Guest Blogger: Susan K. Marlow

Mistakes? You Don't Want to Be Branded a Beginner.
Part 1

Oh, those writing mistakes! Those mistakes that brand a new writer as a "beginner" to the editors we hope to impress with our work. I know all about them--intimately--because I've made most of them. News flash: I was a beginner once, too. But as soon as a seasoned writer pointed the mistakes out, I ceased (for the most part) making them. What separates the beginner from those who go on to become mature writers? It's how quickly they identify and overcome these common mistakes. Here are a few you can start to identify in your own writing:

1. Not beginning your story in the right place. A lot of new writers feel the reader needs back story, character expansion, or setting the scene before diving into the story problem. The truth is, the reader wants to be grabbed with a tantalizing "hook" and drawn into the story itself. Character development, setting, and even back story can be weaved into the story once you've got the reader turning pages. And . . . it's all about turning pages. An editor has a stack of manuscripts to read, and he gives himself a couple of minutes to scan each submission. If he isn't hooked by page 2 or 3, he's going to lay it aside and pick up the next manuscript. This happened to me, but thankfully an experienced, published author told me and not an editor from a publishing house! I had time to go back and start the story right where it needs to begin: just before the story problem. (This is especially true for children's literature.)

2. The need to explain everything. Another mistake beginners make is feeling they need to explain everything. I call this "giving the reader TMI." Too Much Information. The reader drowns in a sea of wordiness and redundancies. Trust me. Readers are smart. They can infer much that doesn't need to be explained. Here is a simplistic example: If a mountain lion is chasing a girl, you don't need to add the part about the girl running. The word "chase" assumes somebody is running. If something changes, (like she falls or climbs a tree), that's the time to tell the reader. Sometimes, in their need to "tell all," a new writer intrudes into the story. The reader knows right away that the action has stopped and he's been jerked from the story. For instance, a story is about the misadventures of Jane in the big city. Nothing seems to be going right for her throughout the entire book. A chapter ends, and then . . . bang! The next chapter begins with, "Jane had come to the city to try and find a job. Now it looked like it wasn't going to work out so well, so she decided to try another alternative." Stop! The whole story has been about Jane's problem. Why review this just because it's a new chapter? And lest you think I'm making this up, except for the name and setting changes to protect the guilty, I found this in a recent editing job.

3. Telling and not showing. Explaining is another word for telling. New writers sometimes do a lot of telling. After all, it's much easier to narrate (tell) a story than to show what is happening. Memorize this phrase: Show. Don't Tell. The reader does not want to learn second-hand what happened in scene about two rivals having a conflict at the water cooler. The reader wants to be at the water cooler, listening in to the conversation, sensing the emotions, being involved in the characters' lives. Even experienced authors sometimes slip into "telling" when their fingers are flying over the keys and they want the story to move quickly. I broke off a scene once, just as my character was about to be dumped fromher horse in front of a group of young ladies. I did a scene break and then had my character retelling her humiliating experience to her roommate. My critique partner wisely slammed me for it and said, "But I want to SEE Andi getting dumped from the horse." Oh. Yeah. Good point.

Marketing Strategy 7: Blogging

Websites come in all shapes and sizes. Some look very professional and others have the mom and pop feel to them that may or may not be intentional. If you are looking to sell a book and have it fly off the shelves, then a great website is a must.

The internet has changed drastically in the ten or so years since I've been using it often. My first website consisted of a few pages and cost upwards of $1500.00. Today websites come in all shapes and sizes, those costing thousands of dollars and others that cost ...um, nothing. Free sites are blogs such as this one that are monetized. In fact, if you know how, you could spend practically nothing for a website.


But a website is not personal in the same way that a blog is. A Blog tells people who you are, what you do and why they should pay attention to what you say. I use to believe that if I was the least bit challenging or interesting, I would have readers. Instead I have learned that having a blog is not the end of the road...it is the beginning of the need to promote yourself. It pays to have a mentor and in my case, I belong to a professional group of Bloggers and Podcasters. These people are in the know and many have been successful Bloggers for years. I have learned there is much more to blogging than meets the eye. It takes dedication, stamina, will and…well, something to say.


One of the biggest obstacles I had to overcome was the feeling that I needed to be inspirational every time I blogged. I soon learned that was not the case. The blog could contain inspirational and content filled information, every once in awhile…but I did not need to write a thesis each and every time!


You can use many different sources for blogs, as well as different blogs on various topics. This blog is for authors and publishers, I have a "mommy blog" on http://www.mediaangels.com/blog that is part of my website. That blog is fun to write because I can post about all kinds of family happenings...and if I blogged about everything, the site would be full of just blog posts! I recently enabled responses to the blog post and that has definitely increased traffic.

There are tutorials you can watch on youtube or similar websites that explain how to create a blog. Many people I know use wordpress software for their blog. I tried setting up a site there and never followed through on completing it. I may revisit it at some point as I have friends that rave about how wonderful that website works...and best of all they can create "real" looking websites for practically free using wordpress. You still need a place to host the website especially if you are putting up video or lots of audio. That can eat through bandwidth very quickly.

You can use your Blog for the following reasons:

1. Instead of a website. A blog can fill in nicely for a website if you can use it to sell your products or point people to your shopping cart.
2. To make an income stream: many blogs have ads posted, and when you can click on the ads the Blogger makes money.
3. Use blog posts to tell readers about a new book or product.
4. Use your blog for cross promotions, trading with others and posting an article on their website while they post an article on yours.
5. Use you website to interview guests in your blog topic


Ultimately a blog gives you name recognition. Bloggers with a large following have been offered book deals by royalty publishers. I read a blog from a man who had created it two years ago. In his posts he was keeping people updated about his upcoming book. He had passed the million viewer mark and had planned to self-publish the book, but instead accepted a publisher’s contract. This would never have happened if he did not have the readership. The publisher knows the value of this as translated in dollars.


Recently I had a big promotion with an increase of traffic to 4,000 viewers in one day. Of these 4,000 people, 490 or so opted into the newsletter feature, this was not necessary to download the free product. Specials such as free downloads, coupons or money off is a good way to drive sales to your site. In this day, print ads can be so prohibitive in cost. Blogging is by far one of the best ways to get mileage out of your time. Yes, your time is valuable but if it translates into book sales, it is time well spent.


Question: If you use blogging as a way to generate revenue what have you found works best?

Coming up next: ways to promote your blog