Award-Winning C.R. Stewart - Tips for Aspiring Authors

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST TIP FOR ASPIRING AUTHORS?

The process is long and difficult. Everything from finding a proper literary agent, to finally getting a publisher. The little secret that no one tells you is that publishers do relatively nothing to help authors sell their book (it’s all up to you), an archaic publishing model fast becoming extinct. It becomes a full-time job if you want success, such as marketing, media, book signings, and events.

I have heard three important things about writing: Write about what you know, write about what you love, and WRITE! I believe that for every final, published page, it will take an author around 4-5 hours to complete. This means a 100-page book will take between 400-500 hours to complete. Also, writing is 10% writing and 90% rewriting (editing). If you asked most writers what is the one thing that they most need, it’s uninterrupted time.

Story is everything. It can be simple or complex, but it must be interesting and well told. Find a unique story and start writing. First create your structure: beginning, middle, and end. It’s easier when you think about the story in chapters: where’s the book going, what happens next and how will it end? Develop your characters and know them well—give them depth and obstacles that they must overcome. Do your research and master the subject you’re writing about. Also, read. Enjoy reading and understand what’s out in the market. Find writers you like and learn from them: how they tell a story, the way they structure or pace their narrative, how they describe things. Analyze these books and figure out what makes them interesting or compelling—why they’re successful or why they work as a novel.

Remember, nothing happens overnight. It takes commitment, discipline, and endurance to produce an engaging and inspiring novel. To write and finish a book, you must first begin and spend time with it. Don’t worry about your first draft; just get your ideas and words onto paper (or the computer). Challenge yourself each day to produce a certain amount, perhaps two or three new pages. If you’re stuck on the next chapter, but you know what happens in another section, then jump to that scene. Just keep writing. If you can’t think of anything new, then start editing what you’ve already written, but just keep writing.

This is the discipline and commitment needed to finish a book. However, it’s one thing to create your story, structure, characters, and a compelling narrative; it’s another to edit. The more you edit, the better your story becomes; the more you edit, the more polished your writing becomes. Nevertheless, there is a time when you must finish and let it go, so you can move onto your next story. Most importantly, have fun. Write because you enjoy it.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE FOR WRITERS ON HOW BEST TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOK?

It is a full-time job, period. Not many have the luxury of dedicating this amount of time, but it is what is truly needed. Here are a few basics:

· You need to put together a marketing plan and strategy. Find someone with business savvy who can help you. Put together at least a 1-year plan, with goals and objectives.

· Create your own story and continue to tell it: Why this book and what does it mean to you?

· Apply for book awards: this is a great way to achieve recognition and exposure.

· Set up a dynamic website that tells your story and captures emails/comments

· Create a blog that you can share with other authors: tips, promotions, insight

· Set up your Amazon platform and learn all the tricks about exposure and rankings

· Do as much media: social media, radio, and television as you can (email contacts, networks, and other platforms). What is your hook? Why would they like to interview you?

· Try to do book presentations (or readings), not just at bookstores but also organizations and schools.

Award-Winning Author C.R. Stewart, is based in San Diego. Stewart is a strong supporter of education and the arts and is an adjunct professor at Fermanian School of Business, Point Loma Nazarene University; and is Past President of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Ballet. Chad enjoys writing, world travel, reading, riding, swimming, sailing, tennis, and the Arts.

HOOKED ON A BOOK - GETTING YOUR AUDIENCE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR BOOK

by D.E. Partridge

When talking to friends, it grieves me to hear some of them say that they do not like to read. I thrive off of books, I love them.

So what makes some people have such differing opinions?

There are so many books being written these days – approximately 2.2 million are published per year. And so many of these books, although they have a good basic story, still fail to capture their audience. Why?

There are a multitude of reasons. Well-written books (particularly in fiction) should have a well-developed, well-thought-out plot. The lack of a good plot will cause the reader to become bored with a story before they near its end.

In addition to the plot, the author should take care in how their story is written. Sentences that all begin with the same part of speech and have the same general structure become redundant, and readers begin to feel as though they are reading the same thing over and over and are not getting anywhere. Using different sentence openers and conjunctions to vary your writing technique can help with this immensely.

The heart of a story is its characters, so the care taken in developing your characters is of utmost importance. The details of your characters' personalities must be decided upon before you begin writing so that they remain consistent throughout the book.

Nothing takes away from a book's credibility quite so much as the author's lack of research. If your book contains historical events, real people, or other things that could be encountered outside of your story, do your research!

Last but not least, a true classic is formed, not by the story itself, or by the characters, but by the passion laying behind them. If you truly love your story, others will, as well, and you can capture the hearts of bibliophiles for years to come!

D.E. Partridge is the 2018 winner of the Literary Classics Young Author Award for her first book, The CLAIMED. She has always loved both reading and writing, and she has now finished the trilogy which began with The CLAIMED, a trilogy titled The Dimension Chronicles. All three of her books are available on Amazon under her pen name, D.E. Partridge. Other than reading and writing, she enjoys crocheting and ballet. You can learn more about her and her books on her website, www.dimensionchronicles.com, or on her Facebook page, @departridge.