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8 Ways To Jump Start Your Novel’s Description

All About Novel Description The quality of your novel’s description can make or break your book. Novel description is one of the most important elements to be judged when you send it to an agent or publisher (or direct with a reader if you’re self publishing). Yes, yes we all *know* this … Yet STILL all too often writers do not invest in their novel description adequately. As a result authors drop a multitude of description clangers. This serves only to dissuade agents, publishers or readers from engaging with the story in front of them. So what to do? Don’t… Read More »8 Ways To Jump Start Your Novel’s Description

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29 Ways To Find A Literary Agent

Many thanks to Harry from Agent Hunter for today’s guest post – some absolute submissions GOLD here, not just for novelists but screenwriters too. Enjoy – and pass on to all your writery friends! Since super-agent Carole Blake recently advised on how not to get an agent, I thought it might be helpful to suggest some good ways to secure one. Truth is, only the first few of these tips really matter, so readers with attention deficit issues can just read the opening items, then move swiftly on to playing computer games or swallowing food additives, or whatever else helps… Read More »29 Ways To Find A Literary Agent

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3 Reasons To Buy Breaking Into Hollywood: A Guerilla Pocketbook by Genevieve Jolliffe

Published on Feb 25th 2013, BREAKING INTO HOLLYWOOD is a new addition to the Guerilla Filmmaker Pocketbook series. Written by Genevieve Jolliffe, the book details – unsurprisingly – how to “break in” to Tinseltown and is divided into two parts: Part One is “Working In Hollywood” and looks at such important elements as the studios and how they break down; what agents do and the various types (large vs boutique), plus Managers; Lawyers and what they do; fees; pitching; packaging; how Television works;  The Writers’ Guild of America and The Directors’ Guild; even The Art of Schmooze and the various… Read More »3 Reasons To Buy Breaking Into Hollywood: A Guerilla Pocketbook by Genevieve Jolliffe

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Writing THE DECISION: LIZZIE’S STORY # 2 – The Pitch

When writing a novel, a good pitch is worth its weight in gold. Not only is it a good document to grab the interest of agents and publishers, it can help if you are self publishing too as it helps you stay “on track”. I had tried writing novels before, but always ran out of steam. Previously I had written only loose outlines, so when approaching LIZZIE’S STORY I decided to write a detailed pitch. I actually spent as long on the pitch as writing the manuscript (nearly four months!), but I didn’t regret it. Here’s how I did mine:… Read More »Writing THE DECISION: LIZZIE’S STORY # 2 – The Pitch

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Das Schreiben von BAUCHTENSCHEIDUNG # 2: Das Pitch

Wenn man einen Roman schreibt, ist ein gutes Pitch sein Gewicht in Gold wert. Es ist nicht nur ein gutes Dokument, um das Interesse von Agenten und Verlagen zu wecken, sondern auch falls man eigenständig verlegen möchte, da es einem hilft „am Ball“ zu bleiben. Ich hatte mich bereits zuvor an Romane gewagt, aber mir ist jedes Mal der Dampf ausgegangen. In der Vergangenheit hatte ich immer nur grobe Umrisse geschrieben. Aus diesem Grund entschied ich mich, für BAUCHENTSCHEIDUNG ein detailliertes Pitch schreiben. Tatsächlich habe ich ebenso viel Zeit mit dem Pitch wie mit dem Schreiben des Manuskripts verbracht (fast… Read More »Das Schreiben von BAUCHTENSCHEIDUNG # 2: Das Pitch

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Published!

My first novel is out! It’s YA and about the fates of Elizabeth, a teen girl who is presented with ALL the scenarios of what *could* happen should she continue with her unplanned pregnancy … or not. Think SLIDING DOORS with a teen girl at the helm who has to make the biggest decision of her life! The English Title was BUT WHAT NEXT? but my German publishers Rowohlt have called it BAUCH-ENTSCHEIDUNG or GUT DECISION, which I love. I could’t be happier with the cover, either. German speaker? Then buy it on Amazon, today via this link or click… Read More »Published!

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The Business Side Of Book Selling: Creating Book Trailers by Karen Smith

Self-publishing has become increasingly more popular over the years, but there’s one rather difficult aspect some authors might not consider when deciding to go the self-published route: self-marketing. Consumers won’t purchase your book if they don’t know it exists, but hiring a team of professional marketers can get pretty pricey. Using free marketing tools like social media, on the other hand, (and simply using the power of word-of-mouth) can draw some attention, but it might not be enough. One marketing technique that can help your book go viral and increase sales is to create a “book trailer.” Book trailers, similar… Read More »The Business Side Of Book Selling: Creating Book Trailers by Karen Smith

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Identifying With Characters

Orwell prize-winning novelist Andrea Gillies drew attention to the rash of Amazon reviewers who, claiming they were “unable” to identify with the characters in books, marked them down in terms of the stars they gave. Andrea then went on to claim many classic narratives had no character one could *really* identify with, yet this did not stop them being great literature. I have to say I agree with Andrea. Though her original point was about novels, we see this issue in scriptwriting a lot. Readers will often claim they cannot identify with characters, thus question a script’s characterisation from a… Read More »Identifying With Characters

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Novel Writing: Characters, First/Third Person, Slang, Adaptation, Self Publishing

Many thanks to the Bang2writers who sent in these questions via Twitter, email and Facebook over the last two weeks regarding actual novel writing and its side interests, such as adaptation. Jennie asks: How many characters “should” be in a novel? In direct contrast to screenwriting, novels can have as many characters as they want. Novels don’t even have to stay with the same protagonist; they don’t necessarily need an antagonist; they can have a huge cast of characters to focus on; they can have an unreliable narrator – YOU NAME IT. This is the freeing – and often very… Read More »Novel Writing: Characters, First/Third Person, Slang, Adaptation, Self Publishing

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Guest Post: Self Publishing & Ebooks by Lucy V Morgan, Part 1

Bang2writers are venturing into self-publishing more and more, so I asked uber-self-pubber and fellow writer and name-sharer Lucy V Morgan her top tips on self publishing and ebooks. Enjoy!—————————–Help! I want to self publish. I think. Maybe. Or I dunno, actually. All the cool kidz iz doing it. I want to stick it to the man. But how do I stick it, and where? Do I really want to do this? I can write 90,000 words of pure awesome, but am SUDDENLY INCAPABLE OF MAKING THIS DECISION! [Facepalm] Calm down, now. Deep breaths. Soothing owl noises. Twit twoooo. Here’s some… Read More »Guest Post: Self Publishing & Ebooks by Lucy V Morgan, Part 1

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The End Is Just The Beginning: Adventures In Self Publishing by EJ Mack

“Why?” Surely the most common question of them all. We ask it constantly as a child and continue to do so right throughout our adult life. As humans we are constantly asking why things are as they are and why people do what they do. But little did I know that I’d be asked this question myself time and time again when people discovered I’d made the choice to self-publish. I’m not sure it was a conscious decision as such, more one of those organic, grows-on-its-own, kind of things. One minute I was happily taking my first baby steps as… Read More »The End Is Just The Beginning: Adventures In Self Publishing by EJ Mack

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