Category: Writing Exercise

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Ready to talk blurbs?

Because stringing together 40 thousand, 70 thousand, or even 100 thousand words is not enough. Nooooo. Now you must condense your story to a marketing hook of 600 words or less.

And I am not talking your elevator pitch to sell to a publisher, though this is related. If you choose to self-publish, you will need to create a book blurb. Since you are acting as your own publisher, you need to do the marketing too.

The first interaction of your book with a potential reader is the cover. People really do judge a book by its cover, and you can find out more about this under my blog on Cover Art here.

Now that the reader has either picked up your physical book or clicked on the thumbprint, they are going to look at the blurb. Congratulations, you have reach stage two of the marketing interaction with your potential paycheck.

I know, “paycheck” sounds crass – but that is what this is about. Getting paid for the hundreds of hours of work you have done on spec. Call them client, customer, reader, consumer – at the end of the day, they are the food on your table and the roof over your head. Otherwise you will be working for “exposure” – the frostbite in the winter and the sunburn during the summer when you don’t have a roof over your head.

Now to grab that walking meal ticket with the “blurb”. One to three paragraphs telling people how your manuscript is like everything they like to read, and then one hook telling them how it is different.

Here are some example blurbs I wrote based on books I have read.

“For Emily, the Zombie apocalypse was just the beginning of her problems. Then Death came to collect her, but lost his horse on the way. Now both of them are walking back to find the afterlife through a zombie America. Road trip anyone?” (Things to like – main character is female, Zombies, Death with a touch of humor, urban fantasy. Hook – follow the journey.) The Company of Death by Elisa Hansen

“New writer Sam Worth’s debut YA novel marries her well-know fanfic style with an original world of her own creation. Discover a world where everyone has powers, but none of them are the same. Getting the book report in on time gets complicated when abilities start manifesting.” (Things to like – new author to discover, YA, someone you might know if you like fanfic. Hook – being in school when powers come out.) Book will be unpublished; the author has decided she isn’t ready yet.

“In the manner of Douglas Adams, The Last Volunteer is comedic science fiction at its best. Bip is volun-told to warn the world about The Massive Ball of Death. Crossing the Plains of Forever Cold, the Oceans of Large Monsters, and infiltrating the Country of the Mad Emperor is far more than a simple stroll in the park, and Bip has an aversion to exercise.” (Things to like – comedic sci-fi genre; Hook – main character is lazy?)  The Last Volunteer by Steve Wetherell

“A cross between the Hunger Games and the X-Men, Storm Forged is a YA superhero story in a dystonian world.” (Things to like – Similar to things I already like, superhero and YA. Hook – none stated, bad publisher. See the full blurb. It does have a hook, but buried three sentences from the end.) Storm Forged by Patrick Dugan

When writing blurbs you can focus on you as a writer, your style, your genre, the plot, or who it might appeal to.

Once you have a couple of blurbs that you think work, test market them. Does it appeal to members of your target audience? Does it appeal to a broader audience? If you are fifty-something and writing YA, you need to verify the blurb appeals to both the YA readers and the YA buyers – ie, the teenage readers and the parent buyers.

Blurb writing is like cover art – they are both specialized and stylized versions of their creative parents. People may be good at writing and need someone else to write their blurb, just like an watercolor artist might be better off paying for art from a superhero illustrator when writing a supervillian romance.

WRITING EXERCISE: Take you present WIP and write two blurbs for it with different focuses – one concentrating on selling it through genre or a comparison to other products out there and the other focusing more on the manuscript. Show to five people and see which one appeals more. Ask them why – but don’t argue. LISTEN. This is about selling to people you might never meet.

READING EXERCISE: Explore blurbs. Choose three genres and crawl through your favorite bookseller online or in a brick-and-mortar. Pick up three books of each genre – try to have them from different publishers as a publisher will often have one or two blurb specialists. What things do the books focus on with their blurbs? (the writer, the genre, like products, the plot, etc) On a four point scale, how much does the blurb sell you the book (do not take into account the cover) – 1 – no interest/not going to buy; 2 – might buy if had more money, time, and a smaller to-be-read pile; 3 – going to save up money and come back, someday; 4 – buying, going to walk out of the store with this book.

BONUS EXERCISE: After reading a book, write a blurb for it without looking at the original sales blurb. Now compare. How is your focus differ from the original? How do you think it changes the sales approach? (Extra – you can post that blurb you just wrote as a review!)

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One of the first marketing decisions you will make is naming yourself.

Your parents hopefully chose you a good name, one that fit both the baby in their arms when they picked it and the person you grew up to be. But that name might not work for writing for a number of reasons – it is not unique, it is too unique, it is difficult to spell or doesn’t follow normal spelling rules for names, or just doesn’t match the genre (for example, if Rainbow Rowell wrote Horror instead of Young Adult).

In the “not unique” category. I have a funny story. Elisa Hansen ended up releasing The Company of Death post-apolocylitic fantasy within half a year of Elisa Hansen releasing The Days of Reign post-apolocylptic fantasy; the books ended up being linked to one person on both Amazon and Goodreads although they were two different authors. My Elisa (and if you have been following my blog, you know which one is mine) had to fight a quick side battle shortly after the release of her new book to get everything straightened up. Both books and authors, no doubt, were in the pipeline a year or two before publication with the names decided long before then.

Another reason for choosing a different name includes writing in a genre not appreciated by employers in your day-job field. An author I edited years ago had this issue, writing erotica while working at a Presbyterian university. (They have since stopped working at the university and writing erotica.) So for various reasons, it might be time to come up with your writer’s name. Your pen name.

Where to go for inspiration? Many people tap into their middle names and the names of their ancestors, especially their mom’s maiden name. Others are already famous with an online moniker for their blog, vlog, or fanfic writing and want to bring those audiences across to their new writing career. Still others use nicknames or favorite roleplaying characters. Having a name you will respond to at a convention when someone shouts it across the hall is great.

I should mention most women choose to use pen names. The primary reason is safety – people can’t causally google you back to your house. Some jerks might, but the average lazy asshole won’t. Nearly equal in priority is job security – many women work jobs where they will be fired for doing something outside of the normal. Similarly many men will write under pen names if they work in a field with tenure until they pass the years-in-service mark. Another reason, I think, why women are more likely to make the change is women were brought up to expect to change their names and men were not, so females don’t have a built-in aversion to the option. The end effect was when I asked a table of 20 authors with about equal numbers of men and women, all but one woman had a pen name and all but one man used his real name. This group was a mix of traditionally published, small press, and indie (self-published) authors.

Once you have decided to go with your birth name, or a variation of names you already use, or an entirely new name, you should test it out. At the end of the day, this will be your Brand. Market testing is a must.

First investigate to make sure it is unique enough. Run it through Amazon. Go to the book or kindle section and search on the name and see what comes back. Go to Goodreads or other review sites you interact with and see what happens which using the name in author searches. Next Google it, both by its self and with the word “author” attached – like “Erin Penn Author” – and see what comes back.

All good? No major hits? Great!

Now test market it. Bounce the name off of friends and family who you trust with the writer-self. What works and what doesn’t.

Finally, search on it as a dot-com (example: erinpenn.com). Does it come back already owned?

All that worked out well? Sit on it a bit. Have your friends call you by that name for a little while. Mix and match it with various stories you have written as the by-line. Print it off and put it on the wall for at least month, the one in the bathroom which you stare at while on the toilet. Do you still like it?

If so, put a ring on it. Buy the URL for the website so no one else can take it, set up a Facebook page, get a Goodreads account, and look at the other social media you might want to participate in.

Then start marketing yourself with the newly named (or reaffirmed) you.

WRITING EXERCISE: Play at choosing possible names to publish under. Choose two authors you like and go through the above process. How many places and ways were you able to find them? Did you find an Amazon author page, Goodreads page, Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, Linked-In,  webpage, Patreon, etc? What is missing, and why do you think it is missing? (Remember each social media option is one more time suck the author is not writing.) Run through the same process with your given name and a pen name you’ve been toying with.

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The writing habit must be developed like all healthy habits. In January and February, we explored various writing techniques to find a habit that works for you (and me). So far I’ve bombed out, but maybe you have found a good match.

For the last month of figuring out how to write Consistently and with Commitment, I thought I would return to the basics. Word Count versus Time in Chair. BIC is getting in the chair consistently so writing can occur; time in chair is essential.  Word Count is about getting words on paper; can’t sell product without words.

Time in Chair works well for some people treating writing like a job. Come home from eight hours of work and do two hours with pen and paper. Time in Chair is perfect when between dayjobs to keep that day-in day-out mindset of time in front of a computer.

Word Count is good for those who do metrics. 2,500 words for a chapter, 30,000 words for an act, and 90,000 words for a book. Watching those numbers climb to a sellable product can be a reward in and of itself. You can spend hours playing with the resulting numbers (don’t – you should be writing, not doing math – so speaks the voice of experience).

Fifth. Timed writing. This one is related to writing dates and word sprints, if those techniques worked well for you, this might be perfect. These could be scheduling particular times so you show up for BIC. It could be randomly writing, but timing the minutes until your meet your BIC time for the month. If you are counting your time to reach a goal – for example 40 hours in a month (a minor second job) – using the timer on your phone I mentioned in January could be good. You can also use kitchen timers (either on the microwave or a wind-up).

Many writers just promise themselves 15 to 30 minutes per day to sit in the chair. If the words don’t come, they get up and do something else. An hourglass could work for these situations – you may work beyond the sands running out, but you need to remain at the keyboard until then. If things are going well with your timed writing, once the alarm goes off, just continue typing. In general setting aside an hour works best for most people, but with giving themselves permission to leave after 15 minutes if words aren’t happening that day.

Goals for timed writing are usually stuff like an hour a day or three hours on weekends. When testing this out, figure out what your normal time segment for writing is and aim for that range.

Sixth. Word Count. This one seems to be the favorite of professional writers with contracts to meet. They show up in their chairs like a dayjob – 8 to 5, but also consider word counts to meet their deadlines. Like with Timed Writing, the object is to start and then keep going once you passed your minimum or to stop if the words aren’t flowing (and for professionals, we aren’t talking smooth flowing, we are talking the faucet is frozen and forcing it will break the plumbing permanently – for people learning to write, the process is much more forgiving).

The “Five Hundred Club”  is one approach with this method – 500 words per day (related to every.single.day). For others, it is the “Mile High Club”, 5,280 words in a month which could be just two productive weekends when the kids are dropped off at the ex’es house. Like timing, you should see how words flow out of you. Don’t set a 1,000 word goal you’ve never written that much before. Some people do “50-50 Club”, they write 50 words and hope for 50-more. If only 50 words get written, they are okay – but sometimes they keep the 50-more going until they hit in the thousands words.

WRITING EXERCISE: Try one of the two techniques.

(A) Timed Writing – Decide how many hours of writing you will do in one week. Break this between the days however you want. Example: an hour a day, or three hours a day on the weekend, or 6 hours by the end of the week.

(B) Word Count – Choose either a daily word count goal or a week’s goal. Practice for one week.

Evaluate. Did you ENJOY the technique you tried? Did you feel COMMITTED while working on it? Did you PRODUCE a good product? (note – good product is a first draft you can edit later, not a finished product worthy of publication)

***

My Attempts

Timed Writing – This doesn’t work for me. My daily schedule changes all the time – setting aside “6-8 in the evenings” or “8-10 in the mornings” always lasts a single day at best. I tried just doing BIC with a timer, my phone, eyeballing it on my computer, even hourglasses. I have some really pretty hourglasses on my mantle now gathering dust.

Word Count – The Five Hundred Club! I found something that works for me at last. I’ve tried in 2018 before and it fell by the wayside. I’m trying it again and I have failed the 500 words per day, but I am forgiving myself when it doesn’t come. But, like yesterday, when I just didn’t get to it until the end of the day I was able to do BIC and NOT hate myself … and I got 1,000 words out.

I know I will fail again, but not enough to offset the pure amount of wins. So many wins this year so far. This one works for me.

Please comment below if you found one which worked for you OR suggestions of your own for writing exercises to create a writing habit.

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For three months, I’m focusing on writing exercises to test techniques for producing words so you can find the best one for you. Not every method will work with every person. In fact, my methods change throughout the year. What works during tax season does not work during the summer.

Don’t be afraid to change things up if one of the six techniques stops working. Just return to these posts and other techniques you will collect as you explore your writing abilities and go back to testing them until a new one jumps out at you. Explore and find what is the right one for “you as a writer” for now. And when the time comes around again, the right one for future-you.

For February, we will talk about Dating and Deadlines. Break out your calendars and planners.

Third. Writing Dates. Set up a date for some private time between you and your keyboard. This could be a daily appointment in the morning or afternoon. It could a few days each week. It could be just one day on the weekend. But block out that time like you would do any meeting or date and don’t renege. Who knows, if this goes well, maybe next year you should buy your keyboard a Valentine Day’s card as an anniversary of your first date.

Fourth. Deadlines. Make them and keep them. Book due date – rough draft, etc. Just like you will be doing once you start getting contracts with publishers. Dissemble the project into chunks to meet those dates and deliver the product. If you are familiar with project planning software, break it out so long as you don’t spend as much time playing as you do working.

WRITING EXERCISE: Try one of the two techniques.

(A) Writing Dates – Set up three writing dates, at least one a week and at least two hours long. Prep for them like you would a date – dress perfect for the activity. Light a scented candle or put on mood music. And shut the door.

(B) Deadlines – Set a deadline to happen in the next four weeks. Be it word count, or chapter number, or an anthology you would like to submit to. Meet it.

Evaluate. Did you ENJOY the technique you tried? Did you feel COMMITTED while working on it? Did you PRODUCE a good product? (note – good product is a first draft you can edit later, not a finished product worthy of publication)

***

My Attempts

Writing Dates – Another fail for me, but I thought it would be great. I am very organized and track everything. But, for me, this scheduled appointment with the keyboard was the one appointment I knew I could break, so I did it. For others, scheduling time with the keyboard every weekend is their only way to get writing done. I know several authors who talk about their love of dating their writing.

Deadlines – Yeah. Deadlines. I try this one ALL THE TIME and really should give it up because my continuing failures just make me angry. For me deadlines are like rules for pirates: guidelines and most of them get erased.