Write Now Editing

First Impressions: Book Covers by Lora Doncea

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First impressions are powerful! With a single glance at someone, we take a snapshot of their entire appearance, analyze their body language, and instantly form opinions about them. Making snap judgments based on first impressions is an ingrained part of human nature, and we will fiercely cling to our conclusions. Writers need to utilize this power! People are avalanched with hundreds of books. How can you get potential readers to buy your book?

If you’ve snagged a potential reader by a riveting cover, they will read the description of the story next. It’s critical to hook readers by this summary. Their first impression of the book content will either grab them solidly, or they’ll just move on. Use an excellent editor to help you write this description succinctly and powerfully.

Example: Which book would you want to read?

1) A man who is a cop and a woman who is an artist are thrown together by unforeseen and terrible circumstances. There is danger that threatens them and everyone around the world like tsunamis ready to drown them. Will they survive? Will they save the world? Will they fall in love after all they’ve been through together?

-Or-

2) One horror-filled incident eclipses all the success that FBI Special Agent Jim Granite has amassed in his career. No one knows that the confident, steely man who has made a national name for himself is driven by sweat-soaked nights and secret torment he can never escape. One miscalculation permanently wrecked his life. But it will never happen again. Never. And no one will ever find out about it.

Tarina Vee savors her lavish life after a decade of agonizing work and extreme sacrifices to reach the pinnacle of success. She is sought after by high-paying clients to create elaborate and mysterious sculptures. She is regularly featured in magazines and on reality TV shows, flying all over the world in posh celebrity style. Talkative and animated, Tarina loves to speak about her work with passion, but she never reveals the meaning behind her enthralling pieces. That secret goes with her to the grave.

Boarding her private plane for a luxury flight to meet with a billionaire investor in New York, Tarina is tackled by a hijacker. He’s already killed her private pilot and flight attendant, but he says he’ll spare her for ransom money. Bound and drugged, she overhears him speaking cryptically to someone about pulling the trigger to demolish several key cities around the world. Something major is going down, but there is nothing she can do.

When a private plane ignores all warnings and crash lands in the middle of JFK airport, law enforcement swarms the area. A fully-shrouded man exits using famed artist Tarina Vee as a human shield and shouts preposterous demands to them. Before the NYPD Crisis Negotiations Team arrives, he shoots Tarina in one hand and threatens to shoot every joint and limb until his demands are met. Agent Granite gets permission to stop the madman, just as reports flood in of atrocities exploding across the globe. This is much more than a kidnapping for high ransom money. He’s got to neutralize this man immediately, save Tarina, and stop the destruction. Or get as far as he can before being killed.

You get the idea. In your book description, create vivid characters and scenes and plant intriguing problems and questions in the reader’s mind. Pull them in to experience it like a gripping movie preview that ends in a teaser so they have to read the book. Never write “Will he succeed in saving the girl and stopping the crime to save countless lives?” (yes, of course) or other silly, obvious questions. End with uncertainty to force readers to buy your book to find out what happens and how it happens. Don’t allow them to figure out the plot by your description—make them buy the book!

There is too much competition today with thousands of books for readers to choose from, so yours needs to stand out. By creating a compelling first impression, you have a good chance of making a sale—and with an excellent story and powerful writing, it can lead to raving reviews, personal recommendations, and increased sales. Success!

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Lora thoroughly enjoys editing fiction and nonfiction books for Christian authors. She views editing as a ministry first, partnering with authors to make their writing polished and successful. She also writes a blog of “Savvy Writer Tips” to help writers spot and fix common problems. Read them on her website: EditsbyLora.com or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SavvyWriterTips. Lora enjoys reading, editing, being outdoors, spending time with family and friends, music, art, quality chocolate, and soft kitties.

Making the Switch – Write Now Editing!

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If you want to succeed in business, it’s important to know your audience – who are they, what do they want, and how can you help them. As their needs change, you have a choice to make – change with them or let them find someone else who will help them.

For the past several months I’ve been noticing the changing tide. Fewer people contact me regarding content writing. More people want to know about book writing and fiction editing. Roughly 80% of my income now comes from editing, teaching, and other book-related work … so what does it mean for Write Now Editing & Copywriting Services?

Good-bye “Copywriting Services,” and welcome to Write Now Editing!

That doesn’t mean I’ll never be available to write content for anyone, nor does it mean I’ll stop helping businesses and organizations create more effective copy, but I need to connect with my clients, and those clients are currently in the fiction-writing realm.

What does that mean for this blog?

There will still be social media and design tips (thank you Leslie Krukowski and Sierra Kellermeyer!) because authors need to know those things too! But you’ll notice a difference in the rest of the content – not as much business writing and more emphasis on fiction writing and editing.

I had planned on making this switch later in the year/early next year, but my first novel releases September 1, so I feel like this is the time to transition. It’s going to be a gradual transition; you may have already noticed some of the new tabs and updated links on the page. By the end of the year, the blog will fully convert and new fiction-focused resources will be available.

I’m addicted to content writing, though, so you’ll still find me tweeting about it and sharing some of my favorite tips on LinkedIn. And just because you won’t necessarily find me writing about it here, your questions are always encouraged! If I can’t help you, I’ll find someone who can.

So, here’s to the transition – moving toward my original passion (fiction) while embracing my love of helping others (editing and teaching!). Welcome to Write Now Editing: Editor. Teacher. Speaker.

Are you interested in learning more? Would you like to receive tips and special offers sent directly to your inbox? Sign up for my newsletter!

When You Can’t Afford an Editor: 5 Easy Tips for Stronger Content

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Few people go into business planning to give it their second-best effort. Instead, they prepare. They plan. They invest in the website and store front, possibly in business coaching and financial planning. They do what it takes – spend what it takes – to provide the best services and products possible.

But not many of them leave room in their budgets for content writing or editing.

It’s one of those things that most people do for themselves (regardless of whether or not they should). But I’m not here today to try to convince anyone that they should hire an editor. The truth is that most of the business owners I know realize they need help with their content, but they just can’t afford it. Until that glorious day when content writing skills are as appreciated as accounting skills, I understand that people will write their own content.

That doesn’t mean I have to sit by and let them do it badly.

There’s no substitute for a professional, trained editor, but there are things that anyone can do to help strengthen their business’s or organization’s content. Here are five easy tips for writing stronger content.

  1. Have another industry professional read it. No one knows your industry as well as the people in it, so there’s no one more qualified to spot an informational error than those people. If you’re in a professional association, see if someone there would be will to fact check your content; if you’re not, ask a local colleague. They’ll help you spot any industry-related inaccuracies that others will miss.
  2. Have someone outside the industry read it. Once the pros have had a go, head the other direction and find people completely unfamiliar with your work. These people will be able to tell you what does and doesn’t make sense to layman (which is especially helpful when you’re trying to draw in new clients).
  3. Have an English teacher read it. But not for grammar. English teachers around the world might revolt because of what I’m about to say, but it’s the truth: your content writing doesn’t have to be technically correct. Remember when you were taught not to start sentences with conjunctions? And when the teacher said not to end a sentence with a preposition? Forget it, especially if you’re writing for your website. Proper grammar isn’t the most important thing; connecting with your audience is! Instead, see if an English teacher (or other publishing professional) can give you a solid copyedit – spelling, punctuation, word usage (should you use whet or wet?).
  4. Read it backwards. Start with the last sentence of your copy and read it backwards, one sentence at a time. When you read it as written, your mind fills in spaces with what you know should be written (even if it isn’t there or if it’s written incorrectly). By reading it backwards, you force yourself to read each line individually, which will help you identify those typos.
  5. Read it out loud. It’s easy to skim over an awkward sentence when you’re reading, but it’s hard to ignore it once you’ve spoken it out loud.

Will these five tricks turn you into a master copywriter? Sorry, no, but using these tricks with help you strengthen what you’ve written, making your content more effective.

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10 Steps to Effective Copywriting (via Entrepreneur)

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If you’ve ever read a piece of junk mail, turned on the television, or opened a newspaper, you’re sure to have seen these sales techniques. Flashy fonts and proclamations sometimes work, but what really sets an ad campaign (or website) apart is its content: now what the words look like, but how you tell your story.

Susan Gunelius, a VIP contributor to Entrepreneur, nails it when she says:

Copywriting is about more than writing the hard sell sales letter that many short copywriting courses offer…Well-crafted copywriting doesn’t need to beat a person over the head. It doesn’t have to drown in bold typeface and capitalization. The message should stand on its own without an overabundance of heavy-handed sales language and design embellishments.

But how can you – an inexperienced copywriter – write that kind of content? Gunelius breaks it into ten easy-to-understand steps:

  1. Exploit your product’s benefits
  2. Exploit your competition’s weaknesses
  3. Know your audience
  4. Communicate W.I.I.F.M. (What’s In It For Me?)
  5. Focus on “you,” not “we”
  6. Understand your medium
  7. Avoid T.M.I. (Too Much Information)
  8. Include a call to action
  9. Y.A. (Cover Your Ass)
  10. Proofread

Even though she wrote this article in 2009, the same principles apply (and work!) today.

I encourage you to click on over and check it out. Even if you’re pretty sure you know what she’s referring to in each step, give it a read and refresh your memory – it’ll at least help you strengthen your copywriting foundation. At best, you’ll walk away with ten new tools to help you with your content-writing needs.

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Tips for Editing Web Content (via Custom Fit Online)

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Passing college writing classes does not mean you have the tools to write effective web content. Fear not! That doesn’t mean you can’t pick up those tools, you just need to know where to find them.

One such place is Custom Fit Online, where writer Erica Osburn shared a blog post about writing and editing website content. Not business content, website content. Why? Because people who read blogs are not necessarily the same people who read brochures, so you need to know how to reach those people.

As Osburn puts it, “Editing your content for the web requires acknowledging, first and foremost, that people use and read web content for different reasons than print. Once you understand that basic difference, you can edit your content (and, ideally, compose your content) with a focused approach.”

After she helps you identify your audience, her post includes some of the writing tips you (hopefully) learned in school (such as writing actively – don’t let the report be read by Jane), but it also includes online-specific writing tips, including:

  • Chunk It Up
  • Use the Inverted Pyramid
  • Be a Perfectionist … And Give it a Rest

I am, of course, more than happy to help organizations and businesses with their content if this is too overwhelming or you’re not sure if you have the time to learn how to use your new tools properly. Applying Osburn’s tips, however, should help you create quality content that works.

For more advice from Osburn, click here to read “Tips for Editing Web Content.” Or contact me directly to see how I can help you create website content that attracts and keeps your readers’ attention.

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ABOUT ME

Editor. Teacher. Novelist.
A passionate lover of fiction, Karin doesn't just write novels, she helps others write their best stories! A certified substantive editor with the Christian Editor Connection, her goal is to help authors to put her out of business by equipping them with the tools they need to become better writers.

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Copywriting

Karin understood my advertising and marketing writing needs and accomplished the project in record time. She asked all the right questions up front to equip herself with enough … [more]

Editing

Substantive Fiction Editing: A substantive edit looks at the big picture. Start here to tackle the big issues before moving on to the nit-picky details. Substantive edits not only point out … [more]

Author Page

Lover of all things fiction, I also love University of Michigan football, the Detroit Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings, kayaking, gluten-free cupcakes, and my husband.

Resources

Fiction: Substantive Editing Classes Substantive Editing for Fiction 101 In Substantive Fiction Editing 101, we’ll look at the basics of a well-written novel and learn how to help our … [more]