Once again, the publishing landscape has changed. Amazon no longer lets you leave a review just because you’ve read a book – you now need to spend money with them: either buy the book off them directly (and to be honest, I’m not even sure this counts), or spend at least $50 a year with Amazon (definitely counts).

If you purchased the book from Amazon and leave a review, you get a ‘verified purchase’ notation on your review, making it appear that much more valuable to future readers.

While I can see that they needed to make some changes to reduce the number of bogus reviews, this new policy makes it that much harder for authors to gain traction, even if they’ve got a great book. An exceptional book. 

I wish I had some answers for new authors, but I don’t. Persistence is a great quality. So is being open to learning new techniques to get your book in front of people.

While none of this relates directly to editing, the point is to get your book published and in front of people.

Amazon have just made that harder to do.

You might find this case study useful. It’s on the marketing of The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

Although it’s somewhat focused around Goodreads and their advertising, the information’s still solid for the most part.

Read The Nightingale case study on Goodreads.

This week I drove to the beautiful seaside town of Merimbula to give a workshop to the Writers of the Far South Coast, organised by the amazing Amanda Dalziel who worked tirelessly to make sure the event was a success.

The workshop: Creating Compelling Characters, ran smoothly thanks to Amanda’s great organisational skills.

Here’s some of the feedback from participants:

“Chris provided the tools I am looking for. Vital keys to character development. Resource use was excellent.”
-Margo

“Thanks. I’ve solved a few problems in my work. It was a shame it wasn’t a longer workshop, like a whole weekend.”

-Mary-Ellen

“Interesting & insightful.”
-Loretta

“Chris has an engaging presentation style. He is very natural but what I really enjoyed was his excellent use of examples to illustrate his point. Thanks – learnt a lot today.”
-Nikki

“Interesting Presentation – Variety. Attention sustained. Sing us a song, Piano Man. Story structure diagram. Videos – empathy with characters at beginning and/or end. Whiteboard used effectively and responses. Thankyou.”
-Rosslyn Thomas

“Thought provoking with very relevant direct ideas on effective characterisation.”
-Jacqui

“Excellent presentation! I found that Chris had highly worthwhile ideas for construction & development of characters as well as tips for enriching how well you have gone with your writing of such.”
-Peter

“Going through the questions about character/needs & wants, etc. brought me to a realisation of what I need to do with a story that I’m stuck on. Thank you Chris! The main conflict in my story is what the protagonist sees as her life and how her life really is & finally the realisation of what she needs. Very good.”
-Bridget

“I found the workshop helpful and will take a lot away with me. Activities help to cement ideas.”
-Sharyn

“I have a whole universe stored away in the recesses of my mind and a line-up of characters that have lives of their own… they just won’t cooperate and be written down on paper. Chris has made me realise that I don’t have to tell the whole story all at once and that testing the waters with a short story involving my universe and its characters is better than an epic trilogy, at least for now.”
-Amanda

You can find more information about the Writers of the Far South Coast online.

Just a quick note to say I’m booked out until late February/early March at this stage.

I might be able to squeeze in a small job or two in that time, but if you need an assessment or a line edit, plan ahead for March at the earliest.

Otherwise, please feel free to contact me.

If you’ve never been to a writing convention, you’re missing out.

They’re a great place to meet other writers, attend free or cheap workshops, and listen to experienced writers discussing all kinds of writing-related topics.

There’s also the social side where you can catch up with friends a bar or coffee shop and talk, attend book launches, and even chat to famous writers, booksellers and publishers.

Volunteering is also a great way to gain invaluable knowledge and industry contacts.

At Conflux 11, I sat on three panels:

• Page Turners with Richard Harland and Sean Williams
• Writers Block with Richard Harland, Karen Simpson Nikakis, Shauna O’Meara and Katie Taylor
• Writing Communities (pictured below) with Belinda Crawford, Elizabeth Fitzgerald and Tara Ott.

I also gave two workshops:

• Creating Compelling Characters
• Polishing Your Pitch (aimed at writers pitching to publishers and agents during the convention)

All in all, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time and I’m looking forward to Conflux 12 in 2016.

If you’d like to engage me to run a workshop for your writing group, please contact me. I can cover almost any writing topic you’d like.

 

Take 10 per cent off our regular fee for any CMS service booked and paid for during the month of September!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for a full manuscript assessment, a line edit or story analysis, take 10 per cent off everything during September.

Contact CMS for a quote.

 

If you’ve ever wanted to write a novel, my upcoming Novel Writing course at the CIT may be for you. All you need is a story idea and a desire to create something out of it.

If you’re an experienced writer and you’ve already written a novel (or several), but can’t seem to ‘get it right’, this course should help you turn your work into something readers will appreciate.

Evening 1 – 10 August

Understanding your writing strengths and weaknesses

Developing your story’s premise

Evening 2 – 17 August

Compelling characters

Evening 3 – 31 August

Story Structure – beyond beginnings, middles, and endings

Evening 4 – 7 September

Engaging readers.

Developing your story into a cohesive whole

Evening 5 – 14 September

The elements of story craft

Evening 6 – 21 September

Writing software

Agents, editors, publishers, self publishing

 

Each evening will contain a mix of practical exercises and easy-to-understand information, and there will be plenty of time during and in-between classes to apply what you learn to your writing projects.

By the end of the course you should have a solid understanding of what you need to do to develop a novel into an engaging read that people will want to share.

Novel Writing at the CIT

Just a quick reminder that my Creating Compelling Novels workshop is on a little over a week: http://actwriters.org.au/events/upcoming-workshops-events.shtml#chrisandrews

Also, I’m running a six-week course at the CIT on Novel Writing beginning August 10: http://shortcourses.cit.edu.au/modules/details?ModuleID=RED2342

So if you’re looking for a fast, cheap and effective way to tap into my knowledge and experience, please come along.

Learn story-craft

It sounds obvious, doesn’t it, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who believe the ability to write well translates to the ability to tell a great story. It doesn’t. Technical skills like grammar and punctuation help tremendously, but in the same way the ability to talk doesn’t translate into the ability to give a good speech, the ability to write clearly and concisely doesn’t give you the ability to write a good story. Writing fiction is about story-craft. Learn your craft.

Read a lot

If you’ve never read a book in your chosen genre but think you can write in it anyway, think again. Before you start writing fiction, read books. Lots of books. At least a hundred novels in your genre would be a good start, and just as many outside. Old books. New books. Bestsellers. Books by authors you’ve never heard of. Free books. Recommended books. It’s all part of the learning process. Mostly though, you need to know your genre.

Write several books

Unless you’re a genius or incredibly lucky, you’ll learn most of your trade by writing. So write. Write a lot. Write different stories too, not just sequels. Try different genres and formats: first person, third, omniscient. Play. Experiment. By the time you’ve written your third or fourth book you’ll begin to see just how problematic those early stories were. That doesn’t mean you can’t go back and fix them, but with a little more experience you’ll have a much better shot at it.

Plan stories

While some writers couldn’t consider writing a novel without planning everything first, for just as many it’s the opposite. If this is you, then here’s the secret: plan your story after you write it. Treat your first draft as your outline and break it down once the words are out. Done backwards is still done, and it’ll help you see problems. Planning saves a huge amount of editing time, so plan to edit if you can’t bring yourself to plan the story.

Love it

If you don’t love it, nobody else will either. Don’t write for the market or because you think it’s a great idea. Write it because you love it. The fact that you love it will show in the story and give it soul. If you can’t see yourself writing a romance, then don’t. The same applies with fantasy, crime, and any other genre. It’ll only come across as contrived otherwise. If you write the story you love, others will love it too.

You might also like Translating The Story In Your Head.

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If you find yourself in Canberra on Saturday 25 July, come along to my full-day writing workshop at the ACT Writers Centre.

The workshop, Creating Compelling Novels, is a masterclass for beginners and experienced writers alike.

It will begin with a simple exercise to draw out the premise of your story, and over the course of the day we will develop that premise into a compelling overview designed to create intense reader engagement.

Participants will gain practical storytelling skills in the areas of theme, conflict, character development, story arcs, structure, and much more, with the aim of creating the kind of novel readers will want to tell their friends about.

The invaluable knowledge and skills participants will take away can be applied over and over again.

To book or find out more, visit the ACT Writers Centre website.