by J.A. Campbell

Word of mouth and personal connections can make a sale for an indy author. Or any author really. I’ve bought books based on blog posts I’ve read, or online connections I’ve made with authors. It does work. It’s not a super fast process, a book here or there is probably what you will sell, but that increases the chance that people will talk about your book. When people talk about it, often others buy it. Many of the authors I’ve discovered have been at the recommendation of others who share reading tastes.

You have to be careful not to over do the online networking though. You do still need to actually write. I’ve narrowed my networking down to Facebook, Twitter and my two blogs. Every now and again I do other things, but those are my main sources. I just don’t have time for anything else. I maintain a presence on Jacketflap, for YA books, and Goodreads, but I am not very active there except to update my reading list on Goodreads.

Twitter is great because, especially if people retweet, you have a chance of reaching a larger and possibly random audience. However, you never know where your tweet will end up, so chose your words with care.

Facebook/Google + are both great for similar reasons to Twitter. Good networking and good ways to make connections with people.

Blogs are an excellent way to share your thoughts and writing. If you write interesting blogs, there’s a fair chance people will want to read your stories too. They will feel a connection with you when you respond to their comments (and trust me, if you don’t respond, they won’t keep reading unless you’re super interesting and already famous).

I think the biggest key to social networking success is to interact with people, not just try and sell your stories. Sell yourself instead. Show yourself to be an interesting person, and likely that will carry over to your books. If people think you have a connection with them, they are more likely to want to support you and your writing. Have quick conversations on Twitter, respond to Facebook posts, wish people a happy birthday on FB. Those are all great ways to get attention without saying OMG buy my book! All the time. Then every once in a while throw out a reminder that you are an author, and you might have an interesting story to tell.

by Kelley Armstrong

So you’ve just completed your NaNoWriMo novel and you think it’s ready to go out to publishers? Not so fast. I’ve done NaNo  every year since 2005, and what I produce in that month is nowhere near ready to show to my editors. It’s only the first step in many. Here’s a crash course in getting that NaNo work up to snuff…

Finish it. Unless you’re writing category romance or middle-grade, 50,000 words is not a novel. Find out what’s standard for your genre and keep going. Done? Good. Now put it away for a few months. Get some distance. Then take it out. Read once as a reader, not an editor. Don’t line-edit. Just make notes on the big problems. Can’t find any? They’re there—look harder. Fix those. Then do your first line edit. If you’re an experienced writer (i.e. you’ve written at least 2 novels already), then skip to the next step. Otherwise, put it away for two months and repeat the editing process. Next, get feedback. Family and friends are fine. Fellow writers are better. Get their feedback. Fix the major criticisms. Do another line edit. Then find a second wave of “test subjects.” Repeat. Now, finally, you’re ready to send it out…and to begin the next novel, so those rejections won’t sting quite so much.

Does it sound like a lot of work? It is, but it’s good practice for being a professional novelist, where you’ll do a similar amount of editing on every book, getting it in the best shape possible for your editors…and hopefully an audience!

by Lauren Dane

The best writing tip I can possibly ever give, the best I’ve ever received, is pretty simple:  Put your butt in that chair and get those hands on a keyboard (or pen and paper, whatever)

This is hard. You might realize it’s harder than you ever imagined. Don’t quit. Quitting only hurts you and your writing. Don’t do it. PUSH THROUGH and keep on keeping on.

Everyone will have a different process, but if you don’t make your writing important and make it a priority, no one else will either. You have to put in the time. There are no tricks. No magic beans. You want to be a writer? Sometimes that means you give up an hour of sleep to fit your words in before everyone wakes up or after they go to sleep. Or that you skip watching television to write.  Anyone can talk about being a writer, you have to write to be one.

by Stephanie Dray / Stephanie Draven

In one sense, I’m the worst possible person to be giving advice about how to write NaNoWriMo-style because I’m one of the slowest writers I know. I have a brutal internal editor who won’t shut up long enough to let me hear my next thought. I regularly get sidetracked while I’m writing, and I’ve lost just about every word war I’ve ever been in.

That said, I published four different novels in the past twelve months with two different NY publishers and that wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t embraced National Novel Writing Month.

Now, when drafting any novel, I suit up for a 50k death march into the writing desert. I do this whether or not it’s November. So I know a thing or two about it and, having completed NaNoWriMo a few times, I now have the hubris to think I can dispense a little advice.

So, here are my tips.

1. You Must Find A Way To Silence The Internal Editor.
I know how hard this is. It’s like muzzling a rabid Jack Russel terrier. But you have to do it. Make bargains with your internal editor that you’ll fix the words later. Lie, if you have to. In short, consider your internal editor to be a tyrant against whom you must rebel. This is especially difficult for me when I’ve just written a metaphor that my internal editor thinks is the lamest metaphor ever written in the history of the written word. To placate my internal editor, I might highlight the offending words or add a comment into the margins, but it behooves me—and you—to keep writing.

2. Research Later.
Just today, I started off by writing a story about a character getting off a boat by way of a gangplank. Immediately, my thoughts ran like this, “What exactly is a gangplank? When were they invented? Is this the way the Romans would have come ashore from a warship? I should really look this up in that book I own about ancient ships…” No. No, I shouldn’t look that up. And neither should you. Not until the editing phase. Unless your entire story hinges on a gangplank, just leave it alone. Put a note in the margin if you have to, to remind you to research it later, but for now, shove all research questions to the side and keep writing.

3. Shut Off Your Email and Twitter.
You think you’re a good multi-tasker. Let me tell you, you’re not.

4. Take a Break at the Midpoint.
Some people like to plow through all 2,700 words in one sitting. If you can do that, great! But if you find yourself struggling, give yourself permission to take a brief intermission when you hit the halfway point. Stretch your legs. Get a drink. Watch a mindless soap opera. Play with your cat. Whatever helps you relax a little bit.

5. Back Up Your Work.
Although it’s supposed to be fun—a time to let your muse run wild—writing a novel is an investment of your time. Protect your investments. Use Dropbox, or write it in Google Docs with an auto-save or put it on a thumb drive each night like a ritual. But whatever you do, make sure you don’t lose the magic…or the story.

Guest post by Shanen Crandon

A good horror novel is not unlike a roller coaster. It starts out with a sense of anticipation and a slow build before a big drop that leaves your head spinning and your heart pounding by the time you’re done. The basics of a good horror novel are really no different from what you want in any good book, but with one simple difference: it’s scary. That’s why a person picks up a horror novel instead of a romance or even a thriller. They want to be scared.

But simple fear isn’t enough, although it’s a pretty key element. You still need a compelling story and good characters.  Cardboard characters may work in the world of movies, but when it comes to books, you really need to care for your protagonists before the bad stuff starts happening. Otherwise, it’s not going to affect you when the proverbial stuff hits the fan. And if it doesn’t affect you, then it’s not going to scare you.

The best horror novels are the ones that make your heart pound and turn on a few more lights when you’re reading it. The books that you want to stop reading because you’re too scared to go on, but too engrossed in the book to put it down. And the very best? The very best is when a book can make your hand hover over the light switch just a little longer than normal before turning out the light. It doesn’t matter that you know monsters don’t really exist. A good book can change your reality, if only for a second.

Guest post by PJ Schnyder

“A little bit of naughty is a little bit nice She’s a whole lot of glam, sweat, sugar, sex, spice” ~ Show Me How You Burlesque

Variety is good. It’s spicy. It’s interesting.

When putting together my marketing and promotional plan, I look for the best investments of my time and effort.

There’s Social Media:

• PJ’s FaceBook page
• PJ’s Google +
• PJ’s Twitter feed
• PJ’s Tumblr feed
• PJ’s Blog

I could have readers following all, some or only one of these outlets and I want to give them interesting content on each. Sure, there’s a little redundancy, mostly the occassional promo announcement, but the rest is pure personality and shenanigans. They each reflect aspects of my personality to keep my readers engaged.

There’s face to face interaction:

• Conventions
• Readings
• Local Events
• Meet ups

I go to romance, sci-fi, anime, steampunk and gaming conventions. There’s local events such as Dorian’s Parlor for the steampunk crowd. Participating in women’s self-defense workshops and Victorian Bartitsu seminars adds a different perspective to the topics I address in my stories.

All of these get me out there in front of different circles of readers, existing and new.

Then there’s guest posts and interviews. Here’s where I dial it back just a little. A danger I try to avoid is oversaturation on the net. I’m still new, building my readership, and my online followers only have so much time in the day to follow me around for these. I try to limit guest posts or interviews to one or two a month.

It’s a lot of balls to juggle and a lot of hard work. But in the long run, it’s worth the effort and I get to meet wonderful new readers as a result plus give my existing readers fun stuff to peruse.

Today’s guest post is by Frauke Spanuth of Croco Designs, where I will be working this December as a Content Manager!

Hi everyone!

Emma invited me today over to talk about author websites. Not only as designer but especially for me as reader they are a must-have. I don’t live in the States and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to always attend signings and conventions. So a website is a way for me to connect to and stay up-to-date with my favorite authors or get to know a new ones. They are an author’s online HOME.

However, worse than no website is one for me that is not well-designed. And I don’t mean that they should be all whistles and bells. I like to be able to find information easily and fast, not growing frustrated having to click through too many pages to get to the info I want. Also, I love spending time on an author’s site, but distracting graphics, blinking ads and neon colors on a too dark background only hurt my eyes.

Just as many readers judge a book by its cover, they will also judge an author by her/his website, especially debut authors who have no established audience yet.

Today’s post is a guest post, brought to you by the supremely talented Anne Michaud.

I’m the first one to admit it: I am one of the technology challenged. The very mention of Twitter used to give me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, social networking such a dread for the shy writer that is me.

I asked for help, because there was no way I was tackling this Twitter thing by myself—enter Emma Cunningham, not only a great critter when it comes to dystopian YA manuscripts, but also quite the genius when it comes to all those pesky social networking platforms.

I didn’t know what to say, how to be funny and have fun with Twitter, but then Emma said something that excited and scared me all at once. She said: It’s great to have friends following your tweets, but what you need is readers. You should start posting stories on your blog.

Well. Why not? Writers write, and I am quite a fan of flash fiction. I joined the Twitter group #fridayflash, and since then not only have I been connecting with people who understand the ups and downs of a writer’s journey, but my blog’s circulation has been ascending to new peaks every week. And I have readers following me, people who actually like my prose.

The most important thing to remember is that social media is a conversation. It’s not about blasting people with BUY MY BOOK. It’s about entertaining, interacting, and getting to know your followers.

Today’s post is a guest post by Harlequin Presents author Maisey Yates!