Grammar Nerds Rule!

This fun story proves that people who know their grammar are not only smart, but also get out of paying their parking fines legally.

A woman was given a parking fine for leaving her pickup truck in a restricted area. The sign said those who couldn’t park there were: “any motor vehicle camper, trailer, farm implement and/or non-motorized vehicle”. She decided a pickup didn’t fit the categories and parked.

The judge, apparently another grammar nerd, agreed. He said she didn’t have to pay the fine and the sign needed to have a comma after vehicle (before camper).

Which just goes to show that grammar nerds really do rule.

The full story is here: http://www.mamamia.com.au/entertainment/comma-usage-parking-fine/


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Cut “should” from your writing

Marisa Goudy has written an interesting article on removing the word “should” from your writing. She says it’s preachy and divisive, telling people where they have failed instead of suggesting ways to improve.
She advises people to substitute a more evocative, specific word and watch their writing take on a new tone that invites people to learn more from the writer – the compassionate, down-to-earth authority who is always there to help rather than criticize.
The article is well worth reading and can be found here: http://marisagoudy.com/want-to-connect-with-your-reader-cut-should-from-your-writing/

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Read more

People attending the recent Book Expo America were asked to offer advice as to why people should read more.
Buzz Feed has chosen twenty-six of them to feature in a story. I was excited to see an author I know among them!
For reasons why you should read, check out: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jarrylee/reasons-to-read-more#.uaxg0VPyj


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Self publishing: WARNING NSFW link

This is an excellent article about the mistakes authors continue to make in self-publishing. Just one note the writer uses a lot (and I do mean a lot) of swear words to make his point. Close your mind to the bad language and pay attention to his points. They’re worth noting.

Among his points are: Ensure your work is edited properly, lay out your pages properly, get a good cover, have interesting and accurate back matter, and work on your craft. Making the book the best it can be is up to the author. Authors need to take every step of the process seriously.

Here is the full article:
http://johnhartness.com/2015/05/21/why-your-self-published-book-looks-like-a-pile-of-ass-and-wont-ever-make-you-any-money/


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Why (and why not) to change a book’s cover

One of the definite advantages of self publishing is that you have to provide your own cover for your book. The good news is, if you get it wrong, it’s not too hard to change it.

Marketing for writers lists six reasons to change your book’s cover. These include to make it more relevant to the book’s theme or genre, to get rid of a bad cover, to update the book if it was looking tired and dated, and to link it to other books in a series.

They also advise against changing the cover too often or readers might get confused and possibly annoyed.

As with every part of preparing your book for sale, work hard to produce (or commission) the most appropriate cover for you book. But don’t panic. If it turns out you made a mistake, it’s not the end of the world.

The full article is here:
http://www.marketing4writers.net/home/6-good-marketing-reasons-for-changing-your-book-cover-and-2-reasons-not-to

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

An excellent article re self promotion

Over and over and over again all the studies show that the absolutely best promo for an author is to write another good book. Yet the vast majority of authors still spend many precious writing hours on every social media site known to mankind, trying to build a platform, struggling to make their brand stand out, and their name lodge in the minds of readers.

Facebook has many staff whose job it is to keep rearranging their algorithms so the way your fans see your messages is via paid posts, or only if they are among the 10% allowed see any given post. Amazon has much the same way of managing things so its own books always come up at the top of a search.

Blog hits, tweets, pins and so on don’t necessarily sell books. Oh a reader here or there might be excited by what she reads and buy something or download a free book, but they’re the exception. Not the rule. How many pairs of RayBan sunglasses have you purchased because that ad keeps turning up in your Facebook feed?

Social media is meant to be just that. Social. Talking to people, getting to know their pets, their gardens, their families, and also what book they’re writing. Building relationships takes time. Hours, weeks, months even.

Delilah Dawson has written two excellent articles about author self-promotion.
“There is no road map to success here. Most of the authors seeing the results I would like have either been writing for 20 years, have publishers dead-set on a bestseller and paying mad bank to help it happen, or wrote a book better than what I believe I'm capable of writing, and all I can do is keep trying to level up.… Let's write better books. Quietly.”

Read the articles here: http://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2015/4/13/please-shut-up-why-self-promotion-as-an-author-doesnt-work
http://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2015/4/14/wait-keep-talking-author-self-promo-that-actually-works

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Just Don't

I’ve just read an amazing article on the power of the word Just.

Just think for a moment about how you use that little word. Just four letters, but it’s such a powerful word. However, so often it’s putting the user down, making the speaker/writer seem insecure, excusing themselves for their own thoughts and actions. It almost always puts the user in the subservient position.

If you don’t believe me pick out the word in my few previous sentences. I’ve tried to use it in as many different ways as possible to illustrate the article I’ll give you the link for in a moment.

“just read”: I’m entreating you to pay attention because this is all new.

“just think”: I’m begging you, not telling you. “Think” alone would tell you what to do.

“just four”: again I’m downplaying it. “Four” conveys all the needed information by itself.

Okay, here’s the article. It’s well worth reading.
http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/real-life/the-four-letter-word-thats-holding-you-back-20150609-ghjwes.html


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.