Tuesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

EARNING A READER’S TIME

By: Randy Susan Meyers

Most readers have more choices than time, so here’s the question: why should they spend that time with you? My advice? When you ask that question, be hard on yourself.

A few years ago, I led a discussion about the covenant between readers and writers with a group of (non-writer) readers and writers. I jump-started the discussion using thoughts from the above link (a post I’d written) and Salon’s controversial piece: A Reader’s Advice to Writers. (The piece elicited comments that ridiculed the idea of writing for the reader—shaking their online heads in sorrow at what they considered advice on how to dumb-down one’s writing)

No one should tell a writer what to write, but should authors listen to reader’s recommendations regarding how to make their books exciting and interesting? After all, advice streams in from MFA programs, workshop leaders, conferences, books, and magazines. What about smart and constant readers; don’t they get a vote? What would they like to tell writers? In the workshop I led in Marshfield Massachusetts, when I asked, “What do you want to tell writers,” they said the following:

1) “Please don’t fancy it up. Use the word red for red sometimes. Walk, don’t perambulate. Have your characters ‘say’ things, don’t let them ‘opine.’”

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Seriously Write: Surprised in 2015 by Annette M. Irby http://ow.ly/GO36m
2. Methinks vs. I Think http://ow.ly/GOg4Q Daily Writing Tips: “The lady protests too much, methinks.”
3. 12 Ways to Create a Mailing List That Will Sell Books: http://ow.ly/GOrz8
4. Observations from Years of Curating Content for Writers - Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/GOsfu
5. Amanda Patterson (Words that describe a voice) http://ow.ly/GOsVY
6. 7 Questions that Will Transform Your Writing in the New Year http://ow.ly/GOvZ8
7. Earning A Reader’s Time | Beyond The Margins http://ow.ly/GOwq4
8. Michael Crichton’s Method for Plotting Out a Story - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™ http://ow.ly/GOyDG
9. The Art of Writing Snappy Dialogue - Venture Galleries http://ow.ly/GOyWD
10. Pub Hub: Self-Promotion: About As Fun As Bathing In Hot Wax http://ow.ly/GOzqD
11. Bang2Write | 11 Things To Do As A Writer In 2015 http://ow.ly/GOzKU
12. Writers On The Move: Never Write an Unnecessary Scene Again http://ow.ly/GOA8B
13. 100 Words for Facial Expressions http://ow.ly/GOAsi Daily Writing Tips: "if you must fall back on a descriptive term, try for precision"
14. Top 7 Ways Authors Are Using Instagram — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/GOBgV
15. 16 Stats That Explain Why Adaptive Content Matters Right Now - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/GOBGf
16. Cover Design | chrismcmullen http://ow.ly/GOC4x The book’s cover is an important part of a book’s marketability:
17. The New SMART Goals You Need To Succeed http://ow.ly/GOIC7
18. Three Things that Surprised Me About Publishing - Books & Such Literary Management : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/GOIPd
19. Get Your Message Shared with This Simple Tactic http://ow.ly/GOJoe
20. Why No One Is Paying Attention To You And How to Change It | Positive Writer http://ow.ly/GOKGq
21. Why Your First Draft Isn’t Crap! | Positive Writer http://ow.ly/GOKOP
22. 9 Ways to Promote Your Writing Without Being a Jerk | Positive Writer http://ow.ly/GOL2b
23. 17 Killer Facebook Post Ideas For Small Business Owners http://ow.ly/GPTX1
24. Is the honeymoon over? KU comes between Amazon and its self-publishers | The Bookseller http://ow.ly/GPX41
25. Test: How Amazon’s algorithms really work – myth and reality | Die Self-Publisher-Bibel http://ow.ly/GPZxn
26. Russell Blake » The New Landscape http://ow.ly/GPZSP "... the competitive landscape is going to get a whole lot tougher."
27. I Can’t Review/Endorse/Blog About Your Book, But This May Help | Ed Cyzewski :: Freelance Writer http://ow.ly/GQ0LE
28. Ebooks: What a Long Strange Trip by Jason Matthews — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/GQ1v5
29. Business Musings: Things Indie Writers Learned in 2014 | Kristine Kathryn Rusch http://ow.ly/GQ1D7
30. One Size Does Not Fit All - Books Prices in the EU - Writer's Diary Writer's Diary http://ow.ly/GQbgv

Happy writing and running, Kathy