05

Dec

Editing: The boilerplate, the bold.

A first-time author once called some of my writing advice “boilerplate” which she could find “on any writing website.”

I can find the lyrics to “A House is Not a Home” on the web, but it doesn’t mean I can sing it well.

My critique of her introduction — that ten pages is too long, even for historical fiction — caused the season of her discontent. I get it: constructive criticism of your book is like getting a call from your child’s teacher. “Little Brian is a problem child. He could use some after-school tutoring at .012 cents per word.”

I told her to cut the froth: very, quite, feel, and a few other words we authors tend to think are important but really aren’t at all. Cramming the introduction of three to five characters into one scene was too much. Imagine a party where you meet five people in the span of ten minutes. Who do you care about and why? What if they leave the party shortly after meeting you?

If you’re feeling particularly wordy, give my “rule of thirty percent” a shot. What’s the rule of thirty? Do a word count on a particular section and cut it by thirty percent. You think to yourself “Brian, I can’t do that. (Enter scene/character/dialogue) is too important to cut.”

Be bold and try it. Reword your sentences to shorten them. Tighten your dialogue to show what the characters are thinking or doing rather than telling your reader what to think. Stop explaining everything and let your characters act it out.  FYI: Your prologue shouldn’t be longer than 3-5 pages. If it is, it should be a chapter, not a prologue. Hope this helps.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of acclaimed Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

562 days ago Short URL Comments

Writing and Editing

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30

Nov

How to plan a book wedding

I wanted to help plan my wedding. OK, not the flowers or colors. I didn’t pick the bridesmaid dresses. With some things, I asked “how much?” and passed off to my future bride. But I had a hand in the important things.

Planning your book release is a similar process. Start with choosing a relevant date. For example, I donate a portion of the proceeds from my first book to Relay for Life, which occurs in April. That enables me to push it in September (Prostate Awareness month — which is when I released it), October (Breast Cancer Awareness month), and April.

If your novel is a beach read or page-turning romance, release it prior to summer. Coffee table book? How about the holiday season? Coffee table books fit in stockings and taste better than fruitcake.

Next, have a launch party coincide with your release. You can do something as small as an intimate gathering at a library with small refreshments, or rent out a facility and cater it. Invite the media, book club members, and those who will support you.

With those in place, plan your deadlines backwards. According to Michelle Johnson at Lightning Source (the printing company for indies like me and about 30 POD publishing companies), books take up to six weeks to trickle down through online distribution channels (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.) Give yourself an extra week, just in case.

You will need a proof (an example of what your book will look like when it’s finished) to examine for errors. This is like the final fitting of a wedding dress — something you don’t want to skip. Take a week for this, which gives you time to receive it in the mail, read it, and correct errors, if necessary.

Unless you design book covers for yourself, lead times for cover design are a month, adding four weeks to your timeline. You can do this simultaneously with your editing, which takes a month as well. Interior design takes two weeks; when it’s finished, the spine of your cover will have to be adjusted.

Interior design (2 weeks) + editing and book cover design (4 weeks) + proofing (1 week) + distribution (7 weeks) = 14 weeks total. If you have a finished manuscript in hand that you intend to self-publish or indie publish, you’re looking at April.

Maybe you’re like a relative of mine who does not want to wait 14 weeks to get married (he’s wedding a woman, not a paperback). A shorter timeline means he will have to pay out the nose to do things quickly. You have the same options; most vendors and some self-publishing companies offer expedited services, but they’ll cost you. 

Hope this helps!

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of acclaimed Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

567 days ago Short URL Comments

DIY Publishing

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16

Nov

Do-It-Yourself: Why I D-I-Yed

About two years ago, I changed my life.

Call it divine purpose or destiny, but I was left at a crossroads with a decision. Either continue teaching, which I loved, or pursue a career writing full-time. Either required 100 percent dedication, and I only had 100 to give.

I tendered my resignation. Some coworkers still think I’m nuts. I did, too. One thing’s for sure: this wasn’t all about me.

With my first manuscript, I ruled out mainstream publishing. Entertainment is the only field I know of where an employer can legally keep 84 to 94 percent of your pre-tax income by claiming “you can do better with us than you could on your own.” Imagine your boss telling you: “Take an 84 percent salary cut. You can (enter your profession) on your own, but you won’t do as well by yourself.”

The math looked like this: my paperback book’s price point is $13.95. At 6 percent per book, that’s 83 cents per mainstream copy. To make my old salary, I’d need to sell 54,216 books. Not gonna happen, at least at first.

With self-publishing, there are good companies that don’t over-inflate costs, charge you for free services, and manhandle you on the back end printing charges. You almost never see advertisements for these places.

Eventually, I settled on do-it-yourself indie publishing. I like the idea of being my own boss, don’t you?

Great Nation Publishing is a business my children can inherit instead of a bill. Again, it’s not all about me.

I’m a bit of a control freak (OK, more than a bit), so total autonomy over my brand appeals to me.  The indie way is less expensive, equally as productive, and way more profitable (long run and short run) than self-publishing. That’s all it took to convince me.

It’s also in my heart to help other authors to effectively do what I do, in case they can’t tender their resignation yet.

Small business ownership is not all roses and candy. I wanted to quit doing it full-time as recently as this summer, when the lure of my old job literally called. I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t want to go back, but the majority of me knew it was the wrong thing to do. Again, God had His way and the principal hired someone else. If He hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been here for you.  

Yes, you who says some variation of “I feel like I have a book inside of me” to every published writer you meet. Call it divine purpose or destiny, but you’re at a crossroads where you either write this book or continue to put it off. When you’re ready, I’ll be here to help.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of acclaimed Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

581 days ago Short URL 2 Comments

DIY Publishing/Musings

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14

Nov

Don’t take it personal: Damaging the brand

FYI: I said “personal” not “personally” on purpose :)

I have strong opinions on many political and social issues, but you’ll never see them on my social media pages. There will not be rampant misspelled postings or off-the-cuff comments warranting a “sorry-if-that-offended-some-people” disclaimer either.

Learn a little lesson called “social media policy.”

But Brian, I’m a solopreneur! Can’t I police myself without a social media policy?

Honestly? No. Not if you sell yourself, instead of your company, as your brand.

Brian Thompson is my brand; Great Nation Publishing is my company. If Great Nation Publishing ceases to exist in 2012, (hopefully) Brian Thompson will be standing. You will find me to be personable, honest, and very much what-you-see-is-what-you-get. My business ventures follow suit. So should yours.

You have an opinion on the Penn State scandal, Occupy Wall Street, or the GOP debates — there’s nothing wrong with that. I do too, but I don’t express them online. Why? They’re irrelevant to my brand. Inflammatory comments pigeonhole your audience, and it’s difficult to distance yourself from offending people in a digital age where offenses live forever.

Someone I follow on social media recently made an offensive comment regarding a topic I take to heart. I almost stopped following him because the worth of his product was outweighed by the ignorance of the statement. You better believe your customers will do the same.

Now, I do post about life and my marriage, but I do it to build a relationship with my followers, not to vent. Besides, my wife reads my blog (hi baby!)

Think about your post before you post it. Think about it again. Consider it a third time. Remember: if you have a sudden stroke of conscience and delete it, it’s still out there. Don’t take your posts so personal.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

583 days ago Short URL Comments

Small Business Strategies

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09

Nov

Compelling characters create connections

Every author wants characters you, the reader, believe in, root for, love, or hate.

You want your reader to care about your characters, no matter how prolific or damaged they are, and you do that by establishing a connection between character and reader.

I’m willing to bet that most people who drive by a terrible accident are either irritated from the delay in traffic, or curious as to the extent of the carnage. Few feel more than that towards those involved because of a lack of connection with them. 

How do you build that emotional bridge? Here are two ways I found to be effective:

  1. Use a character profile. The one I use is LONG (about 250 questions), but the thought it provokes adds layers to your characters. For a copy of the one I use, e-mail me (brian[at]authorbrianthompson[dot]com) and I’ll send it to you. Add these details in sparingly, not all at once in an information dump, and it adds flavor to your cast.
  2. When creating your character, ask yourself “who cares?” Authors tend to think readers should care about our characters because we say so. Compelling characters create connections. Complicate his/her life en route to his destination.

Darrion James is the protagonist of my first novel, The Lost Testament. He’s divorced, financially ruined, outed as a mulatto passing for white, and is scheduled to be evicted in less than 24 hours. He boards a train and is robbed of his meager possessions. A mysterious passenger shows him The Lost Testament and she’s killed shortly thereafter. Now, suspecting he’s a fugitive, he is stranded in the segregated town of his youth. The only person he knows is his mother, whom he has not seen in over twenty years.

You still may not care about Darrion, but aren’t you interested to see what happens to him?

Give it a shot and let me know how it works out :)

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, and The Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

588 days ago Short URL 1 Comment

Writing and Editing

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07

Nov

Happy endings and loose ends in fiction

Last week, I wrapped up writing my 2012 release, The Anarchists. It’s the story about the impact of choice, and how four people decide the fate of the planet in the year 2050.

What I’m doing with it now is what I liken to post-production work on a film — adding in “effects,” and tying up loose ends.

Most of them, at least.

Fans of my book, The Lost Testament, usually mention one thing to me. I left a BIG plot thread dangling. Conversely, the end of my second book, The Revelation Gate, ties up pretty much everything.

My philosophy is this: life isn’t nice and neatly-packaged. You don’t always get “closure,” nor should you. My wife argues the same counterpoint: because people don’t always get closure in life, they want it in entertainment.

Do you want to be the “happily ever after” guy, or the “not everything gets resolved” guy?

Loose ends, or lack thereof, boil down to your characters. Mine are living, breathing organisms. They are selfish, loving, immature, brave, impulsive, and passive aggressive. Some of them are dynamic (they change); others are static (they don’t). You know both types — those who make the same destructive life choices no matter what and others impacted enough by the same choices and changed on a dime.

Do your characters deserve a gift-wrapped ending? Depends on their arc. What’s the point? If they seek redemption, maybe they deserve a happy ending, or at least the promise of one. On the other hand, descents into destruction are supposed to turn out badly. Let it make sense within the overall scope of your novel and never discount the value of a good surprise.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, andThe Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

590 days ago Short URL Comments

Writing and Editing

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02

Nov

Save time & money: Why you need a publishing mentor

I call myself a “publishing mentor,” and not because I like cutesy titles (I actually HATE them).

Authors interested in indie publishing (ESPECIALLY self-publishing) need information to successfully navigate the publishing process. You could use someone on your team who’s not trying to hawk their wares instead of offering you another, efficient, time-saving way, couldn’t you?

That kind of info costs time and/or money: spend money on the books and take time to learn it, or spend money to hire someone who knows their craft to teach you. There’s no way around both of those factors.

Third option? Spend WAY too much money because you don’t know what you’re doing. Many authors fall into this category.

Take my friend “Matt.” Matt self-published his book with a well-advertised press, who offered him $500 off on a $3,000 publishing package that, broken down to its base parts, should have cost him no more than $1,500. His book retails for $13.95, a price he cannot adjust.

He wanted to start with a 100 copy printing. The company extends him a 45% discount for author-ordered books; that’s 45% of $13.95 ($7.67) though it only costs $3.36 to print. For each book he buys and then sells, he makes a $6.28 profit (45%) while the company makes $4.31 (31%). Why is the company taking a 31% cut?

That’s how many self-publishing companies make their money. Trade paperback books cost .015 per page and .90 cents per cover to print (prices vary with different paper and hardback covers). That’s it. If someone is going to take 31% of your potential income, shouldn’t they have a good reason?

Matt didn’t know that. Depending on how many he orders, he’s taking anywhere from a  16% to 46% loss every time he buys a book and sells it. He knows better now.

After all that, you may choose to self-publish anyway to avoid the hassle of subcontracting work with different people. Indie publishing isn’t THE way to publish, it’s A way.

Let me show you the benefit of either. For a FREE 15-minute consultation about how to maximize your publishing dollars, e-mail me at brian@authorbrianthompson.com.

Brian Thompson’s passion is motivating and encouraging others to write and to pursue Do-It-Yourself publishing. He is also author of the Christian fiction thrillers The Lost Testament, andThe Revelation Gate. You can read more about Brian by visiting his author site.

595 days ago Short URL Comments

DIY Publishing

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