Weave Hidden Messages into Your Stories

An early sketch of
Thistletoe the Packrat,
by Nancy Batra

By Linda Wilson   @LinWilsonauthor

The theme(s) in your story needs to be subtle and not stand out; the main theme is what your story is really about. It’s not the characters, plot or even what happens in the story, but the universal idea that runs throughout. Theme works best when readers discover it on their own. Theme is linked to whatever your main character values most. 

Examples of themes in stories include:

• Friendship: What it means to have a friend and be a friend.
• Responsibility: Owning up to one’s actions.
• Overcoming fear: How to face challenges with integrity and courage.

Hidden Messages 

In my stories, in addition to the themes, are messages that I’ve strived to cloak in fun and interesting ways. It all begins with my overall message, “Stories from the Great Outdoors,” which is prominently spelled out on my marketing materials. And yet, children might not realize that each story involves activities that the characters enjoy out in nature— swimming, hiking, running, bird watching, feeding ducks, horseback riding, and bicycle riding—because these "messages" are hidden in plain sight.

Here are examples of some of my hidden-in-plain-sight messages, beginning with the Abi Wunder chapter book series:

• The ghost in the story is a beekeeper; his interest in collecting honey a reminder of the importance of bees. The story takes places in the country, an experience not available to a lot of children, which might encourage readers to appreciate country living. A sheriff relays the message that police officers have authority, but are friendly and helpful. (The chapter book, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, Book 1)
• A country living setting is explored more in this book. Abi lives in a town about two hours away in an apartment. A family Bible from the 1800s is part of the story in Mist, regarding the family record kept in it. The ghost comes from the 1800s, so her dress and background are explored. (Secret in the Mist: An Abi Wunder Mystery, Book 2) 
• Apartment living and the love of grandparents will be integral parts of the story. (Secrets of the Heart: An Abi Wunder Mystery, Book 3),  currently a work-in-progress.

And in four picture books:

• The story introduces readers to packrats, what they’re like and what their habits are; with information in the backmatter about the Southwest. (A Packrat’s Holiday: Thistletoe’s Gift)
• A story about a 4-H horse show, with information about 4-H and how to join the organization. (Tall Boots)
• A story about the discovery of a bird’s nest, which includes ideas about how readers can become birdwatchers. (Cradle in the Wild)
• The story shows that ducks need to live in a healthy habitat. Readers are encouraged to feed water fowl nutritious food, rather than bread. (Waddles the Duck: Hey, Wait for Me!)

Pairing hidden messages with the themes in your stories such as these has the potential to provide readers with the motivation to go out and ride a horse, start a backyard bird sanctuary, or simply enjoy various characters’ positive life experiences so much that they’ll strive to make them their own.

Source: https://www.writeacademy.com/blog/thinking-about-theme/ 

Talls Boots and
Cradle in the Wild
are now available in Spanish
https://www.amazon.com/author/
lindawilsonchildrensauthor/

Linda Wilson is the author of the Abi Wunder Mystery series and other books for children. Her two new releases are Cradle in the Wild: A Book for Nature Loves Everywhere (2023), Botas Altas (2024), the Spanish version of Tall Boots, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero, and Cuna en la Naturaleza (2025), translated by Adriana Botero. You’ll find Linda on her Amazon author page, on her website at LindaWilsonAuthor.com, and on Facebook.

Make Your Writing Plan for the First Quarter of 2025

 by Suzanne Lieurance

If you’re a writer, planning your first quarter can set the tone for an entire year of creativity and productivity. 

 

A solid plan gives you clarity, focus, and something to aim for as you turn your writing dreams into realities. 

 

Here’s how you can map out a winning Q1 plan that keeps you moving forward.

 

Step 1. Start with Your Big Picture Vision.

 

What do you want your writing life to look like by the end of 2025? 

 

Maybe it’s finishing a novel, landing a book deal, building an engaged audience, or launching a freelance writing business. 

 

Get specific about your goals and write them down. 

 

Then, ask yourself: what’s one milestone I can realistically hit by the end of March that moves me closer to that vision? 

 

This will be your north star for Q1.

 

Step 2. Break It Down into Quarterly Goals.

 

Take that big milestone and break it into smaller, manageable goals. 

 

Let’s say your Q1 focus is completing the first draft of your novel. 

 

Break that into goals like:

 

- Outlining your story in January.

 

- Writing 30,000 words in February.

 

- Finishing the draft by the end of March.

 

Keep your goals focused and measurable. 

 

The clearer your goals, the easier it is to stay on track.

 

Step 3. Schedule Writing Time Like a Pro.

 

Great intentions won’t get you anywhere without consistent action. 

 

Look at your calendar for January through March and block out dedicated writing time. 

 

Be realistic—whether it’s 20 minutes a day, three focused hours on the weekend, or daily sprints, commit to a schedule that fits your life. 

 

Treat this time like an unbreakable appointment with your future self.

 

Step 4. Create Systems to Stay Consistent.

 

Life happens, and distractions are everywhere. 

 

Set up systems that help you stick to your plan. 

 

This could mean:

 

- Using a habit tracker to log daily writing progress.

 

- Joining a writing accountability group.

 

- Setting weekly goals and rewarding yourself for hitting them.

 

The key is consistency—not perfection.

 

Step 5. Incorporate Flexibility for the Unexpected.

 

Even the best plans need room to breathe. 

 

Build flexibility into your Q1 strategy by setting buffer time in your schedule. 

 

For instance, plan to finish your draft by mid-March instead of the very last day, so you’re not scrambling if something unexpected comes up.

 

Step 6. Focus on Progress, Not Perfection.

 

The goal for Q1 isn’t to write the perfect draft or flawlessly execute every task. 

 

It’s to make progress. 

 

Each word you write, each goal you hit, gets you closer to your bigger dream. 

 

Celebrate small wins along the way—they’ll fuel your momentum.

 

Step 7. Reflect and Adjust at the End of Each Month.

 

At the end of January and February, take some time to reflect. 

 

What worked? 

 

What didn’t? 

 

Adjust your plan as needed. 

 

This ensures you’re not just blindly following a schedule but actively refining your process to get better results.

 

Step 8. Keep Inspired Action at the Core.

 

Your Q1 plan should excite you. 

 

Focus on actions that feel meaningful and energize your creativity. 

 

When you take inspired action—writing from a place of joy and purpose—you’ll find the process as rewarding as the outcomes.

 

A strong Q1 plan is more than a to-do list; it’s your roadmap to writing success. 

 

By setting clear goals, creating systems, and staying flexible, you’ll build momentum that carries you through the rest of 2025. 

 

Start now, and when April rolls around, you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come. 

Try it!

 

And for more tips and resources for writers, visit writebythesea.com and sign up for The Morning Nudge (it's free).

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of more than 40 published books and Law of Attraction coach for writers.

Do You Want to Write a Bestseller?

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

As an acquisition’s editor at a New York publisher, I often speak with authors about their dreams and ambitions for their book. Many authors want their book to become a bestseller. Every business has a pinnacle of success. It is the ultimate mark of achievement. In book publishing, this mark of success is tied to winning a particular award or getting your book on a particular bestseller list. Many writers proclaim their book will be a New York Times bestseller. While it is an admirable goal, just making such a statement is another publishing myth because of the difficulty involved. It is equivalent to a brand-new actor proclaiming he is going to win an Oscar. Eventually, this actor may win an Oscar, but rarely does it happen right away.

When an author lands on the New York Times list, the achievement is forever carried with their publishing life. They are introduced as a New York Times bestselling author. In many ways, it is the holy grail of publishing to achieve such a milestone. I’ve never achieved such a milestone, but I know a number of authors who have reached this goal. Several years ago, I moderated a panel with three members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors who have become New York Times bestselling authors.

As the moderator, I pulled together the speakers and organized the session into three parts: the pitch or the proposal, the writing, and the promotion and life changes that came from the experience. I asked each speaker to pull together some tips and suggestions into a handout. 

This event is at a “members only session” for the ASJA. In other words, you have to be a member of this organization (about 1400) and have registered for the conference and traveled to New York City for the event (an even smaller number). Here’s the handout for this event (www.terrylinks.com/nytwh). This document is nine pages of solid information and insight.

I encourage you as an author to continue to market your book, yet understand reaching the New York Times bestseller list is not easy or simple. Many people seek it but few attain it. For the majority of authors, it is a myth for them to reach any bestseller list—not just the New York Times bestseller list but others like the Los Angeles Times or Wall Street Journal. 

In this article, I want to focus on several practical steps every author can take to help generate additional book sales on an ongoing basis. One of the most neglected areas for authors is the book launch. From working with authors on book production, the final push to complete a book and get it ready to print can be grueling. There is a lot of detail work to finalize a book for printing and when it is finished, there is a huge relief. Yet it is not a time to stop and do nothing. This silent period is called the pre-launch stage. To become an effective book selling author, it is time for you to crank even more energy into this pre-sales process.

Many authors let down and do nothing during this stage. The exceptions and successful authors will use this time to promote the pre-sales on the book, write press related materials, hire a publicist and gather a launch team or at least people to write reviews. I’m going to give you more details about each of these activities.

Create a Pre-Launch Campaign 

The period when the book has been completely produced and finalized but not released into the bookstore is called the pre-sales season. As an author, one of the most effective actions you can take is to organize a pre-sales campaign. Dave Jarworski, was one of the early employees at Microsoft and the winner of the first Microsoft sales award from Bill Gates. He ran an effective pre-sales campaign for the launch of his book. After he left Microsoft, Dave and I worked together at Christianity.com. We kept in touch and Dave wrote a book about Microsoft called Microsoft Secrets (www.microsoftsecrets.com). Dave gathered unusual resources with his book such as some unpublished videos and launched a pre-sales campaign for this book. If you pre-ordered the book, and after your order, returned to Dave and told him (giving an order number for example), you got access to these extras. The pre-sales campaign drove people to pre-order the book from different bookstores. 

Also the pre-sales campaign is something Morgan James can promote to our bookstore sales team who in turn promoted it to the bookstores. When Microsoft Secrets launched, the physical books were sold into the majority of the bookstores throughout North America and Canada. Authors who do not have a pre-sales campaign will sell into a limited number of physical bookstores, but because of the pre-launch campaign, Microsoft Secrets received much broader distribution than normal (and increased sales as a result).

Because a successful campaign was launched for the book, this author activity spilled into other areas such as foreign rights. At this writing, Microsoft Secrets has been sold into two additional languages besides English, Vietnamese and Simple Chinese. Ironically after 22 years away from Microsoft, Dave Jaworski rejoined Microsoft as an employee. Worldwide Microsoft has over 154,000 employees. To create this pre-sales campaign, you can study the activities of other authors and watch how they launch their books. You may need a website or other help with this process. Get several recommendations before selecting the right person to help you. The key difference maker to become a bestseller it to take consistent action to be telling people about your book and where it is available. Finally, every author needs to have a realistic view of their book and what can happen with it.

Tweetable:

What does it take to become a bestselling author? This prolific author and editor gives some insights in this article.  (ClickToTweet) 

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

5 Ways Writing a Book Can Grow Your Business Brand

 

Writing books might seem like a Herculean task but it can provide impressive results for the growth of your business with minimal effort on your part. These are just five ways you can grow your business by writing a book.

Profit from Book Sales

Financial gains from book sales involve money you can then reinvest into your business fueling growth. Not only can you buy better exposure on the World Wide Web, you can hire people to help you do the tedious things that tie up your time and take you away from the aspect of your business you are most passionate about. Leveraging your time and talents this way alone makes writing a book well worth the time and effort it took to get it written and ready to go.

Gain New Clients before the Book is Even Written

There is a certain amount of prestige that goes along with writing a book. Even if you self-publish your book, you will gain a great deal of respect within the coaching business community simply for having a book available in the marketplace.

This respect leads to new social media followers, email subscribers, and paying clients who need the invaluable service you provide. It all started with a blank page you filled with possibilities for yourself, and your future clients.

Expand Your Expertise

The fact that you’ve written a book on a subject matter makes you an expert in the field as far as most people are concerned. But the value of doing so goes deeper than that. In the process of research of researching and writing your book, you’ve become an expert in your field. You’ve put in the time doing research, expanding your knowledge, and breaking it down into digestible information you share with your readers. That will draw more people to you as a coach and to your book as avid readers look to improve their lives.

Increased Opportunities for Exposure

Exposure comes in many forms. When you write a book, you get even more exposure on multiple fronts. In addition to a wide range of accolades from the book itself, you have the opportunity to tell your story to an even wider audience through book launch parties, Interviews, speaking engagements, book signings, library visits.

Expands Your Reach Allowing You to Help More People Quickly

One-on-one coaching is a time consuming process that only allows you to work with so many people in one day. A book, a series of books, courses from your book and more allows you to help more people with your limited time.

Writing a book won’t solve all the challenges the average coaching business faces. It can be instrumental, though, in helping you to expand your ability to help others while also expanding your own customer base and bottom line at the same time.

 About Rebecca Camarena

I’m Rebecca, the Book Coach that helps memoir and business book authors write, publish and market books that grow their brand. As a best-selling author with her co-authored book Out of My Comfort Zone: Stories of Courage, Perseverance and Victory she helped women share their stories of how they got of their fear zone to excel in their business.

Sign up for my FREE Author Success Email Series and uncover The 3 Biggest Mistakes Aspiring Authors Make (And How to Avoid Them).

Click here www.rebeccacamarena.com

 

Perking Up the New Year for Authors

 

A Couple Bulleted Lists of Ideas that May Perk Up the New Year

 

         Tuning Up for 2025 with Ideas Old and New

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, poet, fiction writer, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books For Writers 

It’s the new year! You may have lots of ideas for writing waiting to come to fruition and you’re eager to get started, but if you enthusiasm for marketing has become a bit stale, the new year is a good time for that. With new experiences come new ideas, new contacts, new skills. You might even find a new enthusiasm…or, imagine this! A boost in book sales! So let’s get tuned up. It’s 2025!

Tada! Out jumps the idea of magazines. They need content and the authors of books can be ongoing resources for them! About 7,000 slick magazine titles—each with several editions per year—are published in the US each year. Some of them are trade magazines related to an industry featured in your book. Others are regional and their audience lives in the same area your book is set in—or the one you were raised in. Others have broader interests. And most of them don’t get bombarded with media releases like the mainstream media does. Others, like this list, might have something pertinent for yours.

§  Magazines are usually desperate for seasonal material that thrive on gift news including books as well as personal interest and inspirational stories. You may have one to offer them.

§  It’s that book of yours that makes you credible enough to be considered for feature stories or quoted. Include information about your book in your interviews or in articles you write for them yourself.

§  Find niche super resources—newspapers, dailies, weeklies, TV, and radio stations, and trade publications that lend themselves to your title or background story—from newsletters to nationally distributed newspapers like AARP (for seniors over fifty-five)—at Newslink.org. Many of them have huge readership because they don’t charge (extra) for subscriptions.

§  Once a long time ago almost all media featured books. It is more difficult now, though the recent support for the banning of books has increased some media interest. If your book is banned or falls into a category that has become a target of these groups, you might get the kind of coverage that makes it into a bestseller. This niche isn’t as new as it appears; unfortunately it may have a long life ahead, too. And for you, that can be good news.

§  Each time your book appears—no matter how it appears—in a big name magazine, that can be used in a query letter to help convince reviewers that yours is a book they want to read and review.

My favorite resource for finding appropriate media for whatever book or event I was doing in any given moment had been Bacon’s Directories since my long-ago days as a fashion publicist. They were a series of hefty volumes. Even then Bacon’s several huge reference books were too expensive for most authors or even small publishing companies to buy. Luckily Bacon’s is now Cision, an integrated internet platform. This online directory to TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, is more than welcome.

I especially like Cision for accessing regional publicity for an event when I am signing or presenting at out-of-town venues.

o You won’t at first know these out-of-town contacts—or some of your local ones for that matter. Do not assume that is a barrier to a broader relationship. They are people, after all. Find ways to keep in touch with them, beginning with logging them into your contact list. Here’s a few keep-in-touch ideas

o Write congratulatory notes when an editor you’ve become familiar with gets a promotion or award, when a reporter writes a story you found helpful, when an intern writes an article you find provocative, when the medium introduces a new section or new columnist.

o Write frequent Letters-to-the-Editor.

o Drop them a note recommending they review a book—any book—that connects with local interests. Or offer to review for it for them.

o Well, yeah! Send pertinent editors media releases.

Join a forum, list-serve, or social network group   where people interested in books gather. Yeah, it isn’t new but a lot of them got lost when Yahoo disappeared them! Choose groups of readers interested in your genre or groups of experts in specific aspects of publishing books like marketing. They gather to share, chat, get questions answered. Here’s a list to make list-serveswork for you: 

§    Spend some time contributing and getting acquainted after you’ve subscribed.

§    Pay attention to the posts of members with long experience/expertise to share.

§    Absorb what you can learn from them, especially the stuff you didn’t know you needed to know.

§    Most list-serves were once found on Yahoo, but most—if not all— now have addresses that look like this one:  podpublishing@groups.io. I have followed it since its Yahoo days.

§    Facebook offers a variety of groups, too; they tend to attract newer authors so you will more than likely use them to meet and attract readers. I use Valerie Allen’s AuthorsforAuthors group on Facebook a lot. Do read guidelines for these groups when you join.

Install automated icons that increase exposure for reviews of your books like the ones you see on this blog.You’ll find these little insignias (also called “buttons”) everywhere on the net—social media, websites, blogs. Find them in zillions of places online like newsletters, blog posts, and Mail Chimp-assisted mass e-mails. They usually look like a row of inconspicuous little squares, often near the bottom of the message. Visitors can choose one or more: Click, click, click, and voilá! Each click produces a pop-up of a pre-written post that includes a title and a permalink of the site they have been perusing. When we style them with say a blurb, an added motto, or hashtags, they become fast wonder workers for our campaigns and for encouraging followers. They work even better when we invite subscribers and visitors to use the ones we install on our own content as well as your promotional material like your website, blog newsletter. I mean, everyone is short on time; everyone is looking for shortcuts. And many are happy to help!

We who want to build exposure for our books as effectively and frugally of time as possible will intuit that the icon marked with an “F” is for Facebook; a “T” (most online entities haven’t changed the icon since Twitter changed its name). The one marked with a “P” pops up a post on Pinterest, and so on.

 

Tip: These share buttons and the posts they create have value beyond letting you increase exposure for any of the marketing you are doing online. They work well to increase your own outreach of helpful, sharing posts that go to your followers as you browse the web. When your site visitors use them to share your invitations, articles, tips, they trigger its algorithms or stats. Using the icons you find on others’ sites or blogs is a gift to them and there is usually room to make them work harder for both of you by leaving a positive blurb or hashtag on the pop-up. If there is space available after that, tag someone else who likes to share. I’m @frugalbookpromo on X.

 

And one of my favorite tips worth reviving! It was recommended to me by the late, great Dan Poynter. Use it for special occasions “just to keep in touch with people who know the value of tuning-in and networking.” He called it a “Top 50 List.” It’s your list of people you love to work with. You might already have a “Top 50 People List;” You just haven’t coded them as such on your contact list and if you haven’t, your relationships aren’t working to their potential. Schedule a once-a-year (at least) communication to your Top 50 this year! 

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S CONTRIBUTOR 

 

 Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers including her flagship book The Frugal Book Promoter(https://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), now offered in its third edition by Modern History Press and two booklets in their second editions,  Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers  and The Great First Impression Book Proposal, both career boosters in mini doses and that make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. 

The Frugal Editor (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1615996001), now in its third edition, is the winningest book in the series. She is working on a second edition of her #HowToDoItFrugally How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically to be published in this new year.  Find the entire series as e-books on Amazon’s new page for series. 

 Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques (https://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing—grammar, formatting and more—at The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor (https://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow for news on her new releases direct from Amazon at https://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.