Shadow Swans by Laura Thomas

I never do this, but today is a day for exceptions. My cousin Laura Thomas recently published her first novel, Shadow Swans, and I just finished reading it this morning. After finishing this amazing adventure of human emotion, I feel compelled to tell others about it.

So today instead of a blog post on writing, you are getting a recommendation to read Shadow Swans (and to be clear, I will not receive any financial reward for this plug). I am not giving a full review or a synopsis. You can see those on Amazon. Here I want to focus on the writing process and craft.

Why read this book? Because as a writer, you are in a quest to learn about craft, hone your skills, defy the rules, and break new ground. Laura Thomas has succeeded in immersing the reader into the characters and the world of a New York you have never imagined. The underworld becomes alive with vivid descriptions as the characters effortlessly become people you care about and long to follow.

In short, reading a book so well crafted will help you as a writer. Learn from the methods of coloring a room with a tuned mixture of sound, sight, and smell. Relationships that are complex to all parties involved, and yet clear in their parts.

I know you will enjoy the book, but that is not the point in this blog. Use the book to take your writing to another level. Study the way voice is employed. Examine the incredible use of simile. Grow as a writer by reading great writing.

And enjoy.

Buy Shadow Swans on Kindle
Buy Shadow Swans on Nook
Buy Shadow Swans in Print

Writing Contests and Some Good Blog Entries

I have been busy lately so as usual, unpaid activities like blogging take a back seat. I'll try to make up for it with some great links to great writing contests, articles, and blog entries on writing.

WRITING CONTESTS

Halloween Writing Contest

Submit a 300 word Halloween story and if you make the top three, win a prize. Age categories from Kindergartners all the way to Adults.



Short Writing Contest

The struggling Writer points to an interesting 500 word writing contest, any genre, that must use three out of a list of ten words.



Teen Writing Contests

A great resource if you are a teen looking for some street cred as a writer.



Winter Short Story Fiction Competition

This one comes with a $15 entry fee, but you can win up to $500 for a 1000-3000 word story.



Science Fiction Writing Contest

Poetry, one act play, or short story up to 5,000 words for this contest.



WRITING BLOGS



How To Write Action Scenes
Nice blog post by Author James Scott Bell on writing a good action scene.

5 Excellent Writing Blogs
Enough said.

Writing That First Draft
A good reminder to just write.

How To Write A Novel In Three Months
Sound crazy? You be the judge.

How To Write A Novel
Nice detailed article on the topic.


Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Articles, Blogs, Cover Art, and a Writing Update.

I am sorry for the delay in my post. Things have been crazy lately and I just could not find the time. Because I am starting a technical blog on SQL Server, it just means I have more to juggle, and I have not learned how to juggle yet. In addition, I just wrote my first technical article that will appear in the September 3rd newsletter from SQLServerCentral.com. This is an exciting new avenue for me to expand my professional profile, but it once again takes more time.

I will begin with a writing update on my Novelette/Novella. I am currently at 11,689 words which means I am making some progress but not at the speed I would prefer. Anyway, I am trying to finish the first draft by the end of September so I can have it edited by the end of the year. I may not reach that goal, but I will try to have my book available in 2009.

I am pretty sure I have the title locked down as well, "Closing Gitmo," which is the first book in a series named "Within Our Borders."

At the same time, I have started to work on cover art so that hopefully by the time the book is done, the cover art will also be done. I will risk posting a first draft for feedback, so please be brutally honest if you leave feedback. Otherwise I will not be able to use your comments to make improvements.

Next time I hope to have more written words to report and some helpful tips.

Until then, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Resources and writing update

Here are some links that I found interesting over the past week. Regarding my writing, I submitted a new article to ezinearticles.com and wrote a few paragraphs in my Novelette prequel to the main novel I am writing. This was a busy week with July 4th and my oldest daughter's 13th birthday, so I did not write much, but I am getting back on the horse.

A quick read to inspire you to get started on your novel.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4764267_write-novel-quickly.html

This is a funny and practical approach to finding an idea for your next story
http://goodexperience.com/2009/07/how-to-write-a-novel.php

A good article on 8 steps involved in writing your novel
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1901182/how_to_write_a_novel_in_8_simple_steps.html

Here is an encouraging question/answer for any young writers out there
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090705134726AAXjDur

Mighty Mur Lafferty talks about self-publishing
http://isbw.murlafferty.com/2009/07/01/revolutions-and-pitfalls/

Here's info on a Screenplay writing contest
http://screenwritingtips.com/the-rogue-knight-of-cinema-why-screenplay-contests-matter/

If you have some writing that is "contest ready" you have a couple of days to submit. This one is due July 15th.
http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/grandmother-earth-xvi-national-writing-awards/

Here's a good article on setting your rates as a freelance writer.
http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/2009/07/freelance-writing-3-tips-to-help-you-to-set-your-rates.html

The next time I blog I hope to have another chunk of the story written. Until then, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Choosing the Best Writing Tools

Although some writers still insist that their muse will vacate the premises unless they are writing on paper, that is not the case for most of us. We typically like the "type once" approach that a device provides. Today there are more choices than ever before. Here are a few that work for me.

Quickpad - The Quickpad is a small, keyboard sized device with a small four line LCD display window. It starts up very quickly, saves quickly, and shuts down quickly. That combined with long battery life and and light weight make this a great device for writing on the go. I have found this to be perfect for writing a first draft. The four line screen is not very helpful for editing.

Smartphone - That's right, I said smartphone. I would not recommend writing a novel on a phone-size device, but it is great for blogging, social networking, and even writing articles. Take advantage of those fifteen minutes you wait for the oil change or sit in a waiting room. I use a T-Mobile Shadow and have written more than fifty of my blog posts from the phone.

Netbook - The most popular computer devices on the market are also great for writers on the go. The small form-factor, light weight, and Wi-fi connectivity make them perfect for blogging, writing articles, social networking, and writing novel length fiction. I recommend a screen ten inches or larger, less for the screen size than for the larger keyboard which allows for comfortable typing.

Laptop/Desktop PC/MAC - Most writers today use a PC/MAC as their primary writing tool. It is my top choice for serious writing and my only choice for editing. Why mess with a good thing.

Word Processing - I still prefer MS Word over most of the competition, but I have used the free OpenOffice package and it did what I expected from a word processor. Google Docs has been my recent tool of choice which is helpful if you find yourself writing from different computers or internet enabled devices.

The bottom line is you have a lot of options. Choose wisely and you may even increase your writing productivity.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J_Hugh_Thomas

Valuable Writing Podcasts.

Every writer finds methods to continue learning about the craft and business of writing. There are blogs, ezines, books, and magazines just to name a few. I use most of these resources but today I want to focus on podcasts.

What do I learn from podcasts? I learn about the craft of writing from authors and writing professionals. I learn about how to market your work. I hear interviews with authors which teaches me what to expect when (hopefully) I am one day being interviewed. And I can learn all of this in the flexible form of audio from a podcast.

Either from your computer or on your MP3 player, you have the flexibility to listen when you have time, and even take care of other minor tasks while you listen. Here are a few of the podcasts I currently enjoy, and I welcome you to post any that you love in the comments.

A 24/7 Writer's online radio station that I recently discovered. You will find some great interviews with Author's.
http://www.writersfm.com/writersfm/

The greatest combination of humor and practical guidance I have ever heard.
http://www.writingexcuses.com/

Mur is a great example of building a career through podcasting.
http://murverse.com/category/projects/podcasts/i-should-be-writing/

Great interview show broadcast out of Irvine, CA with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosting.
http://penonfire.blogspot.com/

Valerie Connelly, a writer and publisher, hosts this interview and tips show.
http://www.globaltalkradio.com/shows/callingallauthors/

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

http://www.jhughthomas.com/
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Changing Directions... Again.

For anyone following this blog, I have been slammed with work and it does not seem to be letting up. I will blog when I can, but it may not be weekly at this point.

Regarding my "Changing Directions" title, I am in fact shifting any time I do have into a short story. I know, I should focus in, finish the novel. But don't judge so quickly.

The reason I am writing a short story is there are current events that nicely tie into the ground work for my novel. The short story I am writing is actually a lead in to the beginning of my novel. Due to the current events tie in, I decided it makes more sense to try writing this story first, polish it, and get it on the blog/website/etc as quickly as possible.

In my mind, it has the potential for free advertising and/or Google Search hits on my story that people will stumble upon. Will it really help me? Who knows. I'll find out. And of course, as always, I will let you know if it is a success or failure.

In addition, I can submit this short story for publication. If I am able to get it published, it will be another boost to my book marketing and potentially a boost to getting my novel published.

Once it is done, I will post more about it here, including where you can go and download it. I may try my first Podcast with this story as well. We'll see about that one.

Until the next time I can squeeze out a few minutes, let's keep writing.

http://www.jhughthomas.com/

Resources

Sometimes, it is good to just look around on the Internet and learn what you can from others. That may even be how you found my blog. This week, I just want to list out some links that I found interesting or could relate to in some way. Hope they help you either emotionally or practically.

Another unpublished neophyte talking about writing.
http://undisciplinedoaf.blogspot.com/2009/04/so-youre-writing-novel.html?zx=711354ae21d39de

A nice set of writing insights from novelist Marilynne Robinson.
http://writingcompanion.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/writing-marilynne-robinson/

A young person struggles with the idea of writing a novel.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977666398&grpId=3659174697239359&nav=Groupspace

A blog entry about Print-on-demand.
http://writingright-martin.blogspot.com/2009/04/print-on-demand-publishing-when-does-it.html

An interview with Cindy Wilson.
http://adventures-in-creative-writing.blogspot.com/2009/04/changing-expectations-interview-with.html

What do you do after you finish the first draft? Here's a list.
http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2009/04/youve-written-novel-now-what.html

Learning the Craft: Writing a Novel
http://trishlawrence.com/blog/2009/04/26/learning-the-craft-writing-a-novel/

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.twitter.com/jhughthomas
http://profile.to/jhughthomas

Sometimes life just sucks... and writing brings some relief.

I will apologize up front for my attitude today. Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try, sometimes the deck is just stacked against you? If so, you know how I feel right now. Like a salmon swimming up-stream.

And I know the drill. There are children starving in other countries, disease ripping through villages, and totalitarian governments oppressing their populations. All true. One problem. I am talking about feelings, not logic. I wonder sometimes if I am the only one, and in those moments feel completely alone.

I warned you, I'm wallowing.

To top it off, I have not found time for writing lately due to stresses at work combined with a general sense of depression about the state of... things. I'll leave it at that because this is not a political or economic blog.

As I type, I wonder if there is a way out. A path to relief. Well after writing this paragraph, I changed the title to this blog entry because I had an epiphany. In the process of writing the words above, I am beginning to feel a little bit better.

It may be a little cliche, but I don't mind as long as it is true. Expressing your feelings is a big part of healing. Granted most people aren't foolish enough to post their feelings, I mean real feelings, for the world to read on a blog, but I feel like I owe it to anyone out there feeling the same thing.

So if you feel lost in the desert, you are not alone. If you feel overwhelmed by life and the world, you are not alone. If you are struggling in writing your great work of fiction due to lack of time or depression, you are not alone.

You are not alone.

I will not give up, though I am discouraged. I will not stop, though I wish to rest. I will not shut out the world, though I wish to close my eyes.

If you are where I am, I hope you will join me in fighting the urge to give in and give up. You don't have to post it on a blog, but you need to get it out... get it down on paper. Good thing we are writers.

Feel free to comment here, write in your own blog, write in a journal, or write a story that channels your feelings. However you do it, get it down on "the page."

If you read here to the end, thank you for enduring. I hope to be in a better place next time, but I make no promises... except that I'll try.

Until then, lets keep on writing (even if it's therapy).

www.jhughthomas.com

How to Start Marketing Yourself While You Write Your First Novel

We all have those dreams of great accomplishments from time to time. Of climbing Mount Everest, skydiving, or writing the great American novel. Maybe that is you, the writer who is ready to break out. Or maybe you just want to give it a shot. Regardless of the setup, you are reading this article because you are either writing a novel or you want to write a novel. I understand you because I am you. I am on the journey of writing my first novel and hope to finish my first draft soon. However, the pages I have written in my novel only account for a portion of my writing over the last year.

It is just as important to study the current methods, techniques, and technology of marketing novels as it is to write your novel. Why? Because once you are published (think positive), your publisher is not the primary push behind marketing your novel or you as an author. You will be the primary marketing department for all of your creative work. This is a shock to many writers once they become published authors, and probably results in many one time novelists who sell five hundred copies and fade away.

But knowledge is power, and now you know.

So what do you do about it? Read and learn. There are literally hundreds of free online information sources dedicated to online marketing and the more narrow discipline of marketing fiction, both online and through other mediums. I will just lay out a few of the things I did for starters as a baseline.

1) Choose your author name
I know, sounds silly. But if you try Googling your name, you may quickly find that it is very serious. Most people have at least three names, first, middle, and last. You want to find the combination of those names and/or initials least represented in a web search. This will allow people to find articles and websites about you with much less competition from others. For example, I searched for Hugh Thomas and found a well known historical writer by that name listed for pages on end. Then I searched for "J Hugh Thomas" and found no writing competition. Therefore, as a writer I am always J Hugh Thomas.

2) Buy your domain name
It is cheap and in today's world, it is pretty much expected. This also factors into your decision on your author name, because ideally you want to choose that name as your domain, in my case jhughthomas. It is best to get the .com domain, but if it is not available you can always go with something like .net or .info instead. Buy the domain from a company that will allow you to put up a simple website without a hosting fee. This means that for less than $10 per year, you can have a searchable presence on the web with some basic information about you and your novel.

3) Start a blog
In the past you could write a great novel and either academics or media figures would fall in love with it causing old style viral marketing. Today, users are coming to expect a new level of access and interaction with the producers of fiction. This combined with the fact that blogs are probably the single best way to develop a web presence makes your blog critical. My recommendation is to blog about writing your novel, or blog about parts of your novel. The reason is to keep you from being overwhelmed going in too many directions at once. Just write about what you are learning and doing. And post regularly. The best way to lose followers is to post sporadically. Once a week is usually a good schedule. Many free blogging sites exist but I use blogger.com.

4) Feedburn your blog
Now we are getting into some real marketing. By using feedburner.com, you are optimizing your blog to be delivered through RSS feeds to whatever platform the user chooses. In addition, you can give users the option of subscribing to your blog by email. You can setup feedburner to ping Google every time you post a new entry causing it to be instantly indexed for search. There are more features than I can cover here, but I think you can see that this step will go a long way to making you very searchable on the internet. Remember, every skill you learn now will be applied in new ways once your novel is complete. This is a time of education with some side benefits.

5) Blog or podcast some free fiction
I have not reached this stage yet, but I think it is the next logical step. When you are trying to sell a $10-$15 soft cover or a $25-$30 hard cover book, why will a reader choose your novel? Once you are established you have your brand name, like Stephen King or James Patterson, and the brand is what attracts the buyer. The reader does not see a Stephen King book as being a big risk. You do not have that luxury. If you are willing to write some great fiction and give it away, you have a bigger chance of developing readers who will buy your books. The key here is "great fiction," not just your leftover ideas. Spend as much time, if not more, writing multiple drafts and editing your free fiction as you do with your novel. This is your first impression so dazzle your readers so they will come back for more.

This only scratches the surface of all the ways you can market yourself while writing your novel. I hope that these ideas will help you as you complete your novel, get published, and market like crazy to drive up sales.

J Hugh Thomas is a database developer and a programmer who is writing his first novel. Read his blog http://onwritingmyfirstnovel.blogspot.com to see all of his writer's resources and free advice.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J_Hugh_Thomas

Have questions? Have feedback? Contact me.

If you have any questions or comments about the blog or fiction writing, please feel free to contact me. Not that I'm a fountain of knowledge, but I have learned a thing or two over the last year, and I'm willing to research for answers to questions that I'm not familiar with.

Here are three ways you can contact me.

1) Leave a comment on the blog.
2) Email me at jhughthomas@hotmail.com
3) Leave me a voicemail at 1-630-559-7412

I'll do my best to address anything you are curious about.

Until next time, keep on writing.

How many writing blogs are there?

A whole bunch!

Today is the day of links to other blogs. Let it be written, let it be done. Hope you enjoy.

Setting short term goals.
http://writeforyourlife.net/writing-goals-2-short-term-targets-long-term-goals

A writing blog for twenty-something writers.
http://classyinphilly.blogspot.com/2009/03/writing-blog-takes-off.html

Tips for starting writers.
http://www.3news4you.com/5286/writing-tips-for-novice-authors/

Positivity week? Read and you will understand.
http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/03/introducing-positivity-week.html

Create your fantasy book cover.
http://100scopenotes.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/create-your-debut-fantasy-novel/

Writing realities.
http://sandraseamans.blogspot.com/2009/02/writing-realities.html

Bottom line, there are tons of blogs with good information and inspiration for writers.

Take advantage of them.

Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

What do you want to know about writing a novel?

I try to blog about what I'm dealing with at the time, but I would like to ask if you have any questions about writing a novel. Feel free to email me at jhughthomas@hotmail.com or you can leave a comment on this blog entry.

I may not have a good answer off the top of my head, but I will research any questions I receive so I can learn something new in the process.

Am I a writer?

Sometimes I stop in the midst of sixty hour work weeks and all the responsibilities at home and reflect. It does not happen often enough, but it does happen. Right now, I am taking a minute to do that very thing, reflect.

Due to my schedule, I have not written any more in my novel for quite a while. Sure I have worked on a song or two and finished a second draft on a screenplay, but I'm not writing my book. What does that say about me?

Am I really a writer? Am I a wannabe? No easy answers are glancing against my grey matter. So I guess I should evaluate myself.

I have continued to write a weekly blog entry faithfully. Why this and not the novel? Perhaps I have reached a point in my book where I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I fear the final result.

I have regularly said that I don't care as much about publication as I do about completing the novel. What if that is simply not true? Maybe I care more than I realized.

In the past I have used the logic that if I write regularly, I am a writer. Since I continue to blog and work on other material, I guess I still qualify by my own standard.

Self-doubt will continue to plague me and I will keep fighting back.

I will not give up on my dream, even while allowing my own humanity.

Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

What is the podcast/podiobook business model?

OK, let me start by saying this is a loaded question. All I can do is give you one take on it. What I will present is based on listening to and reading podcasts, interviews, and blogs featuring many different authors taking this approach. I welcome and encourage anyone with opinions to share with all in the comments.

I see the business model as more of a progression, a set of building blocks that you assemble over time. Here are some of the steps involved in this progression.

Step 1: Write some great fiction - It may seem obvious, but until you have some fiction to offer up, you will be stuck at step 1. The beauty is that because you are planning to podcast, you can write short story length, novella length, or novel length. You will probably be podcasting in fifteen minute segments, so you longer source material just means more episodes. It may even be preferable to start with a shorter story to cut your teeth.

Step 2: Reformat for a podcast - In the same way that you can't just act out a novel in front of a camera and get a movie (thus, the screenplay), you may want to do a mild once-over on your story to make it more suitable for audio. Consider how narrative and dialogue will play out in the spoken word by reading your story out loud to yourself. I'm guessing that just as with story writing, the more you do it, the better you get at hearing what works best.

Step 3: Record the episodes and post them - I'm not going into all the details on recording or where to podcast your podiobook in this post, but this is where you really put yourself out there. You are now putting your fiction out into the universe to see what happens. It is important to note that you are giving your fiction away for free. Many people also offer their fiction in PDF format along with the podiobook. More ways for people to consume your fiction. Which leads to the next question. What if no one listens?

Step 4: Market yourself like crazy - This is where you have to spend most of your education time. Learn how to use combinations of social networking, blogging, interviews, podcasting, newsletters, and many other methods to increase the profile of your podiobook and your name. Your goal is to become a recognizable name and a very searchable name on the Internet.

Step 5: Repeat Steps 1 through 4 - The first podiobook is just the gateway to your second podiobook, your first novel, your online collaboration, etc. I won't pretend to know how many times you need to do this to "arrive." The goal here is to build a fan base. With each podiobook you release, you are developing this fan base. Once they are posted, they are there forever so people finding you one year down the road will find a year's worth of content. The growth of free, quality content over time combined with a unique level of customer content is how you will develop a following.

Step 6: Publish you novel - This should probably be one of your podiobooks or a new story taking place in one of your podiobook worlds. It could come in the form of traditional publishing supported by the strength of your online following, or in the form of self-publishing leveraging your online fans who are willing to pay for more of your fiction.

Think about it logically. With the millions of books out there, how do you choose what to read? You read authors you know you can count on for good fiction because you have read their work before. The podiobook approach allows a large group of people to hear your fiction without risking anything but the time to listen. If they like what they hear, they don't think of buying one of your books as taking a risk.

It is a whole new way of thinking. A radical change from traditional publishing.

I'm not saying one way or the other what I will ultimately do, but I know this is a viable model that can produce results if you have the talent and are willing to put in the hours.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

Podcast your novel. The new face of publishing.

Often in history, innovation causes a shift in the direction of business. The telegraph industry gave way to the telephone business. The horse and buggy were replaced by the car industry.

That's not what we are seeing in publishing.

It is a new age where people operate in a new way. In the last ten years, the ipod, audio books, podcasts, and blogs have come into their own. People consume entertainment and information in the midst of a busy day, on he fly, or on-demand. On an average day, most people read less on the written page than on the computer screen. Increasingly, people hear less on a CD than on their ipod or computer streaming.

It isn't a replacement of a previous industry, but a change in the way we operate, and therefore the way the publishing industry must operate in order to keep up.

I still think it is a valid pursuit to seek traditional publishing, and probably the best place to start. Just don't stop there. And depending on how small a market you expect, you may even want to start with the "non-traditional" approach.

You should study the pioneers of the podcast novel including J.C. Hutchins, Scott Sigler, Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, and so many more. If you listen to interviews or personal podcasts by these individuals, you will quickly find that the podcasting route requires a lot of work... I mean a lot. But it can pay off in the end.

Check out the selection of Podiobooks that are available. You could be next on the list.

This is a good article about the brave new world of podcasting fiction.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1872381,00.html

I will probably do a more in-depth blog on the podcasting option in the future. Until then, let's all keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

More free website monitoring

I've been sick for the past few days so this will be a short post.  I want to thank one of my readers for commenting with more website monitoring options, two specifically.

GoStats.com is a free monitoring site similar to statcounter.com, but this one has unlimited log size where statcounter limits you to 500 log entries.  I signed up and tested it out, and found it to be a very easy setup and browsing experience.  The reports are extensive, although there are many links that don't work with the free account.  The paid version is $8/month or $90/year, but I wouldn't pay for a service like this until you are making good money on the site.

Alexa.com is a public website information company. You add a web page that they provide to your site, and they monitor your traffic. In this case, the traffic stats are available to anyone who wants to check through alexa's website. This would be useful if you are trying to get sponsors and advertising for your website once you have a decent amount of traffic. Send potential advertisers to this site and let them check your public stats for themselves.

One more thing I wanted to comment on is the new posts that recently started to see if you are a subscriber to this blog.  What I am referring to is posts with Delicious in the title.  I have setup my blog feed to include bookmarks that I add to Delicious on a daily basis.  Therefore, if you subscribe to this blog you will also get links that I find interesting through the week, but that I don't have time to specifically blog about. If you are not familiar with Delicious, I highly recommend it as a "portable favorites" list that is always available to you, no matter the PC, Mac, or web enabled device that you are browsing from.

That's all for this week. On the writing front, I finished another scene in my script. I believe I'm about six or seven scenes away from completion and then back to the book.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
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Monitor your writing website and blogs

Last time I mentioned using feedburner.com to burn your blog, which gives you easy RSS subscription management, email subscription management, and some statistics on how people are using your blog. I want to build on that post with some more ways to monitor how your blogs and websites.

The first requirement for me is the price... FREE! Because I am not making any money doing any of this, it is important that the services are both free and useful. Here are some options to consider.

Statcounter.com is a great website for tracking standard statistics such as number of unique visitors, number of page loads, or search phrases that were used to find your blog or website. It is easy to sign up for a free account, and place a small snippet of HTML on each of the web pages you want to track. You can track the path that users take through your site grouped by user which makes it easy to find what is working well in your site and what users are not finding. Another neat feature is tracking the city/country of all your visitors. I love seeing the list of visitors to this blog from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, Indonesia, France, New Zealand, and dozens more. And by the way, thank you all for your continued support.

Quantcast.com is an interesting site that tracks demographic information about your visitors. I have not started using it, but I read about it in Randy Ingermanson's ezine through his website advancedfictionwriting.com. Through quantcast, you can get a visitor breakdown on gender, age group, income, and more stats that are not commonly available through site trackers.

Start simple. If you only have time to do one thing online, I recommend setup one blog, feedburn it, and setup statcounter to monitor the results. That's what I did, and it is a great learning experience. If I ever get to the point of being a published author, the idea is to have already mastered the online marketing world so I don't have to hire it all out to others.

Because if there is one thing I have learned from the experts online, as the author, you are the one that will be most responsible for marketing your book.

And for my writing update, I only finished one scene this week. I'm a self-declared slacker, but I'll make up for it.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Marketing my book online... before the book is finished?

In case you are not sure from my title, I have not completed even the first draft of my novel. And yet I brazenly state that I should be marketing now. Am I completely insane? Possibly, but I will explain why I think that regardless of where you are in the writing process, your marketing should already be in the works.

There are many facets to marketing: advertising (print/TV/online), interviews, podcasts, blogs, book signings, etc. I only know a little about marketing because I am unpublished, but I am convinced that the earlier you begin one portion of marketing, the better off you will be. What is this portion?

Your online presence!

You don't need a published book or even published articles to begin establishing an online presence. You just need some time and the will to explore your options. Here are a few of the areas that I am exploring during my writing process.

1) Buy your domain name. In today's world, this is a no-brainer because it is cheap and expected. Most importantly, it takes time for your domain name to be crawled by all the search engines, linked to by other websites, blogged about, etc. This time translates into quick and easy search results when you do get published and someone is Googling your name. Which leads to point number two.

2) Choose your author name wisely. May sound silly, but in my opinion, this is a big one. I go by Hugh but I choose to use J Hugh Thomas as my author name in part because the domain name jhughtomas.com was available. In addition, when I Google Hugh Thomas, I get many results for a history writer named Hugh Thomas. To prove my point, Google the name "j hugh thomas" and you will see my website and this blog right at the top. That is what you want... to be easily found if someone is looking. Not to mention, many people will start by typing in the URL of the person's name before they even Google. Every advantage counts.

3) Write a blog. Since they are free to run, this is another given. What do you blog about? I'll answer with the question, what are you interested in? What is important is that you are writing regularly in a communicative way, not in fiction style, and you are establishing more of a web presence with every post. Don't forget to link back to your domain name in every post which also helps boost the ranking of your primary site. Have many interests? Write several blogs. But make sure you can post at least once a week. If you post less than that, you will loose any loyal readers. I recommend blogger.com because it is what I use, but I'm sure the other free services are just as good.

4) Feedburn your blogs. If you don't know what this is, go to feedburner.com and read all about it. Bottom line is you have a distribution option for people to subscribe by email or RSS feed to your blog, you can track your subscribers, see when your blog is web crawled, tell the service to notify the search engines every time you post a new entry, etc. It is a free marketing and management plug-in to your blog, and all it costs is your time to set it up.

5) Social Networking. If you don't already have them, setup Facebook and MySpace accounts at a bare minimum. Once again, you will link between your blog/domain/facebook/myspace which helps your web presence. More importantly, you can join writers groups for support and reading groups for future marketing opportunities. The more friends you add over time, the more people you can directly market to once you are finished with your book. One important note here. DO NOT OVER MARKET TO YOUR FRIENDS OR GROUPS!!! This is a big no-no and you will be shunned if you take advantage. However, an email/message blast when your book is launched is perfectly acceptable. You would also be surprised how many professionals are lurking in these groups... agents, marketers, editors... so you may end up with a great support network to boot.

That's enough to start with, but it is just the tip of the ice burg. Don't get overwhelmed by it all. Just do something now so you aren't rushing to appear online after your book is on the shelves.

Resources:
Writing Excuses is a fun podcast that is entertaining and informative on the writing process. It holds to a short 15 minute format which is perfect on the go. You'll find yourself laughing and learning in the process.

Here's an article on How to get your first novel published by Jackie French. Since she is a published author many times over, better to follow her advice than mine.

Oh, and I forgot my weekly writing update last time. Over the last two weeks, I have finished another three scenes for the screenplay. The story is coming along nicely and I think I have reached the half-way mark. I believe that by the end of the year this will be done and I will be back full-time on the novel.

Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Abusing misdirection

One of the great tools in writing is misdirection, where you have the reader thinking in one direction and then you pull a quick change and they say "Ooohhh. Now I get it." It is great fun to write this way, but beware of the pitfalls.

1) You left no clues along the way, nothing the reader can pick up on, and therefore the reader feels bamboozled. This is probably the biggest pitfall, and the most common offense. And I'm not talking about the crime novel where you don't have all the clues until the end. I'm talking about the trusty sidekick who has been acting in such a way that there is no shred of animosity, no hint of trouble, and in the end the sidekick tries to kill the main character because he jailed the sidekick's father. Whoa! The point is, if you are writing without a plan and you end up shifting in this direction toward the end of writing the story, it means you have to do a major rewrite to allow room for the sidekick to turn on a dime at the end. No quick change. It is cheating.

2) The entire story is a house of cards building to an expectation of an emotional climax where the lead character confronts his father's killer. Then, in an unexpected twist, we find out the lead character is a CIA operative who has to save the world, leaving personal problems behind. OK, go ahead and use the CIA part, but for heavens sake, don't build up an expectation for an emotional confrontation and not deliver. It is cheating the reader, and it may actually turn the reader off so much that they either don't finish the book or never read another one of your stories. You don't have to be predictable, but you must provide some level of emotional satisfaction to the reader.

3) It was all a dream. Cough... cough... gag... Sorry, unless you are finishing the Newhart TV series (which was a brilliant end), I don't recommend you use the "it was a dream" ending unless you do it with the greatest of skill, and there is a darn good reason... and it is emotionally satisfying... and it won't make the readers all say, "That was the stupidest ending ever."

Just my two cents. If you have any additional insights or examples, feel free to comment.

Resources:
Here is a blog entry on Writing Software and Downloads. I haven't tried any of them, but they look promising.
http://www.mindtweaks.com/wordpress/?p=963

The mighty Mur Lafferty, podcaster extraordinaire, had a good podcast interview with Benjamin Rosenbaum, talking about using the Creative Commons license. It is an interesting license and worth exploring.
http://murverse.com/2008/11/03/isbw-104-interview-with-benjamin-rosenbaum/

That's all for this week. Until next time, lets all keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas
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