Top Ten Writing Tips from 23 Authors

There was a great post last week on the PLoSBLOGS site. They gathered writing tips from a group of 23 accomplished authors and compiled them in one huge post. We picked out the top ten tips listed in the article and added some of our own advice to them.

1. Write Every Day. This is valuable advice, and something that anyone can use to get started. Commit to writing just 50 words a day at first if you have to, then move on from there. Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity, suggests aiming for 1,000 words a day eventually.

2. Be Ready to Amputate. The hardest thing for an author to do is to cut down their work, but it is necessary for a book to be great. Authors make the mistake of writing too much far more often then the mistake of writing too little.

3.  Leave a Rough Edge. Stop writing in the middle of a chapter, a paragraph, or even a sentence. Make it easy for you to get started the next day. It's easier to continue a thought then stare at a blank page trying to decide what you should write next.

4. Use A Detailed Outline. Authors should always try to map out where they are going before getting started. Sometimes the route will change, but at least get started in the right direction. For more information on brainstorming oultines, see our post on Mind Maps.

5. Just One Sentence. What is the one sentence that describes your book? In marketing lingo, it is calld the Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. If you had to describe your book in one sentence, and you will, what would it say? Every paragraph of every chapter should point back to that one sentence description.

6. Start Marketing Now. Start a blog, test your ideas with your close friends, seek endorsements from the right people, and prepare to market your book in person. Brush up on your presentation skills, craft a mailing list of people likely to review your book positively, and get ready. The real work starts once the book is on the shelves, not once the manuscript is handed in to the publisher.

7. Be Passionate, Not Promotional. Let your passion shine through your work and your communication. There is a tendency to use social media as a promotional blitzing tool, but it often comes across as nothing more than cheap publicity. That kind of thinking will get you nowhere fast. Instead, talk about your subject and why you love it. Promotion will come automatically when others can see your passion.

8. Use Technology. All too often, technology is an easy distraction for writers. Turn the tables on technology, and use it. Try using Scrivener to write your book. Download time management software to curb your bad internet habits. Use the editing tools in Word to improve your book. There are many great tools out there. Use your favorites, and tell others about them.

9. Get Through Your First Draft Fast. Just do it, even if its bad. Its hard to tell where you are going to go until you get this first draft down on paper. Then the real writing will begin. Or as Nancy Cooper says, "You just start working and you keep working til it’s done. That’s all there is to it; no mystery.”  


10. Write A Book You Want To Read. Your first goal should be to write an interesting book, not to write a bestseller. If your book really connects with your audience, it is more likely it will be a success commercially. Write for someone who is passionate about the subject, write a book that you would want to read.


What other tips do you think authors should know before they write a book? What practical things have you done to finish the job? Which of these tips will be the most helpful for you in the future? 

Where Do Christians Buy Books?

Great post from Tim Challies on where we buy books, what kind of books we buy, and what we read. Ebooks keep taking a larger piece of the pie, and there are a lot of ways to optimize your book to take advantage of the e-revolution. Be sure and check out Challies post, and if you are interested in how our company maximizes an authors work in the ebook arena, drop us an email.

http://www.challies.com/resources/where-why-we-buy-books-2011-edition

Celebrations of Curious Characters Review & Thoughts on Book Design

I have been a fan of Ricky Jay's work for a long time. He is the most talented close-up magician still performing, but he is also the preeminent collector of all things odd and unusual.

There are few authors who care about their work as much as Jay. Every word is carefully selected, each picture is one of a kind, and even the design of the book is top notch. It's the type of book that you will want to display on a table rather than hide on a shelf. It's the perfect size for the subject matter and, thankfully, this is the kind of book that is so well suited for a full color, hard cover, oversized book that it will never work as an ebook.

Each chapter consists of one page of text and one full page print. Each picture is both interesting and beautiful. In fact, you may want to get two copies just so you can frame a few of the pictures from the book. Some of my favorite chapters include:

Tossing The Broads - Jay's thoughts on the 3 card monte

Twins - A Celebration of Siamese Twins (the print accompanying this chapter is one of the very best - twins sharing a mustache)

Coffee - A History of the first Coffee Shops/Museums of the Unusual

Taking It on The Chin - The Story of the best "musical face player"

Misconception - Women who have given birth to animals

Shot From A Cannon - The first woman to be shot from a cannon (one of my favorite prints)

Death By Misadventure - The story of Chung Ling Soo

There is not a clunker in the entire book. Each short essay and every picture are nearly perfect; in short, this is a collection not to be missed. Whether you are fascinated with the unusual, curious about the odd, or just a lover of books, this is a must.


Now more than ever, the style and design of a book can make or break it. For instance, I found a book today that is contained in a prescription bottle. Interesting . . . but I thought someone had accidentally left their prescription on a shelf. Bottom line is that I think it will hurt sales more than help them.


What books do you know of that are perfectly designed for the subject matter? Does it make a difference when reading those books? What books do you have that absolutely would not work as an ebook, and why?

And The Winners Are . . .

And the winners are . . .

Pamela Mattox & Debbie Hyde!

Congratulations, and Cinco de Mayo! Email me your address, or your email address, and we will get your cards to you soon. You can email me at brad@lucidbooks.net. Thanks to all who participated.

We had a lot of fun with this and plan to do more giveaways soon. Stay tuned.


Note: If anyone is interested in how we selected the winner, we assigned each contestant a number based on the order of entry, then used www.random.org to generate the two winning numbers.


P.S. - Posted this a few days ago under the comments section on the original post, but some people missed it. My apologies. 

$100 Amazon Giftcard Giveaway

$100 Giveaway! Two Chances to Win!

To celebrate our 100th post on The Lucid Blog, we are going to give away a $100 Amazon Giftcard! All you have to do in order to win is comment on this post. Next week on Cinco de Mayo, we will randomly select a winner and the giftcard is all yours. Odds are a lot better than the lottery already, but we want to help you double your chance to win . . . 

Double Your Chance to Win!

So, we will give away another card to a randomly selected subscriber/follower on the blog as well! You can subscribe and get email updates via the box at the top right of the blog, or follow using the button at the top left, right under the tool bar. Again, as long as you are a subscriber (or follower) by Cinco de Mayo, you are eligible to win (this includes people already subscribed.) Good luck!

3 Tips For Speed Reading

Speed reading can change the way you research, evaluate, and how you read for pleasure. Contrary to popular belief, comprehension increases when you read faster. I read How To Read a Book a few years ago, and there are a few tips in that book that have stuck with me and helped me to read faster.

1. Don't focus on the lines of words, but the white space between the lines.

2. Don't focus on each word. Try using just two focal points, one near the beginning of each line and one near the end. You will be surprised how easy it is to read this way.

3. Force yourself to read faster. Use your finger to follow the words as you read them, and gradually increase the speed that you move your finger until you cannot keep up. Continue reading until your eyes learn to keep up with your finger.

Bonus Tip: Do not read non-fiction like you read fiction. If you don't use different reading techniques for different genres, I can promise that you are missing out. Pick up How To Read A Book for some great information on reading different genres.

Bonus Tip 2: Go to www.readingsoft.com and take a free speed reading test. I have never used their software, but you should be able to rank yourself here and see what you can improve.

How many words a minute do you read? I am at 412 words per minute on the computer test with 91% comprehension. Feels a little harder to read on a screen like this than the words on a page. What speed are you at? Have any other tips to share that have helped increase your speed?

How to Outsource Your Memory and Never Forget a Quote Again

One of the most frustrating things for readers and writers is forgetting where a quote came from. I hate it when I remember a great quote, but can't remember which book it is from. After flipping through a few books and searching for it online, I often give up.

Enter Evernote. I first read about this tool in The 4-Hour Workweek but have been putting off really testing it out for awhile. Now I can't believe that I have gone so long without it. In short, Evernote is a online note taking and storage program that uses text recognition and tagging. That may not mean much at first glance, but it changes everything for me.

Now when I finish a book, I flip back through and take a picture of any page that I have highlighted a quote on with my Evernote program on my iPhone. After snapping all of the pictures, you can tag them with the name of the book, project, and any other information you need to help keep it organized. This is is the best part . . . your notes are then uploaded to Evernote online and the text you just took a picture of is now searchable!

If you want to find every quote you have highlighted in any book that contains the word "reformation" it takes about 5 seconds. Or if you need to search all the notes from a project you worked on a couple of years ago, its a piece of cake. Best of all, its free up to a certain data limit. You can take it for a test run and see if it is right for you.

I have only scratched the surface of the things you can do with Evernote, and will post more about other things you can use if for in the future. What are some uses that you can think of? Will this change how you research your next book? Are there any other programs out there that you think are better?

5 Things You Need To Know About Book Awards

1. Purchase a copy of the Writer's Market Guide that is appropriate for you book. This is the best way to sort through the many awards available, as well as the periodicals that may be interested in reviewing your work.

Christian Writers' Market Guide 2011

2011 Children's Writer's And Illustrator's Market

2011 Novel And Short Story Writer's Market


2. Contact the magazines or periodicals that you read on a regular basis. If you write a book, particularly non-fiction, then it will likely relate to what you read. If you write a book on sewing, contact the various magazines that you follow and submit your work for review, awards, or the end of year best book lists that most publications use.

3. Beware of paying money for guaranteed positive reviews/awards. The gold medal may look great on your book and it may even help you sell a few copies. But, in the long run, awards of this type are empty and reflect poorly on the book. It is normal to pay an entry fee to submit your book, but any entry fees that also include positive reviews and endorsements should be avoided.

4. Few books are bought on the basis of an award unless it is a nationally recognized one. Don't be discouraged if your work does not receive awards right away. Remember that you don't have to win for your entry to be a success. If your book is in front of the right people at the right time, other avenues may open up.

5. Finally, if your book wins a prestigious award, advertise it! Put out a second edition with the award displayed on your book cover. Typically the only awards that will help sell your book are established national awards (like the National Book Award) or niche awards that have been established already. Don't waste your time and money advertising anything else other than those types of awards. The truth is that nobody cares about any other awards.

Positive reviews, even by amateurs, are often more valuable than any book award. In the end, the only prize that really matters is determined by the consumer. When your audience loves your work it is more valuable than winning any contest will ever be.

#1 Tool For Writers

Book marketing has changed over the last decade. Now more then ever authors are involved in marketing their books. Publishers can pull out all the stops to make first-time authors true success stories, but the author's involvement is the most important piece of the marketing puzzle.

Authors who are interested in publishing with Lucid Books often ask what they can start doing now to help sell books in the future. We always give the same advice to every author: start a blog.

Authors should create a blog focused on the content in their book. It seems like everyone has a blog these days, but few are focused. Authors can build a following by creating content, getting feedback, and more. Below are some of the questions we are often asked about blogs.

What is a blog?
Technically it is shorthand for a weblog. It can be anything you want to be, but is best used as a forum to share your work.

How do I start a blog?
Two great sites that will get you on your way for free are Blogspot and Wordpress.

When should I start a blog?
The best day to start a blog is at least three years before your book comes out. The second best day is today.

How often should I post?
You should post regularly, though daily is not neccesary. You want to post short articles regularly and try to have a longer piece at least once every couple of weeks.

How do I attract readers to my blog?Tell your friends and family about it, comment on other blogs, and give the search engines time to pick up the content you are adding.


More Tools for Writers:
Mind Maps
Thinkertoys
The Maker's Schedule
Speed Reading Tips
Outsourcing Your Memory

3 Myths About Creativity

Creativity is considered a gift from above; some people have it, some don't. My goal is to help people rethink what creativity is, how it works, and how you can apply it to writing your books.

1. Creativity is not just a gift. It is an acquired skill. The sooner that you accept this the better. Creativity is something you can work at and achieve. Very few people are born with an innate creativity that flows from their fingertips as paintings, books, or music. Most of the time the most creative people are the most determined, those who push through failures to find success.

2. Creativity not something you think up. It is something you do. Steven Pressfield has a great book on creativity for authors called The War of Art. While his underlying philosophy is wrong, he has some excellent advice for all of those trying to actually do something creative. One of the first lines in his book states, "There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write."

3. Creative ideas do not come from nothing. You have to work at it. Ideas fuel creativity. If sitting down is the the hard part for writers, staring at a blank page is not any easier. Ideas fuel our thoughts, and when they are put into words they produce books that can be great. One of my all time favorite books is a guide to creative thinking. This book has about 40 concrete tools you use to fuel creativity. Just using one of the techniques this book teaches will give you more ideas then you can possibly use. Read my review of Thinkertoys here.

Read Out Loud and Other Writing Tips

Robert Farrar Capon is an Episcopal priest and has authored more than 20 books. While I often don't agree with his conclusions, he is better at putting words on a page than any other Christian author I've read since C.S. Lewis. I read The Foolishness of Preaching recently and Capon shares some of his tricks of the trade.

• Read out loud. Read your own work out loud when you are in the editing process. It is easier to fool our eyes than our ears, and your writing will improve if you edit your work this way.

• Always use concrete illustrations. Talk about football, not sports. Talk about real estate, not business. Talk about woodworking, not hobbies.

• Take a break in the middle. Never stop writing at the end of a section, chapter, or paragraph. Stop yourself in the middle. When you come back, you will be able to pick up where you left off rather than stare at a blank page.

• Write when others sleep. Whether you are a night person or a morning person, find a time when other people are sleeping to write. Phone calls, texts, and quick lunches won't interrupt you this way.

• Adjectives pull punches. More often than not, adverbs and adjectives "pull punches rather than deliver them." Use sparingly.

Comment below if you have any other writing tips you would like to share.

New Book On The Way

Lucid Books has just inked a deal with John Bisagno, former pastor of First Baptist Houston, to publish and promote his new book coming out early next year on the subject of love and marriage. I have had the chance to read parts of the book already and am very excited about it - it is a neccesary book and written by a man who can speak truth and breathe life into the subject of love. More details will be coming out about the book soon.

It has been a privilege to get to know John Bisagno through this process. He is, in the best sense of the word, a pastor. Seeing him interact with people, tell stories, listen and correct others is refreshing. My sense of Southern Baptist pastors from his generation is admittedly jaded from others that I have met, but John carries himself so well and speaks so articulately that I can see my former stereotype was wrong. He is a faithful pastor, gifted preacher, devoted husband and father, and a Bible-believing Christian - I look forward to publishing this book and helping connect him with current and new generations of Christians.