SLOG-Goals: Identifying Needs & Competition 1
This excerpt is from Success, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
“Write out your goal. What are the obstacles? What are the rewards? Is it worth it? Are you willing to pay the price? If so, visualize the rewards and get excited about it. Keep reselling yourself!
Go forward!”-Maxwell Maltz
Many identify goals automatically. For others, it is a chore. We encourage you to read our suggestions and try to implement as many as you can. Writing your goals will help.
Identify your long-term vision, and determine how you are going to get there with your short-term and long-term goals.
What is unique about your topic so it stands out from others on the market today? Work on discovering the innovative hook. Both fiction and non-fiction are written to niche markets.
Frequent bookstores and browse shelves to see what others are writing on your topic, what covers pop out, and what makes your project unique.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Books By Hills
SLOG: Success Tips
GLOG: Global LogLabels: book marketing, brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Saturday, January 31, 2009
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SLOG-Marketing Intro-2
This excerpt is from Success, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
You'll find it helpful to make a list of the following:
Who is your target market?
Who are your sub-markets?
List the type of stores and places besides bookstores where you can sell your book.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Books By Hills
SLOG: Success Tips
GLOG: Global Log
Labels: book by hills, book marketing, brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Thursday, January 29, 2009
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SLOG-Marketing Intro-1
This is an excerpt from Success, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
“We are all continually faced with a series of great opportunities disguised as insoluble problems.”
–John W. Gardner
Marketing begins at your book’s conception.
Whether a traditional publishing house, self-publishing, vanity press, or print-on-demand publisher produces your book, it is up to you to develop and implement a marketing plan. This includes research, analyzing, and knowing your potential audience; securing endorsements and reviews; arranging book signings and workshops; obtaining radio and TV interviews, promoting via internet; and getting your book into bookstores, specialty stores, and catalogs. You have to be willing to invest time and funds into promoting your book.
$uccessful authors have learned that writing their book takes 10% of their time and marketing it takes 90%.
Marketing begins as soon as you have a concept. It is easy for a book to be your baby. To be saleable, your book needs to be viewed by you as a product.
You are targeting goals, identifying needs, competition, understanding your target market, identifying where your product can be sold, your promotional campaign, distribution, publicity, and resources. As you see, marketing impacts everything!
If your goals are to write your book and give it as a gift to family and friends, then, you can bypass marketing. Otherwise, it’s imperative.
You may think the publisher will do all of your marketing. Change that thought. You will have to submit a marketing plan with your book proposal.
The $uccess of your book is impacted by how much time you spend on marketing. It is an on-going process.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Labels: book marketing, brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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Writing Tips--12 Steps to Start 2009
In addition to writing this SLOG--Success Log, I also write a column for Blend Radio and TV. The January column of Successful with Words is a 12-step marketing plan. You may want to check it out to use as a guide to start a marketing plan for the year.
As always, I appreciate your feedback and remember, you can sign up for our posts automatically and we do not share your e-mail address.
Maralyn D. Hill
Books By Hills
Labels: book marketing, maralyn d hill, SLOG, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Sunday, January 25, 2009
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SLOG-Submissions-POD 2
This excerpt is from Success, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
With POD publishing, you design the layout of your book--dropped caps if you desire, single or double space between bullets. It’s up to you. In many books, the first paragraph of a chapter is not indented, in many it is. A double space is called for when a time sequence or location is changed. Whatever you choose to do, be consistent.
We would do a disservice if we did not mention stylebooks. Many writers and journalists live by them. A better way of saying it would be: Many publications insist you write as indicated in a particular stylebook. If we were purchasing them, we would get the paperback editions as most are updated frequently. The ones we feel are at the top include:
The Associated Press Stylebook by Associated Press
The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Staff or
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage: The Official Style Guide Used by the Writers and Editors of the World’s Most Authoritative Newspaper, by Allan M. Siegan and William G. Connolly.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Labels: book by hills, brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, POD, SLOG, success, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Friday, January 23, 2009
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SLOG-Submissions, POD 2
You do not want your regular page numbering to start until the second section. Once you get to the page numbering menu, you will have to go to the formatting part to say from this section forward, or whatever term your software says. You can indicate where you want the page number inserted. If you are doing a POD book, it is better if the page numbering is in the center.
Do not hit enter at the end of a line unless it is the end of a paragraph.
When you indent, use the tab key and not the space bar.
At the end of a sentence, use one space after the period, not two like we used to use on a typewriter, for those of you who remember typewriters.
On one of your tool bars at the top of your screen, you will see a ¶ symbol. When you click on this symbol, all the formatting marks will pop up on your screen. It is somewhat overwhelming. It allows you to see when you have put two spaces at the end of a sentence instead of one, used hard breaks at the end of a line, or spaces for an indent instead of tabs. You’ll also be able to see page breaks and section breaks. There are many other formatting marks that show up. After the initial confusion, you appreciate what they reveal and help you correct your work. Then push the ¶ again and the marks disappear. If you print while formatting marks are showing, they will not show on the printed copy.
Careful formatting is essential for a professional book. Editors do not format unless they say they do.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Labels: brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, POD, SLOG, success, writing, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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SLOG-Submissions-Small Publishers, POD
The following excerpt is from $uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
When dealing with a small publisher or print-on-demand (POD) publisher, be sure to request their guidelines. If they are not specific, keep asking questions. Many prefer to handle your formatting and charge you. You will discover many of your own oversights if you can do some of this yourself.
When checking out various PODs, we got many different answers. What you send in is what you get unless you pay for additional services. Most of the companies had guidelines either on line or in the form of a book they send. Some are complete and some left us with many questions. The publisher we picked, Infinity Publishing Company, was complete, easy to follow, and detailed.
Some things you need to know:
- Know the margins recommended for the size book you are publishing (each company may have a slight variation). You will go to page set-up in the file pull down menu in Word. This page will allow you to set margins, paper size, and layout.
- Section breaks are important as you want to separate the beginning of the book with the copyright page, introduction, and special thanks from the body of the book. You must put in a section break. In Word you go to insert on your tool bar and indicate the type of break you want.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Books By Hills
SLOG
GLOG: Global Log
Labels: brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, writing, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Monday, January 19, 2009
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SLOG - Formatting for Submission - Exceptions
Now comes the challenge--the exceptions to the rules.
Some small publishers and magazine publishers have different guidelines.
We were sending numerous articles to one magazine that requested single spaced and just a hard return at the end of the paragraph. When we sent something to another magazine, we used the same formatting—wrong move, and major faux pas.
We sent a letter of apology and resubmitted, but this is not something we want to experience in the future.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Labels: brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, writers, writing, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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SLOG - Formatting for Submission - Page 1-2
This excerpt is from Success, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
The rest of page one and the entire document:
- One-inch margins.
- Justify to the left margin only, not the entire text.
- Double space text but not between paragraphs.
- Indent at the beginning of each paragraph.
- The header will continue throughout.
- When the dialogue changes within the text, be sure to start it on a new line and indent.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Books By Hills
SLOG: Success Tips
GLOG: Global Log
Labels: brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, writers, writing, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Sunday, January 11, 2009
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SLOG - Formatting for Sumission Tip 2
Page one of manuscript:
Publishers call this part a slug line, but we think of it as a header, since that is the software label we use to insert it. The layout is Name/TITLE (all caps) and flush right page number.
The CHAPTER NUMBER is in caps and then a long hyphen (two hyphens that will merge as one long one when you click ENTER after the last letter of the next word), and the TITLE in caps. This is approximately one-third of the way down the page.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Labels: brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, writers, writing, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Thursday, January 08, 2009
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SLOG - Formatting for Submission 1 - Title Page
This is an excerpt from $uccess, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
Most may think there is a standard way to format. To a degree this is true.
If you are going the traditional large publishing house route, the rules are simpler including a one-inch margin on all pages:
Title page:
- Word count, upper right hand corner (in Word, go to tools menu, then word count).
- Author name, address, phone, fax and e-mail go approximately 1 or 3 lines below on the left, if this will be submitted by an agent. If the author is submitting without an agent, it would go in the lower left where we show agent information.
- Title and Author centered on page.
Title BOLD CAPS on one line.
Author’s name centered below title.
- Put agent information in the lower right corner. If no agent, author information goes here instead of at the beginning.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Books By Hills
SLOG: Success Tips
GLOG: Global Log
Labels: brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, writers, writing, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Monday, January 05, 2009
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SLOG - Quotation Marks & Grammar Continued
Something else new is avoiding quotation marks to emphasize a word or phrase. It is now appropriate to italicize or boldface the word or phrase.
In three to five years, we will invest in an updated edition or a newer book, as we find it necessary to stay current with changing times and rules. Grammar does matter.
Another good choice is The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation by Jane Straus. At this point, Straus’ 9th edition speaks highly for its effectiveness. According to Mayra Calvani, author and reviewer from Brussels, Belgium, “Whether you’re a writer, editor, student, teacher, or simply someone who wishes to tune-up your grammar skills, this book will be an indispensable tool you’ll want to keep in your reference shelf. Most importantly, this is a grammar and punctuation book you won’t hate.”
The ultimate reference is
The Chicago Manual of Style. It is updated annually. An alternative is you can use if free for 30 days and then get a subscription. It has everything.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Labels: Authors, brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, writers, writing, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Saturday, January 03, 2009
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Happy New Year with Writing
We defined the term SLOG before to let you know it is our $uccess Log. We include excerpts from our book, Success, Your Path to a Successful Book by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.
Today, we are not including an excerpt but celebrating and wishing you a wonderful New Year.
We always enjoy feedback and questions.
Someone asked us our expertise with writing this book--it was easy--to help new writers. One of our Whatever It Takes (WIT) workshops is called "There is a book inside YOU!" We hope our SLOG and our book helps writers achieve this goal.
Be sure to sign up for a copy of our new posts as soon as they happen. We do not sell your names and you can remove yourself from list whenever you want.
Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill
Success, Your path to a Successful Book
Books By Hills
GLOG: Global Log
SLOG:$uccess LogLabels: book by hills, brenda c hill, maralyn d hill, SLOG, success, writing books, Writing tips
posted by Maralyn Thursday, January 01, 2009
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