SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK

Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D.

AGENDA So You Want to Write a Book

• Introduction

• 1 Getting started / learning How

• 2 Conceptualizing

• 3 Writing

• 4 Critiquing

• 5 Re-writing

• 6 Editing – real important – editor and beta readers

• 7 Publishing

• 7.1 Self Publishing

• 7.2 Publishing on Amazon

• 7.3 Cover Art

• 7.4 Pricing

• 7.5 Branching Out

• 8 Marketing

• 8.1 Web Presence

• 9 Tools

• 10 Expectations

• 11 Q&A

• My Books

INTRODUCTION

My background

• Education/Background

• 40 technical articles (20 Silver Quill Awards)

• 4 patents

• Book on Six Sigma (Six Sigma MBB)

• Co-editor of e-zine Would That It Were (2000-2004)

• Technologist, statistician, integration specialist, programmer, cybersecurity

• Professor, project manager, program manager

• Jet fighter Pilot, Air Traffic Controller

• Short order cook, marathoner, scuba diver, martial arts, dramatics/thespians

1 - GETTING STARTED

Overall process

• Conceptualizing

• Writing

• Critiquing

• Editing

• Rewriting, rewriting, rewriting

• Publishing

• Marketing

1.1 LEARNING HOW

• DIY Instructions Online

• Join a community (book clubs, writers group)

• Podcasts

• Youtube videos

• Conferences

• Seminars

• Creative Writing Classes

• Buy books on HOW TO (everything)

2 - CONCEPTUALIZING • Where do ideas come from?

• (Everywhere)

• Join a community !

• Tips • Be a reader • Don’t wait for inspiration • The contract • Feed your imagination • Keep a notebook, journal, diary (bedstand) • Watch, Listen, Observe

• Blogs

• Items to consider • genre • audience (age, gender, etc.) • competition • Idea/concept (new, original, re-hash?) • Novelty • Length

• Rule of Thumb - 1st million words are garbage

3 - WRITING There are three kinds of Writers

• Those who focus on description • Writers of great prose, descriptions so realistic that you are drawn into the story

• Those who focus on characters • Realistic, believable, interesting characters that you identify with and feel for

• Those who focus on plots • Page turners, interesting, captivating storylines, turns and twists and a satisfying ending

• The best, of course, are those that master all three

• If you miss one or more you can end up with • Bland, boring prose (like a screenplay) • Flat, two dimensional, stereotyped characters; boring, uninteresting • Lame storyline or one that doesn’t go anywhere, or events that are entirely predictable • Producing the kind of book that you put down and never come back to finish

• Finding the Plot

3.1 – RULES OF WRITING • Writing and Punctuation Standards

• Chicago Style Guide; “Eat Shoots and leaves”

• Expect to make lots of errors

• To help you get started as a writer… READ!

• To become a good writer… more than anything else… WRITE!

• Rules for Writers

3.2 – MORE RULES • Show don’t tell

• Active Voice

• Descriptions involve ALL the senses

• Avoid adverbs

• Avoid Infodumps

• Mixed metaphors

• POV (1st person, 3rd person)

• Tense (present, past)

• Head hopping

• Keeping secrets from the reader

• Not keeping secrets from the user

RULES?

BAD EXAMPLES • Mixed metaphors (Bad first lines https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ )

2019 - Space Fleet Commander Brad Brad

sat in silence, surrounded by a slowly

dissipating cloud of smoke, maintaining

the same forlorn frown that had been

fixed upon his face since he’d

accidentally destroyed the phenomenon

known as time, thirteen inches ago.

THE HOOK

• Immediately grab the reader’s attention and interest

• Best opening lines

• Pride and Prejudice (By Jane Austen)

• “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

• A Tale of Two Cities (By Charles Dickens)

• “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …”

3.3 – TYPES OF STORIES • There are 3 types of stories…. or 7…. or 10….

• Well… there are some basic recurring themes • Boy meets girl --- Boy loses girl --- love conquers all • Coming of age --- loss of innocence • Rebirth – a story of renewal (fall / rise) • Rags to Riches (rise) • Tragedy (fall) --- Icarus (rise / fall) --- Oedipus )(fall / rise / fall) • Comedy • Cinderella (rise / fall / rise) • Conquering insurmountable odds/overcoming the monster (rise / fall / rise) • Journey and Return • The Heroes Journey / Quest

• Endings • Happy ending • Unhappy ending • Tragedy • Cliffhanger

4 - CRITIQUING - Critiquing an be brutal– plan on having your feelings hurt - but is educational

- Often performed by friends, fellow authors, or community associates

- Learn to write by Critiquing (

- You need to be your toughest critic

- Don’t Blame the Readers

- You can get some feedback from Tools (e.g. Autocrit) (e.g. Summary Report, 1. Pacing & Momentum, 2. Dialogue, 3. Strong Writing, 4. Word Choice, 5. Repetition, 6. Compare to Fiction, 7. Readability, Chapter, paragraph and sentence variation, clichés, POV consistency, tense consistency, filler words, passive voice, adverbs, dialogue tags, pacing, readability, complex words, repeated words and phrases, word frequency, overused words, uncommon words and more)

- You can pay for critiques (e.g.

5 - REWRITING

• and rewriting … and rewriting … and rewriting

• More than anything else, what makes a good writer is practice

• Write every day … make a contract with yourself 150 - 1000 words

• The Art of Writing is Re-writing

• Practice – short story contests, flash fiction (e.g. "The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933] - 198 words - https://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm )

6 - EDITING

VERY important – Editors will never get past typos

Editors and beta readers

Grammar checkers, spelling checkers, various analysis tools

Audio output – does it sound right

Editing Tools – Grammerly, Autocrit $

Can pay for commercial editing services – typically $1/page (Look for sales)

6.1 FORMATTING

• Ebook different standards than PB or HB

• Ebook - Symmetrical margins (no page numbers)

• Non-ebook - Asymmetrical margins (alternating sides for page numbers and margins)

• Rules for

• Line spacing, paragraph spacing, font size, Title page, cover, illustrations, TOC, Index, back pages, links

• Templates available https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834230

7 - PUBLISHING Many options

Publish in magazines or journals E-zines or blogs Publishing companies Find an agent Small press Self Publish

Copyright - copyright.gov, the website set up by the Library of Congress. There is an online portal to register copyrights for photographs, sculptures and written works. Fill out the form, pay the fee ($35-$55) and you are registered. To make things easier, you can also use an online resource to register your work for you. (e.g. Legalzoom $144; $99 https://www.trademarkengine.com/services/copyright-registration)

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

Launch plan – launch team - https://convertkit.com/create-timeline-successful-product-launch (A lot more work than it seems up front)

7 – ISBN NUMBERS

ISBN numbers

1 per format/version (ebook, PB, HB, audiobook, etc.)

https://www.myidentifiers.com

Some you have to buy, some are provided by your publisher

Buy 1 or a range and register upon use

Costs • 1 $125 $125 each

• 10 $295 $29.50 each

• 100 $575 $5.75 each

• 1000 $1000 $1 each

7.1 - SELF-PUBLISHING

(Indie Publishing)

• Formats (AZW, .doc, html, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, .rtf, .zip, .txt, ibook, .lit)

• Ebook, PB, HB, box sets, series

• KDP.amazon.com – Getting started

• Lots of How To articles and DIY instructions

Publishing Service Providers & Resources https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201723120

• Editorial services

• Book cover creation

• eBook and paperback formatting

• eBook conversion

• Translation resources

7.2 - PUBLISHING ON AMAZON

• https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/bookshelf

PUBLISHED BOOK • And after a few days…. The book shows up

AUTHOR PAGE • You can even create an Author page so people can follow you and get

notified when you publish again

7.3 - COVER ART • Cover art

• Ebook, phone, audio, PB, Hardbound • Mass Distribution paperback 5x8 • 5.5 x 8.5 6x9 (most popular) 7x10 and many more • Trim, Bleed sizes • Front, Back, Spine* • Other options

• Flat, Glossy • White paper, Cream • Black Ink, color ink

• ISBN and barcodes

• Mockups – Free or purchase (Covervault)

• Cover services (Fiverr, Freelancer, https://thejohnfox.com/2019/09/30-best-book-cover-designers/)

• Wide range of prices $25, $100, $300, $500, $1000, $2000

7.3 - COVERS

• Bleed

• Trim

• Spine

• Templates Available

7.3 - COVERS

• Front page

• Back page

• Spine

• Pdf

• jpeg

MOCKUPS COVERVAULT free Photoshop Templates

(all you need are the covers .psd or .jpeg or .png)

7.4 - PRICING • Pricing

• Cost plus profit; Royalty Plan (35% or 70%) • Kindle Select (exclusivity) • Distribution Territories

• US Kindle Store: United States • UK Kindle Store: United Kingdom (including Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Gibraltar, and Jersey) • DE Kindle Store: Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland • FR Kindle Store: France, Monaco, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg • ES Kindle Store: Andorra, Spain • IT Kindle Store: Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, and Switzerland • JP Kindle Store: Japan • NL Kindle Store: Netherlands • BR Kindle Store: Brazil • MX Kindle Store: Mexico • CA Kindle Store: Canada • IN Kindle Store: India • AU Kindle Store: Australia, New Zealand

• Pricing options (initial release, promotion, free, discount coupons, give aways, countdown deals)

• Currency (USD, Euro, GBP, JPY, BRL, CAD, INR, Peso, AUD, etc.) • Kindle Unlimited • DRM • Sharing • Author Copies

7.5 - BRANCHING OUT

• Amazon - Kindle

• Goodreads

• Bookbub

• B&N - Nook

• Smashwords

• Googleplay

• Kobo

• Applebooks - ibooks

• International distribution – other markets

• Audio books

8 - MARKETING • Promotions, Boost posts

• Goodreads giveaways (?questionable value)

• Ads (FB, Amazon, other)

• Sales (discounts and coupons)

• Book signings

• Advertisements

• Business cards

• Email signatures

• Bookmarks

• Community

• Mailing lists

• GET REVIEWS (friends, random, review publications) • TOS no family, no trading, no compensation - Don’t buy reviews (reviews are screened and monitored and can

be removed) • How to get reviews – Internet resources – tips and tricks - https://self-publishingschool.com/amazon-reviews/ ,

https://www.tckpublishing.com/self-published-professional-book-reviews/ , https://medium.com/a-writers-life/three-places-to-get-reviews-for-your-self-published-book-803386c85002

• Paid services, Can be pricey, take a long time and get a bad review

8.1 - WEB PRESENCE

• Author pages (e.g. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Smashwords, Kobo

• Facebook page

• Instagram page

• Website

• Blogs (Bookbub, Barnes) free or pay

9 - TOOLS

• Writing, formatting, spelling, grammar (MS Word, MS office, etc.)

• Formatting output formats, ebooks (Calibre, Kitaboo)

• Cover art illustrations – Adobe Photoshop

• Sound, audio (CS Audition)

• Editing/critiquing tools (Autocrit, Grammarly, Hemingway, ProWritingAid)

• Webpage builders (WIX, Squarespace, Google sites, Dreamweaver, etc.)

• Card stock and book marks (Vistaprint, 4over4.com, etc.)

• Blog builders

• Conference materials (banners, tables, display cases, posters, flyers, etc.)

10 - EXPECTATIONS

• How long will this take?

• How much will it cost?

• How much can I expect to make?

• 20booksto50K https://www.facebook.com/groups/781495321956934

• Facebook Group – how to make $50k

• Passion. Persistence. Patience. Professionalism

• Other Questions?

11 – OTHER OPTIONS

• Financing

• Grants and Fellowships

• Conferences and Scholarships

• Advances

THE AUTHOR

Follow the author at:

• Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Jeffrey-Robinson/e/B07V2XXJB8

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJARobinson

• FB Book Page https://www.facebook.com/UntoldTalesDrJARobinson/

• Author/Book website http://untold-tales.com

• Barnes and Noble author page

• https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/contributor/jeffrey-a-robinson/_/N-2tu7

• Twitter: @robinsonja15

• Instagram drjarobinson1

• Please post a review at https://www.Amazon.com

MY BOOKS SO FAR

• The Mindgames Trilogy

• Mindgames: Knight’s Gambit - August 2019

• Mindgames: Queen Sacrifice - (April 2020)

• Mindgames: Checkmate - (June 2020)

•

• Untold Tales – Science fiction short story anthologies

• Untold Tales – Volume 1 – July 2019

• Untold Tales – Volume 2 – July 2019

• Untold Tales – Volume 3 – July 2019

•

• The Missing Star Trilogy – SF adventure novels

• A Misfortune of Stars - September 2019

• A Temptation of Stars – Feb 2020

• A Fortune of Stars – (Jun 2020)

Other SciFi Novels

The Matriarchs – Dec 2019

Deadly Vantage – Sept 2019

Darker Days - (Apr 2020)

Worldwalkers - (May 2020)

Message in a Magnetic Bottle - (Jun 2020)

The Timefield Duology - Science Fiction Novels

Time to Spare – (August 2020)

Time Despair – (September 2020)

Fascinating Demographic Statistics

One-in-a Hundred - (July 2020)

Six Sigma: Software Quality Improvement: Success

Stories from Leaders in the High-Tech Industry - Jun

2011

THE BOOKS

Good science fiction isn’t always about technology. Good science fiction stories are those that are just good stories. Science and technology simply provide the venues or excuse for the stories.

The following are SF stories of the highest caliber, The topics they touch upon include: first contact situations, troubled communication, alternate realities, alternate dimensions, hope, and unexplained mysteries.

If you like good SF, you are sure to enjoy these stories.

This is the second in a set of three science fiction short-story anthologies by Dr. J. A. Robinson, technologist and author. Topics range from genetics and immortality, to crime and punishment, first contact encounters, the nature of the universe, and a ghost story, where the ghosts travel in time.

•

This is the third volume in a set of science fiction short-story anthologies by Dr. J. A. Robinson. Topics of the stories touch on the promises and dangers of technology, love and perception, horror, hope, the nature of intelligence, miraculous discoveries, and inexplicable mysteries.

Imagine what would happen, if the government stumbled across a drug that could turn about one in ten thousand people into fully functional telepaths. What would they do with such a drug? And what would they have such telepaths do?

This is a story of people caught in a struggle for power and control. It is a story of powerbrokers, telepaths, and secrets that have remained hidden for centuries.

The new drug creates a dangerous shift in power between governments, militaries, and powerful groups that wish to remain hidden. But the results are unpredictable, since secrets once discovered cannot remain secret anymore.

Imagine a device that would allow you to spy on anything, anywhere, at any time. Imagine being able to discover secrets buried for decades and what people would do with such a device, if they had sole use of it for decades. What would happen, if knowledge of this technology leaked? What would governments and intelligence agencies do to obtain this technology? And what might others do to keep it secret?

This is a story about the government, the military, intelligence agencies, and their quest for power. Some want the technology to uncover secrets to control people; others want to acquire information to sell; others want to use the device for very personal reasons. Conflicting groups face off with one another and vie for ownership of this very unique tool.

It’s a story about ethics, identity theft, good intentions, and our basest behaviors. Throughout the book, themes and topics about the power of technology, crime and punishment, law and justice, anonymity, and vigilantism shape a techno-thriller unlike any you have read before.

After all, new discoveries of this magnitude can’t remain secret forever.

Consider what the next step of human evolution might entail. How might it manifest itself? Would it be obvious or would it be difficult to discern?

What if a new species of humanity appeared in our midst, unbeknownst to us? What if they had been hiding their very existence from the rest of the world for generations without being detected? What if they feared, above everything else, that they might be discovered?

In an increasingly technological world, where secrets become more and more difficult to keep, how would they cope with their potential discovery and figure out how to coexist with a world that is both very similar and yet very different from their own?

The second book in the Missing Star trilogy, a tale about Del, Neebo and Plix, a rather unique trio of entrepreneurs and adventurers. Together they are on the verge of making one of the greatest discoveries in millennia, the rediscovery of a lost, ancient alien civilization that was wiped out more than 1,500 centuries before. Hurrying to reach their prize before others can, they embark on a dangerous quest that will either make them inconceivably rich or get them killed, for how can they manage the discovery of seven alien worlds and unimaginably advanced technologies and prevail against a galaxy of other races who would take it all away from them.

Some secrets, however, are too big to control and the more they learn, the less likely they are to survive to claim their prize.

This is classic space-opera at its finest, with fascinating characters, captivating science and technology, fast-paced action and surprises at every turn.

This is the first book in The Missing Star Trilogy.

It is a story of three galactic explorers in a universe many centuries from now. Del is an entrepreneur, who sometimes works on the shady side of the law. Neebo is an Artificial Intelligence, whose origins may lie with a forgotten race of alien destroyers, who were themselves wiped out more than 1,500 centuries ago. Plix is a highly intelligent symbiote with an agenda of his own.

The adventures of this unique trio involve intrigue, ancient secrets, and technologies that could upset the balance of power across the known galaxy.

This is space-opera in its finest tradition; exciting, humorous, intriguing, and action filled.

FUTURE BOOKS

FUTURE BOOKS