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Your Burning Writer Questions Answered—Scene Craft, Querying & More · Reality Writes

0:05
Ellie Alexander: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Reality Writes.
0:10
Ellie Alexander: I am author Ellie Alexander, and this is the podcast where we talk about all things bookish, writerish, and whatever else is on our minds.
0:17
Ellie Alexander: And I'm here today with the Tech Guy.
0:20
Tech Guy: Hello.
0:20
Tech Guy: I do in a podcast on writer topics this week.
0:26
Ellie Alexander: We're gonna talk writer-ish.
0:29
Tech Guy: No shortage of questions about writing topics for you either.
0:33
Ellie Alexander: No.
0:34
Ellie Alexander: In fact, that was one of our reasons for deciding to land on this topic today because I get um lots of emails and DMs from writers, new writers, established writers, you name it, with questions.
0:47
Ellie Alexander: And I try to answer as many as I can, but um, you know, I have limited time.
0:51
Ellie Alexander: So we thought this would be a great use of the podcast.
0:54
Ellie Alexander: These are some questions that tend to come up a lot.
0:56
Ellie Alexander: Hopefully, if you're a darling out there and this is a question that you've had burning for a long time, we can answer it for you today.
1:03
Tech Guy: Definitely.
1:04
Tech Guy: Uh, and we're gonna start off actually with um a question that came in via text via the send us a message link that I'm always promoting in each episode.
1:15
Tech Guy: And this one came in from Matt in Cleveland and it's writer-related.
1:20
Tech Guy: So I thought it'd be good to start off uh uh this episode of Reality Writes with this question from Matt.
1:26
Tech Guy: Matt asks, I'm a brand new writer.
1:29
Tech Guy: I'm writing a cozy, slightly paranormal.
1:33
Tech Guy: Ooh, cozy murder with a gay man as a main character.
1:38
Tech Guy: I hear and read about writers talking about scenes.
1:42
Tech Guy: I have looked at YouTube and watched a few videos.
1:45
Tech Guy: I'm still unclear how to structure my scenes.
1:48
Tech Guy: Can give me some examples and tips.
1:51
Ellie Alexander: Ooh, that's such a great question.
1:52
Ellie Alexander: And Matt, I love that you're writing.
1:54
Ellie Alexander: We need more cozies in the world, we need more quosies in the world with representation.
1:59
Ellie Alexander: And so, like, also the paranormal piece, like that hits so many points right now that I think you've got a lot going on for your story.
2:07
Ellie Alexander: It's a very big question in terms of scenes.
2:11
Ellie Alexander: So I'll answer it in two ways.
2:13
Ellie Alexander: Sometimes writers struggle with how to line up scenes, as in the plotting piece of scene work, you know, and you can get really involved.
2:23
Ellie Alexander: There's software.
2:25
Ellie Alexander: Um, you know, I'm sure you've seen examples of writers who have index cards and they lay out their scenes all over their office.
2:33
Ellie Alexander: For me, I think if that's the piece that you're struggling with, Matt, it's going back to the beginning and making making sure you have a clear outline and a focus on who you want suspicion to fall on, and then shifting that every three to four chapters and giving us another little clue, another little thread that is going to make us suspicious of a different character.
2:55
Ellie Alexander: So that's one way that scene plays out a lot in writing.
2:59
Ellie Alexander: The other struggle I think that um writers have, especially when you're first, you know, working on a mystery or a novel in general, is the idea of how do I set the scene?
3:11
Ellie Alexander: Like how do I center my story in time and space?
3:15
Ellie Alexander: How do I bring in all of those sensory details?
3:18
Ellie Alexander: How do I make it feel real?
3:20
Ellie Alexander: So if that's a stumbling point for you, I recommend you get out in the real world and just be a careful observer.
3:29
Ellie Alexander: Bring a notebook, bring your laptop, your phone, like whatever you need, and just pay attention to the way people are moving and talking and sights and smells and sounds and take copious notes.
3:42
Ellie Alexander: The other piece of scene that can be really challenging, especially if you're new to writing, is how to center your scene and put your character in places that feel very real and tangible and livable.
3:57
Ellie Alexander: And so on that note, what I always recommend to the writing students who I coach and work with directly is to go be in those spaces, to take your laptop, a notebook, your iPhone, like whatever, it doesn't matter, but go and be out in some kind of public space.
4:15
Ellie Alexander: It doesn't even necessarily have to be the space that you're setting your story.
4:19
Ellie Alexander: But, you know, I'm thinking for Matt, you know, if you if you're doing something paranormal, I don't know, maybe you find like a creepy museum or a haunted space or whatever it is, like an apothecary.
4:30
Ellie Alexander: It can be your library, you can go to a park, you can go to a coffee shop.
4:34
Ellie Alexander: Just really pay attention to how people are engaging, interacting, eavesdrop on conversations.
4:40
Ellie Alexander: You want your dialogue within a scene to feel really normal.
4:44
Ellie Alexander: You want your scenes to feel like they're real life.
4:49
Ellie Alexander: You don't want dialogue that is just clunky.
4:51
Ellie Alexander: So any kind of sensory sights, smells, character movements, you know, you're I I'm always paying attention to like weird ticks that somebody might have, or the way somebody moves their hair, or the sound of a laugh, or a voice.
5:05
Ellie Alexander: Because the more real and grounded you can make your scenes and your stories, the more believable it's going to be to your future readers.
5:15
Ellie Alexander: Like they're they're gonna feel like they are completely in your world, even though there's gonna be a fictional murder and probably this paranormal element.
5:22
Ellie Alexander: So those are kind of my two big picture tips with not having, you know, many more specifics, but hopefully that helps and keep writing.
5:32
Ellie Alexander: I'm so excited.
5:33
Tech Guy: It also, every time I listen to you answer these questions, it makes me realize how much detail goes into writing.
5:41
Tech Guy: Um, it's just it's it's kind of bonkers sometimes.
5:45
Tech Guy: Um, all right.
5:46
Tech Guy: So let's move into some of the other questions that have come in.
5:50
Tech Guy: These you've gotten via email, via the contact form on the website and everything.
5:54
Tech Guy: But one more pitch for the send us a message link in the show notes.
5:58
Tech Guy: Uh, if you're listening to this on your favorite podcast app, go to the show notes, go read about that.
6:02
Tech Guy: You'll see a little send us a message link, and you can tap that and send us a text message with your burning questions or your thoughts on the show, uh, topics you want us to cover, whatever.
6:14
Tech Guy: Um, but you can even leave us a voicemail.
6:16
Tech Guy: No one's done it yet.
6:17
Tech Guy: I'm still waiting for that first person to leave us a voicemail so we can play it here on Reality Rights.
6:21
Tech Guy: Moving right along.
6:23
Tech Guy: Okay, this one comes in.
6:25
Tech Guy: I see a lot because I am the webmaster and I see a lot of the contact form uh information coming in.
6:33
Tech Guy: And I am unfortunately the one who had to take this service down from the website earlier this year uh due to writing schedules.
6:41
Tech Guy: So the question is, Ellie, will you be taking on more coaching students or clients this year?
6:48
Ellie Alexander: Uh, yes.
6:48
Ellie Alexander: Uh well, yes, as in um yes, I'm sad about that question.
6:54
Ellie Alexander: Uh the short answer is I don't know.
6:56
Ellie Alexander: I've had to close my one-on-one coaching just because of the intensity of my own writing schedule this year.
7:05
Ellie Alexander: So I still have a few clients who I had already been working with that I'm continuing those relationships with, but I'm not able to take on new clients right now because I am writing around the clock.
7:17
Ellie Alexander: As I think most of you, darlings, already know.
7:20
Ellie Alexander: We've talked about my publishing schedule for this year and 2027.
7:23
Ellie Alexander: I am hopeful that there might be a slight window in late fall where I'll be able to open up like two spots.
7:31
Ellie Alexander: Um, so stay tuned potentially for that.
7:34
Ellie Alexander: But the thing I would love for you to know is there are so many resources out there.
7:40
Ellie Alexander: We over the years have shared so many videos and material on writing, on my process.
7:47
Ellie Alexander: So, you know, like go do a deep dive of my YouTube.
7:50
Ellie Alexander: I've shared a lot of free information and will always try to continue to do that.
7:54
Ellie Alexander: I also have lots of people who I can recommend too.
7:57
Ellie Alexander: There are tons of wonderful other writers and resources for you.
8:02
Ellie Alexander: So please don't feel like I am your one and only solution.
8:06
Ellie Alexander: I love coaching.
8:07
Ellie Alexander: Coaching is probably my favorite thing that I do out of everything, just because it feels so full circle.
8:16
Ellie Alexander: And I don't think I've ever had a coaching session that hasn't had some level of tears involved, which makes it sound like I'm a terrible coach and I'm like berating your work.
8:27
Ellie Alexander: But no, it's usually because the same sort of themes and patterns show up for a lot of writers, which is like, how do we get past those negative voices that are like deep in buried in your subconscious that you're not even aware of?
8:42
Ellie Alexander: Maybe it was your, you know, fifth grade teacher or some professor or a parent or a sibling, you know.
8:47
Ellie Alexander: So a lot of my coaching, even though we we do a lot of direct work on the mystery and the plotting and the suspects and, you know, creating red herrings and scene setting, I've worked with a lot of writers that aren't writing mysteries either.
9:03
Ellie Alexander: And when that first began happening when I launched my coaching, I was like, oh, I don't know that I'm the right coach for you because, you know, my lane has been mystery for so long.
9:12
Ellie Alexander: But it's been a total delight to have that kind of space with writing students.
9:17
Ellie Alexander: Um, and then I get so invested and excited and really connected to the stories that the writers who I'm working with are working on.
9:27
Ellie Alexander: And not in a way of wanting to own the story, but like I just want to read all of the finished products.
9:33
Ellie Alexander: I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the best idea.
9:36
Ellie Alexander: Darlings, you all are so creative.
9:39
Ellie Alexander: Like I have the most fun when I'm coaching, but unfortunately, I just don't have the time right now.
9:46
Tech Guy: I and I can attest to that.
9:48
Tech Guy: Um, seeing you ever you know working as hard as you do every day.
9:51
Tech Guy: For the darlings out there who don't know, though, I'll do a real quick catch-up here because the next question is related to this.
9:58
Tech Guy: But so you have your mystery series masterclass, which is a self-paced video, video-based course with downloadable materials and everything that walks people through how to write a mystery from soup to nuts, right?
10:11
Tech Guy: It covers the whole process.
10:13
Tech Guy: Like it's your process, how you write a book.
10:16
Tech Guy: And then you have your one-on-one coaching, which is separate.
10:19
Tech Guy: So, what you're talking about is the one-on-one coaching.
10:22
Tech Guy: The mystery series masterclass is open because it's self-paced and kind of growing a community there.
10:29
Tech Guy: So, speaking of the mystery series masterclass in your author academy, have you had any students in your mystery series masterclass who have published a book or had a book published?
10:40
Ellie Alexander: So many.
10:41
Ellie Alexander: I think I was trying to do a count a week or two ago.
10:45
Ellie Alexander: I think we're up to like 35 books that students have published and had published.
10:50
Ellie Alexander: It's incredible.
10:51
Ellie Alexander: I cannot own any piece of it because everyone who has taken the course, you have to do the work yourself.
10:58
Ellie Alexander: Like you and I laid out the course together.
11:01
Ellie Alexander: I came up with all the content in terms of going piece by piece through every single tiny baby step in my process from the start of an idea to past publication, you know, landing an agent, what it's like to work in traditional publishing, going independent.
11:17
Ellie Alexander: You then filmed, edited, put it all together in a beautiful package, made all of the notes that I have used over the years actually look like something that anyone might want to use.
11:29
Tech Guy: Yeah, those are due for an upgrade soon, too.
11:32
Tech Guy: Um, but uh yeah, I you you did all the content.
11:36
Tech Guy: I did not come up with the content.
11:37
Tech Guy: This is not the tech guy writers course by any stretch.
11:41
Tech Guy: But it was a lot of fun.
11:43
Tech Guy: It was a lot of work putting it together, but it was it was a lot of fun.
11:46
Tech Guy: And and uh it's been really, really fun to see uh the students that you've had who have been so successful and and gotten their books out there in the world.
11:56
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, and that's what I was gonna say.
11:58
Ellie Alexander: So it's like the course is designed to be self-paced, as you mentioned.
12:02
Ellie Alexander: So you can, I mean, you know, I've had students who have done it in just a few months and gotten a book done and sent it out on submission.
12:10
Ellie Alexander: And then I have had students who have, you know, worked over the course of a year, two, three years slowly building their story.
12:18
Ellie Alexander: There's no right or wrong answer.
12:20
Ellie Alexander: A lot of what I talk about in the course is it's designed to give you a blueprint, a structure.
12:28
Ellie Alexander: And then hopefully you're gonna find your own process and take pieces of it that work and don't work.
12:32
Ellie Alexander: Because when I was writing my first mystery, I had no idea what I was doing.
12:36
Ellie Alexander: And I just borrowed things from every resource that I could find.
12:40
Ellie Alexander: So this is a compilation of that.
12:42
Ellie Alexander: But yes, what I was gonna say is that over the years, we have had so many students get published and multiple paths to publication, students who have landed agents right out of the gate, students who have had multiple series and book deals with traditional publishing, indie authors who've seen great success, who've gone on to win awards and recognition.
13:06
Ellie Alexander: So it's it's the best feeling.
13:08
Ellie Alexander: I get more when I hear from anyone who's taken the course and then is like, hey, Ellie, you know, I'm out querying, or I just got a call from an agent, or I just landed a book deal, or I'm publishing my book, like whatever it is.
13:19
Ellie Alexander: I literally am dancing for joy in my office.
13:22
Ellie Alexander: Like it, it's the best feeling.
13:24
Ellie Alexander: And in saying that, I also want to be clear that all of these writers did the work themselves.
13:30
Ellie Alexander: Like you, it's not like by taking the course the books magically write themselves.
13:35
Ellie Alexander: Like, you know what I mean?
13:36
Ellie Alexander: Like, so um, I don't want to take any credit for it, but it is the best feeling to to see, like, oh, okay, the process works.
13:43
Ellie Alexander: And now they're all out there making it at their own, telling their own stories, figuring out their voice, all that kind of thing.
13:49
Tech Guy: Yeah, yeah.
13:50
Tech Guy: The books definitely don't write themselves, if only, right?
13:52
Tech Guy: Um, but uh uh no, uh, but that does remind me that we do we do have an upcoming episode of Reality Rice where we're gonna have some of the Mystery Series masterclass uh students on, and they're going to talk about their experience and their path to publication.
14:10
Tech Guy: And I'm super excited about that because these are just amazing success stories.
14:15
Tech Guy: Um, you know, it even the people who haven't published, the people who have written a book, who have started, you know, and and gone through the paces and you said it, done the work.
14:29
Tech Guy: That's the piece that every single time somebody asks you about, like, you know, I want to write a book, what do I need to do?
14:37
Tech Guy: You need to do the work.
14:39
Tech Guy: Like that's just it, it that's the base for anything you want to do.
14:43
Tech Guy: But that actually leads me to the next question that uh was submitted.
14:47
Tech Guy: And I this is interesting.
14:49
Tech Guy: You I think you might have you might have to answer this a couple of different ways because of the way they phrased it.
14:54
Tech Guy: They said, I uh I keep promising myself I'll write for two hours a day and I'm not getting anywhere.
15:01
Tech Guy: So I don't know if they mean that they're spending those two hours and they're not getting anywhere, or they keep promising that they're gonna spend the two hours, but they don't spend the two hours.
15:11
Tech Guy: I guess you could give two answers.
15:13
Ellie Alexander: Could be a bit of both, right?
15:14
Ellie Alexander: And I mean, I think one of the issues, especially early on in figuring out what your own process is gonna be, and I think I've said this a zillion times, but it and I've already said it twice on this podcast, but it is worth repeating.
15:26
Ellie Alexander: If you are working with um a writing teacher or a coach or another author or a friend or anyone who says there is only one way to do it, and it's my way, like you should run.
15:39
Ellie Alexander: That's not true.
15:40
Ellie Alexander: Like it is about figuring out your own process.
15:43
Ellie Alexander: So that's the caveat there.
15:45
Ellie Alexander: But self-sabotage is really a universal issue because if you don't know what you're doing when you start, it's really easy to get distracted by like, well, you know, maybe I should spend another 15 days researching the West Indies trade because I'm writing a historical, you know, like whatever you can do these deep dives and research that is never going to see the light of day.
16:10
Ellie Alexander: Now, of course, it's important to do some research.
16:13
Ellie Alexander: There's that factor.
16:14
Ellie Alexander: You can find laundry suddenly very appealing.
16:17
Ellie Alexander: I think the key there, yeah, laundry, dishes, right.
16:24
Tech Guy: You know, it's bad when chores seem like the better of choice, right?
16:28
Tech Guy: Yeah.
16:28
Tech Guy: Right.
16:29
Tech Guy: Exactly.
16:30
Ellie Alexander: Um, so I think if that's the issue, then it's about setting some kind of goal for yourself.
16:38
Ellie Alexander: And it's probably also doing more work in terms of plotting your story.
16:44
Ellie Alexander: And you might end up, you know, we've had conversations multiple times on this podcast and uh in other places about plotting versus pantsing.
16:51
Ellie Alexander: Pantsing being the idea that you're just gonna start the story with no idea where it goes.
16:56
Ellie Alexander: And I definitely have colleagues and friends who do that.
16:58
Ellie Alexander: I think for a first book, it's important to have some kind of an outline.
17:04
Ellie Alexander: Now, an outline could be, you know, I don't know, 15 bullet points.
17:08
Ellie Alexander: It doesn't have to be a traditional outline like you used to have to submit in high school or college.
17:15
Ellie Alexander: But I think having some sense of like the key points, whether that's each of the three acts or, you know, how you're gonna kind of reach the climax of the story and wrap it all up, whatever it is, I think you really need something to start with uh for a first book.
17:30
Ellie Alexander: And then once you've written that first book, you're gonna have this muscle memory.
17:33
Ellie Alexander: And then writing the second book might look different.
17:36
Ellie Alexander: Okay.
17:37
Ellie Alexander: On the flip side, if you've set aside two-hour chunks, let's say you're gonna write for two hours a few days a week, and um, you're filling that time with the same thing, going down research rabbit holes, watching how to write videos, deciding that this is the moment you're gonna like weed the entire backyard.
18:01
Ellie Alexander: Or if you're just sitting there staring at a blank page, this is where I think you really need to set a word count goal.
18:08
Ellie Alexander: And we we cover this quite a bit in the course.
18:10
Ellie Alexander: And I talk a lot about this with students who I coach one-on-one.
18:13
Ellie Alexander: A word count goal for me is so much more tangible, especially when I was first writing, because it's so easy to spend two hours thinking and working on your story and just like being in your head or whatever, and then have nothing to show for it.
18:27
Ellie Alexander: You've written 20 words, you've written a perfect, beautiful sentence that is not is gonna get cut at the end anyway.
18:33
Ellie Alexander: Um, whereas if you have a word count goal, if I know, okay, I have to write 250 words, 500 words, whatever that goal is that you set for yourself in two hours, then at the end of two hours, you're gonna have 250 or 500 words.
18:49
Ellie Alexander: Now, look, are they gonna be the best words?
18:51
Ellie Alexander: Probably not, but you're gonna have to edit everything anyway, which is kind of the third point that I'll toss in here for this answer.
19:01
Ellie Alexander: And that is a first draft is just meant to be a draft.
19:05
Ellie Alexander: It is the draft where you are getting the story out.
19:08
Ellie Alexander: It is not a draft where you're editing.
19:11
Ellie Alexander: So I strongly believe that it's way more important to just get in the flow and get words on the page, knowing that you're gonna fix them in the second, third, fourth drafts.
19:22
Ellie Alexander: I think a lot of people get caught up in trying to get the perfect sentence and word choice and doing all that scene setting we were talking about with Matt.
19:32
Ellie Alexander: That's for later.
19:33
Ellie Alexander: The first draft is just get the story out.
19:36
Tech Guy: Well, and the first draft isn't gonna be 75,000 words, right?
19:39
Tech Guy: No, right.
19:40
Tech Guy: Right.
19:41
Tech Guy: And I think I think a lot of people get stuck in that trap too, where they think that their first draft has to be pretty close to what the final book is going to be.
19:51
Tech Guy: And I'm here to tell you, I haven't written a book, but I've seen a lot of books written.
19:55
Tech Guy: And none of the first drafts look like that.
19:59
Tech Guy: In fact, we've had some without messy first drafts, we wouldn't have had dozens at this point of hilarious dinner conversations where when once you go back and you start working on layering and you're working into the second, third uh iterations of your draft, some hilarious stories that you've come up with where you're like, I can't believe I had this character doing that, or you know, whatever it is.
20:23
Ellie Alexander: Right, totally.
20:24
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, exactly.
20:24
Ellie Alexander: Uh-huh.
20:25
Tech Guy: It's just funny.
20:26
Tech Guy: All right, moving on.
20:27
Tech Guy: Um, this one is interesting.
20:29
Tech Guy: This one, uh, I there were actually a couple of people that had written in over the past couple of weeks with variations of this.
20:35
Tech Guy: And I hear people talk to you about this all the time.
20:38
Tech Guy: And I know there are hot takes on this all over the place, but is traditional publishing worth it these days?
20:45
Ellie Alexander: I mean, that's such a loaded question to answer.
20:47
Ellie Alexander: It really depends on your goals, on what you want in terms of like, is writing your future career path?
20:55
Ellie Alexander: Do you want to have one book published?
20:57
Ellie Alexander: What is your comfort level in terms of not only being a writer, but also doing everything that falls on the publishing end of the business?
21:07
Ellie Alexander: So that would be editorial, cover design, marketing, promotion, distribution.
21:16
Ellie Alexander: Um, traditional publishing, like any other industry, goes through shifts and swings and trends.
21:25
Ellie Alexander: And we've talked about that quite frequently.
21:28
Ellie Alexander: We just did a thing on book trends, you know, right now, everything's kind of hot in trade paperback, as we've discussed.
21:34
Ellie Alexander: You know, mass market is going away.
21:36
Ellie Alexander: Hardcover seals are are are not great unless you're just a giant name.
21:41
Ellie Alexander: So, you know, I think there are huge pros to every single path and equal cons to every single path.
21:52
Ellie Alexander: With traditional publishing, you're likely going to see your books distributed in bookstores because traditional publishers have relationships.
21:59
Ellie Alexander: They have entire sales teams that are going out.
22:02
Ellie Alexander: And it's much harder to get your books into bookstores if you go with a traditional path.
22:08
Ellie Alexander: You are also not going to have upfront expenses in that route.
22:15
Ellie Alexander: So, you know, the publisher is taking on the risk of you as a new author.
22:18
Ellie Alexander: So they are the ones that will front the cost of all of the editorial and the marketing support, getting your books out to trade magazines for reviews.
22:28
Ellie Alexander: They'll do all the cover art.
22:30
Ellie Alexander: You likely won't have a say in the world.
22:34
Tech Guy: I was going to say that's kind of a double-edged sword because they will do all of it, but you probably won't have much of a say in the end result.
22:41
Tech Guy: So Yeah.
22:42
Ellie Alexander: And if you're somebody who really, you know, like that you feel like, wow, I want my hands in everything or I have a vision, it might not be the right path for you.
22:50
Ellie Alexander: It moves a lot slower.
22:52
Ellie Alexander: Um so if you are also someone who is ready to go and you want to publish, you know, three, four books right out of the gate within a few months of each other, that's not going to happen in traditional publishing.
23:04
Ellie Alexander: And that really is the way that the industry has shifted, especially in the last five years.
23:09
Ellie Alexander: Um, so there's something to be said for that.
23:11
Ellie Alexander: With Indy, you have full control over every aspect, which is great.
23:16
Ellie Alexander: And also you have full control over every aspect, which means all of that falls on your shoulders.
23:22
Ellie Alexander: You know, so for some people, that's daunting to think about like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna find someone to do a developmental edit and then a copy edit and design the cover?
23:33
Ellie Alexander: And how am I gonna lay out the book and find beta readers and reviewers and get it up on all of the online sites?
23:42
Ellie Alexander: It's it's just so hard to answer because it's really an individual path.
23:46
Ellie Alexander: And sometimes it's both, you know, or that maybe you go indie first and then a traditional publisher comes and picks picks you up, or maybe you go traditional with your first couple books and then you decide you want to dabble in indie.
23:59
Ellie Alexander: I mean, I think I think the great thing is that the market is so open these days, but that's also sort of a blessing and a curse because it is kind of like, you know, it's a lot of choices.
24:10
Tech Guy: Yeah.
24:10
Tech Guy: I and that is such an important point because there are wildly successful indie authors, wildly successful.
24:18
Tech Guy: I mean, probably more so than uh a huge percentage of traditionally published authors.
24:24
Tech Guy: However, that just like with traditional publishing, it is a very small percentage.
24:30
Tech Guy: Um, and those they they had to start somewhere and they had to do all that work themselves.
24:36
Tech Guy: And so it is that kind of catch 22 where you've got all this freedom to do this stuff, but then you've got to find all the people to do it, right?
24:44
Tech Guy: And let's say you're somebody who can do it all yourself.
24:46
Tech Guy: I don't recommend that you edit your own book.
24:49
Tech Guy: Um you can design your own cover if you want to.
24:52
Tech Guy: If you're you know, there are wildly talented artistic people out there that that could do that.
24:57
Tech Guy: However, I will say, from a marketing perspective, book cover design is an art form in and of itself.
25:04
Tech Guy: And there are a lot of technical things that go into book cover design.
25:07
Tech Guy: I mean, having there are a lot of uh regulations in terms of having to leave space for UPC codes and all sorts of technical stuff that goes in that you know, you've got to get the spine width just right for the number of pages that your book is going to end up in print.
25:23
Tech Guy: It is there's a lot to it.
25:25
Tech Guy: So that's not to scare anyone, it's just to, you know, I think there is this prevailing attitude of like, well, I'm not gonna go traditional, you know, as though it's a choice.
25:36
Tech Guy: Like, I mean, it is it is not easy to just make that call, but but it is still going to be a significant amount of work to to do the indie side of things.
25:45
Tech Guy: Uh, you know, we've done both.
25:46
Tech Guy: Uh the indie part is actually really fun.
25:48
Tech Guy: I I liked it.
25:49
Tech Guy: It's just it is a lot of work.
25:51
Tech Guy: It is a lot of work.
25:53
Ellie Alexander: And um, then you also are fronting all that cost up yourself, right?
25:57
Ellie Alexander: So you're paying something out of pocket for that.
25:59
Ellie Alexander: Um so you know, in traditional publishing, you're likely to get a small advance, but that advance is probably not gonna be enough to live on.
26:06
Ellie Alexander: And you get paid that to write the book over, you know, like a year or two, and publishers pay really slowly, and it takes a long time to start building up royalties, all of those sort of things.
26:17
Ellie Alexander: In indie publishing, though, you are gonna have to pay upfront for your cover design for good editorial support, all of those things.
26:25
Ellie Alexander: But it's an investment in yourself.
26:27
Ellie Alexander: So, you know.
26:28
Tech Guy: Well, this one is actually related uh to this.
26:31
Tech Guy: And um uh this person wrote in and they're struggling.
26:35
Tech Guy: They they said that they've queried dozens of agents, but they keep getting rejections.
26:40
Tech Guy: Like, where do they go from here?
26:43
Ellie Alexander: Aaron Powell Well, this is another question where you sort of have to break down what's happening with the query because are you have you sent out the same query letter and you're getting rejections across the board for that?
26:56
Ellie Alexander: That probably means that your query letter needs work.
26:59
Ellie Alexander: That means your query is not strong enough.
27:01
Ellie Alexander: And in that case, I would really recommend workshopping it, you know, with beta readers.
27:08
Ellie Alexander: Uh, you can go to conferences.
27:09
Ellie Alexander: A lot of conferences will do sessions where they'll read the first, I don't know, few paragraphs of a query letter and say, like, you know, they'll break down, like, oh, here's where I would already say no.
27:21
Ellie Alexander: The query letter itself is an art form.
27:24
Ellie Alexander: There are specific things you want and need to include on that.
27:27
Ellie Alexander: And you can go do research online.
27:29
Ellie Alexander: There's so much material out there.
27:32
Ellie Alexander: And it's all specific to the genre you're writing, but you want to make sure that you've done your research into the house, into the specific agent you're pitching.
27:41
Ellie Alexander: You want to include word count, you want to know where your book would land on the shelves, you'll want some comparable titles, you want to write it in the tone of the story, and then have a brief paragraph about you and your credentials and writing and everything like that.
27:57
Ellie Alexander: So if you're getting rejections on the query letter specifically, you've gotten no requests for any other read-throughs of the first three chapters of the first 50 pages or a full manuscript.
28:09
Ellie Alexander: That means your query letter needs work.
28:11
Ellie Alexander: If you are querying and you're getting requests and agents are reading, you know, your first 50 pages or sample chapters, and then you're getting rejected, then I think it's worth exploring that rejection.
28:26
Ellie Alexander: Hopefully, maybe with that feedback, you've gotten a little nugget from some of the agents.
28:31
Ellie Alexander: Maybe you can start to see a theme.
28:33
Ellie Alexander: You know, maybe you're hearing across the board like, it didn't hook me, or, you know, I really liked the premise, but it wasn't strong enough.
28:42
Ellie Alexander: Or, you know, if there's any kind of like little nugget of wisdom there and a through line that you can follow, then I would go back and do another look at the manuscript manuscript.
28:52
Ellie Alexander: And again, maybe then it's time for another set of eyes for some beta readers, for some editorial support.
28:59
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, I think those are the two key things to be on the lookout for.
29:03
Ellie Alexander: The third is then, you know, the market is tough right now.
29:06
Ellie Alexander: Sometimes you have a book that just it's a great idea.
29:11
Ellie Alexander: It's a premise, the writing shines, all of those things.
29:15
Ellie Alexander: And the agent you're querying already has something like that out in the world, or that it's at a point where, you know, maybe the market has shifted slightly and they're not looking for that particular genre right now.
29:27
Ellie Alexander: And so that's not necessarily a reflection of your writing.
29:30
Ellie Alexander: And in that case, unfortunately, like there's not a lot you can do about that.
29:34
Ellie Alexander: But on the pro side, like we just discussed, that means you're probably ready to go indie.
29:40
Tech Guy: Again, having all those resources available to you and just being able to push it forward yourself.
29:45
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, exactly.
29:46
Ellie Alexander: Especially if you're getting, you know, these lovely rejections, which sounds painful, and it is.
29:54
Ellie Alexander: Uh, but you know, I've I've had many friends and uh students even who have had experiences like that that have then gone on to publish indie and had huge success.
30:04
Ellie Alexander: So um, but I think if you're seeing the same kind of constructive feedback on a query letter, or if you're just getting straight no's, then it's probably time to do a refresh and just and see what else you can do to strengthen the query or your sample pages.
30:21
Tech Guy: Yeah, that makes sense.
30:22
Tech Guy: We have one more here.
30:24
Ellie Alexander: Um I have one for you.
30:26
Tech Guy: Oh, I get a question too.
30:27
Tech Guy: Okay.
30:28
Tech Guy: Well, we'll save save mine for last.
30:30
Tech Guy: Um because this this one is I think this is kind of related to the querying agents and and getting rejected.
30:38
Tech Guy: And that is, Ellie, what if my book doesn't fall in one specific genre?
30:44
Tech Guy: It's a mashup of a couple genres.
30:47
Tech Guy: So what what does somebody do in the in that situation?
30:51
Tech Guy: Because I noticed that like there are mashups happening now, right?
30:54
Tech Guy: I mean, those are pretty hot or have been for the last couple of years.
31:00
Ellie Alexander: So hot for the last few years.
31:02
Ellie Alexander: And I think, you know, if you're somebody who's paying attention to trends and you're writing what you want to write, at the end of the day, you should love.
31:09
Ellie Alexander: No one is gonna love your book more than you do.
31:12
Ellie Alexander: No one.
31:12
Ellie Alexander: So, like you, if you have a story that you feel good about and you know that it is the story of your heart that you wanted to tell and you've done the work, right?
31:20
Ellie Alexander: That you've gotten feedback and all of those other things.
31:23
Ellie Alexander: And it's just not meeting the market.
31:25
Ellie Alexander: I would strongly encourage you then to carve out your own path forward.
31:29
Ellie Alexander: I think about the arc of my career.
31:32
Ellie Alexander: And um, my first series was way ahead of its time with Meg.
31:36
Ellie Alexander: Like the fact that she was drinking beer and she said, damn.
31:39
Ellie Alexander: And like my agent loved it, but he's like, Oh, this might be a little hard to sell.
31:44
Ellie Alexander: Like she said, damn, and she's going out for a beer.
31:46
Ellie Alexander: Like, I'm not even kidding.
31:47
Ellie Alexander: This was like 2011, and it was like, oh, it's cozy, but I don't think our cozy audience is gonna like that.
31:54
Tech Guy: Those were tame times.
31:55
Tech Guy: Yeah.
31:56
Ellie Alexander: Tame times.
31:56
Ellie Alexander: Gosh, she ought to go back now.
31:58
Ellie Alexander: Um, or with like Lost Coast Literary, same thing.
32:01
Ellie Alexander: Like, I was like, it's cozy, it's got a touch of fantasy, it's not a mystery, but it's in my world, it's my same kind of writing.
32:09
Ellie Alexander: I think that's almost like an aside because if you're somebody who has an established career and you're trying to go into a new genre, there is something about like, how do you take your style of writing and blend a couple worlds too, is another spinoff question.
32:26
Ellie Alexander: But if you are seeing something in the market that really feels like, no, it's meeting this, but maybe the industry hasn't quite caught up there, totally go for it completely.
32:39
Ellie Alexander: And in fact, I was on um a call with one of my publishing houses where, you know, they're just every six months they do a call with the whole team and they're kind of updating and they're talking about trends and what's happening in the book world.
32:50
Ellie Alexander: And this was one of them that like mashups are hot and they have been.
32:55
Ellie Alexander: And I suspect that's gonna continue for a while.
32:57
Ellie Alexander: The only thing that's tricky is you kind of have to know how you're gonna market it.
33:02
Ellie Alexander: You know, it's like it's this meets this, or like where in a bookstore is it gonna land?
33:08
Ellie Alexander: Like you, you do need to be like a little crafty um and and figure out kind of like where your lane is gonna be, or like is it gonna pull like cozy mystery fans and then rom-com fans?
33:20
Ellie Alexander: Um, or is it like, you know, like a legends and lattes, you know, like what or Ally Carter, where you've got like this fun romp with a mystery, like trying to make sure you know how to position it, I think is important.
33:34
Tech Guy: Yeah, that makes sense because you don't want to leave that up to everyone else to have to figure out.
33:40
Tech Guy: But but that's part of the mystery series masterclass, too, is thinking through that piece of it when you're going out and starting to query and then putting together a marketing plan and everything for your book.
33:52
Tech Guy: Um, so that is one of the components is knowing where where is your book going to sit in a bookstore.
33:58
Tech Guy: If you were to walk into a bookstore, where would you find your book and and start there?
34:03
Tech Guy: And you know, you you might need to change it up because maybe you've invented a new mashup that doesn't exist yet.
34:09
Tech Guy: And that could be cool.
34:10
Tech Guy: That could be cool.
34:11
Tech Guy: So cool.
34:12
Ellie Alexander: I'm here for it.
34:12
Ellie Alexander: I'm here for all the mashups.
34:14
Ellie Alexander: Okay.
34:14
Ellie Alexander: Well, I have a bonus question for you then, because a reader sent me this a week or so ago and said, um, hey Ellie, can you ask the tech guy this question?
34:23
Ellie Alexander: Oh no.
34:24
Ellie Alexander: Uh they said they hate social media.
34:33
Ellie Alexander: Do they have to do it to be an author?
34:37
Ellie Alexander: Is there any other any other thing they can do?
34:42
Tech Guy: Okay.
34:42
Tech Guy: So, all right.
34:44
Tech Guy: Everybody's gonna need to buckle up for a second because um the tech guy is gonna dish out some uh tough love here.
34:50
Ellie Alexander: Um okay, here we go.
34:52
Tech Guy: And and the reason I say this, I first of all, this is a wonderful question.
34:57
Tech Guy: I don't wanna I don't want the person who asked this to feel bad about asking this question.
35:02
Tech Guy: Um, it is a wonderful question.
35:04
Tech Guy: However, there is only one answer to this question, and that answer is yes, you need to be on social media.
35:11
Tech Guy: You absolutely have to be on social media.
35:13
Tech Guy: However, there is a caveat.
35:16
Tech Guy: Why are you writing your book?
35:18
Tech Guy: You need to ask yourself, why are you writing your book?
35:21
Tech Guy: Because there are many reasons.
35:22
Tech Guy: You could write a book just because you wanted to write a book and you don't care if it makes it out into the world, you don't care if anyone else reads it.
35:31
Tech Guy: You you your goal is to not have it in a bookstore.
35:34
Tech Guy: So for those people, I would say if you hate social media, stay away from social media.
35:38
Tech Guy: Yeah, social media is there's some bad, bad stuff out there, and it can really pull you down.
35:44
Tech Guy: You could have be having the best day of your life, and you could go on social media and five minutes later feel like you've been just like worked over.
35:51
Tech Guy: However, if you're a writer who wants to make a living writing, people need to be able to find you.
35:57
Tech Guy: And yeah, one of the number is it might not be the number one, but it's in the top two ways that people find writers, actors, artists, comedians, you name it.
36:11
Tech Guy: Anybody who's creating stuff, one of the top ways that people find you is through social media.
36:18
Tech Guy: Now, you do not need a million followers on social media, and you do not need to be on all 48 networks or whatever you know, platforms are out there.
36:31
Tech Guy: So start slow, pick one, maybe two, that you want to engage in and get an account set up and start sharing your journey.
36:44
Tech Guy: It doesn't have to be flashy, you don't need to be a professional photographer, you don't need to have sets, you don't need to do any of this stuff.
36:52
Tech Guy: Just start sharing your journey and start building your community.
36:56
Tech Guy: Because here's the secret that that um that uh nobody's gonna tell you, and that you're not you're not going to see anybody.
37:04
Tech Guy: You see a lot of people on social media are gonna tell you that if you give them 199.95, they can get you 20,000 followers.
37:12
Tech Guy: Um, and you know, it doesn't, and I'm I'm here to tell you it doesn't matter if you have 20,000 followers or 20 million followers, if you're not posting uh authentic, engageable content, it it it you're you're gonna get zero return.
37:27
Tech Guy: What you need to concentrate on is you need to start building your community and set a goal.
37:32
Tech Guy: Set a goal of getting 50 super fans.
37:36
Tech Guy: And once you reach 50 super fans, and a super fan is somebody who uh is going to share your stuff.
37:43
Tech Guy: The second they see it, they're gonna share it with their friend, they're gonna share it with their family, they're gonna, you know, whatever it is.
37:48
Tech Guy: It's a post, it's a book, it doesn't matter, whatever they're going to do.
37:52
Tech Guy: You need 50 super fans.
37:53
Tech Guy: You get 50 super fans, your network is just going to start growing authentically.
37:59
Tech Guy: And they will be authentic users that will be following you because they're they were recommended your content from somebody that they know and trust.
38:08
Tech Guy: And then once you get to a hundred superfans, it things just start growing exponentially.
38:14
Tech Guy: There is nobody, nobody famous that has millions of followers.
38:18
Tech Guy: They don't know millions of people.
38:20
Tech Guy: They don't like there's there's not there's no point in in generating uh and trying to grow a community that that is millions of people.
38:29
Tech Guy: First of all, that's a full-time job in and of itself.
38:32
Tech Guy: And those people have teams of people who are building their content for them.
38:37
Tech Guy: Maybe they're not filming it, the the influencer is filming to themselves, but then they've got people who edit the videos, who check the sound quality, who promote it, who clip it down into little bite-sized pieces, and then distribute all that stuff out there.
38:50
Tech Guy: So it is it is a full-time job.
38:53
Tech Guy: All that to say, if your goal is to be a successful writer and success to you is you want to make a living writing, you need to be on social media.
39:03
Tech Guy: Uh, you just you just do.
39:05
Tech Guy: Until the next best thing comes along, it is a required part of being a published author if you if your goal is to sell books.
39:14
Tech Guy: Now, on top of that, there are other things you can do that that will generate content for that social media.
39:21
Tech Guy: And it's, I mean, it's all the things we talked about here on Reality Rights, like build those relationships with the Indie bookstore.
39:26
Tech Guy: Go in, do book signings, do book talks, get tons of photos, videos, everything.
39:32
Tech Guy: That is gold for social media content.
39:35
Tech Guy: Go and meet your local librarian, do a talk at a library.
39:39
Tech Guy: I mean, all of the all of the things that will help you generate content.
39:44
Tech Guy: You should not waste any time sitting around thinking about what you should post because your day-to-day life as a as a writer is what people want to see.
39:57
Tech Guy: That's your journey.
39:58
Tech Guy: That's that's what you that's what you need to share.
40:00
Tech Guy: And you will find your audience, you will find your community, and you just need to engage and grow it.
40:06
Tech Guy: There you have it.
40:07
Tech Guy: There you go.
40:07
Tech Guy: I mean, I I'm telling you, it is I I know it's scary.
40:13
Tech Guy: I know it's like, oh, social media, right?
40:15
Tech Guy: But yeah, it is, it's just a it's a it's a necessary evil of uh of being a successful writer.
40:23
Tech Guy: Again, if success means selling books.
40:26
Tech Guy: So right.
40:27
Ellie Alexander: And there are so many beautiful things that come out of it too.
40:30
Ellie Alexander: Right.
40:30
Ellie Alexander: I mean, I'm I've made lifelong friends, connections, like the are there terrible things about it?
40:35
Ellie Alexander: Yes.
40:36
Ellie Alexander: Are there also phenomenal, wonderful things?
40:38
Ellie Alexander: Also, yes.
40:39
Ellie Alexander: Probably more, yes.
40:40
Ellie Alexander: So it is just about like curating your own world and not paying attention to the rest.
40:46
Tech Guy: Yeah.
40:47
Tech Guy: But that being said, if there are writers out there, darlings out there who are worried about it, who have questions about it and everything, like let us know.
40:55
Tech Guy: Send those questions in.
40:57
Tech Guy: I'll do my best to answer them, uh, you know, as as best I can.
41:00
Tech Guy: And it should be it's part of your journey.
41:02
Tech Guy: It shouldn't, it shouldn't take over the journey, though.
41:06
Ellie Alexander: Totally.
41:07
Ellie Alexander: Yeah, definitely.
41:08
Ellie Alexander: All right.
41:09
Ellie Alexander: Well, hopefully we've answered a lot of your burning writer questions, darlings.
41:14
Ellie Alexander: I think that's all we've got for this episode of Reality Rights.
41:18
Tech Guy: That's right.
41:19
Tech Guy: Send us a message and let us know what you thought.
41:22
Tech Guy: Let us know what you're thinking, what are your burning questions, and um get out there on those socials.
41:29
Ellie Alexander: All right.
41:29
Ellie Alexander: Until next time.
41:31
Tech Guy: Till next time.