Blurbs, Numbers, and Thanks

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Corrected Numbers
* Blurbs
* Thanks
* Of Interest

Quotes of the Day

“When you write, just write. Then get feedback and work on improving your craft.” James Scott Bell

“Excellent. Perfect advice. I’d make only two tiny additions: ‘When you write, just write. Then [publish,] get feedback and [write the next story or novel to] work on improving your craft.'” Harvey Stanbrough

Corrected Numbers

I just realized as I was wrapping up my writing yesterday that I didn’t update my novel counts under Numbers when I finished my previous novel. I’ve since corrected that oversight.

With the completion of The Stirchians: Rose’s Story on November 24, that made my third novel finished this year and my 69th overall.

I think it’s very cool that a Wes Crowley novel will be my 70th overall, especially since my novel-writing career started with Wes Crowley. It’s been one hell of a fun ride thus far.

Blurbs

There’s a link in “Of Interest” to a post about writing blurbs. To me a blurb is something good about your book from another author, preferably an author of stories that are similar to yours.

And blurbs, especially from other authors, are important. (I no longer write them, so please don’t ask.)

But I do write sales copy (which some call blurbs) for my own books. The ability to write great fiction does not necessarily lend itself to being able to write even adequate sales copy. Sales copy is nonfiction and enticing, and it’s a whole other animal.

If you want to increase sales of your books and stories, you have to learn how to write good sales copy.

And if you want to learn how to write good sales copy, you really REALLY need to buy Dean Wesley Smith’s book How to Write Fiction Sales Copy.

I strongly recommend paying $10 for the paper edition (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1561466476/), but you can pay $6 for the  Kindle edition instead (https://www.amazon.com/B0178MQVX2/).

There you go. Everything you need to know about writing effective sales copy.

Thanks

My sincere thanks to my friend and fellow professional fiction writer, Robert J. Sadler. In his most recent post, “Prolificity,” he reprinted my post from November 29. I appreciate that a great deal.

To check out Robert’s blog and his other topics visit https://www.robertjsadler.com/blog-1.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “In Praise of the Worker-Owned Company…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/in-praise-of-the-worker-owned-company-or-what-to-do-about-simon-and-schuster/. God I’m glad I’m no longer traditionally published. See PG’s take.

See “On Writing Blurb Your Enthusiasm: An A-Z of Literary Persuasion” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/on-writing-blurb-your-enthusiasm-an-a-z-of-literary-persuasion/. Blurbs, especially from other authors, are important. I no longer write them, but I do write sales copy (which some call blurbs) for my own books.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 450 words

Writing of Santa Fe (novel, tentative title)

Day 1…… 3877 words. Total words to date…… 3877
Day 2…… 3460 words. Total words to date…… 7337
Day 3…… 2011 words. Total words to date…… 9348
Day 4…… 1050 words. Total words to date…… 10398
Day 5…… 3673 words. Total words to date…… 14071
Day 6…… 2501 words. Total words to date…… 16572
Day 7…… 4046 words. Total words to date…… 20618
Day 8…… 2273 words. Total words to date…… 22891

Total fiction words for December……… 6319
Total fiction words for the year………… 221293
Total nonfiction words for December… 2840
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 200920
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 422213

Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2022 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2022 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 69
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: In this blog I have shared my experiences, good and bad, as a prolific professional fiction writer. Because It Makes Sense, I trust my characters to tell the story that they, not I, are living. This greatly increases my productivity and provides the fastest possible ascension along the learning curve of Craft because I get a great deal more practice at actually writing.