Entries Tagged 'How to write' ↓

Book Launch event update.

Two days to go now and we’re rounding up all the things we need for the launch on Wednesday.

Collecting the book itself tomorrow – WOW – I know I saw the proof copy but this will be the real thing.

The printer was telling me about one of his friends who saw the book in the proof copy and wanted to know when he can buy it.  Soon as we launch, it will be available from the website, www.writerslittlebook.co.uk

There are all sorts of things over there now with some video, me on camera, I hate it! Plus you can now follow me on Twitter and we’ve set up a ning group.

So head over there – once the launch is over then we can pay more attention to the online stuff.  Lots of ideas, lots of plans with two more books in process, another product ready for production, and an audio product in creation.

Costs you nothing to join the Writer’s Little Book Club and it’s the only way you’ll hear about what we’re planning!

Come and join us and see how we can help you with your writing.

We’re making progress every day towards the launch on 28th January.

If you’re in the Nottingham area and would like to join us at the event, go to www.writerslittlebook.co.uk and request an invitation.

I’m publishing the book myself because I believe that with the digital printing revolution and the rise of social media networking for businesses,  that’s the way ahead for many authors.  That’s what we’re going to help promote in the Writers Little Book Club and offer training to show you how to do a great job with your book.

All our training and other things we offer via the Club will be as practical and down to earth as we can make them because I believe that small steps work, encouragement is vital and passion is where we begin.

Come and join us for the launch or at the club.

We’re going to have some fun with it and we’d like to share it with you.

When I worked at a medical equipment company and we designed and took to market 7 products in 5 years.  My boss always said it was the last 5% of a project that was the hardest to do.

That’s because the enthusiasm takes you so far, then you knuckle down to improve it.  But the final little polish… that can be the really tough part.  It’s where many people fall down because they want stuff to be perfect.  And it should be as near as possible.

Better though that it’s out.

We’re in the last 5% polishing stage of the producing the Writer’s little book… with Big Ideas.  And we have a printer’s deadline staring us in the face.  So we’re having to gather up all our resources which I have to admit pre-Christmas break are fading.  We’ll do it though, then we can relax over Christmas and look forward to the launch in January.

The website is up now though we haven’t finished the back end yet and we’re like swans paddling madly.

If you’ve ever been in that situation you’ll know what I’m talking about.

The bottom line  though is that the book is done and that come January it will be out and we can look forward to the next one.  (Just in my head at the minute but soon to be on the page).

The Writer’s Little Book team got together for lunch yesterday to plot and plan some more things to offer, like training and videos.

So look forward to more reports of the book’s progress after Christmas and an update of this site.

People ask me where I find my inspiration when I’m writing for myself and for clients.  Well the answer is

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I was chatting yesterday to a couple of other writers like us.  It’s good to exchange ideas and

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The thing about writing is that we’re never done learning.  Not merely about how to write in a clear, concise and understandable way but also

to write to achieve the result we want.

I’ve been nagged to turn the workshop manual from recent training into a guide for others.  Which is what I’m working on right now.

So if you have problems with grammar, layout or any other issue in managing a writing project this guide may be right for you.

It will be up on the site in the next week so keep a look out.  There’ll be a summary of what’s included so you can check before you purchase.

It doesn’t pretend to be a complete grammar – just looks at some basic mistakes.

It doesn’t pretend to be a complete guide – that would take years and be out of date as soon as published.

It’s my honest look at the way we manage our writing and how to improve it.

Hope you’ll like it – the workshops were successful with a diverse group of people so I’m obviously on the right lines with what some people need.

Last week was so busy with keeping up with client work and delivering the workshops.  I came to some interesting conclusions

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Yesterday I gave the first of three workshops to a company about how to write better.

One of the things that I covered were confusions in grammar of which there seem to be many.

These are three that seemed to be tripping people up.

1. They’re/their/there
2. Where/we’re/ware/wear
3. And the dreaded apostrophe

The first two are similar in that they’re similar sounding words.  The problem when working in Word is that as long as you spell the word correctly, it won’t pick it up as a mistake in Word spellchecker.

The dreaded apostrophe, or the greengrocer’s curse is so far down the road to acceptance with incorrect use that sometimes I think we can’t retrieve it.

The basic rule is that is stands in for a letter or letters that are missing:

It’s a lovely day today originally started out as It is a lovely day today.

It also shows up if something belongs to someone/thing:

The basket of the dog or the dog’s basket. Or – the book of John of John’s book.

In the case of the possession it’s a less cumbersome way of expressing the same fact.

I’m giving two more workshops so I’ll let you know next week what else other people found tricky.

How to write a book proposal 6

What type of book are you writing?

I spent about an hour in a bookshop recently with a client who has started to write a book.  We were looking for…

some inspiration on how her book would look when it was finished and where in the book shop it would sit.  It’s always time well spent looking at the market segment your book fits into.

And as I’ve said before publishers will begin with that.  It’s almost like Tesco taking on a new product and deciding what part of the shop it goes into.  If you’re selling a new type of yogurt then it wouldn’t be much use putting it with the wines.  It might be found there but it wouldn’t sit well in that section.

And taking the yogurt example further, whenever you look at that section it’s crammed with everything from plain(several varieties and styles of plain) to yogurt with extra elements attached to it.

So is your book of the plain yogurt variety, a black and white book with basic layout with down to earth text, maybe a how to guide.  Or is it a yogurt to attract the young, sassy market who pick out things as much for the design on the pot as for the contents?

For sure it can’t be both.  Trying to please all segments of the market can generally be doomed to failure.  There’s always an exception.  But it’s best not to count on yours being that exception.

To go along with that is the treatment of your topic.  Is it that down to earth book aimed at beginners.  Or a more advanced approach catching in some of those with experience.

All the blog entries I’m writing for this thread are pushing you towards the same thing.  Clarity and focus about what you’re writing.  The more you can present a coherent approach to a publisher in your proposal, the more likely they are to accept it.

Next week.  How to work out your contents list when you haven’t written your book.

How to write a book proposal 5 – What’s a feature

We’ve covered the three key factors you need to concentrate on.  Preferably before you start to write.  It’s not critical if you have already started but bettter if you haven’t.

Now let’s take a look at a vital subject many writers ignore – even professional ones.

Features and benefits

This article may be aimed more at writers of non-fiction than novels but it won’t harm to find out if you don’t already know.

Features and benefits are drummed into anybody who writes for business.  Or at least they should be.  Because knowing why they’re different and how you can use them are the cornerstones of most advertising.

Let’s take a look at them as far as books are concerned.

Features of books:

• They have specific measurements eg 10 x 5 or 8 x 10 or 6 x 5
• They may be a softback or a hardback
• They contain words, drawings, photos, illustrations, tables, graphs etc
• They have information about the author

Benefits of books:

• A soft back book measuring 7″ x 4″ is small and light which means that it will fit in your pocket or bag
• A hardback is not easily damaged
• From books you can gain information about subjects which you need to pass exams, gain ideas and find your way
• Knowing about the author means that you can judge if they are an expert on their topic

As well as benefits there are deeper benefits.

From passing exams or gaining ideas you can improve your status and income, you can gain courage to transform your life or support you in your current situation.

Thinking about the features and benefits of the book you want to write can help you gain a clearer understanding of its purpose and how to design it.