titles this week that actually sounded like they must have come from there.

If you want to spend an hour or two (I say this because you’ll get hooked on reading them and won’t be able to stop laughing) I have given you links to some of these below.

Whether you actually want to use one, or will be reading for the entertainment value alone, they are well worth checking out!

www.semrush.com/goodcontent/title-generator

ahrefs.com/writing-tools/seo-title-generator

www.wix.com/tools/title-generator

www.title-generator.com

www.developmenttools.com/title-generator

tweakyourbiz.com/title-generator