One of my recent actions for
Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming A Successful Author
has been to put calls out for writers to guest post for me.
The fabulous Marla Madison has come through for me and sent over this great piece.
Find Marla on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarlaAMadison
Her second novel of suspense, Relative Malice, is available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/mQebPH
Read her blog here:
TOP TEN TIPS
for the Independent Author
1) Read, read,
read:
Being an advocate of reading for
writers, I was thrilled to see this was one of Stephen King’s first tips for
writers. See all twenty of his wonderful tips at,
Read the most successful print and eBook
writers in your genre, paying special attention to those whose style is most
similar to yours. Familiarize yourself with what appeals to readers.
2) Hone your
skills:
The best promotion campaign in the world
cannot sell a book that is poorly written. If you’ve already published, take
your poor reviews to heart and use them to improve your next piece of writing.
3) One of the
biggest errors new indies make is publishing too fast:
Yes, you’ll learn what not
to do from that first attempt, but in the end it will cost you, as readers have
long memories and will avoid your later work. Get it right first!
4) Bone up on
backstory:
One of the most common errors new
writers make is thinking the reader must know everything about their characters
right away. There are numerous blog sites giving tips on how to handle
backstory. Pick one and refer to it when you plan your next novel.
5) Make your first
chapters grabbers:
A boring beginning will lose
your readers. Many of our readers are those who we’ve lured in by using free or
discounted promotions. They don’t have a very big investment in your book. The
delete key on a kindle is easy to find. I’m an avid reader and seldom read
beyond the first chapter if the beginning is boring or poorly written.
6) Follow blogs of
successful writers:
7) Konrath’s main
tip:
Butt in chair. Take time to write! The
more you have published, the greater your chances of building an audience. Konrath
himself writes a minimum of 3,000 words a day and will stay up as late as
necessary to accomplish that if he has a day filled with other demands on his
time. Pick a time and a number that works for you.
8) Beware of
spending too much time on social sites:
Rather than trying to maintain a
presence on every site, pick two and use them wisely. There are many helpful advice
blogs out there for specific use of them, especially Twitter and Facebook. My
own picks are Twitter and blogging. I have a presence on many sites, but don’t
spend a lot of time on them. Trying to do them all will make you crazy and also
bite off too much of your valuable writing time.
9) Join others who
write in your genre:
Romance Writers of American and Sisters
in Crime are two of the most popular. Find a group in your genre and learn from
others’ experiences and advice. Critique groups too are an excellent source of
aid if you can find one in your area or though a genre group.
10) Hire a proofer:
Unless you are an experienced proofer
(and even then it is dangerous) do not try to do your own proofing. If you absolutely
cannot afford to, remember that it is hard to see your own errors so do it
slowly. Read your work out loud. A story can be edited too much but cannot be over
proofed. EBook readers can forgive an error or two, but more than that will
cost you readers and therefore, sales.
Message from Marla:
Hello
writers,
I
think the most common mistake we authors make is publishing too quickly. It is
easy to get caught up in our eagerness to publish and put our work out before
it is polished. I had to re-proof my first novel twice after it was already on
Amazon. It was costly in many ways. I don’t do my own formatting so I had to
pay my formatter to make the changes and had to pay a copy editor to point out
my style errors and mistakes. The time and money involved in getting it right
after the fact was considerable.
I’ve been self published for more
than four years now and have gathered these ten tips from my own experiences.
They are still, and will remain, sensible advice. Hopefully, you will adopt a
few that work for you.
Wishing
you the best in your writing career
Marla Madison works part-time doing arbitrations
for the State of Iowa and the Federal Mediation Service. Working full-time as
an author, Marla is busy penning her fourth novel of suspense. She’s Not There,
and Relative Malice are now available on Amazon.com in eBook and print form.
Her latest, Trespass, is a sequel to She's Not There and will be available
soon.
Marla lives on Prairie Lake in northwest
Wisconsin with her significant other. Other family members are a dog and cat
adopted from a local shelter. Some of her favorite things are playing duplicate
and tournament bridge, golfing, reading, and taking long walks with her dog.
A final word from me, referring to tip 1 - I highly recommend Stephen King's 'On Writing' - he passionately advocates reading a lot if you want to be a writer.
I'd like to say an enormous thank you to Marla for contributing, (and what's not to love about a lady who wears such a great hat!)
