Writers block

How to Prepare Your Manuscript for an Editor: Tips to Save Time and Money

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been working on the final edits (I hope) of my book, To Wield The Stars, and during this process, I’ve learned a lot about how to prepare the manuscript so my editor can focus on the content.

Before I jump into it, I want to remind you that

SHADOW OF THE WICKED is available for $0.99 for a LIMITED TIME, so if you haven’t got it, below is the link to download your copy today.

SHADOW OF THE WICKED ON AMAZON

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Six Ways To Manage Instagram And Enhance Your Writing Career

Being at the top of your game with your social media accounts is essential. Being an expert on Instagram management can help lift your career. It offers many benefits for all jobs, including writing.

I’m in the final stages of my novella, SHADOW OF THE WICKED, and I’ve been sending out Advanced Reader Copies. I noticed over the years that Instagrams Bookstagram community is growing dramatically. Instead of reaching out to blogs and websites, via emails and fill-out forms I approached the bookstagram community on Instagram. I was overwhelmed at the instant responses, whether they were rejecting or accepting the request. But it made me think. I can use Instagram to grow my writing career.

If you want to hone your Instagram management skills, here are some tips to help you get started.

WRITING UPDATE: SHADOW OF THE WICKED is done. My mailing list subscribers will be the first to see it, and receive a FREE ADVANCE READING COPY, so make sure you sign up below!

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Six Ways to Manage Instagram To Enhance Your Writing Career.

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Nine Book Marketing Ideas

WRITING UPDATE: SHADOW OF THE WICKED is done. My mailing list subscribers will be the first to see it, and receive a FREE ADVANCE READING COPY, so make sure you sign up below!

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While book marketing isn’t easy, there are plenty of opportunities to reach new audiences. Finding the right ones starts with broadening your ideas of where to look.

I have just finished my novella, SHADOW OF THE WICKED. I’ve sent the release date but I realised, how are people going to read my book? How do I get my novella in the hands of readers?

Then I realised; there’s nothing easy about book promotion. I’ve created my author website, but it’s hardly enough. How will I attract readers to visit my site? How will I entice them to buy mybook?

You can’t just rely on a single digital marketing effort.

Here are NINE BOOK MARKETING IDEAS you should consider when promoting your book online.

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Four Productivity Hacks To Write Now

For most authors, mastering productivity is a classic sink-or-swim situation. I believe that even if your novel cracks the bestseller list, and you’re able to pursue this career full-time, it’s unlikely you’ll be focused solely on your next book manuscript and then onto promotional efforts, reader-focused events, and a mountain of miscellaneous messages waiting in your inbox.

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Seven Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish

Publishing is a competitive industry whether you self-publish or go the traditional route. Polishing your manuscript until it’s the best it can be is even more important for the self-published author. When you publish your own work, you likely don’t have an entire team of editors and industry experts to help bring your book to market.

If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list to recieve exclusive offers, free stories and extracts from my novel. Click the link below to be taken to my sign-up page.

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Below are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.

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When Should Writers Edit Their Work?

As I writer I know what it feels like when someone tells me what writers should or should not do. As such, take my advice as suggestions—backed up by a few years of experience. If your method works for you, then use your method. But this is what works for me and others I know when it comes to self-editing.
Below are a few ways to look at the question: When should writers consider editing their work?

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Five Ways to Finish Your Novel

So, you’re a writer, but when people ask for a copy of your novel, you only have two or three chapters to share, and they may not even be from the same work. Finishing a book is hard work, and it’s all too easy to get distracted, overwhelmed, and discouraged.

When I first started writing, I struggled to move past the first chapter. I moved to short stories for a while so I could achieve a sense of completion but deep down, I wanted to be a novelist. Fast forward two years, I have now finished two novels, A Time of Stones and To Wield the Stars. 

If your a writer that struggles to finish your novel, below are five ways to help you.

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How To Use Foreshadowing in Your Novel Like A Master.

If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. —Anton Chekhov

This quote by Chekhov is the basis of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a literary device that allows you to plant clues, hint at what’s to come, build the tension, or even place a red herring in your reader’s path.

You can use foreshadowing in a variety of ways. The resulting action can be immediate or delayed. Foreshadowing can feed the tension of a scene. You can use dialogue or narrative to set the scene, and you can foreshadow a symbolic event or an ethical dilemma. You can use direct or indirect foreshadowing, and it can even be true or false.

Below are when to use foreshadowing, the major turning points in your novel, tips and how to master foreshadowing.

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Two Thousand and Twenty

Happy New Year fellow writers and bloggers!

Last year I asked a question to my readers.

What are your writing ambitions for the next twelve months?

So, what were they? Did you achieve your goals? Will you set more goals or less this year? What have you got planned for Two Thousand and Twenty?

These are the questions you should be thinking about if you want to make changes or continue the momentum into the new year.

In twenty nineteen, I had high expectations for my writing. I am proud to say I achieved my goals and this coming year, I will have the same level of expectations.

Let me reflect on the year that has passed.

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Be Focused and Finish Your Novel

It’s funny. I promised I would attempt to post regularly on my blog––and it’s not the first time I’ve made that promise with my followers. Each time I apologize but this time: I’m not sorry.

Okay, maybe I am a little bit but over the past months, I devised a writing routine that works for my lifestyle and busy schedule. It has taken me a long time to work out the best and most productive writing life for me.

It might take writers and authors days, weeks, months or years to work it out but once you work it out, you don’t want to break that cycle. I don’t want to break the writing cycle I’ve created for me.

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