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What's the question? Editor's Notes #124 June 15, 2012 |
| Hello, they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors and the most patient of teachers." --Charles W. Eliot In this issue: 1. What's the need? 2. Tickled my funnybone 3. Interesting Web site 4. Your burning question ========== 1. What's the need? When people buy your book, they are looking to meet a need. Do you know what it is? If someone is buying fiction, the need may be to be entertained or to learn about another time and place or possibly to be swept up in elegant language. If someone is buying nonfiction, Jim Edwards, who writes about writing and marketing, says the reader wants to meet a specific need. The top needs are to make or save money, to save time, to avoid effort or pain, to feel popular, and to be a social success. Know what your readers want. Deliver that, and you have the potential for excellent sales. Next steps include publishing and marketing, but only when your book delivers on the promise you make through your title, blurb, and sales material will you have the best sales of all, repeat sales and those that result in word of mouth recommendations. =========== 2.Tickled my funnybone Are tennis players cold hearted because love means nothing to them? =========== 3. Interesting Web site http://www.vocabvitamins.com/ =========== 4. Your burning question I'm currently attending a virtual summit on digital marketing, reading books on publishing, writing two books of my own and updating one, and editing. All this activity got me thinking about questions self-publishing (and other) writers have. When I sit down to write Editor's Notes, I often choose the topic from something I've read or a problem I've noticed in a clients' writing or something I've struggled with myself. But I write Editor's Notes for you. So I'm asking you for your burning question related to writing. This could be about the art and craft of writing, grammar, plotting, writing character, research, finding reliable professional help, marketing, software, hardware, operating a business, digital books, hard copy books, using graphics, designing a book, handling distribution, or something I haven't thought to put on this list. No, I'm not an expert in all of the above. But I am a great researcher, and I do have a great network of experts I can call on. I won't be able to answer your questions by return email, but I will use your questions as a guide to future issues of Editor's Notes or pages on the Writer's Helper Web site because in my experience, if one person has a question, many others have the same question. Simply hit reply and let me have the most important questions you would like an answer to. I thank you, and so will others who read the answers in the future. =========== If you know a writer who would appreciate receiving Editor's Notes, forward this issue. If someone has passed this on to you, you can get your own free subscription by signing up at https://www.writershelper.com/newsletter.html |
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