Happy Thanks Giving!

5 Steps to Book Publishing

Set your goals.When it comes to indie publishing, the best place to start is at the very end. Before you dive in to the process, consider what main goals you have for your book. Do you aspire to commercial success? Are you looking to supplement your speaking career or business? Maybe seeing your name in print is enough to make you happy. Determining your goals will help you map out the path you need to take in order to arrive at end results that will satisfy your expectations.

Choose a publishing package.Once you know what you want to accomplish, it’s simple to select the right publishing package. Our five publishing packages are designed to meet the publishing needs of a wide variety of authors; and Abbott Press gives you the freedom to choose a package with services that are most relevant to your specific publishing goals. You can rely on an Abbott Press consultant to help you select the package that is best suited for your book.

Put your best work forward.Deciding to put your work out there where the world can see it is a career-changing step; and we understand it’s important to you that your work is truly ready for its big debut. Once you’ve purchased a publishing package, an Abbott Press Check-In Coordinator will work with you to make sure you properly submit your manuscript and any other supplemental materials for your book. You can choose to work with our professional editors and designers to help ensure that your finished book will meet your own high standards — as well as those of readers and industry professionals.

Stay in control.One of indie publishing’s most attractive benefits is the ability to take charge of your book’s future. Since you retain the full rights to your work, you remain in control of your book’s content, overall design and more. Each person you work with at Abbott Press will take his or her direction from you regarding the details of your book. Once you’re ready for the book production process, we’ll create your book’s interior and cover and send you electronic proofs for your review and approval. We strive to ensure that your distinct voice comes through and that you produce a book that fills you with pride. You can take advantage of our professional expertise and advice while still staying in control each step of the way.

Publish and promote your book.As soon as you give us the go-ahead, we’ll send your final manuscript to our printer and distributor, making sure your book is available for purchase from a multitude of big-name retailers. We’ll send you the first printed copy of your book to hold in your hands. Take a moment to enjoy the feelings that come with being a published author! When it’s time to promote and sell your book, Abbott Press offers many marketing and promotional services that can help you continue to move forward.

10 Fast Ways to Become a Better Writer (Even When You’re Burning the Midnight Oil and Can’t Afford an Editor Just Yet)

In the world of online and email communication, writing powerful copy makes all the difference.

Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you’re bad at writing and don’t like to do it, you’ll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated. -Paul Graham

The sun’s been down for hours and you are alone with a warm drink next to your laptop. You’re burning the midnight oil again in the back room, building your online business, and you know you need to put another post up on your blog, but you’re just not sure what, exactly, to write about.
The struggle of building your business and hustling on the side is that you don’t always have the time and luxury to write whenever you want, and while the idea of editors, proofreading, and revising your essays sounds great-you need to write something and write it now.

For people working a full-time job during the day, juggling families, and responding to other demands, having ample time to fill notebooks, draft, and re-write sounds like a pipe dream.
How can you quickly improve your writing? What tools are there beyond grammar and spellchecker to make sure you’re doing your best work?

Sometimes we need tactical, specific, and immediately useful tips to make our writing better. Most writing tips, for me, always seem to feel good – and then I struggle with the actual writing and re-writing. How do you transform the writing tips of Stephen King, Stephen Pressfield, Seth Godin, and Ray Bradbury (amazing storytellers, all) into actionable outcomes?

Here are 10 of my favorite strategies that help when you’re self-editing, scrambling to make ends meet, and holding both a beer and a coffee in your hands while trying to write-and want to do your best work.

1. Start with a story

Begin your piece with a fable that illustrates your point and shows the reader what it is that you’re talking about. Develop a scene and a scenario where people can nod their heads and say, yes, I see, that happens to me. I can picture myself doing that.

Despite how useful facts and lists are, stories are what resonate. We’re pulled into the grip of a helicopter crash, and most of us can’t look away when we see bright lights or hear loud noises. It’s the pull of the story and the unknown that captures our attention. Stories are memorable, and we can tell and re-tell them; they are, in fact, how we wire information into our brains.

Great writers on the web today hook readers in with stories, creating fictional (or narrative non-fictional) scenes with detail, specificity, and color.
Here are two great examples:

Danielle LaPorte, On Managing & Loving Money:

No one ever taught me how to manage money. My folks were young and working, Catholic High School didn’t give me any tips, and I skipped college. So that left me and my Visa card, which mysteriously showed up in the mail on my nineteenth birthday. I promptly went shopping that weekend. And the next weekend.”

If you look closely, the post is actually about a book launch, but the first paragraph isn’t about the book, the author, or the call-to-action at the end of the post. It’s a relatable, tangible story that outlines the problem all to common to many people: the problem of managing money, and the story of what happened when she got her first free credit card.

Caleb Wojcik, on The Metrics You Should Measure:

You know the rush. A guest post you’ve written goes live on a huge site, you finally launch the product you’ve been working on for months, or an older article of yours gets Gizmodo’d.You watch your traffic spike and you can’t peel yourself away from the analytic for the whole day.

‘Look at all those visitors!’ you yell to your significant other as they feign interest.”

This post is about what you measure when you’re evaluating your blog, website, traffic, or product. The introductory story, however, is about that feeling you get when you see a post of yours go live, hit the charts, or make the rounds in Twitter-and the way your significant other may or may not be involved in your online business.

You can also use this strategically in personal emails. For example, rather than jumping to the question you’re dying to ask, you can start out with a quick story (or set the scene for where you are). This situates the reader (on the other end, perhaps in some place far different than where you are) within the framework of your life. Like Instagram but with words, you can give a little snippet of your life through language:
For example, change typical emails that begin:

Hey Ryan, how are you? Hope you’re well.

To a quick setting of the scene-showing where you are and what’s in your life:

Hey Ryan,The other day, I was walking through the streets of San Francisco and grumbling about the never-ending fog. I realized that the city was like a refrigerator. Now that I’m in New York, I miss the air-conditioning and I also miss many of my friends like you dearly. It reminded me to email you and say hello. I hope you’re well.

In both blog posts and in emails, using stories helps you illustrate your point and takes general advice and makes it something the reader can see and feel.

2. Start with a question.

Much of life, and blog posts, are paradoxes, not answers. Starting with the answer first can be terrifying (and worse, inaccurate or incomplete).

We revisit the same ideas over and over again not because we’ve conclusively decided, but because each topic is worth thousands of conversations. We need the reminders, we meditate on the ideas, and we each have our own flavor and take on the issue. In a recent New York Times Opinion piece about the suffering in Syria, the author opens the essay with a question that haunts human philosophy: “Does the torrent of suffering ever abate – and can one possibly find any point in suffering?”
You don’t need to answer the question to write a great story or essay. Begin with a question, and add your thoughts.

3. Play with the use of first, second, and third person narrative.

First person is filled with “I” statements-great when you know the author, or you have a relationship with the person doing the writing. Second person uses “you” all the time-and can be a wonderful tool for creating empathy and describing a scene that you want the reader to inhabit-but can become bossy quickly with excessive use. Third person focuses on the scene or the action from an anonymous observer within the room.

Most of the time, we don’t actually care about the writer. Your reader wants to know exactly how the writing affects him or her-and whether or not the reading is going to matter to them specifically Right from the start, you should paint a picture of the person or scene and show the action happening.
While first-person can be a tremendous tool as a writer, many bloggers (myself included) are often far too liberal in writing our experiences. Luckily, there’s a quick way to fix this: write the post you would normally write, and then edit selectively to remove the “I” from a couple of paragraphs.
Take a paragraph that looks like this, for example:

I was tired and hungry from a long day and the rain was beating down on my bike helmet. I didn’t want to work anymore-I was completely exhausted and ready to hit the hay. But I knew how important it was to continue to get this project out the door-it was my first real project as an entrepreneur, and delivering it mattered.

And turn it into this (reducing the use of I statements-but still narrative):

The rain beat down on my bike helmet. It was a long and tiring day. Sometimes it feels better to hit the bed instead of continuing to work-but I wanted to impress my newest client. Getting projects out the door on time is critical for first-time entrepreneurs. It was important to deliver, and deliver well.

You’ll know when removing the first person is great when the paragraph stands on its own without the use of the first person narrative.

Take this post by Chase Reeves on “How Much You Should Be In Your Business?” – the opening sentence is focused on the reader (the second person). For the sake of contrast, I’ll rewrite the opener in two different ways as a point of comparison.

Original (Second Person): “You’re here because you want to create a business that supports you. You want to build something that earns and affords you the life you aim for.”

First Person: “The more important thing to my business is creating something that supports me-something that affords me the life I want and creates earnings I can live off of.”

Third Person: “It’s clear why building a business is critical—it’s a form of support. It’s a source of earnings and creates a desirable lifestyle.”

To me, the original (second person) option is the most powerful-it connects with the reader, has them nodding yes, that’s my vision, and sets the parameters for the post. The first person version makes me wonder why I care about their business, and the third person feels dry and impersonal.
If you’ve written something and you know the content is good-but it’s not resonating in the way that you want-try re-writing it from a different point of view. That might be the trick to creating the snappy writing you want.

4. Talk it through.

Start with the communication vehicle you’re most comfortable with. Most people get stuck writing because they haven’t done it enough. They haven’t sat at the computer and made writing a habit, and each time they do eventually get to the screen, they agonize over each word choice and sentence until they’ve beaten the poor essay to death, 500 words and 2 bottles of wine later, declaring, “I’ll never write again, no, not me!”

If you’re stuck on writing, chat with a friend and use voice recorder, or stomp around your office or hallway and talk things out. Much of great conversation and thinking is done while moving-why should we sit and expect the great ideas to pour out of us once we’ve relegated our bodies to stillness? Start talking, start recording, and go for a walk. Many a mile I’ve walked with an earphone in my ear and a voice recorder on, pretending to talk to someone else while I’m actually just talking to myself.

5. Write the outcome you want first-by beginning with the ending.

Start with the ending, and the desired action. Sometimes the posts I write are creative, lyrical, poetic, and exploratory-that’s fine. Other times, I want something, and I want something specific. Perhaps it’s a donation to charity water, or a sign-up to my latest writing workshop. Each time, I think carefully and specifically about the person who will be reading the essay, and the end of the piece, and what action I want them to take.

Step one: write the desired outcome. Before writing your post, write the action or outcome that you want people to do. How do you want them to take action?

For example, a desired outcome might be getting people to sign up and enroll for FizzleCo. So, begin by writing this outcome down:

Sarah goes to the website, reads my post, and nods. Yes, she’s having all those problems I’m articulating. She really wants something to help her with online business training. Why does she click on the post at the end? Something is really compelling-she clicks because she’s having trouble figuring out how to make great videos and wants to talk to more people who are having the same issue-so, here’s what I’ll write at the end: Want to get better at making outstanding videos and meet more customers? Sign up for FizzleCo.

Step two: Outline the puzzle pieces (usually I use post it notes across my desk) that create a story framework that will lead to this desired outcome:

• Start with a story-introduction that elucidates the situation or pain point
• Add in background information and expert details;
• Create the framework for a solution to the problem with suggested steps;
• End with a call to action and final solution (your recommended solution).

6. Write about things you know.

Write about things that seem incredibly obvious to you (and that you’re perhaps overlooking). Describe how you do things, and how you sort your day. Pay attention to the questions people ask you at conferences, in email, and during dinner conversations for clues to what people want to know. Surprisingly, people are incredibly different and what you do may be novel to someone else.

7. Be incredibly specific.

Clichés and abstract thinking are painful to read and prevalent across every type of writing. The solution to clichés is to get incredibly specific-start detailing the scene and describe who is doing what, where you are, and what is happening. Examples are more powerful than anecdotes.
For example:

It was grueling, and I was exhausted. I’d never worked so hard in my life.
Can be turned into something much more specific, with details about who, what, where, when, and why:

My arms were quivering and shaking; in retrospect, doing a 26-mile run the day before writing my launch essay was probably not the best strategy. I could barely keep my fingers above my keyboard.

8. After you’ve written your essay, go back and delete the first and the last paragraph.

After you’ve written your post or essay, go back and delete the first and last paragraph. The body usually contains the most of the “meat” of the post, and many writers amble on too long in the introductions and conclusions. Try deleting it and shortening it to make it sweet and punchy.

9. Mimic great writers you like.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If you’re stuck, use Ever note to copy and trace patterns that you like. I like to save out great essays and drafts from my favorite writers, print them, and then highlight them to study how people write effectively. Behind the words that you enjoy the most are patterns and clues to great writing.
For example:

• Email headings: Pay attention to what you click on in emails-what were the five emails you opened first today? What did the headlines say? Jot those down. Circle words that felt great. Were they long or short? What made you want to click? Take one you like and flip it around to become something that works for your business, idea, or model.
• Start with a bang. Use powerful ledes. Not sure what a lede is? (It’s the bullet or grab at the beginning of a story, made clear in the first paragraph) – skim 5 opening paragraphs of the New York Times with a highlighter and see what you like about each one. Convert it to your own style.
• End with a boom. Wrap up the writing with a punchy statement, a leading question, or a call to action. If you’ve deleted your first and last paragraphs, perhaps there was one sticky statement you wanted to keep-perhaps distilling that into one sentence will do the trick.

10. Write less and link more.

Find examples and point to them. It’s perfectly okay to not reinvent the wheel – it can be equally valuable to curate great content or showcase your process of discovery if it’s lead you to a great outcome or conclusion.

Here are three of my favorite articles on how to be a better writer:

• 17 Tips for Getting Unstuck and Back Into Creative Flow, on Scoutie Girl
• Why You Should Write Daily, on Zen Habits.
• New Writer Traps and How To Avoid Them, on Think Traffic

In todays’ world of digital and fractured communication, writing is more essential than almost any other skill-when you get better at writing, you get better at everything.

Writing isn’t just a tool for communication – it’s a tool for creative generation and unlocking what’s within your mind. It’s a tool for discovery, search, synthesis and re-wiring. Writing regularly is not just a means to create content, but is itself a tool to generate ideas and crystalize ideas. Whenever you can, use a notebook, use Evernote, google docs, or another system to capture your ideas and practice collecting (and imagining) ideas.

The more you write, the easier it gets, just like any other habit. When I first began writing, it could take me 6 to 8 hours to write a short post. Today, I can start and finish a post in under an hour minutes if I’ve been thinking about it during the week-writing has gotten easier to do because I keep it up as a habit. I use writing and sketching regularly as a means to generate ideas. My notes become stories, my stories become paragraphs, my thinking wanders over the page, and then I pour content into the computer.

But when you’re pressed for time-or you’re stuck in the here and now of needing to write a post, having someone to tell you that “practice” and “consistency” are the best tools to get better at writing doesn’t help you with the post that you’ve got to find a way to write-right now.

How to Be a Good Writer

Here are some tips on how to become a good writer. It takes time, perseverance and practice. But with patience, good practical approaches and determination, you can turn your creative desire into concrete writing.

Part 1 of 5: Getting Practice

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   Write a lot every day. You may prefer to write in long or short sessions. Write a short paragraph or an entire page. See which works better for you.
   
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   Join online or neighborhood writing groups. You can even practice writing at wikis, such as wikiHow and Wikipedia. You will become a more proficient writer as you help people.
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   Do not leave the page blank. Getting anything on the page at all can help you get started. If you do not know what to write, start writing anything at all. Even if you begin with “This is boring and I don’t know what to write,” you may soon find yourself writing something more.
   
   • Look online for writing prompts. These are designed to give you a starting block to work from.
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   Make sure that people understand and interpret your writing the way you intend. Try it on a test audience and see how they react. If they don’t get it: you’re doing something wrong! Also try taking suggestions from peers and family to help you refine your idea.
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   Ask someone else to read your writing. If at all possible, have a second person read your writing. Choose someone whom you trust to be forthright and frank.
   
   • Eventually, you may be asked to comment on someone else writing. Be honest, but also be tactful! Make sure they understand that some things are more important to fix right away, but there may be other weaknesses that must be addressed eventually, when they’re ready to work to improve their writing quality still further. The desire for perfection can never rest.
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   Keep practicing. Perhaps some day you will become a famous writer, teacher, storyteller, or whatever your dream may be, but the important thing is that you love what you do.

Part 2 of 5: Gaining Vital Skills

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   Expand your vocabulary. Read the daily newspaper. Purchase a reliable dictionary and thesaurus. Your short story will not be nearly as exciting if every character “walks” everywhere and “yells” every time they’re angry. A comprehensive vocabulary can help bring your stories and poems to life, enabling you to better describe the world around you.
   
   • Do not underestimate the power of “said!” “Said” is a word that becomes invisible in dialogue. Try to only use other words when indicating volume, voice quality, accents, etc. Above all, never use “stated.”
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   Be sure that you are using words correctly. Some of the alternatives listed in your thesaurus may not have the right shade of meaning or be appropriate for the level of formality. Look up the word in your dictionary to be sure, and if in doubt, use a word that you already know. The key to using words in the way they are most commonly understood is to read, read, read. Re-read books and articles that strike you as effective, and closely examine the way they use words.
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   Use proper grammar. Proper grammar can mean the difference between a sentence that is graceful and translucent and a sentence that is awkward and ambiguous. When you first put your ideas on paper, you should try to write quickly so that you do not forget any of them. Be sure to focus on proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the revision process, though. Dangling modifiers and faulty parallelism can reduce clarity as well as the overall quality of your writing. If you have a question about grammar, refer to a grammar book, such as The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White^[1] or The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.^[2]
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   Tailor your writing to your purpose and your audience. Just as you change your clothing for the weather and the occasion, you should also change your writing for your audience and your message. Flowery writing, for example, might fit better in a poem than in a status report. Make sure that your writing is not too difficult (or too simplistic) for your audience. Adjust your word choice and sentence length for the given audience and level of formality. Limit jargon, and be sure to give your readers all the background information that they will need to understand your composition.
   
   • When writing fiction, for example, the rules are quite loose. Figurative language, generalization, writing to be read at the inferential level all have their place. But when you’re starting out, clarity is more important than style.
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   Edit your writing. Once you have a first draft, reread it and rewrite it. You are looking for errors in grammar and spelling as well as style, content, organization, and coherence.
   
   • Editing is an iterative process. You may edit a piece many times. Just remember, no writing is immediately perfect.
   • Give yourself time between writing and editing, if at all possible. It is better to wait a good length of time, but even a short break can give you some of the necessary distance and detachment to edit well.

Part 3 of 5: Inspiring Yourself

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   Read all sorts of things, but really take the time to enjoy an old-fashioned book. Regular reading will influence your style, taste, background, and ideas. It will also help expand your vocabulary and improve your grammar.
   
   • Reading pieces by other writers helps you to identify their writing styles and specific things that set them apart. Where necessary make corrections and look for ways you could make their pieces better.
   • Determine what is good writing and what is not. Find your literary heroes. Read both historical and contemporary authors.
   • Read a variety of topics and styles, with a focus on styles or genres in which you wish to write.
   • Make good use of your local library, both as a source of a variety of reading materials and as a resource.
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   Meet a writer. A writer could give you tips as well as tricks. Meet authors at Book launches or Community Book festivals and forums. Perhaps there is a writer living locally that you could consult through a public event, or even write/email them and ask if they are willing to meet you or offer any support.
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   Make lists. Are you writing a short story? Create an outline of the events. Are you a poet? List vivid adjectives or rhyming words for your poem. Are you working on an informative piece? Use a list to narrow down your topic or organize key facts. Are you unable to find a topic? Keep a list of topic ideas. Try brainstorming with the following ideas:
   
   • Questions that you would ask someone famous
   • Things that you would do if there were no risk
   • Things that you would do with a million dollars
   • Names that you would give an exotic pet.

Part 4 of 5: Writing Vividly

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   Write what you would like to read about. This will be the most engaging for your readers because your passion will shine through. Find something that you are passionate about and that you would pay to read. Focus on success of you story as a story not as a bestseller. Whatever else you are striving for, be it readers or money, will come after.
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   Create a setting and take your reader there. Vividly describe the setting to your reader. If you are writing a story that takes place in another region or another time, add some local color. If you are working on a nonfictional writing about Morocco, tell your reader about the charms of Morocco. Write about it as though you have traveled to Morocco yourself. Pretend that you are writing a travel brochure, and do some research. What would make your reader want to visit Morocco?
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   Be specific. Avoid implying or over-generalizing; vagueness and generalizations are less likely to grab your readers’ attention. Which sentence is more interesting to read: “In this town, the crime rate has significantly increased in the last year” or “In this town, the crime rate has increased more than twenty percent in the last year”? At the same time, try to include only the relevant details; say all that you need to say without wasting space.

Part 5 of 5: Writing Productively

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   Brainstorm before starting to write. In order to focus your writing, begin with the main idea. While thinking about what to write, put down any idea that comes to you, even if it seems far-fetched or unlikely to be successful. One not-so-good idea may lead to a better one.
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   Buy two notebooks. One is a “Vocabulary Notebook”, and the other is an “Inspirational Notebook”. In your “Vocabulary Notebook”, write down new words and their meanings as well as mnemonic devices (memory aids) to help you learn them. You may also want to write down some example sentences.In the “Inspirational Notebook”, write down bits and pieces from your daily life, such as a fun conversation that you overheard in the mall, or a joke that you were told by a friend. This can also be a diary or a journal. When you read something that makes you laugh or think, or tempts you to read aloud, look at what makes it effective.
   
   • Jot down all the ideas that occur to you, including the ones that would probably never work.
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   Plan your writing, especially if you are producing an informative piece. Use whatever technique works best for you. You can make an outline, put a collection of notes on cards and arrange them until they are in order, or draw a tree or map. It is possible to rapidly organize a broad topic with a tree or map structure.
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   Write as quickly as you can for the first draft. Try typing without looking at the keyboard. Do not pause to correct grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Write at least a few paragraphs before going back and correcting or editing. This is one of the most common recommendations for making sure that you actually finish what you start.
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   Be well-informed about your subject. Your research will make your fictional or nonfictional writing seem that much more real. You can use reading materials such as books, magazines, and online articles and also interview knowledgeable people. You may even be inspired by something that you see on television.
   
   • Remember that fictional writing will usually require less research than nonfictional writing. Make sure that you have a strong framework for your story before you start researching and filling in details. Try to first develop the main points of the plot. If you are having trouble finishing your story, however, research may give you some ideas for a satisfying conclusion.
   • If it’s an article make sure you have all the facts in front of you. Interviews, research and any background information you can find. Make sure there are no doubts in your mind as to the veracity of your facts.
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   Practice self-discipline. Discipline will be necessary. Writing everyday at the same time regardless of how you may feel will help you to gain this discipline and the will power you need to continue and finish whatever you begin to write
   
   • Of course, you also shouldn’t solely look at writing as work. It is actually fun. Don’t stress yourself out.