FWA

The Untold, Amazing, Shocking! Secret Formula for Becoming a Bestselling Author Finally Revealed

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FWA Presentation at St. Pete Public Library (Main) – Becoming a Bestselling Author

I’ll be presenting this Thursday, 11/9, at the main St. Petersburg library location at 37th St. N and 9th Ave. at 6pm for the FWA St. Pete writers group.

The Topic: The Untold, Amazing, Shocking! Secret Formula for Becoming a Bestselling Author Finally Revealed

or, Scamming the Dream – How Others are Happy to Take Your Money in the Writing and Publishing Industry

I’ve spent countless hours listening to webinars, reading advice on how authors can make it to the big time. Fame! Fortune! All you have to do is [pay] for my [course] [webinar] [book] [manual] and you’ll be taking the steps to becoming rich!

There’s a hidden message they aren’t telling you. I’ll give you the straight scoop, and answer any questions on writing and publishing that I can.

I will be there before 6 if anyone wants to chat informally beforehand. I look forward to renewing acquaintances and making new ones.

I hope to see you there!

 

Four Corners of Getting Published

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Four Corners of Getting Published

If you think of writing as a box, the center of the box has to be the writing itself. That’s the most impertant aspect, because if you don’t write something, nothing else will matter.

Once you’ve written it, or while you are writing it, the corners of the box come into play. The first corner is one that halps you in you’re writing – that’s called Editing.

The second corner, once you’ve got your work well-editted, is Formatting, because you’ve got to put it in the proper format to get it pirnted. This corner is highly dependent on where you go to publish – whether through someone else, or by yourself.

The third corner is Cover Design. Ever book needs a cover, and its said that the cover helps sale the book. Again, you can hire someone to build your cover, or you can do it yourself.

The final corner is Marketing. This one is optional, since if your only making the book as a gift for family, no real marketing need be done. But if you intend to sell to others, you’ll find this takes more effort than most of what’s come before, with the exception of the writing itself. Bria Burton will be showing some unique ways to get your name out there.

In the FWA workshop, GET YOURSELF PUBLISHED, being held on Friday, 10/21, in Altamonte Springs, we’ll go over all 4 corners. Not only that, you’ll get to practice, with guidance, on these corners. But time is running out to register!

Special Bonus for Attendees

As a special bonus for any attendee, if you can find all the mistakes in this post, you’ll get a small gift at the workshop. Just bring the number with you and hand it to me on a sheet of paper with your name.

We hope to see you there!

John

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Get Yourself Published

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Get Yourself Published Workshop Oct 21

Coming next month, there’s still time to sign up, is a new full-day workshop, Get Yourself Published, that I’ll be presenting with author Bria Burton at the FWA Conference, on Friday, October 21st. You can sign up here.

This will be a work shop. You will really work, You’ll practice some editing techniques, to strengthen the quality of the readability of your story. You’ll be shown several fun ways to promote your finished product, and you’ll work on formatting your story, and designing a cover.

All Day Work, Free Software Included!

It will be a full day of work and you’ll have the opportunity to install all the software necessary to complete your work, from word one to the end.

You’ll be working on your story. In addition, at least one attendee will have part of their story formatted for them, or their front cover laid out in graphics software.

We cover editing, formatting for print, marketing, and cover design. By the end of the day, you should be able to make this decision:

A. I can do it myself! (Because you are confident that you can handle the steps with what you learned in the workshop.)

Or,

B. I can prepare it and have someone else do it for me! (You’ll be able to understand what makes for good cover design, what helps in preparing ahead of time for the simplest translation from story to finished product. But you don’t want to bother with the details. However, just understanding them gives you the information to ask the right questions when you hire someone to do it for you.)

So, come out to a great conference and take in the incredibly-priced full day workshop on self-publishing. We hope to see you there, and will be available throughout the weekend for any questions.

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From Nursery Rhyme to Novel

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New Workshop Benefits Literacy

Sing your story structure! From Nursery Rhyme to Novel, a unique all-day workshop, will be presented on Thursday, Oct 20, in Altamonte Springs as part of the pre-conference workshop day for the Florida Writers Association annual conference. From Nursery Rhyme to Novel will cover all aspects of story structure, and give you a chance to get your story analyzed in order to strengthen it (if it needs it), or to validate that you’ve got a strong story.

What, me sing?

Why try to build a song out of your story? Think Gilligan’s Island, or The Beverly Hillbillies, for instance. If you can sing your story, you’ll be much better prepared to give your elevator pitch when the time comes. You’ll be filled with confidence when that agent you’re meeting says, “So tell me about your story.” And, you can practice your story any time. In the shower, in the car, even under your breath while you’re at work or out for a run! Plus, you can sing it to your favorite tune! So sign up today here.

FWA Annual Conference oct 20-23

The Florida Writers Association annual conference, held in Altamonte Springs/Orlando, Florida every October, is a great place to meet with other authors, agents, publishers, editors, and learn the ins and outs of the publishing business. The pre-conference workshop day is an added bonus. We hope to see you there, singing your own song!
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Thank You!

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Thank You

… to all those who attended tonight’s presentation. I had a wonderful time showing several software programs (all free) that might help one write in the style they are comfortable in.

I met wonderful people, fielded interesting questions, and offered my opinions on some things, hoping to open up aspiring writers to the wealth of possibilities out there.

Basically, understand what you want from your writing, and look for a way that matches that desire.

In addition to the free download of the presentation on this website (under the DIY publishing tips/free download page), I covered 3 programs and promised to include links here for those who didn’t get a paper with the links on them.

Software for the Way You Write

If you like everything in one program, including storyboard, character bios, locations, plot points, scene missions, etc. you want yWriter. (Click to go to the download page for version 6. This works for Windows. For Mac and Linux, download version 5 and run via Wine.) I call this the Maximalist approach.

If you want just a blank piece of paper, distraction free, you want FocusWriter. Available on all platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows), and also as a portable app for Windows (install on a usb drive and take with you anywhere). I call this the Minimalist approach.

If you want the program to handle the formatting for you, try LyX. This is my preferred one now (relatively new), because in addition to handling the formatting, it also has a sidebar outline view that allows me to see where I’m at in my story as I’m writing. (In other programs you have to toggle between views to see similar things.) I call this the Format-for-Me approach.

Following the presentation we had a lively discussion on software, writing, self publishing, and related topics. It was an honor to present, to share my experiences with fellow writers, and I hope it was helpful. (Feedback seemed to indicate it was for some.)

Once again, thank you, to Bria and FWA, and to those who attended, for this opportunity.

To your writing success…

 

Speaking Event

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Speaking Event – FWA St. Pete – Thursday 3/10/16 at 6PM

Dump Your Word Processor! is the title of my presentation this Thursday at the monthly FWA St. Pete writers meeting. I’ll be demonstrating several alternatives to the standard word processor (like Word), that might improve your writing efficiency, or fit your mood better, pulling more words from your muse.

All the programs I’ll show are FREE downloads, and you’ll have a selection that might address the style you like when you write. I’ll also answer any questions on self publishing, and would love to see you there.

The event is at the St. Pete main library at the corner of 37th St. and 9th Ave N. (Just west of 34th St/US 19, on the north side.)

Zombie Valentine FREE Weekend

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Zombie Valentine FREE this weekend

Zombie Valentine, episode 18 of The Cord Wheaton Saga, has been published on Amazon Kindle, and j gerard michaels, the author, is giving away FREE downloads this weekend, Feb 13-14, 2016.

Zombie Valentine

For more information, please visit the author’s website.

What Do You Write With?

When I first got back into writing I came across authors and writers who wrote longhand. I think some still do. Since I could type faster than I could write, I chose to type.

In the beginning there was Word. (Microsoft Word) And other programs like WordPerfect, that were used to bring stories to life. Word was definitely the most popular. My first book used this software all the way through the publishing process, and in so doing, exposed its flaws as a publishing platform.

It was good at what it did. Great, in fact (version 6 through 2003). But it was a word processor, not a document layout program.

I came across other word processors, text editors, and found options that I now favor over Word. Want to know what those are? What they look like? How they can help speed up your writing?

I’ll be presenting at the St. Petersburg Florida Writers Group meeting on March 10 at the main St. Pete library. Check their website for details (the link above).