Should My Book Have a Prologue

     If you are new to self-publishing and have not published at least one book, this question might be something you have wondered about.  In fact, even if you are published you might have wrestled with whether to use a prologue or not. 

     So what is a Prologue anyway?  A Prologue is defined as a separate introduction to your story.  Basically, the part at the beginning of a story, play, or a long poem that introduces it.  Generally, it is very short and to the point.

     Here is a video discussing this topic below:

     For me personally, I love prologues.  The reason is that it allows you to put something critical in your story that will draw the reader to want to read it.  For example; in my book series "Stranded by Deception", the book originally started with Chapter 1 and the first sentence was: It was a hot, summer day in San Francisco, California as Marissa pulled her car into the parking lot setting to the right of the busy, congested pier.

   Whereas, when I decided to add a Prologue it started with: 

     "Oh my God," Marissa exclaimed, "The boats on fire!" She didn't know why she should be so surprised by this latest revelation.  It wasn't like the day had started out on a good note. She knew she should have gotten off the boat the moment she first laid eyes on that dreadful man.  Looking back on it now, she wished she had listened to her inner voice.

     As you can see the Prologue is usually something very short and to the point.  This way when I started Chapter 1 with basically a flashback to how this all began with Marissa getting on the boat, the reader knows that a boat fire will happen, but they just don't know when.  This is how I generally use a Prologue in my books.  I use it to try and grab the reader.

     Sometimes Prologues are used in book series to catch a reader up if they decide not to read all of your books.  They can pick up any number in your series and quickly read the Prologue to know what happened previously.

     So the question still stands do you need a Prologue?  My answer is can your first chapter grab a reader in the first couple of pages?  If not, you might want to think about using a Prologue to grab your reader.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about how to write a Prologue.

     So stay tuned!

Book Series: Are They a Good Idea?

       Are book series a good idea?  This is something I have wrestled with and I still wonder about today.  Yes, I recently published my first book series called: "Stranded By Deception", a book that took me 30 years to complete and publish.  If you missed my blog article about this you can still read it here:

       I'm also currently working on another book series to my paranormal/fantasy book: "Beyond the Mysterious Red Door".

     I have heard good and bad from writers and readers about this practice of writing series for your book.  So in the end, I just decided to try my hand at creating a few book series along with my individual books and see what happens. Let's face it, some of the top stories that many of us are familiar with were book series such as, "Harry Potter", "Twilight", Divergent, and "Fifty Shades of Grey", and so much more.

     But, here is what I've heard from readers about this practice of writing a book series.  Some readers hate it when they start reading a book series and they have to wait too long for the next book.  Some readers hate the fact that they have to buy more than one book to get the complete story.  In fact, I read a book review recently that stated they didn't like that the book was part of a series and that they couldn't understand why authors would give a reader a free book just to bate them into buying all of the other books in the series. They said they thought this was a despicable sales plow, and that they were tired of all the writers who were currently doing this.

     Now the opposite, I also heard that readers like reading book series because usually when they like a book they hate for it to end.  So, if it is a series they know it doesn't have to end with one book.

     Even though I wrestled with creating a book series or two, I think personally every author should have at least one book series along with individual, standalone books.  I don't know what you all think? I do feel that as long as you are writing and trying to give great value to your readers with writing a good story that it shouldn't matter whether it is a series or not, just saying.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about something that many authors question.  The question is, should I have a Prologue at the beginning of my book or not?

     So stay tuned.

Finding an Idea to Write About

     If you are a person who loves to write but is currently having a hard time coming up with something to write about. Hopefully, this blog article will help you. Having to come up with a new idea once you finish writing a book that took you a long time to write can be hard, to say the least.  

     I'm happy to say that I've never really had this problem as a writer.  If anything, I generally have too many ideas floating around in my head, and not enough hours in the day to write a book for all of them. lol

     Anyway, are you struggling to come up with a good book idea?  If you are, you are probably not alone.  I have heard from other writer's that after spending so much time on one book, and then publishing it that it was hard to get motivated to start another.  I generally ask writer's when they tell me this are they just going to be a one book wonder like musicians are with a one-hit wonder?  I usually then hear that they want to write another book but they don't have any fresh ideas to get started with.  

     Here is a video below where this subject is discussed.  

     Here are some of my own ideas that might help you find something to write about.  This first one is where I get a lot of my story ideas from.

Fiction Book Ideas:

• Dreams (I have a notepad by my bed and when I wake up if I remember anything that I dreamt from the previous night I will jot it down).
• News (There are so many stories in the news.  Find one that you can change around and create a story off of).
• Music (listen to all kinds of music and see if any song brings to mind anything that you feel you can create a story from).
• Soap Opera's (with bad stories that you know you could write so much better.  Just rename your characters and fix the story and plots in your book so they aren't so bad).
• Everyday life (I like to walk around stores and shopping malls listening to people talk on their phones and to other people at the cash register.  You'd be surprised at what you hear. Some people live really colorful lives and believe me the writer in me is always processing ideas from these conversations. (If these people only knew). lol
• Music Videos (you can't really copy everything that is going on in a story-type video, but you can get some ideas from them. 
• Read other books, and then do the opposite.(I did this with one of my book's titled: "The Value of Love" where the woman in this story is a billionaire and not the man. The genre market today most of the time features the man who is the billionaire and the woman is generally falling at his feet).

To View Book Details Go Here!

Non-fiction Book Ideas: 

• How to save money
• How to budget
• How to live on a one family income
• How to get better organized
• How to deal with unemployment
• How to schedule your life better (tips & strategies)
• How to deal with a problem child
• How to deal with stress at home and on the job
• How to deal with problem neighbors
• How to beat addiction
• How to fix your own computer
• How to deal with various computer problems
• How to use grammar and punctuation correctly.
• Teach about something you know.
• How to deal with a health issue.
• Celebrity news
• Google Trends - this will tell you what is popular on the Internet at that particular time.  There are usually a lot of topics listed.  Research and write about one.

     These are just a few suggestions, but I'm sure you're getting the idea.  Just write about what you know and are passionate about, and that you feel an audience would be too!  The people who master this usually are those that have a strong readership, and they don't have to worry about how much money they are making because of this.  If you give good content your readers will continue to come back time and time again.

    So whatever you choose to do, I agree with the person in the video above just write.  Don't make excuses just do it!  There's a quote that I keep above my desk that reads:  

     Success...occurs when your dreams become bigger than your excuses!

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about book series and whether or not they are a good idea.

So stay tuned!

     

Mistakes of a Newbie Book Writer

    If you've never published before and hoped to one day, most people will classify you as a newbie. (meaning you are new to publishing).

       The following video below talks about the mistakes that happen to newbie book writers and offers tips to help you.

     So as a new book writer remember that it just takes time. The thing that I learned the most when I was a newbie writer was staying inspired.  You can be a writer that just loves, loves, loves writing, but trust me there will be times when you don't. 

     When your book writing is flowing great you will be your happiest, but when you're writing isn't going so well then you'll probably wonder why you ever started to write a book in the first place.  Believe me, you will not be alone in having these feelings.  Take my word on it, most writers at some point in their writing journey will feel like this. The key is to never stop writing, even if it means you have to start another book.  I have to admit here that I often times work on writing in three different books each day.  And, when one isn't working out so well, I'll spend time on another book that is.  I don't recommend this for every writer because sometimes one book can be hard enough to keep track of, let alone three. (This is where good outlining helps before you begin writing a book).

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about finding an idea to write about.

     So stay tuned.

     

The Perfectionist Writer

        Are you a perfectionist writer?  Are you wondering who a perfectionist writer is? The perfectionist writer is someone who will always be writing something but will never share it with anyone. (Okay, maybe a few friends and family members), but generally no one else.  They always talk about publishing their work but never get around to doing it for one reason or another.

     I have to admit that I used to be one of those people.  Yes, from a very early age I wrote stories and continued to write them as I got older, but never published anything.  I think the only one who ever read my stories was my desk drawer. lol  And, I admitted in a previous blog article that one of the stories I wrote took me 30 years to publish. "The Book That Took Me 30 Years to Complete and Publish".  Of course, in the beginning, when I first started writing, self-publishing wasn't as easy as it is today.  Don't get me wrong, I know if you are a writer who has not published anything as of yet, it will probably be because you aren't sure how to go about doing this.  I was faced with the same dilemma at one time, and I had to learn a lot.  Believe it or not, you are not alone.

     I also know that another reason most perfectionist writers haven't published anything is that it is scary out here in the publishing world.  This is one of those jobs where you will constantly be judged the moment you publish your story by the readers who pick up your book.

     Here is a video that talks about how every writer starts at zero:

     
     Here is another video talking about how we procrastinate in our life and how we don't get where we really want to be because of this:

     The one thing I have learned since I first self-published is that once I did it, the next book was easier to get published, and so forth and so on.  It's like everything in life, once you do it, the next time is always easier.  Will you be scared the first time you self-publish....Yes, I was.  I remember that day so well.  I was excited, and yet, I was scared.  I'm not sure why, other than because it was the first time I had self-published.

     Do I worry about everything that has to do with my books today?  Let's just say I'm not as obsessed with my stories as I used to be.  I try to put forth the best I can with my books, but I don't pick apart everything the way I used to.  If you are a perfectionist writer constantly picking apart your book, I'm here to tell you that you might not ever get published.  Stop worrying about what everyone might think, and start wondering if you just might be sitting on the next best seller.

     Lastly, self-publishing I'm sorry to say is not an easy journey, but for me, it has been quite rewarding.  Yes, I haven't found my readers yet, but I continue to write and publish because I have no doubt in my mind that my readers are somewhere out there, and that I just have to stay the course.

     In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about the mistakes of a newbie book writer.

     So stay tuned.
   

Writing a Book Description (Blurb)

     If you've been reading this blog we've covered several important things you will need if you are self-publishing a book.  One is a great book cover and a good title for your book. Now, if those two things weren't hard enough, you now have to write a description (blurb) for your book to tell your readers; in what I call a compact version of your book, what your book is about. This is something that I currently struggle with, and after viewing a lot of other descriptions (blurbs) from others writer's I can tell you that I am not alone.

     Here is a video explaining some tips that a writer can use to help with writing their book description (blurb).

     The one thing I learned from this video above is that you should check out what other best selling authors are doing with their description blurbs to their books.  So with this in mind, I decided to check out the book:  "Fifty Shades of Grey".  Hopefully, you all know about this book, but if you don't it is a book that sold over 100 million copies.  It started out as a self-published book before a traditional publisher grabbed onto it.  Now I have to admit after studying this book description blurb I'm still somewhat confused about what actually caused this book to sell so well.  The blurb is what I would consider average, and I don't know if I would have wanted to read this back when this book was first published or if it would have made me want to buy it.  But, this is just me.  Obviously, others have seen this differently, which is why writing a description blurb for your book will not be one of the easiest things you will do if you are looking to self-publish. Believe me, I continue to work at this myself.  But, the great thing once again about self-publishing is that you can constantly change this since you are in control of your book at all times. Most places that will sell your book will let you change your book description blurb as many times as you want or need to.

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about the Perfectionist Writer.  This is someone who has never published but is always writing a book. (Maybe you know someone like this; maybe that someone is you).  They are usually someone who will always have a reason for not publishing their work. Hopefully, this blog article will help them to put one foot in front of the other and just get self-published once and for all.

So stay tuned.

 

Choosing a Good Book Title

      When most writers sit down to write many of them don't know what they will title their book in the beginning. Sometimes it just comes to them instantly during the writing process and sometimes it doesn't.  Sometimes writer's will start out with a title, only to change it after they finish their book.  Book titles, believe it or not, will be one of the most important things you will have to come up with along with the look of your book cover.  If you get this wrong, it can cost you book sells, or it can get you a lot of bad book reviews.

     So how does a writer come up with a good book title that will work for what you are writing?  This is a question that I've struggled with myself over and I have to admit that I have gotten this wrong along the way.  If you are a writer who intends to self-publish this will be one of the hardest things you will have to be in control of.  If you plan to get traditionally published then the publisher will probably do this for you along with designing your book cover.  I don't know about you but I personally like to be in control of my title and what my cover looks like even if it is quite a challenging thing to do.

     An example of this happened to me when I first self-published back in 2012 for the first time with a book that I titled: "The To Nowhere Train".  I actually wanted to title it: "The Train to Nowhere", but I found out there were many books with this title already, so hence the first title.  Now, I realize that book titles aren't copyrighted, but I also know that having your own book title identity is somewhat important. Yes, I know someone can come along and copy my book title eventually, but I think every author should at least try to be different.  Anyway, I received a (1) star review on this book just based on the "The To Nowhere Train" title alone.  It had nothing to do with the story, it was just that they thought the title was clumsy as they referred to it.  I have since unpublished this book and I am currently working on revising it because the book never really took off.  In the end, I did decide to change the name of this book and the look of the book cover. This is the great thing about self-publishing, you can change things as you go because you are in more control than you would be with traditional publishing.

     I ended up watching a lot of videos to help me with thinking up another title for this book.  The one thing I learned was that a writer needs to list a lot of main words on a page about what their book is about.  Then gather the best words and try to put them together.  What I learned about "The To Nowhere Train" was that the train really wasn't the main center point of this story, it was actually a red door. Yes, a train is in the book, but the red door is the key to the story. Anyway, I republish this book with the title of: "Beyond the Mysterious Red Door".  Here is also what the new book cover looks like.

     In case you're wondering if Pearly Gates is my actual name, it's not.  It's another pen name that I decided to use for this book series because it is more a Paranormal/Science Fiction Mystery.  I decided to use a different pen name for this genre.   Some authors will do this when they write in different genres.  If you haven't read my previous blog article: "Pen Names: Are They a Good Idea" it will explain why I've chosen to go this route.

   So are you struggling to come up with a good title for your book?  Here is a video that might just help you with this.  

     Here is also another video talking about the good, the bad, and the ugly book titles:

     So don't take titling your book for granted.  Take this seriously because any future reader you might obtain WILL!

     In my next blog entry, I am going to talk about writing a book description, and how getting this wrong can force your possible customer to go elsewhere.

 So stay tuned!