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Writing For Your Audience: Self-Help

dev-dorrance — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 10:00:51 +0000

All writers have an extremely personal relationship with what they write. But if you’re a self-help writer, the personal nature of that material isn’t disguised through characters with different names in fantastical or fictionalized worlds. It’s just you and the reader, one on one: a friend trying to help another friend. Although all forms of writing require vulnerability, when you can’t disguise yourself at all it becomes even more challenging. Your instinct will be to make the writing more formal, but would that actually help your readers?

What would’ve helped you?

When you’re thinking about a self-help audience, you’re directing your book toward someone who is in need of something. Whether that be the strength to overcome a traumatic experience or simply to achieve a higher level of spiritual happiness, your reader is coming to this book with a specific goal in mind. If you’re a self-help writer, you’ve chosen a topic in which you have some expertise. Whether you studied it in school or you experienced it personally, you have something to offer your readers. The best way to approach it is to think of how you felt when you experienced what your reader is going through. What do you wish people would’ve said to you? What do you wish you would’ve done for yourself? Be that person for your reader, admit what you did wrong and help your reader learn from your mistakes- much like they’re a younger sibling.

Make it personal

If you’re not at least somewhat uncomfortable writing a self-help book, you’re doing it wrong. Readers don’t want to read a book from the perspective of someone who comes across as so much wiser and better than they are–that just makes you appear stuck-up. Instead, they want to get advice from someone who they feel truly understands them in ways that no one else does. You can’t be afraid to admit uncomfortable truths or details about what you went through. Be open to the idea of discussing things that you may be afraid won’t cast you in a good light or experiences that are so vulnerable and raw that you wouldn’t want others seeing you like that. Your instinct will be to steer away from these experiences, but these are the moments that will end up helping your readers the most. They let your readers know that they’re not alone in what they’re going through and that if you can get through the experience or achieve the goal, so can they.

Make the reader your friend

Because the material and what is being accomplished through a self-help journey is so impactful and personal, you can’t write your book from a distant third-person perspective. Not only do you need to be very present in the book, but you need to have a level of love and affection for your reader as well. As writers, thinking about readers can be a scary thing. We love our books and the idea of these nameless, shapeless identities picking it up and having a reaction that’s totally out of our control scares us to death. But as a self-help writer, you don’t have the luxury of solely focusing on the material and worrying about the reader later. What makes a self-help book effective is that personal one-on-one relationship a reader can develop with the author. When you’re thinking about your voice for your book, picture the reader as one of your closest friends and imagine you’re writing it to them.

Facts/Stats

Even if your story is a personal one, your readers will still want to see you’ve done at least some level of research on the subject you’re working with. And it doesn’t always have to be that you’re finding facts or figures to back up what you’re saying- it could be the opposite, too. If the book is about your journey and what worked for you personally, then you can talk about what experts have recommended and why those things didn’t work for you. If your book is more about your personal experience and not as backed up by research, make sure you let your readers know that up front. Everyone’s experience is different, what worked for you might not work for someone else (and that’s OK). It doesn’t make your book any less credible because when you were going through your experience you likely received a lot of advice that may or may not have worked for you, too. Your readers will respect you being upfront and just reading about someone who shares an experience or struggle or feeling with them will be a comfort in and of itself.

The post Writing For Your Audience: Self-Help appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Social Media for Authors

dev-dorrance — Thu, 02 May 2019 10:00:21 +0000

Although this may not be true for every author, a large quantity of us aren’t naturally drawn to social media platforms. We were made to traverse galaxies, to begin and end ancient wars, and to craft the greatest loves as they come together and fall apart. We weren’t built to take snapshots of our food. We may not naturally have the instinct for likes and hashtags, but social media has become both an important part of building your readership and a fun way to express yourself and your love of all things ‘bookish’.

1) Why it’s important

This may be fairly obvious, but social media has become one of the best forms of self-promotion. As we’ve said before, even traditional publishing companies have become less willing to invest a big advertising budget into every single book they work with. Therefore, an author who already has a large following is a really big draw for a publisher or literary agent. This way, they already have the assurance that you’ll likely sell a decent number of book copies if they take you on as a client.

2) What platforms should I use?

If you have the time to do so, using as many different social media platforms as possible is best. They each have their own merits and will help draw in specific crowds of varying age groups. If you only have time to keep up with one type of account, however, likely the best way to connect and bond with potential fans and readers is through Instagram. Instagram users who enjoy reading (authors, readers, reviewers, literary agents, etc.) all work within a community called ‘bookstagram’ (#bookstagram). The participants in the movement are quick to help one another, give out tips, make friends with one another, and lift each other up. If you participate properly in this community, you’ll likely gain a decent following. For a breakdown of the social media platforms and their benefits for authors, check out the video below:

3) Share content and news from other authors

Once you’ve decided what social media platforms to focus on, you’ll need to come up with content ideas. One form of content common across the board for authors on social media is sharing news and content from other authors (or even bookstagram users). Share a cover reveal that excited you or a book box from a startup company that could use the support. Not only will this draw in followers who want to keep up with book-related news, but if you share content from people who are also building a following they’ll likely reciprocate.

4) Like, comment, interact, and make friends

Possibly the most important aspect of building a social media following (regardless of the platform) is interaction. You should try to post as frequently as possible (try for once a day) and update your stories with what you’re doing. When people comment on your photos or posts, try to comment back quickly and attempt to get a conversation going. This will push you up higher in other people’s feeds. In addition, spend some time each day following book-related accounts and commenting on their posts. You likely want to reach the same audience so you might pick up a few followers from the comments alone and commenting frequently and supporting other authors is how you’ll end up forming relationships/partnerships that you could use later to do a giveaway or host a Q&A together.

5) Share the books you’re reading & what you think of them

Another form of content that readers will be interested in is your current read. Keep your followers up-to-date on what you’re reading and what you think. You likely read similar content to what your book consists of, so by posting this content, you’ll attract readers who will be specifically interested in your book. Plus it’s a great way to get some good interactions going in the comments–there’s nothing readers love more than gushing about their favorite books.

6) Share sources of inspiration from your book & writing tips

Since you’re an author specifically and not your average bookstagrammer or book lover, you can provide some unique insight into the writing process as part of the content you produce. Show your readers your writing space, things that inspired certain parts of your book, and tips on writing like what you do when you have writer’s block. This sort of content will more directly relate to your book and it will both intrigue readers about your material as well as provide helpful tips that they’ll appreciate.

7) Take pretty photos of books using props

This one is more specifically geared toward bookstagram users, but could be content used across several platforms (because who doesn’t like pretty pictures of books, right?). The majority of the content across the board on bookstagram is book photography where users will set up a favorite book with a few props or book-related merchandise and take a photo. As an author, this may seem outside of your comfort zone, but luckily with advanced phone camera technology, you won’t even have to go out and buy a nice camera to make this work. Other bookstagrammers are kind enough to share tips and tricks of how they edit their photos and looking at theirs for examples will help you start to figure out what style you’d like to do on your own page(s).

The post Social Media for Authors appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Writing Exercises: Objects

dev-dorrance — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 10:00:20 +0000

As writers, our number one goal at all times is to further character development in our stories. This focus is fantastic, but it can cause us to overlook other aspects of storytelling like objects and scenery. Well, what if we told you that you can use objects to reveal character? Think about it: how much can you learn about someone from the contents of their purse or pockets? Or by what their room looks like? Someone who has a Led Zeppelin poster in their room is going to be very different from someone who has a Keith Urban one. See…you’re already making assumptions based on those objects alone. Using these inanimate tools is a fantastic way to reveal character by showing rather than telling (which is the most unbiased way to do it). Here are some writing exercises to teach you how to put personality in your character’s purse:

1. Pick an object that is ugly, and create a character who finds it very beautiful. Have the character describe the object in a way that convinces the reader of its beauty. Now write a second version where you choose a very beautiful object from the POV of a character who finds it ugly. Convince the readers that it’s ugly. For example, a character who finds an old running shoe beautiful or another who finds a sunset ugly. The way your character reacts to certain stimuli tells the reader a great deal about who they are and what makes them unique.

2. Write down five emotions on slips of paper and slip them into a hat (or whatever you have handy). Don’t write simple ones like ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ though, try to think of more complicated feelings like ‘grief’. Now go outside and find a tree. Draw one emotion from the hat, and try to describe that tree from the perspective of a character feeling that emotion. Here’s the catch though: don’t mention the emotion in your writing — try to describe the tree so the reader could guess the emotion that the character is feeling.

3. Describe a character’s bedroom in such a way that it tells us about a person’s greatest fears and hopes. For example, a character who has a college application on their desk and has a box under their bed labeled ‘KEEP OUT’. A person’s belongings can tell us a lot about them. What would your character have in their room?

4. Root through your desk drawer until you find a strange object- an object that would probably not be in other people’s drawers. Have a character who is devastated to find this object, and tell the story of why this object devastates them. For example, let’s say you have an old grocery list in your desk drawer. Maybe your character finds this and is devastated because it was written by his nanna who passed away a few months prior. Maybe the contents make him think of all the times his Nana made him those very foods. Objects can be a great way to bring back different emotions, foreshadow, or show guilt. This is your opportunity to play around with that!

5. Do some research online and choose a piece of art you’ve never seen before. Now imagine a living room inspired by that piece of artwork, and show the room after a husband and wife have had the worst fight of their marriage. Without specifically saying what happened in the room, use the objects to reveal why the room is in the state it’s in (for example, there’s a picture of the couple broken on the floor or the contents of the wife’s purse poured onto the ground).

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