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Video content is an excellent way for authors to reach new audiences, who frequent platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Vimeo. Book trailers, narrated videos, and reels of writing advice have become an incredibly useful way to market yourself. Here’s how to reach more readers. Why Make Video Content? Video reaches broad audiences, across multiple platforms where written content alone wouldn’t reach them. Book trailers, narrated stories, and writing advice add depth to your online personality (and marketing plan). It puts the multi in multimedia and expands your potential fanbase. Do you scroll through YouTube (Shorts) or Facebook (Reels) for entertainment sometimes, rather than reading a story or article? Viewers become fans. The Potential Costs Compared Upwork lists potential editors at $15 to $20 per hour, whereas Direct Images says professional editors can range between $75 to $150 per hour. Hiring video editors can be expensive. However, video creation can also be DIY with practice. Learn editing techniques via courses (like Udemy, Alison, or YouTube), and tinker with editing tools. If you lack patience and time, pay a professional; otherwise, learn how. Using Basic Editing Tools Editing tools allow authors to add basic effects (fade-ins, scene transitions, overlays, and voice-overs), as well as splicing scenes together. More

Some years ago my Philadelphia-based agent received the following letter of decline from Michael Pietsch, a New York–based editor: Dear Mary Jo, I was very impressed by the subtlety and loveliness of Vincent Czyz’s writing, and by his ability to bring a large cast and several distinct settings to life. But for all the author’s skill, Sun Eye Moon Eye strikes me as a very difficult novel to sell. The story unfolds at a very stately pace, and Logan is a tough nut to crack. It will get good reviews, but I can’t foresee selling many copies. So I won’t be offering for Little, Brown. Mary Jo and I were encouraged, in fact, celebratory. If we’d come so close with Little, Brown, we reasoned, it was a matter of months, maybe a year, before we found the right editor for the novel. Mary Jo, however, was overly optimistic, and I was hopelessly naïve. After more declines that praised various aspects of the book but raised similar sales concerns, I overhauled the manuscript, cutting some 300 pages and restructuring the rest (it was originally over 800 pages.) That ought to do it, we thought. A short time later, a chapter from More

Hubby came home from shopping and showed me a glossy magazine. “Do you still write for magazines like this?” I said I did, if the idea popped into my head and the publication seemed worthy. I looked at the magazine. Hook & Barrel, The Lifestyle Magazine for Modern Outdoorsmen, was pretty slick. One might wonder how in the world I could write for such a publication? Hunting, country music, wild game recipes, Christmas gift guide for gear, cigars and beverage pairings, ammo and guns. How did I fit into that niche? Yes, I’ve told the freelancers I’ve taught that you should develop a niche. However, you also should be able to envision how to write for any publication. I instantly thought of the following: 1) Interviews. In any of the above topics, you have people with expertise. Landing an interview with an expert in any of the topics in the publication, could land a positive nod from the editor. 2) Talk to the store where the magazine was purchased. In this case it happened to be Palmetto Armory, a major gun range in SC. Do they know of someone special who lives local who might make for a good interview. Or More

We read everywhere about what to give a writer as a holiday gift. But let’s turn that idea on its head and envision what a writer could give others as a gift . . . and still underline the fact they are a writer. If you have the gift of words, find the innovation to give them such that they are long remembered. 1) Give a book that made a difference in your life. Include a note as to why. Give it thought. Make it a few dozen words, not just a line. 2) Give a set of your books for your friend to donate to the library. A set beats a lone book. And you don’t donate it….let them do it. Include something additional in the package that they can keep as a gift of their own. 3) Offer to write or edit something they made need in the coming year. A letter to the newspaper. A poem to a loved one. A resume. An obituary. 4) If they have such connections or need, offer to present, tutor, or teach about writing without compensation. 5) Give any gift and instead of just a name tag, write a flash story More

I’ve sold many articles through the value of sheer persistence. Asking, pitching, and adapting is key to being a career writer. Editors who say no might have a different answer to another pitch in the future. Yes, rejections can be a future opportunity. Here’s how to turn negatives into positives as you turn rejections into successful article sales. Keep a Record of Your Rejections I send hundreds of messages every week, and keeping track of who comes back with no-responses can prove cumbersome. Create a folder or a spreadsheet, and you’ll have a list of editors who answered your query, and they become your starting points of who to pitch again. Changing Budgets Editors sometimes decline ideas because of their freelancing budget, which you may not be aware of. Pitch editors again later, say six months to a year later, and their answer could be quite different One year, I sent Writers Write an article about cybersecurity, expecting little for it. A few years later, when their budget allowed for it, I was writing for them once a week. Maintain connections with magazines and their editors and ask even if you’ve asked before. Them remembering you is half the battle. The Right More

Fact: I am a novelist and travel writer. Fact: I have published nine novels. Fact: I don’t have an agent. Fiction: The path to publication is straightforward. Imagine a labyrinth. Erase the walls. That’s publishing. After my MFA program I stepped into the maze-less puzzle—lost. I queried the novel I had completed as my thesis. Rejection, rejection, rejection. I wasn’t cutting through the maze at all. I connected with a small publisher named Epic Press looking for freelancers to write book packages—a project in which the publisher creates the story concept and the writer creates the story. They wanted not one book, but six. A series, they said, about a voyage to nowhere, on frozen waters, with orphans. I gave them a writing sample. I showed them a short story I had published. They gave me a thumbs up. The project was a crash course in world-building. Six books written, edited, and revised in 14 months. They had another series in mind. Six new books; New Adult, about freshman year of college—a different author for each book. Was I interested? Of course, I was. Why did they like me? Maybe it was my writing style. Most likely it was the fact I turned my More

Just last night, I was assisting a grandson on how to write his paper for class. It was a paper in which he was to do research, actually do an experiment, and come to a conclusion. He wrote it per guidelines. He clearly wrote it for a teacher. That opened the conversation about defining who will read your writing before writing the piece, because it alters the flavor of the piece. For instance, if he writes a creative, fiction piece, he writes it for a certain age group, maybe a certain culture, an audience hoping for a good story . . . not for the teacher. That made him think. He hadn’t been told in class just who his audience was. Recently Literary Hub published a piece about this. Students write for the professor. The grading is based on guidelines, thoroughness, and if a point was properly made. It wasn’t written to touch the reader, educate the reader, or gain a following by resonating with the reader. It’s written for a grade. The point was a teacher has to grade the paper. That’s what they get paid to do. The student will get feedback. Quality is very subjective, and usually limited to More

I spoke at the Marlboro County Library in Bennettsville, SC this week. It was a two-hour drive, but hubby and I needed to get out, and I simply adore a good book club visit. I have been to a lot of book clubs. Each has its own temperament. This time, I was headed to a very rural community where authors don’t bother going. They combined three book clubs for a total of about 50 people. We had lovely snacks. I spoke for what turned into two hours because I was having such a great time, they were asking fantastic questions, and, honestly, we were having a ball. That little event turned into not only a fun one, but one in which I earned a room full of new readers who each intend to run through all 20 of my mysteries. The financial reward tripled what I expected. And they gave me food and flowers to take home for the trip. This was the old South that I remembered. This was a place where time stands pretty still. Yet they made a huge splash for me not just in sales of books, but in readership and long-term fans. All because I More

I was asked to review a short story collection called NSFW by David Scott Hay, and in the process learned that, surprisingly, the manuscript was entirely written and edited on a smartphone. Smartphones are capable of writing and editing stories. While they’re distinctly different from computers or desktops, phones are very effective tools when used to their full capabilities. Here’s how (and why) to consider your smartphone as a writing device. Why Write on a Smartphone? I remember being on a deadline when my computer’s hard drive failed during the height of lockdown. A replacement computer would take weeks to replace, but the next deadline had was within only hours. As a result, that month’s blog for Bridge Base Online was typed entirely on a smartphone at a hotel. Emergencies, portability, and convenience are good reasons to consider your smartphone a professional writing device. Small adaptations, like word processors and external keyboards, increase its potential capabilities. Mobile Word Processors Start with a mobile word processor and find one that’s easy for you: some authors prefer feature-heavy monsters, while others want distraction-free writing environments. I’ve tried good ones, including Zoho Writer, LibreOffice Android, WPS Office for Android, and Hemingway App. You can also link directly to Google Docs with an More

I like to scan emails on my phone, sorting and culling what I have to take action on. Then I go back to my desktop where my massive screen and lots of space makes my writing life easier to handle. What I wind up doing is deleting a lot of email on the fly, with the majority of it deleted based upon the subject and first line of the message. Seems to me that people are losing touch with the knowledge that a strong subject makes the recipient open the email. And a strong opening line makes them continue to read your proposal. I’ve rejected articles on the subject alone. I’ve also rejected a submission based upon the title of the piece. Sure, a title can be changed, but if the pitch is weak, and the title is weak, doesn’t it hold water that the piece itself will be lacking as well? Not fair, you might say, but when faced with two hundred emails a day (at least), and a long line of pitches, one just cannot afford to hope that the writing in the manuscript is way better than the the pitch or title. Same goes for book titles. More