Hey Jim,

Cheers.

Dacia

Hi Dacia,

Haven’t seen you comment on my posts in a while. Was starting to wonder what happened. Hmm… looks like we’ve got a multi-question one today… all right. Let’s take it one at a time.

First off, stalk away. I don’t mind frequent visitors, it helps my blog more than anything!

So beta readers… it’s tough. It’s really tough. First thing I would do when looking for a beta reader is document every exchange you have back and forth with someone if you don’t know them. Goodreads usually has some pretty trustworthy beta reading circles, but you still need to be careful. I tried to go through their a while back and honestly, got a bull assessment of my first chapter from someone who claimed to be a ‘speed reader.’ They wanted money to review the rest… and not a small amount either.

Look into the person you’re considering working with. Do they have other publications with reviews? What is their level of education? Are they an active member of whatever community you’re searching through? Don’t be afraid to ask questions and turn down offers if something doesn’t seem right.

The second thing you can do is try to forge a relationship on here with someone. That’s pretty much how I did it. I’d also recommend finding more than one person, two sets of eyes, one biased (yours), one not (a beta), are still likely to miss a few things. Multiple beta readers however will help you out a lot. So… I guess I’m volunteering if you’d be interested in doing an exchange?

That’s usually the best way to do it. An exchange with another author anxious to find someone who’s willing to sift through their work as well. Otherwise you’ll likely shell out $100-$300 for a college student to do the work… which is fine, they really do a great job, but when you’re spending $300 (min.) for a cover, $100 a piece for each ISBN needed, and $35 for the copyright fee, it adds up fast.

One piece of advice I’d give you before reaching out to people you don’t know is to REGISTER YOUR WORK! That’s right, get it copyrighted. It’s technically already copyrighted the moment you put pen to paper, but registering it guarantees that you’ll be protected and able to furnish proof against another writer who hijacks your book.

Finally, inspirational pieces with no vocals… that is a tough one.
I’m afraid I don’t work with much in the way of instrumental music, but I do have a few selections…

Since you mentioned classical, might I recommend checking into music from the Baroque era? I tend to like that a lot more with my writing. I don’t have any real selections for you as I wouldn’t be able to identify them. I usually just switch on baroque stations on spotify.

Anyway, hope this helps!

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hello, Jim–

Hi Mark,

It’s an age-old problem to be sure. How do you attract an audience. Well to be honest there are a lot of ways. Your crowdfunding page certainly caught my attention, but really word of mouth is everything. For starters, I would update your kickstarter listing. Offer autographed copies as a perk. Collectors (like myself) love that sort of thing. We eat it up and… given how much I spent on a Lady Mechanika #1 that is autographed by the writer and artist (no I will not give a dollar amount), we’re willing to spend more on them… even if the artist is start up.

Second, I would update the kickstarter to include “advertising” as to where the funding goes. If you’ve really exhausted all other options, then you are going to need to put some money into advertising whether you like it or not. Fortunately there are plenty of advertising companies that can help you for fairly cheap. Amazon is really a great place to do it as many of their ads show up on Audible and that’s often how I find new books to read.

So I also took a look at your page as well and I don’t mean this in a negative way, but I found it wanting. What I mean by that is that you have no footer, nowhere on there other than your Amazon page where people can interact with you or get updates other than WordPress… This is very important because… most readers typically don’t have wordpress accounts. They come here for the articles, but most won’t be writing anything.

Go into wordpress, got to ‘My Site> Configure> Sharing.

If yours doesn’t look like mine (yes I know, I need to update the Linkedin one), then you’re not doing everything you can to advertise your work or yourself. Sign up for an account on each of these and spend a few hours here and there reaching out to people. Comment on the things they post, off your opinion, and/or offer help (like I do here). This is how you build a community and gain yourself a following.

A few weeks of doing this gained me a few thousand followers and a considerable boost in traffic to my pages.

The playlist has definitely gained me a following, mostly of writers looking for something to listen to while they brainstorm, but it has helped. This isn’t a method I have copyrighted or anything, so if you feel like it could help you, go for it.

Anyway, I hope some of these ideas help, but let’s open it up to the community;

Readers, do you have any ideas that could help Mark spread word of his new book??

Thanks,
Jim

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Right now, I’ve hit a bit of snag in my writing. I’m a few chapters in and I am unsure on how to progress from where I am at. I have a storyboard and basic layout of the plot but I’m just hitting my head against the wall second guessing how I SHOULD write it.

Any thoughts?

–Jak

Hi Jak,

I actually get this question a lot. So without knowing a ton about your specific case, I’ve been in your shoes at least in some way. You’ve got a great story, great ideas, but several directions you can go in with said ideas.

Well… I remember back in High School when we were taking SATs, we were told that if we didn’t know the answer, to go with our initial thought. Like you look at the answers and the first one that stands out as being right is the one you should go with. They didn’t want anyone second guessing themselves because then they’d foul up.
At the time, I thought that there was so much wrong with that advice… however when I realized how much of a time constraint we had, and how many of my answers turned out to be right when I went with me ‘gut.’ I realized that there was some value in it.
Intuition is a very powerful tool.

The same can be said for writing. If you’ve got a bunch of ideas flowing, go with the first one that pops out at you. Write it all out and get it on paper so that you can see and read your ideas. Often you’re going to find that those ideas were better in your head, but in most occasions, those initial ideas may only need a few tweaks here and there to iron them out.

In the instances where you read through and just think ‘Eh… this is stupid!’ you can always go back and change anything (or everything) that you need to.

So basically what I want you to do is sit down, look at what you have so far and ask yourself the question ‘What comes next?’ Then just write the first thing that comes to you. Don’t bother with any second thoughts, you can deal with those later.

Hope this helps. Readers, what do you think Jak should do in this situation? Let me know in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Take care, be well, and happy blogging.
Denny

Hi Denny,

Well… if there’s a maxim a writer should live by, it’s that if you’re good at something, don’t do it for free. Writing, creating, brainstorming, and eventual publishing take time and money and everyone deserves to be compensated for their time.

You may notice that I have several stories posted on here that are not currently in print. That’s because most of them are either abandoned stories or ones I never really considered worth publishing. In one or two cases, I posted them to gauge reader reaction and decide if it was worth publishing.

I’d leave those up because they’re really rough drafts and there would be many edits and changes made to a final product, so it wouldn’t be the same thing. However, I never post more than a single chapter of any published work.

Anyway… I know that doesn’t answer your question. So if you’re going to go against the piece of advice, let me put it this way; your work is YOUR WORK the moment you put it to paper. It is technically already copyrighted. However that’s not going to stand up in any court if you decide to pursue a claim. Posting on a blog, free or paid does not guarantee you ANY protection. You’re putting your work out there, it isn’t up to the site to protect that.

Personally, I’d stay away from ANY resource on copyrighting if the site doesn’t have a .gov at the end of it. I’m not sure what country you’re from, but for the U.S., the best thing you can do is register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office. 

I know a lot of people will say that if you’re going through traditional publishing, don’t do this because most publishers won’t take the extra time and money to purchase the copyright from you. However that doesn’t appear to be what you’re doing so it doesn’t apply. This is for posting your work and for self-publishers.

So I guess the best advice I could give is to register any work you plan on posting and do not post any work that you plan on publishing later.

Hope that helps. Readers, what do you think? Is there a better way to protect your work? Let Denny know in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hi Jim,

I’ve been writing for some time now and was actually wondering what made you decide to give out writing advice on your blog. Isn’t that like giving away all of your secrets? Couldn’t you wind up giving advice to someone who may wind up outperforming you?

Just wondering,
Craig

Hi Craig,

Just kidding. Honestly, if that happens, great! If honestly I give someone advice that helps them become the next Stephen King, I’ll be happy! (Though a little recognition for it wouldn’t go unappreciated *hint, hint*)

Honestly, I don’t worry about it. No matter what happens, you’ll always have people who enjoyed your work and will always come back to read more as long as the writing keeps up. It’s not like you’re giving out advice to help them write exactly like you do, far from it. You’re just giving them a push in the right direction.

Finally, what is knowledge if it isn’t shared? Of what benefit is it? I struggled through the writing/publishing world with no foreknowledge of the industry because I didn’t know anything about it. So if I can help someone not make the same mistakes and experience the disappointments that I did early on, then why not help?

As to your other question ‘why’? Well there are a few reasons. For one, I like receiving emails from my followers/fans… though I may have shot myself in the foot by promising a personal response to all of them, but I feel I must also admit to a more selfish reason as well.

One of the few pieces of advice I was given when I started trying to get published was to get my name out there. Join a blogging community and contribute heavily to it. That’s how you get notoriety. So I figured the best way was to write about things I knew. I wrote about history, writing, social commentary (which i’ve now stopped unless it pertains to writing, because the world is already saturated with politics.), and fantasy. Before long, I started getting questions about my writing and decided to make an email to accept and respond to fanmail/ questions.
That’s when I found my niche; writing advice. I’ve been doing it ever since.

So while I’ll admit that my motives haven’t always been altruistic, and are a good way to promote my books, I’ve come to really enjoy answering questions and offering my opinion.

Readers, do you have any follow up for Craig? What are other ways you get your name out there?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Let’s face it, we’re all fed up with sequels and prequels, right? Once a story is over, there’s nothing wrong with declaring a happily ever after and leaving it at that. Once a story is concluded, the heroes have been through enough, and it’s time to move on to bigger and better things so they can live out their days in peace.

So why then do the stories keep getting rehashed? Why do we continuously invade their lives with forced plots that thrust characters back into hard situations that make the entire world less believable and even in some cases, damage the first story? Why did the orphanage from the first Blues Brothers wind up closing? Why did the Gates family get thrust into another historical mystery? Why is Disney following up on literal happily ever afters?

Well… there’s a couple of reasons for this… First, sequels are safe. Even if they’re many years out of date. Both literary and visual media companies want followup stories because if an audience liked the first story, they’ll pay to see/read the next one in a line… no matter how poorly done it is. Some because they love the characters and want to revisit their world, others just to see how badly it all get’s messed up.

Unfortunately, they’re right in this line of thinking. New titles and original movies that aren’t based on anything are often hard sells by comparison. If you write a story that is completely your own, not based on any modern/historical events, based in an established world, etc. You’re going to have a hard time. The same can be said about movies. I spoke in another post about the criticism that Hollywood is out of ideas. I don’t agree. Hollywood produces original movies all the time. The problem is that they’re usually given a smaller budget, little to no advertising, and go relatively un-celebrated. So next time you go to the movies. Take a look at the sign and check out one of the movies you don’t recognize and haven’t heard of. Usually, those will be your original stories.

So at some point through presequelitis, we’ve all got to come to terms with the fact that followup stories/movies are never going away. We can complain and moan all we want, there will always be an audience for them. Like it or not, there will always be an audience for movies such as Ghostbusters Answer the Call. These are not going to go away and I don’t think they should…

HEAR ME OUT!

There are right and wrong ways to do sequels and prequels. First, prequels need someone to keep an eye on continuity. If your prequel is going to poke major potholes in the better followup, then it may be time to abandon said story. The worst thing you can do is damage established norms, because that’s how you lose your audience.

Sequels are a little different. If you’ve written a story and given the idea that all loose ends are tied up and everything is finished, going back and forcing those characters into a whole new story that came out of nowhere causes a lot of problems. Not the least of these are 1. you’re beating on characters that have already taken their bumps. This can come off at mean spirited. 2. You’re straining suspension of disbelief. Suddenly bringing in a new adversary/obstacle that is somehow connected to the original story, but literally no one knew about, and/or mentioned up until now can be tough to follow.

So how can we make sequels work? Well for starters, if you intend to write a sequel to your story, don’t tie up all the loose ends. Leave something for the sequel to grab onto. In other words, spread your story out over a couple of novels. There’s no rule that says everything has to be crammed into one story.

Now let’s say that you’ve finished your story. Let’s say every loose end is completely tied up and your story has been published. People love it and are either screaming for a sequel or you’ve come up with a new plot point that you’d like to explore in that setting. This is where you have to be VERY careful. This is where you run the risk of writing a forced sequel, because its here that suddenly you have to explain where this new plot point comes from and why no one noticed it up until now. It’s a very sloppy way of doing things, and honestly is very transparent.

That said, the best way to go about doing something like this is to turn your story into a series of stories all set in the same world, but with different main characters. In essence, turn it into an anthology series. You can create a whole new set of characters and maybe even grab one or two supporting/minor characters from your previous story to take center stage. You can still have the characters from the first book come in and make appearances, reacting to the situation as you see fit. However they would really need to stay in the background.

The best thing about doing it this way is that you can literally do anything you want as long as you obey the rules you’ve already put in place for the world you created. The story prior to, during, or after the original. When I wrote damnation, it takes place during and after the events of Divinity and does so in a way that does not affect the original story other than bringing more dynamics to the original plot points. In essence, the happenings of Damnation actually expand and emphasize what goes on in Divinity.

Followup stories aren’t going away, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be good!

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim