There comes a time when every author has to put an end to their writing and start seeing their work objectively. Their objectivity would go a long away in making their manuscript, or book if I may, appealing to the masses. Of course the beta readers and editors would do their jobs but you would be glad you did your part before sending it off to the professionals.
Much like typos and grammatical errors, a glaring plot hole would turn me off from reading the book completely. When we say plot hole we generally think of the inconsistencies in the storyline or the plot itself, but it is much more than that, don’t you think?
In fact anything that would make your readers go ‘what just happened?‘ in a not so expected way is just the plot holes we are talking about.
As an author you are expected to have already fixed the plot holes when you send your book off to editing and critiquing, but there are some plot holes that are sneaky and may not be visible to your eyes, especially after repeated readings. This makes the use of a beta reader indispensable.
A plot hole is a collective term to all the sneaky inconsistencies in the narrative or a character development of a book or a movie/television programme, to paraphrase the Oxford English Dictionary.
This does not include those apparent inconsistencies that will be solved in the oncoming chapters or books. We can divide such inconsistencies into three heads based on where they may be found.
Inconsistencies in the plot
Plot holes refers to any inconsistencies in the plot or any event in the story line. Plot refers to anything from the place, time and events that take place in those places and times.
Inconsistencies could be illogical, contradictory or ignored. Let us examples of each of these cases.
Illogical plot hole:
A character who is terminally ill gets well miraculously just to be a part of a love triangle.
Contradictions:
A character that living 2000 km away from his lady love, drives back to her hometown in a single night to save her from the villain.
A plot that is ignored or forgotten:
A character that goes missing (i.e forgotten) all of a sudden for no reason.
2) Inconsistencies in the character development
We are never gonna hear the end of how Lily has brown eyes, when we all knew she and Harry had the same blue eyes. Or why Buzz has to pretend freeze around humans if he thought he was a real space ranger.
And that is exactly what we are talking about.
Anything that character does or does not do as the reader has been told to expect of him is an inconsistency and thus a plot hole.
Some examples of such holes are:
A mighty super villain has a change of heart about destroying the planet just after a small setback.
A protagonist that never grows, changes or is affected by the plot.
3) Inconsistencies in the world building
This is a major one, especially in the fantasy genre. The fictional world that we write for includes why things happen the way they do and why the characters react how they do.
We need to know the reasons and motivation behind the character’s actions before we can relate to them and continue to root for them. But when these fails, the readers stop caring about what happens to the characters and the plot.
Some examples of issues in terms of world building:
An antagonist whom we fail to see as powerful enough.
Sub plots that are not closed.
Why the lead falls for the female and why is it different from the other times?
While these plot holes may not be apparent to you, your readers are definitely going to find them out and it is critical that you should too. You could always reach to a friend, a fellow writer or a professional beta reader requesting them to give a read to weed these out.
Aside, I am considering to write more on these series, what do you say? Should I continue these writing topics? Let me know in the comment section.
Are there plot holes that do not fall in these headers? Do you plot holes turn off from reading further? What is the most annoying plot hole issue that you have read? And authors/writers, tell us about the plot hole you had and how you fixed Let us chat.
The easiest way for a fan to check out an author is by hitting the Google and seeking their website. And when I receive a book review request through email from an Indie author, I do the same. I seldom accept a request without trying to know a bit more about the book and the author.
There are very few requests that come with a sample chapter making it hard to guess how their writing style would be and if I will enjoy it. Also the author website has now become a sort of home base or platform for all the internet activities. Thus my visit to the author website becomes inevitable.
The stronger the message your website sends the more interested and hooked your readers would be. But again, not every author can have a dedicated blog that is updated regularly, as much as we readers would like it. They may not have the time or even just not their cup of tea.
Must have elements on your author website
But it is vital that every author website should have the minimum elements to make a lasting impact on your readers. Let us discuss some of them, alright?
1) An easy to use design.
It goes without saying that any website, be it an author’s or otherwise, has to have a clean and attractive look. It doesn’t matter what platform, whether it is self hosted, or even if it has regular updates.
Clean and professional
It could be just a static website with a minimal look and it would still work.
2) Show us who you are.
In an author website, YOU are the product. YOU are the brand and the product. Any visitor who arrives at your website or blog is there to know about you and then your books. So make your ‘About me‘ page as interesting as possible.
I personally love funny, quirky information about the authors but it could be direct and professional as well. Include your social media accounts along with your accolades and other places where we can find your writing, if any.
An author website acts a sales funnel to your books, so they need to be positioned prominently. The page can contain testimonials from other magazines or reviewers.
When I receive a mail from an independent author that I have never heard of I definitely check out their other books and try to see if it matches my taste. So I usually land up on this page right after reading the about me page.
Some authors leave an excerpt as a freebie for the fans and followers on their website.
4) Keep us updated.
A website or blog can be treated as your own bulletin board and you can make your visitors ‘in’ on the news. Some of the updates that you can share are:
You can share the first hand news about your book releases, cover reveal etc.
You can talk about your work in progress.
Another great way to keep your readers updated by posting your book signings and tours, virtually or in real life.
You can even ask your readers to sign up for more updates. Of course, no one likes spam, so make sure you do not send them too many mailers.
5) How to reach you?
Do not forget to leave the contact information on your blog.
Nothing frustrates a reader or blogger than searching for a contact information especially when they want to leave a feedback. You can leave a secondary mail id, so that you won’t have to worry too much about the spam and dodgy requests.
‘I’m afraid the doctor can’t see you today. You could visit his web page instead.’
You can also add a press or media kit that is available for download. You will never know when it will turn out to be useful. Some of the information that you can include in the kit are:
Basic bio data
Professional head shot
Book cover image in good quality
Relevant information about the book like synopsis
An Excerpt
Testimonials, if any
I have come to know many bloggers who have turned to authors, and be successful at that. And it may not come as a surprise that from the point of view of booksellers and publishers they have a platform established with a sizable number of following, which means selling more books and better outreach.
If you are an independent author who is looking to be traditionally published, or even if not, an author website has become a bare minimum. Do you have these elements in your website?
What are those things that you look for in an author’s website? Did I leave any of the things that are important to you in an author’s website? Let us chat.
You might have noticed I am of late reading a it more of Young Adult literature than other genres. Even though I am trying to keep a balance among all the type of books in my blog, the truth is I have read more YA in the past one year than ever.
I never was into young adult fiction before that and to be honest, I used to avoid them like plague, But then these books happened and the rest as they say is history.
As a result of the surge in the number of reviews I have posted on my blog, the number of unsolicited review requests for YA books have sky rocketed. Not that I complain. But I can’t help but notice some lots of similarities among those novels that I can’t take it anymore.
How many time do you ask yourself these questions when you read these Young Adult novels?
7) Why do you need a public confrontation?
What is with you, kids and the crowd? In real life, most of us would run away from a confrontation like a plague (at least I do). But if there is a problem in your Young Adult drama filled life, every accusation / confrontation / break up has to be in front of your peers and their mothers.
6) Who are you, really?
I am yet to meet someone in real life who is so clumsy and yet so graceful when the tide turns. You drop everything, fall down the stairs and even get lost in your own city, but you are independent and gonna fight the dragons. What am I missing here? How many books have you read about the self proclaimed plain lead who finally realizes that she is beautiful after a make over and the hot guy asking her out? Why do the ‘unpopular’ guy have to fall for the popular, mean girl only to realize the awkward plain girl best friend is all he needs? He has to wait for her to get a make over too, I guess.
I know this is a problem even in adult / contemporary books, but its effect is more jarring in the young adult literature. But I am so done with the dark, brooding bad boy and the popular hot girls as love interests for the protagonists.
3) Where are the parents, teachers – AKA adults?
When I was a young adult myself (not too far past) there is no way that I could get away from the eyes of the adults for even two hours. Befriending rando strangers from the street was a strict no no. And here are kids whose lives are entirely dependent on a random stranger, with no prior qualifications. Seriously if there were one responsible adult around these kids most YA plots won’t even exist.
2) Why are the adults the bad ones always?
If you did have some adults, they are pretty useless or worse -the bad ones. Your Chemistry teacher is probably producing Meth in your school lab. Or they are killing innocent puppies (which I hope is not true.)
Or at the least, they are hiding a big fat secret from you. Like you are a vampire or a princess to some small country. Or that you were adopted. How.could.they?
1) Why are you the only one who has to break the rules?
Out of the entire population in your fictitious world, you are the only one who wants to question the authority. And / or open the damn door. And you do not listen to your friends who repeatedly beg you not to do that.
It doesn’t matter what is lurking in the darkness, you want a part of it, don’t you? Is it because someone said you are the only one who is special? Why are you So.Damn.Nosey?
What are your peeves about the mainstream Young adult books? Do you agree that these problems are irritable or not? Do you have an answers for any of these questions? Leave a comment, let us talk.
As a book reader and a blogger most of my non reading and non blogging time go to stalking visiting websites related to books, especially those of authors. I am sure we all have that special author(s) whom we can’t get enough of on their social media and would love to know more, even when they tweet almost every other day. The solution? The author website.
The case is particularly true for an indie or self published writer. In fact every time I get an book to review from a new author I immediately hop to the internet to check out their website. Not just to get a feel about the book but also to know more about the author and their writing style. I wouldn’t wanna miss out reading an author who has an interesting blog or website.
Of course you might think ‘why do I need an author website?’ especially when you are already screaming about your book and yourself on your social media accounts.
1) Your author website is a platform that you own
It doesn’t matter if your book was published traditionally or it is independent, it has become mandatory to put yourself out there as an author and make some noise. It can be through your tweets or your virtual book tours or any other medium you choose. But the bottom line is that authors are expected to be more than just writers.
You can ask ‘I am active on social media. Do I need another website separately?’ Yes. You do.
Photo Credit: Funny Times
Every author, published traditionally or otherwise needs a website. Your social accounts are not owned or controlled by you. You don’t own them, even though you spend time to build and nurture your domain and followers on them. Any change in their policies will affect you directly.
Therefore, the author website should be the place where all your accounts point out to. It is the one stop shop for any details about you and promotion of your book(s). It might be self hosted or free, but it is essentially a hub where you can convert your subscribers into your fans.
2) Your author website builds your personal branding
A website you own should be the hub of all your internet activities. The website plays a main part of the image that you want to portray on to your readers. Right from your image on your author bio to the comments that you leave on others’ websites forms part of that brand.
With a self hosted website you can have professional looking email id like ‘hello@authordomain.com’ which will make you appear more professional. Your website should also include the details about your book (obviously), press release and media kit that conform to your brand image. Add a FAQ section to help your readers know more about you.
3) Your author website aides your growth
While your social accounts may be your place to talk about your current book and its promotion, your website should be the place that talks about you. It displays both your current book and everything else that you have already written or are writing.
More often than you know, many authors start with a book and end up writing a series. The website thus might become more than ‘read about my book here’ to ‘learn more about my writing here’. Get talking about your characters, your plot direction and engage more fans – all on your own space.
Photo Credit: vintagemetalart.com
4) Your author website acts as your sales funnel
Remember your website is your very own space. So use it creatively and effectively. You can help your readers to browse your book(s) by adding a blurb or two. It needn’t be the same as you have in your Amazon or other seller’s site. Let them know how to buy your books and leave them direct links.
Some more ideas to spruce up your website and help your marketing:
Make it easy for your readers to find you on the internet by showing off your social accounts.
Some authors even add a shopping cart to help them purchase the book without leaving their site.
Ask them to sign up for your newsletters and notifications about book tours, new works, launch party or even reading events.
Some authors might be reluctant to have an author website because they might have to update it frequently. Sure it is true that you have to update it once in a while, but you don’t have to blog there regularly.
I totally agree that most of my favorite authors are hard pressed for time and I would prefer them focusing on getting me the next book sooner to updating their blog about their dogs. (If you love blogging about your doggo, please do. I will be reading it with my eyes glistening. There are never too many doggo blogs.) It is definitely your choice to decide how many times you wanna blog in a month or year.
I know. I know I have made a word-y post and you are almost at the end and yet I have not shown you my favorite author websites. So here they are.
Some of my favorite author websites for inspiration:
Do not feel overwhelmed with all these websites. All we readers ask is a place to dig deeper about you and your books. So go ahead create a website right away.
Do you visit your favorite author’s website? Share us their link so that we will stalk them as well. What do you look for in them? If you are an author and you do have a website, leave a link and we will visit them. If you do not want to create one, tell us why. Let us talk.
Okay, you have finally finished slaying your evil maniac villain and now your hero and his gal can live happily ever after, or at least until your next installment. What next?
Have you beat up yourself reading the manuscript again and even self-edited it? TWICE?. Kudos.
You are on the right track. Let us get on to the next step – beta reading.
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Do you need beta readers?
Don’t you think the manuscript should be read by someone not-so-closely related to it, a.k.a not you, before you send it out to the ruthless publishing world?
Someone who would not mind reading an unpolished, raw version of your manuscript and tell you their opinion.
Someone who will tell you honestly about the parts that moved them to tears as well those were plain boring.
Someone who will encourage you to do some revisions, without being judgmental about the number of times your character says ‘What up?’.
Yeah, you guessed it right. Beta readers are very similar to the beta testers in the software world, but about books. Just as the beta testers try to kill all the bugs before the software gets released, beta readers would read your unpolished manuscript and provide critical pointers in terms of its credibility, readability, and even marketability.
Beta Readers are critical readers, in short. They could be your dearest friend, your mom or your writing buddy, anyone who can give you an unbiased opinion about your work.
But are they adequate? Most often than not, the answer is no. If you want a truly unbiased opinion you can, you should get yourself a professional beta reader.
Most publishing houses have had their own set of beta readers and they make their decisions whether to choose your manuscript or not, based on their opinions.
In the indie industry, the term beta readers is relatively new but they have always been present and doing their parts.
Why do you need a professional beta reader?
Every writer needs a beta reader, even if they think they don’t. What for, right?
The writers need to make sure the readers hear exactly what they want to say.
They know their concept and characters so well that they tend to overlook the obvious.
A writer can write for himself, but an author writes for others.
How do you know if your masses would like your book?
Unless someone else reads it and tells you, even before you hire an editor or spend more money on it. That is where the beta reader comes in.
They read your manuscript with an open mind and have a prejudice towards you or your writing, like your writer group or your mom. Sometimes, beta readers may not even be familiar with your genre, which can also be a good thing.
Most beta readers provide their pointers on the
credibility of the plot
readability of the script and writing style
gaps in character/ story arcs and plot holes, if any
Beta readers are not predisposed to love your work. They will, however, provide their honest opinions.
Beta readers are not editors. While they may point out garring errors in syntax or spellings, their services do not include them.
They will not attempt to take away your voice nor will they rewrite your book for you.
They are not agreeing to review or promote your book on other portals after it has been published.
Beta reading is not a one-way process. It often leads to open dialogues and suggestions which the author may or not take up.
Have you used beta readers for your works? Do you beta read for others? How has your experience been with other authors and beta reads? Tell us more about your revision process.
One of the perks of being a book blogger is the number of books that we receive for review. For a book lover, there could be nothing better. With the increasing number of books we receive for review between the e-galleys and the ones sent by the publishers and PR agents themselves, it is a miracle that we even have a social life, if at all we did.
So why would I respond to an unsolicited email from a never-heard-of self-published author requesting reviews for his books, leave alone review them?
Okay, that might have been harsh. But that is kinda the truth.
The only thing that we book bloggers love other than reading books is talking about them to other book-worms, a.k.a their blog readers. We are absolutely thankful for the review copies and the giveaways the authors and their publishers offer because let’s face it: otherwise, we would be broke AF.
Some of us are alive mostly for the books delivered in their inboxes (e-books) or on their doorsteps. Okay, that may have been a tad too grim, but let us not make it about me. But, you get it, we LOVE the freebies.
But again you have not seen our inbox and the number of emails we receive soliciting reviews in a week. I can only imagine the state of the popular bloggers out there. And to add to the issue, there are several blogs that do not accept indie books for reviews.
So if you are an indie or self-published author, who does not have an army of agents working on social media profile, promotions like book tours and seeking out reviews all over the world and the internet, it, sure, is all the more difficult to handle it all. Of course, this post is not to dampen your spirits but to help in some way or the other.
So how can you, as a newbie/self-published author, make your attempt to reach bloggers more successful? Read on what book bloggers want to tell you, authors, about book reviewing.
1) Get to know us
It is always better to over prepare than none at all. Please spend a few minutes on our blogs and try to get to know us. It always helps if you address us by our names or the handle (if you found us on social media) than a generic “dear blogger”. I am not asking you to read every post in the blog (even though I would totally love it if you do) but at least know if I am interested in the genre that you write about.
That brings up the second point.
2) Read the review policy
Most bloggers have a separate page detailing their policy and preferences; a few just mention them on the sidebars. It would hardly take a minute or two to read them. This might sound like a no-brainer but it would be surprising to know the number of people who skip this. It is not only silly that they won’t read it but I feel it is downright rude.
3) Do not pester
The policy page usually has the instructions on what to do further. Not all bloggers review all genres and they do not accept all the books they receive. Most of them will let you know if they accept to review your book. Do not send us your books before say YES. The policy page usually tells you about the expected turnaround for their reviews, if they accept. So wait for a while say, two weeks or so, before you follow-up. Follow up, not pester or antagonize them already.
4) Do not ask for more
Many book bloggers talk about the books out of love and passion. They do not owe you much. If they agree to a review, do not expect or demand more out of them. Even if you are paying for their services, make sure what they offer and agree to. Ask them where they would post and promote their review, and thus your book. Demanding them to post the review in too many places, asking them to tag you everywhere, etc can be too exasperating for them too.
5) Respect their views
Not everyone is going to like your work. Not everyone can fall in love with your characters. You are approaching strangers from the internet for an unbiased review. They might give a negative opinion; be prepared to accept it. Do not ask them to remove them, or demand them to not post them. Do not argue about their rating system or their scores. Most bloggers do not even expect to hear a ‘thank you’ from you after the review, much alone an argument with you. Respect their views, especially the one you sought for.
6) Avoid badmouthing
Of late, there have been quite a few instances where authors and bloggers got into a verbal feud. Of course, keyboard warfare is not new, but having badmouthing a particular blogger for their opinion is not okay at all. If you have a problem, be adults and discuss them privately, not on social media. I am sure the news travels and would hit you out of nowhere.
7) Help us help you
Lastly, provide us with all the required details to make a decision about reviewing your book. Once they agree to accept to review your book, you can provide them with Amazon and Goodreads links, and your social links to help to tag you once the review is up.
With the Amazon’s new restrictions, many bloggers are wary of being ‘friends’ with authors in the social media, lest making their reviews may be brought under scrutiny and may even be removed. So if they are not accepting your ‘friend’ requests, do not take it personally.
In short, be as polite as you would be when you meet a stranger. Do not let the anonymity presented by the internet spoil you. Do your research.
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Let us chat
If you are an author, let us know what’s your say? If you are a book blogger, link your review policy page here and let us know what else you wanna tell the authors that approach you.
