Why to Have a Newsletter and an Email List

Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com

One of the best ways to make direct contact with people is through an e-mail list. You can use this list to promote your books, your classes, any speaking engagements and more. Perhaps the best part about having such an e-mail list is that it is yours.

There are limitation to contacting people via social media. You are at the mercy of algorithms. Part of the vagary of algorithms is what gets pushed vs what gets downplayed when. Include a link in your post? It will get downplayed by Facebook.

There are so many directions that you can go with a writing newsletter.

• Play with new ideas. Want to serialize a project to gauge interest? Do it in a newsletter.
• Share writing prompts.
• Do you love exercises or meditations that open the way for creativity? Share them in a newsletter?
• This can be your place to share markets and calls for writers.
• Maybe you just want to write about the books that you love and think other writers will love.
• One newsletter I get shares a weekly essay along with graphic novel style illustrations.
• You could share information on what you are researching or writing.

Mine is about the things that fuel my creativity. So I share what I am currently reading, what I am listening to, and what I am watching. If you haven’t seen my newsletter, you can see it and sign up here. A new issue just went out today.

A newsletter is a serial like a podcast or a blog. Like any other serial, it is important to set a schedule and try to stick with it. This doesn’t mean that the world will end if you miss an issue or you are a day late. But it does make it easier to build a readership. Mine goes out twice a month.

A few people have asked why I chose Substack. As long as I don’t charge for the newsletter, Substack is free to use. It doesn’t matter how many subscribers I have. There is no cap. The fees don’t come into effect at a certain number or increase at a certain number. Then only way I will have to pay is if I start charging for the newsletter. Then Substack gets a percentage.

So far it has been fairly simple to figure out. If you decide to start your own Substack, let me know so that I can subscribe!

–SueBE

Freebie Friday

Not that I’m going to have a freebie every Friday, but when I do — Freebie Friday! This week I finished another book list for young readers. These books are about or set in Kentucky. There’s one by me (L.C. Edwards), one by Jane Yolen, and 16 more. Click here to download a printable copy.

Every book list that I create presents unique challenges. A source that yields a wealth of Missouri titles will have next to nothing on Missouri.

Other times a book listed as being about or set in a state and I just don’t understand why. Sometimes, I just don’t know enough about the topic. I bio might mention that the subject was born in Missouri. Or passed through Missouri. Or maybe they looked across the Mississippi River at Missouri. Sometimes the author is from the state in question but the book isn’t related in any way.

This time around, I found a wonderful selection of books at NoveList. This research tool is available through the St. Louis County Library System. All I had to do was log in and key in “Kentucky.” The initial list included 1000s of titles. I had no interest in combing through them so I narrowed the search by reader age, checking every box that related to children and teens. Then I narrowed the search by publication date since I only want recent titles.

What tools do you use when you are searching for books on a given topic?

Off to contemplate what state to feature next!

–SueBE

Sidebars and Picture Book Depth

Two picture books with depth.

“There isn’t enough a strong picture book manuscript. It needs more depth.”

If you’ve been writing picture books for any length of time, someone has probably said something like this about your work. It doesn’t matter if it came from a critique partner or an editor. It is never what you want to hear.

The reality is that a picture book is expensive to produce. Which means it is fairly expensive to buy. To keep buyers buying, editors and publishers work to create picture books that will stand up to multiple readings. One way to do this is through depth,

In nonfiction you can give a manuscript depth by using sidebars.

What’s a Sidebar?

You’ve almost certainly seen sidebars even if you don’t know the term.

See the photo on the right? The text in the green text box is a sidebar in a book for tweens and teens. Generally it is located at the side of a page of text. Get it? Side bar. But sometimes it is at the bottom of the page.  It is essentially a mini-article about a topic that is related to the main text.

The sidebar in the graphic is in my Ancient Maya book. The main text included information about a jade artifact. The sidebar explained the importance of jade in Mayan culture. But picture book sidebars look a little different.

The Picture Book Sidebar

Below is a two page spread from He Leads, a picture book about gorillas by June Smalls. The main text in the spread is on the left page. Note the larger font.

The sidebar is on the right page. The text is much smaller.

As in a book for older readers, the sidebar gives more information. This spread is about the silverback finding food for his family. The sidebar details what the gorillas eat and how much food they need each day.

So how does it create depth? The first way is that it gives additional information. It expands on the main body text.

Why not just put it in the main body? You could. But that would eliminate some of the depth. As it stands, a younger child can be read only the main body text. That makes the book a quick read. It is a nice introduction to the silverback of a mountain gorilla band. The sidebar can be read along with the main text for an older reader. An older independent reader might read both the main text and the sidebars. Or this reader could read just a sidebar here and a sidebar there. They stand alone.

This way the book can grant a wide variety of experiences to a wide variety of readers. It can age with a child. Or it can be ready differently from sitting to sitting based on attention or tiredness.

If you want to write nonfiction picture books, check out both of these books by June Smalls. You’ll see how to use sidebars to create depth. You will also see how to create a nonfiction series. This fall, She Leads (elephants) and He Leads (mountain gorillas) will be joined by They Lead, a book about wolves.

Depth and a varied experience. It’s how you keep readers coming back.

–SueBE

What Social Media Should I Use?

Photo by Geri Tech on Pexels.com

This is a topic that is coming up more lately. In part it is a product of the many types of social media available. You can have a website. Maybe you are on Twitter (or whatever it is called today) or Facebook. Then there’s Instagram and Substack. And the list goes on!

Admittedly, it got worse when Musk bought Twitter and liberal writers started abandoning ship. “Twitter just isn’t what it used to be.” Honestly? Some people really aren’t good at seeing their on role in cause-and-effect.

Whoa! Where did that soap box come from?

Anyway, how important is social media and what should you use? Here are the things that you need to know.

Social Media Is Vital

Not what you wanted to hear? That’s sad.

The reason that social media is vital is that it is a way for people to find you. If you want people to buy your books, they need to be able to find these books beyond Amazon. And that means that they need to find you. But there’s good news because social media doesn’t have to be back breaking.

Start with a Web Site

As Janet Reid recently told her readers, the first thing that you need is a web site. Please, don’t fuss. Janet Reid said it. You cannot argue with Query Shark. Don’t do it. You can read her words here.

In my own words, the reason that you need a site is that it is someplace for people to find out about you. Who are these people? Editors and agents that you query. Writers who might want to interview you. Someone who is considering offering you a writing job. And the people who want to buy your books.

Engagement Matters

Okay, you’ve got a website now. Take a look at the various types of social media. You don’t need to do everything. Find a community you are comfortable with.

What’s this about a community? That’s what you are doing with social media. You are building a community that will help you build interest in you and your work.

You don’t do this by posting your book cover 27 times a day. Or by posting pictures of your office, your dog, and your seat in the garden where you contemplate your art.

Yes, you can post about all of those things. But you build interesting in your work by being part of the community. You show interest in the work of others. Post photos of yourself reading their books. Comment when you request a book through your library. Share, share, and share some more.

These are the people who will become your cheerleaders. These are the people who will sign up for your newsletter and recommend your books to other people. If you’re a good neighbor, people are more likely to be a good neighbor to you.

Good grief. I sound just like my mother.

–SueBE

Pitching or Querying: Make It Yours

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

I recently read a blog post about why your query isn’t bringing in any positive responses. This agent listed two major problems.

• Grammatical errors.
• You’ve already sent it to all the appropriate publishers.

I would like to add one more potential problem. Your query or pitch is too generic. Here are three problems that make a query or pitch seem vague and unspecific.

Title and Character Name

First things first, I want to know the title of the manuscript and the name of the character. Yes, this means that I expect one of these two pieces of information to be revealing. If your title contains the words “mysterious,” “missing,” “murder,” or “ominous,” it sets a certain tone.

Missing in Malibu is both ominous and we know where if not when.

Story Problem

Second, include the story problem and be as specific as possible. Your character count is limited in a Twitter pitch but you need to give as much information as you can. A character who is running away to start a new life may be hiding from a killer or they might be an escaped murderer. And, really? That would be two very different stories.

Consider the specific problem and what is at risk if your character fails. “Emily Marsh didn’t mean to push the mayor’s son into the river but she knows this vindictive man will only stop searching for her when she hangs.” Okay, it isn’t great but it is specific.

Voice

Sometimes the problem just isn’t terribly specific. Most of the important information is there but the whole things just feels blah. Imagine expecting to pop a delicious cookie into your mouth only to discover it is a salt-free saltine.

When something feels this flavorless, the missing ingredient is often voice. The result is a piece that feels like it was written by AI. Technically nothing is wrong but it is dull.

How do you spice it up? Discuss your book with someone. This should be someone that you tend to get a little excited around. Tell them about the character and the story problem. What is the setting? What is it compelling? These are the things that you need to communicate in your pitch. What can you do to pull this enthusiasm into your writing?

Because that is something you need to do to make your pitch or query sing.

–SueBE

Stepping Back to Focus

Some days I can roll from one project to another. I write blog posts, prep posts for Twitter, and work on my most recent project. I may even get a little time in on a freebie.

Other days, all of this just seems like too much. I just want to focus on one thing for a while!

So what do I do? If possible, I change how I work. Monday is all about social media and blogging. Tuesday is for busy work that I didn’t manage to fit into Monday. Wednesday, I get to work on my latest project.

We also make the time as a family to do something fun. Sometimes we go see a museum exhibit or go to something in town. But our favorite is to head out to Wayne County, Missouri. What’s the best thing about Wayne County? The Ozark hills mean that finding a sight line to a cell tower can be all but impossible. This means that cell service and WIFI are patchy at best. That’s right. I get to tell everyone that I am unreachable.

We unplug and read. I knit. They hunt and fish. If it isn’t hunting season, we wander around. This is the pond that isn’t too far from where we stay. It is ringed by persimmon trees which are a wondrous treasure if you are down there just after the first frost. There is nothing better than a wild, native persimmon. Except maybe the blackberries.

I say that this is a great way to restore my focus. And it is.

But I also come up with ideas. This trip my husband was the focus of many a bumble bee. They would rush him and then hover several inches from his chest or his back. I think it had something to do with the Captain America shield on his t-shirt. I have no idea how it looks to a bee, but I am very curious! I wonder how I could find out?

–SueBE

Don’t Exhaust Your Reader

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

You know how it is. You never pick up a book that you expect to dislike. But you anticipate some novels more than others. Earlier this week, I finished reading a novel that I expected to adore.

I’ll be honest. I can finish most novels in just over a week. I read fast and I dive into the story. When my husband is out of town, I’ll stay up until 3 am or later reading.

This book? This book I gladly put down whenever he turned off his light. We each have a light so technically I don’t have to stop when he stops. But I wanted to so badly.

I refused to give up on the book because I knew that I should be hooked. It was life or death. Lots of life or death! There wasn’t a page where the character wasn’t in danger, feeling threatened, in recover, or anticipating impending death!

And that was the problem.

Pacing is a tricky thing. Action adventure books need to have quiet moments. Horror books and suspenseful stories need to have happy moments.

When they don’t, the reader gets what I lovingly refer to as tension fatigue. They’ve been on the edge of their seat for too long. Things are too tense. They need a breather.

And when you don’t give it to them, you are at serious risk of losing them. At some point there is a very real possibility that they will say “enough is enough.” When that happens they will put your book down and simply not come back to it.

Tension and drama are exhilarating except when they aren’t. Give your reader a moment to catch their breath. There are different ways to do this.

• They can reflect on happier times. You don’t want to spend a lot of time in back story, but the color of a flower can remind a character of a beloved sister and her favorite dress.
• They can appreciate something small in the moment of the story. Perhaps it is a flavor or the sound of rain. It doesn’t have to be something big.
• Or they can anticipate what getting to the end of the plot means for them. Just make it positive and make the contemplation a little quiet.

In the world of your story, your character will appreciate getting a break. And in the real world? Your reader will be able to catch their breath and prepare for the next tense moment.

–SueBE

Silencing Your Inner Critic

“Why are you even taking the time to write this? No one cares.”

“Your letter/manuscript/post had a mistake in it. That’s why no one takes you seriously.”

Maybe you don’t have an inner critic. If you don’t, lucky you. I trace mine back to childhood when I was told in no uncertain terms that people were waiting for me to mess up. “What will people think of you if you behave like that? Dress like that? Say things like that?”

Then I became a writer. I was told in no uncertain terms that an error would bring a rejection. And, in truth, it might. So might sending a manuscript about spiders to an agent who is arachnophobic.

The reality is there is only so much you can control. And you are, presumably, human. I haven’t actually made you all check the “I am not a robot” box. So that last bit is an assumption. But let’s go with it.

The thing about being human is that you will make mistakes. It is what we do. Your mistake might be that you tried to make the morning coffee without a coffee cup or carafe in the coffee maker. Yep. That was messy. Or you might have signed on to your computer only to notice that your blog title contained a . . . typo? Error? What do you call it when you type “roll” instead of “role”? Maybe it’s my dyslexia, but homonyms give me fits. I knew it was wrong the moment I saw it, but not when I typed it.

And the really amazing thing? No one said anything rude. No one avoided my content. I actually had twice as many views as I do on a regular day. I made a mistake and the world did not end.

I’ve been super uptight about starting my newsletter on Substack. Largely, I’m using Substack to manage my e-mail list but it will also will put my work in front of an entirely different group of people. I’ve already had one message from someone who really liked it.

None of us is perfect. All we can do is our best. And if you do make a mistake, fix it. Then move on. Don’t let your inner critic bring you to a stop. Out in the reading world is someone who wants to read what you have written. Wouldn’t it be awful if you listened to your critic and this person didn’t get to read your work?

–SueBE

Creating an Email Newsletter

Way back when I was a newer writer and new writing instructor, I had a newsletter. I maintained my own email list which I had to update as people changed email addresses. Eventually it fell by the wayside as various limiters were put on email accounts and what was considered spam and blocked.

But email newsletters are making a comeback for a variety of reasons.

• Email Lists are a vital part of any writer’s marketing plan. You can reach out when you want with what you want.
• Social Media has limitations. Yes, you can post what you want when you want on social media. But Facebook doesn’t tend to push posts that include outside links. Twitter did but who knows what’s up with Twitter at the moment.
• Free Content is a great way to bring people to your email list and newsletter. If they opt in to receive it they are more likely to read it and participate in a variety of ways.

I’ve been noodling over restarting my newsletter and decided to do it this week. You can find it here. I’ll be posting about reading, writing, and creativity. If you subscribe to my newsletter, I’ll be posting about subscribers books as well.

The reality is pretty simple. I love to post about other peoples’ books. My biggest goal is to share wonderful books with as many people as possible. This newsletter will help make it possible.

No, I’m not going to stop blogging. But there will be things that appear in the newsletter and not here. It is simply a way to access a bit more.

–SueBE

Giving Each Character a Role

My favorite mentor. Image by Fernando Ribas from Pixabay

I love reading up on how to create strong characters. That’s probably because, especially in my first drafts, I end up creating place holders. What’s a place holder? A character that is almost never present. They ask one important question. They give the main character someone to talk to. But they don’t DO anything much.

Recently I had this problem with the picture book that I’m working on. The first time my critique group read it, they pointed out that the grandparents and little brother did almost nothing. They needed to play bigger parts in the story.

As I was revising, I realized that the little brother could go. Grandma and Grandpa became essential backstory that don’t appear in the book. That would solve everything. Right?

If only. This time around my critique group took a good hard look at the mom. “This is a story about the main character and Dad. I don’t think both parents need to be in the story.” Once one person said it, the truth was obvious to all of us. I see another revision in my future but each one is definitely improving the story.

Yesterday I read Janice Hardy’s Fiction University post on mentors. A mentor is a character acts as a guide, helping the protagonist early in the story. This character can give the protagonist skills or tools to accomplish their task.

But I had to laugh when I read this part of Hardy’s post. She said that there is a problem “if their role is to be the protagonist’s Google.” Too funny! But I totally get what she means.

The mentor has to be helpful. If they aren’t, your critique group will tell you to get rid of them. No, really! But they are “Google” if they immediately serve up the right answer, know the history and function of everything across all time, and drop information to solve a problem at Point X when this is something they could have brought up much earlier.

I can see that it would be tempting to use the mentor character as the gateway for author intrusion. What do I mean? When the author delivers a lecture on any topic, either history or scientific in the real world or in the story world, this is author intrusion. Hint: If your kid’s eyes would glaze over, don’t do it in your story either.

Every character needs a part to play in the story. And that part should not be walking around with a sandwich board of ever changing information. Be sure to take the time to read Janice’s post here.

–SueBE