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Marketing Your Book: The Difference Between Traditional and Digital Strategies

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Marketing a book is about making sure the right readers find it—but the way you reach those readers can look very different depending on the strategy you choose. For authors and small publishers, understanding the difference between traditional marketing and digital marketing can mean the difference between a quiet launch and a successful one.

Traditional Marketing: The Classic Approach

Traditional marketing refers to the offline methods that have been used for decades to promote books and other products. This includes tactics like:

• Print advertising (magazines, newspapers, flyers)
• Bookstore events or signings
• Press releases and media coverage
• Mailing campaigns or newsletters
• Trade shows and literary festivals

These strategies have a long track record and can lend credibility to a book. A feature in a newspaper or a well-known literary magazine can give your book an instant sense of authority. Physical events like signings and readings allow authors to connect personally with readers—a powerful way to build a loyal audience.

However, traditional marketing also has drawbacks. It can be costly and time-consuming, and it’s often difficult to measure results with precision. Tracking exactly how many readers saw an ad, attended an event, or bought a book as a direct result can be tricky.

Digital Marketing: The Modern Reach

Digital marketing, on the other hand, is all about online channels and platforms. Common tactics include:

• Social media promotion (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn)
• Email newsletters
• Paid ads (Google Ads, Amazon Ads, social media ads)
• Blogging and SEO-driven content
• Virtual events and online book tours

The biggest advantage of digital marketing is measurability and reach. You can see who clicked your link, who visited your page, and who bought your book. Social media also allows for highly targeted campaigns—you can reach readers who already enjoy books in your genre, follow similar authors, or live in a specific location.

Digital marketing is also more flexible. Campaigns can be adjusted in real-time based on results, and many tools are available for authors on a budget. Even small authors can build meaningful online communities with consistent, authentic engagement.

Which Should You Choose?

The answer is rarely “one or the other.” Traditional marketing builds credibility and personal connection, while digital marketing provides reach, measurable results, and ongoing engagement. Most successful authors and small publishers use a combination of both.

For example, a book signing at a local bookstore (traditional) can be paired with social media promotion and follow-up email campaigns (digital) to maximize audience engagement. Even a modest budget can go a long way when the strategies complement each other.

Key Takeaway:

Understanding the difference between traditional and digital marketing helps authors make smart choices with their time, money, and energy. Traditional marketing builds visibility and authority in the real world. Digital marketing allows you to target, measure, and engage in ways that were impossible even a decade ago. Combining the two creates the most powerful launch and long-term strategy for your book. For authors willing to plan carefully and invest thoughtfully, mastering both approaches ensures your book gets seen, remembered, and recommended—offline and online.

March 7, 2026 0

Editing vs Proofreading: Why Your Manuscript Needs Both

By Brandie Richardson

In the journey from rough manuscript to finished book, there are several stages where a story is refined and strengthened. Two of the most commonly discussed are editing and proofreading. While they are sometimes used interchangeably in casual conversation, they serve very different purposes in the publishing process.

Understanding the distinction helps authors know what kind of support their manuscript needs and when to seek it.

Editing focuses on improving the quality and clarity of the writing itself. It looks at how the story is told, how ideas are presented, and how effectively the manuscript communicates with the reader. Depending on the type of editing involved, this stage may address everything from large structural issues to the finer details of sentence flow.

At the broader end of the spectrum, editing may involve examining story structure, pacing, character development, or the organization of ideas. An editor might point out where the narrative slows down, where a character’s motivations need to be clearer, or where a chapter could be strengthened to improve tension or readability.

At a more detailed level, editing can also involve refining language. This might include adjusting awkward phrasing, tightening sentences, improving transitions, and ensuring the tone remains consistent throughout the manuscript. The goal is not to change the author’s voice, but to help the writing express that voice more clearly and effectively.

In short, editing shapes the manuscript itself.

Proofreading, on the other hand, happens at the very end of the process. By the time a manuscript reaches proofreading, the story and the writing should already be finalized. The focus is no longer on improving the narrative but on catching small technical errors that may have slipped through earlier revisions.

Proofreaders look for things like spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, missing words, formatting inconsistencies, or small typographical issues. These are the kinds of details that can distract readers or make a finished book appear less polished if they remain in the final version.

Because proofreading deals with surface-level corrections, it is typically the last step before publication. Once proofreading is complete, the manuscript should be ready for printing or digital release.

The difference between these two stages is largely about scope.

Editing looks at the manuscript with a wide lens. It asks whether the writing is clear, engaging, and effective. Proofreading uses a magnifying glass, scanning for small errors that remain after all other revisions are complete.

For authors, one common misunderstanding is assuming proofreading alone will fix deeper issues in a manuscript. While a proofreader can correct spelling and punctuation, they are not usually tasked with restructuring sentences, refining pacing, or addressing narrative problems. If those issues exist, they are best addressed during the editing stage.

That is why the order of these services matters. Editing strengthens the manuscript first. Proofreading then ensures the final version is clean, professional, and ready for readers.

Both stages play an important role in producing a polished book. Editing helps a manuscript become the strongest version of the story the author intends to tell. Proofreading provides the final layer of precision that ensures nothing distracts from that story once it reaches the page.

Together, they form the finishing steps that transform a manuscript into a professional, publication-ready work.

March 7, 2026 0

Understanding Alpha and Beta Readers: The First Audience Your Story Will Ever Have

By Brandie Richardson

Every book begins as a private world. At first, it exists only between the author and the page, shaped through long stretches of drafting, revising, and refining. Eventually, though, every manuscript reaches a point where outside perspective becomes essential. Writers know their stories intimately, sometimes so intimately that it becomes difficult to see where a new reader might feel confused, disengaged, or unexpectedly delighted.

This is where alpha and beta reading become an important part of the writing process.

Alpha and beta readers both provide feedback before a manuscript moves into professional editing or publication, but they participate at different stages and with slightly different goals.

Alpha readers are often the first people outside the author to read the manuscript. At this stage, the story may still be rough around the edges. Plot threads might need tightening, character motivations may still be evolving, and certain scenes might exist more as scaffolding than finished structure.

Because of this, alpha readers focus primarily on the big picture. They react to the story as it unfolds and help identify areas where the narrative may not yet be working as intended. They might notice where the pacing drags, where a character’s decision feels unclear, or where the story seems to skip over information readers need to understand what’s happening. In many ways, alpha readers help test the foundation of the story before the author invests time polishing the details.

After revisions have strengthened the manuscript and the narrative structure is complete, beta readers typically step in.

Beta readers experience the story much closer to the way a general audience would. At this stage, the manuscript should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, with most structural issues already addressed. Beta feedback tends to focus on the overall reading experience: whether the story is engaging, whether the pacing holds attention, and whether the emotional beats land the way the author intends.

They may comment on whether the opening pulls them in, whether certain scenes feel slow or rushed, and whether the ending feels satisfying. When several beta readers respond similarly to the same moments in the story, those patterns can provide valuable insight into where a manuscript may still benefit from revision.

When authors begin looking for alpha and beta readers, they often have two main options: volunteer readers or professional readers.

Volunteer readers are extremely common and can be a valuable resource. Friends, writing group members, fellow authors, and early fans often enjoy being part of the creative process. Their reactions can feel very similar to the responses of everyday readers encountering the story for the first time.

The advantage is clear. Volunteers are usually easy to find, enthusiastic about helping, and typically free. For many writers, especially early in their careers, volunteer readers provide a supportive way to begin gathering feedback.

However, volunteer feedback can vary widely in depth and reliability. Some readers provide thoughtful, detailed notes, while others may offer only general reactions. Personal relationships can also influence how feedback is delivered. Friends and family may soften criticism out of kindness, while fellow writers might focus heavily on stylistic preferences that don’t necessarily reflect how typical readers would experience the story.

This is where professional alpha or beta readers can make a meaningful difference.

Professional readers approach manuscripts with experience and a structured method of analysis. Because reviewing manuscripts is part of their work, they tend to provide more detailed feedback, clearer explanations, and observations grounded in storytelling principles rather than personal taste alone. They can identify patterns in pacing, character development, and narrative structure that less experienced readers might overlook.

Another advantage is consistency. Professional readers usually provide organized reports, actionable suggestions, and predictable timelines, which can help authors plan their revision process more effectively.

Of course, professional feedback does involve an investment. Yet many authors find that this stage can be one of the most valuable places to invest in their manuscript. Early, informed feedback can prevent larger problems from carrying forward into editing or publication, where revisions often become more complex and costly.

That does not mean volunteer readers have no place in the process. In fact, many successful authors use a combination of both. Volunteer readers provide a range of genuine reader reactions, while professional readers offer deeper analysis and experienced insight. Together, they create a more complete picture of how the story is functioning.

In the end, alpha and beta readers represent the first audience a manuscript ever meets. They step into the story before it reaches the wider world, helping the author see the work through fresh eyes. For writers who want to give their manuscript the strongest possible foundation, thoughtful feedback at this stage can make a remarkable difference. Whether through trusted volunteers, professional readers, or a blend of both, investing in early critique helps ensure the story that finally reaches readers is the strongest version it can be.

March 7, 2026 0

The Role of ISBN Numbers in Publishing: What Every Author Should Know

Books have always needed a way to be identified. Titles can be similar, authors sometimes share names, and books exist in many different formats. That’s where the ISBN comes in. Think of it as a book’s fingerprint in the global publishing ecosystem.

An ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is a unique 13-digit identifier assigned to a specific edition and format of a book. A paperback edition gets its own ISBN. A hardcover edition gets another. The ebook version usually gets one as well. Even a revised edition of the same book receives a new ISBN because it is technically a different product in the marketplace.

These numbers serve an important practical purpose. They allow bookstores, distributors, libraries, and online retailers to track and manage books accurately. When a bookstore orders inventory, they don’t search by title alone. They use the ISBN to ensure they receive the exact edition they intended. Libraries use ISBNs in catalog systems, distributors use them to track sales and inventory, and online retailers rely on them to make sure the right book appears in the right listing. In short, the ISBN is the universal language the book industry uses to identify and move books through the supply chain.

For authors pursuing independent or small-press publishing, ISBN ownership becomes more than just a technical detail. It affects how a book is recorded and who is listed as the publisher of record.

Some publishers and publishing platforms offer free ISBNs as part of their services. While this can be convenient, these numbers are rarely truly “free” in the long-term sense. In most cases, the publisher is the official owner of that ISBN, not the author. This means the publisher or platform is listed as the book’s publisher in industry databases and distribution systems.

A related practice that authors sometimes encounter involves recycled or reassigned ISBN numbers. These are ISBNs that a publisher or service has previously registered within their block and then assigns to multiple authors over time. While the number itself is technically valid, it belongs to the publisher’s catalog, not the author’s publishing identity. From a distribution perspective, the book becomes part of that company’s publishing inventory rather than an independent publication tied directly to the author.

For some writers, especially those publishing a single project through a specific platform, this arrangement may not cause immediate problems. However, it can limit flexibility later. If an author wants to move the book to another distributor, establish their own publishing imprint, or maintain full control over how the book appears in industry records, a platform-owned ISBN can become a complication.

Owning your own ISBN changes that dynamic.

When an author purchases their own ISBN through their national ISBN agency, they become the publisher of record for that book. The metadata, publishing imprint, and distribution records all tie back to the author or their imprint name. This provides long-term control over the book’s identity in databases used by retailers, libraries, and distributors.

It also offers greater portability. Because the ISBN belongs to the author, the book can move between printers, distributors, or sales platforms without losing its identity. The author can change service providers while keeping the same ISBN attached to the same edition of the book.

Another benefit is professional branding. Authors who plan to publish multiple books often create a small publishing imprint under which their works are released. Owning the ISBNs allows that imprint name to appear in book industry listings, which can lend credibility and consistency across titles.

There is also a practical cataloging advantage. Because each format and edition requires its own ISBN, authors who plan to release multiple formats often find it economical to purchase ISBNs in blocks. This ensures every version of their work remains fully under their control.

In the end, the ISBN may look like a simple string of numbers, but it represents a book’s identity within the publishing world. While free or platform-provided ISBNs can be useful in certain circumstances, authors who want full ownership of their publishing footprint generally benefit from obtaining their own. A fresh ISBN registered to the author ensures that the book’s identity, distribution flexibility, and publishing record remain exactly where many writers prefer it to be: in their own hands.

March 7, 2026 0

Location, Location, Location!

In our second blog post, we discussed the benefits of starting your story plan with the time frame that it takes place in. Now that you’ve settled on the when of your story, it’s time to move on to where it takes place.

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The location of your setting is going to impact what types of characters to include, the contributing details of everything from the clothing that they wear to the food that they eat, and the dialect that they speak as well as the mundane details such as the name of the town and which street the burned-out drycleaner’s abandoned storefront sits on.

Side Note: What is a contributing detail?

If your story takes place in London, as our sample in the introduction did, you’re more likely to find characters sipping tea in a parlor or drinking room temperature beer and eating blood pudding in a pub than you would if your story is set in 1960’s New York, for example. Conversely, if your story takes place in 1980’s Texas, a large reunion on the family ranch is going to seem more relatable if the characters are chowing down on barbeque than it would if they were passing around a sushi platter. These are the types of things I refer to as contributing details. They aren’t the meat-and-potatoes of the storyline, but they do offer a layer of relatability that readers rely on for context.

Moving on…

Is your setting a real place or an imaginary one?

(For the purposes of this post, an imaginary town set in an existing city, state, or country is considered a real location.)

Many writers assume that it is less work to create an imaginary world than it is to spend the time researching real locations. There are times where it makes better sense to create a storyverse from scratch, as it were – such as The Lord of the Rings or The Harry Potter books – but for authors who are not writing in a science fiction or fantasy realm, the benefits of using a real setting can out-weigh the convenience of not having to research a location.

When you use a real place as a basis of your setting, you are able to weave historic and location details as well as social and civic information into your writing to lend an air of authenticity and realism. For example, in your story about a modern-day person escaping from a kidnapping ring in the south, you could have them following the trail of the underground railroad using a sightseeing map they found skittering along the ground as they snuck out of a window that their captors forgot to lock.

On the other hand, when you create your own storyverse from scratch, you have to create the entire backstory of the location(s) in the book as well or the story could end up leaving the reader with questions that you didn’t anticipate.

How many locations can one book have?

When you choose a location for your book, it can be as broad or as narrow as you wish as long as the story doesn’t move beyond the borders.

What does that mean, exactly?

It means that when you, the author, set up a specific location in your story, the majority of your action should take place in the location you have spent the most time preparing your reader for.

In our example, we used the dank, dimly-lit alleys of a high-crime section of London. Now, that doesn’t mean that most (or all) of our action has to take place behind Bow Street Number 4, but it does mean that the author has to choose – and be prepared to work through – a specific setting plan.

While not the only possibilities, the standard options are as follows:

The most common setting profile is that the story takes place primarily in the city of London. There may be short reaches outside of the city – to the surrounding countryside or even to neighboring countries – but the story will begin and end in the city of London.
This is usually the easiest plan to work with as it only requires the in-depth description (and the related research) of one location.
The flash-back method allows the author to use the initial description of Viago skulking in the dark, crime-ridden part of London and then relocate the story to a different part of the country or even to another continent entirely.

This is a less common approach and requires not only in-depth research on the introductory location and the actual story location, but will also need a reasonable explanation for the relationship between those locations.

For example: if the prologue to the story fades out on our rough-around-the edges private dick waiting to pounce on potential evil-doers in the early morning hours in London. Then the first chapter opens with a description of Viago in a suit and tie, sitting at the second desk as a criminal prosecutor in a Scottish courtroom. Your readers will struggle to connect with the story unless you provide a viable tie-in.

The third and least common method involves having multiple primary locations for your story. This is also the most difficult and time-consuming option.

To expand on our example above, imagine our story opened with Viago in the London alley, but this time, in addition to his thin t-shirt and cheap running shoes, he is also wearing a knit mask pulled down over his face and has a pair of rusty handcuffs stuffed into the pocket of his fake leather jacket as he glares at the rain-soaked news article in his hand. He grits his teeth as he reads the headline that screams “London petty thief escapes Scottish justice for the third time!”.

Suddenly our down-on-his-luck private investigator looks suspiciously like a masked vigilante and it would make more sense to turn to chapter one and find him in an abutting country (Scotland) working as a prosecutor who, frustrated with trying to punish the criminal element that crosses the border at will, spends some nights taking justice into his own hands.

You can see how this story plan will work, but it will also require twice the preparation, research, and, yes, twice the actual words making their way to paper, to be successful. (If I didn’t explain this clearly, please comment and I’ll be sure to respond.)

Choosing the location (or fine-tuning your created location)

To be sure that your location fits your storyline, consider the following questions:

Did this location exist when your story took place? Or can you tweak the storyline to make the history fit?
Could my events actually happen there?

I don’t mean the actual story; after all, that’s why we call it fiction. Consider the hard attributes of the location that you chose (weather, access to natural resources, etc.) and try to picture the storyline unfolding. If you can’t, its unlikely that your readers can.

For example: If your story is about a couple that meets on a mountain hike and forms an unlikely romance as they weather a blizzard together after their guide is eaten by a mountain lion, Hawaii might not be a good choice. Conversely, if your story takes place on a cruise ship that has been commandeered by terrorists and taken out to sea, it probably needs to begin in an area that has a sea port instead of, say, Iowa.

Does the actual history or your created backstory support the attitudes and behaviors of the characters in it? If your story is placed in an area that is known for xenophobic or racist attitudes, having a colorblind society would be great, but isn’t going to be realistic.

(Side note: This, of course, is something that can be addressed through your storyline.)

Do the details that are important to your story work here? Do (did) the real people in that area dress, speak, act, or <insert verb here> the way your characters do? This is a good place to consider the issues like sushi in Texas or blood pudding in New York.

Now that you have your when and your where, in our next post we’ll puzzle through who is there. Keep on writing!

February 8, 2018 0

All in Good Time (The when of story planning)

Welcome to week two in our 2018 Writing a Novel Blog Series!

Identifying the when that your story takes place in as the first step in your book’s outline allows other aspects of the story to fall into line more easily. Not only does it guide you toward the clothing, behaviors, and speech patterns that will allow your characters to blend into the story seamlessly, it will also save you time by directing you to specific areas of research.

Remember our sample from last week? Consider the section in bold print.

“Viago skulked in the dank, dimly lit alley behind the Bow Street Runners headquarters of London’s Bow Street Number 4, as it was known through the seedy underbelly of the city. He’d been crouched in the same spot for what seemed like hours, waiting for the flood of thieves and pickpockets that he knew would be coming. The air around him was wet. The mist that would become the morning dew already thick in the air. It clung to his wavy, shoulder-length hair and dripped down the back of his neck to saturate the thin t-shirt inside his cheap fake-leather coat, making him wish he’d thought to grab the thick woolen scarf he’d received for Christmas.

He bounced on the balls of his feet, his toes barely cushioned against the stone roadway by the worn rubber soles of his shoes, trying to increase his body temperature as he waited for his mark. He was still alone – of that he was certain – unless one considered the occasional clop-clop of the horse’s hooves as the delivery men made their early rounds through the city streets or the even less-common backfire from a horseless carriage.”

Creativity is a fantastic tool, and one of the joys of writing fiction is that the author is not restrained by rigid boundaries. That said, creative license can’t be used to alter real life facts unless the author is clearly creating a unique universe. Specifically to this point, automobiles did not exist in London at the same time as the Bow Street Runners. This may seem nit-picky and unimportant, but the smallest detail can ruin a book for a reader.

In Viago’s story, the author had chosen the time frame as eighteen-hundreds England. However, by not settling on a specific time frame before the author began writing, they allowed themselves a bit too much freedom to imagine, and it resulted in the research not being narrowed down far enough. Had they narrowed it down further to a specific year, or even decade, a google search would have allowed an excellent starting point.

If your story is centered in a real-life event – two athletes from warring nations falling in love while competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics, for example – identifying your when presents no challenge and you can move on. Ditto for authors who are creating their own universe. But if your story is set in a real time and place, you’ll want to decide on a century and then make a second list to help narrow it down.

When:

Length of time?

This might seem silly, but it can make a huge difference. Does your story take place in a single day? Over a long weekend? Through the course of a year? Or over the lifetime of one or more of the characters?

What decade, century, year is it? (Hint: you only need one answer!)

From one year to the next, there have always been changes in the clothing styles, the type of work that people undertook, and the leisure activities that they engaged in, but for stories set in modern times, you will actually do the longevity of your book a favor by not leaning too heavily on social details. For example:

“Brian shifted in his Batman sleeping bag. The lumpy cotton stuffing was doing even less to protect his forty-year-old back from the racks in the concrete sidewalk than it was to keep the twenty-degree weather at bay. Still, he reasoned with himself, once the store opened and he held his newly-released iPhone 6 in his hand, the discomfort would all be worth it.”

You see how the addition of the iPhone’s series (6) immediately points out the lag between when the story was published (or written) and when you read the passage? With one little change – the deletion of the detail – the story becomes timeless. After all, it’s not like iPhones are going away any time soon!

“Brian shifted in his Batman sleeping bag. The lumpy cotton stuffing was doing even less to protect his forty-year-old back from the racks in the concrete sidewalk than it was to keep the twenty-degree weather at bay. Still, he reasoned with himself, once the store opened and he held his newly-released-and-long-awaited iPhone in his hand, the discomfort would all be worth it.”

Once you move past the pesky social lives of the time, there are also legal, political, religious, and economic variances to consider. Throughout history, these have usually been spread more widely apart on a timeline than the social changes.

Depending on the country, political changes can be anticipated at somewhere between two and ten-year intervals, whether that is a 4-year presidential upset in the United States or a modern-era English Parliament election every five years. The more significant economic changes usually begin within a year of political transition, whether that is a new democratic leader or a death in a monarchy or dictatorship.

Legal changes can be harder to anticipate, but a good rule of thumb is to anticipate them within a year of significant political changes and within six months to two years of a major criminal event or social tragedy (think a terrorist attack or a plane crashing due to over-tired pilots).

Religious changes are the most widely spaced events on a social timeline. I am not aware of any generally accepted algorithm for anticipating them, but they tend to slowly evolve over decades or longer.

All of that matters for one reason. Once you have narrowed your when down to your specific time frame, you can pinpoint the significant events that took place before, during, and after it and use that information to bolster your setting, your character’s backgrounds, and your sub-plots.

When you fill in your when list, don’t limit yourself to the events of the country, hamlet, or town that you are anticipating your story taking place in. Your main character may be a Texas mail-order bride from Russia, but its always possible that the reason she allowed herself to be sold was that her husband was killed in the terrorist bombing in Moscow’s Metro in 2010, right?

When you prepare your when, you can do it in any format that you like, but my preference is to start with a simple outline:

When:

Duration:

Year:

Political:

Legal:

Economical:

Religious events:

This list can also come in handy when you’re working on character backstories, you might want to hold onto it until we reach our who post! Up next week, it’s all about location, location, location when we decide where the story takes place!

January 8, 2018 0

How do you write a book?

“How do you write a book?”

An amazing number of the conversations that I’m involved in start with this question. And, based on the amount of money that is spent on writing books, computer programs, plot generators, and the like, many more people out there are struggling with it. Now, not to vilify those tools – for that’s all they are, tools, and they can be a lot of fun – most beginning writers will succeed faster by starting with the basics instead of wasting their hard-earned money on get published quick promises.

And so beginith Nom de Plume’s 2018 Writing a Novel Blog Series…

Every book begins with a story. On the most basic level, every story begins with the same five components, and you already know them. They are the elements in a news report, the particulars of a wedding invitation, the juicy details in the gossip that your best friend just whispered behind a cupped hand. They are the building blocks of our societal lives. I’m referring, of course, to the simultaneously acclaimed and bemoaned when, where, who, what, why, and, for the purpose of plot, how.

I know, I know. Half of you just rolled your eyes. The remainder groaned. It seems like the most basic of information. Still, take a moment to think back to the last book you read. Were there holes in the plot? Characters that you never received the most basic back story for? At the end of the book, could you have explained the location or described the setting that the story took place in? Surely you knew what happened, but why did the conflict become an issue for the characters? How did they move past it to reach the conclusion?

Not only would I suggest using this specific list for beginning writers, I strongly advise answering the questions in the order listed. A surprising number of authors begin by sketching out the main character who has been lurking in the shrouded safety of their deepest thoughts. Then they make glaring errors when they plop him into the setting.

Imagine, if you will..

“Viago skulked in the dank, dimly lit alley behind the Bow Street Runners headquarters of London’s Bow Street Number 4, as it was known through the seedy underbelly of the city. He’d been crouched in the same spot for what seemed like hours, waiting for the flood of thieves and pickpockets that he knew would be coming. The air around him was wet. The mist that would become the morning dew already thick in the air. It clung to his wavy, shoulder-length hair and dripped down the back of his neck to saturate the thin t-shirt inside his cheap fake-leather coat, making him wish he’d thought to grab the thick woolen scarf he’d received for Christmas.

Wait..what?

Unless our friend Viago is a time traveler – and he isn’t – how can he be wearing rubber-soled shoes, a thin t-shirt, and a fake leather coat? None of those items existed yet in London when the Bow Street Runners were laying down the law. This is one of the most obvious examples that comes to mind of an author who created a character first and then wrote the scene around him. You can see it didn’t mesh well.

When:

The intricacies of a period can vary widely in only a few months or years. In our example above, we know that the story must be set between the years of 1749 and 1839 because the Bow Street Runners only operated between those years. This raises another issue. The first motorized vehicles didn’t arrive on London streets until at least sixty years after the Bow Street Runners disbanded in 1839. By failing to properly research the period that the story was set in, the author created a number of issues that had to be revised.

Where:

Everything takes place somewhere, and the location of that somewhere is going to impact the descriptions of your characters. If your story takes place in historic London, as our sample did, you’re unlikely to find American cowboys, Italian mob bosses, reality television stars, or low-dollar private dicks in fake leather coats and cheap running shoes. Once you know where your story takes place, crafting your characters becomes a much more fluid process.

Who:

Who are the characters? What is their motivation? Within the first twenty percent of a book, we should be able to identify the main factors that contribute to each character’s persona. We should know their strengths, their weaknesses, and be able to get a feel for how their past resulted in both.

Many authors get caught up in the who of the moment – in crafting deliciously complex characters that leave us emotionally invested in every aspect of their existence – but neglect to tell us why they are complex or how they became the characters that they are.

(In fairness to Viago’s creator, it is impossible to show in the two paragraphs I used, but Viago is actually an incredibly complex character. He is an attractive young vampire who has spurned others of his own kind, only preys on criminals, and continues his human life’s work as a private detective solving crimes for the forgotten citizens of London.)

What:

The what is the meat of your story sandwich, but some authors get so caught up in other aspects of their writing that they inadvertently neglect it. The what should be more than what happened. It should also include what did each character do or contribute (or not) to the situation(s) at hand. What was said? What was meant? What was felt? This doesn’t mean that you need to write a hundred different what questions for each event, but you should understand the causes, feelings, reactions, and implications for the main characters even if you don’t specifically spell each and every one out.

Why:

Ahh…the why! The intertwining motivations of your characters. The history behind the choices they have made in the past. The reasons for the decisions that they are making now and those that they will make in the future.

This is your opportunity to weave all of the details that have been dancing through your subconscious into a story tapestry, and plotting them out ensures that you won’t miss any!

(Why does a down-on-his-luck vampire private investigator struggle to remain on the straight and narrow? Why does he remain a fringe member of law enforcement instead of surrendering to the demon inside him and killing his way through the innocent patrons of a London theatre? Why does he only feed on the criminal element? Hmmm…. I think one of our most popular NDP authors will be telling us more soon…)

How:

The nuts and bolts of your plot. The minutia and details of how the characters reached the climax. The blind psychic describing to the police the way the knife plunged into the victim that thrashed on the floor in the cheerful kitchen. The tiny Welsh pony struggling up a mountain-side with the rider’s legs dragging the ground on each side. The spurned boyfriend smirking in the light of his cell phone as he catfishes his ex on a dating site, determined to draw his lover back. How it all came together!

Starting next week, I will cover each of these in greater detail in a weekly blog post and I look forward to your feedback and questions!

Every life has a story, and yours is worth telling!

January 3, 2018 0

Happy New Year! (and good riddance 2017)

Dear friends,

I am incredibly grateful for the authors, editors, illustrators, and other contributors whose combined efforts made 2017 a successful year for Nom de Plume Publications. I am also incredibly grateful for our readers who make all of the hard work worthwhile. With your support in 2017, the authors of NDP Publications sold over 50,000 books worldwide, had a combined 7,000,000+ pages read on Kindle Unlimited, and donated over $10,000 to charities that included the Trevor Project. Without our readers, that couldn’t have happened, and I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart.

Normally that would be where I signed off – probably with a cute picture of a kitten in a party hat – but this year I think that there is more that needs to be said.

For many, many people – myself included – this has been a year of significant hurt, anger, and frustration resulting from the current social and political environment in the country that I love.

In 2017, 2002 people were wounded and 588 were killed in mass shootings. After fifty-seven years of moving forward to obtain equal rights for all, our friends and loved ones in the LGBTQ community have seen their basic rights again threatened by the government. Hate crimes against Jews, gays, and Muslims increased for the second year in a row. The transgender murder rate hit a five-year high. A man who bragged about sexually assaulting women was seated in the Oval Office. No, I am not sorry to see 2017 end.

Despite all of this, I look toward 2018 with renewed energy, determination, and optimism. As painful as the last twelve months have been, there have been bright spots as well. Shining moments that reminded us that the majority of Americans – the true majority, the kind of majority that is determined by math and not through volume of noise and bluster – do not support the hate and violence.

The American Civil Liberties Union collected a record $24 million in donations in one weekend after the Trump administration enacted their first Muslim travel ban. 2.6 million women marched against misogyny and hate. And our LGBTQ community? Did they shrink back into closets and hide in the shadows when Trump’s administration began their attempts to marginalize them? No. They protested the Trump administration’s anti-gay positions. They demonstrated against the abuse of gays and lesbians in Russia and Chechnya. They marched in parades and hosted fundraiser social events. The 2017 Pride Days in New York, Chicago, and, Washington, D.C. drew record crowds. Our LGBTQ people and their allies didn’t knuckle under, they stepped forward and reminded us again that they’re here, they’re queer, and damn it, they’re fabulous!

This – all of it – is the reason I am optimistic about 2018. We are a nation that knows the meaning of the word quit, we simply refuse to use it as a verb. We will regroup and move forward with purpose born of having the courage of our convictions. We will continue the fight for our collective rights because we know that failure is simply not an option. We will resist and we will succeed. From the ashes, our nation will rise stronger than ever.

I wish each and every one of you a 2018 filled with love, peace, and freedom.

Sincerely,

Brandie Chesser
Nom de Plume Publications, LLC

have-a-happy-new-year-kitten-graphic

January 1, 2018 0

In answer to your questions..

Dear friends,

I have received several questions as to why the NDP website has not been updated to show the charitable donations for the month of November.

As you know, the authors of Nom de Plum Publications donate a portion of their monthly royalties to support charities. Those donations are typically made two months after they are earned because that is when our biggest marketplace – Amazon – pays out the royalties earned.

We strive to make those donations on or before the first of each month but there are times that it isn’t possible. Due to a glitch in the payment system, the royalties earned and due at the end of October are still pending.

I absolutely understand your concern and assure you that as soon as those payments clear, our monthly donations will be made.

Thank you for your support!

Brandie

November 9, 2016 0

because your story deserves to be told.

Author

Nom de Plume Publications, LLC