Freewriting Prompt: Autumn

Freewriting Prompt - Autumn

By: Emrald Sethna

Exercising your writing skills is important for a writer. Taking on challenges can not only help you develop your writing for publication but can also give you inspiration and greater confidence in your abilities to produce something amazing out of one simple prompt.

Steps to Getting Published is determined to help you on your journey to publication. That is why we have developed freewriting prompts to inspire you and aid you in mastering your writing as well as boosting your confidence in your work.

Here is your prompt inspired by this beautiful season:

Create a two page short story based on the image above.

To complete this exercise, think about the different elements of the image. How does it make you feel? Are you seeing through someone's eyes? What is your character doing there? What are they thinking?

Leave us a comment if you have any questions and feel free to share your great work with us as well!

Happy Writing!

The Query Letter: An Easy 3-Part Structure

By: Carla Trueheart 

Let’s face it: query letter construction is not easy for any author. In one page, you are expected to dazzle a literary agent or publisher, condense your 80,000 word novel down to one paragraph, and sell yourself as a writer as well. If query letter construction continues to be a battle for you, it might be useful to break the letter down into three basic parts: The Introduction, The Book Synopsis, and The Author Bio. If we tackle each part on its own, with a little bit of patience and some time, we will eventually get there. 

The most important thing to remember, aside from the 3-part structure we’ll discuss, is that agents want to see professionalism and a story that is unique but still accessible. Even if you don’t have other books or publications under your belt, your story idea and writing may rock their world, giving you a chance at publication. Every successful writer starts somewhere, and most with just a query letter and a dream. It is achievable!

But first we need to focus on the query letter, so let’s break it down into three easy steps as mentioned: The Introduction, The Book Synopsis, and The Author Bio. I will also include a quick breakdown at the end of the article for your convenience.

The Introduction

This is your opening paragraph. Here you should include your manuscript title (in CAPS), your genre, and your word count. You will also greet the agent here and offer a reason for querying them: Do they represent your genre? Do you admire a book they’ve represented in the past? Do they have an interest in your particular plot or character types? Make it clear why you chose them for your project. You can also include a book hook here if you’d like: A one-sentence teaser to get them interested right off the bat. 

 The Book Synopsis

This will serve as the middle paragraph of your query letter—the meat of the sandwich. This is where you will write a synopsis of your story, including the PLOT, the PROTAGONIST and THEIR GOAL, and the CONFLICT. You will not include the book ending here. This is just an overview, so think of the back cover plot write-up of a book you own. You can even look at book covers to get ideas on how to construct your synopsis! 

 The Author Bio

This is the last paragraph of your 3-part query letter. The author bio should list your publishing background, writing education, jobs in the field, blogs, or any other relevant information. If you don’t have any published works, simply offer a few sentences about why you wrote this story and why you are the best person to have written it (for example, you’re a doctor and the story is a medical thriller). Do not come right out and say you don’t have writing experience. Try to find something you can use here about yourself that is relevant to your project and is interesting. You wrote the book for a reason, after all!

End the query letter with a polite closing/sign-off (full legal name + contact information). Make sure to THANK the agent for their time. 

As always, let us know if you have any questions on this process!

Query Letter 

EASY 3-PART STRUCTURE

INTRO: Title, Genre, Word Count. Why are you querying agent?

SYNOPSIS: Plot, Character, Goal, Conflict. 

AUTHOR BIO: Publishing History and Relevant Education. Why did you write this book?

Should you pay for a Book Review?

By: Carla Trueheart

Whether you’re a traditionally published novelist or you are self-published, an important part of the marketing process is the book review. You’re familiar with the concept: you spend months or years writing a book, a reader loves it or hates it, and they (hopefully) post a review for others to agree with or shoot down. Book reviews are terrific conversation starters in the online environment, but more importantly, they are great tools for getting your book noticed. If you have plenty of reviews, you gain credibility as a writer. After all, haven’t you read a book based solely on the recommendation of others? 

The problem with book reviews lies mainly with getting them. I’m sure, as writers, you’ve had people look you straight in the eye and tell you they will most definitely post a book review, but months later, they haven’t yet done so. If you’re a writer with a following already, losing one or two reviews probably won’t hurt your career too much. If you’re just starting out, however, you are probably clambering for any review you can get. One piece of advice you’ve probably seen in writing books and writing blogs is that you should never pay for a book review—but should you?

The answer of course is personal, but in most cases, depending on how you feel about spending money, ethics, or putting yourself out there, I would say yes. When starting out, book reviews are super important, so paying for a review here and there might be the jumpstart you need. Places like Amazon even promote your book based on the amount of reviews you have, so if you look at it that way, paying for a book review is a marketing tool and should be seen as part of the promotional expenses for the book. Book reviews may also be used in part as testimonials to post on your author website. In a nutshell, they are a must.

So let’s say you’ve made the decision to pay for a book review—where do you go now? There are a few online services that offer book reviews, both free and paid (I’ll post links at the end of the article). When it comes to many of these sites, you will probably wait a few months if you try to get a free book review, but you can purchase an “express” review for anywhere from $7 to $500. Kirkus Reviews would be at the higher end of the expenses, but they are fairly reputable and do a good job. Readers’ Favorite is lower at about $50 for a 2-week express review package, and they are reputable and do a fine job as well. Lower than around the $50 mark, you run the risk of receiving a poorly written review or none at all. Recently, I checked out Apex Reviews ($7 for a 2-week review!) and received one review that was obviously a rehash of my back cover summary—and one review was never posted at all. So, like with most purchasable services, you get what you pay for. 

Another avenue you might consider is Goodreads. You won’t pay for a review through Goodreads, but you can join groups to swap reviews. I’ve had good luck with this process in the past. Basically, you read another author’s book, post your review, and then place your own book in a pool for another author to read and review. I’ve seen authors gather as many as 50+ reviews doing this! Just keep in mind you will need to read a book and post a review before you are allowed to enter your own book. That can be time-consuming, but it is a way to get more reviews for free. 

The best way to go about book reviews, ethically, is to put the book out there and hope it catches fire and gains reviews on its own. However, when starting out, it might be a good idea to look into some of the review services listed until your book does catch fire. It might be the spark you need to get it going, because once readers see a plethora of reviews—even if some are not favorable reviews—they will want to check out your book. As mentioned, reviews are also important for promotion through Amazon and for your personal author website testimonials. Please let us know if you have any personal experiences with book reviews, or if you can recommend any other services to our followers!

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/indie-reviews/

Readers’ Favorite: https://readersfavorite.com

Apex: http://www.apexreviews.net

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/71494-swap-reviews

By: Carla Trueheart