How to Plan, Plot, Write, Edit, Publish, and Market a Story

9 Tips to Make Your Blog Posts Prettier and More Readable

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blog post readability, blog posts prettier, blog posts readable, to write a story, valerie comer

Content may be king, but beauty is the queen.

If your blog posts are poorly formatted (or just plain ugly) only your most stalwart fans will read them, and they may hesitate to share them. So what can you do to make your posts more reader-friendly?

  • Use the HTML editor.

    Ever noticed, especially on group blogs, how posts can have many sizes and styles of fonts, with awkward highlights and clashing colors? This is distracting and makes a site look less professional. I’m not advising “sameness” so that everything is vanilla, but so that the eye isn’t distracted by ugly formatting but can focus on the content.

    Whether you use WordPress or Blogger, you have the option of a visual or html editor when creating a new post from your dashboard. While it seems that visual should give you a better-looking blog post, the opposite tends to be true.

    Copy/paste your post into the html pane instead, then use the built-in tools for creating headlines, bold, italics, links, etc. You don’t need to know HTML (though it doesn’t hurt). You can check how it looks using the preview option and do some tweaking if necessary. It takes no longer doing it this way and creates a more uniform image for the site.

  • Use images effectively.

    This means finding suitable images for every blog post, because they tend to pull the eye in. Either take your own photos, ask friends/family for specific permission to use one of theirs, purchase images online, or choose a free and royalty-free service such as Free Digital Photos, where I get many images for this site. (Always read the Terms of Service).

    Once you’ve found the perfect image and gained permission, learn to size/resize it to look its best on your blog post. You may have noticed today’s trend to use several full-width images in a post rather than smaller images left- or right-aligned, though you can do that, too, wrapping text around.

    Understand the purposes of captions, descriptions, and alt tags and use these tools wisely. They help with your post’s SEO (search engine optimization) and take only a moment to create.

  • Keep posts short and to-the-point.

    Our readers are busy. It’s a rare site that can attract and hold readers if the posts are consistently over 400-600 words each. Choose a single topic and be concise.

  • Use lists or bullet points.

    Lists like this one draw attention and make a post easy to read. Use a numbered list if the order is important, and a bulleted list if not.

  • Choose great titles.

    Choose SEO-friendly titles that actually tell what it’s about rather than something cute that doesn’t.

  • Make the post scannable.

    Along with short posts, use short paragraphs. Set some sections aside in blockquotes. Leave a blank line between paragraphs. All of these add white space, making it easier to read.

    Also, break up the text with key phrases bolded or turned into headlines.

  • Coded links that are anchored.

    Learn to code active links to outside sources, then have the anchored words actually describe the link’s target rather than “click here.” It’s also a great idea to include the words target=”_blank” in your code, telling the link to open in a new tab rather than over-riding the current page.

    • Tweetables

    • Want people to find your blog posts readable and pretty? click to tweet
    • What makes blog posts prettier and more readable? Here’s 9 tips: click to tweet
  • Easy-to read font.

    Choose a consistent font and size for all the posts. 14-point Georgia and Arial are two used often by big sites. Don’t make people squint to read or decipher. If you’re using the html interface as recommended above, make sure your default is set appropriately and you won’t have to think about it again.

  • Use your voice.

    A readable and enjoyable post depends on your writing voice as well as your skills with spelling and grammar. No matter how well-formatted your post is, if the content isn’t clean and engaging, no one is likely to share it or return. Remember that content and beauty go hand-in-hand!

    • Do you have any tips you’d add to make blog posts prettier and more readable?

    Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

    Outbound Marketing vs Inbound Marketing

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    Most book discoveries—and many of the sales—take place online these days, but how will people find our books? There are four basic ways.

    outbound marketing, inbound marketing, to write a story, valerie comer, farm lit

    1. They Google you or your book title and find what they’re looking for.

    In this scenario, readers need to be acquainted with you already. They know who/what they’re looking for, and they know when they’ve found it.

    While this is a terrific goal, for most of us it simply isn’t reality. If you or I can only sell books to those who currently know our names, our reach is limited. Unless, of course, we’re J. K. Rowling.

    2. They see/hear it advertised somewhere.

    This could be a newspaper ad, a radio interview, a professional review journal (like Romantic Times or Publishers Weekly), or other method. Untargeted advertising can be very expensive. It can reach a lot of people, but the ad tends to be gone tomorrow, covered by something new. And, frankly, many (most?) of the people who see or hear it aren’t interested.

    3. They see others talking about it and become intrigued.

    This is where a lot of online book marketing comes in. We do blog tours, Facebook parties, and Goodreads giveaways to broaden the number of readers who know our names and become interested in our books.

    What do these three methods have in common? They represent outbound marketing. They involve the author standing on his or her blog, Facebook page, friends’ blogs, newspapers, etc, and shouting OUT about our books.

    There’s nothing wrong with this. Many fine books have caught on and become best sellers with an outbound marketing approach. If the story has mass appeal and catches the attention of trusted reviewers, it may go viral. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

    Tweetables

    • How will readers find you if they don’t know you or your book? click to tweet
    • Which is better, outbound marketing or inbound marketing? How do they work? click to tweet

    But while outbound marketing is definitely piece of the marketing puzzle, there’s another angle, too. It’s inbound marketing.

    Think of outbound marketing as a small sign along a busy multi-lane highway. People are rushing by, hurrying on to wherever they’re going, thinking about what’s for dinner or what happened at work. There’s an arrow pointing to the off-ramp noting “good book over there.” The driver/reader in question may not be looking for a good book at the moment. She may have a Kindle full of good books already. More of them stream by every day, so when she actually does want a new one, there will certainly be some available.

    Inbound marketing focuses on what people are looking for right now, where they are (not where you are) and simply being there, in front of them.

    To apply the highway metaphor, it’s having a service station right on the interstate where people needing fuel will see it and pull in, rather than in a small town fifty miles down a dirt road, with only a tiny sign pointing to it. Be where people are looking for your kind of fuel.

    If you want to market to people who do not currently know your name or your book’s title—but who would be interested in your book if they only knew about it—you need to think about inbound marketing. Which brings me to the fourth way people may find your book.

    4. They Google “something” and your title comes up.

    In this case, they’re already actively searching for something. Therefore, if you can pair effective search terms with an available domain name, the URL may be worth snapping it up.

    This may seem like it would only be effective for nonfiction, but that isn’t necessarily so. I bought http://farmlit.com because farm lit is seen as the next big trend—and because it fits my stories—and because no one else had bought it yet. I didn’t build a full site around it (though I may in the future). I directed the URL to a page on my website where I define farm lit, talk about why my stories fit, and have direct buy links to Amazon for my novel and for other books I feel fit the genre. That’s key, I think. Having a variety of outgoing links helps Google rank a page higher.

    This page went up in early August 2013. Under two months later, farmlit.com is on the first page of Google results for “farm lit” (currently in the #6 spot). Another link to my page is also on the first page. I’m getting some passive advertising from it and an occasional sale. People who land here are looking for stories about farms. Until they clicked the link, they had no idea who I was or that I had farm lit titles. Now they’ve seen my book.

    I got the idea for this from a small book called Advanced Book Marketing by E. J. Thornton. She owns the website—wait for it!!—advancedbookmarketing.com. She is an author, marketer, and small publisher with years of experience. If you’re interested in studying inbound marketing, I’d recommend picking up this book and then analyzing the application on her website.

    Thornton’s advice is, “Stop marketing what you want to sell and start marketing what they are looking for.”

    If you’re a fiction author, think about what themes or topics people might Google that could lead them to you. You may not want to build a full website around the topic. Instead, the new URL can be automatically routed to yourname.com/books (for example). This can be a low-cost method for snagging quality leads.

    How can YOU use inbound marketing to help your ideal readers find you?

    Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
    Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

    How to Record Skype Interviews for YouTube

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    Since my friend Angela Breidenbach and I released a video of us signing a contract for a book we’re writing together, many people have asked how to create something like this for themselves.

    skype-to-youtube

    This post is specifically for Mac users. I’m sure there are similar programs available for use on a PC, but I’m not familiar with them. If you know of something, feel free to leave a comment with the information!

    You will need:

    Both parties need to have Skype installed on a computer or laptop with a decent webcam. Skype is easy to use and the free version is ample. You’ll need to have each other added as contacts.

    The person who will create the video and edit it will need Call Recorder, which costs thirty bucks. As far as I know, this is a Mac only program. I’ve used it to record audio-only files for podcasts as well as several videos. The beauty of this program is that it allows for both the interviewer and the interviewee to share/split the screen for the video.

    If you don’t have high-speed Internet, the quality of the recording will be poor. Mine is iffy. To boost the quality a wee bit more, I rebooted my laptop just before recording and kept only the minimum windows open (ie: Skype and my script!).

    At the agreed-upon time, commence a video call in Skype. Chat a moment or two to make sure you’re both ready, then press record in Call Recorder. The settings I use in CR are:

    Call Recorder for Skype

    The “split screen” setting is what gives both parties half the screen in the final video.

    Remember to look into the webcam while recording. I so wanted to look at Angela’s face, and sometimes I needed to look at my script. But, as much as possible, look at the webcam so people will feel as though you’re speaking directly to them. When you’re done, turn the recording off. It will save to whatever spot you designated in your preferences.

    Because Angie and I both wanted to see how the video turned out before I uploaded it to YouTube, we then shut down Skype and opened a Google hangout, where I could play back the video using the screen share. We then discussed what we needed to improve on and headed back to Skype for a retake. This is the 7th (and final) version:

    I created the closing slides using Powerpoint, then saved those as individual .jpgs and imported them to iPhoto.

    Then I opened iMovie and fumbled around. I’m definitely not an expert here, but I managed to get the saved Skype video loaded. I edited out some dead space and a few frames at the very end. Then I added the Powerpoint slides to the end and fiddled with the “Ken Burns” effect (I wish the default setting was OFF for that) to keep the slides from zooming in and out—makes me nauseous!

    Tweetables

    • Ever wondered how to turn a Skype interview into a YouTube movie? click to tweet
    • Use Skype & Call Recorder for Mac to create a YouTube video of an interview click to tweet

    At this point I optimized the video (under File) and then exported it (under Share). This gave me the option of saving it to the spot in my laptop where I wanted it.

    Then I opened YouTube to my channel, hit Upload, and selected the video. Once it is uploaded (speed depends on your connection) you can write the meta-data and tags, add your website, choose which frame to use as the “still” (they only give you 3 options), and set the video to public.

    From there, you can share to Facebook, Twitter, etc, and pop the link onto your website.

    How to Use Click-to-Tweet

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    I’ve seen a surge in tweets from this site since I added Click-to-Tweet a few weeks ago, making it even easier for visitors to pass on blog posts they find interesting.

    How to use click-to-tweet, click to tweet, tutorial, click to tweet tutorial

    It takes a few minutes to learn to use the site the first time, and adding the tweetable links to each post also takes a bit of time. However, if you have content you believe others would like to share, why not make it easy for them to do so?

    Here are the steps:

    • Create a blog post and schedule it.
    • Copy the post’s URL as it will look when it is live.
    • Paste it into Hootsuite‘s “add a link” shortener (or some other link shortener) and create a short link.
    • Copy and paste this short link into a document.
    • Create one or more tweets for the blog post that include the short link.
    • Open Click to Tweet.
    • Paste one completed tweet into the box.
    • Click “generate link.”
    • Copy and paste the provided link into your document in a format similar to the one shown in the text box below (repeat for more tweets):

    The result looks like this:

    Tweetables

    • Ever used click-to-tweet? Want to learn how easy it is add tweetable links? click to tweet
    • How do bloggers put clickable tweets in their posts, anyway? click to tweet

    Have fun creating your own click-to-tweets, and watch your content spread more quickly across the Twittersphere.

    The 5 W’s of a Book Blast

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    What is a Book Blast?

    It’s a promotional tool to entice readers to order your book within a specific period of time in order to boost your rankings on (usually) Amazon.

    to write a story, The 5 W's of a Book Blast, book blast, promotion, amazon, free

    Who runs a Book Blast?

    Anyone can create a promotion like this. It’s particularly suited to authors who can think of a wide range of materials that relate to their story or its theme.

    Why create a Book Blast?

    This type of promotion can raise your Amazon ranking. The higher it is, the more visible they make your book to browsing readers. It’s like they notice you. Success breeds success.

    Some authors’ goal is to hit the New York Times bestseller list. This is a great goal, I’m sure, but not realistic for most debut novelists. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t set goals and work hard to reach them.

    book blast, to write a story, promotion, amazon

    When should I set up a Book Blast?

    I chose to create one for 4 days about a week after my book released. This gave enough time for online booksellers to have copies on hand and for me to guest post on enough blogs to help spread the word as widely as possible.

    You could go as little as one day, and for as long as you wish to. However, the more spread out it is, the less impetus it provides for your fans to BUY NOW and create that push.

    Where do I set up a Book Blast?

    If you’re on WordPress, create a special page. Make sure you put password-protection on it. Then create a special email address for this promotion. You can choose to double check each incoming email and send back the link and password, or you can trust your fans and have an auto-responder send the information by return email. If it’s automatic, remember to disable the email address or the autoresponder at the end of the promotion.

    Tweetables

    • Want your book to blast off and get lots of sales and reviews? Try a BOOK BLAST! click to tweet
    • What Who Why When Where and HOW to create a book blast to send your novel flying across the internet! click to tweet

    How do I find material for a Book Blast?

    I worked with my publisher on this. I requested that they offer a FREE digital download of the novel (buyer’s choice of format) for the purchase of the paperback. They also offered teaser first chapters of other novels in related genres from their publishing house.

    I sourced everything else myself. I asked several authors I know if they’d be willing to offer first chapters of their books as free downloads. 3 said yes. 1 offered a related short file.

    Local food is a major theme for my just released novel, Raspberries and Vinegar. I asked my cover artist for a piece of printable “local food” art, and she happily complied. I created a pdf called “101 Ways to Be a Locavore.” I also interviewed 9 people with different perspectives on food and faith (my novel is Christian romance), and created a downloadable podcast from the interviews. I also had a short video created of the process of making raspberry vinegar, the signature drink in the book.

    Here’s a look at part of the page after the links were in place:

    If you’d like to see the promotion in action, my Book Blast is in operation through midnight EST on Friday, August 9. Simply order a paperback copy of Raspberries and Vinegar from Choose NOW Publishing, Amazon.com, or Amazon.ca and see what happens.

    PS: The Book Blast has been extended through August 15.

    How could you create a Book Blast suitable for your upcoming release?

    Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

    Valerie Comer
    About Valerie Comer
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