About Writing

About Writing by: Michael LaRocca

In this free email course, I'll tell you everything I know about improving your writing, publishing it electronically further character print, and promoting it after the sale. Two questions you should ask:
( 1 ) What will de facto cost me?
( 2 ) What does this Michael LaRocca schoolboy perceive about it? Rehearse #1 - - It won't charge you a element. The single conspicuously important working of lift I can give you, and I say stable often, is don't stipend for funny book. My successes obtain roll in from investing time.

Some of stable was vigorous spent, but most of it was wasted. Undeniable costs me nothing to share what I've knowing. Absolute costs you nothing to read it except some of your time.
Answer #2 - - " Michael LaRocca has been researching the publishing work for over ten years. " This quote, from an ezine ( electronic newsletter ) called Authors Wordsmith, was a courteous way of saying I've received a lot of rejections. Also, my " try " principal 20 years. But in my " breakout " year ( 2000 ), I finished writing four books and scheduled them whole-length for publication in 2001. Then I spent partly a year since an editor and Organize Maturity Specialist for one of my publishers. After my first book was published, both my publishers closed. Two weeks and three publishers successive, I was back on track.

Undocked four books were republished, again a fifth will be released string 2004. Written in 2003, no rejections. See how much faster it was the assistance year around? That's due to I learned a lot. 2004 EPPIE Award finalist. 2002 EPPIE Award finalist. Listed by Writers Digest whereas one of The Best 101 Websites Seeing Writers in 2001 and 2002. Sime - Gen Readers Choice Credit for Favorite Author ( Nonfiction & Writing ) and Favorite Book ( Nonfiction & Writing ). 1982 Who's Who In American Writing. Excuse me for bragging, but it beats having you think I'm unqualified. Also, I found more editing jobs. That's what I close when I'm not writing, strife legal transcription, or teaching English in China ( my new home ). But the thing is, if I'd come an editor before learning how to bang out, I'd have stunk. I'll tell you what's gone from this drive.

What to write about, where I satisfy my ideas from, exaction like that. Maybe I don't reveal this matter because I think you should succeed it your way, not mine. Or maybe because I don't know how I do it. Or maybe both. Once you've done your writing alertness, this adventure leave help you with thoroughgoing the other stuff involved in being a writer. Writing involves stressful at least four different hats. Writer, editor, publication seeker, post - sale self - promoter. Here's what I can tell you about my writing. Sometimes a story idea just comes to me outermost of nowhere again refuses to authorization me solitary until I write it. Therefore, I do. And, whenever I read a book that really fires me up, I find myself reliance, " I hope I could write akin that. " So, I just keep troublesome.

I'll never pencil the best, but I'll always write my best. And get better every time. That's the " secret " of the writing " business, " same as any antithetic business. Always deliver the goods. I read voraciously, a body I recommend to any form who doesn't already have it. You'll subconsciously pick up on what does again doesn't work. Characterization, contention, pacing, tactics, story, setting, description, etc. But added importantly, someone who doesn't enjoy declaiming cede never write something that someone else will enjoy reading. I don't write " for the market. " I comprehend I can't, so I aloof write down since me also then try to find readers who like what I like. I'm not trying to whip up the subsequent bestseller and get rich. Not that I'd complain. Nope, I have to write what's in my heart, so go find a market later. It makes marketing a demur at times, but I wouldn't have irrefutable any peculiar way.

When you write, be a dreamer. Go screw loose. Know that you're writing pure gold. That fire is why we write. An author who I truly admire, Kurt Vonnegut, sweats out each separate sentence. He writes substantial, rewrites existing, and doesn't ok it specific until it's perfect. Then when he's done, he's done. I doubt most of write like that. I don't. I let it appropriate as fast as my fingers can move across the paper or keyboard, rushing to capture my ideas before they carry away. Later, I change and dodder and slice. James Michener claims that he writes the last sentence first, therefrom has his goal before him seeing he writes his way to it. Then there's me. No outline whatsoever. I shape characters further conflict, spending days and weeks on that mission, until the first chapter really leaves me wondering " How entrust this end? "

Then my characters take for, and I'm as surprised as the reader when I finish my story. Some authors set aside a express number of hours every day for writing, or a certain digit of vent. Agency short, a writing schedule. Then there's me. No writing for three or six months, then a vitality of activity stage I forget to eat, sleep, bathe, change the cat's litter... I'm a walking stereotype. To assuage the guilt, I tell myself that my unconscious is hard at slavery. As Hemingway would rumor, long periods of thinking again short periods of writing. I've shown you the extremes in writing styles. I think most authors fall in the middle somewhere. But my point is, find out what works for you. You can read about how other writers do it, and if that works for you, great. But in the head, find your acquiesce conduct. That's what writers do. Strict don't do it halfway. If you're doing what I do, writing a story that entertains and moves you, then you consign find readers who boost your tastes. As some of us that cause a place market and for others it means regular appearances on the bestseller list. Writing is a calling,

but publishing is a vocation. Remember that AFTER you've written your manuscript. Not during. I've told you how I write. For me. The next step is self - editing. Fixing all the mistakes I made, that I can distinguish, in my rush to write it before my Muse took a holiday. Several rewrites. Running completed it often with a fine - toothed comb. Then what? Expert are stories that get rejected being the inherent publisher hates them, but far more are shot deserted for other reasons. Posed dialogue. Drudging descriptions. Makeshift characters. Underdeveloped story. Unbelievable or weird means. Sloppy writing.

That's what you have to fix. After my fifteen - year hiatus from writing, I started by using Free Online Creative Writing Workshops. What I needed most was input from strangers. Succeeding all, once you're published, your readers cede buy for strangers. Every publisher you submit to will speak for a stranger. What will they foresee? I was far strikingly close to my writing to answer that. Whenever I got some advice, I certain it. Some I right threw foreign now wrong, or seeing I couldn't knock out the changes without abandoning part of what made the story red-letter to me. Some I embraced. But the point is, I decided. It was my writing. After a time, I didn't feel the need for the workshops anymore. I'm crucial enough to have a wife whose utility I consign always treasure, and after a while that was unexpurgated I needed. But first off on, existent would've been petty to ask her to interpret my drivel. ( Not that I didn't anyway. ) I don't know how far along you are in your writing, but if you've never used a workshop,

I heap a list of them at http://freereads.topcities.com/creativewritingonline.html. Your goal when you self - edit is to stir your book as close to " ready to read " as you possibly can. You wish your editor to find what you overlooked, not what you didn't know about. To that end, I offer two resources. http://freereads.topcities.com/usefullinksforauthors.html contains links to online quotations, grammar also style guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauruses, scam warnings, writer groups, copyright stuff, etc.

http://freereads.topcities.com/commonwritingmistakes.html contains a guide of the most common mistakes I've seen in my years as an editor. I still reread it from time to time scrupulous so I don't forget. Your story is your story. You draw up it from your heart, and when authentic looks like something you'd enjoy reading, you set external to find a publisher who shares your tastes. What you don't want is for that first reader to lose sight of what makes your story special because you've bogged de facto down dissemble silly mistakes. Authors don't earnings to be published. They are paid for publication. Always. It's lawful that simple. And later, I'll broadcast you where to influence some freebie editing.

But there's a limit to how much editing you can get without paying because positive. Do you need more than that? I don't know because I've never seen your writing. But if you evaluate undeniable honestly, I Judge you'll know the answer. Due to an editor, I've worked with some authors who cleverly couldn't self - edit. A non - peculiar English counsel, a kid who slept through English class, whatever. To them, maybe paying for editing was an option. This isn't paying for publication. This is paying for a service, training. Just like moneymaking to take a Creative Writing good looks at the local community college. By the way, I don't believe creativity can be taught. Writing, certainly.

I took my Creative Writing class in high school, free, and treasure it. But I nowadays had the capability, or else it would've been a waste of the teacher's time and mine. If you hire an editor worthy of the denomination, you should learn from that editor how to self - edit in the future. In my case it took two tries, because the first editor was a rip - off artist charging over elegant times market value being incomplete advice. That editor, incidentally, is named Edit Ink, and they're listed on many of the " scam warning " sites mentioned at Useful Links Through Authors. They took kickbacks from every fake agent who sent them a client. ( I'll talk about fake agents later. ) If you choose to employ an editor, check price and reputation. And consider that you might never make enough selling your books to get channel what you pay that editor. Do you care? That's your end.

The primitive, exceptionally important step on the road to publication is to make your writing the best it can speak for. * * PUBLICATION * * My goal is to be published in both mediums, ebook besides print. There are some readers who elevate ebooks, and some who upgrade print books. The final group is much larger, but those publishers are harder to sell your writing to. I want both, as I want gross the readers I can get. Thus, I defender something of a stepping - pearl approach. Publish electronically with a quality place, take to the benefits of free editing and almost instant gratification cast publishing time.

Later, if you think you can sell your give up to a traditional pencil publisher, you have a professionally edited manuscript to submit. Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Creative Writing? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs? Before you epublish, check the contract to be sure you can publish the edited work in print later. If you know your book just plain won't ever make legitimate into standard print, autograph - on - demand ( POD ) is an option. Some of my books spring into this category. The unrivaled epublishers will simultaneously publish your work electronically and in POD format, at no profit to you. A chain of authors swear by self - publication, but the prospect just plain scares me. All that promo, all that self - editing, maybe driving around the countryside with a ride seat full of books. I'm a writer, not a salesman. But, maybe you're different. I self - published once, juice the pre - POD days. Mom handled the sales. I had fun further flat even.

With POD, at least it's cheaper to self - publish than it was in 1989. If you're flying only, POD can range anywhere from US$99 to over $1000. Don't pay the higher price! Price shop. Also, remember that POD places publish meed constitute who pays, and do no marketing. Print Publishing vs Electronic Publishing http://freereads.topcities.com/printpublishing_electronicpublishing.html This site provides a comparison of the two mediums.

Each has plusses again minuses. Even if you already recognize what epublishing is, catching a look. Electronic Publishers http://freereads.topcities.com/onlinefictionbooks.html A list of the ones I think are reputable and my criteria as selecting them. Plus, a link to award - suspicious author Piers Anthony's totally excellent in - depth analysis of many more epublishers than I'll ever list. How To Break Into Print Publishing http://freereads.topcities.com/printpublishing.html If you're at the beginning of my stepping - brilliant approach, pursuit an epublisher, you'll probably just want to bookmark this one for a turn or two.

That's fine, thanks to it's not going anywhere. I ground plan to use sincere myself in a year or two. If, on the other hand, you're ready for ordinary print, thing substantive at once further I wish you success! Autograph - On - Demand Publishing http://freereads.topcities.com/printondemand.html What is it? Should you use it? If accordingly, how? What to beware of if you do. * * PROMOTING YOUR PUBLISHED WRITING * * It doesn't element how you publish your book. Self - notorious, epublished, POD, or traditional print publishing from an absolute powerhouse. Marketing falls largely on you, and the corresponding things always work. Book signings, interviews in the normal newspapers and on radio. Jumping-off place keep secret http://www.kidon.com/media-link/index.shtml.

It entrust avow you to look spread all the local media outlets esteem your area that have websites. If you commit to them all, you're a spammer. Plus, it'll take ages. Look for the ones with a legitimate relaxation and fire momentarily. If you treasure a wearisome URL, and I think you will, look for the name of that media outlet at some corner like Google. Spend some time looking for the right press contacts, spend some life writing your press grim reaper, also do what you can. Most of these sites list email, idler mail, and phone calls. Since I aware in China, I've only used email. Book reviews, author interviews, book sloping sites, and book contests are principal we can whole conclude, regardless of where we live. Again, I'm proposition to give you some web pages to visit.

Pages where I stock my resources, so I don't lose them. Some of the sites I offer do ebooks, and some fix not. The POD option can help e - authors here, but balance cost vs. likelihood of gaining enough readers to offset that. Some are ezines and some are websites. Some are printed newsletters, some are printed magazines, again some are newspapers. This is objective a rudimentary edge. If you visit them all, again you have time for more promotion, you can find many higher. Book Reviewers, Author Interviews, Book Diagonal Sites http://freereads.topcities.com/bookreview.html Book Contests http://freereads.topcities.com/bookcontests.html Consent, let's get back to my overseas angle. Aside from two radio interviews and a seminar in Hong Kong, and some emailed emphasize releases to the LOCAL media back in the US which may or may not keep succeeded rule anything, my marketing has come from the Internet. I obtain a website. I have a newsletter.

I'm giving away a free ebook, the suggestion of which you're reading now. You found me somehow, right? Here's the type of orientation I receive recurrently drag email. To be more precise, control spam. If a million nation make out your ad, again you get 1 % of them, that's 10, 000 readers and therefore $15, 000 profit and you only paid $1000 for those million addresses. NO!! Absolute doesn't work that way. Need I use the words dot - com bust? My website is cuffo. My newsletter is free. I don't okay mailing lists, I don't collect email addresses, and I don't spam.

I want intent traffic, not just sheer numbers. Do you think the Phoenicians ethical to sell sails to people a thousand miles from the water? Internet marketing isn't a replacement for the methods mentioned most, but a complement to them. And by using it, I got you here. Your goal in marketing is this. There are certainly people sway the world who like what you allied. And since you corresponding your book, they probably leave too. But you keep to find those readers and make them interested, without spamming them further without true " playing the numbers game.

" If you're an e - establish, agreement me state the obvious. Bagatelle buys ebooks who doesn't have Internet access. Do they? So you definitely need a website. Accustomed set down authors need websites notably. Even blockbuster authors like J. R. Rowling and Stephen King, who I doubt could corral any numerous name recognition, have websites. So does every remote - established inescapable monstro - business like McDonalds and Coke. Consent, those folks pay web designers. I'm not doing that. I can't generate those kinds of sales figures. And yep, I've formerly been employed for an HTML programmer. But you can write your own website without even learning HTML if you thirst. It's no harder than writing a manuscript with a word processor. Unfeigned won't be sans pareil - flashy approximative the big boys, but it'll communicate the information.

Memorialize, you can communicate. You're an shape! And that's what keeps people coming back to a website after the thrill of the flash wears off. News. Convivial. Your specialty. I consider my website and my newsletter to be successful, and I've created a free email course to demonstrate how they got that way. Yes, well-qualified are legitimate ways to bring traffic to your website and your newsletter. Not hulking numbers voyaging, but slow steady growth over the long term. * * CLOSING THOUGHTS * * We've been talking about soft sell. Right away, at the end of my free workshop, I'll tell you about 2 URLs that I consider will help you and one that won't. You can decide if any are worth a visit. After that, I'll get back to the case history.

Books OnLine Directory http://freereads.topcities.com/ You've been to parts of corporal already and seen that it delivers something you're looking for. ( I hope. ) Don't forget to go back from time to time. Mad About Books http://freereads.topcities.com/archive.html My free weekly email newsletter will keep you adding to - to - date on the latest info since I find it. Plus, absolute has a certain goofy charm that the website lacks. Both URLs mention my books, but in the worldliness. I hope you'll look one day out of curiosity or because you really like my generous nature, but it's not mandatory. Soft sell.

From Watha, NC, USA to Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China http://michaeljan.topcities.com This site doesn't mention writing at thorough. I wrote it for my students. I teach English in China, and this is situation I proclaim all about it. Along with a hefty module of personal history and photos. How I got here, how I quit a job via email to marry a delightful Australian, dog besides cat photos, stuff resembling that. Just for lively. It won't help you a bit. Now let's stir up bring to your writing. That's why you're here. Here's something you've heard before. When your manuscript is rejected - - again it will be - - remember that you aren't for rejected. Your manuscript is. Unique reader took me to task because that statement, protest he'd never been rejected in his life. I'm very happy for him. But why, if

I may embody so bold as to ask, would he need remedy on How To Bias Published? I'd tolerably he write some advice so I can hang growing my " helper guy " boater and learn from a master. But I digress. You aren't being rejected, I was saying. Your manuscript is. Did you ever hang flowering the phone on a telemarketer, delete spam, or close the door ascendancy the exterior of a salesman? Of course, besides sequentially that salesman just moves on to the next embryonic customer. He knows you're rejecting his product, not him. Okay, esteem my case I'm rejecting both, but I'd never do that to an author. Neither leave a publisher or an agent. All authors broadcast other authors not to take opposite personally, and yet we all close. Meditate it a target to shoot for, then. Just grip submitting, and just keep writing. The best way to cope with waiting times is to " charge also forget, " writing or editing other stuff shift the time passes. Again finally, fondle free ride to send an e - mail to me anytime. michaellarocca@yawweb. org. I'll gladly share what I know with you, and it won't cost you a cent. I would wish you luck in your publishing endeavors, but I know there's no luck involved. It's all know-how and diligence. Congratulations on completing the course! No ceremonies, no degrees, besides no diplomas. But on the bright side, no neophyte loan to repay. Peerless regards, Michael LaRocca http://freereads.topcities.com/archive.html About The Author Michael was born supremacy North Carolina, USA. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Principality, China. Five of his books were accepted in 2002, and another is scheduled for publication in 2004.

One of his novels is an EPPIE 2004 finalist in the Mainstream category. One of his novels was an EPPIE 2002 finalist network the Thriller conglomerate. He’s also won two Sime~Gen Readers Choice Awards for nonfiction. He’s proud of the fact that he infrequently writes importance the same type twice. He’s listed sway the 1982 Who’s

Who In American Writing, but that impresses him even less than it impresses you. Michael has worked as an editor now the past thirteen years. Being ten years he was responsible as all the tech manuals and sales literature produced by an R&D firm. He also wrote their website. Then he moved to China in 1999 and began editing and reviewing fiction because several U. S. publishers via the Internet. He has been circuitous duck the publication of almost 200 novels. He again spirit as a legal transcriptionist for a Hong Kong firm.

When he should act for squeezing writing into his schedule, he is usually enjoying the company of his wife and their bullwhip instead, or sunny down Chinese lessons. In July he finished taking his TEFL aptitude, so perhaps now he’ll find bout to write. For more information about Michael also his books, talk his website at http://freereads.topcities.com which was listed in Writers Digest’s The 101 Best kind Websites For Writers in 2001 further 2002. His email address is michaellarocca@yawweb.org

Read More...