I will have an instructional post for you next week, please send me your questions. I see many of the same topics that I end up answering together. I need some new lines of direction. What haven't I covered, or what would you like me to go into more detail about? For this week, it's … Continue reading The Blood Match: Birth of a Novel (Series #2)
Hello writers! I haven't done a personal post in a while and it's time as you'll see. Previously I blogged an entire series called "Journey to a Bestseller" about a young adult steampunk novel that I wanted to be a bestseller (I suppose it's not quite finished). Some of you may ask, what did happen … Continue reading The Blood Match: A New Journey (Series #1)
I did the Amazon ads the way you said with lots of ads and low bids. Now what? I did the keyword ads, but I don't know ACOS from pizza. How do I make it work better? Hi everyone! What the author of the question is asking is how to optimize your ads--to make them … Continue reading Literary Q&A: How Do I Know if my Keywords are Converting? [Or Optimizing Amazon Keyword Ads] (Series #7)
Good Sunday everyone. My calendar says, "When you can't find the sunshine, BE the sunshine." Love it. Great advice for everyone--especially writers. What do people mean when they say, "It's never too soon to start marketing?" I just released my first book and I haven't even started. So am I already losing because I don't … Continue reading Literary Q&A: What Do People Mean When They Say, “It’s Never Too Soon to Start Marketing”? (Series #5)
Question: I'm editing my book, but what do I do with tags? This week an author friend of mine expressed some confusion on the topic of tags in his novel. I asked, Is your issue with tag punctuation, the difference between action tags and dialogue tags, acceptable dialogue tags, or something else? I could go … Continue reading Literary Q&A: What Good Writers Know About Tags (Series #4)
I'm so excited to dive into these questions! I've received some great ones. Keep them coming! I'd like to focus on two per post, so I don't spread out info all over and repeat myself more than necessary. Without dragging on, let's see what you asked this week: Question 1: I was wondering about this. … Continue reading Literary Q&A: All About Twitter Pitch Events and Common Agent Responses to Unsuccessful Queries Decoded (Series #1)
Hi everyone. Have you written your first draft, finally gotten it complete, only to realize you have 200,000 words? You are not alone. There are many reasons to "cut" or "trim" your writing. It makes things clearer, stronger, more concise, and streamlines the information that the reader needs to know. And of course, word counts--everyone … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Cutting your Novel Down to Size (Series #45)
Hey all. Time for a catch-up post. The goal: write a bestseller is still on. The WIP this series is about--The Clockwork Pen--is with two Top 5 publishers at the moment, and I'm waiting to hear back. But, the new WIP is coming along nicely and has a high-concept that I know a particular editor … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: August Catch-Up (Series #44)
I've talked about "voice" before--even as recently as series #35. But what I want to talk about today isn't regarding the way you tell a story so much as it's a sentence-structure thing. In an active sentence, the subject is acting on the verb. It pulls the reader in close to the story. A passive … Continue reading Active vs. Passive Voice (Writing #4)
Good sunday everyone! To be honest, I didn't have a subject for today's post. I was trying to think of writing advice I could give you. So far I've talked about world-building, plot points, researching, high concept ideas, connecting with unlikeable characters, breaking up info dumps, writing for your market, writing that agents want, en … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Quotes, Italics, Semicolons and Clauses (Series #43)
I got all my work done this week, excited to plot my story, and I got lost on a few research bunny trails. But I finally got everything that I wanted to happen in my story put down on notecards by scene. I wrote the first five pages of the manuscript and when I hit … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Plot Points and Writer Goals (Series #42)
Hello friends and writers! You know, most of the time I sit down to write this blog about my writing journey, and have no idea what I want to say. I begin telling you about what's going on and fall into a helpful topic. This coming week I'm going to be plotting out my new … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Researching For Your Fiction Novel (Series #41)
I have good news this week everyone! First, I hope you all got something out of last week's marketing post, 10-Step Marketing-How to Get Started. If you didn't see it, check it out! It's all about the first and most important steps involved in making sales. In other news, I have just released new covers … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: New Series Covers and Catch-up (Series #40)
I'm not sure if my clients realize it, but as an editor for a publishing house, I get paid when my authors get paid. Like an agent, I don't get paid until my authors do--then I receive a small percentage of the book's sales. So, as nice as I am, it behooves me to help … Continue reading Ten-Step Marketing for Clients–How to Get Started
Good Sunday, my writer friends. I was absent last week making up my monthly newsletter. I don't usually share content, but I am part of some giveaways and have some featured books to share, so I may add that to today's post. I was recently part of a writer's conference that I enjoy every year, … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: “High Concept” Sells & July Giveaways (Series #39)
Good weekend, everyone. This is an update post about where I've been and what's happening with our WIP. This will be a shorter post, but tune in next week for a big post full of deals and recommendations! First things first: I have been gone for the past few weeks after having spinal surgery, and … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: How to make Readers Connect with Your Unlikeable Character (Series #38)
Last week I told you about some FREE book giveaways I'm currently in. This week, I have two more! If you love dystopian novels, have I got a deal for you! These books are on BookFunnel.com, so some of them require your email before you download the book or sample. If you aren't familiar with BookFunnel … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: FREE Dystopian Reads, The Secret to AMS Ads, and Editing-for-Sale (Series #36)
FREE BOOKS!! Yes, I mean it. You are about to be offered free books. I'm in several Book Funnel promotions this month and I want to share them with you. I missed linking you to the promotion last week, but I've got three more! Don't know what Book Funnel is? It's a site where readers … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Free Books, Writing for Your Market, Editing, and Ad Progress (Series #35)
Author Jennifer Haskin was born in North Kansas City, Missouri. She wanted to be a teacher, a writer, a singer, and an artist. The author began writing very young. She won her first award in the fourth grade, and in the fifth, then she was published in the ninth grade in a magazine. She creates great fantasy and sci-fi worlds with engaging plots and relatable characters. Read full interview...
Hello everyone! So happy to be here today. My desk calendar today says, "You don't have to be perfect to be AMAZING." So true. Today, my friends, is the launch of my third book, The Final Rescue, the last book in the Freedom Fight Trilogy. It is $0.99 this week. In fact they are all … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Amazon Ad Progress and Making a Bookbub Ad (Series # 34)
Good Sunday everyone! I am so frustrated with the AMS ads. I am a relatively smart person, so I read up on it, took a course--twice--testing at 100% both times. I thought I knew what I was doing. My first ad was accepted, but when I went the next day to look at its performance, … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Amazon Ad Results.1 and Official Book Trailer (Series #33)
Good day everyone! I have super news! I have the ten required Amazon reviews I need to buy ads for launch. I am throwing the net wide, but not without advice from those who have had success with ads. Launch day for The Final Rescue is March 22nd, 2020. Which happens to be a Sunday … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Creating an Amazon Ad for Fiction Authors (Series #32)
How to write a query letter,
Hey everyone! I took a week off for the holidays. Actually, I was writing my newsletter and I forgot. Shhh. So, in the life of our WIP which I am going to start calling by its title: The Clockwork Pen, I now have my first draft. I wrote the whole thing and went back to … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: After Typing “The End”~What’s Next? (Series #26)
We are about to enter a different phase with our NEWLY COMPLETED manuscripts! Yay! Yes, I finished "the bestseller" this weekend. If you are writing with me, have you finished your first draft? What was your word count? My final word count for the first draft, which always raises quite a bit by the end, … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Four Editing Tips (Series #25)
It's been a long week, folks. I was in a book fair at Woodneath Library in Liberty, Missouri, this weekend. Joined by my daughter and my writing partner. The tables were tiny, but it was a nice set up and all my swag fit on my table, and I got some good ideas from other … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: Evaluation of Anonymous Query and Sample Pages (Series #24)
Hi everyone! I'm going to try to make this shorter than usual so I can get back to writing. I'm coming to the big climax. I'm on Chapter 16 and I have about half a chapter put down. I'm not sure if I want to end it in this chapter, though. It seems too soon. … Continue reading Journey to a Bestseller: En & Em Dashes (Series #23)
Stay tuned. There's sample writing coming in this post. But first, with my editing, I have to add and subtract commas, and semicolons. So, as a writer and editor, I felt like I should brush up on my own education while solving some issues for you writers. Do you believe in the Oxford comma? Know … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Commas and Pirated Content (Series #22)
I just realized that I changed the name of this series part way through it. But I think I like it the way it is, so it stays. Pthft. Besides, I already made my hashtag. #Journeytobestseller Lol. I put myself on another author marketing site this week called AllAuthors. They are pretty darn cool even … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Book Reviews!! (Series #19)
Good day everyone. Well, it's night, but you get the idea. I've been writing this week about the second pinch point, or second battle. In the story, I have the MC happen to meet the crazy king who tells him that the people he thought he was responsible for killing, are actually prisoners in the … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Essential Scenes in Every Story- Part Four- Dark Night of the Soul and Chapter Hooks (Series #16)
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Hey everybody! Sorry I'm late this week. I've been a busy bee. I recently made new covers for my books because they weren't selling well. And those buyers were not rejecting my book based on context, they don't even know what my book says. They were scrolling through the books, … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Essential Scenes in Every Story- Part Two- First Battle/Midpoint and New Covers (Series #14)
Happy weekend everybody! I just did the stupidest thing. I had some very important emails from a publisher, and they were getting lost in my overflowing email box. So I made a new folder. Then I put all my important emails from the publisher in them. THEN my email told me that the file couldn't … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Essential Scenes in Every Story- Part One- Start With Lack/Inciting Incident/Point of No Return (Series #13)
Hello folks! I know. That title is like, whaaa? Those things don't go together at all! Well, you're right. So let's get to it. I am doing great. I went to a small writer's conference in Topeka, KS this morning and got three free ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copies) of some fantasy books. One was a … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: “Chapter One” and Twitter Pitch Events (Series #10)
Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com Hi guys! It's been a busy week. I finished the second draft of my client's manuscript during the day; and worked on my book at night. Just in case you are new to this blog, I am writing a bestseller...or what I am going to do try my best … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Word Count, Character Sheets, and Kindle Reads, oh my. (Series #9)
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Hello everyone! Despite a week packed with things to do, I was super productive and it feels so good. As I said last week, the writing of our "bestseller" is on hold for another month or so (I told my betas they would get it sometime in September). So, we … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: Padding the Plot and Punctuation (Series #8)
Today I want to share with you the one fact in writing: something else will come up when you are trying to write a book. For you it might be something like an emergency home project that simply needs to be done, or you could have a school paper that you must do. For me, … Continue reading The Journey to a Bestseller: “Something came up” and Writing Descriptions (Series #7)
I haven't even written in my WIP this week. No word count change. Ugh. I told you that you could catch up to me this week. Yes, I have a new client who needs me to read, but I have spent my time on my trilogy these last few days, so I can give her … Continue reading The Journey to Making a Bestseller: Beta Readers (Series #6)
These days are flying by! I missed both my blog and my newsletter this weekend. Ugh. I hate being late. I am an early person. If I'm on time, I feel late. It's a thing. Photo by luizclas on Pexels.com Anyway, I found this great site called Inkarnate where you can make your own fantasy … Continue reading The Journey to Making a Bestseller: Maps and Writer’s Block (Series #5)
Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com Sorry about the weekend everyone! I was out of town for the week in small town Oklahoma and I had no reception at all. It was awesome. Fishing, and four wheelers, and fireworks, and paddle boats, and zip lines, and swimming, and hard lemonade... aah. Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric … Continue reading The Journey to Making a Bestseller: One-third Done and the Process of PreSales (Series #4)
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com I started writing my manuscript five days ago. I plotted the heck out of it, wrote out a directory of scenes, though not as detailed as I usually do. I've got two tabs (on my laptop) open constantly: Synonyms and Steampunk images. One of the things you want when writing … Continue reading The Journey to Making a Bestseller: The First 20K- Character Arcs/Magic Rules/Descriptive Language (Series #3)
Hi everyone! It has been a crazy week. That's one of the good things about being a writer with a self-imposed deadline-- some weeks go out the window and that's okay. I did discuss my fully laid-out concept to my writing group and they have all given me the seal of approval. As well as … Continue reading The Journey to Making a Bestseller- Research for Your Fiction Novel (Series #2)
Jennifer Haskin 