Those that live inside your writing, and those that attack some flaw in your writing.

The first are legitimate errors drawing targets on your writing. The second are those letting the arrows fly.

In whatever form (human or not, fair or not, mean or not), grammar trolls attack with abandon, hacking a writer’s good name and best efforts to mush.

So, how do you approach writing and editing in a manner that neutralizes the threats of grammar trolls?

With an offensive strategy, the only effective way to win a war with grammar tolls.

It’s time for us writers and editors to fight back.

1. Attack with Uncomplicated Language

Verbose writing is a grammar nightmare waiting to happen.

Misplaced modifiers. Unnecessary adverbs. Inappropriate punctuation. Erroneous linking verbs. Run on sentences. Dangling participles. You get the idea.

Complicated styles invite grammar mistakes to wreak havoc throughout your writing. That’s where grammar trolls aim their critiques, hit their bulls-eyes, and harvest their pleasure.

Never give them that opportunity.

Simplify everything.

This may sound overly nuclear. It’s not. Simple language diffuses most would-be grammar bombs from detonating your content. Precision is the most effective method forpenetrating the hearts and minds of your readers.

Dan Zarrella agrees, writing in his popular book Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas…

“the use of flowery, adverb-adjective laden language was related to lower sharing rates.”

Dan cements his conclusion by citing advice from Strunk and White’s Elements of Style:

“Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place … it is nouns and verbs, not their assistants, that give good writing its toughness and color.”

Simply put: uncomplicated language puts you on the offensive – the strong, winning position to be in.

2. Lean Forward with Active Voice

Passive voice is nails on a chalkboard for grammar trolls. They can hear it from miles away and descend upon it like vultures diving onto a rotting corpse.

That’s suicide for a writer.

Active voice is your savior, allowing you to lean forward into your writing.

What’s the difference between passive voice and active voice?

According to Grammar Girl (more on her soon)…

“In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action…In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position.”

Here’s a third grade example:

AV: Jimmy threw the ball.

PV: The ball was thrown by Jimmy.

See the difference?

Feel the difference?

Active voice fuels your words with momentum, and imbues your content with powerful authority and bold confidence. Passive voice, by contrast, is a puny weakling begging for abuse from bully grammarians.

Get assertive. Lean forward. Write with active voice.

3. Fight Fire with Fire by Studying Grammar

Sometimes, you must fight fire with fire.

Picture this: you receive an unfair grammar critique from some troll. Most writers wouldn’t know it was unfounded, and thus take the pummeling.

But not you.

You’ve studied grammar. So, you unleash your grammar IQ in response, (kindly) pointing out their flaw and referencing a credible source to back up your retort.

Boom! Writer 1; Grammar Troll 0.

Studying grammar isn’t as dry as it seems. It can be fun, if you know where to go and whom to listen to.

Grammar Girl is my grammar guru of choice. I quickly search her site whenever I need to refresh my memory on some fuzzy grammar rule or debunk some long held but inaccurate myth.

Grammar Girl is awesome for her fun mnemonics and other clever memory tricks that will have your grammar IQ soaring in no time. Here’s a prime example:

“Still having a hard time remembering [the difference between who and whom]?

“Here’s my favorite mnemonic: If I say, “I love you,” you are the object of my affection, and you is also the object of the sentence (because I am loving you, making me the subject and you the object). How’s that? I love you. You are the object of my affection and my sentence. It’s like a Valentine’s Day card and grammar mnemonic all rolled into one.”

Here’s the secret about grammar rules: they aren’t all “rules.”

Many so-called rules are guidelines subject to context and style. That leaves open a wide range of interpretations, a pretty invite for grammar carpet bombers.

Arm yourself with the ammunition you need to defend your good writing if a grammar troll decides to strike.

4. Divide And Conquer Your Writing From Your Editing

Writing and editing activate different parts of the brain. That means it’s impossible to optimize either when trying to do both.

Even if you’re using uncomplicated language and active voice, grammar (and spelling) errors can still sneak through if you don’t divide and conquer your writing from your editing.

Where should you start your conquest?

First, develop your own cadence to involve iterative cycles. Write in a 90 minute block, followed by a 90 minute editing block. Rinse and repeat.

Second, experiment with writing and editing on alternating days. If you’re a full-time writer/editor, this may be best as you have the time to submerge yourself into the deep ends of both.

Third, get other sets of eyes on your writing. Hire a professional editor. Or get peer reviewers or beta readers to spot-check your writing. Allies are invaluable in the war against grammar trolls.

In the end, grammar victory goes to those who want it the most.

If you’re a serious writer, you know what you must do. You must take the grammar force seriously, or it will crush you.

You could write the most epic saga or persuasive argument in history and still find your influence muted by an avalanche of grammar critiques ranging from the acute (e.g. she can’t use a comma to save her life) to the generally sinister (e.g. his writing is unprofessional and unworthy of mainstream attention).

The game is on. The stakes are high. What say you?

1. Your books use aspects of religion as the basis for their stories. How have readers reacted to that? 

I am personally fascinated by religion and actually have a Masters degree in Theology so I have studied in depth. It’s been a continued interest of mine and I’ve read and travelled widely to learn more. I find that religious story and myth are already deeply rooted in our society and that resonates with people even if they don’t believe in a specific faith.

From a commercial perspective I think Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code was so popular because it connected with something people already knew about. So I wanted to tap a similar theme, taking religious ideas and using them as the basis for action-adventure thrillers.

Generally, people have taken the religious aspects as entertainment and also some education as I try to use real places and existing objects. Prophecy features the Devil’s Bible which is actually a real medieval book, and Pentecost involves a search for the bones of the Apostles, again based on truth.

I have the greatest respect for believers but at heart, I am writing fiction. Some people think the books aren’t Christian enough but I want to entertain and make you think. No preaching, more action!

2. Some of your reviews have said you write like a man because you focus on action/ adventure and have some violent scenes. What do you think of this gender bias for thriller/ action-adventure books? 

Amusingly, these comments have come from people who ‘know me’ from my blog. I am a happy, positive, upbeat person, passionate about creating and writing and I’m always smiling on my videos and podcasts. It seems a long way from burning a nun alive on the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi (Pentecost) or sacrificial murder in the bone church of Sedlec in the Czech Republic (Prophecy). But I don’t think the two are incompatible and my books are still definitely thriller, rather than horror.

It’s the writer’s responsibility (and joy) to investigate the things at the edge of what’s acceptable in society. It’s also important to deliver on the promise to the reader and thrillers are always high stakes, fast paced romps. Body count is mandatory. I write what I love to read and so there needs to be plenty of bodies.

In saying all that, I’m actually reinventing myself as J.F. Penn in order to take advantage of being gender neutral to avoid these types of comments! There is also some evidence that male readers prefer male writers so going with initials instead of the full name is often something female thriller writers do in order to level the field. Think CJ Lyons, MJ Rose, JT Ellison and more.

3. Your books race through amazing global locations including famous churches and creepy ossuaries. Have you been to all these places and what’s your obsession with scene setting?

Travel is one of my obsessions and I have been to a lot of the places I write about over the last 20 years. Jerusalem in particular is a muse for me and I’ve been there 11 times. It’s woven into both thrillers and will return again. Certainly I’ll be needing another research trip there soon!

In writing my books, I actually start with the idea and then look at places that resonate with the theme. When I was gathering ideas for Prophecy, I went to the Paris catacombs and I knew that bones and ossuaries would be a great atmospheric thread. It turned out that the Devil’s Bible had been kept at the bone church of Sedlec in the middle ages and then I found the mummy crypt of Palermo in Sicily, both awesome locations.

As a reader, I love to learn about new places and descriptions of setting make a difference to the atmosphere of the book. In the writing process, I often plot the book by location rather than by plot on the first pass. One of the important elements for action-adventure is the movement and pacing so fantastic scene locations are critical, and amazingly fun to write!

4. You also use a lot of art history in the books. How do you bring these layers into what is a fast paced story? 

My muse is European and I love to bring the layers of religion, architecture, history and art into the books. Again, it’s about learning as well as experiencing as you read. In Prophecy, art history became more of a dominant theme. Morgan Sierra, the protagonist, has to research how the apocalyptic imagery of the Four Horsemen might have been passed down. I could therefore indulge my passion for William Blake (also widely used by Thomas Harris in Red Dragon and the Hannibal Lecter books).

I also like to set expectations for my readers and have little surprises for those people interested in art history as I am. The Director of ARKANE always has a painting in his office. In Prophecy, it’s Salvador Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross which is one of my favorites. Using art is all about resonance and deepening the experience of the book.

5. Joe Konrath recently came out with an article questioning the value of publicity. What have you found works for book marketing? 

I do agree that marketing fiction is different to non-fiction. My first novel, Pentecost, has sold over 16,000 copies which is much more than could be accounted for by my personal platform. Those sales came from Amazon marketing it which in turn was based on rankings over time, the right category and reviews, all of which Konrath cite as more important that blogging or PR.

However, I believe the initial impetus for my sales came from my launch process, review gathering and continual marketing which have kept the ball rolling over almost a year now. My site, The Creative Penn, is for writers, not readers, but I also have a business associated with that and I’m more of an author-entrepreneur. I speak and sell online courses as well as consult with people so my income is not just from fiction, as Joe’s is. As I write more books, the focus will shift but for now, I need multiple income streams.

People who are starting out in indie publishing should definitely focus on the basics first. Write a good book, then pay for a great cover and professional editing. But getting reviews can often be easier if you have already started building a platform. I do now have JoannaPenn.com which is aimed more at my fiction readers and I’ll be building that over time. But we rarely find out how people hear about our books so I guess we all just have to keep trying!

6. Your blog, The Creative Penn was recently voted one of the Top 10 blogs for Writers on Write To Done. What’s the best thing about blogging for you? 

Blogging changed my life! Seriously. I spent many years being blocked creatively and not writing. Blogging for the last 3 years has enabled me to

1. Write regularly on different subjects and become faster and more confident at creation
2. Connect with amazing, like-minded people who have given me confidence to write. I do a weekly podcast which is an interview with a writer/ publisher/ book marketer. I did one with Sean last year on writing serialized fiction.
3. Create a business that enabled me to leave IT consulting to become an author-entrepreneur.
4. Help other people by sharing lessons learned along the way
5. Create a foundation for my fiction platform as at least some of my blog readers enjoy my fiction as well

It’s best to go into blogging with a goal other than making money though. Sharing what you learn along your personal journey is a popular way to start. It takes a lot of time and effort to build but it’s definitely worth it!

7. Why did you self-publish your books and what are your goals for your career?

Four years ago I wrote a career change book, How To Enjoy Your Job…Or Find A New One. It was the book I needed to write to unblock a lot of things in my own life and it started me down the road I’m now on. I did query that book and received one rejection. I didn’t like the negativity that surrounded the process so I was determined to do it myself. That’s when I started to learn about self-publishing and everything indie.

So when I decided to write fiction, I didn’t even consider traditional publishing. I know what I can do on my own and I believe that it’s better to attract attention through great sales, than to go ‘cap in hand’ and beg for it.  I like the Hocking, Locke and Konrath models where they were offered deals after creating success themselves. Konrath is publishing with Amazon directly now which would definitely be the best outcome in terms of what sales they can achieve with the global platform. So my goals are to continue to write great fiction and indie publish for now and see what happens. I’m not chasing a book deal and I love the empowerment and freedom to create indie gives us!

8. Your book Prophecy has just come out. Tell us more about it. 

Here’s the blurb:

The prophecy in Revelation declares that a quarter of the world must die and now a shadowy organization has the ability to fulfill these words. Can one woman stop the abomination before it’s too late?

From the catacombs of Paris to the skeletal ossuaries of Sicily and the Czech Republic, Morgan Sierra and Jake Timber must find the Devil’s Bible and stop the curse being released into the world before one in four are destroyed in the coming holocaust. Because in just seven days, the final curse will be spoken and the prophecy will be fulfilled.

My novels have been described as Dan Brown meets Lara Croft with a splash of Indiana Jones. Prophecy is the 2nd in the ARKANE series. If you like an impending apocalypse with a race against time to stop a curse reaching mankind, you’ll enjoy the book. It has 16 reviews averaging 4.5 stars on Amazon right now and is $2.99. It can be read as a stand-alone novel but the prequel Pentecost is only 99c on the Kindle if you fancy trying it out as well.

Thanks for having me guys!

Have a question for Joanna? Leave a comment below.

Joanna Penn writes about writing and publishing at  The Creative Penn. You can follow Joanna on twitter @thecreativepenn   

At Ghostwriter Dad, editor Matt Garland challenged readers to boil their product, business, or story down to just three words. We also interviewed author Jeff Goins, about his writing habits, his recent book deal, and his most important piece of advice for new writers.

Big news of the week: The comic provider Graphicly is making news this week with what could be competition to Apple’s recently announced iBooks Author, which is drawing criticism for restricting content made with its software to Apple’s store. Graphicly is offering a service to create comic books, graphic novels, children’s books, photo books, cook books, and pretty much anything graphic-heavy, which you can upload to the major services or sell directly on your website or Facebook via widgets. IGN Comics interviewed the company’s CEO and founder Micah Baldwin about the new service, which seems to have some spiffy sharing and analytics features that give authors and publishers more information and interaction with readers.

One “AMEN HALLALUJAH” quote from the interview we love is this one:

“There is something fundamentally wrong when a publisher or author is spending their time and money marketing a middleman versus their own brand. It should be “come to MY website. MY Facebook Page. Come see MY books. Not go to Graphicly or some other app. Authors and publishers should be spending their time marketing and promoting their own brands, not providing free marketing to middlemen” – Micah Baldwin

We should have posted this last week, but it’s still relevant. You’d think that author and indie writing hero J.A. Konrath gets a lot of sales because of his popular blog on self-publishing, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, right? Think again. Check out his great post on the value of publicity versus the value of writing. Guess which wins. This is a must-read.

Publishers Weekly has a rundown of some of the discussions that went on during the last day of Digital Book World this year, including how publishers’ attempts to stay relevant and seek new revenue streams. Publishers Weekly also talked about the battle between librarians and publishers over eBook lending.

Chuck Wendig posted 25 Things Writers Should Know About Agents at Terrible Minds.

Why did Breakout indie writing star Amanda Hocking turn Amazon’s book deal down? She discussed that, and the $2 million dollar deal she did sign, in an interview with Futurebook.

Catherine Ryan Howard has a hilarious post about how some reviewers take things a bit too literal. I feel bad that she’s putting up with such dumb comments and reviews, but it makes for such a funny post (and story to tell) that it had to be worth it. (update: I sent Catherine some new “literal” covers, which she posted on her blog today. Check them out — after you read her first post)

At Write To Done, David Masters of Inkably did a guest post on the secret to writing secrets of prolific authors (surprisingly, it’s not an IV drip of caffeine), in which he quoted our own Sean Platt.

David Gaughran had two great posts on editing this week at his blog. Self-Editing: Back to Basics, Part I – Guest Post by Karin Cox and Edit Like A Pro: Guest Post by Harry Bingham

Speaking of David Gaughran, he was interviewed on the subject of indie empowerment by Joanna Penn (who is also the upcoming Eight Questions subject this week) for her podcast, which you can check out here.

What stories are you talking about this week?

Photo by Ashley Goins, courtesy of Jeff Goins

Jeff Goins is the man behind the popular writing blog, Goins, Writer. Jeff is a writer who believes that “words matter and communication can change the world.” Born and raised in Illinois. Several years ago, he moved to Tennessee to “see about a girl.” He now lives with his wife in Nashville with their dog, Lyric, and are expecting their first child.

We interviewed Jeff about his writing habits, his recent book deal, and the role of social media in writing.

1 – You had a great 2011 – growing a popular writing blog, guest posting regularly in high profile places, and you recently signed a book deal. What are your goals for 2012?

I don’t do goals. At least, not this year. I spent five years setting goals, making resolutions, and demonstrating other forms of insanity without ever seeing any fruit. I was deceiving myself. I was dreaming. 2011 was so great for me, because I didn’t set any expectations and didn’t talk about what I was going to do. I just started writing. Every day. No matter what. Without excuse. And in the process, I created some habits that are staying to pay off — in terms of a book contract and other cool stuff happening. My hope for 2012 is to continue the habits I started last year and start a few others — namely, focusing more on long-term writing and not getting so distracted by the Internet. Eventually, I’d like my writing and speaking to pay the bills. I don’t know how far off that is and am not completely in control of that. So I’m just doing what I can with today, enjoying the process, and trusting the outcome.

2 – You say you struggled with thinking of yourself as a writer. What are some of the ways you’ve gotten past your insecurities? What steps have you taken over the years to make yourself a better writer?

It was actually pretty sudden. Steve Pressfield calls this “turning pro” and can vividly remember when it happened for him. I can relate. A year ago, a friend asked me what my dream was. My reply was this: “I’d like to be a writer some day.” He laughed at me (because he had read my writing) and said, “You don’t have to dream of being a writer. You are a writer. You just have to write.” So I started writing. I’ve been calling myself a writer ever since.

There is a second part to this, though — the insecurity of the writer’s life, of creating and sharing your work and always wondering if people will discover you for the fake that you are. That fear haunts me regularly. So I try to overcome it by treating the craft with respect. I read a lot (books, not just blogs), practice regularly, and look for feedback. Plus, I have a really affirming wife, which helps.

3 – What is your writing and production schedule like?

I laugh when people ask me how I’m productive. If I see a shiny light, you’ve lost me. The bottom line for me is this: Productivity methods only work if I trick myself into them. No amount of discipline or diligence can make me do what I don’t want to do. So I have to find ways that to do what I must that feel immediately gratifying. An example of that is writing my first book. Pushing out a 500-word blog post every day is easy for me. I can procrastinate and rush to finish at the last minute. But not with a 40,000-word manuscript. If I don’t write for months, I’m screwed when the deadline arrives. So I started setting daily and weekly goals and blocking out an hour per day to meet them. Naturally, I’d still wait until the last minute, but I always met the goal. I would sometimes have to make myself coffee or listen to a certain type of music, but the one promise I made to myself was that I couldn’t leave the desk without having written (even if I wasted the first forty-five minutes and rushed to meet my goal in the last fifteen minutes).

My methods are kind of ridiculous and probably wouldn’t help anyone else, but they work for me. I also don’t have a “production schedule.” I just try to write every day. I am always capturing ideas, so I never feel like I’m starting from scratch — I’m always tweaking something. I think for me the thing is I just love the act of writing. It’s not about production or productivity (although I respect a good deadline); it’s the fact that I love creating things with words. I’m always finding an excuse to write and share what I’ve written.

4 – How much of a role does social media play in writing success these days?

Gosh, I’m not sure. Certainly, you can look at authors who are succeeding without it, but I think it provides a resource that wasn’t here even ten years ago. For me, it’s been invaluable. My blog (amplified by networks like Twitter and Facebook) has been invaluable for me finding a group of people who resonate with my voice and want to hear what I have to say.

For people who want to write books, you’ll need some kind of a platform (if you actually want to sell something) and social media can help you do that — essentially, for free. I wouldn’t have a book or an audience without it.

5 – You recently announced that you signed a book deal. Can you tell us a bit about the book and how the deal came about?

Sure. The book’s called Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life. It came about in a kind of odd way. The book was inspired by the work that I do with missionaries — how they go into the developing, gain a new paradigm, and have trouble fitting into how life used to be.

However, as I began to share these stories and this process of “getting wrecked,” I hear other people having similar experiences — not just overseas but in our own backyards. So I thought I’d write a book to describe the process and why I think everyone needs to get wrecked by a need bigger than themselves. With all the self-help garbage out there, I figured this would be the opposite: how to find your life’s purpose in the broken, ugly, dirty places of the world.

I wrote a short manifesto about this for ChangeThis.com a few years ago, but it wasn’t very popular. When my blog started to grow this past year, I went ahead and posted the link to that manifesto on my resources page (http://goinswriter.com/resources/). A month or so later, a publisher found it, read it, and contacted me. We’re now turning it into a book.

The process itself went really quickly. They made me an offer, I decided to get an agent, we signed the contract, and I got a deadline. It’s been a lot of fun, as I don’t know much about traditional publishing, so I’m chalking the whole experience up as education.

6 – A lot of writers, us included, blog about writing. It’s what we’re interested in and it appeals to other writers. Yet many authors don’t want to write about writing. And some simply want to write more to their fiction audiences. How does a writer find the right niche that fits their readership?

That’s a good question and one I have myself. My friends who are fiction writers are all struggling to reach their audiences online. Those who are struggling less are writing about writing.

I agree that you don’t want to just write for other writers, but I do think there is merit to reaching people who can help you reach other people. Bloggers are an excellent example of this.

My thought is this: Find a niche, and reach it. But don’t feel like you have to be stuck there. On occasion, I’ve veered off topic on my blog, and my audience has really enjoyed the content I’ve shared. I’m learning that for them, it’s not so much about the subject; it’s about the voice, the worldview. That’s why they read my writing (I think). And it’s certainly why I read other writers.

The trick is finding what initially resonates with people (because just writing about everything doesn’t) and gradually honing your voice through that process. That’s what I’m trying to do, anyway.

7 – If you collaborate with any writer, living or dead, who would you choose and why.

Ernest Hemingway. I aspire to be like him. I want to learn how to be punchier. He would help me. (And then it rained.)

8 – What’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to someone just starting out in self-publishing?

Be generous. Don’t underestimate the importance of giving away your work for free. It will surprise and delight people, and you may instantly find an audience. Then, you can build on that and release other work (not for free). I’ve tried to build my entire platform on generosity — giving away all kinds of ideas, opportunities, and services for free. Sure, it’s been costly, but it’s also paid off tremendously well. Every time I ask something from my audience (which doesn’t happen very often), they are always so receptive.

Helping people — whether you write fiction or nonfiction — is the best way to build a reputation and draw an audience that will stick with you.

Check out Jeff Goins’ eBooks, Every Writer’s Dream and Before Your First Book now at:  http://goinswriter.com/get-published If you use the promo code “stopstalling” this week, you can save $2 off the already great price!

Check out Jeff’s blog at  Goins, Writer. Or follow him on Twitter @jeffgoins

Got a question or comment for Jeff? 

Leave it in the comments below.

Can you clearly state your opinion on a specific subject in three words?

Such brevity is extremely difficult. It requires surgical precision, and a sharpness of grit, brains and persistence. Most importantly, it demands an authentic and deep understanding of whatever it is you’re attempting to explain.

I’m fascinated by this “three words” exercise of over-exaggerating the need to simplify our thinking, and thereby our expressions. Like scientific curiosity; if we can understand the building block elements (e.g. atoms) of a creation, we can understand its many parts and advanced forms.

The riches of thought-leadership and persuasion go to those who can achieve this acute level of thinking and expression.

Which brings us to you.

You want your writing to penetrate deeper into the hearts and minds of your readers. Whether you’re pitching a product, selling a service or entertaining imaginations, your writing must be born from core elements and clear meaning.

Do you know what those are for you?

That’s the challenge: Describe your writing’s purpose in three words. There are no “rules” other than a word-count of three, no more and no less.

For my editing business, its purpose is: winning reader loyalty.

I’ve shared mine. Now share your three words in the comments.

Also, for bonus points, I’m curious to know what you think lies ahead for the future of books. Share your vision in three words.

My vision for the future of books? Reader commissioned stories.

What’s yours?

At Ghostwriter Dad, we had a guest post from Betsy Talbot in which she delivered 3 Strategies to Better Market Your eBook, we interviewed author David Gaughran: Eight Questions: Interview With David Gaughran, and Sean made the case for really bad music with his post, LMFAO: Context is EVERYTHING.

Elsewhere on the web:

Apple is making a huge splash in the self-publishing world with its new iBook Author program, designed to help you create feature-rich eBooks on your mac. (We’re excited here at Ghostwriter Dad!) Check out Mashable’s hands-on review. Also check out this story at the Los Angeles Times. Macworld also has an in-depth look at iBook Author, and a podcast regarding Apple’s Education event where iBook Author was unveiled.

One small problem with the iBook Author program . . . it doesn’t let you sell your creations anywhere other than iBooks. Check out this post calling out Apple for its audacity. (In other words, don’t give up your other eBook authoring tools. We love Scrivener!)

Jonathan Fields posed a question about the future of publishing at Tribal Authors, Publishing Chicken: Who’s Gonna Blink First?

The Creative Penn has a great interview with fantasy author Michael Sullivan chock full of great advice from the author who had given up on writing after 10 years of rejection, only to find success when he applied what he’d learned in those 10 years! Check out the interview in audio or video here. Writing Epic Fantasy And Being A Pro Author With Michael Sullivan

Bubble Cow has a free tutorial showing you How to Write a Fiction Book Proposal.

David Gaughran has a confession – his latest book wasn’t selling too well. What did he do? Find out here and apply some of these tips to your book: Why Is My Book Not Selling?

Andrew Sullivan dishes on the publishing industry, what’s wrong with it, and what some people are doing right in this video. He followed up with a letter from Tim Anderson, who wrote Tune In Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries. Tim talks about the hell he went through trying to sell his book, how he eventually self-published, then attracted a great review in Publisher’s Weekly, which then got him a book deal with Amazon (even though his self-published book was NOT a bestseller.) Check Tim’s story out here.

Got any thoughts on this week’s news or news that we missed? Leave a comment below.

See you next week with more writing and self-publishing news, tips, and interviews.

Time to light a cigarette and enjoy the afterglow. (Figuratively, of course. This is 2012 and even the most angst-ridden writers don’t actually smoke anymore.)

As you lounge on your bed taking long drags on your figurative cigarette with your book cuddled next to you like a satisfied lover, you know the morning is eventually going to come, and with it the task of marketing your book. You’ve only met one level of satisfaction in being a professional writer, and if you thought that experience was mind-blowing, just wait until people start buying and reviewing your book.

There are 3 ways you can market your book better than the average author, which could translate into dozens or hundreds of more sales for you. Let’s get to the morning after.

Court a variety of suitors

That’s the key here: make it easy for all kinds of people to see how your book will benefit them. It isn’t that people are stupid or can’t get it on their own. It’s that people are bombarded with advertising messages every single day, and they need to know quickly how something will work for them. If you can’t state this quickly and effectively, they will move on to the next thing.

Our own sweet cuddle of a book, Dream Save Do, is about taking a very practical and action-oriented approach to raising the money you need to fund your big dream. It is based on our experience of saving, selling, and earning the cash we needed over a 2-year period to fund our open-ended trip around the world.

A regular plot line would have us marketing our book to long-term travelers (or those thinking about it) or perhaps personal finance sites. Instead, we scripted a series of twists and turns, introducing our book to everyone from early retirees to people affected by job layoffs to kitchen table entrepreneurs needing startup cash to people who simply wanted to see how we marketed our self-published book. We had a specific message for each niche, a way that our book could solve their problems. We did all the hard work for them, connecting the dots as to how this book could help them achieve what they wanted.

The takeaway for you: Don’t take just the obvious route in marketing your book because you’ll have a lot more competition that way. Go the road less traveled for more sales.

Next step: Sign up for HARO, the free daily email with queries from journalists, bloggers, and media outlets looking for sources. Your book may tie in with a current event, upcoming holiday, or breaking news, and this is your chance to get some great publicity in an unconventional way.

Let others sing your praises

The most effective way you can sell your books is by not actually selling them yourself. Word of mouth and social proof is far more powerful than anything you can say about your own book. People assume you will say nice things about your own work even if it is crap, right? But to have someone else say it? Well, that’s going to get their attention.

Because we initially sold our book through our website, we had an email list of buyers and we actively solicited feedback from them. Their reviews and quotes were used on our website, newsletter and in our email signatures to show potential buyers what others were saying.

When we moved both of our eBooks to Amazon Kindle, we asked people to share their comments as official Amazon reviews.

This is how powerful those reviews can be. Just a few days ago over breakfast at our guesthouse here in Thailand we were talking to another guest about what we do for a living. He immediately whipped out his iPhone and looked up our books online. His first comment? “Wow, you guys have some great reviews.” His next move? Buying one eBook right there in front of us to read on his Kindle app for the iPhone.

He was interested in our story enough to look up the book while we were chatting, but even a face-to-face chat with us wasn’t as powerful as seeing those 5-star reviews.

The takeaway for you: Don’t discount the power of social proof.

Next step: Actively ask for reviews of your book. Reach out to specific buyers, peers, colleagues, savvy friends who represent your target market, and even review services like Book Rooster. Publisher’s Weekly even has review options for self-published books now.

Put together a list of sample tweets and Facebook updates your peers and buyers can use to promote your book. Give them an ad graphic in case they have a blog and want to sign up as an Amazon affiliate. You’d be surprised at how effective this can be. People buy books their friends and colleagues are reading. Check out how we did it for one of our books here.

Spiff up your image

Your reputation is enhanced by the company you keep. Sure, your reviews are going to help solidify your standing, but you can take it one step further by reaching out to the influential people in your space.

By this I mean submitting guest post to other blogs but also inviting those people to write and contribute to your blog. This may mean full guest posts, or it may mean asking several experts for an answer to a question relating to your book’s subject and putting it all together in a post you write. It may even mean asking someone with an opposing view to go toe-to-toe on an issue.

Either way, by showing that you know and interact with these experts, you are adding to your credibility. The bonus is that those experts are likely to promote your posts – and by extension, your book – to their audiences as well.

The takeaway for you: Show you are an authority by the quality company that you keep.

Next step: Go out on a limb and comment on your blog and other outlets on current events and topics related to your subject. Engage with other experts or celebrities in your field to start lively discussions. You have to position yourself as an authority and become comfortable sharing your opinion if you want to be seen as a resource. If you only nod your head or repeat what everyone is saying, you will remain a supporting character in the story instead of the hero.
A final note on marketing and selling

If you think writing and selling are two different skill sets (one highbrow, one lowbrow), you are wrong. Writers who think it is beneath them to market and sell their books are never going to see the kind of success they want. It takes the same type of skill to sell readers on buying your book as it does to “sell” your plot, characters, and theories within the book. Not getting this concept can mean the difference between selling 10 copies and 10,000 copies.

Now get out there and market like hell!

About the Author: Betsy Talbot and her husband Warren sold everything they owned to travel the world in 2010 and document their adventures at Married with Luggage. They have been described as a cross between Bear Grylls and Oprah, inspiration with preparation. They are reasonably certain this is a compliment. Betsy and Warren are currently living in Thailand and working on their third book in the Live the Good Life Series.

David Gaughran

(Editors Note: We originally interviewed David for our Collective Inkwell site last summer, but changed focus at that site and decided that Ghostwriter Dad was the best home for Eight Questions and self-publishing posts. We thank David for his patience and appreciate him taking the time to be interviewed. We enjoy David’s stuff so much, we couldn’t help but go beyond eight questions.)

1. How did you get into writing and why did you choose to self-publish?

I’ve always been scribbling down stories but I made a decision to get serious about it in 2005. I quit a good job I had in Dublin and headed to South America with a vague plan to travel the world and write along the way. I got (happily) stuck there for nine months and never moved on. I’m glad, because if I hadn’t, I never would have got the idea for the historical novel which I spent the following few years writing. I queried agents in New York and London for 18 months, getting really close a few times, but while they all loved the writing, they “couldn’t see a market for it”. Naturally, I disagreed. I wasn’t sure whether to self-publish it or not, so I decided to experiment with a couple of short stories. I enjoyed the process so much, I can’t see myself every troubling an agent with a query again.

2. You’ve written in a few genres so far from historical adventure to surreal fiction to science fiction (feel free to add or clarify here); which are your favorite to write in and which themes would you say extend into most (or all) of your work?

I guess I write the stuff I like to read. I love big, epic historicals. Not the “dresses and morals” kind, I prefer the swashbuckling stuff with a literary bent. I like things with big ideas, something that tackles a previously unknown event or historical figure that sheds light on the present. But I love short stories too, especially anything speculative or surreal. Unsurprisingly, that’s been my output to date also. The next few novels will be historical, the stories will be all over the map, but I have some ideas for more contemporary stuff I would like to try too.

I don’t know about common themes so much, but maybe my approach is always to say something about today through the prism of an excavated past or an imagined future. I think people are pretty set in their views, and the only way to get them to challenge them is to come at them under the radar. I don’t want people to think a certain way, I just want them to think. I don’t usually write neat endings. I try to pose questions. Some people don’t like that, they want everything resolved, and everything wrapped up, and the character to have learned something etc. Life isn’t that neat. I try and reflect a little of that, and anyway, there are other ways to give readers a pay-off.

3. What is your creative process like?

I’m old-school. I write everything longhand. I have to. I’m a very fast typist, and maybe that interferes with the creative process. Slowing things down a little allows me to filter the jumble of thoughts as they stream onto the page. I don’t outline or plot or plan too much, I let the story take me wherever it wants to go. As such, I often write myself into a corner, or have to toss whole scenes or chapters, or even rewrite whole sections of a novel.

It might not be the most efficient way of working, but it gets my stories to the level where I want them. My last book was a little different. I actually wrote that straight on the laptop. But that was non-fiction, and heavily outlined. I could never imagine doing that for fiction. It would be very limiting, and take all the fun out of it.

I tend to write at my kitchen table, looking out a big window into the garden. Sometimes deer walk through. Which is weird, because I live in the suburbs. I always have music playing; it really helps. I wrote my first book while I was on the road, so I’m used to writing in bars, cafes, restaurants, parks, buses, wherever. When I get stuck with a scene, I often head outside to write somewhere. That usually works.

4. Your blog, which just launched this spring, has taken off pretty quickly. To what do you attribute its success? How important is social media to your writing/marketing?

It just exploded out of the gate and kept going. I started in April, and clocked 3,000 views that month (the only metric I have), which is amazing for a first month. This month I’m over 20,000 already. 1,000 views a day is pretty normal now, and it’s strange just to type that after less than four months.

I guess I’m writing about a hot topic. On top of that, I’ve been writing about every step of my self-publishing journey, from my first thoughts on what makes a good story right through to what promotion techniques worked for me and what mistakes I made. I share my sales numbers every month (even when they go down), and I think people respond to that openness.

I think blogging regularly is key. I think I’ve been posting 5 or 6 days a week. And I try to give people something to chew on – a substantive post of 800 or 1,000 words. Lots of blogs appear and disappear, but once you show you are going to be regular and you are going to stick around, that helps retain readers. Also, engaging with them is key. If people want someone to talk at them they can read a newspaper or switch on the TV or radio. A blog should be a dialogue of sorts, you really need to leverage the interactivity of the format. Pose questions, invite responses, respond promptly to comments, seek feedback – talk with your readers and they will keep coming back.

6. Your work is presently only available in eBook format. Why haven’t you gone the Print On Demand way via Createspace or one of the other avenues?

My first two releases were short stories. They aren’t viable in print, not as singles. I may do a print collection at some point in the future. My last release was a guide to digital self-publishing, and I figured most of my target market would already own e-readers. The novel that I will release in the Fall will definitely have a print version. I think some genres (thriller, paranormal romance, science fiction) have switched to e-books faster than others (literary, historical). My novel is historical, so a print version is a priority. Essentially though, my business plan is digital first, and print where there is demand. It’s cheaper, easier, and there’s less risk.

7. What’s the most difficult part of writing and self-publishing?

Certain aspects of the role of “writer” and “self-publisher” are in conflict with each other. As publisher you want to sell as many copies as possible, and promote the hell out of each title. And there is always another ten things you could be doing to help get the word out there. But as a writer, you really want to be spending as much time as possible writing.

I try and remind people that the greatest promotional tool a writer has – any writer – is new work. Nothing beats it. So if you really want to sell more books, write another.

Now, there will be times when you don’t feel like writing, or you have pushed past your targets for the day, and are burnt out creatively. Then you can promote. But I think it was Bob Mayer who said that there is no real return on your promo efforts until you have several titles out. I think there’s something in that. Bob’s been writing for a long time, and is selling over 2,000 e-books a day, so we would do well to listen to him.

As such, writing always comes first. The only time I break that rule is for the few days around a new release. I give it a good push, then it’s on its own.

8. What’s the biggest mistake (if any) you’ve made in your writing career? How did you recover?

There’s a whole blog post on its own! I’m sure I did all the “don’ts” at some point, but that’s all part of the learning process – and is actually good for you as long as you learn. I walked away from writing altogether half way through my first book. Didn’t write a word for almost a year. That was such a waste. But it slowly drew me back in. I guess the biggest mistakes I made were:

1. Letting research interrupt the creative flow. Never do that. Put square brackets around the thing you need to check, and keep writing the scene. Because by the time you have extricated yourself from the internet or some reference book, you will be out of the zone. Fill that stuff in after.
2. Writer’s block. I’m not saying it’s a myth, but since I started working on more than one project at the same time, I haven’t been affected by it. I get stuck, sure, then I just pull another story and work on that instead. It works. Try it.
3. Querying agents. It wasn’t a waste of time, but 18 months was too long. I should have accepted I wasn’t going to crack the traditional system before then. It wasn’t all a loss, I learned a lot about the business in that time, but I wasn’t producing enough new stuff, and let the agent hunt use up too much valuable writing time.
4. Productivity. I used to think that writing slow was the way to produce quality. That’s bunk. Writing all the time is the way to produce quality. Since I started self-publishing, my productivity has tripled. I think the quality is increasing too.

9. Where do you see self-publishing five years down the road? Do you think we’ll see more self-publishing success stories or fewer as more indie writers compete for attention?

Five years is a long time. I think competition will increase. I think publishers will get better at marketing to readers (as the bookstores they used to market to continue to disappear). But I think more and more writers, some inexperienced, some with strong audiences and backlists will strike out on their own. The economics of it are compelling. Publishers will seek to stop the rot with increased digital royalties – they have to or they are finished. How long it takes them to realize that is anyone’s guess.

So I think competition will increase – that’s guaranteed – and existing indies are raising their game, with better covers, editing, formatting, marketing, all the time. But I don’t think that will necessarily make it harder. E-books have captured around 20% of the market. That could be tripled or quadrupled in five years – things are changing that fast. There will be a lot more self-publishers, but a hell of a lot more readers to go around. Plus, this revolution is going global. The UK is just beginning to take off, but the rest of the world hasn’t even started yet. They will.

10. What’s your best advice for self-published authors looking for success?

You are not just competing against other self-publishers. Readers don’t choose between indie books. They choose between all books. Remember that. Measure yourself against the best work coming out of New York and London, not the worst. Let that be your yardstick. Adopt a professional approach from the start. This is a business, and if you don’t treat it as such, you won’t do well. Respect your readers. Give them only your best work, and package it professionally.

11. What are you working on next?

Lots. I just released Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should. That was a massive project, and took up all my writing time for well over two months. I’m proud of it, but I’m very happy that I can get back to working on fiction now. I’ll have a big novel coming out in the Fall – A Storm Hits Valparaíso – an epic historical adventure starring San Martín and his army of thieves, rogues, mercenaries, slaves, and prostitutes as they fight to free Argentina from the Spanish Empire. It has been written for some time, but I had to cut it pretty savagely to get it under 100k just to get an agent to look at it. I think it could do with an extra 20k to stretch out the final third. Plus a little polishing here and there. That’s my real baby, so I’m going to take the time to make sure it’s perfect before I release it. Maybe September. We’ll see. Aside from that, I’m always writing short stories. I’ll probably publish a couple before the novel comes out, maybe a collection too.

You can check out David Gaughran’s books on his Amazon page. He blogs most days on writing, the book business, and self-publishing at: http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com

But you’ve been lied to.

Content is the prince, but the guy holding the scepter is actually context.

Whether you’re writing a blog post, an email blast, or the next bestseller, proper context gives your writing clarity and cements audience expectation for whatever version of reality you’re about to deliver.

In short, context lets your reader know what they’re about to experience.

Take five minutes to read Larry Brooks’ Copyblogger post. It’s a short, well articulated piece on the value of context, and it uses Tarantino as the example, which adds an exponent to its existing awesome.

This summer, my seven year old son fell in love with the song, Party Rock Anthem.

Once upon a time, I was sort of semi-cool, at least enough to have a good idea about what was playing on MTV at any given time. Apparently becoming a dad and full-time writer has unplugged me enough from the pop culture to leave me with relatively little clue about most things.

Thus, I’d never seen the video for Party Rock Anthem and knew nothing about the artists behind the song.

All I knew was that I didn’t like it.

I thought it was crap.

Totally, utterly empty; a vacuum of quality.

But my seven year old son, Ethan, loved the song to pieces. He’d dance in hysterical circles while it was on and beg me to play it when it wasn’t. That was enough for me.

So I tolerated the song with a smile, even sang along and pumped my fist. But, of course, I knew better. The song was crap, which he would surely realize when he got older.

But then I saw this:

My wife Cindy, showed me the video. Ethan hasn’t seen it, he’s too young for exposure to that particular brand of awesome, but she wanted me to see that there was more to LMFAO than I was perhaps realizing.

Like usual, she was right.

I laughed several times throughout the video. The same artists who recorded Party Rock Anthem, the same artists I thought were crap – an utterly empty vacuum of quality – knew exactly what they were doing, and were doing it admirably well.

I went from indifference to tolerance to affection. The only thing that changed was context. Party Rock Anthem was written to be funny. The song is clearly having fun with the type of song I thought it was, rather than being an example of the song itself.

Context is EVERYTHING.

The language you use, the pictures you paint, and the people who fill your worlds. All of it is dependent on the context of your written environment.

Anyone who has read Yesterday’s Gone has probably loved reading the chapters written from Boricio’s point of view. They are dark and evil and hysterically funny. Shout out in the comments if you laughed out loud while reading, then felt guilty when you did.

That’s a normal reaction. Boricio was every bit as much fun to write as he is to read, but only in context. If I wrote a Ghostwriter Dad post in Boricio’s voice, we’d lose half our subscribers overnight.

Don’t be afraid to fly your readers out of their comfort zones, just make sure you give them a good idea of the destination before you get them on the plane.

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons. Click the photo to visit the photographer's page.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Never been one for superstitions, but to be on the safe side, I won’t be taking up skydiving today. I am however, going to share with you some links to what we did this week, along with some of the best posts around the web, in our new weekly roundup.

At Ghostwriter Dad, Matt Gartland wrote about the cancer in your writing. David Wright put 8 Questions to author Catherine Ryan Howard. Carol Tice wrote a guest post on how she became a ghostwriter the easy way. And Tracy O’Connor wrote about Social Sharing Sites in 15 Minutes A Day.

Wanna go viral on Twitter? Of course you do. Copyblogger has 5 Steps to take you from unabomber type recluse to a true maven. 5 Steps to Going  Viral.

Jonathan Fields has an interesting approach to evaluating his year, an approach inspired by Warren Buffet . . .  annual reports. Compelling, inspiring, and revealing, this is a must read post. Annual Report 2011

Men With Pens is having a writing contest. It ends on the 16th, so get on over and enter now. The Damn Fine Words Contest

For those who don’t think there’s much money in self-publishing, I offer you this: Author J.A. Konrath just made $100,000. Not in a year . . . but rather, in THREE WEEKS. When you’re done picking your jaw up off the ground, go read his post. $100,000

OK, so maybe you’re already writing. And maybe you’re even doing well at it. But . . . are you serving your readers? Chuck Wendig has a great post on why you MUST serve yours, and how to do it. This isn’t just good advice for customer relations, but it’s also a good way to get an edge on all the writers who aren’t doing these things! How to self-publish so it benefits readers

One of our favorite writers on indie publishing, David Gaughran, has a new post up at Indiereader warning indie writers of threats in the turbulent sea of self-publishing. A must-read post, particularly for those just getting started and looking for help. The Sharks Are Circling

Gaughran also has a post up at his home site, Let’s Get Digital, about a pretty big deal in publishing that you may not have heard of yet, Wattpad. What’s Up With Wattpad?

Lastly, our post-apocalyptic serial Yesterday’s Gone is back with Episode 7. Read more about it here. Yesterday’s Gone Is Back!

Happy Reading and Writing!

See you next week,

David