The 7 Types of Book Writing Software

In the age of digital creativity, authors are no longer confined to the traditional pen and paper. The advent of book writing software has revolutionized the way stories are told, making the process more accessible, organized, and even inspiring for writers of all calibers. With the right tools, the daunting task of writing a book becomes a structured journey of expression and discovery. Whether you are a seasoned novelist or a budding storyteller, the plethora of book writing applications available can cater to your narrative needs, from simplifying the writing process to enhancing productivity. This blog post explores the diverse landscape of book writing software, offering insights into the functionalities and advantages that these digital aides bring to your writing desk. As we delve into the different types of software designed to suit various writing styles and needs, you’ll find the keys to unlock your creative potential and bring your literary vision to life.

1. Word Processors: The Foundation of Book Writing

Word processors are the cornerstone of digital writing, offering a plethora of features that serve as the backbone for crafting manuscripts. At their core, these programs provide a blank canvas for authors to pour out their thoughts, shape narratives, and revise content with ease. The most effective word processors for book writing go beyond mere text entry, encompassing advanced functionalities such as formatting consistency, auto-save features, and the ability to handle large documents without performance hitches.

Popular examples like Microsoft Word have long been staples in the writer’s toolkit, appreciated for their robust toolsets and compatibility with various publishing formats. Meanwhile, Google Docs appeals to those who prioritize accessibility and cloud-based collaboration. For authors who prefer software tailored to the nuances of book creation, Scrivener stands out with its built-in outlining and research organization features.

When selecting a word processor, writers should consider factors like ease of use, compatibility with other tools, and the specific needs of their writing process. The ideal word processing software should fade into the background, becoming an intuitive extension of the writer’s mind, allowing them to focus on storytelling rather than the mechanics of typing. The goal is to find a digital environment that feels as comfortable and conducive to creativity as the traditional notebook, yet leverages the benefits of modern technology.

2. Writing Project Management Tools

Writing a book is akin to managing a complex project with multiple moving parts. This is where writing project management tools come into play, offering writers a structured way to oversee their work from conception to completion. These specialized software options are designed to help authors organize ideas, research materials, plot details, character arcs, and more, ensuring that every piece of the puzzle is in place.

A critical feature of such tools is their ability to help writers visualize the overall structure of their book, often through the use of virtual corkboards, timelines, and outlining functions. This can be particularly useful for keeping track of multiple storylines or complex character relationships. For example, Scrivener offers a digital corkboard where writers can rearrange index cards containing scene summaries — a digital take on a time-tested writer’s tool.

Additionally, these tools often include tracking functionalities that allow authors to set writing goals, monitor progress, and stick to deadlines. This can be a boon for maintaining motivation and productivity, especially during the long haul of writing a novel.

Notable software in this category includes the likes of yWriter and Ulysses, each with their unique strengths. yWriter, created by a programmer who is also a novelist, breaks down novels into chapters and scenes, allowing for meticulous detail management, while Ulysses offers a sleek interface and distraction-free environment alongside its organizational prowess. Choosing the right project management tool can make the difference between a chaotic writing process and a streamlined path to a finished manuscript.

​​3. Distraction-Free Writing Software

Distraction-free writing software is designed for writers who want to eliminate all the noise and focus solely on the text. This genre of software provides a minimalistic interface, stripping away complex toolbars and feature sets to offer a serene writing environment that encourages concentration. The philosophy behind these applications is to create a space where writers can immerse themselves in their work without the temptation of internet browsing, social media, and the myriad of distractions that come with a full-featured word processor.

Applications like ZenWriter and FocusWriter are prominent in this space, offering customizable backgrounds and soothing soundscapes to enhance the writing ambiance. With features like typewriter sound effects, daily goals, and fullscreen modes, these tools aim to keep the writer in the flow, maximizing productivity. For writers who are easily sidetracked or those who thrive in simplicity, a distraction-free software can be the key to maintaining a steady pace in writing, allowing creativity to flourish uninhibited.

4. Book Planning and Structuring Software

Book planning and structuring software is a godsend for authors who thrive on meticulous organization. These applications serve as the scaffolding for a book, allowing writers to outline chapters, plot points, and character arcs with precision. They provide frameworks within which authors can map out their stories, ensuring a cohesive narrative flow and maintaining continuity.

Such software often includes features like virtual corkboards, mind maps, and outline views, which help in visualizing the structure of a book and making strategic decisions about the narrative. Programs like Plottr and The Novel Factory specialize in plotting assistance, offering book templates and guides for popular story structures, character development, and even world-building.

For writers who might struggle with keeping track of complex story elements, these structuring tools can be invaluable. They not only aid in the planning phase but can also be referenced throughout the writing process to keep the narrative on track and well-paced, ensuring that the final product is both engaging and well-constructed.

5. Editing and Proofreading Software

Editing and proofreading software are essential tools in an author’s arsenal, designed to polish a rough manuscript into a refined piece of literature. This type of software is invaluable for catching grammatical errors, suggesting style improvements, and ensuring consistency across the text. Tools like Grammarly and ProWritingAid offer comprehensive grammar checking, while also providing insights into readability and style enhancements, making them popular choices among both novice and experienced writers.

These applications often function as an automated first line of editing, highlighting passive voice, adverb overuse, and complex sentence structures that could potentially obscure meaning. They can serve as a virtual writing coach, pushing authors to tighten their prose and clarify their language.

While no software can replace a professional human editor, these digital tools can significantly reduce the number of surface-level errors and inconsistencies, allowing authors to present a cleaner draft to beta readers or editors. This can be a crucial step in the writing process, ensuring the manuscript is as close to perfection as possible before it reaches the final stages of publication.

6. Genre-Specific Writing Software

Genre-specific writing software caters to the unique requirements of different literary styles. Screenwriters, for instance, often turn to Final Draft or Celtx, which conform to the stringent formatting standards of the film industry. Novelists might gravitate towards software like Scrivener that offers features tailored to long-form writing, such as character development tools and timeline tracking. These specialized programs understand the nuances of their respective genres, providing templates and formatting aids that can save writers hours of manual formatting work. For authors dedicated to a particular genre, such software isn’t just a convenience; it’s an integral part of their storytelling toolkit.

7. Collaborative Writing Software

Collaborative writing software has become increasingly important in an era where writing is often a team effort. Applications like Google Docs allow multiple authors to work on the same document simultaneously, offering real-time editing and commenting capabilities. This facilitates a dynamic exchange of ideas, immediate feedback, and seamless co-creation, which is especially beneficial for writing teams scattered across different geographies. Such platforms also track changes and suggestions, making it easier to manage contributions from various authors. For projects that thrive on collective input and revision, collaborative writing software is transforming how writers connect, create, and produce unified works of writing.

Everything You Need to Know About Book Proposals

You’ve always enjoyed and had a knack for writing. You have a fantastic ideal for a story and you’ve finally decided that you’re going to take the leap and actually try your hand at publishing that story as a book. Fantastic! 

After spending countless hours gathering your thoughts and putting pen to paper letting your ideas flow, and then painstakingly pouring over your work, you have, what you believe, is a book that is worthy of publishing and you’re ready to send it and see if it will get picked up. Before you do, however, there are several things that you need to know. Unfortunately, too many talented writers aren’t knowledgeable about the publishing world and how it works, and they end up getting frustrated – and eventually throwing in the towel – when they discover that the work they invested so much time, effort, energy, and emotion into isn’t making any headway with a publisher. 

We don’t want that to happen to you; therefore, in an attempt to help increase your chances of having your manuscript turned into a book, we want to take the time to educate you about the publishing process and what it entails. The first step in the process (well, after writing and editing your work, and finally getting up enough courage to put yourself out there) is creating a book proposal. 

What is a book proposal? What does it involve? Why is it important? To find the answers to these questions and more, keep on reading. 

What is a book proposal? 

Are you aware that about 50 percent – HALF – of all manuscripts that authors submit are never read? Shocking right? It isn’t because they aren’t good; in fact, a large percentage of the manuscripts that writers submit may, in fact, be excellent. So, why do roughly half of the manuscripts that are submitted never read?  

The reason has nothing to do with the quality of the writing or the context of the story. Essentially, it boils down to time. Agents and acquisition editors receive dozens upon dozens of submissions, and they simply don’t have enough time to read them all. So, how do they determine which submissions they are going to pick up a manuscript? By reading the query letter and the book proposal that comes along with the submission. 

But what exactly is a book proposal? Put simply, it’s a document that highlights the key details about your book idea. A proposal provides agents and publishers with a snapshot of your ideas and allows them to assess whether or not those ideas have potential for a book. 

Why do book proposals matter?

Book proposals are important because they help publishers determine whether or not the idea you have for a book holds commercial appeal; in other words, whether or not a targeted audience – the group of people that the book would be geared toward – would, in fact, be interested in reading your story if it were to be published as a book. 

A proposal allows the agents and acquisition editors to assess how strong your specific book idea is. Additionally, it allows them to determine if there is a need or a gap in the market for your story, if it were to become published. A proposal helps a publisher determine whether or not you are the right author to write the book. They will determine this by analyzing the following: 

  • The credentials that you have highlighted in your biography
  • How clearly your positioning statement communicates your thoughts and ideas
  • The summaries of your chapters
  • A sample of your writing that you have provided 

Additionally, publishers will attempt to gauge your level of commitment to making the book a success if it were to be published by assessing the marketing and publicity ideas you have submitted with your proposal. 

To summarize, a book proposal is important because it serves as a doorway to the world of publishing. Not only is submitting a book proposal important, but if you are really serious about having your story published, creating a thoughtful, well-crafted, clear, and concise book proposal is imperative.

What do you do with it when it’s ready?

You will submit the proposal for your book to a publishing house. The members of the publishing house’s editorial team will read and analyze it, as it is this team who is tasked with acquiring new books to publish. Individuals who obtain books on a publishing company’s behalf go by many titles. Examples of these titles include: 

  • Editor
  • Commissioning Editor
  • Editorial Director
  • Publisher 
  • Publishing Director 

Note: In the context of this article, we’ll use the collective term “publisher” to refer to all of the professionals listed above. 

On an average week, publishers receive anywhere from 10 to 30 proposals. That’s a whole lot of proposed book ideas! For this reason, it is absolutely vital that you put a lot of effort and attention into creating an excellent book proposal that will pique a publisher’s interests. If a publisher comes across a book proposal that grabs their attention and that really appeals to them, then there’s a chance that they will share your idea with their colleagues who work in various departments within the publishing house and will discuss whether or not your proposal merits becoming a book. 

In addition to the publisher, there are several other important individuals who will play a role in determining whether or not a publishing house will commission your proposal, including: 

  • The sales team, who is responsible for selling the book
  • The publicity team, who is tasked with promoting the book – and you, the author
  • The rights team, who will attempt to sell the rights to the book so that it can be translated into different languages, as well as secure serialization of the book in a newspaper
  • The marketing and publicity team, who is tasked with trying to attract readers for the book, both quickly and inexpensively

In short, a book proposal should be crafted in such a way that it can successfully answer several questions that the publishing house will have about the project. 

Whether fiction or non-fiction, if you intend on becoming a published author, submitting a book proposal is the first – and one of the most important – parts of the process. As such, making sure that your proposal is thoughtful, clear, and well-designed is imperative to your success.

5 Advanced Tips for Using Amazon Ads as an Author

Competition is heating up in Amazon Ads for authors. With the introduction of published author gaining access to the platform, we can expect self-published authors to spend more on their marketing budgets when implementing this tool into their marketing mix. 

A 2019 study shows just that. 80% of authors marketing on the site plan to increase their allotted budget for promoting their ads. You’ll need to step up your efforts with your campaings to keep pace. While increasing your marketing budget is one way to go about getting better results, there’s another option of succeeding without spending more money.

Understanding the optimal strategy to creating a campaign gives you a chance of competing with the big spenders, without increasing your budget. 

Advanced Tip #1 – Understanding and Leveraging the Flywheel effect

If you’ve never heard of the Flywheel Effect, it’s the concept of utilizing your paid advertising strategy to generate earned media, thereby driving growth in your ad campaigns. Paid and earned media comprise detail page views, reviews, and product content are your owned media. 

The paid ads you’re using drive qualified traffic to your book listings, boosting its position in organic search. Higher traffic flows and optimal positioning in organic search means your book has a better chance of receiving the coveted Amazon’s Choice label.

If your books receive the Amazons Choice designation, they get more attention from users browsing the platform for books in your specific genre. You’ll notice a boost to your traffic and higher conversion rates from this moniker. 

This effect creates a positive feedback loop, known as the flywheel Effect, where it builds momentum continuously, pushing your listing to the top of organic search results. 

Advanced Tip #2 – Create an Advertising Cost of Sale Goal

As with any other marketing strategy for business models, understanding your metrics assists with unpacking the components and tactics that increase revenues. While it’s important to avoid focusing on one metric independently of others,  combining them yields effective results for your analyzing your marketing strategy. 

For instance, it’s a common mistake to use the ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) as a benchmark for assessing the efficacy of your Amazon Ads campaign. However, it skews results, and ACoS isn’t as effective a tool as you think. 

Combining it with other metrics such as gross profit, total revenues, and TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sale) yields better results for understanding the impact of your ads campaign. TACoS measures how your ad spend affects your overall revenues and your organic reach.

To assess the impact of combining ACoS with TACoS, we look for a low ACoS rating, combined with a low ACoS rating. ACoS defines the ratio of ad spend to revenue generated through your campaign. With automatic campaigns, ACoS is at a group level, but in manual campaigns, ACoS features on a product level. 

Your aim is to lower advertising costs for books already generating revenue, they don’t need the additional push from ad spend since they benefit from the flywheel effect.

Advanced Tip #3 – Reduce Ad Spend with Negative Keywords

Like Google Ads, negative keywords in Amazon Ads campaigns consist of keywords excluded from broader keyword searches. The role of negative keywords is to prevent your ad from ranking for the wrong search terms.

When defining your negative keywords, look for those keywords receiving large traffic volumes but low conversion rates. These keywords give you plenty of clicks, but few sales, costing you money while frustrating users. 

Avoid using generalized keywords, prospects look for something more specific in their searches, using long-tail keyword searches such as “1980s American police thriller.” This strategy helps narrow your search reach, bringing you more qualified traffic to your book listings than using “thriller” or “police thriller” as your set keywords. 

Without defining your keyword sets, there’s no way to ensure prospective readers will pull the buying trigger when landing on your listing, they might be looking for something totally different. By implementing this strategy, to reduce waste in your ad budget while improving conversion. 

Leveraging negative keywords in your Amazon Ads campaigns eliminates a lot of wasteful spending by preventing your ads from appearing in the wrong search results. The benefit is that the Amazon algorithm promotes your books effectively, and begins to induce the flywheel effect due to better prospect engagement. 

Advanced Tip #4 – Adjust Your Bids

Newcomers to Amazon Advertising often feel their lack of confidence with understanding the platform pushes them away from drilling down in their campaign design. Set-it-and-forget-it campaigns don’t produce the same results as those optimized for success. 

The keyword bidding process is a great example of this phenomenon. Using ad group default bidding reduces the efficacy of your ad campaign because it’s not successful for all keywords. Rather set your bid at the keyword level using what you can accommodate in your budget for each click.

Adjust your bid rate in accordance with the feedback you receive when monitoring your campaign performance. If your conversion rate drops and you fail to adjust your bid you’ll lose out on conversions and revenue declines. 

You can’t know the perfect bid unless you sit on the data, but no author has the time for that. So, optimizer the bidding process using the Automated Bidding feature and leverage Amazons algorithm to keep your bids relevant. 

Advanced Tip #5 – Explore with Auto Campaigns and Exploit with Manual Campaigns

Set-it-and-forget-it campaigns seems appealing to new users because of the lack of involvement required in setting up the campaign. The fear of the unknown often prevents newbies from diving into the details to optimize their campaigns and improve their results. 

Automated campaigns aren’t always the best choice for your strategy. They limit your control and you can’t set bids based on individual search queries. While automated campaigns are fine for setting your bid, they might slow progress.

However, using automation for sourcing your keywords is beneficial to your campaign success. The Auto Campaigns function discovers high-conversion search terms adding those terms as keywords to manual ad campaigns.

Look for ways to automate your campaigns wherever possible, including defining negative keywords. Blend these automated processes with manual search term migration for your campaigns and you’ll see better results. 

Create Perfectly Polished Content With An Expert Proofreader

There are people who can spot mistakes, and then there are professional proofreaders. If your blog, dissertation, story, website, or other content needs to be reviewed, then you should consider hiring a professional to help. Finding a proofreader to review your content is not as difficult as you may expect. With so many qualified proofreaders to choose from, you are sure to find a perfect match. If you are ready to take your content to the next level, keep on reading.

Mistake-Proof Your Content

Creating binge-worthy content for your website or writing an epic adventure for your readers is only one part of the creative journey. Completing a manuscript, populating a blog, or even finalizing a white paper is only a small part of what it takes to generate publishable content. Before you send your work over to a freelance editor, you need to have a proofreader take a pass at it first. You might be surprised at how many people jump from content creation and cover design straight to editing and publishing. The result is a finished product that has avoidable errors, misused words, and even formatting errors that can turn a fan into a disgruntled opponent.

Don’t Let Small Mistakes Ruin Your Reputation

Hiring a proofreader is one of the most crucial stages of content creation, manuscript finalization, and book publishing. In fact, you should never publish anything on the internet or send it to print unless it has undergone at least two passes with a skilled proofreading expert. Working with an experienced proofreader will ensure that your writing is free from errors, typos, and inconsistencies in grammar. To the average person, or even to a new writer, fundamental mistakes may seem insignificant. However, these minor mistakes can represent the difference between a polished piece and a publication that reeks of unprofessionalism. Even the smallest mistakes allowed to go to print can damage your reputation as a writer, which is why hiring a skilled proofreader is essential.

Who Should Hire A Proofreader?

Professional proofreaders are not only accessible to those looking to publish a book. Just about anyone who writes for any reason can hire a proofreader to review their content for errors. Many writers who are creating content in something other than their native language often will hire help. Academics, authors, bloggers, and even college students may even hire a proofreader to help them create a polished piece. Publishers and ghostwriters are well known to hire several proofreaders to review all manner of content to ensure everything is perfect before it goes to print.

Why Should You Hire a Proofreader?

Have you ever picked up a newspaper or book looking for important information only to get distracted by typos? Perhaps you settled down to read a fascinating story but were met with misspellings, out-of-place words, or worse, bad formatting. Well, as much as you may have disliked the experience, chances are your target reader will dislike them even more. Proofreading is also essential for brand copy, website content, and anything else that contains more than a few sentences. Hiring an expert proofreader will give you peace of mind in knowing that your content, book, or copy is error-free.

What to Look For in a Proofreader

Finding the right proofreader for your project may take some time, but when you find a worthy one, hold onto them. There is a diverse selection of proofreading professionals to choose from online, so you are sure to find one that fits your budget. Before you take the plunge and hire a proofreader, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Following these tips will help make your selection process more efficient and it will in addition give your project the best chance of being successful.

Recognize the difference between a proofreader and an editor before making a hire. It is also critical to know which content professional you need at each stage of your project. A proofreader will seek misspelled words, poor grammar, and punctuation errors among other things. They will also help spot words that are used incorrectly, such as using “two” instead of “too.”However, they are not going to note or correct syntax errors, comprehension flaws, or even issues with the subject of your writing. An editor is one that would ensure your content is precise, factual, and concise.

For those who have long batches of text that need proofreading, consider sending over a small sample for evaluation. Always send the same sample to each proofreader prospect so that you can get a clear picture of their work ability and correction style. While you are at it, ask for their relevant qualifications, experience, and how long they have been in the industry. Being able to spot mistakes is part of the job, but a professional proofreader will have completed very specific specialized training. Always ask which style guide they used when proofreading content to ensure the guide is one that matches your writing style. For example, if you looking to have news-style content proofread, someone who used The Chicago Manual of Style may not be the best fit.

Cost and Turnaround For Professional Proofreading Services

Like with any professional service, proofreaders have a general rate that is determined by a few factors. The amount of experience and training a proofreader has will play a big role in their rate. The type and length of the document they will review will also play a part in the final cost. Though proofreaders can charge by the hour, most will ask for a fixed amount based on the content type and length. Hourly rates can range from $15 an hour for simple content to $150 an hour for research-based publications. On average a qualified proofreader will charge between $0.015 and $0.020 per word for their services. The more complex a topic is, the higher the per-word rate will be. However, don’t let the price deter you from ensuring your content is mistake-free. 

5 Side Hustles You Can Do on Your Own Schedule

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, no one could precisely estimate how much it would affect people. As it turns out now, though, rising living costs are one of the pandemic’s undeniable effects. Hence, many people now need a side hustle to better their economic statuses. Besides, one boss is enough stress, and no one wants a second boss. 

This article shares five side hustles you could do within your schedule without quitting your main course. For example, robbing your precious family time or being under a second boss. Instead, you will be your own boss and do something of your own liking while earning a few bucks.

1.  Transcribe with transcription companies.

Although you might be very busy with your main course, there are definitely times of the week or the day when you are free. You can take advantage of these and get gigs with which to supplement your family income. Working as a transcriber for transcription companies is one of such side hustles that will fit nicely into your schedule. What’s more, many companies, including Scribbie, GoTranscript, Rev.com, and TranscribeMe, specialize in transcription, and you will not lack something.

Furthermore, you will be in for some good deals while transcribing audio files. For instance, GoTranscript pays up to $5 for a ten-minute audio file that you could handle in 20minutes, while Rev.com pays up to $7 for the same file. So, however busy you might be, it would not be much trouble to create an hour to do something you enjoy and supplement your main course. Moreover, as you gain more experience, you can qualify to work as an editor, which will require you to edit the transcribed files and get better pay. 

2. Become a freelancer.

When many people hear about freelancing, they often associate it with youngsters, especially college and university students. However, while they may be the majority of people who earn through this gig, such jobs do not necessarily belong to them. You can comfortably try freelancing jobs as your side hustles fit nicely into your schedule. In fact, following the Covid-19 pandemic break out, the number of freelancers has crazily increased.

If you choose to freelance, there are many options out there for you. For instance, some people run small businesses within your locality and wish that someone would help them design a web page for their gig. However, large firms charge crazy prices they cannot afford. And you could be their savior by setting relatively and putting something into your pocket. In fact, for better results, walk from one business premise to the other and market yourself and also ensure an online presence. 

3. Start a YouTube channel or blogging.

The other side hustle that can fit nicely into your schedule is blogging or starting a YouTube channel. Are you passionate about something, say makeup, health, or finance? You could turn this into a lucrative gig by blogging about them. First, however, you need to ensure that your content is relevant to your audience to keep them blogging. Then, as the page grows, you also earn through affiliate links, commissions, and advertisements.

Starting a YouTube channel is another good side hustle that can fit your schedule. And bring you income because YouTube is the fastest-growing media platform in the 21st century. In addition, there are multiple ways of creating YouTube videos even without appearing in them. For example, why not try making music lyrics and the ‘how to’ videos? They will help you earn even if you are camera shy, without necessarily showing your face. All you need to do is keep your content relevant to your target audience.

4. Become a virtual assistant.

Virtual assistance is another fast-growing venture you would like to try without dropping your main course. For example, many people are doing research. They need someone to help them with data entry or email management, and you could be the person they need. What’s more, virtual assistance enables you to earn additional skills and experience as you work with people in specialized niches.

Furthermore, to be a virtual assistant, you don’t need any exotic or extraordinary skills. Most of the time, people who need virtual assistance practically need ‘an assistant,’ not someone who will do the entire job. Provided you are available for learning, you will be coached on what to do. In addition, like other side hustles, virtual assistance has many offers, and you just need to select your area of interest. Graphic design, spreadsheet management, and web hosting are some of the best-paying virtual assistant jobs.

5. Create a digital product training program.

Creating a digital program where you train people on a particular product or field is not everyone’s piece of meat. It could just be the right field for you to venture in and earn from a side hustle of your own liking. Like with virtual assistance and freelancing, many people out there wish to learn how to do something. This is where you come in handy and offer the needed help and advice. For instance, you could start a program that teaches people how to host websites and domains, fix web pages, and use statistical packages.

Moreover, you need not teach technical skills only. For instance, are you an experienced plumber? Do you know how to fix leakages, sinks, and holes? You could equally start a program that trains people how to do such tasks. Depending on how relevant your content is and how you present it, you may earn a huge following fast and start making a few bucks from such a side hustle. Besides, this will happen within your schedule since you are your own boss.

The bottom line

The living cost keeps rising every day; hence the need for side hustles keeps growing. If you are good at doing things within your schedule, you could turn your skills into money without interfering with your main course or family time. 

Rose Rosie is a writer for the personal finance website, Joy Wallet, which provides readers with useful information, resources, and tools to help maximize their financial fitness. 

On Book Illustration

The word illustrate is a combination of two Latin words: illustrat- ‘lit up’, from the verb illustrare, and ‘upon’ + lustrare ‘illuminate’. Thus illustrations are used to illuminate – shedding light to bring clarity,and to enhance the meaning of the written word, in both fiction and nonfiction. In more modern fiction they are used to add appeal and interest.  They help the reader to play out the story in their mind’s eye. Here are some more advantages of illustrations:

Dealmakers
Illustrations enhance the aesthetic appeal of a book beyond the cover. Illustrations attract browsers to the story when they scan books. They help to turn browsers into customers. Younger browsers will focus on the cover first and then the pictures inside. Adults are also attracted by cover art and pictures and sketches. Pictures probably sell more cook books than the recipes. Illustrations make books more competitive.

Less Daunting
For younger readers, illustrations make the prospect of reading less daunting, especially if the illustrations appeal to their imaginations and if there are pictures of characters for them to recognize and then identify with, as they read the story. That is perhaps why young readers love comics.  They can also be used to break the text into reader friendly passages and distinguishable chapters which is also good for children as they can see the start and finish lines, which aids their limited concentration spans. Having clearly defined chapters or passages in a children’s book is also appealing to adults assigned the joy of children’s bedtime story reading. Bedtime reading should leave children wanting more.

Touching heart and mind.
A good novel subconsciously, and even consciously, has the reader living the story and championing a character. A good novel touches the heart and mind of the reader. A well placed illustration can prompt an emotional response in the reader and motivate the reader to continue reading, whether the emotional response is a tear or a laugh. As we know, a picture paints a thousand words.

Teaching aids
In a classroom, a picture from a story can be used to test understanding and recall in children when doing verbal or written comprehension exercises. The pictures can also be used to trigger imaginative discussions and answer “what if?” questions. Pictures don’t all have to be conventional. They can be shadowy and nondescript, and even abstract. As such they can act as a catalyst for though provoking questions about what pictures mean and the artist’s intentions, all of which can stimulate classroom conversation and inspire the readers when in art class. For older children, an illustration can be used to encourage them to write a short story of their own or change the storyline of the book being read in class. A picture could be responsible for inspiring and unearthing the next Shakespeare, Monet or Picasso in time to come.

Nonfiction
Whether the nonfiction is an autobiography, a textbook or a cook book, illustrations and pictures are essential. Illustrations make abstract subjects more tangible and can certainly help the reader to understand a written explanation. Diagrams are also useful as they aid information and understanding recall.  Without illustrations and pictures, nonfiction may just as well be fiction to some readers. Need proof? Try to assemble self-assembly items like furniture without the diagrams.

The road to success.

Think of book illustrations as landmarks on a map that the reader can identify and acknowledge as they journey through your story. If illustrations are used to accentuate and emphasize the parts of the story you want the reader to really “get,” guaranteed the reader will be back for more.

What Are Literary Agents?

Literary agents are all about business. They do not make edits or make suggestions to make the book better. The job of a literary agent is to read the book and see if it will sell. They try to sell the book to publishing companies to gain a contract, so they can make a profit as well. If the literary agent believes the book will not sell, he or she will not do business with the author of the book.

Before a literary agent can gain a publishing contract, he or she must get writers who want publishing. They find writers through submissions from writers. The literary agent will then ask writers to send in their manuscripts to see if it is any good or not. The ones that seem like the literary agent can make a profit from, he or she will represent them. Once the literary agent finds the writers he or she is looking for, writers sign a contract and start working on query letters. Writers will have to put some finishing touches to their manuscript as well. The literary agent wants the finishing product to look good since this represents him.

The literary agent proceeds to send the information to several publishing companies to see if they like what they are reading. In the beginning phase of selecting writers, the literary agent made sure that writers fell into the genre that they represent. For instance, a literary agent in the romance genre could not represent someone in the horror genre. That is why literary agents have to read each manuscript to see if they could work with the writer.

Most literary agents have worked with publishers in the past, so they have a working relationship with them. The literary agent will somewhat likely know if the manuscript is good or not. On the other hand, sometimes more than one editor wants to sign the writer. When this occurs, there is an auction where the highest bidder gets the writer. Negotiations between literary agents and publishers begin. There are contracts and payment. The literary agent has to make sure that the writer is secure.

Someone interested in becoming a literary agent can start by getting a Bachelors in English. Even though, a college degree is good, you can still become a literary agent without one. It is best to have experience when it comes to becoming a literary agent. Some literary agents begin working as editors or editorial assistants before getting into their career. One thing you can do is to get an internship with a publishing company. It is a good idea to start making connections early on in your career, that way the publisher you interned for is your first point of contact once you start getting writers.

Literary agents have a choice of working on their own or for an agency. It’s  difficult in the beginning to work on your own because you have to do a lot of networking. Social media is not the only place where you will need to network.

It takes a lot as a literary agent. You have to become a reader, if you already are not. Start reading books in your genre and see what the best-sellers in your genre and others as well.

Literary agents have to do a lot of communicating. This is a career where you cannot be shy. You have to negotiate for writers to make sure they are getting the best deal for their work. This is a profitable career, but you also get to read different manuscripts before they hit the shelves.

How to go about hiring a proofreader for your project

There will come a time where you will need to use a proofreading service, especially when you want to make sure to get a good grade on an essay or to clean up a manuscript. When it comes to finding proofreading services and hiring a proofreading, it will take some time because you want to make sure to pick the right person. Just because someone with proofreading experience does not necessarily mean that he or she is a perfect fit. One thing you can do to make sure you are getting the best proofreader is to hire him or her on a trial basis to see their skills. If they are up to par, then you can hire them, but if not, you will have to look elsewhere.

One place to find proofreading services and hire a proofreader is through bidding sites, such as Guru, Fiverr, and Upwork. On bidding sites, you can search for people who work as proofreaders. It is best to hire someone with high reviews. That more than likely means that they know what they are doing. Their services are inexpensive, but you still want A plus services. You can post on the bidding sites as well to hire a proofreader. Your post has to say what your expectations are. As stated before, you will want to hire someone with positive reviews.

Make use of online proofreading services. There are a number of companies that offer proofreading services. One online service you want to consider is Edit My Paper. They proofread all sorts of documents, such as manuscripts, resumes, and essays, for instance. Their prices are in tiers, which means if you need a manuscript proofread, your price will be in a different tier. Another online proofreading service is GetProofed. They work with students and writers. They can have your document back in 24 hours.

Online writing forums are another place to find and hire a proofreader. Look for the proofreading section to see if there are any proofreaders available. You can post as well, letting proofreaders know that you have an interest in their services. When hiring on forums, you may want to hire them in the beginning, especially if you want a manuscript proofread. Ask each proofreader for a résumé and cover letter. You may even want to get them to do a sample test of their proofreading skills. The test will tell you a lot on how good or bad they are.

Find an English teacher with proofreading skills to proofread your work. You may want to seek proofreading services from a college professor. Since they have years of experience, they are a perfect fit for you. When it comes to essays and theses, you want a college professor who is not one that you take a class with. Schedule a time with the college professor where you both can discuss and go over your work. If the college professor has manuscript experience, he or she can go over it with you.

Locate proofreading services in your town. Look in the yellow pages or search online in your area for proofreading services. Contact the proofreading service and ask as many questions as you need to. You do not have to settle on the first proofreading service in your town. There will more than likely be more than one in your town. Ask if they offer trial sessions, so that you can see if the proofreader is right for you.

Finding proofreading and hiring proofreaders is a difficult task since you will be handing your work to someone you do not know. You expect them to do the work correctly.

4 Simple Ways to Market Your Ebook

You’ve written your manuscript. It’s gone through countless tweaks and edits, you’re thrilled with the title, and the cover design absolutely rocks. Your ebook is just about ready to be published! Yay! You’re bound to feel like you’re on the tail end of a journey that’s quite possibly been exhausting — but you’re nowhere near ready to put your feet up yet. 

Unless you’re Elon Musk, or something, the readers aren’t simply going to pour in once you get your ebook up on Kindle Direct Publishing or on your website. To make sure that others have the chance to share in your awesome work, you also have to learn how to market your ebook. Sadly, being a skilled and inspiring writer within your genre doesn’t automatically make you a master marketer — and if you’re the kind of person who feels terrible about blowing your own trumpet, marketing your ebook can be really tricky. 

Even if you are lucky enough to have a solid marketing budget, it’s crucial to stay involved after you have finished writing your ebook — the better you can connect with your target audience, the more likely they’ll be to read your book. 

So, what concrete steps can you personally take to market your ebook, even if you don’t have the luxury of pouring too much money into the process? 

1. Authentically connect on social media

Even before your ebook’s release date, you can begin raving about it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and, if you’re already there, YouTube. You don’t need to make a classic — and classically off-putting — sales pitch to reach your audience and get them excited about your ebook! You can share snippets of genuine excitement to give folks a little sneak peak that artfully just avoids spoilers if your ebook is a novel or short story. If you’re writing non-fiction, you can choose a small sub-topic to tell your readers more about, so that you can hook them when your ebook comes out. 

If you’re comfortable with it, you can even share small details of your daily life, and talk about why you decided to publish an ebook as opposed to traditional publishing. 

Don’t just monologue, though! Engage with your audience by reposting awesome comments, replying to questions, and thanking your followers for their support.

2. Reach out to influencers

Use your existing connections and make new ones for your virtual book tour. Non-fiction ebooks can bloom when they’re promoted by fellow subject-matter experts, while novels, short stories, works of poetry, and other fiction ebooks catch new eyes much more easily if a BookTuber or friendly author gives you a shout out. Guests posts, tweets, newsletter links, podcast mentions, and YouTube reviews are all great ways to make this happen. Even if you’re dealing with some serious stage fright, you believe in your ebook, right? Keep that squarely in your mind as you reach out to big names. Remember to send advance copies to the people who will help you market your ebook so that they’re ready to start raving when the publishing date rolls around.

3. Offer giveaways and discounts

You can create some real buzz on your platform by doing interesting giveaways — like, for instance, offering a tiny blurb from your ebook in which your protagonist is facing a dilemma, and inviting your followers to share how they’d act in that situation. Pick the most creative comments as winners. Using Kindle Unlimited, you can also entice readers with free promos. If you have other ebooks out already, you can realistically expect a sales boost. 

4. Get your ebook on all the popular platforms

Goodreads and Amazon will allow you to manage your own author pages, enabling you to decide what actual and potential readers learn about you and your work first. If you haven’t done this already, definitely put that on your to-do list. The many popular ebook listing websites will welcome your submission, usually for free, to draw bored and eager bookworms who are looking for the next great thing in. 

Expertise, influence, time, enthusiasm, and money are the foundations of successful ebook marketing — and the good news is that you won’t need all of them to meet and exceed your goals. If you’ve got three out of five, you’ll have an excellent shot at getting your ebook noticed. 

Our Position On Web Serials

Behind every story, the good ones and the bad ones, the only thing hidden is an immense passion, love and admiration for the original work. The decision to devote many hours of effort to fanfiction and the courage to dare to share the end result is only paid for in most cases with the recognition of a few amateurs and the laughter or misunderstanding of others. Many fanfiction pieces share deep and dark desires. Often times a piece of the author shows up within the fan work.

The message of the importance of this art form has spread. Last year’s edition of WonderCon had to cancel a panel scheduled with the intention of making humor at the expense of the fanfic after many fans on Twitter were outraged at the idea. However, the best example of the change of perspective regarding fanfiction is the fact that publishers are now the ones who remain alert to any work that begins to go viral. Many publishers are on the hunt for great short stories that can be easily adapted after the market has already proven its demand and interest to the readers.

The success of stories like as Fifty Shades or After (2013-2015) showed that what sticks on the Internet – after undergoing the necessary changes so that they don’t become an object of lawsuit for copyright reasons – can work just as well or even better outside it. However, there are many vocal groups within the fandom that consider that making money from the fanfic goes against what it stands for: stories by and for fans that must be shared with respect for the author.

This is why many fanfiction authors reject projects like the one proposed by Kindle Worlds. Other reasons include what they consider a censorship of themes and the impossibility of practicing many of the styles that are fashionable between fandom, such as writing stories imitating conversations on WhatsApp or other social networks -what is known as chatnoir-, gender swap (which consists of changing the genre of characters) or the practice of Imagina, which tries to write scenes fantasizing about what would happen between the reader, who is usually the protagonist, and some fictional character, to face the craziest situations.

Under the conditions of the Amazon platform, it would also be impossible to share stories in which the characters were inspired by real people. With Wattpad’s popular page highlighting stories with Justin Bieber, ElRubius or Zayn Malik as the protagonists, it seems evident that a large part of the fans will continue, at least for a while, to seek their readings in more traditional pages. The little guys also get less support. Outside of fandoms like Harry Potter fanfiction authors, there are so many smaller works that have avid fan communities that tend to get overlooked by opportunities like that. Fandoms like Death at a Funeral or Matlock.

The latest exercise in claiming the genre wants us to consider what fanfiction is and where is the boundary between fan literature and the use by an author of what he considers references.

The blurred line between fanfiction and reference

It seems obvious that a story in which Sherlock Holmes is dedicated to solving cases, if not written by Conan Doyle, is a fanfiction, isn’t it? That’s not always the case. The television series Sherlock (2010-) uses pre-existing characters to create a universe that now seems original and the same can be said of other fictions such as Once Upon a Time (2011-) or Open Until Dawn (2014-).

One of Stephen King’s first books, The Mystery of Salem Lot is a reimagination of Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker, a novel that has also inspired Joe Hill who, in Sons of Abraham -one of his stories compiled in Ghosts (2008)- imagines what would have become of Van Helsing’s descendants many years after the events of the original novel. Nor should we forget the fashion that, a few years ago, tried to rewrite classic stories with the addition of certain fantastic elements such as zombies or alien invasions. Pride, Prejudice and Zombies (2009), for example, got its own film adaptation in which Jane Austen shared credits with her fan, Seth Grahame-Smith.

In the face of this, what is fanfiction, where does the line stand between “fan work” and “original material”? Is money then what gives legitimacy to a work? Is it the use of professional self-publishing tools or services from places like Ingram, Squibler or Reedsy? If so, Amazon and its Kindle Worlds may be the perfect solution to the problems of the genre, but first you must win over the fans by relaxing their conditions of use a little. We, as readers, can only observe.