technology

Re-Format It

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Why is it important to format your book? If you’re new to the industry, maybe it’s time we revisit our publishing journey series we started awhile back.

If you’re sending your manuscript on its journey for representation, double check your submission. The basics?

  • Font
  • Margins
  • Space
  • Align
  • Page numbering
  • Page headers
  • Chapters
  • Italics
  • Single character space

Some extras people tend to forget?

    • Scene breaks: you have to indicate them with something.
    • Make the ending clear: use THE END or the # sign. Make it clear it’s over.
    • Don’t forget your title page with all of your information along with your agent’s information as well.formatting.gif

 

You can make your manuscript look as crazy as possible for your own pleasure but, for goodness sake, don’t send out your blue background and yellow letters make it into an agent’s lap.

You’re Watching The Morning News

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It’s important to find your muse and stick with it. Keeping the other creative stories at bay could be hard but worth shutting up until your current piece is complete. But what happens if your muse just so happens to be the news.

You know what I mean: writing a fictional story around a political mishap, or some celebrity scandal or even a cool invention that made its debut on the morning news but triggered your creative gears and now you can’t stop piecing together how it came to be.

Let’s talk about why it might be down your alley to talk about the trends in our society.

People read the news and are consumed by it. Good, bad, whatever it may be. This is what people will always turn to. If you’re in the writing gig and have a general interest in recreating the last scandal that popped up on your phone or TV, we say do it.

Some of the most recent best-sellers included work about politics, magical realism, plain ol’ literary realism/naturalism…but not a nonfiction story.

No, stay away from that unless you’re in a situation where you like the research your conducting.

To put it into perspective, when the Royal Wedding came around…twice…there was a huge influx in sales for stories about princesses and fictional retellings of how the couples came to be.

Think about that the next time you’re tuned into the six o’clock news.

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June Pubs [3]

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If you’re wondering what audiobook month looked like for us…it was this!

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6/5

  • Courtney Konstantin // PREPARED

6/6

  • Bobbi Holmes // THE GHOST AND THE MUST
  • C.C. Masters // FINDING THE FIRE WITHIN
  • Cece Rose & G. Bailey // 2 TITLES
    • MARKED BY POWER
    • MARKED BY PAIN
  • Lidiya Foxglove // PRIESTESS BOUND
  • Mark Stone // ACROSS THE SOUND
  • McKenzie Hunter // DARKNESS UNLEASHED

6/7

  • Meg Anne // REIGN OF ASH

6/8

  • Joanna Blake // WANTED BY THE DEVIL
  • K.K. Allen // WATERFALL EFFECT
  • Kim Karr // 2 TITLES
    • HOLLYWOOD PRINCE
    • THE THING ABOUT LOVE
  • May Dawson // DIRTY ANGELS
  • Violet Duke // EVERY NIGHT WITHOUT YOU

6/10

  • L.A. Cotton // WICKED LIES
  • Nicole London // 2 TITLES
    • MR. POPULAR
    • RESENTMENT
  • Siobhan Davis // THE SECRET HEIR

6/11

  • Greg Meritt // THE ADOPTION

6/12

  • Frankie Love // CHERISHED
  • Mimi Matthews // THE LOST LETTER
  • Parker Grey // PROTECTING THEIR PRINCESS

6/13

  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: HUNTED

6/14

  • Alta Hensley // DEVILS & RYE: TOP SHELF #4
  • Nikita Thorn // BUSHIDO ONLINE: FRIENDS AND FOES
  • Roxie Noir // EVER AFTER: DIRTSHINE #3

6/20

  • Eva Chase // DRAGON’S TEETH
  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: GUARDIANS
  • Mila Young // HUNTED
  • Peter Grainger // ONE-WAY TICKETS

6/27

  • Bella Love-Wins // 5 TITLES
    • BILLIONAIRE DADDY’S VIRGIN
    • THE BILLIONAIRE AND THE BAD GIRL
    • THE BILLIONAIRE AND THE VIRGIN
    • THE BILLIONAIRE AND THE VIRGIN CHEF
    • THE BILLIONAIRE AND THE VIRGIN INTERN
  • Charleigh Rose // BAD HABIT
  • Heather M. Orgeron // VIVIENNE’S GUILT
  • Maria Luis // 4 TITLES
    • DARE YOU TO LOVE ME
    • SAY YOU’LL BE MINE
    • TAKE A CHANCE ON ME
    • TEMPT ME WITH FOREVER
  • Mark Stone // CAUGHT IN THE SURF

6/28

  • Jenna Wolfhart // A DANCE WITH DARKNESS
  • Mimi Matthews // THE VISCOUNT AND THE VICAR’S DAUGHTER
  • Rebecca Rose // IT’LL BE FINE

From Us To You

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We have been talking about a lot of world-building lately. We see it as a very vital part of writing, especially when it comes to creating your own world. The detail behind your creation should resonate with your reader, and describe a place they will be sucked into. Some of our authors at HRM gave us a look into their ways of building and we thought it would be nice to share with a writer who hasn’t quite gotten the grasp of piecing together their fictional world.

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Krista Walsh:

I have my system (basically pages and pages of journal entries attempting to consider every element of the society as it goes across books), but a streamlined version would probably be a bit more coherent. 😉

Pippa Dacosta:

I have a notebook for each novel/series and write all of my little world intricacies down. Most of the world-building I layer in after the first draft. Touch, sights, social differences, currency, sayings, speech patterns, etc. I try and make the world-building almost unnoticeable.

JR Rasmussen:

I use a single Scrivener project for a whole series, so all my notes are in there. Before I start writing, I gather up enough to make me feel like I know the place well enough to live in it for a few books, and then add/revise as I go along. Everything from the magic system to what they eat. Also maps. So many maps.

Box Office Seller!

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…okay. This may not be about the film industry, or who we think is going to top the box office charts next, but it is about how your book could be top of the selling charts in one way or another!

Awhile back we wrote a post about the art of creating a book trailer. We’re bringing it up again because IT IS IMPORTANT.

Social media and streaming services have become a big part of our society and our culture. I mean, hi, we’re talking to you through a screen!

If you haven’t already, work on a trailer to boost your exposure on YouTube or Vimeo and repost this video on all social media platforms. Show it to your family/longtime fans, provide a link so those fans can share around their platforms.

It’s all about word-of-mouth…or rather word-of-typing?

Metadata & Me

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A little late to the BookExpo train, but we’re here to update you all on one of the most important parts of our day.

In our opinion, the best panel we attended was the impromptu one. Long story short, the panelists who were supposed to be in attendance and speak got stuck somewhere else and two agents took over halfway through the wait.

One of the most talked about points of the conversation was about metadata. In book publishing, metadata was stressed so much and we’re here to help you understand why.

What is metadata? … I asked myself the same thing. I knew it had something to do with the discovery of online destinations, but I didn’t know the breakdown. Book metadata, specifically, consists of the details that help the exposure of your novel on the internet. But what does it consist of? Let’s talk about that.

Before the publication of your novel, you should consider opening up another document and writing out three basic points:

  • Keywords / key phrases
  • Book description using keywords
  • Author bio, using keywords

Do you see the common trend? I do. Keywords.

Keywords will become your best friend and your book’s best friend. But stay away from the generic words and “less important” ones. Your work could easily get lost or misplaced on the internet. Double check those words on a search engine to see what comes up. If it is similar to your work, then you hit the jackpot.

good to be back.gifYour list should be narrowed down to 10 – 20 words. You’ll be able to use this same tactic for the book description and author bio to reach a max audience.

To continue to thrive in the market, revisit this and re-brand yourself every so often. When you do this, you’re re-entering the market to a new wave of potential readers and fans.

At It Again!

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About a year ago, we talked about how the online writing community we all know as Wattpad has its pros and cons for the published community. Maybe you want to dive in and work on some short prequels. Or possibly write a quick spin-off for your begging readers. The site has wonderful resources to both expand on your writing abilities and become a platform for you to share the little details about your world to a new generation.

But it doesn’t stop there. Wattpad has had more than one success story.

There are authors who have signed traditional book deals for their works on Wattpad’s shelves. But just this past weekend, Publisher’s Weekly wrote up a great article discussing the most recent optioned pieces. You read that correctly: OPTIONED.

hollywood.gifHollywood has decided that maybe the comic book movies and remakes are not cutting it for the box office. It’s now very possible to be recognized by studios and producers who are trying to find the next big thing! All they have to do is refresh their page and see what everyone is reading!

So upload everything you can onto Wattpad. You’re (hopefully) going to Hollywood, baby!

May Publications [2]

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No worries, this will be us for the rest of audiobook month. Hopefully you’ll join us!

This May, we would like to introduce these newest audio additions to our (and your) library:

5/1

  • John Dreese // BLUE HOPE
  • Robert Bidinotto // WINNER TAKES ALL

5/3

  • Amie Knight // 2 TITLES
    • A STEEL HEART
    • SEE THROUGH HEART

5/4

  • Stephie Walls // UNEXPECTED ARRIVALS

5/7

  • Alta Hensley // SCOUNDRELS & SCOTCH
  • Frankie Love // HONORED
  • Kim Karr // HOLLYWOOD PRINCE
  • Kylie Hillman // CONAN
  • Parker Grey // WAKING HIS PRINCESS
  • T.L. Smith & Melissa Jane // COCKY FIANCE

5/8

  • Bobbi Holmes // THE GHOST AND THE MYSTERY WRITER
  • Yumoyori Wilson // TAINTED ROSE

5/9

  • C.C. Masters // FINDING SOMEWHERE TO BELONG
  • Emerson Knight & McKenzie Hunter // DARKNESS UNVEILED
  • Heather M. Orgeron // BOOMERANGERS
  • Meg Anne // MOTHER OF SHADOWS
  • Willow Rose // GIRL DIVIDED

5/10

  • Stella // THIRD BASE
  • Maria Luis // HAT TRICK
  • Mark Stone // FAR FROM SHORE
  • May Dawson // FIERCE ANGELS

5/13

  • BJ Harvey // ONE SHOT
  • Jean Grainger // 2 TITLES
    • SHADOW OF A CENTURY
    • UNDER HEAVEN’S SHINING STARS

5/16

  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: BOUND
  • Violet Duke // BEFORE THAT NIGHT
  • Willow Rose // EDWINA

5/17

  • G. Bailey // 2 TITLES
    • ESCAPE THE SEA
    • LOVE THE SEA

5/18

  • Leddy Harper // THE ROOMMATE ‘DIS’AGREEMENT
  • LK Farlow // 2 TITLES
    • AN UPHILL BATTLE
    • COMING UP ROSES
  • Peter Grainger // LANE
  • Siobhan Davis // INSEPARABLE

5/22

  • Ella Fields // SUDDENLY FORBIDDEN

5/23

  • Kip Terrington // BUT DEATH IS NOT FORBIDDEN
  • Stella // HOME RUN KING