Time to Write

The Self-Defeating (?) Deceptive Strategy That's Stinking Up the Internet

Here, from socialmediatoday.com is advice on how to attract readers with headlines that lie:

"Good headlines make the content seem interesting and useful. Sometimes a headline might introduce a little mystery. I’m sure you’ve seen the ones that set up a narrative and then a mystery, like this, “A Chimp and a Tiger Met in the Waiting Room at the Vet and You Won’t Believe What Happened Next.” You click on it. And maybe you are not surprised about what happened next, but the headline proved effective nonetheless."

Effective? Really?

Suppose I offer to sell you a candy bar. It's called, "The Candy Bar So Tasty It Will Change Your Life!" You buy it. You taste it. It isn't tasty.

Success!  I got you to pay me for it.

But you're never going to buy from me again. 

I guess people are more gullible when it comes to headlines, but surely there'll be a point when they realize that nothing happened next (or the tiger ate the chimp, which isn't surprising), that the ten amazing ways you can lose weight aren't amazing and you won't be shocked when you read number six, and the seven things you don't know about what women or men want in bed are all things you do already know.

Good headlines don't make the content SEEM interesting and useful. Good content IS interesting and/ or useful. Then the headline can be honest.

Honesty: what a concept! Let's hope it catches on. 

 

Art, theft, or both? And the confidence of misinformation

You may have read by now about artist Richard Price. He took a screenshot of a post from Instagram that included somebody's photo and several comments, added a comment of his own, blew it up to a much larger size, printed it out on a big canvas...and sold it for $90,000. Actually, he did this with a bunch of posts and sold all of them for around that much each, through a gallery.

He didn't ask for the permission of the people who created or were pictured in the posts or whoever took the pictures, and has stated even if they'd said no, he would have done it anyway. 

Isn't this a violation of copyright, or misappropriation of somebody's image? His position is that by making changes to the original (adding his comment, blowing it up, including not only the image of the person but also some of the Instagram site around it), he has transformed it into a new work, one that makes an artistic statement (although I couldn't tell you what that he thinks he's saying with it. other than 'KerChing!').

THE CONFIDENCE OF MISINFORMATION

Normally I don't read the comments that follow articles because they tend to confirm my worst suspicions about human nature. However, I was interested to find out what other people thought.

The opinions ranged from 'it's legal so I don't see anything wrong with it,' to 'he should be strung up in public.' What was more interesting, though, was the confident way in which people presented information that was totally wrong.

For instance, one wrote, "The person doesn't have the copyright on her photo. To get copyright, you have to register the work and pay a fee. Otherwise, it's fine for anybody to use it in whatever way they want."

As you may know, that's totally wrong. You get copyright the moment you take a photo, paint a painting, or write a short story or novel. Yes, it can be helpful to register your material with the Copyright Office. For one thing, it helps you prove when you created it, should you take legal action against somebody who you think stole your material. 

I won't get into all of them here, but there were a host of other apparently factual statements about copyright, trademarks, and intellectual property that the people commenting expressed as facts; in some cases they reacted indignantly when they were corrected by others (including lawyers who specialize in this kind of law).

I'm thinking of taking a screenshot of those comments, blowing them up, printing them on canvas and calling it The Confidence of Misinformation. I'll charge $90,000 but if you get in early I might consider a discount. 

 

 

 

If you're a writer, you need these extra skills (Part 1)

It would be ideal if writing skill and talent were the only attributes a writer of novels or screenplays needs. However, in the real world some additional skills are vital. Some of these may strike you as unusual, but bear with me.

AN AUTHENTIC SMILE

(I did warn you these might strike you as unusual..) Part of success as a writer is making connections with agents, publishers, influential bloggers, etc. Many of these links are forged online, but it's also common to make such connections in pitch meetings, at conferences and conventions, and other live events. 

Research has shown that people make up their minds about you within the first few seconds, and that a genuine smile has a strong positive influence. It's sometimes called the "Duchene smile," one that involves upturned lips and crinkly eyes (fake smiles don't involve the eyes).

How do you create such a smile if looking at the agent or publisher doesn't genuinely fill you with positive emotions? Method acting. You think about something or someone you love and would smile at if they were in front of you. Or in your imagination you put the head of a baby or your favorite dog or cat on the body of the person you're meeting. Better not to burst out laughing, though. 

Check out the two stock photos below. At a quick glance, which one strikes you as more genuine?

The one on the left passes the crinkly eyes test, the one on the right doesn't.

My first bribe (offered to me, not from me...)

A while back, a publisher named Austin Macauley had their lawyer send me a letter threatening legal action because (in their view, but not in mine) my post about them was actionable.

I changed the wording to make it clear that I have had no personal experience with them nor do I accuse them of anything illegal, but that I advise caution when signing a contract with any publisher, and especially with those on the 'thumbs down' list at the Writer Beware blog. 

Now I've had an email from someone who identifies himself only as Patrick, who says he is a consultant for Austen Macauley, requesting that I remove the current post "even if money is involved." 

I answered that I don't put up posts for money and I don't take down posts for money, but I must admit that it was interesting to get a bribe. I've added the text of his email to the post, perhaps it will help prospective customers make an informed decision. 

 

 

 

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. . 'gtald.Tawd'..mgQ!.
.w.QQ.Rdn.

This text was recognized by the built-in Ocrad engine. A better transcription may be attained by right clicking on the selection and changing the OCR engine to "Tesseract" (under the "Language" menu). This message can be removed in the future by unchecking "OCR Disclaimer" (under the Options menu). More info: http://projectnaptha.com/ocrad

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. . 'gtald.Tawd'..mgQ!.
.w.QQ.Rdn.

This text was recognized by the built-in Ocrad engine. A better transcription may be attained by right clicking on the selection and changing the OCR engine to "Tesseract" (under the "Language" menu). This message can be removed in the future by unchecking "OCR Disclaimer" (under the Options menu). More info: http://projectnaptha.com/ocrad

Writers now being charged for being rejected

I just read that a number of small literary magazines are now charging a reading fee. If you want them to consider your story or poem you have to pay them a fee (in one case, $3).

If they reject your material they keep the money and use it to pay the contributors whose work is accepted. The pay for accepted material usually is very low, sometimes a few dollars and a few copies, so I suspect some of the money will go toward their other expenses.

Their rationale for this: they get too many submissions and they don't have enough paying subscribers to pay the bills.  

So, in sum, you can now pay to be rejected by publications that don't have many readers in the first place.

Of course nobody forces you to submit material to these publications, and I wonder how many people will continue to do so, and what effect this policy may have on the quality of the material submitted.

 

 

Crucial book descriptions that don't quite work

 

jjjjjjjjjjComing up with a snappy description of your book is important these days. Here are a few that aren't terrible but have room fo improvement:

Little is known about the great artist Rembrandt’s life — but this enlightening biography reveals the man behind the paintings. Read this lively, fascinating portrait of one of history’s most enigmatic figures! 

Little is known..so you made it up? In that case, isn't it a historical novel instead of a biography?

With a killer on the loose, brilliant but damaged FBI profiler Jacob Thorne and special agent Emma Kane are determined to track him down. Their hunt for the murderer leads them through rural Nebraska in this harrowing thrill ride. 

Is it just me, or does "rural Nebraska" not go well with "harrowing thrill ride"?

When Cindy and Mattheus part ways, Cindy leaves the Caribbean to start a new chapter of her life. But before she can settle in, another shocking murder pulls her back to Bermuda — where, together again, she and Mattheus must solve the crime before it’s too late… 

I guess if you have already read other books featuring Cindy and Mattheus this would make sense. Even so, "before it's too late" is a bit vague...too late for what?

It's not an exaggeration to say that your book description (to be featured on the back cover, Amazon listings, letters to agents, and so on) may be the hardest and most important part of writing your novel.

Why social media doesn't work for unknown novelists

If you're a novelist who expects social media to lead to book sales, the truth may shock you. 

After all, everywhere you look you're told to get on Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest and other social media outlets to attract people. Get a lot of followers, then when your book comes out they will buy it.

"YES, MY  FOLLOWERS WILL BUY MY BOOK!"

A friend recently told me about one of her friends who started a blog about how to write children's books. He posted almost every day and the blog became quite successful.

Then he published a children's book of his own and mentioned it frequently on his popular blog.

Very few of his followers bought his book. 

The reason isn't actually all that surprising. They go to his site to learn how to write their own books. A few may appreciate his effort enough to buy his book as a token of thanks, but not many.

If your blog posts or tweets or pictures are not directly about your book, the odds are there will be little crossover.

"THEN I'LL BLOG ABOUT MY BOOK!"

I have more bad news...very few people will want to read a blog about a book by an author who isn't already known. 

I see advice all the time suggesting that novelists blog about the setting of their novel, or write posts in the voice of their protagonist, or reveal the true-life inspiration for the book.

I'm sorry to be so blunt (especially since this is true for anything I would write, too), but...who cares?

 "OK, I'll PUT A BOOK TRAILER UP ON YOUTUBE!"

Again, who cares? What's going to make people want to watch a book trailer for a book they've never heard of? 

"SO I SHOULD GIVE UP?"

Yes.

Just kidding. I think there are a few things that can work, and I'll cover them in the next post.

 

How can authors promote their novels without tweeting or blogging?

in the previous post I wrote about why social media generally doesn't work for new novelists. What does work?

1: Get the book to the attention of book reviewers, mostly bloggers and podcasters who have a large following. Not easy, because they are approached by a lot of novelists, but possible. Follow them, make intelligent comments, praise them (ideally, mean it). In other words, let them get to know you a little before you ask them for anything.

2: Get an endorsement from a celebrity whose followers like to read. This eliminates most pop stars, many actors, etc. but that's fine. Set up your book as print-on-demand as well as an ebook so you can print some copies to send to celebrities who might find your book of interest.

Try to find some relevant link between them and the book--did they grow up in that location, did they play a role similar to that of your protagonist, have they expressed interest in helping end domestic violence (if that features in your book)? These may or may not be enough to pique their interest, but it's worth a try.

The ideal is if they Tweet about it, but if they have one of their minions send you a message saying, "Thanks for the book, I enjoyed it!" you can use that quote.  

3. Create a video that is so entertaining that people will want to pass it along to their friends. Another challenging task, because in addition to being entertaining, it has to be relevant to your genre. A funny video of people slipping on banana peels might get a lot of views but I doubt that it would help sell a detective novel. 

 If yours happens to be a children's book, then a charming short video with a little story featuring the same characters might work. 

If you happen to write romance novels, send your trailer to Robin Covington, who features selected romance book trailers at her USA Today site:  send the link to [email protected]. Any subgenre is fine as long as it is a romance!

4. Do something that gets major media attention. The media don't care that you've written a book, so forget about trying to interest them in that per se.

Recently one publisher was lucky enough to have Facebook refuse to accept their book trailer ad because it included nudity--in the form of medieval and Renaissance paintings, drawings, and sculptures of female biblical characters. After Abel and Other Stories, by Michael Lemberger, is a series of Bible stories reimagined from the perspective of women. The Facebook explanation: "Ads are not allowed to promote the sale or use of adult products and services, including toys, videos, publications, live shows, or sexual enhancement products." 

Naturally the publisher, Prospect Park Books, immediately fired off a press release and the resulting publicity will help them more than the Facebook ad ever would have. 

In this case, it was just good luck. Generally you have to make an effort to get attention. Let's say you've written a funny novel about blind dates. You think of a blind date-related stunt--maybe a speed dating event in an unusual location, or one where singles bring their dogs, and if your dog likes the other person's dog you have to go on a date. That could get media coverage. Somewhere in that coverage it will mention your novel and its title. How many people who read the story will actually buy the novel? That's anybody's guess, but if the story makes a national news, it could pay off. 

How to make setbacks turn into bounce-backs (saying no to rejection)

What happens when you encounter a setback? Don't assume there's nothing you can do. On the American Express Open Forum site, entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran tells the story of a near-failure that turned into a triumph:

Today I’m a Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank. When I first got a call from an L.A. producer asking if I’d have any interest in being on the new show, I couldn’t believe my good luck. I was headed to Hollywood! I signed the contract immediately and ran out and bought myself two new swanky outfits at Bergdorf Goodman, just for signing autographs. But a few days before leaving, the producer’s assistant called to say they had changed their mind and had given the lone female seat to someone else.

Ten minutes later, instead of getting sad, I got mad and shot the producer an email. I told him I considered his rejection a lucky charm because everything good that ever happened to me happened on the heels of failure. I ticked off a list of all my triumphant rejections. I ended the email by suggesting the producer fly me out to compete with the other woman for the spot. It was my stand-up-and-be-counted-for email that got me on that plane, and I’ve been a Shark/Investor on Shark Tank ever since.

Presumably either there was an 'out'' clause in the contract or they would have paid her but not used her, which wasn't her goal. She created an alternative that contained an advantage for the other side as well as for herself. 

In improvisation, they always stress that a good way to keep a story going is to add "yes, and"--meaning you accept whatever the previous person said, and build on it. As the story above proves, it can also work to say "no, and..." In essence, Corcoran was saying, 'I think you're making a wrong decision and I have a way to prove it to you.'

That "and' is vital; otherwise you're just saying 'no' when they say 'yes', or vice versa. If we step back from the situation, sometimes we can reframe it or offer another alternative that can turn things back our way. 

(If you'd like some guidance on marketing what you create, get a copy of my book, Marketing for Entrepreneurs. It's published by Pearson and available from your favorite bookseller.)

No, Santa Claus is not in town (scams to beware)

The excellent Hoax Slayer newsletter reminds us of a few scams that are currently harvesting lots of suckers. Here are a few reminders:

* Nobody is giving away iPhones. Especially not iPhone 6's.

* Nobody is buying iPhones at auction for $5 or £5.

* There is no "one weird trick" that makes you lose weight instantly

* There is no "one weird trick" that made a 70-year-old woman look like 40.

* There are no dying widows looking for strangers to whom to give their fortune.

* There are plenty of Nigerian crooks but they want you to give them money, not the other way around.

* More specifically, it's not true that a 3-year-old girl named Lilly was snatched from the Surrey area of the UK, even though the message features a photo of her and the registration number of the fictional car she was last (not) seen in. Don't pass along this bogus message.

* You don't owe an EZ Pass toll that you forgot to pay. Do not open the attached invoice, it contains malware.

* Your Netflix account probably has not been cancelled. If you get a notice to that effect, do not click anything within that email. Instead, type in the Netflix address on your browser and then log in. 

* Your PayPal account probably has not been limited "due to login from unknown advice." If you get a notice to that effect, do not click anything within it. Otherwise, you may enable the scammers to hijack your PayPal account. I nearly fell for one of these because it happened to arrive shortly after I was made aware of an actual issue with my PayPal account.

* If you get a notice from American Express regarding unusual activity on your account, don't click on anything within it, just go to the real American Express site and log in as usual. 

TIP: When in doubt, always check the address from which the email came. Sometimes they do use one that resembles the name of the apparent source, but you may be surprised to find how often they're from an obviously bogus address.

I'll add a few scams that target writers:

* Traditional publishers are not desperate to be sent manuscripts, they get plenty without advertising. Generally these are companies that will publish anything they are sent, providing the author is willing to put up the money. There are some legitimate companies who assist you with publishing for a fee, but do your research before you sign any contract. Look them up on the web, contact authors whose books they have published, etc.

* Be especially careful if a publisher says they are eager to publish books of poetry because they sell well. Unfortunately, books of poetry (at least by unknown writers) almost never make any money. That's not to say you shouldn't publish them anyway, to give to friends and relatives, but be aware that your chances of making a profit are close to nil. 

* Legitimate agents do not charge a reading fee. They make a percentage of what you make, usually 12-15%. Legitimate agents also do not insist that you use the services of editors or writing coaches they recommend. 

* Legitimate contests do not charge a large entry fee when the prize awards are relatively small. 

 

Related articles

Free: how to be an Amazon best-seller

Volvo uses 'the opposite' technique for innovation

One of my favorite methods for coming up with ideas for stories and projects is The Opposite Technique, in which you identify the way something usually is done, generate the opposite of that, and then see how you can turn the opposite into something practical. Volvo has a new project that is a perfect example.

The usual thing for car makers is to try to ensure the safety of the people inside their cars. One version of the opposite would be to try to ensure the safety of the people NOT in their cars. Volvo is conducting an experiment with this by handing out free spray cans of paint. The paint is invisible by day but glows brightly when illuminated by headlights. People can spray it on their bicycles, helmets, jackets, shoes--it doesn't damage those and it can be washed off with water. Normally it lasts for about a week.  At the moment, Volvo is testing the program in London and Kent. If the response is positive, they'll expand it to cover the UK and eventually roll it out internationally.

Why not try using The Opposite Technique the next time you need to come up with a fresh idea for a story, a marketing method, a presentation, or just about anything else?

(Want to learn another 24 methods for coming up with ideas, as well as tips for getting into a creative mindset, turning ideas into action, and case studies of how others have done it? Get a copy of my book, Creativity Now, published by Pearson and available from your favorite bookseller.)

Free: how to be an Amazon best-seller

I've written about this before, but I STILL see people charging for this information, so I'm going to give you the procedure for making your book a best-seller on Amazon--however, please be aware that this doesn't count for a lot now that more people know what it means. Here are the steps:

1. Write a book or ebook.

2. Put it on Amazon.

3. Get all your friends and family to order it on the same day, ideally even the same time of day. Tell them to first search for the best-selling book in your category but don't buy that one. Instead search for yours after they get to the page for the other one, and then order it. The reason for this is that it suggests to the Amazon robots that people who were going to buy the best-selling book thought yours was better. This gives you a chance of getting a "people who looked at (this best-selling book) also looked at...(your book) link on the page of the best-selling book. That's unless the Amazon robots have figured out that some authors are using this trick and have since adjusted the Amazon algorithms to factor it out.

3a Alternative: I know one internet marketer who sent out a mailing to his top customers and asked them all to order his book this way and reimbursed them for the money they spent. He felt it was worth that expense to get the higher ranking and the greater visibility.

4. Oh, there is no step 4. Your book will almost certainly be the top seller in one or more of the categories under which is listed.

For instance, the Kindle edition of my book, Your Writing Coach, currently is number 2 in "screenwriting," number 5 in "publishing and books", and 11,044 for paid books in the Kindle store (that's without any special effort on my part to up the numbers). It wouldn't take much to boost it to number one in screenwriting (it's been there before) so I could say my book is a number one best-selling screenwriting book in Kindle paid books (these are figures for Amazon.co.uk--the competition is tougher on Amazon.com). 

WIth careful timing, it probably wouldn't be too hard to get a book into the top 100 Kindle paid books for a day.

However, since more people now know how to make this happen, the designation of Amazon best-seller has been devalued quite a bit--and I certainly wouldn't advise you to pay $97, $47, or any other sum for the "secret" that I've just revealed.

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How fast can you write a book? (and why that's the wrong question)

Will people pay for a book you gave away?

A peek into the crowded field of not so good self-published books

The great thing about self-publishing is that anybody can do it...the bad thing about it is so many people are doing it that it's hard to find the good stuff (or to help people find it, if you're the author). 

For example, below are a few descriptions, written by the authors, of publications available for sale at smashwords.com. I have not included the names of the authors or their publications because it's not my intention to embarrass anybody, just to show that even the short descriptions suggest that these stories or books have not been edited for grammar or punctuation. 

    Sadie, a quiet 11 year-old girl is loved by doting yet strict parents who work hard to make a better life for their only child who is friendless and suffers from image problems. Follow Sadie as she meets Clawson, discover her strengths and disappear into thin air from a home locked from the inside.

    Ghosts or spirits of Houlton's founders who reside in Evergreen cemetery appear to two local adolescent boys. The ghosts are not threatening, demonic, gruesome, grizzly, or have any intention of interfering with the teenagers' pursuits. Conversely, the ghosts eagerly interact with the youngsters and respond to all of their questions regarding the growth of their community, hardships suffered by (description cut off by length restriction at the site).

Sustainable (Green) Living is a new way living with nature without any adverse effect on it. This type of living stresses upon lesser utilization of natural resources. Sustainable Living decreases the cost living and increase the peace in life. 

    Her home was attacked and her Goblin master and husband was killed. Seeing the flames consume her husband she chose to die at his side but instead of dying she was pulled from the raging fire and forced to live by a Seelie Jinn. Perhaps the same one that killed her husband and left her heart and her body scared forever. (I'm guessing she meant scarred, but I could be wrong.)

    She is the key to stopping a war that has lasted a millennia... And he is the key to her downfall.

    In this intense short story by [name ommited], Charlie Task is the unnamed protagonist. He's taking care of business, doing what he can, using his special skills to remove blights from the world.

There's nothing wrong with people getting enjoyment from writing these and sharing them with their friends and family, but putting a price on them suggests that they meet a certain level of professionalism, which they clearly don't. This makes it more likely that readers, tired of poorly written works by new writers, will prefer to buy ebooks by authors with whom they are already familiar.  

Will people pay for a book you gave away?

There are a variety of sites on which authors can showcase their work and get feedback from readers. At one of the biggest, Wattpad, readers can comment on your work, follow you, and vote for their favorites.

The site is geared mostly toward fiction for teens and young adults. One of the stars of Wattpad is Jerilee Kaye. She had more than ten million readers and more than 11,000 comments for Knight in Shining Suit, her chick-lit/romance novel.

That attracted attention from some traditional publishers, but she decided to go the independent route. She self-published the ebook using Smashwords (a popular self-publishing site), with a price of $2.99. She left ten chapters on Wattpad as a sample and to ensure the book’s continued presence on the site. She also created a trade paperback edition with CreateSpace (an arm of Amazon).

If ten million people had already read it on Wattpad for free, would there be anybody left to buy it?

The answer was a resounding yes. It is one of Smashwords’ top twenty-five bestselling titles ever.  That didn’t happen by accident, though. Kaye told Publishers Weekly that getting reviews from bloggers, advertising on Goodreads and doing a paperback giveaway with them, and interacting with her readers online all were critical to her success. She also posted more material on Wattpad, which found new readers, some of whom then bought her book. 

This is not the usual experience for a self-published author but it shows that having had free exposure for a book on a site like Wattpad can work for you rather than against you.

The (sad) statistics on American reading

What percentage of Americans do you think read at least one book or e-book, fiction or non-fiction, last year?

A new survey by the National Endowment for the Arts reveals it was 54%. 

Thirty years ago, 56% read at least one novel, play or poem per year; by 2012, it was down to 47%.

At MarketWatch.com, Quentin Fottrell commented on reading trends:

"Novels have suffered more than nonfiction in recent years, according to research firm Nielsen.

Total adult print book sales fell 2.5% to nearly 501.6 million in 2013 from 2012; adult nonfiction sales were broadly flat at 225.2million while fiction sales dropped 11% to 103.5 million...

Poetry suffered the steepest decline in readership for any literary genre. Only 6.7% of American adults read poetry last year, versus 12% in 2002, the NEA report found.

On the upside, e-books are helping to offset this trend: 28% of adults read an e-book in 2013, up from 23% the year before, according to the Pew Research Internet Project."

There are lots of possible explanations for the decline. Shorter attention spans, more non-fiction content available via the internet, greater demands being made on our time, more time taken up using social media, the competition from the better offerings available on cable TV, and increasing interest in the sciences vs. the humanities.

For the individual author, there is comfort in the fact that 54% of the population still is a lot of people. 

---If you want to write a book, you'll find friendly guidance from idea through to publication in my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.