Thursday, January 24, 2013

(Get Great Ideas!!!) Book Trailers

   Here are some book trailers that you can watch to get some ideas for your book :)


   if i stay -- by -- Gayle Forman


   The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer -- by -- Michelle Hodkin


   Bloodrose (book 3 in the Nightshade trilogy) -- by -- Andrea Cremer


   The Summer I Turned Pretty -- by -- Jenny Han


   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks -- by -- Rebecca Skloot

   Here's a more simple book trailer,


   Ascend -- by -- Amanda Hocking

                                                                                                            Good luck!!!
                                                                                                                               --
                                                                                                                                Ashley

Believable Plot Twist

   When writing a novel, you want the reader to be blown away and surprised by your plot twist. But there are things you should avoid and be careful about.
   Predictable stories are boring, but unbelievable stories are just plan bad. You want your reader to enjoy your story, not get bored half way through, or think it's terrible. A reader's opinion can either help sell your book, or it can be your downfall.
 
   If you're writing a YA (young adult) novel you should know that we're very picky and opinionated when it comes to what we read. If we don't like a book we don't recommend it to our friends. If we do like it, or love it, we'll recommend it to our best friends, friends, and acquaintances.

   If you're writing a children's book...eh. Kids don't really talk about books. They're too busy playing outside and stuff to think about the book they're reading. Though that doesn't apply to all children. It depends on what age group you're writing for.

   Adults talk about books. They recommend book to their friends too, but teenagers are going to be your biggest sellers.

   Anyway, we were talking about believable twists.

   The trick is to drop subtle hints throughout your writing that will add up at the perfect moment. Remember the staircase of chapters? This is exactly like that. It is like that. You slowly give small hints.
 If you get any ideas about how to go about your plot, write it down! Make a note! That way you'll remember to add it to your book. (You should keep all notes for your book in one place so you'll have easy access to them when you need them, in a desk drawer, a small box, on a bulletin board, etc).
   You can also make small notes, little details that you can sneak into your plot. (Have more than one twist, you don't want to only have one big plot twist for your book). You don't want to be too blatant about it, otherwise your readers will be able to guess what will happen, or worse, how your book will end (and that's the worst thing that can happen). Though if you don't sneak in any details, if you don't the plot twist will come out of nowhere and not make much sense.

   The twist doesn't have to happen to the main character, it can happen to the main character's best friend, family member, teacher, anyone that the main character knows. Just make sure you always surprise your reader, like I've said before, when your novel is completed, have a family member (or friend) read your book. If they think you should change something, be open, and reread what you've written and wonder how you can change whatever you think should be changed.

   The worst thing you can do is write an unbelievable plot twist.

   Predictable stories = boring

   Unbelievable stories = bad

   So you should seriously plan out the twists, and how the plot should end.

     Thanks for reading!!! Please comment!
                                                                                                                           --
                                                                                                                            Ashley <3

Friday, January 18, 2013

About The Author (Author Biography)

   Pick up a random book from your bookshelf. Now flip to the very back pages, where they keep the pages that contain the Acknowledgements and the Author Bio. 'About The Author' is what we will be focusing on today.
   There are a few ways you can go about this. This is just to help you get ideas to figure out how to display yourself.

   You can get someone else to write your author bio page for you, if you aren't sure about what to say. Or you can get multiple people to write the page, and then pick out the best things to say, before writing a few of the best ones down. Then you'll have yourself the 'About The Author' page for your book.

   Another way you can write this page is, you can pick up a book, flip to the back page that reads 'About The Author' and read through it.

   I know for some people it's hard to talk about themselves, or to write about themselves, so those are just some ideas you can do to get some ideas. You can say where you live, where you graduated, say what kind of pets you have, that you like to read a lot, stuff like that.
   Just think about what you want to say. What you want to tell about yourself. If you feel any doubt about how, and what, you wrote, you can get a few family members, or a friend, to read over it for you. That way you can get an opinion before you add it to your book.



   Here is something else that could help you, 6 Secrets to Writing A Killer Author Bio

                                                                                                                 --
                                                                                                                  Ashley

P.S.
Thanks for reading!!! Please comment!!! <3

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Learning More About Self-Publishing

   When I first began this blog I said that I didn't know much about self-publishing, but now I'm starting to learn a lot more since I plan to self-publish an eBook sometime in the next two months. So that is why there is a lot more self-publishing information on this blog.

   Thank you for reading this and my other posts!
                                                                                           --
                                                                                            Ashley

Creating An Author Website

   No author has to have an author website, but it's recommended for publicity. Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads is also recommended. Social media is a good way to promote your book. You can use Google+ too, any social website is good. The publicity will be good for your book, as long as you mention that you've written a book (and put the title of it) in the BIO section of the website. You could even add a picture of the book cover to catch eyes.

   Anyway, back to the author website topic. Having an author website for yourself is good for publicity, but also good for your readers. The people who have read your book, and liked it a lot, will want to know when your next novel will be released. Readers are usually very loyal. If you wrote a book that they liked they will check in on your website to see when your next book will be released and what it is about.
    Take Sarah Dessen as an example:



                                                     (Sarah Dessen's books)


   Sarah Dessen is the author of multiple teenage girl novels. Every time a new book comes out, her readers are waiting.
   Self-published authors usually use blogs for their 'author website.' You can get ideas for your author website from other self-published authors such as:

Amanda Hocking -- author of the Trylle Trilogy: Amanda Hocking's Blog

Michelle Hodkin -- author of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: The Michelle Show

Tammara Webber -- author of Easy: A Room of My Own

   Here are some blog websites that you could consider using for your author website:

Weebly

Blogger

Blog.com

Thoughts

WordPress

Lifeyo

LifeJournal

Tumblr

Blogsome

Open Diary

Blogetery

Blogster

Here is a comparison chart of some of the blogs. Pick the best one for you!

http://topsitesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/online-blogging-platform-comparison-chart.png


   And here are some other links (yes, more links) that will help you get your 'author website' up and running!

13 Steps to Creating an Author Website Readers Will Love

Build a More Effective Author Website

10 Ways to Build Traffic to Your Author Website
                                          
   Good luck building your website!!!
                                                                   --
                                                                    Ashley





Tuesday, January 8, 2013

YOUR Story

   The book you are writing should be about something that you want to write about, not something your friends or family tell you, you should write. You should only write about what you want.
   Your book (or novel) should also be something you really want to write. So when you wake up in the morning you're excited about writing. And you have that craving to write.
   The first book I wanted to write was going to be a vampire novel (and yes I know it's past tense). I wrote about 40 pages, took me months, but I started to feel really bored with it. I've had problems writing and finishing books before. I'll get 60 pages into a book, and get bored with it and end up not continuing it.
   Anyway, so I got bored writing the vampire book. But then I got another book idea. I finished this book in 7 months. The next one I finished in about 4. And then the final book in the trilogy took 2 months.
   I really enjoyed writing that trilogy. It was a blast coming up with more and more ideas to throw in.
   When you begin to write a book it's okay not to finish it. You can wait a while, get another book idea, and start writing that idea down on paper. Your book can be about anything! You just have to use your imagination.
   If you have an imaginary world you slip off to when your bored, you could write about that. Or you could base your book about a dream you had.
   Like Stephenie Meyer:


   The author of the New York Time's bestselling series, the Twilight Saga.

   She got the idea for Twilight (the first book in the saga) from a dream she had. She had a dream about a boy and a girl lying in a meadow and when she woke up, she wondered what kind of relationship these two people had. What their story was. And dam! The book Twilight was created!
   A dream! This woman had a dream and wrote a book, and then ended up writing 3 more books after Twilight! She became a New York Time's Bestseller!
   This is possible. Your book could become a NYT bestseller! All you have to do is write the book, copyright it, and either self-publish it, or publish it the classic way!
   Get started! Hope your New Year is awesome!!!! And filled with writing and success!
                                                                                                                     --
                                                                                                                      Ashley