The Old and the New

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Everyone knows today is New Year’s Eve where we will gather with family and friends to await the new year, 2020. There will be many parties, dancing, eating, and at the stroke of midnight, champagne will be poured, we will kiss our special loved one and watch the fireworks as they shoot through the night sky. A joyous occasion to be sure. These celebrations will go on past midnight for some while others warm and toasty will watch on TV cuddled up on the couch and probably will fall asleep before the midnight hour.

However, let’s remember that this is also “Old Year’s Day.”  It is the last day we will experience 2019. It will never return. We need to say goodbye. We have memories of 2019 but as we grow older memories have a way of fading. A few special ones may remain.

This would be a good time to make a list of blessings we experienced in 2019 because those give us hope as we look to 2020. We have all experienced happy days and sad days in 2019. We’ve said hello to new friends and goodbye to old ones. That is the progression of life.

Through it all, God has been faithful. As we say goodbye to 2019 and thank God for His blessings, we will turn our faces toward the New Year of 2020 with hope in our hearts for a blessed New Year.

In the New Year 2020 may you experience new adventures in your writing; may you enlarge your tent to make new friends and enjoy love and laughter each new day with a thankful heart.

Happy Writing!

Marketing Your Book

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

We all wish that marketing our books was warm and fuzzy. The reality is marketing is not warm and fuzzy.

However, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as we make it sometimes.

You are not at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing your book. Why? Because you know your book better than anybody. This automatically sets you apart.

While it is important you get a message out about your book realize you do that with everything you say and do when talking about your book.

Hopefully you know what niche your book fits into. If so, you can move forward. In your book, what elements have your brought together? What types of people would have an interest in the story of your book? Once you determine who and where, you then move to how you can engage them in being interested in your book.

One is to focus on the uncommon things your book has to offer in that niche.

Showcasing what you know is important to grow your reputation and promote your book and yourself with informed opinions. A great way to do this is to take a survey among your fans/readers. Gain knowledge by their answers on what they feel is relevant to reading your book. How did it make them feel? What questions did it conjure up?

You want to get your name in front of people. You want the title of your book in front of people. The more you position yourself as an expert––contributing articles and blog posts whenever you can, the more people you reach. In time you will find you are building yourself as an expert. Make sure it is valuable to your readers.

The more information you gather, the better marketing tools you will have.

Memories of the Past

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

For some writers, writing during the holidays is difficult. The memories during this time of year can be hard and sad. Too many pieces of baggage from their past prevent them from sitting down at the computer and creating that awesome book.

However, maybe writing during this time is exactly what the writer needs to do. Letting those baggage items fall out onto a blank page, may be the greatest book they have written to date.

Everybody has “stuff” in their past. Sometimes the best way to sort through it so you can put it in the proper place is to write about it. When you do you will find it is like putting it to bed.

This will bring up memories you would probably rather forget; it also lets you view it from different angles. You are older, a lot of time has passed. It is like looking into a window at someone else. Through the memories in our head we have many stories we can tell. The beauty is we can make it fiction and create an ending we like.

Try it. Begin letting your memories surface and create your greatest book yet.

ThanksGiving for Our Blessings

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Southern Writers wants to wish all of you an early Happy Thanksgiving.

We pray your family and friends who love you, believe in you and encourage you surround you this Thanksgiving.

We want to thank all our guest posters for being part of this author’s community and for sharing your thoughts, encouragement, inspiration and techniques with other writers.

To have a gift of words is in itself, a wonderful blessing. By writing those words in a book, you can reach people all over the world, be an influence for love, peace, and understanding, and create worlds that delight and entertain others.

We thought it would be nice to list on our blog something we are thankful for during this holiday.

Want you join us and leave a comment of something you are most thankful for.

For me, I am most thankful God and country and being able to work at something I love, writing. I am thankful for my family and friends and thankful for all the wonderful authors that have been a part of Suite T, Southern Writers’ community author’s blog. I am thankful for you!

We hope you will share with us, what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Could You Do What Caroline Gordon Did?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine  

There was a movement in the 1920’s and 1930’s in Southern literature.  Some say it emerged with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Tennessee Williams, and Caroline Gordon to name a few.

William Faulkner, a Nobel Prize–winning novelist of the American South wrote such well known novels as The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying.

Thomas Wolfe, an American novelist during this period is best know for his novel, Look Homeward, Angel.

Tennessee Williams was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. He is best known for A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on A Hot Tin Roof.

While obviously I am most interested in the works of these three men, I am intrigued with Caroline Gordon. She was a notable American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, was the recipient of two prestigious literary awards, a 1932 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 1934 O. Henry Award. Gordon was born on her grandmother’s farm in Kentucky and educated by her father who taught the classics at an all-boys academy in southern Tennessee. The only female there.

After growing up, her friend William Penn Warren, introduced her to poet Allen Tate, and they married in 1924. Their circle of friends consisted of other writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein to mention a few. Can you imagine having these authors as friends?

While in Paris, in 1929, she worked as a secretary to her good friend and mentor Ford Madox Ford. Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals The English Review and The Transatlantic Review were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature.Ford urged Caroline to complete her first novel, Penhally which was released in 1931. Ford even typed parts of her manuscript. Can you imagine having Ford Madux Ford type some of your manuscript? The interesting thing about this was he required her to dictate to him 5,000 words per day while he typed.

My question to myself and to other writers’ is could we write 5,000 words a day? Not every other day or once a week, but every day? To be truthful, not sure I could every day. However, it did present me with a question. Am I giving my writing my all or just parts of me?

Maybe this is a question each writer should ask themselves periodically. It might keep us focused or help us to refocus our writing goals.

Do Your Readers Turn Your Pages?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

What do you think would grip your reader to make them want to turn the pages of your book?

Perhaps to a writer that may seem like a funny question.  But you see readers want to open a book and meet a character (person), your protagonist, and they want to come to identify with that character quickly. The more they care about the character the more they care about what happens to this character.

They are not going to put this book down until they make sure this character survives physically and emotionally. They truly want this character to meet their goals and secure happiness. In other words, they have become invested in your protagonists.

You might want to ask yourself is your character genuine. Are they reliable? Are they convincing? Gripping? Fascinating?

The more your character is developed the greater pull he/she has for your reader. Emotions become real and you can feel them.

I want to add, readers prefer the character to be active. In other words, full of life, energetic and involved.

Think of characters in stories you’ve read . . . which ones grabbed your attention? The ones who were active or the ones who were docile––inert?

Ernest Hemingway said, “When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”

Perhaps as writers this is what we should work towards––turning our character into a person for our readers.

. 

Do You Cut Your Content?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Over the years I have talked with authors who tell me the best thing they do is write down four or five ideas they want to communicate to their reader. They like to clarify what key points they want to bring home in the books they write.

Laughing they said, “We use to wind up with four or five ideas being more than five pages. But through the years we have honed this skill.”

One of the authors said, “I like to write a sentence about each idea and allow myself three minutes to write it.”

But all agreed they have pared it to a draft of a sentence per idea.

Then they take the sentence and edit by cutting out the fluff in each sentence.

For example, by the time they are through instead of their being twenty-five words they narrowed it to five or six. Especially if they find a phrase in the sentence. They all agreed the phrase most of the time can be cut to one word.

These authors are very serious about communicating their ideas to their readers. But they start by communicating their ideas to themselves and by pealing back layer after layer, they eventually find the perfect ideas to communicate. They have learned by cutting the fluff and focusing on nouns and verbs their writing is steps above an average writer.

What about you? What have you developed that helps you get your ideas succinctly written in your books causing your readers to come back again and again to buy your books?

Do You Drag Your Reader?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Have you had the opportunity to be in a group, and one person starts talking and talking and talking, and you just keep saying to yourself, “Lady, get to the point?” Last night I experienced this. It isn’t easy sometimes to be patient.

Believe it or not, there are writers who write just like this. They just go on and on and on and the reader finally either closes the book or skips ahead a page or two, maybe more.

Ask that author what tight writing is, and they are clueless.

To me, tight writing is getting to the point without having to go around the world and drag the readers through every nook and cranny. Tight writing is moving the story along while keeping your readers turning the pages.

I like what Elmore Leonard, author of Get Shorty said, “I try to leave out the parts people skip.”

Reading a lot of books, I confess there are pages I skip over in books where the authors do not write tight. I am sure you’ve read books by an author or two who did not write tight.

The best advice I read on writing tight was from Dr. Seuss, “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”

That says it all!

Tired of Writing?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Do you ever get tired of writing? I mean the type of tired you just don’t want to write another word.

It’s okay if you admit it. A lot of writers get to that point sometime in their writing career. Especially if juggling writing with a full-time job, family, home, community, church, promotions, and deadlines. Sooner or later, everyone gets tired.

Yes, a vacation would be nice. But sometimes, you can’t leave, you feel stuck.

One of the most important things a writer can do when tired of writing is to close the computer (or put away pen and pad) and quit for the rest of the day.

I find it helps if we do something for ourselves. What do we enjoy? Maybe a picture show, a bubble bath, or a walk.

Whatever it is, do it with the intention of being present in the moment. Look around, appreciate what we see. 

When we do go back to writing, schedule frequent breaks.

My office is upstairs, so I make a point of not bringing food with me and if I bring anything to drink, it is a small cup. Then when I want something, I must get up and go downstairs. This gives me a much-needed break because truth be told, I could sit at my computer all day and write.

Even when I go downstairs, if I feel tired, I will lay on the couch for twenty minutes and rest my eyes.

If I can’t get my mind to shut off, I turn the TV on and choose the game channel. That gets my mind off writing and I find myself trying to answer the questions. It’s a great break.

Sometimes when I am tired, I find my writing a tad dry. What that says to me is I need to fill my well. I do this by reading some of my favorite authors. Within a few days I find my well filling and I start wanting to get back to my writing.

I hope these ideas help you if you get tired.

Happy Writing!

The Authors Road to Success

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Never think you are alone on the road to success as an author. You’re not. Many people are walking with you. Look around you will see family, friends and associates. However, their numbers are limited. There is another group on that road with you, they are your readers. This group is much larger and hopefully growing. I have one more group that is important to your success, authors. Yes other writers.

Experience has taught us success is not an occurrence so much as a process. Regardless of where you are in the process of becoming successful and selling many books, there are always writers ahead of you and writers behind you. As you progress forward on this road, do not fail to turn around and give attention to those who have not come as far as you.

Funny thing about mentoring someone, you not only are helping them but you find you have increased your abilities as a writer. Someone told me the act of mentoring is neither completely gratuitous nor completely out of self-interest. Rather, it propagates the success process through others. This creates a chain of professionalism, which strengthens with each new link, added.

No successful trait we possess is lost by sharing our knowledge with others, matter of fact, very few things are as rewarding as watching someone else become successful and know you had a hand in it.

I see this when my husband gets a phone call from someone he has helped. (He is retired and works with our community literacy program helping people study for their high school diplomas.)

Generously sharing knowledge with other writers is beneficial to you. It strengthens your foundation and it expands into the world layers of other successful people. Self-made? Not really. There are people who helped along the way,

Using Your Head to Sell Your Writing

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine  

A writer’s job isn’t just writing the book; it includes marketing the book. No matter how great your book is, if no one knows about it, won’t sell.

As writers we wear two hats. One is the writer’s hat and the other is the marketer’s hat. The writer creates a good book and the marketer creates the strategy of how to sell the book. This procedure requires you to switch your focus from production (writing) to marketing (getting your book in the hands of your readers).

One important factor is defining who your reader is. Be specific. Make a list, not just of family and friends but list the types of people you think would be interested in reading your book.

Next, plot out where to find these readers. Many people belong to organizations, associations, schools, book clubs, etc.  The more you add to your list the more avenues you will have to market your books. Example: If you are writing about building a boat you must find out where  to reach them, what they read, where they play, where they visit, where they vacation, what they buy…this type of list is a plethora of avenues to market your book.

In short, go where your readers are to market and sell your book.

Good marketing is not just about attracting the reader but serving the reader. Your book must meet a need for your reader to want to buy it. Whether you write a ‘how-to’, a mystery, sport, romance or comedy what need does it fill.

By satisfying your reader you will win a new fan who will buy every book you write and pass your name to family, friends, work groups, and to the organizations they belong to. They become your P.R. Agent.

Five things you must know

-Why did I write this book?

-Who is my Reader?

-Where do I find this Reader?

-Why would they want to read my book?

-What makes my book more interesting?

Remember, marketing is building a positive relationship with your reader.

Get Out of the Mainstream!

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

What does it take to succeed? People look for this secret. The funny thing is, it’s not hiding.

In short, success is achieving what we work for.

We each define what success is for ourselves. For me it might be getting an interview with a hard to reach International Best Seller. To a Pro Football owner, it is winning the Super Bowl. Each of us defines what our success looks like.

For a writer, success is when they finish writing their book. When an agent/publisher accepts the book, that is success for the writer. When the book releases, again, that is success.

But how does the author become successful in selling their book?

DON’T WALK WITH THE CROWD. GET OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM.

There are thousands of authors telling about their books on Social Medias, websites and other venues. Why would your books be noticed more than the other author’s books?

I’m not saying don’t use the venues to market, talk about, promote your book…you should. The more places you have your name the more buzz you create.

Some people may disagree with my assessment, but I feel the author is the “brand”. The book is the product.

Books release, authors market for several months, then move on to marketing the next book. Titles are always changing. But your name doesn’t. That is why I call your name a brand.  If I read a book from an author and liked it, then I will remember their name and check to see when they have another book releasing.

By getting out of the mainstream and bringing attention to your name too, you have a better advantage of being successful as an author.

Your Grand Opening!

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

Yes, the release date of an author’s book is like a “Grand Opening”. If you notice in retail when a new store opens, they pull out all the plugs and start advertising. They want as many people as possible to come to their opening day. For an author that translates into the more buzz you can create leading up to that opening day (release date) the more turnout (sales of your books) you are going to have.

You must do what you can to capture your readers in unusual ways. One author I know, rented a billboard sign, so that people driving to work every day would see that sign. She had a photo of herself, a title that got your attention in big letters, short description and her website. It brought in several hundred hits a day on her website. She started marketing and promoting her book on her website before it was released. She put press releases out, on all the venues how to purchase a signed copy of her book. Prepared and sent out post on social media, emailed list of people with release day. 

She got 95,000 hits on her website just by doing this.

Look for the unusual to market and promote you and your book. Yes, it did cost that author some money, but to her it was worth it because she spent a lot of time and effort on writing her book.

For authors you want to find free places to list your book, but you will also have to use places to pay for ads. Make them count. Where you buy ad space, will be able to give you good pointers on how to use the promotion to your best advantage. Be wise, plan your advertising out. Be consistent with it. 

Advertising before the book is released is smart. You can start out with small ads and build up as you get to the “Grand Release”. This is part of the nature of selling anything.

Advertising is necessary. It is the best way to be noticed and it must be consistent. That’s how we know about John Grisham, James Patterson, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Home Depot–through advertising. There also must be a variety of things you do along the way to get attention for your books. Don’t be afraid to step out of your box. It’s worth it to build your name as an author and sell a lot of books. To hear someone tell you how much he or she enjoyed your book is wonderful.

You’ve brought joy, pleasure, and happiness to someone else.

Be Unique.

WRITE IT DOWN

By Susan Reichert,   Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine   

If you are writing a book, you probably thought about what kind of results you want for your book when it is finished and published.  No?  Well, it is a good idea to decide that in the beginning.

Even a vague idea, should be written down and dated. In the days ahead writing and editing your book, this will evolve into more details and plans.  By writing down what you want gives you something to work with and work on through the process.

As you go through the days ahead in writing, it is a good idea to pull out this piece of paper, periodically, and see if you need to adjust your thinking.

The next step write down the action steps you feel are important to bring about your desired result.  Remember, this too will be changing through your journey.

By now, you should have discovered you have more control over your book than you at first thought.

You are the one who is in the leadership position here. No one else. You need to develop the plan to carry out your goals for your book.

What does success mean to you concerning this book? Write it down.

Using this process, you are more focused in bringing about not just the writing of the book but the success of the book.

Remember, it is easier to achieve a goal when it is broken down into short-term actions that can be done on a consistent basis.         

Now, the plan is drawn, if you did the steps above. Commit to a schedule to work your plan.  I know you are a writer, but this is part of being a writer. We have to market our books.

As you complete each item, date and check them off the lists. Revise the list. Keep it current. Do this every week. Track your goals. Track your progress. Keep these things in a file.

This is detailed information that will help you when you begin your next book. You will see what works and what needs to be changed.