NaNoWriMo 2009 has kicked off. Some people are shooting ahead and some are lagging behind. Whatever your status, just keep going. NaNo is a great way to get some words out of your head and down on your favorite medium.

The NaNoWriMo forums are a great place to get ideas, inspiration, and encouragement. I love the technology forum, since I can always find new toys…I mean tools.

Here are links to some of them.

NaNoWriMo Report Card for Google docs Save the report card to your google docs. This is a handy way to access your spreadsheet from any location.

NaNoWriMo Report Card for Open Office If you are running Open Office, this report card file is for you.

Standard NaNoWRiMo Report Card for Excel This is from the guy who is kind enough to create a new one every year.

Write or Die website A great website to get you to keep writing. Terrible consequences happen when you stop before you reach your goals.

Now Write or Die has a desktop version. It lets you write while you are off-line. It also lets you challenge others to word wars. Of course you have to be online to issue a challenge. It only costs $10 and is well worth it.

Your internal editor should already be on vacation. He/she/it will have plenty of work after NaNoWriMo is over.

Your internal critic should get lost and stay lost. Your characters’ voices should be the only ones in your head.

No matter what your preferred method, keep putting those words down and moving your story forward.

Drop me a note and tell me about your favorite NaNoWriMo technology.

Write on,

Lynn

This year’s Blog Action Day subject is climate change. At first I struggled with how to relate that to writing. The obvious answer didn’t jump out at me. I blame that on my muse sticking around Europe and not coming back home when I did.

My muse is back now, apparently refreshed and ready to work. She pointed out to me that we are in the middle of big climate changes in publishing now. Some of these changes will have a positive effect on the world’s climate.

Publishing as a business resists adopting new technology. Even when they moved from printing presses to computers, submissions still needed to be sent by “snail mail”.

Publishers didn’t take as long to shift the responsibility for publicity to the authors. Just because you receive an advance for your book doesn’t mean that the publisher will put money into your promotion. Very few authors get any publisher support for promotion.

Fortunately the Internet lets authors reach far more readers than even the largest publisher’s PR departments did in the past. Subscribe to this blog for tips on using technology to promote yourself and your writing.

Right now the e-Reader wars are heating up. This week Amazon announced a big jump in earnings. They attribute a large part of the increase to the Kindle, both the device itself and the books, blogs, and magazines sold for it.  The International Kindle version is now shipping.

Plastic Logic has said that they will release the product details and the price of their e-Reader device at the Consumer Electronic Show in early January. It will probably be called the Que or the QueproReader. AT&T will be the wireless provider. It will read PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.

Design Spring has announced an ebook reader based on the Google Android operating system. It will have full browser capability and a patented dual screen. The Alex will have an electronic paper display for reading and an LCD screen, running Android, for better web access with browser features for bookmarking, history, and security. It’s also mobile enabled with smart phone capabilities.

You are now able to pre-order Barnes and Noble’s ebook reader, Nook.  It’s also a dual-screen reader and has similar features to the Alex. Due to release at the end of November, you can check out the features on Nook.com or at Barnes and Noble.

These readers are great for those of us who freak out about running out of reading material. It’s especially handy when traveling. I saw lots of people reading Kindles on my recent trip.

As more readers accept e-readers and the e-readers themselves improve, the amount of paper used to print books will decrease. This will benefit the entire planet.

Do your research before you buy. Pick the reader that works best for your reading habits and your eyes. These readers will continue to improve. If you plan to upgrade, make sure you can read the books you’ve purchased on the new device.

If you haven’t already subscribed to this blog, sign up on the right. I’ll keep you updated on the latest changes in e-Readers and other technology. Remember that the climate of publishing is changing. I’ll help you keep up with it.

Write on,

Lynn

Related articles by Zemanta

• Que and Alex set to challenge e-reader leader Kindle (seattlepi.com)
• Kindle is More Environmentally Friendly Than Old-School Books [Ebook Readers] (gizmodo.com)

After a great presentation on promotion (one of my favorite subjects) by a couple of the rising stars of the group and celebrating some great new contracts, a bunch of us went out to lunch. I finally got to catch up with a few friends who I haven’t seen in several months.

One friend has recently started writing again after several months of dealing with life’s obstacles. She bemoaned the fact that her writing wasn’t flowing as smoothly as it had in the past. The words weren’t coming easily, and her writing didn’t evoke emotions of the reader as it had in the past. She asked me how to improve her writing skills.

You’ve probably had this problem at one time or another. When you sit down to write, your fingers don’t fly over the keys or your words would be better gracing the bottom of the bird cage instead of shining in your next novel.

Writing is a skill that rewards momentum. It’s a skill that benefits from practice. Writing begets more writing. The more you write, the better you write.

Deadlines also help get the words flowing and build up momemtum. If you don’t have an editor or agent breathing down your neck, you might benefit from contests and challenges.

Contests provide a deadline and also get you some feedback on your work. You want to make sure that your writing is polished before you submit to a contest.

Challenges provide a deadline and are a great way to get the words flowing. I’m a big fan of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s a great way to get a rough draft completed by sending your inner editor on vacation and getting the words down on paper (or the computer screen).

Recently a friend ask if she should try to do NaNoWriMo, since she’s recently gone back to school.  I asked her if she really wanted to write a novel. She said she did. Then I asked if she thought she could devote a couple of hours a day to the effort. It takes about that long to write the 1667 words a day to reach your NaNo goals. She thought she could do that.

I asked her what she had to lose.  Even if she doesn’t complete her 50,000 words, she will still have more written at the end of November than she did at the beginning.

Article writing is something that fiction authors should do to build  their readership and platform. Writing articles also provides a change from fiction and can spur your creativity when you return to your book.

Ezine Articles is the leading online article directory. If you aren’t submitting articles there, you should start. They are currently running a challenge of writing 100 articles is 100 days. It ends in the middle of November. There’s some neat loot for finishing.

If you start now, you can catch up. Even if you don’t make it to 100, you’ll still have lots more articles than you do today. You’ll get into the flow of writing. This is a great warm-up for NaNoWriMo.

What do you do to keep your writing flowing and maintain your momentum? Leave a comment below and share your tips.

Write on,

Lynn

Seems as if everyone is talking about Virtual Books Tours. This great promotional tool is being an industry buzz word.

Not long ago I was talking with a fellow writer. We were discussing setting up a virtual book tour.

We agreed they are great ways to publicize a new release (or even a not-so-new release). We talked about  promoting on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and forums. We agreed that we needed to send reminders leading up to the event.

It was only as we planned the technical details that we realized we were talking about two very different types of events.

People use the same term for different types of promotions.

During a Blog Virtual Book Tour, during a period of a week to a month

• The author makes guest post on different blogs.
• The author answers questions from the blog’s readers.
• The author may offer a prize to some of the readers who comment

The number of participating blogs and the amount of time the guest author spends on each blog dictates the length of the tour. It’s a great way to have conversations and build relationships with people who may not have read your work or to meet up with avid fans.

Preparations consist of

• finding blog owners who what to participate
• arranging your timeline
• preparing different material appropriate for each blog
• deciding on contests and/or prizes
• promoting the event to the blog’s readers and your contacts

At the appropriate time, provide the blog owner with your article. During the tour make sure to read and respond to comments quickly. Enjoy yourself and the conversations with your readers. Be sure that the prizes are distributed quickly.

The other type of Virtual Book Tour uses a teleseminar format. You give the same type of talk and offer books for sale the same as you would in a bookstore.

Advantages of this type of tour include:

• Not needing to travel
• Not depending on having books delivered
• It’s easy for the participants to attend
• You can record the session and make the replay available
• Not worrying about how many people will show up

You use your voice to build a relationship with your readers. Holding a questions and answer session gets the participants involved just as they would be in a bookstore.

Have someone interview you or conduct the session yourself. You can even record a session yourself without any participants. Be sure to record it, and put the replay on your blog or on in your social network.

When you are getting started, or if you won’t be doing many of these tours, you might want to find someone who has experience running teleseminars. They are more technically challenging than the blog tours.

I use Instant Teleseminars for my virtual book tours.

• They make it easy to set up a seminar with its own webpage.
• You can make the instant replay instantly available or edit it and upload it to your own website.
• Participants can listen by telephone or with their computer
• You can include a link where people can buy your book (ideally where you get the highest commission).

Both methods are great for promoting your books. They are even more powerful when used together.

Whatever events you do, make sure you advertise them throughout all of your social networks.

• Create an event on Facebook
• Use Twitter to announce the event frequently
• Mention it on your blog
• Talk about it in the forums you visit
• Put the announcement in your newsletter
• Email your fans

If you are interested in learning more about both types of Virtual Book Tours, leave a comment below.

What is your favorite promotion method?

Write on,

Lynn

The Balkans is an area with a very rich history. It’s been ruled by almost every conqueror in the history of the world. Area names change along with the rulers. They can’t build a parking lot without uncovering a Roman ruin and launching an archaeological project that must be completed first.

They built walls around their cities and even across their mountains. Still the invaders arrived. Earthquakes leveled the area on a regular basis.

These resilient people rebuilt, adapted to the changes and continued on with their lives. They are an amazingly friendly and resourceful folks.

Roofs of most of the building in Dubrovnik’s  old town were destroyed in the shelling of 1991. Now most are rebuilt and look much cleaner and fresher than the originals.

The persistence and resilience of these people teach lessons that can be applied to your writing career. Like these cities, as a writer, you experience triumph and defeat. Like these people, you need to celebrate your victories and regroup after defeats.

When you receive a rejection letter,

• take time to honor your emotions
• re-read the letter
• determine if any of the comments resonate with you
• are any of the comments things you’ve heard before
• make any revisions you like
• resubmit

When your publisher folds, your editor quits, or something else happens to sidetrack your career,

• honor your emotions
• consider your options
• take the next step forward

Don’t let rejection and setbacks block you from your writing goals. The only way you can lose is to quit trying.

Write on,

Lynn Jordan

• Be a member of RWA
• Have written a complete manuscript
• Not have work published by an RWA recognized publisher

Recognized publishers and requirements vary from year to year. The 2010 rules and deadlines haven’t been published yet. Check the Golden Heart Contest page on RWA’s website to get the latest information.

These details remain the same from year to year.

• Entries usually run around 55 pages including a synopsis.
• This contest provides no feedback, only a numeric 1–10 score.
• It’s designed to be for writers who are ready to publish.
• The final round judges are editors and agents.
• The awards are presented at the national RWA conference at the Awards Ceremony.
• Categories may vary, but currently there are 10 categories covering everything from Young Adult to Novels with Strong Romantic Elements.

The Golden Heart is a good way to get your work in front of publishers who accept manuscripts only from agents. It’s a very prestigious award. You get to wear a finalist ribbon at the conference.

A good warm-up contest to prepare your manuscript is  the Rose City Romance Writer’s Golden Rose Contest. It has the same page count requirement, but provides plenty of feedback from the judges. Also, your book doesn’t have to be complete. The deadline for entry into the Golden Rose has been extended until August 8.

I will be judging in that one as I do every year. Judging in these and other contests is a great way to improve your own writing skills. It’s much easier to see problems in someone else’s work. Also, you get to read some great manuscripts. I have a long list of entries that I can’t wait to see in print.

I hope to add your work to my to-be-read list.

Write on,

Lynn

The year is almost half over. Are you on track with your writing goals? Or is poor time management getting in your way?

Not long ago, one of my clients told me she got out of bed eager to get to her computer. She had lots of plans about what she would write for that day.

Somehow, she got distracted before she sat down at the keyboard. Hours would go by before she turned on her computer. By that time her inspiration and motivation had vanished.

On other days she would peak at her email or Twitter before she opened her manuscript file. She got up from her desk with a page count of zero.

Today a critique partner and I discussed achieving our daily writing goals. We all have the same number of hours in a day. We all have a life that gets in the way of our writing.

It seems that the busiest people are the one who get the most done. Realizing that your time is limited is one of the best keys to meeting your goals.

Here are some tips to keep you on track with your writing goals.

• Set realistic goals for each day.
  • If your goal is unobtainable, you’ll overwhelm yourself before you ever start.
• Break each goal into small steps.
  • You might not have time to write an entire chapter. You might have time to write one scene.
  • Write a rough draft of a query letter
  • Outline an article
• Chunk your time.
  • Set aside 10,15, or 30 minutes and focus on one single task.
  • Set a timer. Don’t stop until you hear that bell.
  • Use email or forums as a reward for finishing a task.
• Find an accountability buddy.
  • Share your goals for the day or the week.
  • Report on your success or failure.
• Reward yourself when you’ve successfully completed your goals for the day.
  • Find a reward that works for you. It doesn’t always have to be chocolate.

You can use a simple system for chunking your time.

1. Write down all the tasks you want to get done today

2. Assign a specific block of time for completing each task
(like 30 minutes)

3. Select a task, start a timer, and focus on nothing else until
that task is complete!

Simple, yes! Incredibly effective, YES!

By itself, this system can put your productivity into high-gear -

IF you use it.

The challenge for most of us is that in a day and age of
technology and automation, writing things down on paper and using something like an egg-timer feels a bit clunky and
inefficient.

You know that I’m really into technology.

I’ve recently discovered an incredible piece of software
that not only automates this system in a very unique way, but includes some tools such as simple reports (so you know WHERE you spend your time), as well as a very slick and intuitive interface.

There’s a demo video, which shows the software in action, by clicking this link (you’ll find it about half-way down the page).

This software can help you keep on track with your writing goals.

What have you found to help you keep your writing goals on track?

Write on,

Lynn

I didn’t spend a lot of time tweaking and editing this video. The text is cut off on the right side. If I had put it up on YouTube, it would be sized better.

Article Video Robot sounds like a great way to create videos quickly. It’s designed for converting articles to videos. However, the same techniques could very well be used for creating book videos. I will continue to review it, but the following is my first impression.

It works well for presentation type information. You can use the headline and subhead format. You can also add pictures, but they pop in and don’t stay on screen under the text.

They have a good selection of photos for Internet Marking subjects. For most other subjects you may want to upload your own images.

There is a fairly large music library. However, there isn’t much detail about each piece. You can also upload your own music. Just make sure to use music that is royalty free.

There are two levels of Article Video Robot. The premium level provides an advanced editor and lets you brand a website URL across the bottom of the entire video.

If you are using Article Video Robot for converting articles into videos, you may want to write using a little different style. The techniques that work well for Power Points presentations will work well here as well.

Here are some tips I’ve learned from my short testing.

• Eliminate contractions
  • The computer-generated voices don’t handle them well
• Create a long version of the text before generating the voice file
  • The text will be read as written
• Edit the text to format and shorten into bullet points
  • Use the title and subhead format for these

You might want to upload your own voice-over. The Article Video Robot software makes it easy to do.

If you want to use videos to broaden your promotion efforts, Article Video Robot makes it easy. I’m not yet convinced it’s the best way to make book trailers.

I’ll keep testing and let you know.

If you’d like to do your own testing, Article Video Robot has a free trial. Please share your findings here, if you do give it a whirl.

Leave a comment and tell me what’s your favorite method of creating book videos.

Write on,

Lynn Jordan

]

One thing I’ve noticed lately is the high number of people who use strange names for their email accounts.

As a writer, you should be branding your name wherever possible. Names like elfprincess, edit845, or yrgm33 won’t help you gain name recognition, or even help people associate your name with your email account.

If you are serious about your writing, you should take steps to be viewed as a professional when using email.

• Use your name or your pseudonym if you possibly can.
• Don’t use your family’s email account for business.
• Don’t send professional email using your husband’s name on the account.

Be professional with your social networking. Allow your personality to come through in your writing, but don’t share anything that you wouldn’t want published in a national magazine.

Also, no one cares what you are having for lunch, unless you write cookbooks and are teasing folks with your newest, greatest recipe.

Editors, agents, critics, and your readers are active on the social networking sites. You never know who may read your next post.

It’s become common for editors, agents, employers, and other business contacts  to “Google” the name of people before entering into a business relationship.

• Make sure you aren’t writing anything online that will reflect badly on you.
• Protect your online presence by setting up a Google alert on your name to see what others are saying about you.
• “Google” yourself regularly to find out if your entries project a professional online presence.
• Check your pseudonym(s) as well.

Act as professionally on the Internet as you do in face-to-face meetings with your business contacts and your readers.

Here are some examples of folks who didn’t project a professional online presence.  Have a laugh, but don’t let this be you.

http://www.resumebear.com/blog/index.php/2009/04/10/30-ways-to-loose-a-job-on-twitter/

Write on,

Lynn Jordan

Since my last post about using your voice to build a relationship with your readers, several of my readers have asked questions about podcasts. What is a podcast? How do I make a podcast? How much does it cost?

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an audio file delivered via subscription. Instead of having to download a file to their computer, your audience can get the file automatically sent to their portable media device (iPod or other player) or to their computer. Then they can listen to your message whenever and wherever they want.

Media players have become a very popular way to make downtime productive. This has also been called “time shifting”. The idea started with taping television programs to watch later. Portable media players have taken this idea to a whole new level.

How much does it cost?

Apple’s iTunes is to podcasting what Ezine Articles is to article directories. iTunes distributes free as well as paid content. It’s free and easy to set up a podcast. It’s great to tell your audience to “catch me on iTunes!” Of course there are other podcast directories as well. Put your message in as many places as possible.

How do I make a Podcast?

A podcast starts with an MP3 file. If you have a different type file, there are lots of file converters on the web.

Shorter files work better than longer ones. If you have a long file, use editing software to split it up into smaller chunks. A short, daily message is a great way to keep in touch with your subscribers.

If you want to get the entire scoop on podcasting, Alex Mandossian and Paul Colligan hold an once-yearly class,  Podcast Secrets. The class is inclusive but expensive and contains lots of bonuses. It’s well worth the money.

However, if your budget doesn’t include room for high-end products just now, there is a preview call with will run for at least 2 hours (it always goes for 3+). It will be recorded, so you can go back and listen again and again.

Normally, this call is $99. However, I’ve arranged a coupon for you so you can get the call for $20, which will fit into your budget a lot easier than the entire course.

The call is full of usable content. You will be able to create great podcasts after listening to the preview call.

If you make it to the live call, you can ask questions. If not, you can listen later (time shift the material).

Some of the things you will learn on the call are:

* Exactly 8 reasons why Podcasting brings them, and can bring you, a critical business (and profit) advantage.

* 7 secrets to producing profitable Podcasting content in the fastest possible time.

* 9 marketing channels for the Podcasters … and how to leverage each one.

* The 6-Step Podcast Monetization Roadmap

* How to part-the-curtain on the listening habits of your audience, and leverage that knowledge to produce profitable audience action.

* At least 5 things, you can implement today that will integrate your Podcast content into your business structure … and how to see results almost instantly.

* 7 steps to getting your Podcast audience to take the very actions you want them to take.

Check it out. I’ll be on the call, hope you will be too.

Write on,

Lynn Jordan