So, I have great news for any writer who likes to plan their stories beyond pulling up a keyboard and pounding fingers against the keys. My three feature tools and templates for writers are getting updates soon.
Actually, that’s not true. Sorry. Two of them have already gotten updates. The third is coming soon.
Okay, but you may be wondering what tools I’m even talking about. If you’ve never visited this blog or my official author site, then you may not be familiar with what I do here, or what I write. Well, the good news is that you can easily explore this site (and my official author site) to your heart’s content and find out more. But for the sake of staying focused, I’m talking about these tools:
NaNoWriMo Basic Template for Scrivener: A template designed to give you the edge during NaNoWriMo (November) or Camp NaNoWriMo (April and July) by tracking your daily word count against your challenge goals for the month, and for planning your story’s progress before and after the challenge. Used with Scrivener 1 or 3.
Note: Does not actually come with red paint filter.
Story Planning General: A massive story database template for planning your story down to the molecule, including plot, character, back story, and marketing, as well as any special story trope or character archetype. Gives you freedom to use as many or few components as you need to adequately prepare for your storytelling journey. Used with Scrivener 1 (requires update to work with Scrivener 3).
Note: This page is already available in Alpha 2.
Kindle Vella Book Tracker: A database tool that uses a fancy spreadsheet to track your progress on your Kindle Vella story, from episode word count, reads, likes, and returns, to story-level compilation data and comparisons to your other stories to see which ones are best performers, to story planning and marketing tools to help you put your best foot forward before and during launch, and a lot more. Also tracks your earnings. Includes graphs. Used with Microsoft Excel (2013 or newer).
Example of Kindle Vella story tracking (Beta 4, 50% zoom).
What’s New:
Each of these tools have been around for a year or longer, but none of them have received updates since 2021. Until now…
For the NaNoWriMo Basic Template (2022 Edition), I’ve added new sections for recording and ranking story ideas prior to story planning, and a social media planner for keeping your audience captivated. Do you have a bunch of ideas you’re interested in using, but you don’t know which one to choose? The new ranking chart will help you decide. And do you have a social media audience that’s interested in your NaNoWriMo journey, but you’re not sure how to keep it that way? The social media planner will help you figure out your social media journey before the writing even begins.
For the Kindle Vella Book Tracker (Beta 4b), it’s just a letter update, not a beta update, so the news is minor. But the effect is, well, effective. Previously, pages with information at the top were cluttered and unreadable. Now they’re formatted for easier reading. I’ve also added new page tabs that make it much easier to stay informed about upcoming news and updates for the tool, as well as channels that allow you to tell me what you want in an upcoming beta. This is the definitive Beta 4. But don’t you worry. Beta 5 is coming soon. Probably before the year ends. Get Beta 4b now if you want to better prepare for the upcoming Beta 5.
For Story Planning General (Alpha 3), the update will include new back story conditions and a scattershot of other useful interior templates that Alpha 2 doesn’t have. Because this one is still in development, I don’t yet have a complete list of new features. But keep an eye open for news ahead. It’s coming soon, but I don’t yet know what “soon” means.
For more information, watch my latest video previewing each tool and template and their latest updates.
Story Tools and Templates 2022 Update Video
Additional Note:
I’ll be adding official pages for these templates to my author site soon, so if you think the listings on Drinking Café Latte at 1pm are ugly or ad-cluttered, then don’t worry. The ones on my author page will look nicer. But the pages here will remain live, so if you’ve already bookmarked this site, you can keep your bookmarks.
And that’s all for now. Please check out each new update as you need it. But rest assured I still have plans for future updates, so if you’d like to request special features, then be sure to visit their respective roadmaps and submit your ideas. You can access these roadmaps from their description pages and subscribe to them if you want updates sent to you by email.
Don’t forget to tell me what you think if you use any of them.
A few days ago, Google Play Books announced that it was opening a new beta program to allow authors to convert their existing e-books into auto-narrated audiobooks, potentially turning the publishing game sideways. But what does that mean exactly?
It means that authors who cannot afford to hire a professional voice actor, or the equipment or voice lessons to reliably record their own voices, can still create a high quality audiobook. As long as they don’t mind using an AI generated Google voice to play the role of narrator, they can have their audiobook dreams come true.
And for a limited time, they can do so for free.
This weekend, I tested the feature. So far, I’m pretty impressed with it. But is it perfect? I’d say no. It’s about as good as your book type or genre allows for robotic content. But maybe yours is the right fit. Consider this:
If you’re a nonfiction writer who is focused on topics, not autobiographies, then this new system is definitely one to consider. If you’re a fiction writer, or a writer of visual content, however, then your mileage will vary with this one.
My advice: Check it out. But remember that you’re stuck with the same voice throughout the entire production. The “acting,” for example, is narrative, not dramatic, so keep that in mind. If you’re cool with that as a result, then you should absolutely check this one out. But if not–if you’re the type of author who needs vocal flourish or multiple voices to share in the narration–then you may want to seek other avenues.
I recorded a couple of videos on the topic, which you can view at the bottom of this post. The first is the announcement itself. The second is a general walkthrough of how to use it.
Please also note that this article is a continuation of a series I started in May 2020 about getting published through Google Play Books. I’d written it as a five-part series, but this new announcement shows that there’s more to talk about. Here’s the key information on this latest installment.
Series Description:
Google Play Books has opened its service to all independent publishers, so it’s a good idea to publish your books there and expand your audience reach. But how do you do that? This continuing series walks you through the basic steps to get up and running.
You’ve created the e-book and posted it for sale. But have you considered converting it into an audiobook yet? If so, Google Play Books has you covered. As of April 2022, authors can use its text-to-speech technology to create auto-narrated audiobooks to use on the Google Play platform. This video will peek behind the curtain and demonstrate how that works, as well as to discuss best practices during the conversion process.
This episode also highlights Blakify, an app dedicated to text-to-speech conversions, and ScribeCount, an app that tracks your sales across most self-publishing platforms.
Click on “Create Auto-narrated Audiobook” at top of page.
Select preferred e-book or upload a new one from dropdown menu.
Select ISBN, EAN, or GGKey for reference.
Choose preferred voice actor (based on age, gender, etc.) and speed from header.
Click “Exclude Content” on any page that isn’t necessary for audio.
Listen to and modify text on remaining pages for best output until finished.
Right-click words to check pronunciation.
Remember to credit narrator on title page or in the back matter.
Remember to update copyright information for audio version.
Save changes and Create Audiobook when finished.
Verify description and sales pages for accurate information.
Remember that audiobooks use square book covers.
Thanks for reading. Leave a comment with your e-book information if you’ve published on Google.
Also, if you’d like to read more about Blakify, a professional text-to-speech tool that I use for narrating my articles, please check out my review on my official author website.
As more writers eschew the mountainous path to publication via agents, editors, and traditional publishers, making wise decisions about self-publishing becomes not only more necessary than in times past, but vital if we want to compete with the million-dollar titans and their armies of production teams. And, yes, any one of us who has walked the level path around the mountain long enough has heard the cries for world-class quality by now. Fourteen years after the debut of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, the message about moving from rushed amateurism to edited professionalism has become loud and clear.
But, if we take the cries for quality seriously, then why would we consider converting the reflowable text from a KDP e-book into a crappily formatted paperback edition? Wouldn’t we want those cries for professionalism to extend to all formats, from content to presentation?
What it looks like when KDP offers to convert your e-book into a paperback.
If we care enough about our readers to give them a paperback or hardcover edition of our e-books, then we should also care enough to give them a quality copy of that paperback or hardcover edition. That means delivering the quality inside and out. And that means not skimping out on the tools that make such quality possible.
Now, for self-publishing writers who have no design or technical sensibilities, then outsourcing layouts and cover designs to a professional is the best bet. Common sense dictates this, even if the wallet screams for mercy.
But, what if the wallet is too thin? You want to get the book out to the public, but you’d also kinda like to eat a few nights this week. What then?
Well, there’s still hope. If you wrote your book on Microsoft Word or Scrivener (with Scrivener being the much cheaper yet more sensible writing tool for writers), then you could probably upload your document (MS Word) or converted document (Scrivener) directly to KDP, Draft2Digital, or whichever service you’re using to get your book out, and cross your fingers that it’s good enough. After all, maybe it is good enough. If you’ve spent any amount of time setting up sections in Microsoft Word, or establishing hyphenation rules as I’ve outlined in my 2016 article “The Art of Hyphenation,” then your .doc or .docx file may work well enough. It certainly would for a generic e-book, and there’s no reason for it not to work if your book is straightforward fiction with no special design considerations.
But what if your book is supposed to have fancy formatting? What if you want your chapter headings to have a cool shape embedded into the page behind them? Well, the good news is you can still do this. The bad news is that you can’t really do this in Microsoft Word. You’d need a special layout program for that. The worse news is that the most-used and best-known layout program for books (especially nonfiction) is Adobe InDesign, which if you know anything about InDesign, you’ll know that it’s from Adobe, the makers of needlessly expensive subscription software that has too few updates to justify the ridiculous pricing.
The better news is that Adobe isn’t the only company making software that self-published writers can use to better their products. The best news is that its strongest competitor does not require a subscription, and its buying price is very affordable.
Yes, I’m referring to Affinity Publisher, and if you’ve kept up with my blog or YouTube channel since April 2020, you’ll know I’m a fan of all things Affinity. In fact, I’ve used Affinity products (Designer, Photo, and Publisher) to redesign my paperback version of The Computer Nerd.
Comparing the 2015 paperback of The Computer Nerd (left) with the 2021 update (right).
Now, maybe you’re happy with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Paint for your book design. I mean, if my book had this cover, it wouldn’t change a thing about the words inside.
An example of what not to do when designing a cover for your book.
And maybe that’s fine. But I don’t think anyone would buy a book that looked like that. And I don’t think they’d want a book that looked just as shoddy on the inside, either.
This means I have to consider what my readers want before constructing the paperback version, including what they may find aesthetically pleasing.
And this means upgrading my functional but basic Microsoft Word interior:
Example of using Microsoft Word for designing the interior of a book.
Into something more intentional, like what I can accomplish in Affinity Publisher:
Example of using Affinity Publisher for designing the interior of a book.
Yes, after researching and practicing the self-publishing game for many years now, I’ve learned a few things about how to make a paperback worthy of seasoned readers. And now I’d like to pass them along.
Here are the considerations you might want to make before uploading your formatted document to KDP or some other distributor where readers might accidentally find you.
Interior:
(Microsoft Word)
Pros:
You probably already wrote your draft in MS Word, so preparing for readers is just a matter of uploading to KDP, Draft2Digital, or Smashwords, provided your document is formatted in a way that passes inspection.
Creating e-books in MS Word and uploading them to Amazon is really easy and intuitive. Even if you choose not to create a paperback edition, you can still create a functional e-book through minimal effort.
Converting text to PDF is also very easy. If you do base your paperback on your MS Word document, then you’ll want to first “Export to PDF,” as that will preserve your format.
Even though MS Word is not a formatting tool, it can still handle basic layouts appropriate for fiction, like headers or footers, section breaks to permit alternative headers and footers and page layouts, and page numbering within headers or footers.
Cons:
Microsoft Word is not technically a formatting program, which means it can’t do complex formats, including those common to nonfiction, textbooks, and magazines.
Fixing a typo in a formatted Word document can throw off the layout for the entire book.
Because pages shift around so easily, wrecking pagination and other position-dependent sections of text or images is a constant headache. Be careful not to breathe on your text too hard.
Hyphenation and other typographic solutions are wonky at best.
Special formatting like embedding shapes or images behind text, or creating special designs for aesthetic effect is impossible.
How to Use Effectively:
Remember that everything from your title page (front) to your promotions for other books (back) will be part of the same document. To prevent insanity from taking over your layout, remember to set up your book by sections and be mindful of how right (recto) pages differ from left (verso) pages, as well as how both differ from first pages. And remember that these three page layouts are your only considerations throughout the section. If you need a new layout, then you need a new section.
Convert to PDF when you’re finished.
Don’t upload your PDF until you know you’re finished with it. Changing anything translates into hours’ worth of revision work.
Check out my article on hyphenation on how to handle the nuanced elements of formatting for paperback books in MS Word.
Inexpensive but powerful software that you need to buy just once!
Integrates well with its two companion software for images and designs, Photo and Designer.
Allows for custom layouts via “Master Pages” that you can apply to any page, eliminating the need for sections.
Because it’s a layout program, it allows you to arrange your text and images however you want, including through layers. This makes it possible to create fiction, nonfiction, textbooks, and magazines—whatever you want!
Basic formatting techniques like custom pagination, drop caps, and hyphenation is both simple and intuitive to use.
Making a change to the text while allowing the document to adapt is fairly simple.
If Photo or Designer is installed, you can edit images on the fly using the Studio Link feature.
Some repetitive tasks like starting a new chapter on a recto page a third of the way down can be handled automatically (with instruction).
Exports to PDF.
Cons:
Still not quite as advanced as Adobe InDesign, especially when it comes to handling text outside of margins.
Just because it’s easier to format interiors in Publisher than it is in MS Word doesn’t mean it’s quicker. Revisions (if needed) go a lot faster, but the initial design can still take hours to accomplish.
No software is perfect. You’ll still need to review the entire document for extra pages added whenever you make changes that risk pushing the text down past the orphan line.
Creating and applying Master Pages can take some getting used to.
Not ideal for writing, just for formatting. Any additions or changes you make to the text should begin in your origin document.
Doesn’t allow for simultaneous bold/italics/underline enhancements to text, if you even need that kind of thing. Your font family of choice will need a version that simulates bold italics to get that effect.
Isn’t ideal for electronic formats. Only print.
How to Use Effectively:
Buy the dedicated workbook and keep it near your desk. When it comes time to design your book, refer to Chapter 5. Trust me, it’s all the advice and considerations you need. It’s what I used to remake the paperback edition of The Computer Nerd.
(Adobe InDesign)
Pros:
Can do most everything Affinity Publisher can do, except for using a Studio Link to swap in toolbars from its companion Photo or Designer apps (Photoshop and Illustrator respectively).
Can actually do more than what Affinity Publisher can do, like manage text and characters outside the margins (if I’m not mistaken).
Cons:
The COST!!!
How to Use Effectively:
For this, I defer to anyone who knows the program because I don’t. I know what it does, but I don’t know all that it can do because I don’t use it. I just know it’s powerful, if not complicated. But really, Affinity Publisher makes more sense if you’re interested in creating an excellent product for one low cost.
(Scrivener)
Pros:
It’s capable of creating a formatted text for publication.
Cons:
No one actually understands how to do this effectively.
Honestly, I love Scrivener as a writing and organization tool, but I have no interest in trying to turn it into a publication tool, even if Scrivener 3 tries to simplify it. Last time I investigated its formatting tools, my brain transformed into a pretzel. Wasn’t worth it to me. If I ever look into its formatting tools more seriously, I’ll revisit the topic. But honestly, a combination of MS Word and Affinity Publisher can accomplish everything I need to create a worthy paperback novel (or e-book).
Exterior:
(Microsoft Paint)
Pros:
You’re joking.
Okay, it’s probably already installed on your computer.
Saves only in RGB format (making it horrible for print books).
Has limited features for special effects. To accomplish certain actions, you might need to use a plugin or another program entirely.
Doesn’t have access to LUTs, making color treating difficult.
Upgrades are annual and require a new payment to access (though these are still mostly affordable, especially if you wait for them to show up in a Humble Bundle).
Almost double the cost of the superior Affinity Photo (unless you wait for it in a Humble Bundle).
How to Use Effectively:
First of all, note that I do not recommend PaintShop Pro for designing paperbacks. You need the CYMK format to design print items effectively, and PSP cannot save or display in CYMK. For proof that it’s bad for print, look at the differences between my original paperback (PaintShop Pro 9) and my updated paperback (Affinity Photo) for The Computer Nerd.
That said, PaintShop Pro is still competent for electronic book cover or interior picture design (in RGB format), as long as you don’t need anything fancy.
Just remember to use layers and save in the native format before you export to JPG. This will come in handy if you need to make adjustments down the road.
(Affinity Photo and Designer)
Note: I’m including both software because you may need either a photo composition (Photo) or a vector composition (Designer) to create your covers.
Pros:
One-time fee of $50 (when there are no sales).
Single purchase includes all future updates and upgrades (at least until Affinity releases a true successor).
Can handle layers, blends, masks, inpainting tools (for smart erasing), LUTs, and all the things you need to make an effective cover or composite (in both print and electronic forms).
Can save in CYMK, TIF, and other nonstandard formats (including PDF).
Integrates with Affinity Publisher for on-the-fly image editing.
Has useful workbooks and tutorials available.
Can integrate with useful app plugins like Luminar 4 and Painter ParticleShop.
Has a built-in plugin store for easily adding new brushes.
Has one of the best designer communities on the Internet (and YouTube).
Can mimic many of Photoshop’s special tricks, like using smart objects for mockup designs.
Directly incorporates stock photos from Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash (though you still need to check their licensing before using them in commercial works).
Cons:
Still not quite as advanced as Photoshop.
Image filter designers rely heavily on Photoshop for designing their special tools, keeping Affinity Photo as an afterthought (though they still might work).
Even though it handles smart objects well, Affinity Photo still cannot replicate Photoshop’s “actions,” which renders many design tools useless.
It cannot yet handle objects designed for Lightroom.
How to Use Effectively:
Really, just do what I do: experiment, watch tutorials, study the workbook, and experiment some more.
LUTs, blends, and gradient tools are your friends.
Invest in stock photos, especially Depositphotos during Appsumo deals (in May and on Black Friday), to get the most of your image potential.
For more generic photos, including image filters, make use of the integration with Pixabay, Pexels, and Unsplash. Just remember to convert them to Raster.
If you’re designing a paperback, design for the front and back cover, not just the front.
Always start your composition in CYMK format if you expect to print it. Likewise, make sure to use “transparent background color” if you plan to use PNG images to prevent unwanted backgrounds.
(Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom)
Note: I don’t use these programs, so my perspective is based on videos and research.
Pros:
These are the top tools of the industry.
If it can be done, then these are the programs that can do it.
Every plugin and theme designer builds for them.
Finding instructions on how to use them for your specific use case is easy.
Cons:
Requires an expensive monthly subscription to use.
Doesn’t get updated nearly often enough to justify the price.
Adobe.
How to Use Effectively:
See my note above. That said, any sophisticated photo or vector manipulation tool needs layers and masks to work well, so you should learn how to use those features.
Other Options and Conclusion:
Hopefully this article and these checklists will help you make a decision on how to approach your print books, or even your e-books if you wish to keep things simple. If you want to see a longer form explanation of how these differences look, then check out my companion video on the topic, released earlier this morning.
But, if you want to bypass all the potential pitfalls that come with formatting for e-books and paperbacks, you could invest in a tool designed exclusively for formatting. The top performer in the market right now is Vellum, which boasts “beautiful books,” although I’m not sure what its record for paperbacks is at the moment. I just know it’s well-revered as an e-book creation tool. If you check out any presentation on Vellum, you’ll soon agree that the books it produces are top of the line in design. But is that you’re only option? And is it even your best option?
Or, if you’re willing to wait a little longer, you might be interested in a new challenger entering the ring soon that will likely upset the competition.
But if you can’t wait for Atticus, just remember this:
Calibre is good for e-books only and works by converting your text to HTML (the native language of e-books), which you can then design as uniquely as you want, as long as you don’t have to make any drastic updates to your text after you’ve formatted it.
Kindle Create also designs e-books only, and provides just a handful of themes that may or may not be good for your book. It’s also limited in how it handles front and back matter. I think it also designs for Kindle only, which means you’re probably not going to get much out of it if you’re creating for other platforms. But on the positive side, it can create not only reflowable books like novels and memoirs, but it can also create textbooks and comics (early access feature, as of this writing).
The Reedsy Book Editing Tool is a bit friendlier when it comes to publication options (it creates both e-book and print editions), but it still struggles with front and back matter (or did the last time I tried using it). And like Kindle Create, its theme options are limited, if not too limited. That said, if you’re looking to go wide, this is your free tool of choice.
Note: Calibre, Kindle Create, and the Reedsy Book Editing Tool are all free to use, so it doesn’t hurt to give each one a try to see if they’re useful for you.
Lastly, Vellum is the big dog in the formatting space, and its purpose is to design not only the best looking interiors, but also the best organized books, which means boxsets are a specialty feature here. But it’s also expensive ($199 for e-books only or $249 for both e-book and print access), and it’s only available for Mac, which means many authors won’t get to use it even if they buy it (unless they want to spend even more money on a Mac emulator). Also, like all the other tools, it’s unfairly limited in its theme options. That’s actually authors’ number one complaint about it.
But if none of these options work for you, then consider why. Do you prefer to do things manually? If so, then I hope my checklist will inform your choices. But if you prefer using tools that do the formatting for you, but you just don’t like how limited the above options are, then get on the waiting list for Atticus. I can tell you right now that its theme options alone make it worth the wait. It’ll also be available for Windows, not just Mac. It will cost you some cash to own, but not nearly as much as Vellum. And, well, let’s just say there’s more to come.
Regardless of what you choose, though, I hope your publishing considerations go well. Even if you’ve designed an ugly book like I had back in 2015, you can still fix it. With the right tools.
Reporting information with Book Report (left) and ScribeCount (right)
An important part of building an author career is to track your marketing efforts against your sales and royalties. For some, this is a numbers utopia, full of such wondrous operators like plus signs and dollar symbols. For others, it’s the antithesis of using words to create a fake reality, creating instead the type of dread that only writers can fear: “Ah, numbers! Get them off of me!”
The good news for both camps is that using traditional spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel (superior) and Google Sheets (inferior) can save an author loads of headaches when the end-of-the-year financial reports are due to the accountants. As long as the author doesn’t mind spending the final week of the year cross-posting payment information and marketing bills from his bank to his spreadsheet, then this system works perfectly fine.
But the better news is that, for those who like simplicity and free time, there are apps available that you can access on the fly whenever you want a quick report on your daily, weekly, or monthly sales progress, as well as handy little CSV icons you can click to export that same information to a ready-made spreadsheet, perfect for that accountant you’d rather not talk to.
The decision on which apps to choose comes down to which platforms you want to track (like Amazon or Google Play), which information you want to collect, how frequently you plan to check, how much privacy you want as the app runs, and how much you’re willing to pay for the privilege of making your accountant’s life easier at the end of the year.
It also depends on whether you want just financial reports or if monitoring incoming reviews and ratings reports are important, too. Oh, and sweet graphics might also play a role. Both apps have that department covered pretty nicely.
Demonstration of Book Report and ScribeCount in action.
In the above video, I discuss the pros and cons of using one popular reporting app that’s been an indie author favorite for several years, Book Report, and one up-and-comer with HUGE potential for usefulness and longevity in the market, and one that I’ve become an instant fan of the moment I heard about it, ScribeCount.
If you have time, check them both out and see if they can change the trajectory of your author career for the better. Likewise, if you’re not an author but you want to know what it’s like to become one professionally, and you’re curious whether it’s a life you want, then this also applies to you.
And don’t forget to leave a comment below if you have anything you’d like to add to the discussion.
Episodic fiction is hot right now. With The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wrapping up its six-episode run, thus completing yet another story arc for our beloved Marvel superheroes, and The Karate Kid getting its fifth series installment in the form of three seasons of television and counting (in Cobra Kai), and Stranger Things stirring up all sorts of speculation about the future of Hawkins, Indiana, it’s easy to see that telling stories in bite-sized chunks over a span of weeks, months, or even years is a great way to keep the fans fulfilled but hungry.
But has it always been the entertainment equivalent to potato chips dipped in powdered donuts?
For me, my addiction to television began as a child, watching primetime episodes of Diff’rent Strokes, Family Ties, The A-Team, Perfect Strangers, and Night Court (and plenty others), and continued well into my teen years, where I had the pleasure of watching Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Married with Children, and Seinfeld (and later, reruns of The Simpsons and Seinfeld). But then I got to college and whisked it all away.
Television stopped being fun to watch.
Sure, there were good shows on in the late 1990s, but most of them were on channels I couldn’t afford or pick up on my antenna. Everything else I loved watching had already wrapped. And with college becoming my focus, I didn’t really see much reason to give television my attention. Besides, the movies were much better. By that point, we’d gotten the summer of 1996 and the year to end all movie years, 1999 (look it up; it was a titanic year, even though Titanic was released a little more than a year earlier). What even was television by that point?
Okay, in fairness, ER was in its prime, and Alias was giving Jennifer Garner a named status. And shows like Friends and Frasier were going strong. But I wasn’t watching any of those. Each episode was just more of the same (and Alias was on the channel my antenna couldn’t pick up).
It wasn’t until 24 in late 2001 that something sparked my interest. But even then, I was busy with other matters. As much as I liked 24, I kept thinking I’d just catch it later (or on DVD, which ended up being the situation).
Then came March 2005 and the grand entrance of Steve Carell and The Office, and that was the end of my television fast. It just took two episodes to wrangle me back into a television habit that lasted for the next twelve years (and included weekly viewings of 24, beginning with the stellar Season 5, Parks and Recreation, and my new favorite, Community).
And though many of these shows maintained the old habit of introducing familiar characters to new situations without much memory of the previous episode, the seeds of serial fiction were embedded. The Office introduced “Jim and Pam” in a hopeless romantic subplot that spanned three seasons and didn’t truly reach its height until early Season 6. 24 boarded a rocket ship every season and rode it to the finale, keeping viewers invested in a single 24-part story arc, and residents of Los Angeles worried what was about to happen every time the clock hit 59 minutes on the hour (but only on bad days).
These shows each proved one thing: a good season of television is enough to keep viewers on the hook for another round, and to get a good season, television needs to come with great episodes. And unlike the chapters of a novel, these episodes can live independently of each other, but like a compelling novel, each episode must contain its own completed arc while serving the needs of the greater story.
It’s a puzzling juggling act. But it’s nevertheless important to keep the balls in the air. (Insert a Michael Scott catchphrase here.)
To get it right is a challenge and a reward.
And Amazon is rolling out a new service that gives authors an opportunity to get it right.
The “Welcome” screen for Kindle Vella.
If you haven’t heard of Kindle Vella yet, well now you have. It’s Amazon’s entrance into the browser-based episodic fiction market (like Wattpad), using their massive platform to create an experience that combines Wattpad with Medium. Its goal is to entertain readers with the gift of storytelling, one episode at a time (with episodes ranging from 600-5,000 words each), but to do so behind a paywall so that authors can earn cash for their sweet and precious words.
The catch?
Well, the requirements for entry are steep. In short, all stories posted to the platform must be original. That means never-before-published. And if there’s one thing Amazon is good at, it’s stalking the entire Internet and library database and your third grade teacher’s manila folder (that she left under the couch that one time she tried catching her cat on shots day) for your story. And THEY WILL FIND IT. So, keep it original.
They’re also available in the United States only, but that’s probably temporary.
For my part, I’ve started adapting my game Entrepreneur: The Beginning into an episodic novel, and will be posting new episodes every Friday, under the title The Hybrid City Entrepreneur. But because Vella won’t officially open to the public until sometime this summer, I’ve got time to frontload it with content. And that’s important because the first three episodes of every story will be free. It isn’t until Episode 4 of any story that readers will have to shell out their precious tokens (the currency of Vella) to unlock what’s next and find out what’s really eating Gilbert Grape.
Prepping my story for Kindle Vella.
Okay, yeah, I absolutely broke out the antiquated movie reference. And I don’t care. We’re not writing movies in Vella. We’re writing television, dangit! Well, except that we’re not even doing that. It’s the structure that counts here.
If you want to see how to get onto Vella, check out my video below. And if you want to find out more, I recommend Kindlepreneur’s and Reedsy’s articles on the topic.
If you decide to give it a try, make sure you let us know in the comments. (But don’t post samples. Again, Amazon is always watching. Always.)
Hey Readers: Do you have a book idea that you wish some author person would write but won’t because it’s “not marketable” or some-such?
Hey Authors: Do you wonder why nobody wants to read your “trending” vampire werewolf romance epic that you started writing in 2008 but couldn’t complete until now because you still had that boy magician YA series to finish (which you managed to write two and a half books for)?
Hey Readers and Authors: Is it possible that maybe you both actually want the same thing after all: a spy thriller about a supervillain poisoning the penguins and Antarctica’s one active spy being the only person able to stand in his way?
Hey Other Readers: Doesn’t that premise sound pretty cool?
Hey Editors: Did you even know that’s what readers want? Antarctic spy thrillers?*
If you all talked to each other more often, you might’ve figured that out by now.
Enter the Book Ideas Generator.
Readers and authors no longer have to be strangers passing in the night. Thanks to a simple ideas board that I’ve wanted to create for a long time and finally got the chance to do this week, readers can actually post the types of books and ideas they want to read, and authors who are looking for their next great idea can scour the board for that gem that just “speaks to them” and get to writing. Alternatively, they can just take whatever’s hot (once upon a time, Hobbits were all the rage; I think astronauts were, too).
Some of the awesome ideas you might find in your journey for the next great read (after somebody writes it, which could take a while).
The way it works is that a reader will visit the ideas page and either add a new idea, or upvote an existing idea. If he or she is feeling ambitious, he can do both. Assuming the idea is sound (and not scandalous), I’ll tag it for the “Open Topics” card, which can be viewed from the site roadmap, and anyone who wants to view topics from within the card for ideas can check it out.
On the ideas page, click “Add Idea” and add your idea.See an idea you like? Upvote it. The more votes an idea gets, the more likely an author will want to choose it for his next book. You can also click on the idea to see if anyone’s representing it (in the comments tab).
Once it’s on the list, authors will see the idea and decide whether to choose it for their next books. Authors who want to write about that topic will then send me an email (listed in the first updates announcement and on my official author site), and then I’ll write their names and websites in the comments tab for that idea and move it to the “Ideas in Production” card. From there, it’ll be up to the readers interested in that idea to follow that author’s progress.
Where authors can find their next great idea, or readers can submit their next great idea, or anyone can vote on the next great idea, or…Just click on the tabs inside the selected card to view the ideas in that category.
And that’s all there is to it. I also have conditions for “Hot Topics,” “Authors’ Favorites,” and “Resultant Books,” which can lead to even more interesting results. But in the end, readers can tell authors what they want to read, and authors can give the readers what they want. Everyone wins! Except penguins.
If this sounds like your ideal discovery tool, then please check it out and let your reader and writer friends know about it. It’ll eventually find its permanent home on my author website, but for now you can access it directly from its native Productstash page.
And be sure to tell me what you think.
Oh, and I’ll eventually make one of these for gamers / developers and audiences / filmmakers. Stay tuned.
If you want more information, I’ve posted a YouTube video demonstrating how to add an idea. Check it out below.
* Antarctic spy thrillers aren’t actually trending, or even in demand. It’s just an example. But if it were in demand…
Welcome back to The Writer’s Bookshelf, the Season One finale! In this episode, we cover a compilation of essays from the Writer Unboxed Community in a book called Author in Progress: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published.
In my companion video, which you should watch as soon as you get to the end of this article, I talk about its merits as a worthy addition to your writer’s bookshelf. Yes, I do that for all the books in this series, but I do it for this one, too, because it’s one of the few books that covers everything about the writing industry (or, at least for books) that you’d deem essential information, and does so from the voice of experts in their respective fields.
Then, when you’re done watching the video, make sure you come back here and subscribe for updates on when Season 2 will debut (and that’ll depend on demand, unfortunately, so make sure you like each video from this season to let me know you want more), then leave me a comment about which books you’d like to see me talk about for the next season, provided I have it on my bookshelf (or decide to put it on my bookshelf). Please note that I want to tailor my Season 2 focus on scene-setting and character development, with a touch of extras from other pots, as much as possible. If there’s a third and fourth season, I’ll likely steer those into publishing and marketing respectively.
And with that, thanks again for watching this season’s videos and hopefully you’ve gotten something out of it. Sorry again for the crappy video quality. One of these days, I hope to invest in a decent camera. But as a writer, I need to invest in my writing career over my YouTube interests first, so a better camera will come when the writing career shows more success than it has so far. You can help with that by supporting my work (as seen in the book cover images down the right-hand panel) and telling your friends and family about it (but only if you like what I write and you think they will, too).
Since this post will go live on December 25th (even though I’m writing it in mid-September), I hope you’re having a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to come. Give three cheers to 2020 coming to an end! Hopefully 2021 will be a bit more merciful.
Welcome back to The Writer’s Bookshelf. In today’s episode, I’m not going to waste your time with filler, fluff, or foolery (an alliterate abbreviation of the more commonly practiced tomfoolery). Instead, I’m going to link you right to today’s video, not because I’m lazy or have better things to do, but because I think this is the most important book on How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them—A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide by Howard Mittelmark & Sandra Newman that you can possibly have on your bookshelf, and if you don’t have this book on your bookshelf, then hopefully you have it on your desk or in your magazine rack. Just have it somewhere close to your computer because you’ll want to refer to it often, especially when you need a good laugh.
Yep, I said it. Good laugh. You’ve been warned. Now watch the video. And don’t forget to like, subscribe, and do all the things that YouTubers tell you to do.
Do you ever sit down to write and think, “I’m off to a bad start”? Well, I’m having one of those moments right now. But never fear, for MasterWriter is here!
Except that MasterWriter doesn’t exactly help me start.
Erm…
Okay, well, what does it do then?
It’s actually more brilliant than that, even though an app that helps you start a project is just as cool as anything that helps you improve a project. But helping you improve is precisely what MasterWriter does.
Think of it as stripping out all the grammar from Grammarly or ProWritingAid, leaving behind just the thesaurus. And think of it as stripping out everything from Scrivener but the name generator and manuscript page (and stripping out the actual name generation but keeping the name list). And if you reduce Google down to the search term “rhymes with Google,” then you begin to understand what MasterWriter is about.
It’s an all-purpose vocabulary tool that can turn your average writing into interesting writing. For example, if I write the line “I like pigeons” and think “like” is too simple of an idea, then I could use MasterWriter to find a better word. But because I could just as easily use a thesaurus, or Google, I might decide that using MasterWriter for this task at all might be overkill.
And it very well may be…
But is it though?
Well, here’s a simple Google search for “like”:
Google search for the word “like” (part 1).
And here’s what “People Also Ask” about it:
Google search for the word “like” (part 2).
You’ll see that Google gives me a few decent options. And I could probably use at least one of these options to replace my above example. But does it give me enough? More importantly, does it give me all options?
Here’s the same query in MasterWriter (under the synonyms tab):
Synonym for “like” in MasterWriter.
Now here’s the same query in MasterWriter’s word families, “primary” selection:
Word families (primary) selection for “like” in MasterWriter.
And finally, here it is under word families, “extended” selection:
Word families (extended) selection for “like” in MasterWriter.
So, as we can see, by looking up “like” in MasterWriter’s extended word family, I can change my boring sentence “I like pigeons” into the far more interesting “I drink in pigeons.”
And…okay, maybe that’s too much. How about:
“I flip for pigeons.”
Yeah, I like that better.
What about you?
So, that’s what MasterWriter is about. It’s not a traditional writing app (although it does give you the ability to write your selection inside the program), but it is an app perfect for perfectionists who have to get their words just right.
And it also includes sections for rhymes, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and other word types for poets and songwriters (and regular writers for those who like those speech types), as well as names of historical figures, places, famous cartoon characters, you name it, all with an integration to look them up on Wikipedia from directly within the app.
Which means it can still feed you ideas when you’re drawing up short of them.
So, the question becomes whether it’s worth the money because there is a cost. For monthly subscriptions, you’ll spend $9.99 a month. For annual, $99.99 a year. And for two years, $149.99. But if you sign up to their newsletter, or check back during major sales holidays like Black Friday, you’re likely to get a steep discount of up to 50% off (which is why I’m paying just $7.99 a month for my subscription). But is it worth even the $74.99 you’d pay for a biannual subscription during Black Friday?
This is where I’d issue the standard review response: “It depends.”
I’ve had my eye on MasterWriter for years. Because this is the year I’ve decided to up my game in every category from craft to marketing, I decided to add it to my list, even though I’m way over my budget. I’ve been writing for years, and I’m at a point where I want to elevate my resources.
And this is definitely an elevation.
But is it worth the subscription fee? Honestly, if not for the extended word families, I’d say no. Most of what MasterWriter offers, I can easily get in a Google search. For free.
But the extended word families feature changes the game. If you look at the screenshots, you’ll find examples that aren’t easy to come by anywhere else. Is it possible to find a list like the one in the screenshot somewhere other than in MasterWriter. Maybe. But the thing I know for certain is that MasterWriter has that list. So now I have that list.
If you’re a new writer, I’d say learn your craft first. And keep reading. You can improve your vocabulary just by reading books. But the point of MasterWriter is not just to improve your vocabulary but to also access the words or phrases on the tip of your tongue more quickly, and if you want to elevate your vocabulary and save time (because you can sound like a genius on the fly), then MasterWriter is definitely for you. If you can afford it. It’s not cheap. Not really.
And if you can’t afford it, don’t sweat it. Wait until you can. You don’t need it today. Someday, maybe. But today, not necessarily. I held off for three years, and now that I have it, I’m sure I could’ve held off for three more.
It does have a pretty sweet audio stream—
Manuscript and sound file view in MasterWriter.
Oh, never mind. It’s just a place to record your thoughts or import your sound files off your hard drive. If Audacity isn’t good enough…
I guess they can’t all be like Frost Writer.
Anyway, tell me what you think in the comments below. You can also check out my video demonstration on my YouTube page below.
My video review for MasterWriter.
Don’t forget to like and subscribe.
And if you want new updates regarding all of my platforms delivered to your mailbox (articles, videos, and books), then be sure to also subscribe to my newsletter.
And don’t forget that my official author site will be opening soon. Bookmark it today and check it out tomorrow (or as soon as it’s open) so you can be the first to see it. Thanks for reading and come back for the next one.
Welcome back to The Writer’s Bookshelf. Piggybacking off of Robert McKee’s Story from a couple of weeks ago, this week we enter into a discussion about a reference book that credits Story as its primary source of information (in a roundabout way, I guess), Shawn Coyne’s The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know.
What is The Story Grid? It’s Shawn Coyne’s (a former New York editor) instruction manual to future editors on how to preserve the craft of editing in an age when editors know less and less of what they’re supposed to do to help authors write better books.
Find out more about it in my video, and learn why I think it’s the most valuable post-writing book you can put on your shelf, assuming you’re serious about writing good books (including nonfiction).
Drinking Cafe Latte at 1pm 