100 Tips for Writers
I set myself the challenge of tweeting 100 tips for writers, in the run up to the publication of The Seven M's of Writing for a Living. And I succeeded!
Tip No.1: Write something every day. Anything. (Don’t publish everything, though.)
Tip No.2: It is all in the edit. All of it. Do more crossing out than filling in.
Tip No.3: If you want to write for a living, you have to get used to asking other people to pay for your ideas.
Tip No.4: Write for your readers, not for yourself. If you want readers, that is.
Tip No.5: Being able to touch type is fantastically useful for a working writer.
Tip No.6: Don’t spend hours tinkering with your first sentence. This is a classic writing avoidance tactic.
Tip No.7: Deadlines are a writer’s best friend. Sticking to them is part of the deal.
Tip No.8: The only way to get better at writing is to write.
Tip No.9: Spend at least twice as much time editing as you do writing.
Tip No.10: Positive word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing for a writer, bar none.
Tip No.11: Read your contract before you sign it. The Society of Authors offers free contract advice for members.
Tip No.12: A great book cover is like a fabulous shop window display. It entices you to come inside.
Tip No.13: Write the book you wish had been written (but hasn’t been yet).
Tip No.14: You can’t base a writing career on a single book (unless you wrote The Catcher in the Rye).
Tip No.15: It can be up to 2 years from submitting a manuscript to receiving the first royalty payment on it.
Tip No.16: Your writing can only come to life through your readers. Pay them the utmost respect.
Tip No.17: It is better to make your writing exclaim than to use exclamation marks.
Tip No.18: You don't need the word 'very'. Honestly.
Tip No.19: Cut every word that doesn’t *have* to be there.
Tip No.20: Try to hear the internal rhythm of your writing as you write.
Tip No.21: A writer is a person who keeps trying to get published when everyone else has given up.
Tip No.22: To be a writer you need to write, rather than talk about what you’re going to write.
Tip No.23: Metaphors are like a chain that strings your ideas together.
Tip No.24: Metaphors are valuable because they let your readers form their own interpretations.
Tip No.25: Sometimes if you shine too direct a light on an idea, it flinches and runs away.
Tip No.26: You can only edit writing that already exists. Get it down first then worry about making it good.
Tip No.27: It is always hard to say you’ve ‘finished’ a book, because then you have to let it go.
Tip No.28: If no one knows about your book, then no matter how great it is, no one will buy it.
Tip No.29: Never respond to reviews. Let your readers have their say without getting involved.
Tip No.30: If you decide to self-publish you have to be both writer and publisher. Fun, but not easy.
Tip No.31: Often, the best writing whispers, rather than shouts.
Tip No.32: Try not to put any obstacles between your reader and your ideas.
Tip No.33: Typos are an obstacle, because they distract your readers from your writing.
Tip No.34: Excess words are an obstacle, because they assume your readers have time to waste.
Tip No.35: Don’t use a long, complicated word if a short, simple one will do exactly the same job.
Tip No.36: Sometimes the simplest way to say something is not with the simplest words.
Tip No.37: *Euphony trumps grammar.* (Or, put less simply, if it sounds right, it can be right, even if it isn’t right.)
Tip No.38: If you know the rules, you get to break them deliberately.
Tip No.39: Sometimes the best thing you can do for a piece of writing is to throw it away.
Tip No.40: One way to see if your writing works is to ask other people to pay for it.
Tip No.41: If you don't use quotation marks, it means you are saying it yourself.
Tip No.42: A great blurb can help you sell your book. A bad one can lose you potential readers.
Tip No.43: In order to write a blurb, you have to learn to talk about yourself in the third person.
Tip No.44: A great blurb tells the reader what is unique and special about your book.
Tip No.45: A great blurb tells your readers what they will get out of reading your book.
Tip No.46: A great blurb will give a taste of the style of writing inside your book
The next 5 Tips are Guest Tips from educational author Alan Peat @alanpeat
Guest Tip No.47: Read voraciously then read some more. Great writers are avid readers.
Guest Tip No.48: Carry a notebook with you everywhere. Ideas are fleeting & need capturing.
Guest Tip No.49: Be eclectic in your interests. EVERYTHING feeds your writing.
Guest Tip No.50: Develop a personal surefire bullshit detector.
Guest Tip No.51: Don't be disheartened if your bullshit detector sometimes fails you.
The next 7 Tips are Guest Tips from children's author Laurence Anholt @LaurenceAnholt
Guest Tip No.52: It's a job, so be professional. Deliver quality work on time.
Guest Tip No.53: Don't moan or fuss. Think positively.
Guest Tip No.54: Read, read and read. (Reading is important too.)
Guest Tip No.55: Writer's block is for losers.
Guest Tip No.56: I know I sound like a freak, but MEDITATION does it for me - 30 mins every day before writing.
Guest Tip No.57: I work on several overlapping projects to avoid getting bogged down.
Guest Tip No.58: Have fun! In the end it's only words on paper.
Tip No.59: Stick to your deadlines and your Editor will love you.
Tip No.60: Stick to your word count and your Editor will love you.
Tip No.61: If you want to get paid to write, you have to write to get paid.
Tip No.62: If you choose to self-publish your writing, you'll have to learn all about how marketing works.
Tip No.63: The traditional publishing process takes about seven months from the point you submit your manuscript.
Tip No.64: When it's your first book being published, those seven months will feel like forever.
Tip No.65: It's a truly wonderful moment when you see your book on a bookshelf in a bookshop.
Tip No.66: Learn how to read a publishing contract - it is part of a writer's professional world.
Tip No.67: Read your contract from start to finish - the devil is in the detail.
Tip No.68: Don't be afraid to ask for changes to your publishing contract - negotiate the best deal you can.
Tip No.69: Ask for a 'rising royalty' so that you get rewarded if your book sells really well.
Tip No.70: Learn what a sub-licence is, and why subsidiary rights are so important for an author.
Tip No.71: It often takes longer to make a piece of writing short, than it does to make it long.
Tip No.72: Don't always edit as you go along. Sometimes it's best to let the writing flow unimpeded.
Tip No.73: The first sentence is always the hardest to write.
Tip No.74: Don't spend ages editing the first sentence. Come back to it when you've finished the rest.
Tip No.75: Just because you know how to use a semi-colon, doesn't mean you should sprinkle them like confetti.
Tip No.76: Writing is like taking a glass of water and distilling it into a single drop.
Tip No.77: If you want your readers to trust you, you must win their hearts as well as their minds.
Tip No.78: It is possible to over-edit your writing, working and re-working it until it actually gets worse.
Tip No.79: It is not possible to over proof your writing. One typo in a book of 50,000 words is one too many.
Tip No.80: Write as a reader and read as a writer.
Tip No.81: If you have several pieces to write, start work on the most difficult one first.
Tip No.82: If you start writing a list of 100 Tips for Writers, you can't stop until you get to number 100.
Tip No.83: The inspiration for a book often starts with a great title.
Tip No.84: A great way to string ideas in an article together is by using an extended metaphor.
Tip No.85: It's the thinking beforehand, and the editing afterwards, that makes your writing great.
Tip No.86: You can share the way you see the world with your readers, without insisting that they see it in the same way.
Tip No.87: Many readers really appreciate it when you give them friendly, honest and practical advice.
Tip No.88: It's lovely if your readers see you as their friend, especially when that's what you want to be.
Tip No.89: If you can hear yourself shouting when you read your writing back, then you probably are.
Tip No.90: Sometimes you have to let ideas bubble for ages, before you find the right way to express them.
Tip No.91: Talk with your readers, not at them.
Tip No.92: Don't waste words.
Tip No.93: Read a lot, but leave enough space in your brain for your own ideas too. They need to fly around.
Tip No.94: The first book is the hardest. Then the next one. And the one after that ...
Tip No.95: Titles matter. For me, they often come first.
Tip No.96: Make lots of mistakes, because mistakes allow you to edit.
Tip No.97: Writing is editing.
Tip No.98: Don't start a list of 100 tips if you don't intend to finish it. However long it takes.
Tip No.99: Writing is scary because it is an act of self belief.
Tip No.100: Just LEAP!
The Seven M's of Writing for a Living:
Blurb: In this concise guide, Sue Cowley shares a wealth of tips on writing for a living. She gives practical advice on finding the motivation to write and on creating a daily writing routine. She explains how to prepare a book proposal that will win you a book contract, and looks at how to go about self-publishing your work. Sue offers great advice on effective methods for writing, editing and preparing a book for publication, based on her fifteen years as a published author. She shows you how to find different income streams for your writing and how to manage the financial aspects of being a writer. She gives you invaluable tips on reading, understanding and negotiating publishing contracts. She also explores how to market your writing effectively, and build an author brand. If you hope to make a career as a published writer, then this book will help you do just that.
This mini guide is written in Sue's much-loved honest and straight talking style. Her focus is on practical tips and realistic advice that will help you turn your love of writing into a viable career. Read Sue's short guide now and find out how you too can write for a living.
Tip No.2: It is all in the edit. All of it. Do more crossing out than filling in.
Tip No.3: If you want to write for a living, you have to get used to asking other people to pay for your ideas.
Tip No.4: Write for your readers, not for yourself. If you want readers, that is.
Tip No.5: Being able to touch type is fantastically useful for a working writer.
Tip No.6: Don’t spend hours tinkering with your first sentence. This is a classic writing avoidance tactic.
Tip No.7: Deadlines are a writer’s best friend. Sticking to them is part of the deal.
Tip No.8: The only way to get better at writing is to write.
Tip No.9: Spend at least twice as much time editing as you do writing.
Tip No.10: Positive word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing for a writer, bar none.
Tip No.11: Read your contract before you sign it. The Society of Authors offers free contract advice for members.
Tip No.12: A great book cover is like a fabulous shop window display. It entices you to come inside.
Tip No.13: Write the book you wish had been written (but hasn’t been yet).
Tip No.14: You can’t base a writing career on a single book (unless you wrote The Catcher in the Rye).
Tip No.15: It can be up to 2 years from submitting a manuscript to receiving the first royalty payment on it.
Tip No.16: Your writing can only come to life through your readers. Pay them the utmost respect.
Tip No.17: It is better to make your writing exclaim than to use exclamation marks.
Tip No.18: You don't need the word 'very'. Honestly.
Tip No.19: Cut every word that doesn’t *have* to be there.
Tip No.20: Try to hear the internal rhythm of your writing as you write.
Tip No.21: A writer is a person who keeps trying to get published when everyone else has given up.
Tip No.22: To be a writer you need to write, rather than talk about what you’re going to write.
Tip No.23: Metaphors are like a chain that strings your ideas together.
Tip No.24: Metaphors are valuable because they let your readers form their own interpretations.
Tip No.25: Sometimes if you shine too direct a light on an idea, it flinches and runs away.
Tip No.26: You can only edit writing that already exists. Get it down first then worry about making it good.
Tip No.27: It is always hard to say you’ve ‘finished’ a book, because then you have to let it go.
Tip No.28: If no one knows about your book, then no matter how great it is, no one will buy it.
Tip No.29: Never respond to reviews. Let your readers have their say without getting involved.
Tip No.30: If you decide to self-publish you have to be both writer and publisher. Fun, but not easy.
Tip No.31: Often, the best writing whispers, rather than shouts.
Tip No.32: Try not to put any obstacles between your reader and your ideas.
Tip No.33: Typos are an obstacle, because they distract your readers from your writing.
Tip No.34: Excess words are an obstacle, because they assume your readers have time to waste.
Tip No.35: Don’t use a long, complicated word if a short, simple one will do exactly the same job.
Tip No.36: Sometimes the simplest way to say something is not with the simplest words.
Tip No.37: *Euphony trumps grammar.* (Or, put less simply, if it sounds right, it can be right, even if it isn’t right.)
Tip No.38: If you know the rules, you get to break them deliberately.
Tip No.39: Sometimes the best thing you can do for a piece of writing is to throw it away.
Tip No.40: One way to see if your writing works is to ask other people to pay for it.
Tip No.41: If you don't use quotation marks, it means you are saying it yourself.
Tip No.42: A great blurb can help you sell your book. A bad one can lose you potential readers.
Tip No.43: In order to write a blurb, you have to learn to talk about yourself in the third person.
Tip No.44: A great blurb tells the reader what is unique and special about your book.
Tip No.45: A great blurb tells your readers what they will get out of reading your book.
Tip No.46: A great blurb will give a taste of the style of writing inside your book
The next 5 Tips are Guest Tips from educational author Alan Peat @alanpeat
Guest Tip No.47: Read voraciously then read some more. Great writers are avid readers.
Guest Tip No.48: Carry a notebook with you everywhere. Ideas are fleeting & need capturing.
Guest Tip No.49: Be eclectic in your interests. EVERYTHING feeds your writing.
Guest Tip No.50: Develop a personal surefire bullshit detector.
Guest Tip No.51: Don't be disheartened if your bullshit detector sometimes fails you.
The next 7 Tips are Guest Tips from children's author Laurence Anholt @LaurenceAnholt
Guest Tip No.52: It's a job, so be professional. Deliver quality work on time.
Guest Tip No.53: Don't moan or fuss. Think positively.
Guest Tip No.54: Read, read and read. (Reading is important too.)
Guest Tip No.55: Writer's block is for losers.
Guest Tip No.56: I know I sound like a freak, but MEDITATION does it for me - 30 mins every day before writing.
Guest Tip No.57: I work on several overlapping projects to avoid getting bogged down.
Guest Tip No.58: Have fun! In the end it's only words on paper.
Tip No.59: Stick to your deadlines and your Editor will love you.
Tip No.60: Stick to your word count and your Editor will love you.
Tip No.61: If you want to get paid to write, you have to write to get paid.
Tip No.62: If you choose to self-publish your writing, you'll have to learn all about how marketing works.
Tip No.63: The traditional publishing process takes about seven months from the point you submit your manuscript.
Tip No.64: When it's your first book being published, those seven months will feel like forever.
Tip No.65: It's a truly wonderful moment when you see your book on a bookshelf in a bookshop.
Tip No.66: Learn how to read a publishing contract - it is part of a writer's professional world.
Tip No.67: Read your contract from start to finish - the devil is in the detail.
Tip No.68: Don't be afraid to ask for changes to your publishing contract - negotiate the best deal you can.
Tip No.69: Ask for a 'rising royalty' so that you get rewarded if your book sells really well.
Tip No.70: Learn what a sub-licence is, and why subsidiary rights are so important for an author.
Tip No.71: It often takes longer to make a piece of writing short, than it does to make it long.
Tip No.72: Don't always edit as you go along. Sometimes it's best to let the writing flow unimpeded.
Tip No.73: The first sentence is always the hardest to write.
Tip No.74: Don't spend ages editing the first sentence. Come back to it when you've finished the rest.
Tip No.75: Just because you know how to use a semi-colon, doesn't mean you should sprinkle them like confetti.
Tip No.76: Writing is like taking a glass of water and distilling it into a single drop.
Tip No.77: If you want your readers to trust you, you must win their hearts as well as their minds.
Tip No.78: It is possible to over-edit your writing, working and re-working it until it actually gets worse.
Tip No.79: It is not possible to over proof your writing. One typo in a book of 50,000 words is one too many.
Tip No.80: Write as a reader and read as a writer.
Tip No.81: If you have several pieces to write, start work on the most difficult one first.
Tip No.82: If you start writing a list of 100 Tips for Writers, you can't stop until you get to number 100.
Tip No.83: The inspiration for a book often starts with a great title.
Tip No.84: A great way to string ideas in an article together is by using an extended metaphor.
Tip No.85: It's the thinking beforehand, and the editing afterwards, that makes your writing great.
Tip No.86: You can share the way you see the world with your readers, without insisting that they see it in the same way.
Tip No.87: Many readers really appreciate it when you give them friendly, honest and practical advice.
Tip No.88: It's lovely if your readers see you as their friend, especially when that's what you want to be.
Tip No.89: If you can hear yourself shouting when you read your writing back, then you probably are.
Tip No.90: Sometimes you have to let ideas bubble for ages, before you find the right way to express them.
Tip No.91: Talk with your readers, not at them.
Tip No.92: Don't waste words.
Tip No.93: Read a lot, but leave enough space in your brain for your own ideas too. They need to fly around.
Tip No.94: The first book is the hardest. Then the next one. And the one after that ...
Tip No.95: Titles matter. For me, they often come first.
Tip No.96: Make lots of mistakes, because mistakes allow you to edit.
Tip No.97: Writing is editing.
Tip No.98: Don't start a list of 100 tips if you don't intend to finish it. However long it takes.
Tip No.99: Writing is scary because it is an act of self belief.
Tip No.100: Just LEAP!
The Seven M's of Writing for a Living:
Blurb: In this concise guide, Sue Cowley shares a wealth of tips on writing for a living. She gives practical advice on finding the motivation to write and on creating a daily writing routine. She explains how to prepare a book proposal that will win you a book contract, and looks at how to go about self-publishing your work. Sue offers great advice on effective methods for writing, editing and preparing a book for publication, based on her fifteen years as a published author. She shows you how to find different income streams for your writing and how to manage the financial aspects of being a writer. She gives you invaluable tips on reading, understanding and negotiating publishing contracts. She also explores how to market your writing effectively, and build an author brand. If you hope to make a career as a published writer, then this book will help you do just that.
This mini guide is written in Sue's much-loved honest and straight talking style. Her focus is on practical tips and realistic advice that will help you turn your love of writing into a viable career. Read Sue's short guide now and find out how you too can write for a living.