3 Reasons You Need a Blog if You're a Children's Writer

by Suzanne Lieurance

Many children's authors have websites these days.

But not all of them have a blog.

Yet, whether you're a world-famous children's author, or you're just starting to write for kids, you gotta have a blog.

Why?

Because a blog will:

1. Help you get in the habit of writing regularly.

And even the posts to your blog should be well-written with a little pizazz—which will be excellent writing practice and help you become a more disciplined writer since you'll want to post to your blog at least once a week or preferably 3 to 5 times a week.

2. Help you establish an online readership.

You'll be providing readers with helpful and/or interesting information each time you post to your blog.

Information people will begin to look forward to reading on a regular basis.

If you're an established children's book author, children and adults who read your books will look to your blog to find out what's new with you.

They'll want to know your current writing project(s), new books you have coming out soon, and information about author visits you might offer to schools, libraries, etc.

And, if you use your blog to build a mailing list, you will be able to contact people on your list, so they can preorder an upcoming book, or be the first to know where you will be doing a book signing or other event.

It's too difficult to keep a website updated on a daily basis with this kind of information, but it's easy to update your blog.

3. Help you establish yourself as expert in the world of children's writing and publishing.

Even before you are published, you can interview more experienced children's writers and post these interviews to your blog or write reviews of new children's books.

This information will tell readers you know "what's what" in the world of children's publishing, and it will make you more credible to editors and agents, too.

These are just a few of the many reasons to start blogging if you're a children's writer.

Try it!

For more writing tips and resources, get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge at www.morningnudge.com.

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a writing coach. 

Learn more about her products and services at www.writebythesea.com.

Should I Self-Publish?

 

By W. Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

I could see the resolution in the eyes of this author across the table from me when she said, “I’m going to self-publish.” 

We were meeting at a conference (pre-pandemic) and talking about her manuscript. I liked the shape of her proposal, her title and the energy that she had put into her book idea. In just a few minutes, I could see the potential. I acquire or find books for one of the top independent publishers. We spent the next few minutes exploring why she wanted to self-publish. I’ve heard these words from other authors:

“Everyone is doing it.”

“Isn’t this the best way for any author to get started in publishing?”

“I want to get it out quickly while the market is hot for my topic.”

“I don’t want to give up my rights to a publisher (and the control).”

Without a doubt, no matter what direction you decide to publish, just entering the field is challenging. I’ve been working with books for decades and yes, every book is filled with unique challenges.

Before you take the leap into self-publishing, I encourage you to move forward armed with a bit of reality: “According to the latest Bowker data (Publishers Weekly, February 20, 2023), 2.3 million books were self-published in the US in 2021, which was the third year in a row that more than two million books were self-published. This is the number of new titles that received an ISBN from Bowker. Several years ago Bowker stopped releasing the numbers of new titles that were not self-published, but a recent industry estimate is that each year “between 500,000 to 1 million . . . new titles are published through traditional publishers” Here’s where I got this information with much more detail: The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing.

Anyone with a computer (and everyone has a computer) feels like they can get a book published.  I understand some of their motivations. I often tell authors that making books is easy. Now selling those books you make—that is a completely different story. Statistics have proven the average self-published book sells 100-250 copies during the lifetime of the book.

Many companies are happy to take your money and make books (and a number of those companies are scams). In fact a prominent large Christian publisher has a self-publishing imprint. I’ve seen some poorly created books from this publisher. While on the surface it looks like an “easy” way to get published. The reality is something quite different. You are not really working with that publisher (giving money to them for the referral yes). In the production, you will be working with people in the Philippines (part of why you speak with a different person each time). The books will not be sold inside any brick and mortar bookstores (poorly distribution—a key consideration). And, the parent company (something they will not tell you about) has many different imprints and produces over 20,000 books a year (anything from poetry to porn). Yes, these companies are a scam preying on uneducated writers. I’ve met several authors who have unnecessarily spent $20,000 with such companies which is tragic because they will never sell enough books to recover such an investment.

To be fair, every publisher has unhappy authors and complaints. It’s part of the publishing landscape. Yet some companies have many complaints which should be a red flag to potential authors. 

One of the best ways to learn about complaints is to use Google and type in “NAMEOFPUBLISHER + complaint” and see what you learn.  Ask questions about what you discover and listen to the answers. Occasionally I field complaints about Morgan James and have answers but authors have to take the initiative and ask questions (your responsibility).

From my experience, the best publishing involves working with a team and involves cooperation, give and take. To get this experience, you have to write a book proposal. I believe even if you self-publish, you should write a proposal because this document will become your business plan or blueprint for your book. To help writers, I wrote Book Proposals That $ell. Writers have used my book to get an agent, get an advance and much more.

Or you can write an excellent manuscript and skip the proposal if you send the book to me for possible publishing. For eleven years, I’ve been working with one of the top independent publishers (Christian owners but not all Christian books). Our books have been on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list over 100 times. This fact alone demonstrates broad distribution not just online but selling in brick and mortar bookstores.

On the surface, publishing looks simple but in reality is complex with many decisions and variables. I encourage you to watch this 36-minute video master class where New York Times bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins asked me a number of questions—including about publishing. Keep learning all you can from every possible source and reach out to me if I can help you.

Tweetable:

Everyone is self-publishing. Should you? This prolific writer and editor gives his insider’s perspective. Learn the details here. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in

Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Purposeful Writing

 

Purposeful Writing: Use Freewriting by Deborah Lyn Stanley

Purposeful writing is knowing why we are writing and who we wish to serve. What is special about our writing that readers can’t just get from the next blogger?

At a loss of what to write? Need to generate ideas? Or, do you want to tell your message in a unique way? I suggest you consider freewriting the topic you have chosen, or one that is your favorite. Make a list of prompts for yourself to use for freewriting, and several photos that tell a story.

Start writing and watch the topic come alive!

Once we have our article drafted, we’ll review it for clarity, grammar improvements, plus description changes to stronger verbs and nouns. Read it aloud. Consider any changes you wish to make to the point of view.

Let’s take a closer look at how to use freewriting to inspire your article or story:
1) Choose prompts that kindle your writing, be it a word, a phrase, or a poem that stirs up a memory or your imagination.
2) Make it fiction, a true story, or part of a memoir.
3) All freewrites are good, there is never a perfect freewrite!
4) Write whatever comes to your mind. It doesn’t have to make sense, just keep writing for ~20 minutes. Write the story you see in your mind’s eye.
5) You are writing for yourself as a starting point for your topic, then you will develop the topic it to get your message across and flowing.

More info about freewriting:
Masterclass.com
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-improve-your-writing-with-freewriting

The Write Spot – Jumpstart Program  (See the “Blog” for prompts)   https://thewritespot.us/

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.

Visit her My Writer’s Life website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/   
Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/

Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God’s Love is available:
on Amazon

 

 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson Gives Writers Nine Reasons To Love Amazon

Nine Big Reasons To Learn To Love Amazon

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, 
author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugallySeries of books for writers

 

Remember the little greeting card girl who looked like Pipi Longstockings? She put her hands on her hips, stamped her little foot, glowered out of the card at her audience and said “Get Over It!” That’s a little like I feel when I hear an author complain about Amazon. Not that I don’t understand their complaints, even sometimes agree with them. What worries me is that sometimes these authors resort to boycotting Amazon which leads to their selling their books out of their garages…or worse. Though what you might have heard about Amazon may be true, but we authors still need to take the advice of Pipi’s look-alike and “get over it.” For the good of our books. If you are one of those authors, here’s why Amazon is good for your book and by extension, good for your peace of mind, and, yes, good for your book sales: 

 

1.     Amazon sells far and away more books than any other online 
bookstore. And far and away more books than all traditional bookstores in the US combined.

2.     Amazon provides easily accessed associate sites from Japan to the UK that let you sell your books overseas—even if you haven’t sold foreign rights to your book.

3.     Amazon provides a search engine arguably second only to Google’s—especially if you view this statistic from the standpoint of an author or publisher. Your prospective reader can find you by typing your name, title, or important key words like your genre into the search window.

4.     Promotion packages like Amazon’s Vine Program are available for getting reviewed by their top reviewers. Some are free, some are costly, but they all work.

5.     Amazon offers an author profile. You can even feed your blog and Twitter stream to it and so your readers know more about you instantly. If you don’t have a profile page, go to AuthorCentral.com and explore how you can add all your books to it and a knock-out biography, too.

 

Tip: I include a shortened URL in my e-mail signature that takes my contacts directly to my Amazon author profile.

 

6.     Amazon offers all kinds of ways to promote your book on a dedicated buy page where your readers get to buy your book, often with one click. That page includes:

o    Add-on features that let you highlight your credentials by choosing the best categories and subcategories for Amazon’s logarithms to find and rate your sales numbers against other similar books. (To make the most of these, the author must promote bestselling ratings when they achieve them—perhaps on Twitter.)

o    A new feature is available on your Kindle buy page. It is called “Amazon Plus.” Either the author of a book or its publisher may add five enticing quotations from your book and illustrate each with an arresting image of your choice for entry. Find the A+ entries my publisher (Modern History Press) added for the Kindle version of The Frugal Editor or any of the other books in my HowToDoItFrugally series to get ideas for your own book(s). (It works equally well for books of fiction.)

o    There is a place on your buy page to install an author- or book- related video.

o    The “What other customers buy after they’ve reviewed this item…” feature may feel uncomfortably competitive, but it connects your book to other top sellers on Amazon as well as others’ books to yours.

 

7.   7.  Amazon’s Kindle Select marketing program is free if you can see your way to committing your book as an Amazon exclusive for ninety days. After that period is up, you can publish at Smashwords or anywhere else you want to and you can make marketing hay with the Select program when your book is released.

8.    8. Amazon offers an annual contest for e-books in partnership with some of the biggest names in publishing.

9.   9.  When you publish new editions, Amazon offers a widget (gadget) for your backlist book’s buy page that directs readers to your new editions. See how one leads you from the second edition of my The Frugal Editorto the new third edition at my buy page. (Find it a little below the title of the book at the top of the page.

 

Tip: You may enter some typical “back of the book” features on your buy page yourself. That includes the more about the author, your favorite review, and more. Do watch this important page for changes. Amazon adds features to it and also taketh away. (It’s also the place that lists your book sales ratings. 

 

Don’t Forget: When your book becomes a bestseller in the ratings (or highly rated in its genre!) that news can become highly convincing marketing material for your book. You’ll find a screen shot of one of the ratings Modern History Press recently made for me during the release of the third edition of The Frugal Editor at the top of this blog page.

###

About the Guest Blogger

 

Cover image supplied by Amazon on their new Series Page

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a frequent contributor to this #WritersontheMove blog. Her The Frugal Editorwas just released in its third edition from Modern History Press. It is the second multi award-winning book in her multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers. Find it on Amazon in paper, hard cover, or as an e-book at the new Amazon page especially for series . (That’s a new Amazon feature, too!) This new edition has been fully updated including a chapter on how backmatter can be extended to both help readers and jumpstart book sales.

If you liked this post, you’ll find more on marketing books in the third edition of Carolyn’s The Frugal Book Promoter, the flagship book in her how-to series for writers.

Nourishment Goals

As a writer it's essential to keep yourself balanced, this includes nourishment in your fuel, relationships, surroundings, and work. Achieving your goals expert Debra Eckerling offers help.

 

~~~~~

 

It's important to set nourishment goals. When you nourish yourself - mind, body, and spirit - you are way more productive. 

In April, I had a wonderful conversation about Nourishment with Natasha Feldman, Nosh With Tash and author of The Dinner Party Project; Michal Levison, a speaker, cookbook author, and founder of Seasoned Moments; and Nicky Pitman, Director of Shemesh Farms, a social enterprise that offers community and employment for those with diverse abilities. 

Natasha, Michal, and Nicky talked about their connection to food, the relationship between nourishment and community, how they nourish themselves, and much more.

Nourishment is "being able to live a life that’s fueled by your community," Natasha says. According to Michal, "You don’t sit down to eat vitamins and minerals; you sit down to enjoy a meal. Nourishment is the holistic view of how food makes you feel." Nourishment is "what fills you, what fuels you," Nicjy believes.

Nourishment Goals 

• Natasha: Set up a dinner party. Make it monthly/weekly! 
• Nicky: Go outside and take a breath – breathe deep, long, and take a moment to feel the elements. Do it daily-ish or multiple times a day. 
• Michal: Try to take a lunch break every day! Step away from your work and sit at a table, preferably with another human being. Spend 20-30 minutes or longer. Take mindful bites. Build up to a daily routine.

Watch our conversation.

Final Thoughts 

• Michal: Savor all the moments; you can savor a meal, a conversation, a relationship. It’s an important way to get in touch with gratitude. 
• Nicky: Stay open to what nourishes you, and allow what nourishes you to change. 
• Natasha: Food – like everything else you do in life – should be fun. Enjoy it!

Nourishment comes in many forms. And proper nourishment starts with taking the time to refill your mind, body, and spirit.

* * * 

For more inspiration and motivation, follow @TheDEBMethod on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin! 

* * *

How do you nourish yourself? Please share in the comments. 

* * *

Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning and Achieving Your Goals and founder of the D*E*B METHOD, which is her system for goal-setting simplified. A goal-strategist, corporate consultant, and project catalyst, Debra offers personal and professional planning, event strategy, and team building for individuals, businesses, and teams. She is also the author of Write On Blogging and Purple Pencil Adventures; founder of Write On Online; host of  #GoalChatLive aka The DEB Show podcast and Taste Buds with Deb. She speaks on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Author Lessons from the Past: Oprah's Book Club

 

 

Lessons from the Past

 

When Oprah Tolled the Bell for Her

Book Club 

 

 

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

            

Once upon a time not so very long ago,news reverberated not only through the literary book community but throughout the entire book world. The first message I read was cryptic: Oprah would no longer recommend book titles on a monthly basis. I was devastated.  I wanted to know more.

I turned to The New York Times.

Oprah was quoted: “It has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis that I feel absolutely compelled to share…”  Now I was just plain confused.

Did Oprah mean it was harder because there are none out there to choose from? 

I can’t believe that. If rumors are true, her slush pile makes Mt. McKinley look puny. I visualize two floors of readers in a building the size Grand Central Station. Toiling nearby are young lit majors all, feverishly combing through what they “think” might impress Oprah enough for them to submit a recommendation. I see them as incredibly eager to please and not too keen on making mistakes; they naturally turn more and more to the recommendations of the time-honored publishing houses and reviewers and everyone knows those guys haven’t taken any risks on new authors for at least a couple of decades.

This of course, is my opinion, but I think if readers go back over her selections for the last few months before she quit way back then they might smell the same stagnant book-breath that I have: Jonathan Franzen of New Yorker, he of “most ungrateful artist of the year” fame, is among those chosen. So are at least three titles by Toni Morrison, at least two by Bill Cosby. Others include the totally “unknown names” of those times—Joyce Carol Oates, Isabel Allende, Maeve Binchy, Elizabeth Berg and Barbara Kingsolver. And, yes, those quotation marks connote irony. 

At first—you know—when it was easy to find “good” books—Oprah’s picks were authors of little renown. She chose novelists with important things to say and a unique way of saying them and didn’t give a T-tinkers darn who published the book or if the author’s name was known to anybody. It is said that her well-intentioned program became inundated with hopefuls. So are those the authors that come in such short supply these days of the indie-author craze? 

I’m sorry. I get diverted. I was saying that I am confused. Was finding a good book with a literary slant harder because books that fit Oprah’s priorities were becoming rarer? I happen to know that several large publishers of the time (then called embarrassingly “vanity” publishers, a term that reeks of #bookbigotry!) were flooding her offices with boxes full of their mostly poorly edited books as part of a “promotional program” they charged unsuspecting authors upward of $300 to present to her. It was unlikely, but there might have been a real diamond among the unformed hunks of carbon in those boxes! Unformed hunks with poorly designed covers by the cartsful would not have attract her attention or even the attentions of her those assigned to find the best available in the pool of new talent. 

To my knowledge, Oprah did not open those boxes. I certainly hope she did not mean that books of worth were not out there, then or now. I prefer to believe—after all, she has done for readin’ and writin’—that she is saying that her book selection program got out of hand. It was too expensive, to unwieldy, too fraught with personalities and personal agendas–to put up with it anymore. That is what I hope she was saying.

The reason I long for that interpretation is that I think she was doing the right thing and I would like the literary world to focus on that, not on the idea that she has no confidence in America’s pool of new talent. I would like the publishers and reviewers and readers to consider what she may very have well seen for herself—that the club had, in the last few months, lost the discovery quality it once had. It certainly wasn’t only the Franzen snafu. Each time a new selection was announced, I rather absently wondered where all the new blood, the new themes, the special warmth had gone. Her choices seemed to throw up the bylines of those we had already seen, those who needed no more  exposure than they already had (see the list above). It had been a long time since an obscure press or name appeared on her list and I don’t think it is because none of them had published worthy books.

In other words, Oprah was selecting books that her audience needed no “help” in finding. These were books that would have made it to the New York Times list on the momentum of their authors’ names and their publishers’ names alone—no help was needed from Oprah, thank you.

So if the expense and red tape of Oprah’s program got out of hand, and the service she was providing was deteriorating to more of the same provided by every other top ten list in the country, then she exercised the same savvy aptitude for decision making that has propelled her to the top of her field. If she is saying, “This is enough. It isn’t doing what it is supposed to do,” then I applaud her.

Trouble is, the industry missed Oprah and so do those few outstanding authors out there twisting in the wind—the ones who, without the Book Club’s support (as it was originally conceived)—will never, ever be discovered. 

I understand Oprah is back again, though it doesn’t seem she is as active as she was. Let’s just say she may have missed the best time to shoutout the good books that might have done some great good in trying times. Or we can say that what has been said before. American Greed got the best of us. We are all at fault. Desperate authors looking for the easiest way to be recognized. Celebrities like Oprah doing the best they could but missing the perseverance quotient. And some really spammy publishers who finished off the glowing possibilities of discovery we all hoped for. 

 

More About This #WritersontheMove Contributor

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, editor, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. She is celebrating the release of the third edition of “The Frugal Editor” in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books published by Modern History Press, with more on the way. The first and second editions of that book won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and the coveted Irwin award. The new edition is full of updates and the stuff the publishing world keep throwing at us authors--the new stuff you need to know. She loves #SharingwithWriters anywhere she can find them. Thank you, #WritersontheMove! 

 

 

Create a Theme for your Author Platform

Thanks to Canva, I've created posters and flyers
that showcase the theme that runs through my books

By Linda Wilson    @LinWilsonauthor

Developing an author platform is a matter of finding the right balance that works for you. Advice given to authors is to experiment with the social media outlet(s) that you’re comfortable with, and expand from there. The important thing is to connect with your target audience. Some of the best advice for you to create an author platform plan can be found in Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s Frugal Book series, especially Howard-Johnson’s The Frugal Book Promoter.

What is an author platform?

According to Masterclass.com, an author platform is how an author reaches their target audience. Ideally, authors need to find ways for readers to discover what they can gain by reading your book(s). Will your readers be entertained? Will they learn something? Have you offered them enough for them to want to come back for more? Read more of your books? A good start is to zero in on offering a need you can fill for your readers and find ways to get the word out. “It’s not uncommon for new authors to get a book deal based solely on their social media presence or blogging platform.” (Masterclass.com) In a nutshell, here are the four steps Masterclass suggests to create an author platform: 

                • Create a website.

                • Publish articles on online outlets that specialize in your area.

                • Maintain social media accounts and keep the accounts current.

                • Explore other media ventures, such as discussing your craft with other authors on podcasts.

How to Create an Enduring Author Platform 

After posting blurbs and the covers of my books on various outlets such as Twitter and Facebook and making no sales, I had to stop and figure out why. I took a look at the body of work I had developed, four picture books and a chapter book trilogy, some still in development at the time, and unearthed a common thread. Perhaps I’m unique. Probably most authors have an overall plan worked out before they begin writing. But if you’re like me, you might be pumping out material with no common thread in mind. After much soul searching, I came up with a theme for my body of work, the message I want readers to remember after they read my books. Once I put my plan in place, visits to schools, book fairs, and more, have been fun and easy.

           • Decide what you want to impart to children in your works. What is the message you want to send that will remain with them after they finish reading your book(s)?

            • Come up with a sentence that encompasses your message. My sentence is not earth shattering and it sounds so simple. But I looked at my projects, as I said, some in progress at the time, and realized that my biggest desire was to show my young readers that they can extricate themselves from their screens and have fun pursuing outdoor activities. All of my books take place outside. My sentence, which I use in my advertising: Stories that Explore the Great Outdoors.

            • Promote yourself using your theme online and also by making local appearances. What can you offer children? I’ve found my most rewarding experiences are by sharing my books and programs with children in my town. So far, I’ve had great fun doing readings at local outlets, such as schools, libraries, and small businesses. I’ve put together programs that include puppets, collections of natural materials I’ve made through the years; have conducted treasure hunts, and have provided crafts that fit the books’ subject matter—anything that brings children close to nature.

            • Examples of my theme carrying through in my books: My chapter book trilogy, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery: My character, Abi Wunder, learns that she has good instincts, can solve problems, and can learn to be athletic by swimming and hiking. In Secret in the Mist, the second book in the trilogy, to be published later this year, Abi learns how to ride a horse and bikes all around town.  My picture books, A Packrat’s Holiday: Thistletoe’s Gift, Tall Boots, Waddles the Duck: Hey, Wait for Me, and Cradle in the Wild: Each book takes place outdoors and leaves readers with a message, respectively: If you try, you will find the perfect gift for a loved one; with courage you will succeed at your goals; through trial and error you can save animals in trouble; and from a surprising discovery, you can think of a creative way to be a Nature Buddy, a person who understands nature and doesn’t interfere.

When you create programs and activities that revolve around the theme of your works, there you will find your reward. Hopefully, you’ll be making book sales along the way. But the true reward is seeing the light in children’s eyes as they get excited about reading your books and sharing in the activities you’ve created for them.

Here is the theme on a banner made by VistaPrint

 Linda Wilson writes stories for young children. Visit   Linda at https://bit.ly/3AOM98L. Click the links for   free coloring pages and a puppet show starring   Thistletoe Q. Packrat. While you’re there, get all the   latest news by signing up for Linda’s newsletter. 

 Find Linda’s books at  Amazon Author Page.

 Connect with   Linda: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram