One area that has yet to develop fully is successful authors lending their name to new authors, just like real estate agents who work for other real estate agents (a business within a business) in return for a small cut of all homes sold under the leading agent's "brand."
It's an interesting idea. Authors do provide blurbs but you are thinking of actually putting their name on the book.
Gareth Cuddy wrote an interesting article on the future of publishing. In it he says that the publishing industry has breathed a sigh of relief that ebooks haven't taken over the world - yet. But despite this relief, major changes in the publishing world are still to come. Someone or a group of someones will re-imagine the industry. As authors, what do you think? What should the future of publishing looks like? Will people in the future even read books?
You can read the full article here:
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015/pu … n-started/
Hi Cop Shop members. I came across this article and thought of your group:
Hi all,
Lesson 4 focusing on Showing versus Telling has now been posted. Please read through it and past any questions in the forum or at the bottom of the article.
Please pay attention to the homework assignment at the bottom also.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/posting … tell-21042
Sol
On the Read menu at the top of the page you can search by genre and type.
Sol
Hi Missy V,
Welcome back! Let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Sol
Hi Sasheta,
Welcome to the site! Good luck on your memoir. We have quite a few members who have written memoirs so you will not be alone.
Sol
No surprise that the top 5% of authors earn 42% of the revenue in the UK. I'm sure it's not much different in the U.S. or elsewhere.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32379991
There was a good book that described this phenomena called Winner Take All.
Interesting article in Forbes on some self-publishing success. As we all know, the marketing is key. One author stated this:
"To get new readers onboard, Dawson does the usual stuff like getting blogs to review his books. But what he says works the most is Facebook advertising. Dawson is pumping $370 a day into Facebook advertising and he’s receiving double that in return on investment."
Full article below:
Good luck to all who entered!
Hi all,
I just posted lesson 3 on verb tenses. Give it a read. Remember for the homework to use the site's posting tool to put the assignment up. Do not post it in the forum. I have a much harder time responding to content posted in the forum.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/posting … nses-20945
Thanks,
Sol
Hi, Sol--I can't get in to read your review of my lessons. I keep getting the message to upgrade my membership. Is it a glitch, or do I need to access from a particular place? JP
It's a glitch. Try logging out and then logging back in. That should resolve it. Let me know if it doesn't.
Thanks,
Sol
Absolutely.
Lesson 3 on verb tenses is done but I am going to delay posting it for a day or two because it looks like some new members of the class are still catching up. I'll post a note and send a message when it is up.
Sol
I think a big hurdle for me is going to be capable of thinking up a way to give each of my characters a unique identity and way of speaking. I am not a people person and do not hardly leave my house, so I don't communicate with hardly anyone except my spouse and don't overhear people conversing. This is going to be a weakness in dialogue I'm sure.
Also, I am already worried about bringing across theme properly or themes if the case becomes that and finding symbols and motifs to use and how do I use them? When? Putting the pieces in the right place is such a challenge it seems to create the proper effect. It's an art I suppose. I do not have the education yet from things like writer's workshops or creative writing classes in college.
Finally, active verbiage and finding just the right words to express what I'm saying is scary to me because I feel a little insecure about my abilities considering when I read, I am constantly looking terms and words up that I probably should know from my college years. I feel that I am starting late in life (at almost 40 now as of July 10th) and I have not dedicated years of schooling for this as some did/have. What are the variety of things I can do to, over time, and with hard work, improve my creative writing skills.
Also, I want to write in a transgressive fiction genre but even though I understand the components, I'm definitely missing the mark already I think. Help with any ideas on how to work it like clay into the genre mold I desire, if this even should be a goal. Thank you.
The best thing you can do is write and write and write. Practice makes perfect. Don't worry about getting it perfect the first time. Just get your story down. Most writers do many drafts before their story is done.
It is all challenging, if not why do it. I am intimidated by grammar owing to my limited education, only a hi school graduate and hated grammar in school. I am always afraid that my grammar errors will take over my writing and the reader will miss the point of the story or poem.
Well, grammar is something you can work on and improve. The will and desire to tell a story is the most important ingredient.
Nice job Mike. I think you have it down.
Harrison wasn't quite sure what else to do, so he followed her last instruction.
Mitchell was still asleep, curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over him. Harrison wondered if he had done that himself, or if Glimmer had somehow covered him as he slept. While he waited for her to do whatever she needed to do just then, he paced and tried to reorganize his thoughts. In a little over an hour, he and Mitchell would be raspberry jam, and Glimmer would be inconsolably pissed.
Five minutes later, she came flitting back into the car.
"Well," she said, "I was wrong about one thing. If we hit that door, I'm dead as a dishrag."
Harrison was not sure what the appropriate response to that might be. "Where were you?" he tried.
"Milwaukee," she said. "We have a problem."
Harrison was stunned.
"What? How fast can you fly?"
"Pretty fast," she said. "Listen, if we can't get this worm thingy stopped, we are seriously screwed."
Harrison felt a moment of head-rush vertigo. He raised his hands slightly to balance himself.
"Wait," he said. "Are you telling me that you could have flown to Chicago any time—"
She snapped her fingers in his face. It sounded like a rifle shot. "FOCUS! The tunnel is magicked up! This is a major problem!"
Harrison felt sweat building on his forehead. He imagined he was probably getting pale.
"Magicked up? What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean there's a spell in the tunnel, right in front of the door. You can see it shimmering. I'm pretty sure it's some variation on a shield curse, which pretty much means that if we make contact with it, we're toast. The worst part is, we won't even have to hit it all that hard."
She was talking quickly, though with relative calm.
"So the bottom line is we either need to find a way off this beast or find a way to stop it."
Hi amcii,
Try posting this as a piece of content to the class, that way I can mark it up more easily. Now, to your question. If the person's actions are different from the character speaking, I'd start a new paragraph. If the person speaking is the same as the character you are describing you can put the dialogue in the paragraph. But if it's a long paragraph, I'd put the dialogue in a new paragraph so it doesn't get buried.
So, the rules being followed here are if the scene or character focus shifts, put in a new paragraph and if you want to draw attention to words or dialogue then create a new paragraph. Hope that helps.
Overall though, you did a good job with your paragraph.
Welcome Janet and Mike!
Welcome everyone! If you are coming into the class after it has started, no problem. Just start from Assignment 1 and catch up as fast as you can.
Sol
Hi Ingrid, welcome again! Let us know if you need help with anything.
Best,
Sol
Do you know or have you heard of a "in a nutshell this is what he is doing" explanation as to what makes Game Of Thrones go over so well with its readers? I read the books when they first came out before the TV shows began, and it would help me, in terms of writing concepts, to know if there is something in particular that George R.R. Martin does in his writing to win over his readers. What I took away from the series was: He has no problems, like a Japanese manga, in killing off even major characters to inject a sort of realism (I think everyone picked up on that). He uses violence and negative emotions within his characters in abundance throughout the novels. Anything else you know of that makes his writing somewhat unique? I figure once I have a good handle on what makes 4-5 of the top authors in my genre tick that will help a lot with which way I should be pointing my pen and what direction to avoid. I"m guessing from MICE he's more of a character driven writer with some Milieu since he does have a world build going that is more than pasted together on the fly.
I've read the Fire and Ice series and like them. I haven't heard anyone disassemble their success, but in my opinion it's a combination of factors:
1. He has complex characters who are not just good or bad. This is refreshing to many readers.
2. He has created an interesting and complex world that resembles the middle ages but with some significant differences: magic, dragons, the Wall, etc.
3. His plot is not predictable. He kills off major characters, the good guys do not always win, etc.
4. He knows how to write to maintain reader interest and suspense. This is probably the hardest element for any writer to emulate or capture and comes with either natural talent or experience/practice. The best writers can put the reader into the character's mind with just a few sentences or describe a scene in a way that draws in a reader.
Anyway, these are my thoughts. All others are welcome.
Create a new chapter in the book and label it the same chapter number as the chapter you want to report but increment the version number. You can then decide to keep the old chapter active or inactive.
Glad you got your eyesight back 
.
Sol
Hi srboe,
Welcome to the site. Let us know if you have any questions. It sounds like you have a lot of material.
Sol
Congratulations! I'll have it added to the Published page.
Sol
