The Rookie Writer Show

Thank you to everyone who joined me on The Rookie Writer Show! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share this with you guys these last two seasons. Sadly, it's the final buzzer for our little podcast adventure. Come find me on www.HDairBrown.com and/or www.UnsettlingReads.com for updates on my new writing adventures. And I'll do my best to find a long-term home for the back episodes of The Rookie Writer Show. Wherever it turns out to be www.TheRookieWriter.net should point you there. Find me on Twitter or Instagram (@dairlirious on both) to say hi and let me know how your writing is going! Until then...Happy Writing, People!!

SEASON 3 of The Rookie Writer Show will be a "behind the scenes" look at my writing journey from concept to published book, with lots of short stories and other projects sprinkled in for good measure. Let's see how everything we've been learning gets put to good use!

Season 3 of The Rookie Writer Show will be a “behind the scenes” look at my writing journey from concept to published book, with lots of short stories and other projects sprinkled in for good measure. Let’s see how everything we’ve been learning gets put to good use!

Season 3 of The Rookie Writer Show will be a “behind the scenes” look at my writing journey from concept to published book, with lots of short stories and other projects sprinkled in for good measure. Let’s see how everything we’ve been learning gets put to good use!

First order of business: I realized this week that Thursday shows no longer make any sense with our new format! From now on, shows will drop on Mondays. I’ll be able to offer a fuller picture of what I did in a given week if I wait until the week is actually finished. LOL

(Sidenote: I considered posting shows on Sundays, when I try to do my planning for the week, but I want that day to remain relatively deadline-free and flexible, so Monday it is!)

A quick check-in from last week. Were you able to set your course and check the oil and tires, so to speak:

* Check in with your goals?* Take some fresh eyes to your writing and other systems to see if there’s anything you can make easier on yourself and/or to create more writing time or space?* Reach out to other writers to start assembling your community?* Corral your writing materials?

Here’s what I did to work toward my goals this week:

Writing Goals

Write and Release Book 1 in a New Series

* I collected all my materials related to the book series together in one place and started going through them again. * I already knew the basic type of story/genre I’m aiming for, so I didn’t really do any new work there. I’ll keep on the lookout for similar books and even movies in this genre. These (especially recent books) that are similar to your own are called “comps.” I finished reading a comp (The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons), and I’ll keep doing so. I’m still deciding between a couple of titles to read next. I’ll let you know next week! * I decided on general structure and started an actual outline for book one. I’m also dropping in general notes on structure and character for books 2 and 3 in the series.* I’ve finally decided that just about everything will go in my Evernote app (research, story ideas, etc.) or Trello (tasks, submission opportunities, etc.). This has been a gamechanger!* I finished the writing system half of Elana Johnson’s excellent book. Totally recommend! * I’m hoping to finish my outline for Book 1 this week so I can get crackalackin’ on my goal of 3 pages per day schedule for that book!

The Bradbury Challenge: Write a new short story every week.

* I spent a few hours going through Duotrope, New Pages, and The Writer magazine listings to map out places and opportunities for me to sub...

Welcome to Season 3 of The Rookie Writer Show! This season we're putting all we've learned to good use! Come along with me as I go through the WHOLE writing, publication, and marketing process -- from initial book idea to publication and promotion. Every week, I'll share my honest progress (my ups AND downs), along with any helpful tools or concepts that helped me actually get my work done. Come see how the things we learned about in Season 2 (relating to mindset, craft, business, productivity, and/or self-care) fare when they're roadtested. Check show notes for helpful links! Reach out to me by email at therookiewritershow [at] gmail.com. Would love to hear from you about YOUR writing journey! Happy writing, people! -Dair

Welcome to Season 2 of The Rookie Writer Show! Every week, I'll share three concepts (and a hack) from a writing book or class focusing on either mindset, craft, business, productivity, or self-care for writers. Check show notes for helpful links! To suggest a book or class, reach out to me by email at therookiewritershow [at] gmail.com.

Welcome to Season 2 of The Rookie Writer Show! Every week, I'll share three concepts (and a hack) from a writing book or class focusing on either mindset, craft, business, productivity, or self-care for writers. Check show notes for helpful links! To suggest a book or class, reach out to me by email at therookiewritershow [at] gmail.com.

Welcome to Season 2 of The Rookie Writer Show! Every week, I'll share three concepts (and a hack) from a writing book or class focusing on either mindset, craft, business, productivity, or self-care for writers. Check show notes for helpful links! To suggest a book or class, reach out to me by email at therookiewritershow [at] gmail.com.

The author of this week’s selection, Writing Killer Cover Copy primarily writes sweet romance under her own name Elana Johnson and inspirational romance under the pen name Liz Isaacson. This title is part of a series for Indie authors, which she publishes under her full name Elana M Johnson. Quoting her website: “A USA Today Bestselling and Amazon Kindle All-Star Author, Elana writes young adult and adult contemporary romance. She is well-known for her young adult dystopian romance series Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). She writes clean beach romance [with titles like] Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance series, the Brides & Beaches Romance series, the Clean Billionaire Beach Club Romance series,

She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a co-founder of The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of SCBWI, RWA, and NINC and a popular speaker for libraries, teens, and writer’s conferences across the United States. To contact Elana to speak at your event, please see her contact page.”

She has a lot of brass tacks tips in this book (e.g. her 3-part formula for writing taglines, the optimal length of a tagline — less than 150 characters — so that they fit on Amazon ad copy, best ways to test cover copy). Like usual I’m not going to be able to capture all that this book offers, but here are my…

THREE THINGS

1 You Do You. While Johnson shares what worked for her in this book, she does so with the strong caveat that it’s critical that you adapt what you learn in her book to your own personality, style of writing, genre, price point, budget, etc. Trying to be someone else or to replicate someone else’s marketing system is a recipe for disaster.

2 The Skeleton of Cover Copy. With today’s shorter attention spans, you have to get the bones of your cover copy down and you have to do it fast. Think of this as the checklist that you start drafting your cover copy and the checklist that you make sure has been met when you finish your final revisions of the cover copy:

* Hook – something that captures the imagination, intrigues, or asks a question right away* Quick(!) Description – You do not want to tell the whole story or encapsulate the themes and character arcs....

Welcome to Season 2 of The Rookie Writer Show! Every week, I'll share three concepts (and a hack) from a writing book or class focusing on either mindset, craft, business, productivity, or self-care for writers. Check show notes for helpful links! To suggest a book or class, reach out to me by email at therookiewritershow [at] gmail.com.